Attic24

Stay-home Weekend

Hello my lovelies, thanks soo much as always for taking time out of your day to call in to see me in the Attic. I've been enjoying your visits enORmously of late, all of your comments and continued enthusiasm and support for what goes on in my crazy little muti-coloured world is so very much appreciated. Thank you.

I'm feeling happy and refreshed today after spending a very lovely, sloooooow kind of stay-home weekend with my Little People (J was away partying with old friends for most the weekend). It was exactly the kind of weekend that I needed after what felt like a superly-doooperly long and tiring week. In fact, apart from a little jolly into town on Saturday afternoon to purchase chocolate laden Advent Calendars from here, we did not leave the house. And yesterday, with the rain pouring down for the whole day and with no intention of going anywhere or seeing anyone outside of my immediate family, I did not even get myself dressed. Yup, spent the whole day in my pj's (well, I did manage to change into some clean ones at about midday after a shower). And oh it felt good! Really good.

During the course of the weekend I took a few photos here and there, little snap-shots of our time spent at home. I really enjoy looking back at these "ordinary" photos of every day home life, it gives me a lot of pleasure to record my life in this way, to use my blog as a visual diary if you like.

The above pics are of Little Lady's hastily constructed weekend "den" made in the Big Chair :: you can see how my crochet blankets are in constant use around here, and I can't tell you how much I love that they are used and loved in this way. And although the blanket-den looks a bit makeshift and to be honest very small even for a Little Person, Little Lady did miraculously manage to crawl into it with her little pink fluffy bag of Essentials and spent quite a while in there. She could be heard from under the blanket, talking to her toys and having some long in-depth conversations with friends on her toy mobile phone. Very sweet indeed.

We had a late breaskfast on Saturday morning consisting of a huge pile of scotch pancakes with strawberry jam and syrup (fabulous recipe from here), but we were still hungry enough to enjoy a spot of Elevenses a little while later....fruit and a bun in front of some atrocious kids tv for the Little People....

....and a cuppa and a bun in front of a lovely magazine for me.

I hadn't found time to do any baking at all last week and had missed it (both the act of baking and the end results), so on Sunday morning I put my apron on over my pyjamas and enjoyed a very pleasant little baking session in my weeny kitchen.

I made some apricot flapjacks....

....and an iced lemon cake.

Both very satsifactory indeed, if I do say so myself.

There was also time during the weekend to partake in a little hooky business. Of course. Can't possibly have a stay-home weekend without hook and yarn, that would never do.

I spent a little time pinning out and spray-starching my Granny Stars...Oh-my-goodness, I can't tell you how fabulous this starchy-stuff is!!! It's the first time I've tried it out on crochet and it works an absolute treat. You just have to try it! Prior to their Spa Treatment, my stars were looking yummy but decidedly flopsy and roundy on the corners and no good for stringing into a garland really.

 

But not so any more!! Now they are all pert and pointy-cornered, crisp and flat and uncurly and gorgeous. And I'm sooooooo happy with them!

I finally took down my hanging paper hearts (the ones that've been up since Valentines Day) and am going to string these stars into a long garland to hang in their place tomorrow, to celebrate the start of Advent. Going to see if I can make some more today so that I have 24 altogether (8 more to make), one for each day of Advent. Think that would be good.

As well as star-starching, I also embarked on another Festive hooky project over the weekend. And I am SO EXCITED to share this with you all !!!!!!!

Remember waaaaaayy back earlier in the year when I was in the midst of making BB, when I made the decision to frog out the white borders?? Well as a result of all that bitter-sweet frogging, I was left with a rather giant ball of white wool, and quite honestly I was beginning to think I would never ever find a use for it. I just don't really do White creative things as a rule. Up until two days ago that is.

 

Uh-huh, you do indeed see a little stack of White things there, and they were indeed made by me.

Yes, I did indeed venture into the World of White.

I admit it did not come easy, but I am absolutely thrilled with the results.

