Attic24

♥ Four Things ♥

♥ Four things that have made me feel heart skippy happy this weekend.... ♥

♥ Thing # 1 :: in my greenhouse ♥

Laughing gently to myself here as I typed the word "greenhouse", pretending that I do actually have one. Not really. What I do have is a small plastic tenty type thing held together with zips and metal tubing which cost less than £20 from the home bargain shop down the road. I'm not dissing it mind you, it does the job for now and it really does make me happy. Currently housing some precious little plantlets (which include these sugar snap peas) as we wait rather impatiently for it to be deemed truly frost-free up here in North Yorkshire. I've also got courgettes, cucumbers and tomatoes growing merrily away inside the warmth and shelter of my see-through tenthouse, and I'm looking forward to planting them into the ground. At the allotment. Yes, allotment happenings are happening here, and that's a whole other happy tale for another day.

♥ Thing #2 :: in my back yard ♥

We've had some lush early summer type weather here this past week, and although it's currently now cold and peeing down with rain, our weekend was warm and sunny and beautiful. Although I have a deep and lasting love affair with my tumble drier, I do enjoy when the weather makes it possible for me to peg the laundry outside to dry in the sun. My back yard might be teeny tiny, but I have three washing lines, a bucket full of pegs and the delicious pleasure of enjoying sun-dried clean bedding when the weather allows. For that simple thing I am grateful.

♥ Thing #3 :: on my plate (and in my tummy) ♥

With the sunshiny weather at the weekend I ate quite a few meals outside - this was my al fresco lunch on Saturday and it was utterly scrumptious. Wholemeal toast spread with a generous amount of creamy goats cheese, topped with smashed avocado heavily seasoned with cracked black pepper, Maldon sea salt and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. I really wish I could have made it last longer but I'm ashamed to say that I wolfed it down. Couldn't help myself, partly cos I was very hungry at the time, but mainly the taste of it was so so so good that I just launched straight into devouring mode. Definitely a lunch time thing that I will make again very soon.

♥ Thing #4 :: out and about ♥

Yesterday morning we rallied the Little People and went out to stroll around Bolton Abbey. It was glorious, sunny and green. Oh, that green, it made my heart sing! The leaves are only just beginning to unfurl in the treetops so there was the most beautiful lushness to it all. The woodland floor was a carpet of wild garlic and the scent was intoxicating as we walked. It really was a beautiful way to spend a Sunday morning. We finished up (rather predictably) in the cafe where I treated the Little Peeps to cake and very expensive posh milkshakes, while my man and I enjoyed frothy coffee with a sausage butty (him) and a slab of millionaires shortbread (me). I wish I had the willpower to ease back on the sweet treats as I've got a family wedding to attend in a couple months time and am slightly concerned about the size of body coverage I'm going to need. But.....the shortbread was incredible, no regrets. Deeeeeeee-lish.

Here's hoping you have a fabulous week ahead, full of things that make your heart skip a beat.

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...more little snippets from the Attic...

Tales From Connievan :: Golden Hill Farm

Coastal Walking :: Ravenscar

Elderflower Cordial Time

♥ Three Things ♥

♥ Three things that have made me feel heart-skippy happy today....

♥ Thing #1 :: on my table ♥

I've been browsing through my collection of Japanese crochet books today, thinking, absorbing and attempting to coax out a new design idea which is still maddeningly caught up inside the messy tangle of ric-rac inside my Creative Mind. I am so close to teasing it out (it's been there for over a year) and I am antsy-excited for it to show itself to me. It's a blanket design for the Summer months, something bright and floral and folksy and rather nostalgic and sweet. I can feel what it needs to be, have a good idea of the colour palette I'm after, but apparently it's not quite ready to show itself to me just yet. I will not be deterred!

