First Birthday Give Away

So. This week Cream Teas and Crafternoons is one!  I thought that a nice way of celebrating a first Blogiversary would be to do a little give away.  So, in the give away we have:

All hand made- a shoulder bag in Cath Kidston material, a little needle case (with some needles in it to get you started) and a little handbag tissue holder (made from one of my favourite materials with sketched flowers and butterflies!).

All you need to do to be in with a chance of receiving these little gifts is to leave me a blog comment, ideally with a link to a favourite recipe or pattern/tutorial!  I'll leave this open until the evening of Tuesday July 12th, and will pick the winner on the Wednesday.

C x

Is spring approaching?

Today was another beautiful day.  It makes such a difference to how you feel doesn't? I certainly feel cheered by the blue sky and aeroplane tracks.  That was especially nice after a night when my toddler woke up a number of times (teeth/cold/just because?!)

We have some beautiful flowers starting to spring up around the edge of our garden- most notably Snowdrops...

And Crocuses (croci?).

In keeping with the cheery weather and spring-like feel, I've been trying to finish off a project that I started last summer! (very remiss- I am usually quite good about finishing one thing before starting the next... well, within reason!).  This project is the Bird Mobile from the Cath Kidston Sew! book.

I thought that this would make a lovely little addition for hanging above the crib for when the little one puts in her appearance.  I'm also making another one in tandem for the shop.

In other news, I had to undo about 60 rows of my cable knit cardi (grr!) because I'd been inaccurate in measuring my arm holes. Oh well, you live and learn... I'm almost back to where I was before I undid it all...

I made some lovely "Coffee Kisses"- recipe c/o my Nanna, which made for a delightful Crafternoon with one of my friends yesterday...

I can post the recipe if anyone would like it.

And, isn't this a lovely mug? My Dad gave it to me- he'd been given in as an "anniversary edition" for his school, but they have lots of mugs at home, and I was rather taken by the classic Emma Bridgewater shape and design.

I hope you're enjoying your weekend.

Can a girl have too many shoes?

Since getting my new sewing machine, I decided that I needed a little project to get started on it.  I chose these lovely baby shoes from "Handmade beginnings" by Anna Maria Horner (who, if you are interested, has a lovely blog).  I made them in 0-3 months size, and used a Cath Kidston fabric with a white floral print inside, finished with a lovely big chunky button to adorn them.

In addition to this, I made a pair of little garter stitch silk slippers from Simple knits for cherished babies, in some 4-ply wool I had left over from a project a while back.  I decided to add a couple of odd buttons to give them a little feature.

The pattern is really simple, and they can easily be completed in an evening.  I enjoyed making them so much, that I thought I'd adapt the pattern to use moss stitch instead of garter stitch, and I used the slightly larger Debbie Bliss Cashmerino wool (which is oh so lovely to knit with!).  I was particularly pleased with the result...

Nice, and again quite simple, but in need of a little extra something, which was provided with a little bit of stitching around the edges...

So. There are still 10 weeks left until number 2 arrives, but she already has a growing shoe collection. Well, start as she may well go on I guess.....!
Happy Weekend.

Without a draught

With little time to spare since Élysée's nap was soon to finish I decided that a little project would be just the way to spend a bit of time doing something fun (after a LOT of housework)...

I bought some beautiful Cath Kidston material a few weeks ago and it's been sitting in the bag, too pretty to use...

No longer! We had an old draught excluder that I have never desperately liked the cover of, and so a few quick seams later, we now have something a lot prettier.  I closed one end with poppers, and plan to buy some nice pink or blue buttons to sew on decoratively above them.

Who knows, it may even get used as a regular (if rather long) cushion now, as it's far too lovely to put on the floor!