Cross-Stitch, Crochet and Tea Shops

Blimey I've been busy since I last wrote!  It wasn't until I uploaded the photos from my phone that I realised just how much I've done in the last few weeks. 

I've been very busy stitching and hooking.  Last week I completed the floral wall hanging that I have been working on through the summer and I am delighted with it. 

Pattern from Cross Stitcher Home Style book

Progress via Instagram

I will frame it and hang it on the wall in my living room with my collection of vintage floral paintings - I think it will look good there.  I just need to find exactly the right frame, which so far is eluding me.  I am going to have to recycle an old one and keep my eyes peeled in the charity shops.  

I've started working on another piece of cross stitch - this one is from a Made in France embroidery book.   (A gorgeous series of books; I have three and love them all.)

A Scandi-style heart made of snowflakes, I chose this pattern because it is simple, delicate and pretty.  I have only worked on it a few nights now and it is nearing completion.  Its destiny is to be stuffed and dangle prettily somewhere in my home.  I plan to make a few and fill them with lavender to keep my yarn stash fresh and moth-free.

In between working on my rose cross-stitch I made this little wall-hanging for a lovely new friend.  

Erin is one of life's rays of sunshine and I'm so glad I met her.  She is always making beautiful things for people (and has made a couple of surprise gifts for me) so I wanted to make something in return to say thank you.  I was pleased with how it turned out and I'm going to make a few mis-matched ones for myself to decorate the landing when I get around to it.

Work on the cream and pink popcorn flower blanket is still underway.  

I have decided to intersperse the flower squares with plain cream grannies.  The flowers take quite a while to work up and use a lot of yarn.  Plain grannies can be knocked up in minutes and without any thought so the blanket is growing much more quickly than originally anticipated.  

As much as I'm loving the flowers, I think I also need something wintery to work on now that the days are getting cooler.  I've got a huge stash of gorgeous Rowan wool and some beautiful Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino so I'm going to start another blanket soon.  Nothing wrong with having a couple of projects on the go as long as they get finished, I reckon.

I am pleased to say that I haven't been a complete crafting hermit.  I've been out and about lots too.  I've visited London on a weekly basis - to meet friends, have dinner, drink tea/cocktails/champagne, eat cake, poke around haberdasheries, browse a craft fair, shop at Liberty and raid Anthropologie.  Exhausting but lush! 

Loch Fyne

Bill's

Camellia

We live just an hour's train journey from the centre of London.  Buying a railcard and booking tickets in advance means we can travel there very cheaply so we have vowed to make the most of it and really explore our capital.   I've always travelled regularly into London and could probably tell you in my sleep where all of my favourite shops are, and quite a few fancy restaurants too.  But now [I'm older] I'm more interested in tea shops, haberdasheries, markets, architecture and city parks so I've bought a few books to help me make the most of every single trip into town.  If you have any recommendations I'd love to hear. 

Love and stuff.

Nicki 

x

PS - Yay! I've reached the 300 follower mark! So chuffed and thank you for clicking the follow button, particularly during such a writing drought.  I will be hosting a giveaway soon to thank you for supporting me.  Please say hi if you're new, I'd love to hear from you. 

PPS - I do try to respond to everyone directly but sometimes it's difficult if you're a 'no reply' blogger.  So, I'm going to respond to all comments here, on my blog, now.  So if you ask a question, pop back in a day or two and I'll have replied.  Well, that's the plan and I'll do my very best.  :) x

A Slow and Steady Summer

The good weather has been a long time coming and I am so ready for it.  We all are, I know.  It has been lovely to throw open the windows and encourage a light, fragrant breeze to blow through the house.  Drink wine so cold that condensation forms on the glass.  To lay in bed at night listening to farm machinery in the nearby fields.

We are taking it easy this summer, spending a great deal of time thinking, talking and planning.  Discussing what's really important to us.  Taking stock of our lives and working out what actually makes us happy.  August is always quiet for us and this year, more than any other, we have welcomed that period of slowing down.

There has been plenty of opportunity to sit in a comfortable chair to stitch or crochet in the evenings.

I have been inspired (as usual!) by Vanessa and have started to crochet a new blanket.

