Tea, a Little Nag and Decisions Made.

Now the spring is showing herself so prettily I feel the need to slough off my winter coat, both literally and metaphorically. I no longer want to be bundled into endless heavy layers, prefering the feel of lighter, softer clothes when warmer days allow. Yesterday was hot in our little patch of Cornwall - and I do mean hot. I ventured out to find snippings of the new nettle leaves from the ever present patches in our garden and discovered the soft lilac-blue petals of pulmonaria.

Of course, me being me I also can see the beauty in the equally soft, fuzzy leaves of the nettles and focused my lens on those for good measure. Nettle tea is one of life's great pleasures to me (see how easily I am pleased!) and the anticipation of the first cup is a good one. It is an earthy, soupy beverage which is sustaining in a way herb teas don't seem to be and I can feel the benefits as I sip. It is cleansing and full of minerals, so very nourishing - what more could you ask?

Salads are also calling which led to a chat over the dinner table about sowing some seeds. Isabella, who loves gardening, was most excited whilst Lucy requested rocket and spinach would be added to the lettuces. The thought of homegrown spicy, peppery rocket back on the menu makes my mouth water, though we have to beat the children to it as they tend to graze on pretty much anything edible when outside. Chives, rocket, marjoram... it all disappears until the blackcurrants, redcurrants and tayberries take over for a while. It's not all healthy here though as the latest batch of banana and chocolate muffins prove.

Perfect for when we arrive home from the school run and a great way of using up over-ripe bananas. We buy these in for next to nothing, slice them into chunks and freeze them. This means they are perfect for adding straight from the freezer for cakes or ice cream, and we nearly always have a supply to hand for little cost.

And of course, we can also pinch Lucy's cupcake holder which I showed in my last post. This pretty and intricate papercut was a birthday gift from Diana who will be opening her own little online store sometime very soon.

Here you will be able to purchase a little bit of perfection in the shape of a notebook, maybe a gocco print or even if you are very lucky one of these gorgeous things, the whole range designed and crafted by Diana's talented hands - all it needs is for Diana to be nagged enough and it will happen! Oops, think I may have just lost a friend!!

On the topic of friends, I would like to thank all you lovely people who left such sweet comments or emailed about my last post - I have taken them all to heart and fully intend to continue being a little kinder to myself by not trying to stretch myself endlessly when really I want/need to concentrate my energies on things close to hand, accepting I have limited reserves as we all do. The focus from here is now firmly on giving more time to the children, Mr Davey and myself, and if anything is left to give at the end of that it will go on our little home and garden - in other words, our family. Oh, and of course my other love: my business. Hurrah! Gosh, I actually feel quite excited!

It is also quite exciting to note that the newts are back, though the picture is from last year as I was so cold from perching at the edge of the wildlife pond waiting for one to appear 'ready for his close up' that I gave up! But they are there and thus so is spring...enjoy x

Never Enough...Probably!

Golly it has been a while since I have visited my little blog and I have missed it. As ever, it has been busy with a poorly Isabella yet again coming under the onslaught of a nasty bug. Yesterday I read Nina's post and recognised my own voice in her writing, my relief at the reprieve from illness in the house being short lived as yet more arrived to take the last lot's place.

It has made me think a lot about how frustrating life is sometimes. I am busy - very - with work and that is good; we try where we can to make the family side of life good too and I think we do pretty well with lots of games being played, meals shared and so on, all the normal things that go with being part of a family, but things which actually require much time spent to achieve nonetheless.

Add into the mix the fact that our children are people (though at times I wonder!) and therefore require nurturing and caring for, the need to give to each of them that most precious of commodities - time - so that they can talk about their feelings, worries, hopes.

And then there is being one half of a couple and all that goes with it: the sharing of laughs and cuddles and company; the listening when the other needs to talk; the being able to talk knowing the other will listen, truly listen. The loveliest of situations and again one that needs time to keep it working, to nurture it so that it remains the special relationship it has always been.

These things are surely what it is all about, this manic ride we call life? How easy it all is when the planets align in the right way, when health is good and work is managed within the natural time constraints of a large family (or indeed a small one if that is your lot). How hard it is when one element falls out of kilter and your nights are full of a child who had just recovered from a week-long illness and now is battling a painful ear infection that turns her into a screaming wreck, poor soul.

