Having A Go At Embroidery

Morning all, I hope you're all well and enjoying the sunshine today. A few complained about the rain over the weekend but it was gratefully received in our garden. We've had a pretty good summer so far which has meant hardly any rain, so a chance for the water butts to refill is always nice.


I recently had a go at some embroidery having bought a little beginners kit recently off of Etsy, which I'm yet to start. In between all the crochet it's nice to do some sewing and I'm in the process of making a hanging wall organiser, decorated with a bit of embroidery. I'm quite pleased how this has come out anyway for my first attempt - something you have to be patient with!

I should have more photos of the finished product to show you soon.

Jo, I'm conscious I haven't yet posted the chocolate cake recipe yet, promise to try and get round to it before I go on holiday! I can't deny Mike and the boys chocolate cake! :-)

Have a great week everyone!

Em x

Small Steps Towards Making Some Changes

I've finally got around to organising all of my craft materials properly! I've been collecting corks for a while as I've got a piece of artwork I want to make using them!

I hope everyone is well and the change in weather isn't affecting you all too much; we had a night of heavy rain on Monday but I'm not complaining as it's filled our water butts to the brim and saved me the job of watering the garden for a couple of days after 3 weeks of non-stop sunshine. The sun returned yesterday and we enjoyed a lovely evening walk with Barry; he discovered rabbits a few months ago and enjoys the odd pursuit! I'm relieved that his Terrier instinct isn't too strong when it comes to the chase and because he's a giant Pansy/Girls Blouse he instead just chases until he gets within a few metres of them and then decides they're actually a little bigger than first thought and so he 'herds' them back towards their homes! It's funny watching his little legs racing across the field after the rabbits anyway and it's good exercise for him!

Barry is incredibly fit and when Jack and I went running with him last weekend we realised just how unfit we are! We're doing lots of exercise and healthy eating before America though (where we will be devouring copious amounts of naughty but tasty American food!). We fly to San Francisco at the end of this month and we can't wait to start our California road trip! We've booked a few activities in advance including a tour of Alcatraz after having multiple people telling us we must do it (the thought of wandering around a prison doesn't excite me, but I'll give it a go) and more importantly a whale watching trip at Monterey Bay!


I have to admit that I've been struggling a bit of late and I'm hoping when I come back from holiday I'll have a refreshed mind-set. I'm in the process of getting a small business set up with all of my craft and crochet bits that I've been making and I'm trying to do it properly in order to prove to myself I am capable (whereas at the moment a little voice in my head keeps telling me it will fail and the anxiety demons keep looming) and I really want to make a go of it. I'll hopefully have a proper website soon as well as an Etsy shop and I've got lots of ideas so watch this space!

 A recent baby blanket I've made, ready to add to the collection of handmade items I'll be selling soon hopefully!

An order I completed recently for a friend; cute little baby booties!

For a long time I've believed that I've made my bed so I must lie in it but family and friends keep telling me that it's never too late to make changes to do what you love. I'm not driven by money in the slightest and I find it depressing that the world revolves around it so much that to a certain extent you do have to take great care with every penny (especially as we, like most of the population, have a mortgage and bills to pay!). That's what makes going down different paths so tough; the unknown, something that strikes fear in my mind every single day. I do take each day as it comes, but I spend a good proportion of each day worrying about what the future holds. I feel like I'm yet to find my purpose in life other than making everyone around me happy, which has always been most important to me above all else, but perhaps I will now take Jack's advice a little and make myself happy too, even though I'm not quite sure how to do that! I'm sorry for being negative, I know sometimes it probably seeps into my blog posts, but sometimes being able to write it down does really help at the thought of strangers reading it but my readers always being so kind and supportive, especially when the only person I feel like I can go to for support is Jack. Obviously Jack gets it every day and I'm extremely lucky that he's such a good listener and that he always tries to offer advice and support, but at the end of the day it's only me that can make the changes and I've got to be brave and get on and do it - try and try again and all that!




Ending on a positive note, here's a beautiful Brimstone Butterfly in our garden :-)

I'll hopefully have more to report to you about soon and apologies again for the moaning!


Em x

My First Commissioned Piece Of Crochet!