So thrilled in fact that I spent a good portion of my pyjama-clad afternoon yesterday hooking and photographing a tutorial for this All-White project.

Yes, I did!

So if you fancy a peek at what I've been up to, call in to see me again tomorrow and all will be revealed.

You can expect a spectacularly colour-less post tomorrow.

See you then.................

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LOVE Letters :: Ta-dah!

It's always good to partake in a little Ta-dahing on a wet gloomy Friday if you ask me, and most especially on a wet gloomy Friday when one is feeling quite unbelievably tired at the tail end of a rather loooong drawn out week. Yes, it's good to feel that amidst all the worn out Coping-with-it-all that's been going on with me this week, that something pretty and frivolous and exciting and creative did indeed happen here at Attic24.

So do you recall my rather over-the-top Overexcitable post on Monday, the one where I went on (and on) about the wonderous potential of my new craft hobby? Remember the Decopatch??

Ahhhhhhh, such FUN I've had with this decopatch thing, sitting in my own little private happy place, filled with the joy of ripping up and gluing little bits of paper.

Such a long time since I've had a really good glue-session, gosh I had forgotten how wonderfully satisfying and theraputic it is to glue things.

It was Marvelous!

After some deliberation on how to proceed with this project, I finally chose four colourful sheets of my new decoupatch paper (2 red/pink and 2 blue) to use for the four letters of LOVE.

I then ripped the sheets neatly into strips about an inch wide, then ripped again to form little inch-squares.

And then the gluing began...bit by bit I glued the paper squares in place, working my way around each letter, gluing, sticking, smoothing as I went.

It was easy, but oh-so-satisfying.

In fact I would go so far as to say it was Immensely satisfying to see each plain wooden letter come to life with applied colour and pattern.

Once the letters had all beensuccessfully decopatched and left to dry over night, I decided that a little further Embellishment was needed.

I pondered it a while, tried out various ideas, then finally settled on punched paper flowers and buttons. 

The Little People were involved with my choice of Embellishment, and helped me select which coloured buttons to use and how to arrange them. They had (thankfully) forgotten that I had loudly refused to let them help out during the early stages of ripping and gluing. That I had rather meanly used the words Go Away This is MY Project for ME to do by MYsELF. 

So anyways, moving swiftly on....

Embellishments were completed.....

And my LOVE Letters joyfully finished and admired.

Want

to

see ????

Ok...

here

they

come....

TA-DAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you impressed??

Do you love them??

Do you feel all giddy and excited for this decopatch thing??

Or is it just me??

I wasn't quite sure in the end where to display my LOVE Letters.

At first i thought they would be good in my bedroom, but then changed my mind...I wanted to be able to see them throughout the day so decided in the end to keep them downstairs.

So yesterday I stuck them up on the wall above the sofa (as in above pic), and I thought they looked quite good there. But then Little Man came home from school yesterday and said

"I see you've put The Letters up."

(I nod)

"They don't look very good there Mum."

(I frown)

"You should move them."

(I listen)

"Put them above the mirror over there look."

(I look)

And I thought my goodness he's right, The Little Man is right. And why didn't I think of that?

So now they sit above the mirror in the dining room end of our living space, looking quite funky and joyful and very much at home

And I'm very, very happy with them.

Now then....if you look in the mirror up above there, can you see the reflection of our low pendant light which hangs over the dining table?? This light was here when we moved in, and I've never much liked the shade. Never much cared for the dirty looking yellowing plastic thats it's made from, although I do like the shape.

So....guess what's going to be next in line for a little glue-and-paper makeover. A little Decopatch jiggery-pokery?

Uh-huh.

You guessed it.

Right then, on that happy note I'll have to love you and leave you for now, I've gotta go rip-and-glue.

Have a wonderful weekend......

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Giving Thanks

I really wish that we celebrated Thanksgiving Day here in England, it seems to me such a lovely thing to celebrate!

I love the idea of having one special day in a year where we give thanks for this precious life we are living and for all that we have.