Still the orders are there, still the others need you, though thankfully they are all so brilliant with their little sister and just want to help her get better. Still I am aching and exhausted from the remnants of the flu-like bug of recent weeks which made me feel more ill than I can remember - I even took to my bed at some point for heaven's sake!

Now we are on the other side of it with Isabella ready to return to school tomorrow I am, as I said, left feeling how frustrating life can be. Despite all you do it seems it is never enough and there is always some area which you cannot do properly, someone who feels you are letting them down, though thankfully never the kids and that's what is really important. They come first don't they?  I am notoriously hard on myself and forever feel I could do more, but just now I feel I have done enough and that in itself feels good.

I see the pile of orders finished and ready to post and I can smile; I see the messy, falling-down-around-our-ears house with its tiny rooms and know it will be done one day when time and money allow, and I love it for all its faults because it is ours and full of love; I can think of our children and be proud knowing they all feel how much we love them and appreciate that we try, no matter what life throws up, to be there for them.

And as for the rest? Well, I am only human after all! A little uninterupted sleep has brought me back to myself and I am once more excited by life: spring is coming, the garden awaits and I am desperate to get out there, there are new games to play and a pretty boat to sail with fishing trips and camping ahead (groans quietly at that one). Commissions have popped up and I am so enjoying the designing of them.

And on that lengthy ramble which I am not sure actually had any point I shall leave you. Perhaps the point is this: don't be hard on yourself because you are probably doing the best you can and it is more than good enough!  (Plus there is always someone out there who will be hard on you whatever you do!).

P.S. Just so that you know how hard we make the children work:

Lucy making caramel cupcakes.
Tom cutting down six foot of holly.
Elias sanding down the boat.


P.P.S. Please note the pretty cupcake holder made by the lovely Diana for Lucy's birthday - more on this next post!

Biirthday Musings

It is Friday once more and although the warmth of yesterday has gone, the sunshine hiding a little behind the thickening cloud, the day still has that special feel. I do so love Friday and the promise of the weekend ahead.

I have to admit that this weekend may well not be the relaxing one I would hope for as Lucy is having a birthday sleepover. The Big Day itself is not until the eighth (next Tuesday) when she will enter the world of the teenager, but this weekend will be one of giggles and pizza and chocolate brownies; a weekend of make up and making lotions, of cinema and popcorn; a weekend where I must hold on to my annoyance when trying to sleep to the tune of squealing girls...hmm, pass the wine already.

It does seem that birthdays go on for ever now - she said in the voice of an old and eeyorish maid - with weekends being the appointed time for sleepovers and the actual birthday involving a tea with guests in the form of grannies and friends too er... well, old really, for the weekend do. I would add that in my book to be not a teenager and therefore 'too old' is in this case considered a Good Thing!

Of course, we could make life a little easier for ourselves. We never did the party bag thing when the older children were tiny and the notion first came in partly because I always felt that the whole point of the party was to celebrate the birthday child not to seemingly reward children for turning up, but mostly because there was never any money to spare for the extras this would entail. I know things can be made for very little, but this has always entailed time and time is always precious when you have a spread of ages from baby upwards as was the case.

A slice of homemade cake and a balloon would be packed off with each child, me dreading the inevitable cry of 'but where's my party bag' from the little one on the verge of tears as its mother hustled it out the door. And of course, this meant more awkwardness when my own children would receive a bag at the parties they attended in return. What of my notions of celebrating the birthday child then?

I have never sorted this one out and actually quite like the idea as the years roll on, but feel what was done for one - albeit XXX years ago - must in turn be done for the rest, and so it is still a piece of cake, still homemade, still a balloon on a piece of string that they leave with.

And now Lucy is older? Well, the pizza and brownies, chocolate muffins and birthday cake are always made by us, but it is what the children request. They love my very thin, messily floppy tomato-topping-down-your-shirt style of garlicky pizza it seems. They love making beauty potions with Davey (who makes THE most gorgeous lotions and bath things, by the by) and eating his oozingly gorgeous chocolate birthday cake.

It would be so nice to just open some packets for once and throw it all in the oven. Ahh, but I can dream....

as I make up yet another batch of brownies and slug back another glass of the red stuff.

