Friday 15 April 2011

Afternoon Crafting

My one big passion is knitting and to a lesser degree crocheting, it goes everywhere with me. The standing joke is I should have knitting needles surgically implanted into my hands!!

After a morning of walking and shopping DD and I decided it would be lovely to sit outside in the sunshine and make things.  That morning a new book had arrived for DD called "Made By Me" by Jane Bull. So we gathered together the necessary items, felt, threads, fabric, stuffing and she set to work. Her first choice was a cupcake, don't they look scrummy in the book:

Cupcakes

While DD was busy beavering away I got out my knitting. I am on a huge sock kick at the moment, partly due to the fact I am taking part in an A-Z sock challenge in the UK Sock Knitters Group on Ravelry. Basically every 2 weeks we cast on the next letter of the alphabet and we have until the end of January 2012 (I think!) to finish each pair we have cast on. Now when I originally decided to join I thought I would just dip in and out and knit the odd pair here and there but once started I have cast on every letter so far and we are up to H. So I sat and finished my G socks, these are not just any pair of socks they are the jazziest pair of socks - hot neon pink, black and grey stripes and I LOVE them.

Want to see:

In Your Face Neon Socks

I would show a picture of me wearing them but my legs are so pale and fluffy I think you'd rather not see!

After all the effort of knitting and making cupcakes it was time to indulge in one of our purchases from Woodlands Nurseries. Woodlands has a great food section with lots of scrummy cakes, sweets, biscuits, pickles, conserves, sausages, soups, etc all homemade. One of our family favourites are the pork, stilton and leek sausages, but these are a real treat as they are quite expensive but oh so worth it.
The other thing we all love are the cakes.....food is a big thing in our house......as you'll find out. So DD and I settled down to butterfly cakes and coffee for me.

Cupcakes and coffee

A couple of them did get squished on the way home, are you hungry yet!!

DD had a whale of time making a couple of cupcakes and I think she made a great job of them. Now in the first pages of the "Made By Me" book it shows the kit that you need and one of the items that caught DD's eye was a jamjar with a pincushion on the top with pom pom trim. It didn't have the instructions how to make it but DD decided she make it up as she went along. She found some pink and brown heart fabric I'd bought a while ago on Leicester Market , some brown ribbon (we have a rather large ribbon stash here), stuffing, PVA glue, a jamjar and a large plastic tub.

It was a rather messy job!!

She started by cutting a piece of stiff card the size of the lid and placed a large wad of stuffing on it. Then placed the fabric over the top and glued it down to the underneath of the cardboard circle. Once dry she attached it to the lid and wrapped ribbon round to tidy it up and voila a neat storage space for her bits and bobs.
She enjoyed it so much she made a matching one from a jamjar and put some of our button stash in it.

Button Jar

Paige's Makes

We had a great relaxing day before we had to catch a team coach to Leamington Spa where DD was in a swim meet in the evening. Exactly how we like it.

Bye for now xxxxxxxxx

Thursday 14 April 2011

Don't You Just Love Sunny Weekends.....

We love the weekends at Honeysuckle Hill, lots of milling about and crafting.

Our Saturdays start at 5.30am when we are up and about ready to take my daughter (DD) to swim training. Early start but it means we don't end up lazing about in our pj's (though I do love to do this as well!).
Now I don't know if you are the same as me but I take for granted the lovely area I live in right on the edge of the English countryside. It was a gorgeous day on Saturday so we decided to take a walk round Thornton Reservoir, a 5 minute drive away.

Isn't it glorious.

The sun glinting on the water creating silhouettes:

Thornton Reservoir


Thornton Church peeking through the trees:


Thornton Church from the pathway

And from the other side of the reservoir:

Thornton Church

Now while I sat and drank a coffee from The Lodge DD just stood and stared out at the water, daydreaming:

Daydreaming

And made dandelion chains:

Dandelion chain

Now as a family we are fascinated by water, DD swims and my son (DS) sails. DD and I rarely see OH (other half) and DS as they are away sailing most weekends, this weekend they were at Rutland Water, another beautiful nature reserve, well worth a visit.

After our 2.5 mile walk we were feeling a bit peckish and ready for some refreshments so we pootled off to Woodlands Nurseries.  I cannot express how much I love love this place, so many displays to ooh and aah at, while resisting the temptation to buy everything in sight. It is going through extensive renovations at the moment but its still great eye candy.
Do you want a peek:

Best of British - Royal Botanical Gardens Display

Woodlands Display

Cath Kidston:

Cath Kidston

Look at those colours:

Houseplants at Woodlands

After a hearty lunch we headed off home for some crafting in the sunshine.

But that I'll leave for another day.

Bye for now xxxxxxxxx

Monday 11 April 2011

Welcome to Honeysuckle Hill

I have been an avid reader of blogs for a few years now and love them. The little peeks of other people's everyday lives, their ideas, designs and handcrafted goods.

As a family we have an active lifestyle with barely time to stop and enjoy the moment. Before you know it time has whizzed by and you've forgotten the simpler things in life.

So I decided I wanted to capture those moments, be able to go back and remember and enjoy them.

I'll keep this first post short and I'll be back soon with our weekend antics.

But here's a taster:

Thornton Church


Cupcakes