Attic24

The School Run

Monday to Friday at 8.30am we set out on our walk to school. It takes roughly fifteen minutes to do our journey to school and most of those minutes are along the canal towpath. Some days are much quicker than others, when the school run quite literally becomes a Run (well for the Little People at any rate, I just try to walk as fast as I can without panting). Some days are dawdle-days and we arrive late. I enjoy both, enjoy the rosy flushed excitement after the Little People have been racing on the Fast days (see the above photo), and enjoy the holding of hands, chatting, I-spy and observations as we amble along together on the Slow days.

 

We are not fair-weather walkers, we walk every day come rain or shine. We've seen the canal so cold it's frozen over and forced the ducks and swans to ice skate. We've seen it so wet that it's risen and flooded the tow path completely. We've seen it so windy that the water has blown across in windy waves, tossing the canal boats as if they were at sea. We've seen it so damp that the water has been shrouded with a grey mist. And we've seen it like today, beautifully calm, still and bright.

I do happen to think these poor trees are a bit harsh and a bit too clippy, but nevertheless I do love the reflections they make in the water.

 

We love to see the boats come and go, we are quite nosy towpath walkers. It's so intriguing to glimpse into these little houses-on-water, see the dinky little rooms, people eating breakfast, washing up, reading a book, pottering about. Some of the boats are lived on permanently and some are hire boats with holiday makers aboard :: there is always something new to see every day.

We admire the flowers that decorate the boats with colour.

Both real flowers and painted ones.

And the way each boat has it's own name and personality, a whole cast of boaty characters as we walk/run our way to school.

And then there's the wildlife :: ducks and swans swim over to say hello.

Today is our last school run before the looooong summer holidays begin tomorrow. Of course we'll still walk along the canal as the weeks go by, but we'll be heading into town to the cafe, or scooting along to the park instead of going to school. And it will not be 8.30am either. Oh I am SO looking forward to the holidays!

This evening we are going away for a few days, heading down country to Dorset to see my folks. We are very excited, looking forward to the sea and family time.
So I shall be back next week :: I know a lot of bloggers are taking a summer break, but I intend to still be here wittering my way through summer if you care to drop by. It may be a bit more erratic, may be more pictures than words and will probably feature the Little People quite a bit. But I would love for you to pop up to the Attic from time to time to say hello. Please do.
See you soon xxxx

The Bag, Ta-dah!

Finally, here is my first ever crochet bag revealed in all its stripy glory. And if I do say so myself, I  think it turned out rather fabulous in a bold, floppy, baggy sort of way.

It ended up a bit larger than I had first envisaged, mainly because I got so carried away hooking round in delightful, colourful, woolly circles that I didn't actually notice it was getting so big. And so thirty-eight rounds after beginning it suddenly occurred to me that I really ought to stop and begin thinking about an edging and some handles. And perhaps some little bitsy flowers to finish.

It was an easy thing to make folks, honest it was. And enjoyable, oh yes you betcha. After working on blankets recently (and the ripple still isn't finished, I've run out of yarn and have ten more stripes to go) it was lovely to have an idea, start it, work on it and finish it inside a month. Satisfying.

I didn't have a pattern for this bag as such, but I did have to learn about working in the round with increases ie how to create a flat circle for the bag bottom (from an old crochet pattern belonging to Lovely C, we cracked it together one morning over coffee). I learnt how to do the shell edging from my little crochet book, and used a pattern I found on line here for the flowers, although I found I had to alter it a little as it didn't seem to quite work out the way it was written. The leaves were my own design and the straps, well they're just long rows of single crochet.

I do especially like the way the bag can be plonked down and the top sort of rolled over so that it becomes very practical for using/selecting yarn when working on my hexagons.

And I think the hexagons look especially fetching nestled snugly in there, don't you agree?

It's a bag of multi coloured hooky goodness. Inside and out.

ps :: I know quite a few of you have been following the progress of this little project and have expressed interest in it as I've been making it. I'm contemplating attempting to write the pattern/instructions down for making this bag, do you think this might be something you would like? I'm happy to do it if you'd like me to, please just let me know what you think. Thanks :o)x

edited to add :: oh my friends, you make me so happy, thanks a million for the bag-love!!
I'll work on the pattern/instructions as soon as I have chance and will post it for you. xx mwah xx

Winners

Ahh blue summer sky, warm summer sun and white fluffy clouds how glad I am to see you!! Its been so long since we had a warm, dry, sunny day to greet us and it's beautiful today here in Yorkshire, truly beautiful.