I do often find myself Giving Thanks mind you, I am not one to take my good life for granted. I am generally mindful of the present moment, happy to be so Happy being Me and doing simple me-things.

I Give Thanks for the many little itty-bitty things throughout each and every day that bring pleasure, that make me smile, that inspire me.

I Give Thanks for the fact that I have so much Love in my life, which makes my heart happy and light.

I Give Thanks for my creativity, for my joie-de-vivre, for the simple good fortune that surrounds me.

Wishing you all a wonderful and Happy Thanksgiving :: here's hoping you are happy and content where ever you are and whoever you are sharing your today with.....

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ps todays heart pictures all come from greetings cards that I have collected over the years...one day I'll get round to framing and hanging them. One day.

Progress Report

Hello......just bobbing quickly in to the Attic today to wave hello to you all and tell you a little bit about how things are progressing on the Home Front. A bit of a Progress Report if you like.

I noticed with some surprise this morning that the first of my hyacinth bulbs has begun to flower, and this little corner of my living space is looking quite beautiful as a result. Observing the gentle Progress of these bulbs growing is such a simple thing, but the daily pleasure it's delivering is almost beyond words.

Moving upstairs now, and things are not so beautiful up here I'm afraid, but this is a Progress Report after all, and Progress is indeed being made here, albeit very slowly.

This is our smallest bedroom at the front of the house which has recently been undergoing quite a lot of change. At the same time as our bathroom was being plastered and decorated last month, this little bedroom was also being being given the same treatment. My rather handy Handyman man came in and stripped all the walls of the nasty wood chip wallpaper, completely re plastered all the poor long-suffering old walls and then proceeded to paint the whole room white. We had a new carpet laid about ten days ago, which suddenly made the room seem enticingly nearly-ready and expectant.

This room is destined for Bump24 when he/she hatches, but in the meantime it's become Base Camp for my climb up Mount Clutter. I've been camped out in here during the last week or two, working my way steadily up the slopes of this slippery mountain, and do you know what??? I am very oh-so-very-nearly at the SUMMIT!!!!!!!!

Cause for celebration or what???!!!!

I think I started out with ten boxes of paperwork/artwork/photographs/magazines/brochures in here, and am now down to the last two. A great deal of the paper has been slung in the recycle bin, and what's left has been sorted into little piles ready to be boxed/filed appropriately. I can't tell you how good it feels to be getting this done, to be making Progress. Seriously a Good Thing I tell you.

Do you know what, I am really loving my Home at the moment, pottering around, getting things done, enjoying the cosiness and comfort of spending my days here. I've been looking around the place today, taking a few photographs here and there, making mental notes about how things are looking, which jobs need to be done, where things could be looking better.

I am really loving this little Corner Of My Home :: I only recently moved my LLoyd Loom chair to this spot under the window, and it keeps surprising me every time I glance across and see it sitting prettily there.

To the left of the chair (out of sight in the above photo) is one of two alcoves in our dining room which contains built-in cupboards/shelves.

These cupboards/shelves form the Summit of Mt. Clutter, and I am not prepared to show you them right now I'm afraid. They are Pretty Bad. But as soon as the last two boxes upstairs have been emptied, I shall be down here in this room, tackling the mess and hopefully sorting it once-and-for-all. I'll show you the before-and-after pictures when I'm done. 

 

And finally....it's not all work and no play around here you'll be pleased to know. Following on from my post yesterday, I did find an hour or so this morning to begin some Decopatching. Oh my friends.......SUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!! I had an absolute ball with myself!!!!

I'm half way done with my LOVE letters (the L and O have been successfully decopatched) and I am truly thrilled by it. Can't wait to show you when it's done. I see a great deal of Decopatching in my future.

And on that happy note, I shall now conclude todays Progress Report.

Thank you as always for popping in to the Attic to see what I'm up to, it's such a pleasure to have your company. 

