PURPLE PART ONE

a credit crunch crumble

plums from grandad g's garden...£0

elderberries from our garden...£0

other bits from the cupboard + recipe found here

i've never used elderberries before + wasn't sure if they could be used. i found another website that suggested elderberry schnapps which might make for some good christmas gifts. don't they look like black pearls? so pretty.

making jam with the rest of the plums is on my list of jobs for the week ahead.

(purple part two tomorrow)

MORE WOOL PLEASE

right now i'm at a standstill.

while we stayed up in norfolk a week ago i had a knitting lesson from my mum. we chose wool + bought needles. we planned to spend time together with my grandma mary that weekend...hoping she'd find that place where she felt happy + confident doing something that she was the best at. memories of the cosy aran pieces she made for us all...the sweetest fairisle jumpers too. for the littlest ones and the grownups alike. she could watch tv, read a book + knit knit knit all at the same time. and i probably never quite appreciated what a talent that is until now.

my mum's a great knitter too. i'm so pleased that she's taught me how to cast on. i ended up going the wrong way on the second row! mum rescued me + started me off again...then i sat and merrily (if rather awkwardly) + carried on. and i made myself stop for a minute and take in the lovely picture before me of us all sat there together...needles in hand.

of course i didn't really know where my 30 stitches would take me at the time. i just knew that i was enjoying it. that calm feeling of repetitive action without too much thought (once i got going!) and the nice soft wool between my fingers. so i just kept going and here i am now at the end of the ball...having progressed to a knit 1 row purl 1 row. suprise suprise i've decided on a scarf and my mum is going to get me another 2 balls + give me that all important next lesson when i see her on wednesday. when i'm done (and had my cast off lesson!) i think i'll line it with some fabric as a nod to the patchwork style scarves i've made in the past.

i told you i was in an autumnal mood! i'm already thinking ahead to wrist warmers and leg warmers...and lots of layers. maybe with this lovely top from tulip and nettle?

happy september!

GOODBYE SUMMER?

i am looking forward to september

like many out there i've been noticing the signs that we're moving in to a new season
+ i am greeting it with open arms

sorry summer...you had your chance but you never really got that friendly this year...you didn't give me many days to bare my legs so i'm ready to take the hand of autumn + to get my woolly tights out! i feel slightly sad to rush on like this + leave you behind but right now i've got my head buried deep in all those tempting new clothing catalogues + have a plan to buy a coat already. so what will happen if next month brings a heatwave? we'll see...

clothes aside there are genuine changes around. busy spiders outside our windows...soon we'll be spying their glittering morning webs + the light is fading now at just after seven pm here.

so on the brink of a new month i am off now to make a list. yes...i am feeling the need for plans. and with so much happening over the next four weeks i am going to need to be a seriously organised girl!

three special birthdays (cards + gifts to make)
a wedding (another gift + an outfit to find for me)
our holiday in ireland (the dreaded packing + bosco feeding to arrange)
a family visitor (ciaran's uncle colm is coming to stay for two weeks to do some painting in our house so there's f+b charts to peruse)

as much as anything it feel like an fresh start. a new chapter. hope again.
oh it's all good. and it all starts tomorrow! x

TEA AND CHURCH FLOWERS

hello! i'm back from a lovely bank holiday break in norfolk.

the flower festival went well. my hansel and gretel arrangement came together in the end and spending the day with my mum and aunt in the church at potter heigham was a real treat.

getting started proved a little tricky but once the framework of greenery was in i enjoyed filling the scene with pretty flowers. some were bought at the supermarket but for me the best bits were from mum's garden (hydrangea, lavender, cotinus, hypericum, ceanothus, leycesteria) see? i've even got to learning a few names too!

there was so much good stuff around to photograph. the amazing (and much more professional) arrangements of course which i'll be posting over at flickr...along with many other little delights dotted about the old building including sweet print fabric seat pads, colourful hand stitched kneelers, an ancient kettle sat on stone steps and beautiful flowers aboard a calor gas fire.

it was nice to re-visit a few days later and take my grandparents, my dad and ciaran along to see what we'd been up to. after a cup of tea in the graveyard (not as scary as it sounds!) we made our happy way home with the obligatory church charity purchases...home-made cakes for everyone , a marrow for dad (florence he needs your soup recipe!) and a piece of seventies fabric from the bric-a-brac stall for me (a bag or a skirt i wonder?)

