A Grey Day

Today the weather has been grey and rainy.  And I have had a more fragile little boy to entertain who is pushing through about 7 teeth in one go!  I can't really complain, given that he has a generally joyful disposition, but somehow that makes it even more of a challenge when he's grumpy!

In keeping with the colour of the day, I was wearing my lovely grey aran, made for me a few years ago by my Mum.

I unpacked three boxes in our conservatory today, leaving two left, but it's freed up quite a lot of space, and there you can see how a nice "new" (to us!) chair fits in the newly vacated corner. Lovely.

I've now finished my grey tank top, and am just weaving in the last few ends (a job that always takes far longer than you estimate).

The centre of the "V" neck was a real pain to knit, as, no matter how carefully I tried to carry out the instructions given, it never seemed to look quite right... Oh well- I think I got there (or thereabouts) in the end.

I also lengthened it.  Having knitted it all up, I measured it up against myself, and I thought it was too short.  I really dislike tops that are too short, so I undid the tops of the shoulders, and elongated the top section (rather than undo to below the "V"- I wasn't sure if I could face that!)

I will now have to wait a few weeks to try it on, as I'm not going to risk stretching it this side of the baby arriving!

This afternoon saw baking time, with a carrot cake on the menu for my lovely husband's birthday tomorrow.  It is his favourite cake, and apart from this one, he's not really a cake eater.  In fact, I don't know why I don't bake it more often- it's not difficult! Perhaps having it once a year keeps it special.  I used this recipe from BBC Good Food.  We've not tasted it yet, but it smells fabulous, and, of course is completed with the delicious cream-cheese icing!

This evening I've been making a birthday present for my Nanna.  I bought a beautiful cross-stitched sampler at Oxfam when I was Christmas shopping, and earmarked it for this project...

I chose a cornflower blue fabric for the backing- another freecycle bargain- a pair of childrens' curtains that I picked up a while back, that wouldn't fit any of our windows, but which are in very good condition, with lovely colourful material! 

I didn’t have any cushion pads of the correct dimensions, so I used a spare pillowcase, and filled it with some soft-toy stuffing I had handy (having once ordered far too much for a small project!), then sewed it up, and- voila! A cushion of precisely the right size!

I’ve enjoyed using some of the 'fancier’ features of my sewing machine- such as blanket stitch and the button hole setting on this project.

All in all, a productive evening- even more satisfying that I was able to make a lovely personal Birthday present without having to spend lots of money.  Right.  Need to get it wrapped up and ready to send first thing tomorrow with a home-made card.

I hope you have had a lovely start to the week.  

Fancy a Cuppa?

I have now finished my "Cuppa Cushion", as featured in a previous blog post, and I have listed it on Folksy.  You can view (or buy!) it here.

I'm really pleased with the result, and had such fun choosing the different fabrics, and having a go at blanket stitch again to sew them all on.  I used bondaweb to stick them in position, and then a lovely electric blue yarn to actually stitch them in place.

Our kettle broke today.  It has served us well over the years, but now we are going to be using our lovely gas kettle.  I bought it a while back because I thought it was so lovely, and rather 'Country Living-esque', but we've not used it loads because it does take rather a long time to come to the boil.  However, now this shall become our main one, and we shall wait that little bit longer for our hot water!  It is so pretty though (and matches the red of several other things in our kitchen!)

I also rediscovered this beautiful cup and teapot set I was given years ago.  The saucer still seems AWOL, but isn't it lovely? (It fits in with today's theme very nicely).

Yesterday, after a misty start, there was glorious blue sky all day.  It was fabulous- tonic to the soul.  I was also given this beautiful Cyclamen, which is now brightening my kitchen windowsill.

Have a lovely day.

Cold and Crisp

Today I have made two fish pies. I never used to be into them particularly, but I have developed a love for them in recent years, and even more so during this pregnancy (in the early days I had major fish and prawn cravings!), but I am still experimenting to find the perfect recipe! Holly, the cook at a local Children's' centre makes an amazing one, but says she makes it up as she goes along. Hmm. Today's ones are smelling good though (with smoked mackerel in them for a change), and one is about to be delivered to a friend who has just had a second little baby- Hooray!

The teacup cushion cover is taking shape nicely, and I am enjoying rediscovering blanket stitch...

My two baby cardigans are progressing well, if rather slowly (perhaps because I have several projects on the go!).  I haven't yet got to the more tricky lace knitting bit of the lucille cardigan...

... and I have just learned how to 'insert' a pocket into the Debbie Bliss cabled cardigan.

Right. That's about it on the craft side of things today. I am enjoying a few more minutes of peace before I go and get my energetic toddler out of bed.  Today we had a rather long walk into town, as I decided (given family resolutions to be more thrifty this year) that I was not going to pay the exorbitant parking prices to get into town, but instead I was going to walk from the nearest possible free parking (about 1 hour round trip once we had gone to the one shop we were going in for).  This was a lovely bit of exercise on an absolutely beautiful day (cold and crisp- my favourite!) but my back is now suffering a little with the extra weight that one gets 31 weeks into pregnancy. Oh well- I think I shall need to do a bit of taking it easy for the rest of the day (as if!).

I hope you are all having a lovely week. I'm off to deliver fish pie, and to hopefully glimpse a wee new baby for a moment or two!

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!