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Overexcitability

I have to tell you I am suffering at the moment, reeeeaaaaaallly suffering. Yes, I have been struck down with a most severe case of Overexcitability and it is so bad that I am quite beside myself. I can't sleep properly, I am all over the place with the giddy-jitters and my mind is bursting with so much inspiration and so many creative possibilities presenting themselves to me at the moment.

Of course, this is not a new experience for me, no-no-no, it's all too familiar. I often suffer from this affliction, and it just today occurred to me that it could possibly be seasonal (see this post from this time last year? See how remarkably close the dates are?? Uncanny or what??)

So let us chat a little about the Root Cause of my current Overexcitable condition shall we? Well it's been brewing for a while you understand, but finally came to a head yesterday when I left the house at 9.30am, and drove myself across the hills to Harrogate to visit the Knitting and Stitching Show. It was quite a spontaneous and last minute decision to go, but I am so glad I made the effort. It was sooooo exciting! I only took one photograph at the show (the above amazing stitched vase of flowers), cos I was quite honestly too busy rushing around hither and thither working myself up into an Overexcited frenzy.

After a medicinal cappuccino and a danish pastry had been consumed, my first stop was my favourite button stand to replenish my stock of deliciously coloured plastic buttons.

I spent a lovely time here selecting from the colour themed pick-and-mix tubs, filling my little bags with same-size buttons, chatting to the other customers as we took turns making our selections, swapping places when necessary, admiring each others choices. It was a lot of fun, and I love-love-love my buttons.

Second stop was to be fabric. Now then....I had it in the back of my mind that I might possibly be able to buy some rather nice fabric at the show, but had not really entirely planned it you understand. The whole business of buying fabric and Building a Stash scares me a little, it always seems so frivolous and extravagant, and there is often a lot of associated Guilt involved.

But you see, I've had it in me to make a Patchwork Quilt for the Longest Time now, I really, really, really have desperately wanted to do it for years. You may remember me chatting to you about it earlier in the year, and showing you my modest stash back then. You may also remember my patchwork chair seat cover, and how I managed to end up with a whole stack of extra fabric squares now waiting patiently to be assembled into Quilt Formation.

 

So yesterday, with this quilt idea in the back of my mind, I ended up going a little bit crazy and went off on a bit of a spontaneous fabric-buying splurge. I visited four different fabric sellers and in a frenzy of Overexcitable buying I ended up with the above fat quarters. Sixteen in total, a mixture of Kaffe Fasset, Amy Butler, Heather Bailey and Anna-Maria Horner.

What do you think?? Aren't they LUSH????

Oh I have been fondling and smooching these little stacks of fabricky gorgeousness like you wouldn't believe, I am very much smitten.....

.....and once they were added to my other fabrics, I realised with complete joy that after many years I have now assembled the Perfect Stash to make a quilt with. And I am so excited.

SO VERY EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But deary-deary me folks, that is not all. That is not the end of my Overexcitability I'm afraid. No, there was one other thing that Got me yesterday :: my third stop at the show was the amazing "Decopatch" stand. I wish that I'd had the thought to take some photographs at this stand, it was completely brilliant, and hugely inspiring, I just could not resist it's colourful charms. Already buzzing from my button and fabric purchases, I kind of just went with the flow here and indulged my creative Overexcitability to the max.

So what is Decopatch?? Well it's basically a form of decoupage, where one uses specially dyed thin tissue papers with a special glossy glue, and proceeds to cover all manner of household objects.

The blurb describes it as the "exciting new 'paint without paint' papercraft technique. It's a funky addictive papercraft that's amazingly simple to use, a modern twist on the traditional decoupage.  All you need is the paper, the object that you're going to cover and the special glue varnish.  Simply cut or tear your paper into small pieces - we've found postage stamp or a bit bigger works well - paint a coat of the glue-varnish onto your object, stick the paper on and pop anopther coat on the top and hey presto, you're a decopatcher! And you'll find projects everywhere, you can cover practically anything: old furniture, glass, wood, stone, cardboard, the possibilities are endless!"

