On the hunt...

... for the perfect scone recipe. I'm not a complete beginner when it comes to baking, but I'm not by any means an expert! I've just made a small batch of cherry scones and was a little bit underwhelmed by how they turned out. 

They tasted just fine, but I wanted them to rise into great big towering scones and these were...a bit...meh. I followed Delia's recipe, including her instruction not to twist the cutter when you cut them out but ho hum. I've quickly looked online and found a few other options - more raising agent seems to be the key - Delia just used self-raising flour.

I'll have another go when we've eaten these ones up - that won't be long then!

Summer Holiday!

We're back from our holiday of firsts - first time to Dorset, first time properly using our swishy new camera and the first time for little Ben to be away! It's been so lovely to have Will with us for an entire week and enjoy long sunny days as a family together.

We stayed in a beautiful cottage in Lulworth (about a mile up from Lulworth Cove.) It was thatched and some parts dated back to the 17th Century

Beams and inglenook fireplaces aren't reaaally my taste, but for a holiday home, we were really chuffed with our little cottage.

It had a gorgeous garden that I admit, I fell asleep in one sunny afternoon! I never normally manage to sleep anywhere but my bed (or maybe the sofa if I'm having a cheeky forty winks) but the sun and a glass of vino caught me off guard.

Lulworth Cove in the sun, homemade fudge and frothy coffees - just what the doctor ordered!

Crazy peacock that wouldn't leave us alone... 

We did day trips to Bournemouth, Weymouth and Swanage - Swanage was my favourite by far. We had glorious sunshine, fish and chips for lunch and ice creams! If that doesn't spell *H*O*L*I*D*A*Y* then I don't know what does!

  

Gorgeous Victorian details along the Weymouth beachfront...

...and some not quite such 'sophisticated' details - but fun nonetheless!

Crazy sea mist/fog/cloud rolled into Swanage - we felt like we were actually in the clouds at one point!

Fab vintage railway posters - I wish designs were like this today.

  

Sorry to bore you with endless flower photographs - I was playing with a new lens for our camera and I was quite chuffed with how they turned out!

Love this one - whatever it is - the leaves grew up in a really structured cross/square shape, I've never seen them before!

And I've seen plenty of these lovelies, but don't know what they are either. I think I need to have some in my garden, they appear to grow everywhere - almost like a weed - but oh such a pretty weed!

Stunning hydrangeas - the pastel colours just blend from one side of the flower head to the other.

All in all, a fantastic break away. And I've even got (most) of the mountain of washing we brought home with us done - so it's all good here!

Until the next time... ttfn!

My first 'ta-daaaah' moment!

Wahoo! I've found a little bit of 'me time'! I am fully aware my last blog post was February, and that I said I wanted to blog a bit more frequently, but with (a now) 9.5 month old baby, 4 months can fly by surprisingly fast!

I have a pretty good new blog post, and I am so chuffed with myself. An actual, finished, usable, grown-up sized crochet blanket! Ta-daaaaah! I'm not a newbie to knitting and crochet, but finishing something and being proud enough of it to blog about it is relatively a new thing for me! 

It's 4 seperate granny squares, joined together and then edged with a slightly different stitch. I could have gone on forever adding more rows to the edge, different colours and techniques bit I thought it was pretty balanced at this point.

It worked up really quickly, and seeing as I only had to finish 23 rounds before I could start a new quarter, it was like starting a new project each time - definitely appealed to my 'butterfly mind'!

It measures approx. 125cm x 125cm and I used 6 colours of Stylecraft Special DK. They were:

Grape (purple)

Spice (orange)

Aspen (turquoise)

Silver (grey)

Petrol (blue)

Cream (urr cream)

I needed 2 balls of cream, grape and spice, and just 1 of the silver, aspen and petrol.

I know I decided to make a wooly blanket in June, and have just had the hottest day of the year so far, but at least it's ready for the autumn evenings! I had fully expected it to take me a few months, but I just got totally addicted to doing it. Little Ben had his first cold this week :( and I think he needed some extra sleep - so with him having 2 hour naps (unheard of for Ben!) I pounced on the chance to have some crochet time in the day. Usually it's at about 10pm when I'm barely able to keep my eyes open!

I'd love to know what you think :)

This week

So this week I made myself a 'new week's resolution list' and to get back to blogging was on said list. It's Valentine's Day tomorrow and I was actually organised enough to have created a little 'love' illustration in readiness for it. And I made a repeating pattern out of the elements too!

I've said to Will that we should just give each other a card tomorrow, seeing as we are trying to look after our pennies - I hope he sticks to that and doesn't think it's a 'test', as I haven't got him anything!

I think I am coming down with a bit of a cold... let's hope it doesn't come to anything!

One week left!

Just a little reminder that there is only one week left to use the code 'NOV15' to receive 15% off anything in my Etsy and Folksy shops! 

15% Off this November!

Staying in now it's getting chillier? Treat yourself to something in my Etsy shop & get 15% off! Use the code 'NOV15' - click on the picture to take you to the shop.

Hello To You November!

I can't believe it's November already!

November is definitely the month where you are allowed to fill your face with hot chocolate topped  with squirty cream and sprinkles and not feel a bit guilty!