In-between days

Hello everyone, I hope you are enjoying these in-between days between Christmas and New Year.  As I mentioned yesterday, these are some of my favourite days of the entire year, so I thought I would just share some moments from them.

On Sunday we celebrated my Darling Mum's birthday, she was 89 years young.  We usually put on a slap up meal at our house, but this year, with the ice and snow on the ground, the biting below zero winds, coupled with the fact she has been quite poorly on and off since September, we decided to take the meal to her.  DD baked a beautiful Andalusian lemon cake...

It is made with olive oil instead of butter, and has the zest and juice of two lemons, it is so fresh and light and fluffy...

 

We had a lovely meal and had a great time together, laughing and reminiscing...she is an amazing lady and very much loved by us all.

 

It has been lovely to have some time just to "be".  For example, sitting and taking time to look at Christmas decorations...

 

 

 

Loving the flowers that DH bought for me just a day or so before Christmas...

 

Aren't the glittery pinecones lovely?



 

And having time to crochet...

 

 



Now, this was no ordinary crochet project, oh no.  This was the finishing touches of my 2014 challenge:

Way back on 3rd January 2014 I decided to join in with the blanket challenge that many folks were getting into.  And today I have finally finished it!!!!  Sadly the light now is not good so will have to take a photo and post about it another day, but I am so thrilled that it is completed, and that I stuck with the project throughout the year.  It is the largest blanket I have ever made, and I am already feeling wistful and a bit sad that the challenge is over, so might well have to start another one in the New Year!  I really feel like using a palette of greys and parchment this time.  We shall see!

Well, hopefully back tomorrow with what has become a bit of a blog tradition for me, the review of 2014.

In the meantime, make the most of the holiday!

Helenxx

Cosy Comforts

Friday at last - what a week!!  Very busy, mostly positive, but the weather has been very wet and windy- such a change after the driest September on record.  The leaves are starting to fall with a vengeance. 

But, with the weather certainly turning very Autumnal, this means there are lots of excuses  jolly good reasons to engage with lots of cosy, comforting things.

Here is a random collection of things that have generally helped to conjure up a sense of cosy, homeliness...

Delicious Scandinavian-inspired lemon cake...

Autumnal bouquet...

Victoria sponge with lashings of cream and jam...

Oreo and chocolate cheesecake...

Even the cats have been cosying up together...

All of this is a great antidote to the grey skies...

Hope you have a lovely and cosy weekend!

Helenxx

Loving these in-between days...

Hi everyone, hope you are keeping cosy today, the weather outside is truly frightful, hasnt got light yet (even though it is lunchtime, this is how it must be in Scandinavia at this time of year), lashing it down with rain (at least in Finland or somewhere like that it would be snow!!) and very windy.

BUT - I love these in-between days in the holidays, not quite one thing or the other, and the bleak weather outside makes being inside even more appealing dont you think?

Im lucky in that I am on holiday for a while longer, so Im making the most of these lazy, comfy, cosy days.

I have had time to do a bit of cross-stitching - all to be revealed soon...

...time for reading, these lovely vintage books were gifted to me by Sue from @home - she knows me too well...

Enjoying the cosy candle light, this was a gift to me recently from my DD, she knows me so well...lovely autumnal motif....and the candle was a yankee candle scent called warm spice - I wish you could smell it - the most super, comforting, something-nice-baking scent you could ever wish for...

And yesterday we had a lovely celebration round at mine as my darling Mum turned 87 years young - this is the cake I made for her...

...all gone now of course!  It was a lemon cake, filled with cream and lemon curd.  DH made us a fantastic roast dinner, the evening was full of laughter and memories.  My darling Mum taught me the love of all things crafty and creative when I was little, when we truly did have to make do and mend.  Thanks Mum!

Well, Im off to make another cuppa, and get on with a bit more leisurely stitching.

Have a lovely day!

Helenxx

Cakes for tea

Hello everyone

In honour of some birthdays recently (mine and my dear brothers, but no, we are not twins!) my lovely daughter put on her apron and got into baking mode

She is quite a talented baker, these were chocolate orange cakes, frosted with a homemade dark chocolate ganache, yum yum

all gone now of course!

Helenxx

PS while still on the birthday theme, there is still time to put your name in the hat for the Moonstruckcreations birthday giveaway - it closes on 20th January.  No, there wont be any cakes included - sorry ;)

If you go down to the woods today...

