Sun, Sea & Hot Choc

Two days in a row of glorious sunshine. What perfect timing for the weekend.

After breakfast this morning we packed up lunch and headed straight to the coast. The problem with where we live is that we have two counties of wonderful coastline to choose from. We opted for Southwold in the end. 

Several reasons. Great promenading for one.

A wonderful pier where you can cosy up to drink very chocolaty hot choc after having lost all of your 2p's in the slot machines for another.

There's the make you feel good views.

Skimming stones from the beach and feeling the clean air lift your heart.

Knowing we've been here again and again and always feel like it's the first time. The Bun's alway want to end the walk by playing It at the Guns on the Hill. On the way past I went into the Sailors Reading Room for the first time.

It's a fascinating room with a real air of calmness about it. Originally built to keep the sailors and fishermen out of the pub, it now serves as a small museum to remember many of them. You can still go there to quietly read, but I think I'd prefer to knit and listen to the sea.

A small moment of peace before we raced off up the hill to chase around the Guns before heading off home again.

Killing Time

I really love Friday's. Friday is my favourite day of the week, especially when it's pay day Friday. Work ends on Thursday, so it's the start of a long weekend. The Bun's have after school drama so lots of me time to play with. Sometimes I'm sociable. Mostly I just love being on my own, in my job I have to talk endlessly all day long.

After kissing Little Bun goodbye in the playground and doing a cool, grown-up goodbye to Miss Rosey I whizzed home to put my plans into action.

Yesterday I'd had a strong urge to make the floral coasters I'd seen at Yvestown a fair while back. Since the blog has been deleted and redesigned I couldn't find the pattern anywhere. That's when a quick google on Pinterest helped me out as tons of other people had saved it.

I got pretty addicted to whizzing these floral dainties up. I loved seeing how they looked in each new colour I picked up. Each one done and off I went creating another one. Not sure what I've made them for really, it was simply good to be making them.

A few hearts flew off my hook too. All just enough to give me the feeling that I'd left the week behind. It's been a rollercoaster of a couple of weeks workwise, not helped with us all feeling so ill and having no time off. Now the light at the end of the tunnel has turned up and it's Fabulous Friday to boot.

For my last making fix of the morning I stitched a couple more hexies for the floral plates that will one day, years ahead from now, become a quilt.

As I had a lunch date planned with my man I had to leave it there. It's a rare thing indeed this meeting in the middle of the day. Having his own business means he's usually hard to pin down.

Mind you he was an hour late, not that it was his fault. An hour to kill and I was in the city, alone and on payday. I sought the best kind of entertainment and spent a few pennies. In Primark I spied the exact shade of wellies for me.

Some great towels and new bedding were added to the pile in my hands and I found I still had time to fill.

There was nothing for it, but to head to the yarn shop and maybe the bookshop too.

The discount bin kindly had a few of the shades of cotton I was looking for.

I got distracted by all the new season Amy Butler prints and dilly dallied a while thinking which would be best for skirts and tops. A top for this one I think.

I had just enough time for a quick browse in the bookshop. All Sewn Up by Chloe Owens appealed to me for it's joyful style. Some books are feel good and inspire me just by having a flick through every so often.

I love the happiness of making that comes out of this book. The other thing that made me love this book is that one of my favourite illustrator's work decorates page after page. She also happens to live in Norwich. If you're a Pug person like us then have a click here to visit the talented world of Gemma Correll.

Eventually Mr Bun arrived and kindly rescued me from the world of shopping. It was bliss to have time just for us, the food was pretty good too.

Before I pop off I want to say hello to new followers and a big thankyou to everyone who stops by here to read or leave a comment. Apologies again if I've been rubbish at getting back to you to say hello as usual. Have a lovely weekend - seems the sun might be shining.

LAst Minutes

Here we are, at the end of a week which was everything we wished for. Quickly, far far too quickly it's all over and now we're dreaming up adventures for the Easter holidays.

This weekend we played catch-up. We finished the puppets who have since been christened the rude boys. They prefer swinging round so their nobbly tails hang below their heads.

