A London Weekend, Kensington and Brick Lane

I'm back with a long overdue post of our London weekend, I have no idea where the time went in between then and now, only that I have been busy with one thing and another and the opportunity to blog seemed to keep passing me by.

The weekend was fabulous, we saw and did lots of things that were new to us including a walk through Hyde Park, the Serpentine, a walk through Kensington Park and the Diana Fountain, (not what I expected), but as you will see the weather was beautiful and there were lots of people making the most of the sunshine and children splashing about in the water so it was all good.

Unfortunately the people who organise the walking tours had cancelled the one the girls bought us which was a shame, we were both looking forward to it, the reason they gave was the recent events in London, (the incidents on Westminster bridge and the one outside Parliament).  The tour would have taken in much of this area so for this year at least they made the decision to cancel that particular tour.  Hopefully we will be able to transfer the voucher to another tour at a future date.

As we had now got more time on the Sunday we decided to visit Brick Lane again.  We have already been several times to Brick Lane and absolutely love it.  The atmosphere is fantastic, as is the food :-)  It is also a great place to pick up vintage things, clothes, records and things for the home, which Mark calls tat , but I love :-)  Even if you don't buy anything it's still worth going just for the atmosphere alone.

I'll stop rabbiting on now and leave you with some, (ok, a lot) of photos from our weekend, I hope you enjoy looking :-)

Princess Diana fountain 

The Serpentine, Hyde Park

Street art

See you soon
-X-

A works in progress post

I don't have any finished things to show you this week so I thought I'd show you all the things I have on the go at the moment.

This baby sleeping bag has been on and off my needles for quite some time.  

I started it months ago and just couldn't get the pattern to stay in my head, even though it was basically moss stitch.  After picking it up and finding yet another mistake I decided I would ditch the pattern as written and do a similar stitch but something easier to remember.  I've worked almost 12 inches now in double moss stitch and, fingers crossed, no mistakes.

I want to get this one done by the end of September really so Bonnie will be all snug in her pram when the weather gets cooler.

A scarf for Oliver.  

He will be start Reception at school in a couple of weeks, and this will keep the chills off on the walk to and from school.  The grey was something I already had in my stash, the blue, (Sirdar Aran) was a bargain £1 a ball from the charity shop.

Another little cardigan in a new to me yarn.  Sirdar No1.  I'd never heard of it until I saw it last week.  It's knitting up really nice and is lovely and soft.

Stitching

Yes, I know, I haven't stitched for ages but I enjoyed working on this last night, (and a little more progress made this afternoon)

I've read lots of blog posts that have mentioned the change in the weather, and it's been no different here in the Midlands this week.  The afternoons have generally been ok and yesterday was quite sunny, but it does go chilly late afternoon, we have managed to resist putting the fire on just yet but that may change tonight, it's windy, raining and not very warm at all this afternoon.

Last Sunday couldn't have been more different.  We went to Bewdley for the day as they were having a fun day with stalls and street food along the river over the bank Holiday weekend.

Oliver in the middle shouting at the Punch & Judy show

And Spiderman kindly let him sit on his bike, lol

Despite the change in the weather some things in the garden are still ok, some are almost past their best and will need pulling out soon.  I put quite a few dahlias in this time, the slugs ate three  and two are yet to flower but two have produced the most amazing bloom, from this....

To this.....

One of the roses I bought a couple of months ago has decided to give some lovely flowers at last, the scent from these is gorgeous. 

If this rain and wind keep up though I doubt there will be much of anything left by next week.  

I bought a couple of packs a Autumn plants for some baskets this week that will replace the ones that will die off soon and I got a couple of pack of tulip bulbs too, we have loads of daffs in the spring but no tulips.   All in all I think my plants have done quite well this year, and I've been really happy with how my tubs and baskets have done.

I've got a couple of days off work this week, I haven't decided what to do yet, one of them I might set aside as a 'me' day.   On Saturday we are going to London again, for the weekend this time, we are using another voucher the girls got us for Christmas, this time Kensington Palace, breakfast at the Orangery and a walking tour.  Something to look forward too :-)

I hope you all have a lovely week and I will see you again soon

-X-

Pillow and Project Bags

While my pillow making workshop was fresh in my mind I decided to make another one.

