Wonderful wool

I'd been cutting out curtains all morning so was glad to finally sit down with a cup of coffee and browse through my latest edition of Country Living. I was thrilled to see a large part of the magazine concentrates on my favourite natural fibre, wool, and the yummy pictures have inspired me to do a quick post for the weekend.

Living in the English Lake District I see a great many sheep on a daily basis and can never understand why their wool is more or less a waste product these days as nobody seems to want it. Apart from preferring to knit with wool when I can, I love tweed fabric and some of the modern variations in gorgeous vibrant shades are mouth watering.

To celebrate our sheep and their wonderful woolly product I grabbed a few balls of wool, and odds and ends of tweed and quickly put together some little autumnal scenes of my own. I hope you enjoy them.

Sadly I now have to return to the curtain cutting. Wishing you all a happy weekend. 

Golden afternoon

Autumnal greetings friends. Knowing that many of you are fond of pink I have brought you a little selection of this pretty colour from around my autumn garden.

Don't you just love these delicate roses growing round the window?

Paper pink hydrangeas, sedum and sweet scented verbena, 

and of course the inevitable rosy red windfalls that the birds enjoy.

This afternoon has been gloriously golden and warm

but the shadows lengthen as the sun prepares to dip behind the hill and a growing chill sends me scurrying back indoors.

Farewell to you all from our golden garden.

Little dog Fido

Today Kate and Tilly met an old toy dog who has lived with our family for many years. He's a friendly little fellow but I could see the two girls looked anxious and wondered why.

The reason it seems was because they'd been reading about a mischievous dog named Fido in one of my Lucie Attwell annuals.

Poor Kate and Tilly, no wonder they looked anxious. The two little dolls held tightly to their own hair and hurried away to play elsewhere.

and the poor little dog was left wondering what he'd done wrong.

Do you have a little dog like Fido living with you ?

Posies, pirates or ABC

Although both my children now have their own homes their old bedrooms still contain remnants of their childhood years. I'm currently decorating my son's old room and have been deliberating long and hard about which colours to use. The walls and paintwork are white but a number of colourful old toys sit on the shelves. I now use the room for my growing family of knitted dolls and craft items and so have set my heart on primary colours as opposed to the pastel pinks and blues I normally prefer. 

On a recent visit to a local curtain shop I spotted this wonderful pirate themed fabric in the colours I've been looking for.

And so today I borrowed the book of fabric samples and here it is beside the window with one of my daughter's model ships to add atmoshere. 

Oh dear! Here is another fabric in the same goreous zingy shades.

Which to choose?

Let's ask Tilly and Kate to put their heads together and give it some thought.

Taking the fabric to the window Kate indicates that this is the design they prefer.

Do you agree?

But that's not the end of the story. Whilst in the shop I found some pretty pinks and blues that would suit my daughter's old bedroom. The room also needs new curtains so I borrowed the sample book.

She's a Brambly Hedge sort of person and her old room reflects that so I reckon one of these would be just right........ Pink or blue?

Or perhaps I could use both.

What do you think?

Note about the fabrics:-

The pirates and alphabet fabrics are from the 'Pirates and Princesses' collection produced by Prestigious Textiles

The pink and blue florals and stripes are from the 'Secret Garden' collection by Ashley Wilde

Yummy British baking

I've never been a 'foodie' so its unusual for me to write a post about yummy stuff. I have to confess I rarely watch food programmes on TV but having read about the 'Great British Bake Off' I was tempted to give this programme a go. I'm so glad I did because within a few minutes I was completely hooked.

The traditional British food featured on the programme took me straight back to my childhood. Above is a selection of my mum's baking booklets dating from the 1950's and 60s. They are covered in splashes and greasy finger marks but just the sight of them brings back happy memories of a warm kitchen, mixing bowls to clean and tempting aromas coming from the oven; followed of course by a delicious teatime spread.

And here is the little apron I wore as a three year old when I helped my mum in the kitchen. Don't you just love the tiny mixing bowl and wooden spoon. When I'd outgrown the apron my sister wore it and then, many years later, it was worn by my own two children whenever they had tea at grandma's house.

'The Great British Bake Off' evoked so many teatime memories I decided to purchase the accompanying book and I'm thrilled with it. If traditional British fare appeals to you then you'll love this book.

It contains 352 pages with 120 recipes from around Britain.

You'll find sweet and savoury tarts and flans, homely puddings, hearty pies, breads and of course a variety of scrumptious cakes. As an added bonus come the illustrated hints and tips which will help you achieve the best possible results.

Alongside every recipe there's a mouth watering illustration.

I love the book's vintage style photos.

Before I go I'd like to quickly remind you of the 'Lakeland' chain of UK kitchenware shops (48 in total) which stock everything you'll need for your kitchen and more. The flagship store is close to my home here in the Lake District and well worth a visit if you are in the area. If you don't have easy access to one of the shops then you'll find everything available from Lakeland online.

And finally.......... If you haven't already seen it then do take a look at the gorgeous blog run by one of the talented contestants from the recently broadcast 'Great British Bake Off'. It is evocatively named The Pink Whisk.

Have a great weekend everyone