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

Lazy Days

Did you have a nice Easter?

We decided that we would have a rather lazy time of it following on from the somewhat hectic week before! How nice it was to get up on the weekend and bake a pretty scrumptious 'chocca mocca' Easter cake with the Little One (decorated by her good self too) and then wander outside to plant some new seeds. The sun shone on us and we took a break for snacks and juice on the riverside bench, just the tonic after a good spot of gardening!

On Sunday, we got up slightly later than usual (8am - its a real lie in for us nowadays!) and drifted downstairs to discover the Easter Bunny had been and delivered a bounty of chocolate eggs along with a small fluffy version of himself! Needless to say, our Little One was delighted beyond words and proceeded to eat chocolate for breakfast (ah, just this once - as long as you have your orange juice - you need some vitamin C you know...!).

We enjoyed toasted hot cross buns dripping with rather too much butter and big mugs of coffee and agreed that it was a very pleasant way to begin the day indeed!

Having decided to avoid the coast (for two reasons - pretty chilly temperatures had been forcast, and we couldn't be faffed with the queues) we got a picnic ready, picked up my folks and headed off to Baslow.

A nice brisk walk was in order, and although it was bitterly cold the sun shone regardless.

Our walk eventually took us through the grounds of Chatsworth House, it's very beautiful there and one of our favourite places to visit.

Whilst walking along a splendid thing happened. A little covered trailer which was decorated with streamers and Easter bunting etc, had just dispensed the Easter Bunny from a crowd of cheering children on to the ground. The bunny waved and jumped about as the trailer was driven slowly away and our Little Daughter stood transfixed on the edge of the grass watching in wonderment.

And then a Magical Thing occured.

The Easter Bunny turned around and waved at our Little Daughter who waved back furiously...and then, he beckoned her over...

...under a large old oak tree, the Easter Bunny crouched down and gave our Little Daughter a pink packet of foil wrapped eggs, and a cuddle. It was one of those very special moments that none of us will forget for a long time to come.

Driving home, the landscape away to the Pennines was bright and blue, full of scudding clouds that added to the drama of the scenery. You might just see that the hills in the distance are topped with a dusting of snow, to give some idea how very cold it was this weekend!

And so moving on to other things, our Little Daughter wasn't the only one to receive goodies this weekend...! On Saturday, our dear Postie brought an interesting looking parcel for me which I opened to find this inside:

I was very, very lucky to win a give away recently, held by Vivienne at Green Rabbit Designs.

Vivienne makes the most beautiful bags and corsages from her home in Ireland and her blog is really worth a visit, do please go and see her gorgeous work if you haven't before!

And so I held a wonderful package, wrapped in green tissue and gingham ribbon, complete with a cheery card...

...and what's this inside...?

...a surprise package! I wonder what could be in here? Ah, I needn't wonder for too long - little helping hands are at the ready!

Oh yummy!!! Our favourites!!! :D

...and double yummy!!! Would you look at that delicious hand knitted bag!!! It's the most scrumptious colour and the inside is lined with a beautiful contrasting fabric, the stitching is exquisite too!

Aren't I just so over the moon happy?

Yes I am.

I cannot wait to parade this about. Already it is being filled with Life's Essentials so it is ready for it's first outing. Thank you so very, very much Vivienne! :)

On the art front...yes, it's been a tad quiet on there of late due to one thing or another. However, sketches keep occuring at randomly snatched moments and I have a couple of pieces of work I'm itching to get started on. Due to Other Half's Work Stuff I've not had a lot of time to spend on my painting so I'm sure you will understand that I'm climbing the walls with mild frustration - I do need my fix!! Painting, for me you see, is as necessary as breathing, but a little doodling in the sketch book is better than nothing and keeps things gently ticking over...

Until next time...I send you a jam jar of anenomes and narcissi,

a slice of your favourite cake and much love! Thanks for coming to visit me ~ I'm so glad you did!

Julia x

Easter Time

Happy Easter To All of You!

First of all, I must say how overwhelmed I was to receive so many nice comments about the pattern I posted last week. I wonder if any of you have tried it out yet, if you have, do let me know - Id love to hear if it worked alright - and to see any pictures if you have any to share!

Well, this has been one busy old week for us here - hence the late post. I've also had a rather disgusting head cold descend upon me which has brought with it a general fuzziness and hacky cough, not to mention random periods of awful drowsiness...in fact as I write this my poor little head wishes it were laying on a nice soft pillow, in a nice warm bed upstairs but no chance of that - there is a Small Person who is demanding I make sea creatures out of Play Doh and so all those kinds of luxury thoughts must be postponed! However, a few moments spent writing to you all is harmless enough, as from my table I can see she is concentrating hard on making an octopus!

So, in the midst of my head cold, I travelled south on Tuesday with the Other Half to meet up with an old friend whom we haven't seen in ten years...my goodness, Facebook is responsible for some rather amazing re-connections when you think about it, isn't it? It was really good to see our friend again after so long, and to meet his lovely wife who I seem to share alot in common with - the only problem was that it was all over way too fast, and before we knew it we were heading north again!

So, it's quite nice to be sitting still after all the driving about, I often wonder how in my Previous-Life-Before-A-Child I used to do that for a living, scooting up and down the country and over to Ireland in the blink of an eye thinking nothing of it! Now, although I love to go away, I seem to like coming home more and more, to all my little home comforts...and it's often the silly things that welcome me home too, the thought of seeing a bag of unfinished crochet on the chair ready to be picked up again, a pot of flowers outside the back door, or just my own pillow to sleep upon!