So today on this sunny Monday, as promised it's the day for the Blog Candy Giveaway draw.
I bought these pretty bags at the weekend and have begun to fill them with pretty little things, delightful little things, useful little things, yummy little things and smelly little things (in the nicest possible way). I am quite charmed by the bags themselves which are fabric washbags, aren't they just so pretty?

I have to say a Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge big thank you to all of you who were kind enough to play along with the BCG :: during the past week there appeared a total of 50 names, which has rocked my little world up here in the Attic! So many of you de-lurked and introduced yourselves, it was marvelous and so nice to "meet" you all. Thank you.

Me and Little Lady performed the draw earlier this morning. Forty eight names were typed out on weeny slips of paper and thrown into the stripy hat-bag. Little Lady carefully selected bracelets to wear, then Little Fingers performed a thorough shuffle.........

.......Little fingers plucked an itty-bitty of folded paper out......

.......Little Fingers carefully unfolded........

.......and Little Fingers revealed a name......

I feel bad there can only be three winners, but thats the way these things go I'm afraid.

The first two early birds to leave comments last Monday were

Kathy from My life and other beads

and Barbara.

And the third winner picked today is of course Julia from Vintage Heaven.

C  o  n  g  r  a  t  u  l  a  t  i  o  n  s   :o)

I'll drop you a line and we can get Blog Candy on it's way to you just as soon as I've made the hand-made element of the contents. Which may well be a week or two. Or even three. You know me, I do so love to dawdle.

Flowery

Its been a funny old day today. As you may know, my Little Lady will start school in September and it was her last day at nursery today. I blubbed. Yes I did, I was really overcome with emotion and it totally caught me by surprise as I am not usually one to cry. I then decided to call in to M&S on my way home and buy some bits of school uniform and nearly started crying again looking at the dinky little Age 4 grey pinafores. People must have thought me a real headcase, standing stroking the school uniforms sniffing madly and looking all snotty and weepy.

Anyways...enough of all that, how do you like the little posy on my table today? I took this pic late yesterday afternoon when the light was shining through the back window and across the dining table, lighting up the flowers. I so love this simple little collection of flowers and herbs from the garden :: a few more sweet peas, some lavender and the most gorgeous deep, dark cornflowers. Lovely C gave me these plants as seedlings a few months ago, she told me they were cornflowers grown from Sarah Raven seeds but she couldn't remember the colour. Aren't they just amazing? In fact I adore Sarah Ravens approach to gardening, she's a colour junkie like me. I order her catalogue and dribble and drool all over it.

And talking of flowers, I crocheted these ones last night as a final flourish for my bag.
The handles are there too look, and now it's been assembled and finished. I am so very thrilled with it! I'll reveal it for you on Monday in all it's stripey colourful glory.
And talking of Monday, I'll also be picking out the winner of the BCG, so if you have'nt already added your name to the hat, you are cordially invited to go forthwith to this post and add your comment.
See you then xxxxxx

On the Menu :: Tuesday Tarts (!)

I thought it was about time I bombarded you with more food, so today I'm sharing our dinner from Tuesday :: I call these Tuesday Tarts cos I've only made this recipe twice before and by co-incidence both times it's been on a Tuesday. But just so you know, these are officially called
Tomato and Goats cheese Tarts.

I have to confess I get massive childish pleasure from writing TARTS on the menu blackboard, heehee, I do chuckle to myself. Its like when the Little People say the word B.U.M. and find it hilarious, well I am no better. Shame on me.

Anyways, enough sniggering, lets get on. As I mentioned above, this is a new recipe to me and I love love LOVE it. Be warned its not the kind of quick sling-it-all-together type recipe I usually favour as it does take a bit of time to prepare, but trust me it is so utterly delicious it's worth that little bit of extra time.

