a log cabin and lots of tea...what could possibly be nicer...

doesn't that look strange?

I was paired with Laura for Vonnie's Time for Tea swap. Laura is a graphic artist (currently looking for a job - GO snap her up - she won't be around for long) and jewellery maker and just look at what she sent me

gorgeous buttons...part 1

gorgeous buttons...part 2

fabulous print...part 1

fabulous print...part 2

excuse the awful photos of the prints - those dark patches are to do with my less than perfect photography skills, NOT the prints

there was also some tiptree jam (love it) and some chocolate...unfortunately one of the parcels Laura sent (yes, I had installments of wonderfulness all last week!) got damaged in the post and tea and some other bits and pieces she sent got lost, but still a wonderful swap package I thought. Thanks Laura.

I broadened my horizons for this swap and made something I have always wanted myself, a soya wax candle in a vintage china teacup ...I tell you these are making me damn happy at the moment...

I have this tutorial to thank for revealing to me how easy it could be...

I also made Laura a merino wool tea cosy from the yarn Mia gave me for my birthday, in a new variation for me, two by two rib, it may be my favourite so far...

I sent some rose quartz and green aventurine stones for Laura to play with too

Great swap. Thanks Laura and Vonnie.

so to log cabins...have wanted to make a log cabin square forever (at least it feels that way) but been too nervous...project improv forced my hand as the charity square was due last week, and had to be log cabin. I cut the strips the weekend before and happily sat down the night before the deadline, filled with false optimism, thinking maybe I'd manage two or three squares...come midnight I couldn't even see straight, managed to sew a couple of pieces on wrong side out and had a paltry one square to show for all my efforts.


It was a LOT of fun though, and now, finally, I can say I have pieced a log cabin square. I hope there will be many more where that came from as I do love the randomness of the pattern that emerges when you don't think two much about the fabric placement...I like this Improvisation business...it's just my cup of tea...

I LOVE lunch...and other people's birthdays

in a concession to our new found position as parents of a combined total of six smallfry and the incompatibility of such a situation with late night dinner parties (with smallfry in attendance) the Dinner Circle has recently mutated to Lunch Circle. Inaugural meeting today at the home of my good friends Ms. D and The Wolf. The King and Queen of the Dinner Circle, Anna (who totally stupified me by at the initial DC meeting by whipping up from scratch only the damn finest ever chocolate brownies for pudding WHILE we were sitting around the table relaxing after our main course - I tell you - that's a hard act to follow!) and Fraser were there too, along with their adorable new addition, Ms Martha. Cue gratuitous photo of me with Ms M...(cause it's always nice to have a baby photo when you can)

though she is wearing the kimono cardi I knit her so maybe not so gratuitous after all...
(aside :: the knit I am sporting is a 20 year old creation by Ms D...I am a cold body and had to snatch it while there...it's an amazing fairisle which has worn incredibly well over the years)

Ms D claims she has been suffering a dearth of home entertainment opportunities of late and so in a frenzy of making up for lost time presented us with the following ::

• Jamie Oliver's Caponata as a starter starter while the kids were tucking into their mini version of our main course (see below) - this alone would have made me thought I'd died and gone to heaven
• Fresh beetroot and mozzarella Salad as a starter proper
• Home made tagliatelle (yes, you read that right, the pasta was hanging out in the garden to dry when we arrived - I cursed when I realised I didn't have my camera to hand) with melt in the mouth Lamb Shank and ragout as a main course
• Fig and Almond tart (with thyme...very interesting, not to mention totally delicious) for pudding
• Milk and White Chocolate Easter Egg ring for the kids pudding...somehow I find myself able to vouch for its deliciousness too...hmmm

I am telling you all this as the Lunch Circle members demanded a blog entry of their own...happy now folks?!

It's Ms D's birthday on Friday (Happy Birthday my darling friend) so I rustled up a little soya candle in vintage teacup gift for her...




see that cake in the background there... that was only the bloomin' children's pudding (can you tell I am in total awe of people who can bake?)


Other other people's birthday news ::

I finally sourced the yarn for Nich's socks (which I mentioned in the last post)...

super chunky araucania, in a suitably hippyish hue

finished the dropped stitch scarf for another dear friend's 40th (we are falling like flies I tell ya) - whose name I can't mention in case she reads this blog - made from handspun handdyed yarn from Rosalinde the alpaca which I sourced here...

the yarn came with some photos of Rosalinde (which my animal mad pal will love) and wrapped in with it were two organza bags full of dried lavender...I tell you that scarf was the most relaxing, enjoyable knit I ever had...I was swooning on a cloud of heavenly lavender scent with every stitch...mmmm

Final installment (I promise!) on my own birthday news ::
Lovely, thoughtful, perfect gift from my ex-workmate Midori who I met for sushi during the week (random factoid - I managed to get out for Sushi three nights out of six last week, a record, particularly for me...)

Midori lived for six years in Japan so when she discovered my new found love for Japanese tea knew exactly what to get me...