After a full of fun week and then hideous colds everyone pretty much wanted to hide away and get cosy this weekend. I couldn't tempt them to leave the house on Saturday. Pouring rain and the promise of a fleamarket just didn't do it for my lot. 

Off I toddled on my own to see if there were any treasures still left just before closing time. Two cheeky chappies hadn't floated anyone's boat so they were mine for the taking.

I bought a china cat which Little Bun declared creepy and laughed at. On the way out of the hall, I spied out a very tempting basket indeed. It was even better when I ran over to take a closer look. After a quick haggle I was thrilled to have a split coconut basket. I've never seen one this shape before.

My basket count is getting fairly high which means I have to start more new projects to keep in them.

For now the new basket looks just right sitting empty in the kitchen waiting for stuff.

This morning Little Bun and I went off to a skating party. Miss Rosey was still too poorly to come along. I'd been putting off making a present all week. In true last minute style I whipped up a pencil case half an hour before we left. 

I hope she likes it.

A WHole Lot of Eating

Today was a day I was really looking forward to. Midweek I'd had to go in to work, now I'm off until next Tuesday which suits me just fine.

The Bun's and I fancied a home comforts day. Having been sneezing and feeling generally rubbish since Sunday this sounded perfect to me. When I got up today I found my voice had run away too so it was a lovely quiet day for the Buns.

Our day revolved around food quite a lot. Dippy eggs for breakfast before a tramp over the fields.

One minute Little Bun and Alfie were there ...

... then they were off like a pair of rockets.

After cutting across quite a few fields, we climbed a stile and suddenly we were back in the village again. Pennies for sweets didn't get spent as the shop was closed for lunch. 

We apologised to the ducks for forgetting their bread. Alfie always eats more than they get anyways.

Nearly home again now. Midday - time for soup with chocolate cookies and cheesy buns. Recipe found while I was at work yesterday blog browsing on my phone, Florence and Rose is a lovely blog to visit, full of great ideas. So glad I stopped by as they're seriously delicious. I swapped the mozarella for goats cheese as I hate the stringiness and much prefer salty cheese.

The rest of the afternoon went by in a blur of Sylvanians and then puppet making followed by creamy hot chocolates. I think I must have added a stone to my body today, but it's been a blissful day. A much needed, good time with my girls.

Jack V

For us all this hearts and flowers stuff is yet another excuse for a lovely day. A day of surprise gifts and lovely stuff. Jack Valentine knocked on the door this morning leaving surprise gifts for the Bun's. Sweets, stickers, wind up hearts and notebooks were pulled out of paperbags.

 

Miss Rosey had secretly stitched a felt rose for us all and Little Bun had made a Big Valentine Book of Fun.

 

As for me, well I'd been hooking away making a tattoo hearts and flowers garland. I'd been thinking of making a garland for a few weeks and then I saw the lovely one Penny had made and I was off.

Somehow the garland become something else. I kept thinking of my favourite tattoo's - retro hearts, flowers and bluebirds, just like the one flying over my shoulder. A couple of bluebirds holding all the flowers and hearts together works perfectly for me.

I'm not sure where it'll end up, but over the oven works fine for today.

There's quite a bit of sorting and moving around of stuff needed around here to be honest. I'm getting a Spring's on its way and so it's time for a change feeling coming on.

After adding the new bookcase I guess I've already begun. It was meant to go on the landing outside the Bun's bedrooms, but I like it too much to not see it all the time. Our other bookcase is so huge and crammed full of books that it has to hide in the backhall.

Somehow I found myself bringing the basket home too. When we got back from bowling yesterday Poor Alfie Blue had the handles stuck round his neck. Guess he was on his constant search for sweets and delicacies. Yet another thing to hide up when we go out.

I'm really thrilled with this simple little bookcase. I've had one like this in mind for a few years now and knew it would turn up eventually.

Not sure how long before it becomes truly cluttered with bits and bobs.

Scraps

I'm squeezing in a minute here before lunch to get a thought or two down. After that it's off to a swimming party for the Bun's and then I can go and get the lovely 1940's bookcase I put a deposit on last week. Post party they'll be home primping and preening to get ready for the party we're all invited to tonight. I'll probably be allowed a nano second in front of the mirror to slap on some powder and paint.