A gorgeous new set of bamboo crochet hooks from Lisa Pocklington at getsmitten.com

This one's for the bedroom.  I am making the 'Something Pretty' square, the pattern for which has been published on the ever-so-lush Millie Makes blog.  I wasn't aware of Millie Makes until Vanessa pointed us in that direction and I'm so glad she did.  So much gorgeousness in one place.

I started this blanket the very day that Vanessa posted about it.  I'd had a little stash of Rowan 'Pure Life' organic cotton sitting in a basket for a while and planned to use it for a tea cosy that Cuckoo shared on her blog last year.  Just hadn't got round to it yet.  But - as soon as I saw this puffy floral square I fell in love and immediately knew that the chalky pink and cool cream organic cotton would be perfect for such a pretty pattern.   Happily (or maybe not) the yarn has been discontinued now and I was able to top up my stash for half the usual price.  Happy me!

Stash of squares by my bedside.  Slowly growing! 

Each square seems to take an age to complete but the finished result is worth it.  I am using the pink and green cotton to make the flowers and edging the whole thing in cream.  The colours will look beautiful on our bed, if I have the patience to make the blanket big enough.  If not, I will use it as a lap blanket for one of the armchairs in my craft room.

I've created a craft space in the top room at home.  I'll show you properly sometime but I love it! 

Few of us are faithful/committed/disciplined enough to stick with one project at the time and I am simultaneously working on a large-ish piece of cross stitch that will be framed and hung on the wall in our living room.  It's the first time I've used even weave fabric and I'm delighted with how it is coming along, even if I do have to squint at my work more than usual!

My crafty adventures do not end there!  Andrew bought me a jam-making kit (at my request) for Christmas and I mentioned, in passing, to the post lady (random, I know, but she's a friend now) that I still hadn't used it.  She promptly descended on me early one evening (it was planned!) with two punnets of apricots and a bag of sugar.  This apricot jam was the result:

How much do you think I enjoyed prettying up the jars?  Yep, loads.

It is delicious - I'm thrilled!.  Andrew moaned that he doesn't like apricot jam but then he tasted this.  He has eaten it every morning (of his own accord!) on toast for breakfast and claims he loves it.  Score!

*happy dance* 

Spurred on by my success, I made strawberry jam last week.  Another winner *high five*.  I've well and truly caught the bug - can't wait to make chutneys and pickles.

Tonight, the husband's football team is playing so I'm going to sit and do some more of my cross stitch.  Have a lovely week everyone and thanks for popping by.

Hello to my new followers and thank you for clicking the 'join this blog' button.  I'm getting ever closer to 300 followers which is fab as I am planning a giveaway which includes a beautiful Pip Studio jug!

Love

Nicki 

x

J'adore la France

Warning:  Epic post with loads of pictures.  You might want to fetch a cuppa.  Or just give it a swerve altogether, I won't be offended!

We've been lucky this year and had two really lovely holidays.  We went off to Spain (blogged here!) towards the end of June and then we went to France at the end of July with my family.

It was my Dad's 60th Birthday this year and he wanted to have a holiday with us all to celebrate. (I think he'd had a bit of a health scare - that he kept secret from us - but he's definitely getting a bit soppy in his old age!)  

The front view.  To the right of the photo is the main outbuilding - the bit you can see is a little games room.

Said games room:  pool and table tennis.  There was also badminton and tennis equipment if you wanted it.

Dad booked an amazing gîte  in France for the week.  It was one of the best holidays ever, made all the more special for being able to spend quality time not just with Drew but with mum, dad, sis, bro-in-law and niece.  Of course we see each other a lot  - we all live within a reasonable driving distance of each other - but it's rare that we get the chance to just be quiet in each other's company, share a bottle of wine or a pot of coffee and enjoy the sunshine without any time pressures.  

Drew sprawled out on a blanket in the garden.  By the swing seat, there, is a delightful babbling brook. 

Cross stitch in the shade.  Heaven on earth.

The gîte was gorgeous.  It was huge with five big bedrooms, four bathrooms (all luxuriously kitted out) and an enormous kitchen/diner with the most heavenly scrubbed pine table to seat about 14 people.  It was decorated completely to my taste and had a kind of faded grandeur about it.  I spent the first hour of our arrival wandering around room to room exclaiming over the furniture and the objets d'art everywhere!

The entrance hall.  Made me go 'oooh!' immediately! 

