Happy erm... Late Easter!

Ok so I know it's been and gone but I took loads of Easter photos with the best intentions of blogging and simply haven't had the chance to even think about it! A trip to my parents house in Kent was just what was needed and while I was there I found out I'd been accepted for a job I applied for! Good times :)

My mum has such lovely things and I always like admiring her garden and it's different phases each time I visit. I found some daffodils and tulips growing under some trees which I liberated to the front of the garden which I was quite excited by actually! We usually decorate for Easter with eggs and bunnys and now I have a few things of my own to put in our flat next year :)

These are the vanilla biscuits I baked as Easter presents for my nan and with my mum's catalogue of crafting equipment we also made this cute little box!

Now onto the good stuff...! A few weeks ago I took a delivery of something sooooo amazing I couldn't help keep looking at it. Ok it's only wool (no it's not only wool it's pure bliss) but I love it! Look at the colours, aren't they fabulous? I actually had no idea what to do with it, only knew it looked lovely and it was on offer. Yes on offer! It came from this lovely site called Hejhog and was in the sale which for Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino is very very good indeed. Sooooo soft. Soooo lovely. Mmmmmm...

Hello! Sorry where was I! Oh yes, wool. Lucy in the Attic of 24 has once again inspired me to make something pretty and quite practical! I have loads of pasta and jam jars full of pennies (and some with bigger coins!) but I've always hidden them away for they don't look very nice do they? Well following this tutorial did the trick and now look! Lovely jars, in lovely jackets, filling with lovely money for a lovely holiday. One day :)

Friday

Yesterday was a very sad day, I had to take our hamster Harry to the vet's to be put down :-( She was an old lady (I know, Harry's a boys name) and was looking a bit poorly but we've had her 2 and a half years which for a hamster is a pretty long time! This is Harry just after she'd had her three babies, Hugh, Little Ham and Baby Ham (that's how we found out she was a girl!) Only Hugh is left now, we're not sure why Little & Baby Ham died before their mum but I guess that's how things go.

In order to cheer myself up I decided to partake in a little bit of baking last night, which I've not done in absolutely ages, since I baked 4 huge cakes for a charity day at work (after which I decided I never wanted to bake again).

First up Kitten Fairy Cakes. Ok they don't look anything like Kittens but it's the recipe name, I think you're supposed to decorate them to look like cats but I think stars are just as lovely! The recipe is from an old cook book my mum has and it has never failed me.

Ta dah!

I also made some ginger bread stars although I'm not much a fan of ginger, but this was less of a following-a-recipe and more of a putting-pre-mixed-ingredients-into-a-bowl! Unintentionally they look quite festive but they were from a Christmas present so maybe this was inevitable!

Tulips

I almost always buy what my mum calls pinks at the supermarket but on this occasion I was inspired by Lucy at Attic 24 and went with pink tulips. They've just started to open out and they're so beautiful aren't they? A definite future purchase!





Onto more crafty stuff now, I finished my friends cushion I'd been making on and off for a few weeks and here it is!




Lovely flowery buttons :-)

Sewing things

I'm a little bit excited after my trip yesterday to purchase my first fabric stash. I'd been told about Leon's Fabric Superstore by someone at Chorlton Knits and I tell you it's a little gold mine! I wish I'd taken my camera now* because it was floor to ceiling in some places of rolls of lovely material. I don't mind telling you I spent a little more than I intended but I'm really pleased with my haul.

*I have a great camera but I always steal J's so by my camera I mean his.





I immediately wanted to make something and I've been meaning to make a knitting needle / crochet hook roll for a while now, so here it is, ta dah!

Bees come to Manchester

Really pleased about the article I've just read on www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

"There's going to be a real buzz about Manchester this summer - as the city joins the fight to save the honeybee.

The Plan Bee project is installing bee hives in gardens and allotments in inner city areas.

Residents are being encouraged to keep into keeping apiaries – a collection of hives – and encourage a growth in the bee population."

We really need bees, bees are good.

Happy Valentines Day

I'm not sure why I've chosen to write about Valentines Day as I'm not really one for celebrating it (an agreement that my other half is probably quite pleased about) but these hearts had been lying around since our anniversary, so if you do celebrate today, this is for you :-)

I've been busy in the garden (technically balcony) again and can't believe how fast a year has gone. I learnt a lot last year about what-not-to-do when sewing seeds and I've cut back on how many I'm sewing because it's a real pain to be honest! I don't feel like sun flowers this year but I am looking forward to the nasturtiums coming back (the bees like them!)

This is the cushion I've been making for a friends 30th birthday in a few weeks and I'm really pleased, I just hope she likes it. J commented how much faster I am at making squares now which is a bloody good thing in my opinion as I've been doing it almost solidly for a year now!

After a busy day of pottering there is nothing better than a good cup of Yorkshire Tea, and what cup of tea would be complete without cake or a donut?

I'm getting really into a little crochet thing called Amigurumi and have been following a great little tutorial to make a cup of tea from Ana Paula's blog, check it out because there are some adorable tutorials and even I seem able to make them. Maybe I'll upload some photos next time if I ever finish Mr Brew.

Good evening Salford

We had a beautiful sunset this evening and I needed to share it.

I've digressed from monster blanket and have been making a cushion cover for a friends birthday. I'm a bit worried that it started off looking like a logo for the RAF but hopefully when finished it will be ok!

Happy New Year

Well I had a feeling this might happen because my patients is about as long as a caterpillar (I even stopped writing this sentance to pick at my fingernails) and I loose interest in things very quickly - it is a wonder I am still making this blanket because it will be a year come March! So yes I did expect that blogging would fall by the wayside but I suppose this is better late than never.

I have moved flats and this is very exciting because I have the sun now all day long (when it's out) and things are warm! I've seen people move into my old flat (I didn't move far at all!) and I feel sorry for how cold they will be.

Enough about that, this is the blanket so far! I'm 10 rows in so thats just over half way, cannot-believe-it! It's definitlely going to fall into March though but I guess a year isn't bad by my standards.

These flowers are making me smile too, I got the vase / jug in TKMaxx today (another impulse buy) and I couldn't be more pleased with it!

This blue and white cushion is a new addition to the already full-of-cushions sofa but I think it's quite a nice one, unlike the ugly cushion below. People seem to like it! The colours are bad. They used to be in the blanket but I decided early on to omit them (apart from the odd middle here and there) and I'm so glad I did.