Tea Tray with Green Tea Caddy and Genmaicha

isn't that tea caddy simply the most gorgeous ever seen?

Thanks Midori, you ROCK!

I'll be back to show what I made for the Time for Tea swap and my Project Improv log cabin square as soon as I know they are safely delivered. In the meantime enjoy yourselves, whatever you are up to...

you know that your child has been living with a blogger for too long when...

...the first thing she does upon receipt of some postal goodies is dash off immediately in search of the best available light and arrange them ready to be photographed...


...goodies from Helen at Angharad, there was also an old fashioned peg ready for some peg dolly action but the apprentice blogger decided to omit that for a reason known only to herself...

I had no idea what Ms Reva was up to, quite thought she'd lost her marbles in fact (now I know how my overmilkwood-mates must feel about me on a regular basis) until the penny finally dropped. Then I just felt an overwhelming sense of pride...(ahem, you know I'm kidding, right?...right?)

Thanks Helen, for the unexpected goodies for the kids as well as for my lovely giveaway prizes, which I have so far managed to keep for myself, thanks in no small part to the distraction of the peg dolly goodies.

If you planned it that way it was both cunning and immensely successful!

A word about the fabric in the background there: it is a piece of 50s barkcloth I managed to pick up in Jubilee Market one Monday morning - I LOVE 50s barkcloth - we had a wooden holiday chalet on the Irish coast in the 1970s which was still rigged out from the 50s with curtains and cushions etc in this and it always takes me back to those really happy times - if anyone knows a good source for the stuff PLEASE let me know...(cos, like, I really need to start collecting something else you know...)

Apart from photo shoots with the baby blogger I've been engaged with making a doll quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap No 5 (first one I've joined in with)


I used some of my favourite fabrics and made an attempt at a flying geese pattern. Don't look too closely though as if you do you'll see my geese are a little random and not so keen on flying in military style formation

Pesky birds!

I enjoyed making it though and have great plans to make quilts for the girls, and even one for my own king size bed one day. Whoa...hold on there girl...

(you can see more DSQ5 pictures over on flickr)

What else? oh yes...every cloud has a silver lining...as you may recall I lost my fancy dangled harmony option needles on a train from Liverpool and so have been a bit stumped on the knitting front (well, until yesterday when the replacements finally arrived - Hallelujah!). I was forced into using some old plastic ones from the days I used to buy up lots of vintage knitting needles on ebay which brought me the very pleasant experience of knitting with red malabrigo on pretty green needles...

...was almost worth losing the needles to enjoy those contrasting colours together...

In the background there you can see my lovely Cath Kidston bag sent by my even more lovely friend Katy when I moaned about not being allowed to be in her draw due to being a UK resident. Always worth a little moan I reckon. Thanks Katy. Mwah!

The knitting ended up as a tea cosy for my old school friend Siobhan. She had requested a red one as recently as November 2007 (my ability to procrastinate knows few equals) and I managed it in time for a belated Birthday Present this year. Happy Birthday dear hope you like it!

The weather in London this month is a strange mix of beautiful, clear crisp Autumn days and dark days of non-stop miserable rain. Last Sunday was one of the former and we got out to the woods, taking coffee and bagels with us.

It was a lovely little excursion and one I hope to repeat often this Autumn and Winter.

Hope you are managing to enjoy Autumn (or is it officially Winter already? I always get confused) wherever you are, or Spring I guess, if you happen to be down southerly ways...

defeat...no, victory...I think...

as a little diversion while knitting my forecast (progress: steady but slow) I decided to do myself a little summer quickie...the antropologie inspired capelet...mmmm, in a lovely soft silver grey Rowan Cocoon...mmmmm again (what is it with me and grey knits? I love 'em)

you'll note the capelet is designed in reverse stocking stitch, i.e to be worn purl side out

I knit it nicely in a couple of days on the No. 68 (upper deck)

and for once decided I must do what all those knitters out there swear by and block the little beauty (I mean, I had already done a guage swatch and everything)

well, imagine my delight, turning rapidly to consternation when I raised the sheet of protective fabric from the steam blocked knit to find this...on the right side out...

ignore the pretty heart shaped pins (filched from Ms. Reva's sewing basket, knew that would come in handy some day) look closely, you see those orange marks...they'd be scorch marks folks....

just in case you didn't see them clearly enough first time around

between you and me - I was almost weeping at this stage...

but then, inspiration struck...

I turned the little baby "inside out" ...


and smiled again...

phew!

ASIDE: do you know, almost the entire workforce of my office fell about the place laughing when I innocently put these shades on when we were out having a few drinks together the other evening...I mean I know they are large but do they really look that ridiculous? perhaps they'd (ALL) had one too many drinks...hmm, I like them regardless...(the shades that is, I haven't quite forgiven my colleagues...yet)

[vintage brooch from the regular Monday Jubilee Market, Covent Garden, London]