Morning everyone, I hope you're all well! I'm going to start by saying that I personally won't be talking about anything to do with the EU referendum as I'm quite sick of it now. Yes I did vote, but all the negativity I'm hearing this morning is really starting to bring me down, I try very hard to always be a positive person. I believe that now votes have been made and after this initial phase (Where we're all a bit uneasy, the markets will jump around etc.), I think we need to be positive and move forward. There, that's all I'm going to say! :-)

Happy Lobelia in my new pot outside the front door

Moving onto my 'put your brave girl pants on' news; I finally plucked up the courage to believe in my crocheting abilities a little more and when my friend approached me and asked me to make some baby booties as part of a hamper she was putting together for her friend who's expecting in August I finally agreed and have been busy making them since the weekend. I'm not very good at believing in what I'm capable of and most of the time I use the excuse of "I'm just practicing" but I've finally been brave and I'm quite pleased with the results of these little shoes. I just need to steam them and set them a bit - they're equal sizes but I pulled on them quite a bit as I sewed the buttons on so they're a bit out of shape.

The finished item

I had good fun making these anyway; I had a pattern to follow but in the end I adapted it quite a bit as I wasn't pleased with the overall look of them. I call them mini loafers anyway and as the baby's sex isn't known I've tried to keep them quite neutral in colours. The yarn I used was a Katia brand, a beautiful soft merino and it's machine washable too which is great. I chose to do a cream sole and the remainder of the shoe is grey. I've finished off the shoes with a little button on the front and they should hopefully fit the new-born baby (they're 0-3 months in size).

Lovely soft yarn

I found these surprisingly easy to make, if a little fiddly because they're so small and dainty. My friend is very pleased with them anyway so that's a big relief!

Work in progress...

I've got a few other crochet and sewing projects on the go at the moment anyway with the view to selling them through an Etsy shop. I just need to be brave enough and believe in myself that I can do it! So watch this space (if I keep those big girl pants on)!


Em x

Having A Go At Amigurumi

I've had a nice quiet weekend at home getting on with various jobs while Jack is away. He's not back until Wednesday so it's just me and the Dog. I had a lovely long catch up with my best friend (Jess) on Friday afternoon; she had a wonderful honeymoon and we chatted about life in general for ages (the ups and the downs - you can always rely on your best friend to listen to your troubles and help in any way she can). I got lots of housework done on Saturday which included sorting 'that corner' and 'that drawer' out, surely everyone understands me when I say that - we all have a corner and a drawer where things get dumped for sorting at a later date! I then spent the rest of the weekend either taking Barry for walks or doing some crochet and have a go at Amigurumi.

One of Jess' friends is having her first baby at the beginning of August and Jess is putting together a hamper for her of various baby gifts. Jess has asked me to crochet some baby booties and I'm quite excited by my first official project, rather than using the excuse that I'm 'just practicing' all the time! I've been doing a lot of practicing to make sure I get my stitches and tension right and have discovered that they're actually not too difficult to make. I popped to the local wool shop a few villages away, called YarnFest and bought some gorgeous yarn to make booties with. Progress photos to come soon (I forgot to take any photos - a first for me!). Please do have a look at YarnFest's website and if you are this way then do visit their shop. It's in an old telephone exchange building in a village not far from me and they have a fantastic choice of yarn and other knitting and crochet accessories. The staff are extremely friendly and helpful too which I really appreciate when I still feel like I have so much to learn and the prices were very fair for good quality yarn.

I've also been practicing my Amigurumi recently and it's really good fun, if a little fiddly. I'm determined to make a teddy bear and other animals but my first bear attempt looks more like an alien! Oh well, practice makes perfect. I am however very pleased with how my cute little donut turned out (complete with sprinkles!) and a cute little whale too. I love whales; I intend to make another one out of a nice blue yarn that I have. Have any of you had a go at Amigurumi or (what I call) 3D crochet? I'd love to see what you've made and if you have any useful websites, books etc. that you can recommend then that would be great.

Little Whale in progress...

And the finished item, so cute!

And I love my little donut, looks so cute and tasty! I want to make some bigger versions now!

I bought these lovely stitch markers too from a shop on Etsy; they're handmade here in England and I like to do my part at supporting small businesses.