Ahhhhhh just LOOK at the papers I bought!!! Aren't they amazing?!

 

Can you just imagine me in a complete state of Overexcitement here, gathering these pretty papers together, jigging from foot to foot, almost hyperventilating with pleasure :o). Well yes, you know me well by now, I'm sure you can imagine it very well indeed.

 

So now I am about to become not only a Patchwork Quilter, but also a Decopatcher too. I bought these wooden LOVE letters as my starting project and plan on doing that tomorrow. I am hugely excited by it I have to tell you.

By the way, I've discovered today that there's lots of stuff on the www to do with this amazing craft...a couple of good sites/stockists I've found are here and here, should you find yourself as Overexcitable as me and be tempted to give it a go.

Well, after all that dizzy show-n-tell I really need to go have a cup of tea and try to calm myself down a bit now. Deep breaths, reeeeelax.

Have yourselves a lovely, creative, fun, inspiring, happy day my lovelies.....

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Granny Chic Fabulousness

 

Today is turning out to be a very long day indeed, being that it started at three o'clock in the morning for me and Bump24. Yes, you read that right :: Three-Ay-Em. That's pretty much the time we wake up together most nights/mornings, with me fidgeting and trying to get comfy with my elaborate pillow arrangement, and Bump24 partaking in some corresponding vigorous fidgeting/wriggling of his/her own.

Sometimes I manage to eventually get back to sleep, sometimes I am simply too wide awake for sleep to happen. So on the too-wide-awake occasions I quietly get myself up, tiptoe downstairs in the darkness and set about occupying myself for a while. I've come to enjoy these quiet moments of the night/morning when everyone else is tucked up in bed sleeping. I enjoy sitting in the quiet of the lamplight with a steaming hot mug of tea and a plate of toast to hand, alternating my time between my laptop and my crochet bag.  

I'm finding the delights of Flickr are extra-especially delightful at 3am. So many inspiring images to be enjoyed, so many things to make one oooooh and aaaaah and lose oneself in a flurry of excited creative thoughts, dreams and ideas. Yes, Flickr has become a real friend to me during my early morning too-wide-awake occasions.

So let me tell you where I ended up this morning.....

I found my way into an amazing Flickr group called Granny Chic. There's a strong vintage vibe over at Granny Chic which I am still getting used to, but beginning to warm to the more I see of it. The overall look and feel of this style is more subtle than my own, the colours more earthy, yet I find myself irresistibly drawn to it.

You just HAVE to go and take a look at this group to see what I mean, it's absolutely fabulous. It's overseen by the enormously talented Emma Lamb who's crochet work and blog are new to me :: I like her style very much.

But what really caught my eye this morning and sent my heart a-fluttering were the above images. Oh-my-goodness, didn't I just fall head over heels in L:O:V:E with these granny-stars??!! Bowled over I was. Smitten.

This is the work of Michelle who I've now discovered writes a lovely blog called "The Royal Sisters" . And further more, this lovely lady has written a tutorial for the making of these stars :: oh Happy Days!!! She's called them Grandma Twinkle Stars (awwww love-love-love that!), and you can find the tutorial here, as well as via a link in the sidebar of her blog.

So...............guess what I was doing at four-ay-em this morning? And onwards through five-ay-em and six-ay-em??

Of course.

What else could I do?

Out came my bag of Rowan Handknit cotton and I began star-making.

The pattern is very simple, yet sooooo fabulously effective. Michelle made her stars in single colours, but me being Me decided to put a typical Attic24 spin on my stars and used three different colours for the three rounds. Why only have one when you can play with three??

Oh I did have fun with these stars! Eventually I had to stop when J and the Little People began to surface, but that was OK cos I knew I'd be able to pick back up a little later on when it was knit and natter morning at the cafe. And pick back up I did :: over a couple of revitalising frothy cappuccino's and a lot of nattering, I busied myself with essential star-making.

