Monday 9 April 2012

Colour~Full Easter


We're enjoying a bit of a relaxed Easter holiday here in our little corner of the world.  Last week we went down by our little river and collected some twigs to make our Easter Tree.  On one of my jaunts to town, I'd spied a cheap bag of coloured eggs to hang on our branches and brought them home with a box of tiny yellow chicks.  The eggs are those lovely sugary colours that make you feel instantly happy when you see them, and the chicks keep falling off their perches to hang upside down in a rather amusing way.  I've never decorated before at Easter, but it's definitely something we'll do again.


The arrival of Easter also saw the arrival of my sister and nephews who came to stay for a few days with my parents.  And it also saw the arrival of some rather unexpected White Stuff.  Brrrrrrr....



Yep, we had a fair old dumping of it and the temperatures plummeted.  Hard to imagine just a few days earlier we'd been sunning ourselves on the beach, and eating our tea out the back garden; slapping on the suncream and digging out our summer tops!!

Only in England...!

Still, a few inches of snow wasn't going to scupper our plans!!  We wrapped up warm and ventured out.  We'd heard there were some new babies to be seen at one of the local farms, so we trussed up the Smalls and took them up to Our Cow Molly's to see the lambs and partake of some of their delicious ice-cream.





Rushing around doing lots of family things during the days, it was nice to find a few moments of quiet time come the evenings.  I managed to sneak in some bed-time hooky...


The bag I'm working on is coming on a treat; only nine more squares to go and a couple of handles.  I'm trying to decide what kind of fabric to line it with too.  It's going to be a smashing bag for summer though.  You can find the pattern in this book here by Nicky Trench.

I've also been enjoying a spot of relaxing with my birthday present ~ I was very lucky to receive a Kindle.  When they first came out I wasn't too sure about these reading devices, being the Major Book Lover that I am.  What could possibly take the place of a real book, that feel of paper, the very scent of a book?  But you know, I soon began to realise that for someone who lives in a very Small House, and has an increasingly large book stash (much of it being housed in storage boxes as I just don't have enough shelves, I'm sure you get the picture) they could be very useful indeed.

I'm mainly using mine for fiction books, as I don't think I'd get as much pleasure from cookery and interiors style books on them, being greyscale as they are.  For reading books though, Kindles are the best invention in the WORLD and for travelling what could be better than a whole stash of your favourite books in one place?! Fantabulous!!! I'm a total Kindle Junkie now!

 
Once I had my little Kindle, I realised it would need a little Home,  somewhere to protect it from the inevitable bumps and knocks it would collect being jostled about in my shoulder bag and so on.

I knew I didn't want a run of the mill shop bought one, no no - I wanted something special, something a bit different.  Something Hand Made!

So I approached Cathy who runs a beautiful business called Dear Emma, and asked her if I could commission her to make one for me.

And she did!  It's so well made and I'm as pleased as punch with it.  The stitch work is exquisite and the fabric is very luxurious.  Cathy has a lovely website, and I believe that my Kindle cosy may be the first of many as it's inspired her to start a brand new range!


So that's about it for now.  In a day or so we head off to see the other half of our family down in Wales.  I hope you're enjoying your holidays, thanks so much for bobbing by to see me today!

Julia xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

12 comments:

  1. Hi Julia! At least you had blue skies with your snow! Have a lovely time in Wales. x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lovely picture of the snow and sheep. Have a great holiday. Joan

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have the book, think I need to put that bag on my 'to do' list, your little squares are looking great.
    I did my first Easter tree and decorated it with hearts and flowers made from Lucy's (Attic24) patterns.
    The other day I read that hundreds of lambs died in North Yorkshire when we had the snow last week, how very sad. I do love to see the sheep and lambs in the fields.
    Carol xx

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a lovely Kindle cover! I've just been admiring my Dear Daughter's and wondering ...

    ReplyDelete
  5. I made the bag last year, the main colour a heavenly 'meadow green', and it's lined with a deep purple fabric which matches the purple wool used in some of the squares. Such a lovely easy pattern to make isn't it?
    Love the Kindle cover, though not a fan of the Kindle as yet. No doubt when the old hands start to be a bother and holding a book equally so, then I may indulge. Luckily we have enough room - just - in this old house to have masses of bookshelves and book cases everywhere. One room totally lined with them, even into the fireplace alcoves and my room has two walls full of bookcases. Then there is the wall in my husbands little study.... and if we run out there is still the under stairs area of the large hall! Nothing will ever replace books, the real thing that is. Not for me anyway. In fact I am closing down my current blog and doing a new one later this week, solely about books and readers and reading.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love your jolly Easter twigs and your new bag is coming on a treat, very pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Meant to say I love the photographs.. the snow is beautiful (to look at from a distance anyway!) and those lambs.... aah.
    New blog in case you are interested is...
    http://abookloversplace.blogspot.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lovely post, Julia! The snow thing can happen in Finland, too, and it did! How great you have a kindle and its new 'home' is really beautiful!
    x Teje

    ReplyDelete
  9. Glad to see that a little snow didn't stop you going out and having a wonderful time!

    And the images look so beautiful. That fresh clear layer of white snow. Yes, I know, it's a different matter looking at it from my cosy bed....

    cheers
    Fi

    ReplyDelete
  10. Merhabalar harika bir tasarım elinize sağlık..görüşmek üzere sevgiler.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Julia! I sent you an email regarding your e-book and forgot to sign it so just to let you know it was from me! I hope you had a lovely time in Wales. x

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Julia, I am glad to enjoy your blog again .... especially the northern countryside and the snow, since moving "down south" I do miss the Peak District, lovely also to see the lamb, another missing ingredient where I am at the present.
    Please Julia would you photograph the mat that the Easter decoration is standing on??? Please :0) I really love the idea of it being in wool and not a "pretty cotton thing" - with men in the house the "pretty cotton thing" is a definite NO GO!
    Thanks again for such an inspiring blog
    Val xx Berkshire

    ReplyDelete

Hello, and thank you for visiting my Blog today. If you would like to leave a comment, I'd be delighted to hear from you.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...