I'll hopefully have more projects to show you soon!

Em x

Handmade Gift; Scrabble Artwork

Just a quick post about a recent project I worked on, making this simple but fun piece of artwork for my brother and his girlfriend as a moving in present. It was very cheap to make and quite easy too, though it was fiddly making sure my angles were nice and as straight as can be. The scrabble pieces I bought from eBay a while ago as I was going to make something similar for our home.


It caused a few light hearted arguments on Saturday over who's name totals the most scrabble points!

Em xx

Weekend; Dog Show & Huge Roast Dinner!

Hi all, hope you're all well!


I'm a little late in writing a weekend blog post but better late than never! Did you all have a nice weekend? We had glorious sunshine on Saturday morning, though it was chilly, followed by rain and then more sunshine on Sunday so we can't really complain. I'm very glad that we made the most of the sunshine on Saturday morning as the heavens really did open that afternoon.

We enjoyed a trip out Saturday morning to the All About Dogs Show at Newbury showground. We attended last year and found it good fun and it was nice to see lots of people there again this year. There's a flower and garden show on at the same time which you get free entry into when attending the dog show and so it was nice to buy some bargain plants too. Barry enjoyed meeting lots of dogs of all shapes and sizes; he was quite nervous, as always, around other dogs but that's exactly why we go to these types of events where he'll hopefully meet lots of friendly dogs. He was amazed at watching the K9 Aqua event where the dogs launch themselves into the water after a tennis ball. I think he'd have been good at this as he loves tennis balls and loves water but he wasn't going to let me out of his sight and there's no way I was going for a swim! We did however take part in the hurdles which Barry really enjoyed. I waited at the other end and he flew over the straw bales to get back to his mummy as quickly as possible! He went so quick he almost somersaulted over the last! He was so tired by the time we got home that he almost seemed glad when we told him we were popping out without him!

Happy worn out dog

Jack and I popped into Newbury on Saturday afternoon; we bought some dinner from the butchers and bought me my very first pair of walking boots! I live in my wellies at home when out walking and they're so comfy and versatile that I don't feel like I need better walking shoes, however we're off to Wales this weekend and I feel like walking boots will be a good purchase as I'll live in them from now on! I tried on numerous pairs, some felt so heavy on my size 4 feet! I eventually found a pair I really liked; they're very comfy and quite lightweight and I've worn them on a few dog walks now and they're great for supporting my weak ankles (how do you build muscle up on your ankles?!). I'm sure I'll rack up plenty of miles in them anyway; my Fitbit informed me this morning that since last Autumn when Jack bought my Fitbit for me as a Birthday present, I've walked the length of Italy - 736 miles to be precise! Although that obviously includes miles you do around the house when doing housework and we all know just how much ground you cover darting from kitchen, to living room etc.

My first pair of walking boots!

We had a nice quiet Saturday evening finally catching up on the Night Manager (BBC 1 TV drama series). It was very good, Tom Hiddleston is a great actor and I can see why they've now put him in the running as a potential 007 of the future, though I still wish Daniel Craig would continue as he's a great Bond. We had an indoor barbeque on Saturday for dinner; we bought marinated ribs and chicken wings from the butchers, all reduced as they don't open Sunday and wanted rid of them. Very tasty and I can't wait for outdoor barbeques.

I also spent Saturday evening baking a fruit loaf for my Nan and Step Grandad as we were visiting them on Sunday for a roast dinner and catch up. Syd has a sweet tooth so I knew he'd be over the moon if I turned up with a cake for him. I also bought Nan a beautiful bunch of flowers.

Fruit Loaf for Syd

And Flowers for Nan

We had a lovely roast dinner at Nan's on Sunday; she did far too much food as per usual but Nan is famous for that! My brother and his girlfriend joined us too which made Nan's day, she loves to see her grandchildren and it was lovely to catch up. Both Nan and Syd were also very pleased to have Barry there too for lots of cuddles, sadly they had their Boxer, Daisy, put to sleep a few weeks ago, so they feel very lost having had dogs in the house continually for over two decades. Daisy lived to a very good age for a Boxer though and was totally spoilt, so I keep reminding Nan that she lived the most wonderful pampered life with them. Barry was a very good boy anyway and did stay still briefly to be cuddled to death by both Nan and Syd (they treat him as if he is a great grandchild!).