If I could have sneaked this whole cabinet and its contents home, I probably would have, I won't lie.  I was besotted with it:

The kitchen had folding french windows which opened right out onto the decking and swimming pool area.  It was seriously lovely and the perfect place for some downtime en famille.  

Swimming pool and pool house.  Loads of loungers and a huge table again.  Lush.

The gîte was in a hamlet near the small town of Trun.  We chose the Normandy area because my Dad and Drew have a fascination with WWII and wanted to explore the Normandy beaches.  Trun was the nearest town in which to pick up our daily baguettes and whilst there we'd have a coffee at our favourite little cafe to watch the world go by:

The little cafe was right next to the boulangerie and it was lovely to watch people of all ages popping by to fetch their bread.  Children as young as 6 or 7 wandered past with great long baguettes! 

Apart from several days spent at our home for the week, we did make a couple of trips out.  Our first trip was to Caen to visit a Commonwealth cemetery and war museum.  

Caen was beautiful, with lots of quaint little buildings, a beautiful cathedral, pretty shops and restaurants.

I've obviously seen the cemeteries on TV and in films but you cannot comprehend the enormity of it until you are standing right there yourself.  Nearly 5,000 graves at this one alone; imagine each grave is a uniformed man, standing to attention.  It was indescribably emotional.  

My favourite day of the holiday was a day spent with my mum and dad visiting the trenches and the beaches.  We were out from 8am until 8pm in glorious sunshine.  My dad and Drew especially had a whale of time but mum and I found the trenches interesting too.  There were hideouts, guns and shiz:

Beach fortifications, part of the Atlantic wall built by the Germans on Omaha beach.

Big gun. :-)

The Dakota's pretty but look at that sky! :-)

Drew and me.

We took a tiny detour inland to find somewhere nice for lunch and found the lovely town of Douvres-la-Delivrande where we took our time over pizza, salads and wine in the shade.

My two favourite men ever. 

Douvres-la-Delivrande

We drove back to the coastline to explore more beaches and before heading home we decided to find somewhere for a drink.  I had been telling my mum just that day that I wanted to buy a wicker basket for shopping at the local farmers' market.  As we drove past this little shop in Beauvron en Auge I literally squealed at my dad to 'stop the car!'.  

He performed a perfect almost-emergency-stop, swinging the car into the nearest parking space.  Turns out it was a good move.  Mum and I spent the rest of our holiday money in the Epicerie, we all had a wander round the town and then stopped at a little bar opposite the Epicerie for a glass of wine.   It was delightful.

A gorgeous row of shops including an antiques store and a small art gallery.

This little shop was closed.  It looked amazing.  Fromageries rule!

SO MANY lovely things in this shop.  Was sorely tempted by a polka dot scarf.

Our view as we quaffed ice cold white wine (the boys drank beer).

Of course one of the highlights of the holiday was to have a whole week with my gorgeous niece.  I got cuddles first thing in the morning and lots of splashing in the pool with her too.  My favourite moment was a bit of quiet time after we'd been in the pool together. I was lying on a sun lounger drying off when she trotted over to me with her mum's ipad, sat on my tummy, pinched the hat from my head and made me sing along to 'Bingo the Dog'.  

B-I-N-G-O and Bingo was his name-o! 

A moment I will treasure forever - the holiday was full of them.

Thank you, Dad, for an amazing holiday and happy 60th Birthday.  We love you loads.

Nicki 

x

Sun, Sand and Sea in Norfolk

We went to the seaside over the weekend.  My parents have a static caravan by the beach in North Norfolk and we had booked it a while ago.  It was tempting to call the whole thing off given the weather here on Friday but I am fed up of the rain putting the mockers on my summer so decided that we would proceed with our mini break and just ensure that we had the right clothes with us in case of rainstorms.

When we picked J up en route on Friday night the rain was coming down in bucket-loads and I was mildly alarmed (but not surprised) to see that he wasn't wearing a coat.  (He's a teenager and I don't think they 'do' coats.)  He was also wearing a pair of brand spanking new - very white - trainers.  I quelled my natural instinct to insist on him grabbing a jacket and a pair of more practical [older, less cool] shoes and thanked the Lord that we had packed a shedload of DVDs in case we were stuck indoors.