THE BLUE PETER MOMENT

so here we are a week on...

i can't tell you how much the lovely comments have helped in the darker moments. i feel very very lucky to be on the receiving end of such friendship...what a wonderful and supportive community to be a part of. so thank you again. i wanted to get in touch with you all to say it personally but there were a couple of you that i didn't have a contact email address for so please know that your words really meant a lot to me.

and as life moves forward i am enjoying some creative distractions. the 1st project being a flower festival that i'm taking part in this week along with my mum and auntie rosemary.

it takes place in a sweet norfolk church every year...raising funds for the church itself and the flower club that my mum belongs to. this year's theme is fairy tales. the display will be open to the public over the bank holiday weekend and hopefully there will be lots of visitors.

i chose hansel and gretel for my arrangement. which leads me on to the post title. besides the beautiful flowers that we have a budget of £25 for we also provide the props and foliage from our gardens for each piece. last night i thought i ought to get to making a gingerbread house!

the real thing wasn't really an option so i had myself a blue peter moment with cardboard...stanley knife...sticky back plastic...pva glue...and a few doilies for luck. i'm sure these things work out better in the world of martha stewart and indeed the bbc programmes that i used to love to watch as they turned cereal packets into sindy doll lounges. indeed it took a while to get my brain into gear but once i got going i ended up having rather a good time.

the downside came this morning.

for as i stuck those dolly mixtures on to the roof and jelly tots round windowframes i must confess i nibbled 1 or 2. in actual fact i made a pig of myself. and i had an accomplice...yes c had a weak moment too!

(evidence part one :: the blurry sugar rush photo)

so anyway the tale goes along these lines...mr and mrs mcclorey (who don't normally eat sweets) overindulged in confectionery before heading up the wooden stairs to the land of bedfordshire. they then had an awful nights sleep of waking up and feeling warm...only to get up in a tired and dizzy state like that of a horrible hangover. a cautionary story of the scary additives out there in the land of coloured food. be warned good people!

needless to say i'm not going to be able to look at my gingerbread house with quite the level of fondness that i had hoped. but i am really looking forward to spending time in a peaceful environment with 2 amazing women whom i adore...surrounded by flowers and enjoying the process of the project together (even though i am nervous to be part of something that i have little experience of!)

i'll return later with some photos of how it all went. xxx

NOT THIS TIME

apologies for my absence and any unanswered emails...

it's been the best and worst of weeks since my last post.
finding out that i was pregnant but only to miscarry days later. it's all over again.

and although i said i would open up more and share the real life alongside the creative in this new space...right now i'm struggling to put into words how i feel.

i know that so many people go through this. for us it was the first time we ever got to experience the joy of seeing a positive result on a pregnancy test in the four years we've been trying to start a family. a long journey to that point and a long long way to fall since things went wrong.

it's not that i want to pretend that nothing has happened but for me it's still too soon to write more. but i will. i hope it will help lift the grey clouds hanging outside and indoors.

GLAD

a list of gladness...with a hint of morrissey
(i'd insert a heart at this point but don't know how!)
starting with the beautiful flowers from my aunt rosemary

all's good here
we went to a fabulous party on saturday at abi's cafe...celebrating her birthday and spent the most lovely evening in her new garden with twinkly lights :: great music :: cheeky cocktails (ok...just ginger beer + lime for me!) :: yummiest barbeque :: dancing :: chatting :: seeing old friends...it was perfect!

when i saw this print for sale here i had to buy it for her birthday. for we loved the smiths...we loved them a lot...damn it we even went vegetarian! and she does looks like you abi...in the days when we wore more eye make-up :

runner beans brought in to the post office from one of our friendly customers. the smell as i cut them up for sunday dinner was so good. and to eat from a local garden and a generous person...delicious. sorry morrissey...we ate them with chicken!

and just to enhance the good things going on i pre-ordered this...how excited?? it is going to be a treat to see it on the shelves here later in the year especially feeling a connection with the contributors. congratulations to manda on her new job as editor!