I bought this material some time ago thinking it would make a nice cushion, it was only an off cut, but it turned out to be just the right size for the pattern from the workshop, and, I remembered how it was all done!

This was my first sewing project a few weeks ago.  I wanted a bag for my knitting and after trawling through you tube for tutorials I came across one I thought I would be able to follow.

It came out alright for a first attempt.  It' wouldn't win any prizes in a show, I did make a mistake on the bottom, but you can't really notice it when it's 'sat' with the yarn in, and it's for me, so it's ok :-)

I used Vonna's cross stitch project bag tutorial for the next two.

This is the first one I made last week 

And this one, a little bigger, I made this afternoon.

This one has just a plain lining 

I'm really happy with how these turned out, the tutorial was really clear and easy to follow.

I'm never going to be a sewist but I have enjoyed making these and will definitely make some more pillows but I think that's about the limit of my sewing ability, lol.

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Over size pom pom alert!

Joanne and Gavin came around on Friday with Bonnie, Jo had ordered her this hat, it is still too warm for it but and we just had to try it on :-)

(The little blanket is the corner to corner garter stitch one I was working on a few weeks ago)

Today was this little one's due date, and she is already 15 days old!

Time fly's too quickly!!

I hope you all have a lovely week, and enjoy the Bank Holiday sunshine :-)

-X-

An adventure in cushion making

Thank you for all the lovely comments welcoming my granddaughter to the world.  Mum and baby are doing fine, they came home on the Sunday.  I think they have had a few sleepless nights, which is to be expected but I think it still comes as a shock to the system doesn't it.

I managed to get a couple more photos on my phone this week when I popped round, I loved this one showing her chubby cheeks :-)

They have named her Bonnie.  

Mmmmm, I must confess that her name is going to take some getting used to, she IS bonnie, there's no doubt about that, but as a name?  I'm not sure.  But as Mark has pointed out to me, it's not up to me.

I've had a lovely few days off work this week, it's been nice to have a lie-in and potter about the house in the mornings.  On Monday I went to Willow Brook garden centre, we had passed it on the way to Stratford a week or so ago and I made a mental note then to pay a visit.  I went early enough to treat myself to breakfast, I had eggs benedict, which went down a treat with a pot of Earl Grey before having a wander round to see what was on offer.

I picked up some plants on sale, some perennials which will fill a couple of gaps in the boarder for next year.  They were also putting out the spring bulbs so I picked up 3 packets of Alliums because they reminded me of pompoms :-)

On Tuesday night I went on a cushion making workshop.

I was browsing the internet in the morning and somehow managed to find myself following a link and a shop called Gutheri & Ghani popped up.  Apparently the co-owner was a finalist  on The Great British Sewing Bee, (I  must confess, I never watched the programme) but what caught my eye was the Piped Cushion Workshop which was happening that night, I ummed and ahed for an hour or so and then thought, why not! so I signed up.

Now I'm not very good at sewing, I'd like to be, but I do get in such a pickle with the cutting out and seam allowances and measuring, It's all just so daunting, but nothing ventured nothing gained eh?

Everything was provided and I paid online so all I had to do was show up.  The workshop ran from 6pm - 10pm but was in Birmingham, not the best place to be heading into at rush hour, consequently I was late because the sat nav wanted to take me on the busiest stretch of road, I had an idea there was a quicker way with less traffic but not knowing for sure I had no choice but to follow it.  I eventually turned up 20 minutes late, not a good start!

There was only 4 of us and it was a  really good class, there was a choice of material and piping and a paper pattern and work-sheet provided and we were talked through everything step by step. 

Here is the finished article :-)

I'm quite chuffed with it :-) The piping's not perfect at the corners but I think it would pass unless you wanted to be really picky, but I did make a pretty good job of the concealed zip, even if I do say so myself, lol.
 It's given me the confidence to have a go at home, I already have some material I'd like to use and I've had a trip to Birmingham Rag Market this afternoon to get some other bits and pieces I needed, so watch this space :-)

I  hope you all have a lovely time until I see you again next week

-X-