Hello everyone! 

Sorry to have not been able to comment on all my favourite blogs for a while it is beyond hectic here.  What with work, a MSc assignment, UCAS etc etc etc its all go go go!!  But I have been reading your lovely blogs and enjoying all the activity out there in blogland.  I do this on my phone but I cant use it to comment. 

Yesterday I got to go for a lovely walk with my DH - and we came accross some unusual faces

Mysterious woodland

Fantastic toadstools - I had never seen so many Fly Agaric in one place, DH couldnt understand why I was so excited!

There must have been well over a dozen of them - here's another one:

The walk was just short of 9 miles, so we worked up quite an appetite.  Good thing, as lovely daughter had been baking these treats

And of course there are not any left!!! (Sorry Sue!!)

Have a lovely evening, will be back soon with some crochet bits

Helenxx

Spooky goings on...

Morning all - I have finally got a day off from work!!!!  Woo hoo!!!!! (just a tad excited about this...) and am off for a jolly with my friend (aka partner-in-crime) Sue from @home.

But in the meantime I can finally update you with our end of October goings-on. Grab a cuppa and a biscuit!!

As mentioned in my last post my daughter did indeed bake up a storm when Sue and co came for dinner - here we have a Jack Skellington cake (we love Nightmare Before Christmas and all things Tim Burton) a very haunted gingerbread house and a yummy pumpkin pie:

Cupcakes, cookies and crispie cakes

Lashings of lentil soup was served up from this pumpkin

Friendly or fiendish?  You decide...

So the next evening, to wear off all this food, we went for a walk around our neighbourhood.  We always love to visit this street as there is an American family living there who always go to town decorating the house for the season

A groaning mummy greets any visitors brave enough to knock on the front door

This lady keeps watch on the proceedings

And spooky faces gleam from the front lawn

 All in all a wonderful couple of evenings with a wonderful bunch of friends!

Have a great Friday!

Helenxx

Sugary sweetness

Morning all!

Just sneaking in a few blogging minutes before the moonstruck household cranks into full swing!  I just have to say that I love getting up before everyone else and sitting with a cuppa checking into blogland.  Ah, the things that keep me happy....

Anyway, had a visitor yesterday and thought I had better make something to give as a gift...Im (quite surprisingly for me) into ice-cream pastels at the moment (must be all that sitting out in the garden, the sun is getting to me!) so had some strawberry pink felt in my crafty-bits box.  So I made this:

It had lots and lots of lavender inside so smelt divine

Loved doing the lace yo-yo, and of course another obsession of mine is buttons so I had a lot of fun rummaging through my button jars

And on the sugary sweetness front, just look at this plate of cakes my daughter and her friend H made last week:

These were served up to refresh my dear friend Sue and I on one of regular sewing get-togethers.  If you click here you can see an amazing creation that H made for her brother - a very talented (and, following the tone of this post I have to say a very sweet) young lady.

I made short work (after due admiring of the workwomanship) of this little beauty:

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, whatever it is you get up to!

Helenxx

PS 11 days to go until the first ever moonstruckcreations giveaway!

Summer loveliness

Hi everyone!

Thought I would just post a few pics of summery things that are making me happy at the moment as it is already the last day of June!

Blue sky and roses - what a stunning combination:

Blackberry flowers - little sweet promises of all the lovely fruitfulness to be anticipated in the autumn:

Yummy summery cakes, with home-grown strawberries on the top:

Going, going...

And yes, of course it's gone!!!!

What's been your summer favourites so far this year?

Helenxx

Crochet, cakes and bunnies

Hi everyone, hope you are enjoying the sunny weather - spring tomorrow - yay!  Seems like it has been a long time arriving this year.

Just a few bits to blog about today - first of all, a WIP - a crochet cushion:

Sorry the pic is a bit dark, the light was awful when I took the photo.

Now on to some yummy cakes my daughter made:

She is a good cook, very patient, likes to take her time getting things just right.  As you can imagine, these didnt last very long!

Finally, during my Monday night sewing evening with my dear friend http://blog.suepops.co.uk/ my daughter and suepops daughter made these little chaps:

We thought they made a good pair, although a few of them attached to a length of ribbon would make a great garland.

Whatever you are doing this weekend, enjoy!

Helenxx