I've been collecting these Japanese books for a good many years, I treat myself maybe once a year and they are the most fabulously inspiring things. I've just placed an order for another today, it tickles me to know that it will be flying through the air all the way from Actual Japan!! I buy from a very good Etsy seller called Pomadour24 - be warned, this is a giant sized rabbit hole, so please don't blame me if you take a tumble down it. 

♥ Also on my table is a jug of pretty pink tulips which are making me smile. A sweet Valentines day gift from-me-to-me, and why not indeed? J is a lovely, lovely man, but not a romantic atom in his body. After 23 years I feel quite alright about buying my own tulips and having a little love fest with the colour of them. 

♥ Thing #2 :: on my sofa/lap ♥

Awwwww, little Tilly, she is the sweetest thing. She seeks me out when I'm at home, sometimes perching on my shoulder if I'm working at my desk, but today she came to join me on the sofa for a while.

♥ I honestly can't think of anything more comforting  - this afternoon I spent an hour snuggled up on my crochet-laden sofa, my feet all cosy in my hand knot socks, some very pretty stripes growing on my hook and that sweet kitty nestled into my side and resting her chin on my legs. It was so so so good. My heart was full.

♥ Thing #3 :: on my Mantel ♥

Amazingly, after just two days indoors, the first little yellow narcissus has opened on my mantel. My hyacinths are also in full bloom, and I'm loving the dose of floral Spring cheer they bring.

♥ I've got one of my favourite Pintail candle tins burning on my mantel right now too, and the scent of it is absolutely glorious. It's zesty and fresh and comforting, just the thing to give a little pick-me-up in these cold winter days.

♥ I hope you're finding some little things in your day to make your heart skip with happiness!

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ps I remembered I created a category for my 3Things posts, I have just re-read them all and have had such an unexpectedly lovely trip back down memory lane! They go back to 2009 - h e r e - if you want to see xxxx

pps if you look closely at some of the photos today, you might spot my new Hydrangea blanket just beginning.....more about that in the next few weeks xx

  

...more little snippets from the Attic...

Notes from the Studio

Crochet, Colour and Flowers

Three Sweet Things

Three sweet things that have made me feel happy this week....

Thing #1 :: sweet anticipation ::

Waiting none too patiently for these big fat peony buds to open, oh it's sweet torture! I've already done the soaking in warm water thing to try and release the sap, and the petals are now veeeery sloooowly beginning to loosen. I absolutely cannot wait to see them in full floral froth.

Thing #2 :: sweet shortbread ::

I baked yesterday afternoon, partly as a reward re tidying the Corner of Doom in my bedroom and partly as an avoidance technique re some tricky admin work that needs doing rather urgently. This beautifully thin, buttery, sugary shortbread tastes divine, so crisp and sweet and bite-able and the perfect accompaniment to an afternoon cuppa.

Thing #3 :: sweet kindness ::

oh my stars, this heart-meltingly sweet handmade card nearly had me weeping into my toast and marmite this morning. Little B delivered it to me in the kitchen, and honestly I was lost for words and could only hug and squeeze his dear little five year old self very tightly whilst stifling the emotion. I had felt lousy yesterday, crawling into bed at 6pm, overcome with some virus-like shivery, achy, bone-tired nastiness. I'm very rarely ill and I guess it must have up-skittered him a bit as he seemed so concerned for my well being this morning.

Fear not though, I am feeling loads better today, still dog tired but nothing that a bit of shortbread and caffeine can't cure.

Wishing you all plenty of sweetness in your days xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

❤ Three Happy {Yellow} Things ❤

Three sunshiny yellow things that have made me happy today.......

☀ Thing #1 ☀ in my kitchen ☀

☀ Lemons. I always, always have lemons in the kitchen, I use them frequently in cooking and baking but I also absolutely love the colour of them in my rather drab, umpteen-shades-of-grey kitchen. That shot of yellow is so vibrant, so impossibly full of cheer, how can anyone not want to have a lemon or two to gaze at every day?