The light is gorgeous here today. It's still freezing, but we're all toasty inside and it's the start of half-term so all very good. I've been fiddling around catching up on dull jobs this morning so I don't have to do so much next week. I've got to go in to work one day next week to catch up with some students so not a full week off, but hey better than nothing.

At the moment I'm finding it really hard to get going with any of the ideas I have. My job is really draining as I'm trying to inspire 16-18 year olds who in the main have been let down by parents and school for their whole lives. The day can start with regular moans of this is boring and thumping each other to full on energy, and enthusiasm with constant distractions. My LSA and I act like full on oddball nutters for the most part to keep their attention and make them laugh. All in all, it's draining and I've realised just saps my creativity. So I'm still searching for that much needed balance. I need to teach to pay the bills and I need to create to keep me sane. Somehow I've got to make the two go together.

I decided tidying up my endless baskets of started and now just hanging around projects might help me out. At the bottom of one basket I came across a pile of scraps from Sally of Sal's Snippets. I just love the black floral cottons and can picture a divine dress made just from them.

There was also a pile of the softest feedsack fabrics, all to small to do anything much with, but so gorgeous they needed to be used and loved again. I cut a pile of small squares to see how big a piece of patchwork I might end up with and I think it might just stretch to make the front of a bag. Like everything else though, it'll have to wait for another day - ho hum.

Black & White Stuff

My favourite pastime when it snows is cosying up inside eating delicious things and snuggling by the fire. Mind you we're seriously hoping it'll dump down enough tommorow to cancel school and work so we can go sledging. Sledging really has the edge when you're supposed to be in a maths lesson.

My folks live on a golf course with excellent hilly slopes, and if you know Norfolk you'll know there's not many hills about. The minute school was closed, a bunch of friends and me would drag our sleds through the gate at the bottom of the garden and climb the hills ahead. My sled was a monster of speed. My dad made it for me from a few old doors and added serious polished runners. It was so heavy to drag up that hill, but boy did it fly down with room for three aboard. I wonder if we'll be hitting that hill tommorow?

Before it snowed and was just freezing here we tried out the cookies posted on The Vintage Magpie. These turned out to be seriously good, all warm melty chocolate inside caramely sweet cookies. A very good start to the weekend I thought. Mind you this was after all the pancakes I'd made the Bun's for breakfast.

Then, while I was ironing some fabric for sewing stuff, I got distracted and made a lemon drizzle cake. Why is it I just want to eat and eat when it's so cold?

After nutty weeks of work and busy weekends I opted for eating lots and making stuff on Saturday. A properly lazy going with the flow day. I cut out more hexies to get my quilt going again.

In the afternoon we found a Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes to watch sleepily by the woodburner. I tried out a few black edged puff and cluster squares as I've been thinking of these for a while. I usually avoid black, I only have one black thing in my wardrobe and that's a cardigan I pimped with lace and pretty buttons and never wear. All the same I've been really drawn to how pretty black grannies can look with vintage florals so I'm giving black a fair try for now.

Late on Saturday night our little world went all white. Alfie wasn't keen on my foot up his bum to get him out for his night time wee.

The Bun's were beyond excited when they saw it in the morning. Alfie didn't care for it one bit. He and Mr Bun usually go for a run every morning, Sunday is their 2-3 mile long one. Today Alfie hid under the bed. Then he moved to the top of the stairs safely out of reach. So the Bun's and their daddy went off for an early walk. Alfie did a whooping lap of honour because his plan had worked.

Pip our older cat was brave with the snow, but Olly freaked out. Normally he's out all day wandering miles over the fields. Today he made it an inch out of the door twice.

Even our ladies have been out of sorts today. I trod all the snow down and made little paths for them to try and get them to wander. Then I brought their favourite broken chair up to roost on as they just couldn't face the walk across the garden. They dined on a hearty breakfast of warm porridge which helped cheer them a bit. I gave Olive and Bluebell a cuddle under each arm as they just seemed so bewildered by what had happened to their world.

So I'm feeling drawn. I fancy some more fun with my girls in the snow, but I really want all our furry and feathered friends to  have their world back the way it should be too.