First ingredients as seen above are cherry tomatoes, twenty of the little beauties (200g). Pop in the oven on a low heat to slow roast for one hour (see, you do need to think of this meal in advance somewhat). The other ingredients pictured below are very simple :: olive oil, onion, sugar, soft goats cheese and ready-made puff pastry.

My goodness, what a magical marvel puff pastry is! I had no idea, have never used it before and I am smitten. So easy! So grown-up and restauranty! Its already rolled so all you do is open it out flat, cut it to size and hey-presto, its ready to bake. The roll in the packet I bought made eight tarts altogether (four squares of uncooked pastry went into the freezer for next Tuesday). It goes onto a tray, pricked over with a fork and then baked so it turns golden and puffs up seductively.

While the pastry is puffing away in the oven, you make the topping :: into a bowl go the roasted tomatoes, thinly sliced onion, crumbled goats cheese, oil, sugar and seasoning. Mix well and it's done. It looks a bit gloopy, but don't be afraid, it's the makings of a taste sensation. Really, trust me.

Divide the mixture and spread onto the pastry bases, then back into the oven for final cooking to melt the cheese and turn it lightly golden brown......

......these utterly delicious little tartlets were simply accompanied by one of my usual salads, and served with a ta-dah!!
The Little People loved the fact we were eating Tarts (which rhymes with F***s). They really, really enjoyed eating these and have demanded I make more. J unbelievably inquired whether I had actually made these or bought them from the bakers. Bakers?Moi? Serve something I had not made myself?? I was a little huffy and indignant but had the good grace to take it as a compliment.

The official recipe with quantities and temperatures and times can be found here.
And this book is at the top of my teetering Amazon Wishlist.
I love Fran Wardes recipes, I can also highly recommend this book which I do own and use a lot.

Do let me know if you try this one. I think it'd be a good-to-impress meal to serve visiting guests, also top notch picnic fodder. Tasty all round.

Book love

I'm a very visual person and I love to absorb visual things, it's like Food for the Soul if you like and essential to my wellbeing. Whether it's my own surroundings or someone elses, I just love looking at visual details :: colours, textures, cushions, blankets, pictures, vases, flowers, collections, rugs, shelves, china, lamps, tiles, stuff. The stuff that gives personality to a home. And if I can't get this visual stimulation in person, then I like to read about it. I find that blogs, magazines, books and certain on-line stores (like my beloved Greengate) perfectly feed my addiction for this sort of thing. I like to eat it all up, gobble gobble mmmmmm!

Yesterday after writing about my sweet peas, I was reminded of one of my favourite books. Like Jane at Posy, I have a huge love for interiors/styling/decorating books and magazines. I devour them, savour them, adore them. I totally love these sort of books, I love everything about them :: the writing is so evocative and the images so inspirational they make my heart squeeze.

My collection is not huge, I think I own about fifteen or so, with the same amount sitting wishfully in my Amazon Wishlist. One of my favourite things to do when I want to relax is to select a book from the shelf, make a mug of tea with perhaps a bun or some buttered banana bread and settle myself down to absorb the content of the pages.

I own several Country Living publications, and this one is an absolute gem ::
its called Country Colour Combinations.
I came across it one day whilst browsing in Borders BC (Before Children) :: now normally when I'm in Borders I browse away and if I see anything I like the look of I jot down the details in my Hello Kitty notebook so I can order it from Amazon. Saves money see? But on this occasion I simply could not walk away from this book, I had to have it there and then.

OK, let me tell you a bit about how the book is set out ::
There are five chapters which give "an irresistible palette of decorating schemes inspired by the natural shades of landscape and garden."
Take a look...if you click on the images they should pop up large in a window for you to have a good long look at the lovliness ::

Above picture is from the first chapter called Field and Hedgerow, which then goes on to show schemes inspired by things like berry and holly leaf, chestnut and copper beech, wheat hay and meadow.

Then there's the Sun, Sea and Sky chapter with schemes such as chalk and sky, storm cloud and sea spray, rockpool and driftwood. (I am swooning by now)

Next up is the Flowers and Blossom chapter, with some beautiful palettes such as mixed hydrangeas, sweet peas and stocks (ohhh bliss!!!), jasmine and honeysuckle.

