{this moment} inspired by soulemama

a friday ritual.
a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. a simple, special, extraordinary moment. a moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

as the summer drew to a close i enjoyed working on a couple of quilts for new babies. our little team of two...that is my mum and me...pieced together the small squares with love.

this one for a friend who is very girly. she loves pink and it seemed just right to make something for her own daughter in those lovely sugar icing tones. and tonight we get to deliver it to the new family in the hope of a swap for a cuddle with wee betsy.

elsa has bought her a rabbit doll. i have spent most of the day trying to convince her that she really should not keep it for herself. that it will make her a really nice friend to give a special present. what will she do?

i think this new season...for me...has to revolve around simplicity and creativity.

i am very lucky to be at home with my daughter full time. i want to keep embracing the days we have to spend together and the simple routine we enjoy. autumn will bring a few changes because next month she will begin at playschool for a few mornings every week. i am tiny bit anxious about this. letting her go that little bit but of course understanding how ready she is. that changes have to come. it will give me a sliver of extra time to put in to my own creative work. my personal challenge is to try and start to work on bringing in a small income so that i can be there to collect her every day. paper fabric thread paint at the ready.

so a list of hopes...plans and promises...
the garden. keep on keeping on picking the runner beans and making sure we use every one of the veggies we've grown. that means courgette pickle. and perhaps holding back on eating so much so i can gift some too. i have a wonderful recipe which i will share. beetroot. any beetroot suggestions? and then there will be a tidy up. chop chop.

and the herbs to enjoy in stews and risottos. food food. lots of simple cooking and a vow to not fear yeast and get to baking with some. cinnamon rolls. i think i could eat one every day through autumn. the loveliest spice.  

skin. to see what is making mine so problematic in recent months. i am just beginning to try out using the most basic method of cleansing with olive oil. with a tiny bit of lavender added. can i stick it out a while longer to see if things settle? i was so inspired to read about rachel's advice...i'll revisit the subject and let you know.

wardrobe. a change and a reshuffle. refining and ebaying for me. definitely making sure i find a way to spend the toast gift voucher that my husband bought me last december. no i do not have amazing willpower or such a vast amount of lovely clothes that i do not need to use it...he didn't realise that i wouldn't be able to use it online. and so i need to get me a personal shopper near to a store! i really haven't bought more than 5 new pieces of clothing (and 2 of those 2nd hand) all year. that feels good actually. i am going to make myself something this autumn...but make more for elsa. and from the fabrics i have hoarded away. overflowing from the cupboard in my studio. pinafores and bonnets and tutus and capelets. stitch in to the night by the woodburner!

i re-read my words. it's just my same old list really! there are other things. thrifting and quilts and friends and christmas gifts that are on my mind. but to wrap up for tonight and looking ahead i hope to focus on the things that make us happy as a family this autumn. simple for us...plenty of music and dancing in the kitchen...and mum's plum jam.

new season hopes...a creative autumn.
easing in to blogging again. i have such a block. i wonder if just writing a bit and more often will clear my head somehow. and inspire me to document family life and making things.

so i will be participating in kcwc most definitely...details and plans to follow in a post this week.

my other plans for octobernovemberdecember? will you check back tomorrow? x

two years ago manifesto

at last i have found a book to get me back in to reading again. no more flicking through magazines in bed...i have become engrossed in how to be a woman. have been laughing out loud which has intrigued my husband as he peeks from behind his maths book next to me.

yes i found love with a man who likes a puzzle.

i have never been a really big reader of fiction. i used to read a lot more when i got the train to work and obviously pre-e. i am much more drawn to memoirs or words on food. yes i always have a cookery book of some sort on my bedside table. who knows why i studied english lit for a' level?

joy of joys there is a kitchen diaries II...september treat!

another month scooting by. it is time to think of plans for autumn and i am going to make a promise to post every day here through october so i can get back in to the groove of blog life. i will begin on 1st with my manifesto...it's my auntie's birthday that day and at least i'm a little bit ahead for once. hope you all have a lovely weekend. what are your plans? ours involves chopping wood and eating cake and watching delicacy and also *exciting* having some photos taken of our home and us...

this week has involved wallpaper. stripey and new. in her room. having a little update to take it on a bit from the nursery it was to something more fun now elsa likes to play in her own room. i had a lesson in hanging it from my mum. it is now my favourite thing to do. i dream of doing the whole of the dining room next...we have lots of rooms with just a feature wall but i'd really like a whole patterned room. i'll continue to search ebay for a job lot. wallpaper is expensive! for now though i am very happy that we have inherited my dear grandad roy's old papering table and i have the tips that he most probably passed on via my mother.

as you might notice i've been having fun with elsa's hair too. inspired by fred. i just wish we'd stop stepping on the clips she drops and breaking off the teeth! painful and not so good to grip with.

i have booked myself a waaaay overdue haircut for next week. i am looking forward to going short again. and having a fringe that is straight...not looking forward to explaining my 6 month absence and bad trimming to my hairdresser though. what style though? most probably i am going to take along my pinterest board. or tell her how lovely keira/anna k's hair looked when she hacked it all off in the film. oh and did you see this great link that miss pickering shared? smile.

another unannounced absence on the blog...late summer was busy about here.

some things remain the same. much cake has been consumed and lots of baking done with my little one who still loves to lick the spoon!

but since i last wrote we have had visits from dear family and fun showing them around the places we like to go. i like that now when we speak on the phone and say we've been...say to the farm...that they were there with us too once and can picture it in their mind. there was much tidying and cleaning to do before we welcomed them from over the choppy irish sea...and now i am having a bit of a new season blitz and rearrange at home since they left.

in other news...i got to help a friend as she laboured with her 2nd baby and had the pleasure of holding her beautiful daughter when she was just 5 hours old. so strange to me to encounter such a new little person that way having only held elsa in those precious early times...but what an honour! there seems to be a big batch of baby girls coming in to our circle this year...another is due this month too. so lots of visits and cards and cosy gifts to enjoy making.

this is such a favourite time of the year for me. like spring it holds so much promise and i love the way you can really sense the shift in season almost from one day to the next. not so much like summer and winter when you perhaps just ease in without standing back and taking in how different everything feels.

and to celebrate the loveliness of new seasons and how springtime that has sprung over on the other side of the world jodi is having the most marvellous giveaway. i would very much recommend that you enter too for a chance to win the beauties on offer. i think i'd be heard squealing with delight in australia if i was lucky enough to win these pillowcases! che and fidel is a charming and calming and inspiring place to be and one i'd say go follow all year round.