My Nan was fascinated by my brother's selfie stick - I always laugh when I see people with them but it was the best way to get us all in this photo.

Nan cooked roast beef and pork chops, "because you can't have just one meat", along with a field's worth of broccoli, cabbage, parsnips, carrots, brussel sprouts, roast potatoes AND new potatoes! Nan also did one of her famous Yorkshire puddings, which we all passed around as if it were a hat and tore off a piece (it's tradition in our family!). This huge dinner was then followed up with strawberries and ice cream. It was lovely chatting away with Nan and Syd anyway and I felt guilty when we had to head home again, but it's a two hour journey each way to Bedfordshire so we wanted to be able to get home and make lunches etc. for work on Monday. Nan as usual sent me home with half the contents of her freezer; a whole chicken, a gigantic gammon joint, steak for Jack and bacon. She tried to send me home with a 4kg pork joint too but there was no way that beast would fit in my freezer sadly! So instead she replaced said pork joint with a dozen fresh eggs from their hens and some chews for Barry.

Beautiful fresh eggs from Nan's hens, laid that day

So it was a lovely weekend of dog shows, a little bit of gardening and family time. Lovely! I'm counting down to the end of the month when my parents return from their latest trip out to France, I've really missed them this time and it's feeling like a really long time so I'm really looking forward to seeing them at the end of this month. I said 'really' a lot!

I'm also very excited for our trip to Wales this weekend! I surprised Jack for Valentines by booking us in at a lovely B&B Pub that's pet friendly too so we're going for a mini holiday. It's my first time to Wales too which is exciting as the scenery looks stunning. We're off to the Wye Valley; it's less than 2 hours' drive from home and looks like there are plenty of walks to explore, which Barry will love. We're staying in Penallt, not far from Monmouth and I've already planned our walks while we're there (just staying Saturday night but heading there early Saturday morning to get two full days there). I've planned for us to head towards Abergavenny on Sunday and we're going to do a walk on Blorenge mountain, so that's exciting. If anyone has been to the Wye Valley and can recommend walks, places to visit etc. then please do let me know. As I say, it's a totally new area to us so I'm only planning walks based on my internet research. I hope the weather is nice, regardless we will still have fun!

Have a good week all!

Em x



Latest Project: Making a Terrarium

I've taken up yet another hobby (before completing outstanding projects... story of my life!) and I had such good fun with this one. I'm an avid Pinterest user and kept stumbling across Terrariums and became quite fascinated by them, so decided to give it a go myself.

I went to Homesense on Saturday while Jenna was here and it's a great shop. Lots of beautiful things at very good prices; they're in partnership with TK Maxx I believe. One of the items I found was a beautiful glass terrarium in the shape of a lightbulb. It has a nice flat bottom so can be sat on the side somewhere or it can also be hung.

Once Jenna had gone home yesterday (after a lovely girly weekend together), I popped to the Garden Centre to buy supplies for my terrarium. They have cute miniature succulents there, I bought some small grit/stones to help retain moisture and a small bag of compost specifically for cacti and succulents (they're sometimes called Air plants too, or is that an American term?).


Once home I set about following some instructions I found on the internet to build my terrarium and I'm pleased to say it was fairly easy, though a tad fiddly and I'm really pleased with the finished result. They'd definitely make wonderful gifts for people and I'm already considering making one for a couple of friends who've said they like them.

It is currently sitting on the dresser until I decide where to put it but ideally I'd like to hang it in the conservatory (where Jack won't bump his head on it!), but I currently have a hanging basket I've planted growing in there - I always keep them indoors for as long as possible to let the plants establish in the nice warm room before hanging it outside our front door.




I definitely have the terrarium bug now and want to have a go at a few more; I love the moss-filled ones that people create and turn into miniature fairy gardens and other scenes. I've got a teeny tiny horse figurine somewhere that would look perfect on a little moss hill! Jack is a typical bloke and when I chatted to him about it on the phone last night he feigned interest when really he's thinking I've lost the plot! Perhaps I have, but it was very therapeutic.




Have a good week everyone! I'm off to read your blogs and see your latest projects!