And then comes The Kitchen Garden chapter and some yummy schemes based on vegetables, such as peapod and asparagus, aubergine and courgette flower, radish and tomato. Mmmmmmmmmm.

And finally the Slate and Stone chapter (my least favourite, but still beautiful), the schemes here include plaster and terracotta, marble and flint, sandstone and clay.

Its an absolute feast for the eyes on every poge. Can you tell how much I love this book? You can? Yes, I suppose its obvious really.

Sweet Peas

Morning my lovelies, it's yet another grey drizzly day here in North Yorkshire I'm sad to say, very un-Julyish still. But no matter, life goes on and I am happy enough pottering around dodging the showers.

Because of the weather we haven't been able to use our little outdoor space very much yet this summer, but I like to go outside most days to stroll round my little patch and check on my flowers. Usually when I'm cooking I open the back door and pop out in between chopping and stirring and baking (which is why I'm wearing my apron in above photo). I would say my flowers are more surviving than thriving but nevertheless they are growing and managing to do delightful, colourful flowery things and I love to go and say hello to them.

I confess I didn't grow my sweet peas from seed and haven't a clue what sort of variety they are. They were an impulse buy from the co-op one day when I popped in for a loaf of bread. There they were, lots of plantlets in in a dinky little tray for £1.99 and I was powerless to resist the lure of them, the promise of colour and scent to come. In my usual haphazard fashion though I didn't treat them very well and they ended up a  bit root-bound in their dinky little plastic tray before I finally planted them out into a nice big blue-glazed pot.

So they look a little straggly don't they? And they haven't exactly rocketed up the swirly sticks as I had anticipated. But I have hopes for them continuing to climb as the summer moves on so that eventually they might greet me at face height rather than knee height. But still, as short as they are, they are delightful. The colours are fabulous, they're that wonderful mix of pastel and bright that I love. And the scent is ecsquiste. Really, it makes me go weak at the knees.

I know that you are supposed to pick sweet peas aren't you, the more you pick the more they grow, right? But it was still difficult, I felt such a meany cutting them! There was only a small handful to be had, and the stems were so short that they wouldn't really go into a jug or vase. So I arranged them in a little mug with some alchemila (from Lovely C's garden) and set them on the table.

The scent from this little posy was powerful enough to fill the whole room.. Some of us appreciated it more than others. I won't tell you what J says about the "stink" because it isn't very nice. However,  me and Little Lady think it's delightful. Its the scent of summer.

Blog Candy Goodness

BLOG CANDY GIVEAWAY!

Hello, good morning, how are you today? I had a lovely weekend, hope you did too? Oh good, I'm so glad.
Well not a lot of time this morning to be wordy, its straight down to business. As you can see, I am passing on some Blog Candy Goodness....oh yes, the fun is non-stop in Blogland!

So this is how its gonna be ::
I am putting together three parcels of colourful Candy Goodness to send out.
I'm going to send two parcels to the FIRST TWO readers who leave a comment today.
The THIRD parcel will go to a name drawn out at random from all comments left during this next week.

You don't have to say anything special in your comment, just say hello thats all, its easy-peasy. It's wonderful that I'm getting to know quite a few of you now who drop by regularly and boy-oh-boy I can't tell you how much I love your comments, they SO make my day. You have no idea. But here's the thing :: I peeked at my stats over the weekend and OHHHhh! I am getting some Traffic through the Attic these days! So I'd love to know who you are, you lovelies who visit and read but stay unknown.

I'm not sure what exactly the Candy will be yet, but you can be sure it'll be colourful. I think something pretty, something smelly, something handmade, something yummy and something else I-don't-know-what-y yet.

So Good Luck my lovelies, comment away at the end of this post and you have until SUNDAY 20th JULY, Candy-winners will be announced next Monday.



I had a little time over the weekend to continue working on my bag :: its looking good if I say so myself. I finished the baggy bit off last night with a scallopy edge, which I'm very proud of (there was quite a lot of cursing and frogging* involved before I cracked it). SO all I need to do now is make some handles.



The Little People tell me I shouldn't in fact bother with the handles. They tell me to forget the bag idea altogether in favour of a giant hat for Daddy. Because Daddy doesn't have any hair. Harsh but true. And funny :: the bag/hat was modeled by J yesterday with much accompanying laughter. I love my family.