☀Yesterday I baked a lemon drizzle cake {recipe on my blog here}, crikey I love this cake. Incredibly easy to make and it never fails to deliver happiness. The kitchen smells heavenly as it's cooking, and there is the rather lovely after effect of having a substantial load of cakey goodness in the cake tin for the rest of the week.

☀ This afternoon I came home from school and took a moment to spread a cloth over the table in my back yard and bring out a little jar of flowers. For no particular reason other than there was blue sky and sunshine and I thought that a hot cuppa and a slab of moist lemon cake would hit the spot rather nicely. It was a delightful little moment of peace and tranquillity at the end of a busy day.

☀ Thing # 2 ☀ on my table ☀

☀ A jug of highly scented narcissus. I picked these up from the supermarket at the weekend for a couple of £'s and they are absolutely bloomin' gorgeous.

 

☀The smell of these little blooms is incredible. The scent fills the room so that even when I'm sat in the Big Chair over by the bay window I can still catch a whiff of that fragrance in the air.

☀They are very pretty to look at too, all frilly and fancy with such subtly different shades of yellow in each flower. I especially like them in my pink Avoca button jug too, the colours look great together and really brighten the room.

☀Thing # 3 ☀ in my tummy ☀

☀I decided to make myself brunch today as I was at home for a little while before heading to the studio. I figured I could make myself something nutritious and healthy, and was inspired by a recipe I saw recently in the freebie Tesco magazine.

☀I absolutely love  a good poached egg {read this easy "poaching know-how" on my blog} and I also really love avocado, but up until today I'd never thought to combine the two. I eliminated the pepper sauce, and with a lack of sour dough bread I had to make do with an ordinary multi-seeded slice, but oh boy, it was really very yum indeed.

☀I buy free range eggs from the local butcher and the colour of the yolks is always glorious - a deep, rich orangey-yellow which makes me very happy indeed.

 

I wonder what colour has made you happy today? Do tell!

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❤ Three Things ❤

❤ Three things that have made me feel heart-skippy happy today....

❤ Thing #1 :: on my table ❤

A jug of little orange-centred daffodils with the most incredible scent. The sight and smell of them has made me incredibly happy all day today. In fact the whole of my studio has made me happy today, as it does every day.

❤ Thing #2 :: in my hand ❤

Ten little rolls of rainbow washi tape which I ordered from Amazon weeks ago and had completely forgotten about. They arrived today (unexpectedly all the way from China as it happens) and the colours have made my heart very happy!

 ❤ Thing #3 :: on my feet ❤

After a long Autumn/Winter wearing boots and wellies, I've felt super light-footed stepping out in shoes and socks today. I've had these greeny-blue mary jane shoes for many years now and absolutely love wearing them (they're made by Oxygen Shoes, but sadly no longer available)

❤....here's hoping you've enjoyed some happy little moments in your day too....have a great weekend..

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♥ Four Things ♥

Four things that have made me happy this week...

Thing # 1 :: in my back yard (and in my mouth, and in my tummy!)

:: four ripe strawberries, mmmmmmmmmmm! Oh my, the taste, the pleasure!! Indescribably sweet and juicy and we grew them! It was a weeny bit ridiculous to be so excited by four small fruits, but Little B and I just couldn't help ourselves ::

Thing # 2 :: in the front garden

:: A foggy early morning made such a spectacle out of these spiders webs, we were all entranced by them, their beauty, their unexpectedness. And they almost made us late for school too. I don't know - being so happily distracted by dewy webs is almost as bonkers as the Four Fruits Excitement ::

Thing # 3 :: through the Attic window

:: such gentle early Autumn late summer views through my window this week. It's been foggy and hazy and gently warm, with a sweet end of day pink glow and then big harvest moon rising ::

Thing #4 :: on my bed

:: Big Blanket is back in residence after a summer of folded waiting. I love this blanket so much and even though I know it's return means that Summer is ending, I am still really, really happy to have it back on the bed again. I would love to crochet a super-light summer sort of a blanket that can happily reside on the bed in the warmer months, but not sure what yarn fibre or weight would do. Any suggestions would be welcome ::