Em x

Chocolate Easter Cake

Hi All,


Yesterday I spent forever hours baking a rich chocolate cake which I then decorated with an Easter theme (called an Easter basket cake). I'm really pleased with how it turned out and I think that's only because I did actually take my time for once rather than rushing the decorating part.

So it's a very moist and rich chocolate cake, with fresh whipped cream sandwiched in between, then covered with a thick chocolate frosting, with green sugar sprinkles to represent the grass. Then, mini eggs and little chicks to finish the Easter decorations.

Jack wanted a slice of it last night but I slapped his hand away and put it safely into its container and in the fridge ready for Jack's parents who are due to arrive with us this evening. They have a sweet tooth like Jack so despite it being a rather large cake, I don't think it will take long for us all to polish it off, I might even treat myself to a small slice if I can manage how sickly sweet it will all be (give me savoury any day)! I think I upset my new work colleagues when they got wind of the fact I like to bake but didn't bring anything in for them, oh well it will be their turn next!

While busy baking up a storm in the kitchen yesterday (or making a big mess as Jack says), I also tried a new recipe following on from one of the New Years Resolutions I set myself this year and cooked something new at least once per month; I did a simple but very tasty Chicken and bacon potato pie. It was creamy and lovely and I served it with some tenderstem broccoli. It was so easy to put together and pop in the oven once the cake had come out and made for hardly any washing up either - the perfect kind of meal!

Thanks for all your love for Barry, he's feeling much better and just about his normal self again, so he sends big wet kisses to you. He's back on his normal food (much to his dismay as I think he prefers boiled chicken and rice to his usual biscuits), back to normal walks and just his usually happy chappy self, so a big relief for us. The illness cause still remains a mystery; we're waiting for biopsy results but they think the likelihood is that these will only show up inflammation and obviously we'd rather they came back clear anyway. The vet seems to think he might just be the kind of dog that has a bad flare up (kind of like IBS) every so often and it will result in a stay at the vets for him each time in order to get fluids into him because he gets so dehydrated from the days of constant sickness. Hopefully he doesn't have too many cases of it because he's a fit and healthy dog apart from that and doesn't have too many disgusting habits, though he can't say no to a little taste of a rabbit poo or two on a walk...!

Sleepy yesterday evening after a long walk and monitoring my baking progress - he refuses to go and have a lie down while I'm cooking and instead stands in the kitchen doorway the whole time watching me. Jack says one day Barry will take himself off for a lie down but I highly doubt it, he doesn't ever stop!

Right, I had better get on with tidying the house and making up the guest bed before Jack's parents arrive. Jack is on hoover duty and I'm on bed making duty (because for the life of him he's useless at putting a duvet cover on!), then we're rewarding ourselves with a very rare Dominos pizza treat seeing as it's the long weekend and pay day today.

Have a lovely Easter everyone, hot cross buns in the morning!

(Apologies for talking non-stop about food...)

Em x

Hello March!

I can't believe it's the 1st of March already, how quickly the past two months have gone despite an extra day in February. I am however excited at the prospect of Spring being just around the corner. There's signs of its arrival already despite the drop in temperature recently; buds on the trees, blossom appearing, daffodils blooming and birds returning. I for one am ready for Springtime!

We had a lovely time on Saturday at Twickenham watching England beat Ireland in the Six Nations rugby game. I was very privileged that Jack took me to watch it, usually I'm last on the ticket list haha! It was a great game anyway and we needed those tries as an excuse to jump up and down to warm up! We then spent all of Sunday in the garden having a good tidy up. We had a big pile of old wood on the patio that we've finally managed to clear ready to replace two broken fence panels between us and our next door neighbours. I've planted some primroses in the patio pots for a bit of colour in the garden. My plants are all looking healthy in the garden though; the Hydrangea is covered in buds and the Rhododendron has really grown since I planted it last year. Jack's Mum gave me a Buddleia that I need to get into the garden and I also bought a Hibiscus reduced to £5 at the garden centre so need to find a place for that to go too where it will get lots of sunshine - difficult in our garden as it sadly doesn't get a lot of sunshine except for in the height of summer when the sun is high in the sky.

I'm in love with these 'raspberry ripple' primroses!