Saturday, however, dawned bright and breezy.  I was up ages before Andrew and J so made myself a big mug of coffee and sneaked into the living room, put the little fire on and spent a few hours stitching before the menfolk got up.  It was bliss!  

  

Andrew was first to surface so we dressed quickly and took the dog for a walk to the bakery to fetch supplies for brunch.  We sat around the caravan watching TV for a while and then drove across to Holt for cake and a poke around some of the antique shops.  I have found a new favourite shop and spent a bit too long lusting after vintage factory baskets (bought two, yay!), vintage-style ribbon and wire bread baskets.  I also found a ladybird book in an antique shop that I had LOVED as a child and completely forgotten about.  Wish I had bought it now, I keep thinking about it:  The Elves and the Shoemaker.  Remember that one?  I loved the little pink boots the elves had made.

When we got back to the caravan it was warm and sunny so we took a long walk along the beach - J and Andrew played catch all the way along the promenade.

Walking along the sea front with my little dog in the sunshine, watching my two best boys running around, laughing and yelling to each other makes me so happy, really properly heart-squeezingly happy.  Such simple pleasures.  Nice to spend the weekend remembering what's important - it's been a bit stressful round here lately.

We rounded up the day with an early dinner at the pub, a quick turn around the little amusement arcade and walked back to the caravan with an ice cream before settling down to watch a film together.

Sunday was more of the same - walks in the sunshine, sewing and reading.  The weather was beautiful so we chose to make the most of it and stay a bit later than we ordinarily would.  It was quiet, relaxed and nice to have some proper quality time together.  

♥♥♥♥♥

Today has been a different story altogether.  We discovered that our debit card has been cloned and the fraudsters (love that word) have spent £1,500 on gambling websites.  (I am ashamed to admit that I was a teeny bit relieved at the fact it was a genuine fraudster this time.  Andrew phoned me, just a few weeks ago, in a huge panic about a potential fraud on our account where the fraudsters had spent ridiculous amounts of money at Amazon and Space:nk, all in the space of a few days.  Erm, no darling, that was me.  Not popular.)

We will get the money back but not before our holiday on Thursday and I had big plans for that cash, largely involving the French flea markets and haberdasheries.  :-)

Have a good week everyone.  Thanks for popping over here and a big thanks to my new followers for clicking the follow button!  *waves* 

I'm planning a giveaway to celebrate 300 followers so we're getting closer! 

Nicki 

x

Joining the Women's Institute

I finally made it to my local WI meeting on Tuesday evening, much to the amusement of my friends and family.   Pah! What do they know - I am so glad I went!  

I'd been meaning to join for ages. We don't have a group in my village so I had the choice of neighbouring villages or the main one in town and I wanted to choose exactly the right one for me.  I didn't fancy the meeting in town.  The group has recently formed and so is a 'new breed' of WI - I wanted to join a traditional group that had been running for decades so I plumped for the village next door.

I went along with a couple of women who are already members - the WI put me in touch with them so that they could be my 'buddies' for the meeting and they gave me a lift.  Isn't that nice?!  I was a bit apprehensive because I didn't know what to expect but I needn't have worried.  There were about 30 women there - all ages but mostly between 40 and 60 I would say.  I was one of the youngest there and, conversely, there were one or two really elderly ladies but age didn't matter - it was super friendly, everyone came over to chat and say hello and we all had things in common.  It made such a nice change from a usual weekday evening.

It was a more formal meeting that I'd expected.  We took our seats and the President gave an opening speech before running through the minutes and a few notices.  Then we had a presentation from a speaker.  They have a different guest speaker each month and this time it was a vet.  He was quite young and good looking and the way that the women responded to him reminded me of a Gilderoy Lockhart book-signing session in Harry Potter! Ha!   There was lots of eyelash fluttering, overly-loud giggling and innuendo.  It was so entertaining; they were such a cheeky, fun-loving bunch.  

The ladies I went with were running the refreshments this time so I helped them out and it was nice to have a reason to chat to people. I'm quite shy in group situations and am right out of my comfort zone mingling and networking.  If you fancy going to your local WI and feel a bit shy I'd recommend offering to help on the tea stall when you're there.  You feel less of a spare part.

