Sunshine, Thank you and a Question...

Good day to you! Firstly, thank you so very much for all your kind and encouraging words about my knitted cushion. I feel much more confident about showing you simple or imperfect things. You are all wonderful. Also, sorry for such a moany post about the rain yesterday...it seems I am always going on about the weather. It's just that, you know, it is June and a little (little) bit of sun would be appreciated, if only to improve my mood.

And one other thing...I've had a little play around with my blog this week, changing the header photo to something more summery (ha ha) and adding some other buttons down the side. But I cannot get my photo to sit centrally and fill the top of the space. It always aligns to the left. Also, it has gone all pixelated and horrid looking. Why??? Anyone with a "blogger" blog, please could you put me out of my misery and tell me how to achieve a less amateurish looking blog? Thank you in advance. 


This morning the sun shone and it was good. We spent hours in the garden cutting the grass, trimming the hedge, weeding, pruning, tidying and sweeping. Hard work. I have blisters and broke a sweat. Satisfying, outdoorsy, dirt-under-the-finger-nails sort of work, but you feel so good when it is done. The children just roamed around us, playing and chatting and trying to help. We stopped about 1.30 and ate a late lunch of Huevos Rancheros with a cold beer. Then I had a doughnut. I needed to replace those calories I burned this morning, you see...

Making Our Own Fun

Oh, the rain we have had this week. It feels as though it has rained every day. I don't think it has, but I have that bored, restless, dissatisfied feeling that comes from a wet school holiday. Picnics and farm visits have been cancelled or relocated to indoor soft play centres. We haven't had much garden time, for playing or gardening, not when the rain drums down on the skylight windows like this. 

I've found this week hard work. Bella was very tired and whiny when school broke up, everything was a problem, nothing was right, and she has been like it all week. Stroppy. Angus has also been harder work than normal as we removed his dummy last weekend ("My not need dummy. Dummy for babies.") In hindsight, doing this at the start of half term was foolish, but it was long overdue. He doesn't want a nap anymore. I rely on that little break in the middle of the day to get jobs done, have a little head space, have some one on one time with Bella. But, he is three, and I am lucky he was such a good napper for so long. See how I'm trying to find the positive?

Thank goodness we had the Jubilee celebrations to give the week some focus and colour (and an excuse to eat a lot of cake). Thank you Abigail for my lovely mug, what a wonderful surprise.

We've made our own fun. The kids never tire of trying on my shoes, and I never tire of finding it entertaining. Like when they try on my sunglasses, it always makes me laugh.

Especially when Angus is still in his "monster" pyjamas.

Plants have been admired and watered (she grew this at school - they are doing "growing" at the moment).

In between rain showers I have been perking up some furniture with the help of little people. It's a job that has taken all week, done in piecemeal, waiting for coats of paint to dry, done whenever I have a spare minute. I'll show you the finished result next week.

Bella wanted to do some sewing (yes!) without any pressure from me, honest. She drew a plate filled with apples, oranges, grapes and bananas onto the white linen with a fading pen. Then she wants to sew over the lines with thread. She has started on an apple, in green. It requires patience and endless needle threading from me, but she seems really motivated by it.

Her design reminds me of the beautifully detailed, whimsical Palmers Cove and First Eats tea towels from Anthropologie. What can I say, my girl's got taste.

Image from: http://images.anthropologie.eu/is/image/Anthropologie/A24451072_060_b?$uk-zoom-5x$

She "hemmed" the edges:

I've been doing a bit of sewing too (theme Wizard of Oz, not Gay Pride):

Meanwhile, Angus assembled a Playmobil snack kiosk at the top of some battlements on his fort. Handy for any attacking troops who fancy a milkshake and apple on their way to do some raping and pillaging.

We ended on a high note though, with a trip to see Peppa Pig Live at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, followed by lunch out at a Chinese buffet with a pretty spectacular all you can eat ice cream selection.

What about you, have you had a nice week? Have you had ANY sun? I hope you've had fun wherever you are. Thank you so much for being here and for reading, and a very warm welcome to my new followers. x

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Via SouleMama.

A Very, Very Simple Knitted Cushion

I feel slightly shy about showing you this cushion as a finished knitting project. I see so much really beautiful knitting by talented and inspiring knitters on other blogs (typically red, knitsofacto and Mags Creative Meanderings in particular) that I feel a little embarrassed by the starter level simplicity of this cushion. Also, my mother-in-law is an outstanding knitter, although sadly arthritis makes knitting difficult for her now.