 

And I've also been trying to fit in some crochet in between learning lots in my new job - my brain has been pretty fried by the time I've got home each day but getting home early three days a week is so lovely. I've managed to make two coasters, my first coasters, and I'm pretty pleased with them.

 

 

Anyway, that's just a little blog post update for today; as I say my brain is a little weary so I can't think what else to write at the moment! I'll be back soon though!

Em x

Valentines Weekend & Crochet

Hi All, hope everyone had a lovely weekend and a belated Happy Valentines to you all! I know lots of people differ with their views on Valentines Day; we met up with our friends at the local garden centre café for a catch up and they're completely against it, whereas Jack and I have always celebrated it, mainly because I'm a hopeless romantic! Always have been and always will be - love a happy ending, love a chick flick, love a good Jane Austen book, I just love LOVE!

Jack and I went to Bristol for a trip out on Saturday; it was our first visit here and we had a wander around but mainly kept near the shops as the weather was abysmal. We had a nice lunch out though at Brasserie Blanc before heading home again. It was a nice day anyway and nice to spend time together and the first weekend Jack's not had to work in a long long time. I surprised Jack with a weekend away that I've booked in a lovely B&B pub in the Wye Valley. We go in April, take Barry with us and can't wait to explore somewhere new! I'll tell you more about it nearer to the time.

I did manage to make some time for some crochet this weekend and had fun having a go at some crochet flowers. I successfully managed to make a daffodil and a rose, photos of the daffodil below. I also made a cute 3D red heart following Just Pootling's instructions, which can be found on her lovely blog here. I'm quite impressed at my first attempt, there were no tears or tantrums and other than the fact one side of the heart looks bigger than the other it's turned out quite well for a first attempt!

 

I'm now going to try and make a whole series of daffodils in different yellow/white shades if I can, watch this space!

 

I also bought some lovely coloured threads from eBay a while ago as I wanted to have a go at thread crochet; I made a few initial attempts and did huff and tut a lot because it's mighty fiddly! Oh well, practice makes perfect yes? I hope to have some photos to show you soon...

 

 

I was a busy girl yesterday giving the house a tidy and spruce up. I made Jack a tasty lunch for work this week; Italian style beef meatballs in a red pepper and Bolognese sauce, with fusilli pasta, which should keep him going on these long days he's working at the moment. I made some soft white bread rolls; the dough of which went crazy in our warm kitchen while I was cooking our roast dinner. I dusted them with semolina before they went into the oven; I like the slight crunch it gives the bread.

The weather was beautiful here yesterday so we went for a lovely Valentines walk up the gallops and onto The Ridgeway. It was so nice walking along in the sunshine and Barry enjoyed chasing crows and running along at 100 mph!

 

A short while after returning from our walk a delivery driver knocked on our door with a beautiful bunch of red roses for me and Jack stood behind me with a proud grin on his face for managing to surprise me. They're beautiful and came with a lovely jug too and are now sitting on the living room windowsill next to my Gerbera which is beginning to flower again. I'm a lucky girl :-)

 

 

 

We also managed to collect my glazed pottery first thing on Sunday morning and I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out. It looks slightly like a child has painted it and proved to me that I must take more care next time but I'm happy nonetheless and Barry loves his new water bowl... not that he's told me that, I'm just assuming he does!

 

Excuse my spotty socks in the photo! Barry's Water Bowl

 

Pencil Pot for my craft room

 

Flower Pot

 

 

Lastly, while waiting for above mentioned bread to rise and while catching up on some paperwork I came across a bag of plant labels, so I decided to decorate a few in anticipation of getting started on some seed planting in the coming weeks. I'm determined to be organised this year and see how successful we can be at growing some of our dinners. The flowers I grew last year were mostly successful too so I hope the ones I plan on planting this year will be. I love Gaillardia and they come up every year full of beautiful orange/red/yellow flowers. I plan to put them in the front border below our kitchen window to add some contrast to the cream colour of our house walls.

 



 

It's my last week at work this week, it's certainly come around fast. Lots to try and get done before I leave, but we've planned a nice lunch out on my final day with my work colleagues so I'm looking forward to that. Then I've got a long weekend before starting my new job. I'm excited about getting started at my new job but I'm also super nervous about it :( I hope it goes ok...

