Autumnal mood.

Hello Friends,

It's chilly and windy today, Summer has gone and Autumn is already here. I do like this cooler weather, for me, as a Russian girl, this is what England is all about: grey cloudy skies, rain and fog :) I bought these flowers a few days ago, charmed by their rusty Autumn coloured hearts. All I'm thinking about today is putting  fluffy woolen socks on, lighting our stove and reading my favourite blogs on the iPad wrapped in my favourite stripy shawl in front of the crackling fire.

I must admit I LOVE England and all things English. Union Jack, Tea Parties, English Gardens and Colin Firth of cause :) He is a real English gentleman, isn't he?

It's nice to be home on wet days like these, being warm and cosy and surrounded by pretty things like the above :) Now we spend more of our time indoors, and it's even more important to keep the house filled with good smells and handcrafted goodness.

I have started crocheting a Ripple Baby Blanket to keep Miss M warm in Winter. Here you can have a little peep at it. I use Rowan Handknit Cotton ans size 4 hook, and the pattern can be found on Lucy's blog here. I can't recommend her tutorials enough, very easy to follow even for a beginner like me.

I don't know if I bit more than I can chew, but I'm completely hooked :) I love the colours. I'm filled with Ripplesome Ripply Joy, thank you Lucy :) xxx. I just can't stop crocheting. The hook and yarn are the first things I take in the morning and I keep going till late at night, when Miss M is sound asleep. I do pay for it next morning though, as Miss M wakes up full of beans early and I have to d-r-a-g myself out of bed, grab some coffee and hook and yarn of cause :) Unfortunately I ran out of pinks today so have to wait for a couple of days now till some more yarn arrives. Well, at least I can catch up on sleep!

Have a nice week xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Crochet craze

I've got a new craze...crocheting...and this is how it started. I saw a baby girl wearing a headband, it looked soooo pretty I decided to get Miss M one. I went onto EBay, where I discovered hundreds of the most gorgeous headbands! I couldn't choose, I got two. One of them has a white delicate crocheted flower. So pure, so chic. I immediately felt WANTIES to have crocheted headbands in every colour and size! So I thought, why don't I make some myself? So I went back onto EBay and got some yarn, hooks and beads. Then I found some foolproof tutorials on YouTube and TA-DAH! L-O-V-E-L-Y!

I got some more yarn, and I desperately needed a bag to keep it in. I saw this craft bag and fell in love with it. So scrumptiously flowery, with wooden handles and beige polka dot background...yummy!

Look, my yarn LOVES living in it!



Next I decided to get myself A BOOK with patterns. I went on Amazon... and I couldn't choose, I had to have every one! So now I own a small library of crochet books and hours and hours of varied  blissful hooking.

And this is my first pattern. I spent an evening  and the whole next day trying to decode this Japanese crochet language. I made mistakes, I hooked and unravelled the yarn back a million zillion times, but I DID IT! Yeey!

Sweet peas.

I was looking through the photos on my computer this morning and found some of sweet peas in my garden I thought I'd like to share with you. I took these pics last summer, when I was newly pregnant with Miss M, and my lovely Husband created this beautiful oasis of peace  - our garden - for me to relax from my boults of morning sickness.

I love, I mean, L-O-V-E  this flower, it's delicate scent, the wonderful colours, the heart shape of the petals, the way it crawls upwards towards the Sun, the light green baby pods. I dream about planting them around conservatory (when we build it!), and opening the windows and french doors to let the scent fill the house... What a wonderful vision!

This year our garden is a building site as we are making a raised flower bed, borders and a new patio and a new fence and gates. So you see plenty to do. I can't wait till it's finished!

Rasberry cupcakes

Mmmm, yammy, aren't they? Such a nice bright pink colour, perfect for a tea party with your girlfriends! And believe me, this colour is all natural, well, except for the sunny spot in the midde, that is made from coloured icing sugar. To make this gorgeous icing whizz 100g/ 31/2oz rasberries with 1 tbsp lemon juice and 300g/11oz sieved icing sugar in a processor till smooth and sieve to remove seeds.

Have you got any interesting cupcake icings?