Well, changing the subject slightly, I have been given an award. I was actually given this a week or so ago, and it was from Coco Rose who's Blog you must visit if you haven't already, its such a lovely one! Thank you very much (and very belatedly) to Vanessa for passing this award on to me!

Anyway...there are some rules, these being that I must pass this award on to seven other blogs and reveal seven interesting things to you about me that you might not know...well, I can probably find seven things, whether you find them interesting or not remains to be seen!! :D

Ive found it quite hard to select seven blogs from all the absolutely delicious ones that I visit, not to mention the ones that must be out there that I haven't even discovered yet - but I'm being a Good Blogger and playing by the rules on this, so I have chosen this award to go to the following people!

Heartshaped

Love Stitching Red

Sew on and Sew on

With Love, Cupcakes & Biscuits

Sixty One A

Greedy for Colour

Dottie Angel

Please forgive me if you aren't in this tiny list - it was really very hard to choose and rest assured I love all of your blogs! In fact, right now before I give you Seven Facts, Im going to apologise for being a bit of a lame Blog Bud of late, it's all down to not having much time this week to come and see you, but I will...you do know that, don't you!

So...Seven Facts, let me see...OK, here we go:

1. One of my favourite secret night-time snacks is bread sticks dipped in the Green & Blacks chocolate spread jar.

2. I once lived and worked on the Isle of Wight for a summer

3. I taught myself to speak Spanish

4. I love French cookery

5. I would love to camp in a tipi and have discovered it's quite possible to do it in this country, and in some really pretty places too!

6. Rick Savage from Def Leppard once came to one of my parties

7. I'm quite afraid of heights, but walked the rope bridge at Carrick-a-Rede in Northern Ireland and felt very, very chuffed with myself for doing it (the link takes you to a rather fabulous photograph on Flickr of it, if you aren't sure where I mean).

So, there are seven things about me! I'm off now to make Play Doh creatures, and to get myself another mug of tea and perhaps another mini hot cross bun (well, they're rather small so it can't hurt can it?) I hope you all have a Happy Easter Weekend, look forward to catching up with you soon and don't forget to say Hello if you stop by will you, I'll make sure to come and see you if you do!

Much love, chocolate and sunshine to you

Julia x x x

Little Helping Hands

Look at this!!!

We decided to make some Easter cupcakes yesterday afternoon. My little helper was very good until I went to take a picture of the scrummy looking ingredients and she thought I wouldn't see her little hand creeping up over the worktop in a vain attempt to get herself some chocolate goodies!

'OOOOOooooh not yet!' I said - 'We have to decorate them first and then we'll have one after tea!'

A solemn face with chocolate smeared cheeks and chin looked at me and blinked slowly (yes, she'd already licked the spoon and wiped clean the mixing bowl). Not happy though, we had a bit of foot stamping and wailing but eventually the antics of Mr Tumble on C-Beebies lured her into the lounge and I got on with the icing of my little cakes.

The stocks of these are diminishing fast...I live in a house of chocaholics!

This morning we woke up to a light grey mist which the weather chap promised would give way to warm sunny spells - well, we haven't seen much in the way of sunshine so far but when I went into the garden this morning, I was delighted to find that our Lemon Meringue tulips were on the verge of opening!

This cheered me up immensley, as I am feeling rather distant from my painting work at the moment. I do not feel called to paint and feel more inclined to curl up in the armchair with a good book or my crochet (3 more squares completed last night folks, it is indeed becoming an addiction :)

I wish I could motivate myself at times like this - I am an excellent procrastinator and I am currently displaying top drawer tactics of avoiding. Its not that I don't like the piece Im working on, I think its because at the moment Im struggling to find enough time to devote to it...with acrylics and mixed media work I cant just dabble with it for half an hour - theres so much to get out and prepare, and then once I start Im generally engrossed for several hours. My days are quite full at the moment and come the evenings Im feeling so exhausted its enough to be twirling a crochet hook (which I do in a reclining position on a comfy sofa usually :).

Im also missing out on an art day this week too, as both my parents who usually have my little one for a day are laid up with a vile bug. Its not good news, me and my chap are meant to be off to Holmfirth tonight to see the Saw Doctors and at this rate Im not sure we'll be going - ah well, good job Im an 'everything happens for a reason' sort of girl...although Im not sure what good reason will emerge for us missing out on a good gig like that! Humph! :(

Still, on a brighter note, my sister in Suffolk has asked me if I want to pootle down for a few days - of course I would! I don't need asking twice! Tomorrow afternoon we are travelling south!! Hurrah!! Holidays!!!!!!! Im very lucky to have a sister who lives in such a pretty part of the world. Bury St Edmunds is one of my favourite places, a bustling little market town full of thatched roofs and gently subsiding old cottages with wonky windows and tiny doors! There are some gorgeous little shops and tea rooms, and another big plus point is that they are less than an hours drive away from Southwold!! Hurrah again!!!

Well, time for a coffee and a doodle in the sketch book - Im due back at the Childrens Hospital on the 15th and need to come up with an exciting design for the Magic Garden picture we've decided on for the next project!

See you soon!

J x