Have a lovely week everyone, wrap up warm!

Em x

Pottery Painting

I had been looking forward to yesterday for a number of weeks as it finally meant a girls day out. I don't have many of these, I'm a home bird and I like my own independence, but there's times where you do need the company of your friends and I've got some lovely friends so it was great to have a girly day! The girls were all very impressed with my idea of visiting a local pottery painting studio and it was something different to do (I'm not a fan of clothes shopping, I actually hate traipsing around clothes shops, though home décor shops are another matter!). We went to Leapfrog Ceramics in Thatcham, which isn't too far away from where I live or where my friends live either so it was a good meeting point for us all.

It was lovely and sunny yesterday (before Storm Imogen arrived - hope you're all safe and no-one has been too badly affected by the strong winds and torrential downpours) and we all took quite a while at first to decide what to paint as there was so much to choose from. Pieces ranged in price but were quite reasonable and the studio fee was £1.95 each. They also did a 3 for 2 on all pottery so I decided on a dog bowl for Barry, a flower pot for the kitchen windowsill (for some sort of herb growing) and a pencil pot for my craft desk.

My finished pieces, ready to be fired and glazed! I get to pick them up later this week.

 

It was lovely nattering away while painting; I have come to the conclusion that my 'art' looks quite child-like and I need to do more practicing before going back again! I am however happy with my pieces and I'm looking forward to seeing what they look like once they've been glazed. The girls also enjoyed themselves and the photo below shows our pieces once painted, awaiting glazing.

 

 

I'll do a blog post in the next few days to hopefully show you the finished pieces once they have bee glazed, the colours should then look much bolder which is good! In all, a really good fun day out and we spent quite a few hours in there. I'd definitely like to go back again and would happily while away and hour or two in here on my own. They do a ladies night where a free buffet is provided, no studio fee and you can bring your own wine, so we may try and attend that if we can as it sounds like good fun!

 

Em x

I've Completed My First Ever Crochet Blanket!

I did it!! Finally, I got around to completing my crochet blanket last night and I'm so pleased with it!

It's huge, soft and I can't wait to snuggle into it! I made it wide enough (just!) to lay across our bed, which is also the reasoning behind the colour scheme, so it matches the theme in our master bedroom. I therefore used purple (my favourite colour), grey and white, I then also did a quick bit of edging in a different purple shade, mainly just to make the blanket look complete.

 

I'm so proud of myself for getting it finished; I can have a terrible habit of admitting defeat sometimes and moving onto the next craft project before finishing the last, but this one I really was determined to get finished and it's been great practice for me as a fairly new kid to the 'crochet obsessed' party.

 

 

Now I need to decide what the next crochet project is going to be as this has spurred me on into making lots more crochet pieces for the home, please let me know your ideas! Anyone know any straightforward tutorials for crochet flowers? I'd like to master these next as I'm hoping to make some sort of tie back for our new bedroom curtains and I thought they'd look really nice with little crochet flowers on them.

 

On another note, I just wanted to show you a photo of the lovely illustrated prints I got from a delightful company called JillyJilly. I think they're really cute and I couldn't decide on which I liked more so in the end chose to get both; one for the craft room and one for the kitchen. They have a shop on their website (here) with lovely items, great Mothers Day ideas and all in beautiful pastel colours. I am a big lover of small businesses and designers because I always like to find something a little more unique and it's nice to know your purchase is going to make a difference to them coming up with more lovely designs in the future :)

 

So cute! Can't wait to get them framed and hung on the wall!

 

 

I'm in my final full week here at my old company and it's been rather hectic, hence a bit of neglecting on the blogging front (sorry!). I'm looking forward to finishing at this company at the end of next week, though I will miss the people I work closest with. I am however very much looking forward to starting my new job but I'm feeling very anxious about it if I'm honest... it's a step up and I just hope I'm capable. I'm probably being a sillyworryingbilly but I can't help it! But anyway, I hope within the next three weeks to have finished at this job, got my first week done at my new job and hopefully have some more time on my hands for blogging... watch this space! Lots of aims on my new 'happiness plan' for March!

 

Have a good week everyone!

 

Em x