♥

Hoping you are all enjoying a happy week, full of life's little unexpected pleasures. I'd just like to say thank you for all your kind and supportive words here of late as I work my way through my changing days, I appreciate your friendship and empathy very much. Thank you xxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 ♥...more little snippets from the Attic...♥ 

Open Studio :: June 2013

Juggling Act

To Market

Five Daily Happies

:: Happy #1 :: my back yard ::

Daily pleasure guaranteed in this teeny tiny little outside space of mine. I potter around out here many times a day, deadheading, watering, inspecting, and sometimes just sitting peacefully and breathing it all in. And by the way, I've decided not to paint the wall after all. Next year I want to grow lush leafy things up against it, I want it to become a wall of living greenery.

Things are really growing like billio out here, like really thriving and not just merely surviving! Little B's pumpkin is going great guns and this week I noticed that I have actual strawberries on my strawberry plants, so I'm very happy about that.

:: Happy #2 :: elevenses ::

I wonder if this is a particularly English thing or whether it's worldwide, do you know of "elevenses"? I really love this little ritual when I make time to sit a while in the late morning and enjoy something sweet to eat with a hot drink. This week I baked banana bread (this recipe) which makes rather a fantastic 11 o'clock treat.

I drink a good few mugs of fresh coffee each morning, but I especially enjoy the one that washes down the sweet treat at 11 o'clock.

:: Happy #3 :: flowers ::

Flowers always make me happy, but never more so than when I'm snipping them from my own pots. The snipping isn't a daily thing actually....

....but enjoying them indoors certainly is. Such simple pleasure, and a source of daily happiness for me.

:: Happy #4 :: crochet ::

Of course, I have to mention my daily fix of hooky feel-good!

Weirdly I've not been crocheting much of late, but a few days ago I got out my jolly bag of colourful chunky yarn and immersed myself in those gorgeously squishy rows (I'm making background stripes for my YARNDALE letters). It felt really good to be back with it again after an unplanned break.

:: Happy #5 :: sky gazing ::

I blame my Dad entirely for this habit as it was him who taught me the wonders of sky gazing when I was a small child. When I was growing up we had many books about the night sky and I used to know a lot about stars and the constellations. Clouds too, my Dad has some serious books on clouds. Today the clouds have been especially lovely, all puffy, fluffy and white, and I've spent rather a lot of time watching them breeze across the sky.

We had a terrific storm here yesterday afternoon, torrential rain, thunder, lightening, the works. A few hours later after the storm had blown out of town we were left with a most incredible evening sky and the whole house was lit up in a glorious glow of pink.

♥

I hope you are enjoying your days too and finding plenty of happy things to make you smile...

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♥...more little snippets from the Attic...♥

Funky Lamp Yarnbomb :: Ta-dah!

Crocheting Daffodils

Creative Swapping

Artisan Bread

May Rose Wreath :: Ta-dah!

♥ Three Things ♥

Three things making me heart-skippy happy this week...........

Thing #1 :: in my basket ::

:: I had the best type of parcel arrive this morning, a yarn parcel! Replenishing my poncho-depleted stash of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino and adding to my stash of Rico Essentials Merino DK.

This is the yarn I'll be using for my Bower Bird workshop, I've been kept very busy prepping for it this week (the first one is this coming Saturday). Part of the workshop will involve looking at putting colours together, so I'm aiming to create a yarny colour wheel to act as an inspiring starting point. I've been using my fabulous yarn winder (it's been smoking!) to create lots and lots of neat little yarn cakes, and the repetitive winding has been weirdly satisfying if a bit time consuming.

