Early Autumn days

Having just returned from  our summer holiday in Cornwall, it seems Autumn is teasingly hanging in the air. I am not complaining.

Cooler temperatures - very welcome. Rain.  Garden needs it. A few blustery days. An excuse to stay in and crochet;)  Cooler darker evenings.... LOVE. I have even lit candles and had the blankies out. Isn't it just delicious? Autumn is my favourite time of year.

Having said that, it was very warm out today and felt good on my skin again. Maybe summer will stay a little longer... I don't mind.

This weekend being cold and rainy scuppered my plans to go blackberry picking so what to do? Hubby was hinting heavily about wanting to make an apple pie with the apple haul from our tree.

 Sadie picked them all  a few days before whilst battling spiders in her hair!

 So a baking day it was. Hubby peeled the apples and Sadie helped roll the pastry,

I referenced this recipe from here and it was delicious, but added more cinnamon as we like it here. A LOT.

Egg washing

Piling in

The smell was just heavenly when it was baking. I think Yankee candle need to make this one.

                                                          The verdict was delicious!!

Talking of Yankee's I ordered two at the weekend and they arrived this afternoon :)

The first is called Lake sunset and it is just gorgeous, it smells like a holiday, it has a coconutty, musky sweetness, slight hint of patchouli, and is like a late summers eve. It's really hard to describe. I just love it.

The second is Christmas memories. (Sorry for the C word) There was no way I could resist trying this! Oh my goodness it is divine, and gives a really good throw of scent.  Gingerbread baking in the oven, mince pies, cloves and a hint of orange, delicious!  It has been put away out of sight now and will come out on Dec 1st and not before. ;)

                   So back to the bake off for now, Lulu's cosy on my lap under her blankie.

Enjoy the rest of the summer everyone. :)

Cornwall 2014

For any of you that know me, you know how much I love Cornwall and that I go every year.

We set off very early on Saturday the 9th August, car packed to the hilt, with lot's of lovely things to eat, and I had my crochet blanket to be working on. :)

 Lulu had her basket on the back seat, and was quite cosy for the long journey ahead. She did get a bit grumbly on the last leg of the journey, but was a good girl mostly.

We did it in record time, 6 1/2 hours, fastest time to date!

We like to mostly visit St Ives, Perranporth, Holywell Bay, & surrounding areas so we booked a cottage in Truro which was fairly central and would accommodate 5 of us ~ my mum, and step father were also joining us this year. The cottage didn't disappoint. It had lots of character, was very spacious and very well equipped and had a large enclosed garden for the 2 doggies to run freely in, and a nice patio to sit out on. The garden was lovely and quite wild.... .filled with Hydrangeas and ferns, I cut some and put into a vase outside.

We were all a bit worried as there was rain forecast for nearly every day for the coming week, but were extremely lucky in that the rain came either at night or early morning just before we headed out on our daily outings.  The sun shone every day!

Our week mainly consisted of visiting St Ives, where we settled on Balzamar beach cove which is dog friendly all year round. Sadie got to body board in the waves, make sandcastles and made lots of friends.   Lulu had a great time digging in the sand, pinching all the other dogs balls, running in to the water and generally running herself ragged with her canine pals.

I did lots of window shopping in the cobbled back streets. We ate lots of pasties, cream teas, ice creams, and fresh fish and chips. Yummy!

 In the evenings back at the cottage we drank lots of wine and vodka and listened to our favourite music and chatted about our day, and  had lots of laughs. :) The dogs wore each other out play fighting but eventually settled down....

Sadie and Nana

Sadie did some fine beach combing, and was thrilled to find a piece of blue and white pottery and a small piece of green sea glass. She always finds me the loveliest of stones and shells,  she bought some little shell creatures with her pocket money. Such simple pleasures....I can remember this being one of the best parts of my childhood holidays. :)

All the cottages in St Ives are teensy but the owners really know how to present them in a the best way. I love this little front terrace, so inviting....

I want a fishy door knocker!

Lovely pub in Holywell Bay

Cornwall summed up....

All in all a wonderful week.....

 It was with heavy heart packing up to come back to Essex. IF I could live in Cornwall I would do it in a shot,'' sigh''.... Maybe one day.

Until next year, Lovely Cornwall.  We've already booked. :)

Mum's latte blanket

I made this blanket for my mum some time ago last year, as her dog Betsy claimed the last blanket I made for her!

My mum loves browns, beiges and cream colours. She always plays it safe with the neutrals ;)

I made her this blanket in a lovely shell stitch pattern, which is quite solid compared to treble stitches and is easy to work up.

                                             Reminds me of coffee, Latte, Mocha, Expresso.

                                                   Just keep the dog off this one mum! xx

Crochet flowers & hearts

My friend Laura wanted some flowers to make a garland for cutie Harper's room.

I whipped these up over a weekend. Drawing inspiration form Cath Kidston colours I came up with this lot:

                            Harper's birth flower is the Daffodil so I made these two for her.

                                          And cute little hearts to go inbetween the flowers

Most of these flowers were made from  this pattern http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/triple-layer-flower.html.

I was hard pushed to part with them they are so darn lovely!