(P.S. I love it really!) x

The Reveal - Part Two.

Before the Reveal Part 2 I must just thank you for the lovely comments about our little cot quilt from the last post - so lovely to think you all liked it and hopefully it may have given an idea or two for any pending baby arrivals out there in blogland. Please do let me know if you work one yourself and I'll post a link.

Now to the results of Mr Davey's knitting where this gorgeous yarn - Twilley's Freedon Sincere Cotton DK for those who may wonder -

was worked with such love

into two little hats!

This wool is such a beautiful cotton blend with the creamiest of creams for the slightly larger one

and a heathery shade of pink for the tiny wee newborn one. I love the way the decreases lead to the little cord (which I believe is called an i-cord, though I have no notion why) which is then tied into a very cute knot. So lovely and so quick as Dave worked both of these within two days and that was obviously with many breaks for walks, games, etc...well, it was half term.

I love this yarn so much that I have ordered some for my next knitting project: Lurelei from my Ravelry queue (yes, I have finally worked out how to do a queue, though sadly not how to do an image link) in a gorgeous shade called Moonstone; more of this another time. Heavens, this is fast becoming a knitting blog!

Don't you hate buying wool that only has a batch number? How can someone not think of a thousand names when faced with such beautiful colours, merely resorting to labelling with an homogenous number which suggests a lack of connection with the wool itself? It is completely alien to me to have such a cold approach to something and doesn't seem to connect with the target audience either as most knitters I know are very in touch with such things. Thankfully, Twilleys are aware of our needs and have such beguiling names as Moonstone, Garnet and Malachite to tempt us with.

Anyhoo, enough of my ramblings. I will leave you with a bright splash of that ever-elusive sunshine in the form of our gaudy, can't-possibly-miss-me forsythia

and my Davey's dear hands (complete with their sadly bitten fingernails...sigh) knitting the second of the baby hats.

Have a lovely Wednesday x

The Big Reveal!

WARNING: This is a very long post, so please feel free to move on if you have more thrilling things to do than fabric gaze!


Ok then, time for the big reveal. The reason I couldn't show what we had been up to is because it was all for our daughter, Matzen, whose friends had organised a surprise baby shower which took place yesterday. So, now the party is over and there is just a baby to look forward to - note the played down 'just' there when in fact the whole household is in a state of utter baby excitement - I can actually reveal the things we spent half term making: these fabrics became...

A cot quilt in raspberry pinks, soft whites and a touch of red to lift the whole.

Unfortunately yesterday morning was dull here unlike today with its bright, beautiful sunlight which would have made photographing the fabrics so much easier. Never mind, you get the gist anyway. This is the reverse. The mix of soft fabrics makes me want to sigh with pleasure every time I see them; they also produce an almost overwhelming need to curl up in their quilty swathes for a snooze or two!

The 'top side' is even more special to me as we each designed a motif which I then embroidered onto the quilt. Everyone drew their own design onto paper first and then had free reign of my sewing room and its many piles of fabric - gulp - to choose what colours they wanted to use for the various components of their design. Even Isabella was completely involved in the process, drawing a house and having the most definite ideas about which fabric to use for the roof.

I tried to ensure that each of the designs was appliqued and embroidered in such a way as to retain the style of the designer. For example, the grass in the image above shows the naive style Isabella draws grass and windows (I traced her pencil strokes onto the fabric to keep it as exact as possible). Dave also has a very er, naive style! he is renowned for his pictures of boats such as this one...

and sea creatures such as this!

Elias drew an amazing lighthouse

I thought a little girl was needed, what a surprise

and Lucy wanted her signature cupcake to keep things girlie.

I realised the only picture I took of the whole together was really rather a poor one. So typical isn't it?

The binding was a soft duck egg blue with rosebuds sprigs scattered over, A pretty contrast to the rest.

So there you have the first of the makes. I get such a deep sense of happiness when I think that this is the fourth quilt I have made as gifts for our children and love the fact that so many of us worked together on this very first one for one of our children's children! I'll save Davey's knitting for the next post as I truly feel I have rambled on long enough. I'll leave you with a photo I took early this morning when the sun shone with such warmth that it is impossible to believe spring hasn't arrived at last.

Have a lovely day x