Then back home this afternoon with a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit, and I had a little time to play.....

I stacked them.

I spread them.

I lined them up and admired them.

I danced from foot to foot with a jiggety-jig and got quite over excited about them. Really, seriously Over Excited I tell you.

I've made nine so far today, but I need to make more. Many more.

Yes I see many, many more Granny Twinkle Stars in my immediate future.

I see them strung into pretty garlands and draped hither and thither, bringing a little bit of Granny Chic Fabulousness into the house.

Some colourful, starry, frivolous, Fabulousness.

Bring it on.

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The Bathroom :: Ta-dah!

 

Oh my, I do so enjoy writing my Ta-dah posts, such fun! And now come to think of it, this might possibly be a first homey sort of a ta-dah type reveal I've ever done too, as I'm usually presenting crochet projects to you aren't I? So extra special feelings of excitement in the Attic today, as I've been really, really looking forward to sharing this with you all.

It's been a looooong time coming I know, we've really taken our sweet, sweet time pulling this little room together. If you've been bobbing in to see me in the Attic for a while, you may well remember when we first started the work :: it was way back in January when my grouchy-but-super-efficient Bathroom Workmen arrived. Like I say, a long time coming.

Right from the word go, I had a vision for my bathroom, had a whole big idea going on with myself about how I wanted it to look and feel. I happen to be very good at visualising, and could see the room soo clearly in my mind.

I was thinking fun, colourful and jaunty with a bright, seaside-holiday vibe.

Bunting and stripes, boats and beach huts.

Walls the colour of aqua seaglass.

And do you know what? I actually made it happen just the way I imagined it.

And I have to confess I really am ever so pleased with it. Keep finding reasons to go in there just for the pleasure of gazing around and ahhhing quietly to myself with the sheer joy of it.

So shall we have a look at some Before and After pictures???

Ok.......only if you promise not to be too horrified by the Before pictures, they are pretty rotten.....

:: Before :: (yeeeeeuuuugh!)

:: During :: (oh-crikey!)

:: After :: (ta-dah!)

:: Before :: (yuckety-yuck!)

:: During :: (oh-noooooooooo!)

 

:: After :: (ta-dah!)

:: Before :: (rotten!)

:: During :: (oh-my-gosh!)

:: After :: (ta-dah!)

 

As you can see, for such a small room, there was a surprising amount of work to be done.

We had previously replaced the boiler so that we could do away with the water tank (which was housed in the yucky green cupboard).

This then meant that we could demolish the yucky green cupboard, creating enough room to fit in a full length bath (instead of the daft yucky corner bath).

The shower was then relocated onto the opposite wall, making way for a lovely chrome towel warmer on the wall where the old shower used to be.

We kept the same toilet and basin to save a bit of money (changing tarnished brass fittings for shiny chrome ones).

The tongue and groove paneling was removed from all around the walls (oh, I was soooo glad to see the back of that!), and replaced with simple square white tiles.

And lastly we had new flooring laid, and the walls and woodwork repainted.

Now can you remember this old bathroom cabinet? Remember me asking your advice about what colour to paint it??

Shall I show you how it turned out??

Ok.....

....take a look.....

Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Do you like it??

I do.

I really, really do.

And do you remember my crocheted bunting?

Sorry this is not a very good picture of it, but it does look really lovely hung above the door.

I must make some more for other parts of the house, it's one of those insanely satisfying projects which comes together really quickly and seems to generate lots of fun in the process.

And talking of fun......do you like the stripy-pompommed little blind I made last week? Jaunty and jolly, don't you think?

Both the fabric and the pompom trim came from the fabulous Deckchair Stripes company, which I am quite in love with. That website does fluttery things to my heart.

Well my lovelies, I think thats all for now.....hope you've enjoyed peeking into my bathroom today.

I thank you as always for sharing it all with me, I appreciate it very much.

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Famlee

This little drawing was made by Little Lady (age 5) yesterday...I was tidying up a bit around here earlier this morning and came across it.