So we meet once a month and next month we're going for a little country walk followed by supper at the gorgeous pub in the village.  Partners are invited this time so I went straight home and told Andrew I'd signed him up for a walk with the WI next month.  He took it in good spirits, bless him!  

I had so many reasons for joining the WI, not least because I wanted to get to know my neighbours and become more involved with the local community.  There are loads of activities and charity events that the WI is involved with and I am so excited to be a part of it - I feel like I am doing something worthwhile with my spare time.

As a result of chatting to the women at the WI I've now also found a local yoga class to join (I'm going with a couple of women on Monday night), met someone to teach me how to make a patchwork quilt and been introduced to a school's volunteer group that I have wanted to contact for ages.  I've also found a crafty companion who wants to start a knit (or crochet) and natter group with me at the pub.  Yay! 

Nicki 

x

Home-making, baking and faffing about

Was it really only last week that I was on holiday?   My first day back at work, predictably, was super busy but I managed to get completely up to date and there are now just three emails in my inbox which require attention today.  Smug.

We had taken an extra day off on Friday to finish off our holiday so it was nice to have a long weekend.  Having unpacked and tidied everything away the night before, we were able to spend Friday doing nice things.  We were up early and headed straight for Milton Keynes to run a few errands (returning library books etc) and drove from there to Bedford (with a takeout flat white, natch).  As regular readers will know, Friday is pocket money day (yay!) and I wanted to treat myself to some blooms from my favourite florist.  It's only a small shop but I spend ages in there in admiring the flowers and trinkets.  I chose a selection of country cottage-style flowers and they look beautiful on the dining table.

Of course, we nipped through Primark where I bought yet more pretty tea towels, PJs and a nice cheapy pair of leopard print ballet pumps.  By one o'clock we were safely ensconced in a nearby village pub, tucking into proper scampi and chips and downing large glasses of ice cold white wine. 

We picked up the pooch from my MILs on Friday night - as always, she was super happy to see us and looked pretty as a picture in a little pink bow  having been freshly bathed and trimmed the day before (the pooch, not the MIL).  

J was with us again this weekend and the three of us spent the whole time cosying up in the living room together, reading, watching Harry Potter movies and playing about with our phones/ipads.  We left the house just twice, both times to walk the dog.  If J eats well, sleeps well and gets a bit of fresh air when he comes to stay, I feel I've done my bit as a stepmum!  

It was nice to have time to mooch around the house with nothing very important to do.  As well as buying a proper bunch of flowers in Bedford, I also bought a couple of bunches of sweet williams at the Co-op and filled a few pots and jugs with them around the house.

I love this old marmalade pot I bought for pennies at a local antique centre but it isn't the most water-tight of vessels and I have to use this little vintage saucer/bowl thingy to catch the drips.

I have a teeny obsession with vintage Wee Willy Winkie candle holders

As if that wasn't enough, I came home to find that my sweet peas had positively blossomed and I was greeted by a tangle of colour and fragrance (cue: a happy little jig on the lawn).  Having been reliably informed that they will regrow with gusto if I snip, I (gingerly) chopped the majority off and filled a few vintage bottles with the stems.

There is a little posy of sweet peas on each of our bedside tables, too.

To my mind, there is no better way to bond with your home after a holiday than to fling open the windows, put out some flowers, make fresh coffee and bake a batch of something delicious.  I made plain scones to have with clotted cream and jam after lunch on Sunday:  always a crowd-pleaser and takes just minutes.

I store all of my ingredients in these jars on a shelf in the kitchen.  I think they look lovely, and a little bit 'homespun'! 

On Sunday evening I finally got round to applying floral decals to a couple of glass mugs that I bought ages ago.   I'm chuffed with the result.  I have got a large rose decal to use on a little milking stool that I bought and gave the Annie Sloan treatment to a while ago.  I'll blog that when I've done it, but I know it will look gorge!

So that's how I settled happily back into ordinary everyday life after a delicious week in the sun.  I started work yesterday refreshed, relaxed and raring to go.

Hope you had a nice weekend, too! 

Kisses.

Nicki 

x

PS - Sorry that I've just reused my Instagram images, I know it's a bit lame.  Sometimes it's just such a palaver to get my big girl camera out and the iphone is sooo easy to take little snaps of my life throughout the day.  I'll try harder next time :-)