First, some context...when I was pregnant with Bella, I bought this book and I made the garter stitch blanket while I was on maternity leave. 

While rummaging for my knitting stuff in the loft recently, I found a bag containing 29 pink knitted squares. I think I had intended to make a border for the blanket.

When I made the blanket we didn't know whether Bella was a boy or girl, so I tried to use a palette suitable for either sex, while avoiding the ubiquitous pastel baby shades. Now, Bella is  five and I have no need for a baby blanket, but I couldn't bring myself to throw out the squares. Such a waste of time, effort and yarn!

So I decided to make a cushion using 50 squares altogether, 25 on each side. I had some yarn leftover and bought a little more. I don't really know what type of yarn it is, sorry. But here is a label:

The squares are 14 stitches wide and 24 rows long, knitted on 5mm/US 8 needles. I found the repetition of these little squares so soothing, so relaxing, each one a little mini task. So easy to pick up and put down. Little concentration required. In fact, an excellent project to gently ease me back into knitting.

Knitting, where have you been for the last five years? Can we be friends again? I promise I will learn to read a pattern, increase and decrease, so that I can make things other than blankets, cushions and scarves.

This is the back of the cushion. I think my Mum knitted some of the squares as I found some were much smaller than mine - we must have very different tension. I actually like the higgledy piggledy patchwork effect!

I sewed only three side together as I needed the cushion cover to be removable (small people = spills), so I made little bows along the bottom with lengths of yarn.

A simple garter stitch patchwork, with the squares sew together at alternate angles, to avoid stretching.

And tassells were added, just for fun. I rather like it. It sits in the little IKEA tub chair in Bella's bedroom for the time being. What do you think? Can anyone recommend some easy knitting projects...? 

Jubileeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!

Ok, my last Jubilee post, I promise. There is a definite red, white and blue theme to today's activities. I found the photo above when I recently stayed at my parent's house. It is me, aged three and a half, at Charles and Diana's wedding in July 1981. I know it's not really a Jubilee photo, but I like it. I think it echoes everything I have seen here in the UK over the last few weeks; fun, fancy dress, street parties, eating and drinking, bunting, a sense of community. I remember making that hat with Mum and Grandma, then wearing it for the playschool hat parade.

Bella kindly modeled her Corgi T-shirt for me. (Angus was less keen).

Today we had a small tea party with some friends. I made cupcakes (recipe here).

I love these little cake toppers:

Jubilee Rocky Roads, which are plain old Rocky Roads with a Union Flag stuck in the top (recipe here).

Some cups. And straws. I didn't photograph the matching plates, napkins, bunting...

But the highlight of my day, actually my week, is this little picture that Bella drew this morning:

Her Royal Highness is wearing a crown, striped tights and what look like red cowboy boots. But best of all, for some reason I do not understand, the Queen is wearing an apron, with a picture of the Queen on it. When I asked Bella why, she looked at me as though I was very stupid and said "because she is baking some Queen cakes.". I do not understand the logic of a five year old mind but I love it.

Flag Frenzy

1. Flowers from the supermarket (they came with a flag, wrapped in Union Jack cellophane!)

2. Tea towels from Ikea, £1.99 for two.

3. Bottle tops.

4. A regal and delicious cold glass of beer.

5. The Jan Constantine cushion that sits on our bed.

6. A flag in the pots on the front door step.

7. Homemade artwork.

We have gone a bit Union Jack crazy here. All the above images are from our house - I wish I'd had the camera when we were out and about this morning. Everywhere is festooned with union jack flags, bunting, posters. I like it. I like the way our flag is being used in positive, celebratory way. Not many people proudly wave the St George's Flag, the red cross on a white background that is the English flag, these days. I think a lot of people feel it's been hijacked by either football hooligans or the BNP. 


Is there flag waving in your house too? Any American readers...does it get this flag crazy every year for the fourth of July? Us reserved Brits are excitable because these events come along once in a blue moon, but if it was annual, I don't know if we'd be so bothered. But I say Hurrah for the Union Jack (sorry Dad, Union Flag...it's only a Union Jack when it's on a boat) and all this flag-waving happiness. This busy, diverse, rainy island I live on is not perfect but I like it very much. 

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Via Soulemama.