* definition of FROGGING: The act of taking apart a crocheted object in order to fix a boo-boo...Rip-it, Rip-it (get it?)

Bloggy stuff :: Tag, Award and Candy

Bloggy stuff today folks, hope thats ok? I've been meaning to do these things for a week or two now, but all the ice cream, baskets, crochet, wellies, flowers, yarn, calendars, pillowcases,  salads and risottos kept getting in the way. So my apologies to the people who have tagged, awarded and mailed me things, sorry to be so tardy. I do get round to it eventually. So three things today....

TAG
I was tagged a few weeks ago by Ruth at Raletourn50 with a "Five Things" tag.
These are the rules

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names, linking to them.
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blog.

So here goes ::

• When I was four I cut off most of my own hair, it was not a good look.
• I cannot swim very well, the water scares me.
• I have a degree in Embroidery from here, I graduated in 1991.
• My first job after graduating was as a Tarot card reader, I wasn't half bad.
• I spent five months traveling in India and Nepal in 1996/97, it was incredible.

Five People who are now IT ::

• Julia @ vintage heaven
• Vanessa @ do you mind if I knit
• Maddy @ maddys glass house
• Kathy @ My life and other beads
• Tess @ driftwood

AWARD

I have to say I am enjoying this blogging lark immensely, it makes me so happy to discover such a lot of pleasure can come out of a computer. And I was super-chuffed to be presented an award recently by the lovely Julia at Vintage Heaven. I do still feel like a bit of a Newbie in Blogland (even though this is amazingly post number 88!!) so it still comes as  wonderful surprise to find that folk do appear to enjoy my blurbles day after day. I am glad to know I might somehow add a bit of happiness, warmth and colour to your days, even if I don't quite think I do Edgy or Bold or Humourous or Informative as the award there says.

I do visit quite a few blogs myself day to day, enjoy visiting very much. And to be really  honest,  the whole Big Blogging Thing makes my day. So what I am trying to say is that I don't feel able at this point in time to be pressed into choosing five, so am spreading the love.
You all make my day. Yes, that includes  xxxxx    y o u      xxxxx

CANDY

Ok, does anyone know who invented Blog Candy? Oh its a whole lot of fun, what an inspired idea!
I won the right to this parcel of loveliness from Claire at Serendipity, just by being there at the top of her list of comments one day. I was sooooooooooo excited to become a Candy Receiver. I waited a while for this mysterious Candy to arrive and finally on Monday it came.
Shocked to the core I was. I had NO IDEA it would be this Big. I was expecting a little token of something or another. Not a bloomin great box full of beautifully wrapped goodies. See there above what I got?? See the lovliness, the thoughtfulness, the generosity?

Little Lady helped me unwrap, and even she was exclaiming Oh! My! Goodness! She was especially delighted with the bubblewrap, such a marvelous pastime for a four year old.
And I am thrilled with it all, thank you so very much Claire.

So............if you wouldn't mind waiting a few days and dropping by on Monday, I shall be announcing my very own BCG (Blog Candy Giveaway). Have a fabulous weekend, you lovely people xxx

Basket case

An old basket, picked up last week in an antiques/collectors place in my town.
It cost £4.50.
I love the shape and the oldness of it, but it is brown and I don't much care for brown.
I decide to give it a makeover.

I remember seeing this, and remember that I have Duck Egg Blue paint in the cellar left over from my painting phase in April.
I get busy painting.
It takes over the dining table for quite a few days and we have to eat dinner with it.

The painting (three coats) finally gets finished and order restored to the table.
I need to make a lining, and I immediately want Greengate.
I raid the tea towel stash. Get the heebiejeebies cutting it up.
But I stay focused and it goes well and I am so pleased with the way it turns out.

I love my newly vamped basket very much.
I spend quite a lot of time looking at it and carrying it around the house.
I decide this lovely Greengatey basket is going to be for my new wool.

And my latest WIP, started on Monday night.

Round and round, its going to become a bag, inspired by one made last week by Lovely C.
I realise we are probably going to arrive at Knit and Natter with matching bags.

Crochet bags to transport our crochet.
Love that.