That's all that's left to be done on my nursery cross stitch project - the black and the white bits. Unfortunately though there is quite a bit of both!I've finished the white section of what is the folded over white sheet on the bed, but there's the whole pillow are that also needs to be white, and then I need to start on all the black outlining. Not only do all the toys in the bed need their features adding, but each square on the patchwork blanket also needs defining with a black outline. It may take a while... ... read more
Archives for April 2010
Grow your own update
Veg production seems to be starting off rather well here. Above are the courgettes happily growing from the free seeds I got from this year's BBC Dig In campaign. They're starting to take over this part of my kitchen, but I'm just waiting for the last frost to be over before planting them out. The rest of the veg plot is looking pretty good too. From the left there are potatoes hopefully starting to grown from seed potatoes in the bag on the paving. The random assortment in the back left hand corner of the raised bed is the contents of the magic grow your own box that I ... read more
growing…
The baby blanket is expanding, but possibly not at the same rate as my baby bump is. I may have to speed up a bit! ... read more
Expanding the vegetable plot
The good news is that Mr C managed to find the time to make a great start on my vegetable plot for me before this week's good weather. This photo was taken less than a week ago and yet things have already grown noticeably. In the raised bed are onions, mixed lettuce, rocket (a gift from the neighbours), carrot seeds, beetroot seeds and my mystery box, which is now starting to sprout. Next to the bed are some sugar snap peas which I have to admit to buying as seedlings from the local nursery. Some shallots have also been added in the last week and the kitchen window sill also has some small ... read more
Handmade Home – Amanda Blake Soule
Another book that I've been dipping into latelyis rather different to the last: Handmade Home (or Handmade Home: Simple Ways to Repurpose Old Materials into New Family Treasures to give it its full title) is by the wonderful Amanda Blake Soule and it's kind of difficult to express just how in tune I feel with this particular book. Many of you may be familiar with Amanda from her SouleMama blog which is on my list of daily reads. For some reason though I didn't rush out and buy this her second book as soon as it came out. I'm not too sure ... read more
Speaking for Themselves: personal letters of the Churchills
Over the last week or so I've been dipping into several different books rather than just concentrating on one of two. One book that falls into this category is the excellent Speaking for Themselves: The Personal Letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill which I managed to pick up the US version of very cheaply when I visited Chartwell last month.Compiled by their daughter, Mary Soames, this book is a collection of the letters between Winston and his wife Clementine which they both wrote from the early days of their relationship, whenever they were parted. They ... read more
Making a moses basket for Baby C
I was luck enough to get not one, but two moses baskets via St Albans freecycle recently (along with a stand too!) but as these were just the bare baskets, literally, I knew I'd need to use my sewing skills to turn these into somewhere for Baby C to sleep. A new mattress (always recommended for a new baby) was easy to come by, and the same goes for a fitted sheet for the mattress (although how the same shop can sell fitted sheets that so not fit the mattresses they also sell is beyond me!) The bit I needed to make was a cover for the basket itself that the mattress could sit on top ... read more
Spring tulips
It seems like a long tome ago that I was hopefully planting spring bulbs in the garden. Looking back it was in early October, so thinking about it there's been a very harsh winter in between, and after so long of the garden being white over it makes the sight of these first tulips in flower all the sweeter. I love tulips. They're definitely my all time favourite flower and one of the advantages of getting married in March was that I could have them as part of our wedding flowers too. Had we got married this year though I think we may have struggled a bit. Their simplicity ... read more
NTTVBG: Skin Lane – Neil Bartlett
I wasn't too sure what to expect of Skin Lane mainly as the cover doesn't give much away. The picture of some sort of animal skin and a knife didn't really register with me and the back only contains the briefest summary of the story the book contains.What I certainly didn't expect was to be so completely drawn into Mr F's life that I felt like I just couldn't put the book down. In a way I didn't like what I was reading, but I felt compelled to continue. The precision of Mr F's life was in itself both fascinating and completely alien to my own. At ... read more
Slow but steady progress
I've been concentrating lately on bits I've needed to buy or order for Baby C's arrival - big things like a cot and pram. These are now all in the hands of the delivery gods (and I'm trying to ignore the fact that some stuff didn't turn up yesterday in the 13 hour delivery window I was given!) so attention needs to turn back to the things I am making.The cross-stitch Ten in the Bed that I'm working on has been making steady progress, but I possibly need to step this up a gear now. The main part of the blanket of the bed is complete and I'm well on the ... read more