I've just about managed not to bawl my eyes over the complete sweetness of the picture.....

 

.....what really, really, really got me was the fact that she has drawn herself holding the baby look. I'm taking that as a good sign for things to come.

Oh, how I Love my Famlee !!!!!

Just to let you know, I am still in the process of climbing the Clutter-Mountain here at number 24. Still. It sure is a disgracefully Big Mountain, and is taking a lot of energy and time to get to the top. But I am slowly, slowly getting there and it feels Good.

When I'm done, I'll be able to spend more time at Attic24. I've got some lovely posts, photos and projects lined up to share with you, as well as the circle scarf pattern to work on for you, oh and the Granny Square tutorial too.

If time allows, and if I'm feeling stable on the slopes of Mt. Clutter, I'll try to find time to upload my bathroom photos for you tomorrow.

Its all Good.

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♥ Three Things ♥

Three Things that are making me heart-skippy-happy today..........

Thing #1 :: on my table ::

:: a pot of blue hyacinth bulbs, bought from the supermarket this morning, and immediately re-potted into an old Cornishware bowl ::

 

:: love-love-loving the repetitive seasonal rhythm of my life that long-term blogging reveals (read this post from November 2008 to see what I mean) ::

Thing #2 :: on my windowsill ::

 :: in the process of de-cluttering, I came across some boxes of ornaments that had not been unpacked since our house move almost two years ago ::

:: love-love-loving finding a new home for some old and familiar treasured objects of mine ::

Thing #3 :: in my bag ::

:: a replenished stash of Rowan Handknit Cotton DK, and the beginnings of a new project ::

 

:: love-love-loving working these colourful, cottony stripes. More about this latest WiP coming soon (and nope, surprisingly, it's NOT another blanket!) ::

Happy Friday to you all, hope you find some heart-skippy-happy things to enjoy today!

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Tea Break

During the six hours that the Little People are at school each day, I am extremely lucky to be pretty much as leisure to please myself. Certain things have to be done to keep the household ticking over,  but mostly I have a great deal of freedom. And I try never to take this gift of freedom for granted. Yes I am a lucky so-and-so to be able to spend my days in this way.

However the flipside of all this freedom is that my days are pretty haphazard on the whole, without an awful lot of structure. I wing it from day to day, going with the flow, deciding on how to occupy my time as the mood takes me. Mostly this is a Good Thing, but sometimes I do end up feeling a little lost in the midst of my day, a little moochy, a little adrift.

One thing guaranteed to perk up any Adriftness is a Tea Break, preferably accompanied by a little bit of home baking. And I find that this is most often needed around about 2 o'clock in that lull of time that comes after lunch and before the school run. Yes, Two O'clock is usually Tea Break time for me.

I baked some fruity flapjack for my tea break today (recipe here), using dried cranberries and a grated apple as the fruity element. I also added in a 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, although to be perfectly honest, the cinnamon didn't really work out. It was too much. And the truth is that I only really wanted to put the cinnamon in so that I could use my new measuring spoons look.........

......aren't they Lush??? Oh, I am LOVING these lickle spoons!!!!!

I bought them on a complete whim a few days ago after spotting them in the window of a little local kitcheny type shop. My eye spied them, my feet went of their own accord into the shop (yes, I swear they did), my hands grabbed them off the shelf, hurried them to the till and paid for them and these delicious spoons were very quickly mine-all-mine. I was powerless to resist.

 

Enjoyed my Tea Break this afternoon (despite the too-cinnamony flapjack), it was just what I needed.

Right then my lovelies, it's now 3 o'clock and my six hours of freedom is up :: need to pull my boots and coat on and venture out into the grey wet afternoon to go collect my Littln's from school.

Think I'll take them some flapjack to munch on the way home.

They can always feed it to the ducks if they don't care for it's cinnamonyness.

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Edited to add :: the spoons are of the soft silicone variety and made by "Zeal" :: see here.

 

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