Thing #2 :: slung about my person ::

I finished my poncho yesterday, oh boy, I am so in love with this thing. The edging was finished on Monday, then yesterday I made a sweet little dangly tie thing to thread through the neck edge as a final finishing touch. I'm wearing it right now as I sit writing at my drafty desk, and it feels absolutely amaaaaaaaazing. All that's left to do now is to steam-block the edging, it needs some soft stretching and steaming to open it all out and persuade it to sit flat and pretty. I am very, very excited to show you, but need it to PleAse StOp RaiNiNg so that I can take some good photos. Murky wet grey is no good for photos, it really isn't.

Thing #3 :: on my feet ::

Possibly the most exciting thing of all, I got new boots this week. Not any old boots either. Not brown or black, but the most delicious shade of RED. I have wanted red boots forever and ever, and much as when I got my red mary janes, these boots have sent me into a spin of ridiculous happiness this week. I love them so so much, they make me feel like I could walk a thousand smiley miles. And they match my upcycled coat perfectly. Deep sigh....so happy. I've got red boots!!!!!!!

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ps I know you're gonna ask....the boots are by Fly London, and I snaffled them up as they were in the sale. They are here on Amazon.

pps don't you just love a mossy cobbled street? This is my back street, right outside my back gate. The cobbles are over one hundred years old, isn't that something?

 

♥...more little snippets from the Attic...♥

Colour Play

Studio Time

Yarndale 2013 :: My Story

Autumnal Crochet

♥ Three Things ♥

Three Things that have made me heart-skippy-happy today..........

Thing #1 :: on my mantel ::

:: my hooky tins are back on the mantel, and I have my first little tete a tete's in the house too. They bring me such joy every year, I can't wait for those adorable little nodding yellow flowers to appear ::

Thing #2 :: on my wall ::

:: I treated myself to an original painting by the supremely talented Natalie Rymer. Her work is so beautiful, with sing-song colours and a captivating simplicity. To find out more about her lovely work, please do go visit her on Facebook and say hello ::

Thing #3 :: in my basket ::

:: this afternoon I finished the edging on my granny patchwork blanket, yippeeee! It was a pleasure working the edging once I finally decided in my mind how to tackle it. All those riotous, colourful squares needed some gentle holding together, and I think this is one of the most successful border/edgings I've ever made. Can't wait to show you, will try and photograph it tomorrow if there is enough light ::

Hope you've managed to find some heart-skippy-happy in your day too ♥

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♥ Four Things ♥

Four Things that are making me feel warm and cosy this afternoon......

:: Thing #1 :: out of my window :: A perfect Wintry view ::

We only had a small flurry of sleety snow this morning, and most of what landed yesterday has now melted away. The surrounding hills are still dressed in their gorgeous winter-white coats though, it looks soo beautiful, peaceful and serene.

Thing #2 :: in my kitchen ::  The delicious wafting smell of tonights dinner cooking ::

I was recently given a super little book by my mother-in-law, and every recipe I've tried so far has been a terrific success. The book's called Easy Slow Cooker and I can highly recommend it. It's a lovely feeling to come home from the school run, open the front door and smell the dinner cooking away all by itself. Marvelous!

:: Thing #3 :: on my sofa :: A sweetly sleeping Little B ::

How I love my quiet, gentle after-lunch hour when Little B takes his nap! It allows me some breathing space in the middle of the day when I can just relax and be Me for a wee while. I love to sit quietly nearby with a hot cup of tea and and listen to the sweet sound of his rhythmic breathing. It's one of the most soothing sounds I know.

:: Thing #4 :: on my table :: hooky holly in progress ::

Yayyyyyyyyyyyy!! Holly leaves are happening!! Whilst Little B slept this afternoon, I sat in the bay window and worked like the clappers to get the holly leaf tutorial photographed for you. Just need to upload the thirty five pictures and write up the words to go with them, will try and do that this evening if I can.

Ps I've got this type of slow cooker and love love love it. I just need to remember to use it more often. Going to make a slow-cook curry on Thursday I think. Or maybe Moroccan lamb meatballs? Or maybe beef with cheesy dumplings? Mmmmmmm I love Winter cooking!