Yummy Cards!

I mentioned something about my Yummy Cards project before and now the whole thing is coming to life! I am launching Yummy Cards with three cute designs:

1. Bee the Queen of the Party,
2. Bee the King of the Party,
3. Have a Berry Happy Birthday!

Cards are ready for sale here, so if you think of getting someone a greeting card which is also a present please visit my shop.
Yummy Cards are greeting Cards with a twist. And the twist is not only in a message in front but also inside. Because inside there is a recipe for the treats from the front page!
The second page is left blank for your personal message.

All recipes will be also available here.
I hope I can add some more designs soon so the collection of mouth watering recipes for all collectors will grow ;-)

And the recipe with more details and pictures for Very Berry Muffins from "Have a Berry Happy Birthday!" card is already here.

The Bee couple:

And Bee the Queen flying ;-)

Enjoy!

Sunflowers - better now?

It is a bit odd but both of us - myself and J - like some of our sunflowers even now when they, well... do not look as glorious as few weeks ago!

I though of getting rid of them today and planting something new instead, but then just could not do it! Maybe it is insane, but I can not cut them down only because they are not anymore pretty, young and yellow. I decided I needed to let them to retire in our garden with dignity :-)
Only one we wanted to check if it is ready to eat... and I feel a bit bad about it...

And we still have some baby sunflowers...

More Kids' projects

It was so much fun to do previously the lion pillow and the zebra toy, that I did not hesitate even for a second to do some more.

Olivia, age 4, did this beautiful drawing of herself and her friend. The drawings were very small - about 5 cm, so I made the dolls a bit bigger - about 20 cm. It is made of felt and cotton with some soft toy stuffing inside.

The blue girl has this interesting decoration on her head. I tried to be as accurate with it as possible although it was hard to interpret it :-) ... and that is the beauty of child's imagination to me!

The blue doll is also a bag charm - perfect for any bag or keys, although slightly oversized, it looks cute!

And here I just thought that the blue girl before stuffing was perfect as a mobile case! I have to do one for myself.

And a lovely design transferred onto pillowcase. drawn by Oscar, age 5.
Linen and viscose blend base with cotton blends and acrylic yarns used for stitching patterns.
Although in the original design the whole text "I love you mum- From Oscar" was done with the same colour as all contours, I changed that for a colour which would stand out better and be more visible, as it is a very important message! To blend it even better with the whole design I added the blanket stitch on the edges with a very similar colour.
It could be a perfect present for grandparents if only the young designer or his parents would like to give it away ;-)

Hot weekend by the sea

It was really, really hot so, together with our friends, we went to Broadstairs to a beautiful place called Botany Bay. We got stuck on the motorway for quite a while, so the journey took 3 times as long as it should, but we did not really notice that because the kids [sorry, one of them is a teenager!] were amusing us with their sat-nav reading! Enough to say it was all "in red"! 

But it was all worth it! The weather and water was just perfect. More days like that, please...

and after that - strawberry and vanilla ice-cream!

Zebra, lion and the rest...

We are planning to visit our friends tomorrow. And, as we have not seem them for a while, I decided to make them some presents... just a nice surprise...
Few years ago a young very talented artist [age about 5] produced brilliant drawings. They were so good that I decided straight away to put them on some sweaters. I first had to knit sweaters - one for that boy [the Lion design]  and another for his godfather J [the Zebra design], who himself is a very talented artist and would appreciate the design like no one else. I do not remember how long I was knitting them because the pleasure of making them and the final result was all what counted at the end!
It somehow happened that the tiny sweater got misplaced and the boy never got to wear it. But J enjoyed his for a very long time. Today it looks a bit shabby [only a bit, I am wearing it for this photo :-) ]  but still, after about 7 years, it is almost as good as new and... wait for the winter, as it is a lovely wool blend which keeps warm and... brings smile to anyone around :-)

But obviously two sweaters made years ago [one of them already too small and the other slightly worn out] are not the presents I am planning to give to my friends. I made an upgraded and maybe even better versions of those beautiful designs: a Zebra toy and a Lion pillow!

Zebra in its natural surroundings...

... and lion in its natural surroundings!
I hope the whole family will be happy and the gifts will last forever as the sweaters still do!

So that is Zebra and Lion and the rest is here:
Pin cushions, because I never had one. They are large size because that is what I need. One for pins one for needles.

and lavender sacks.

Filled with lavender only.

I have seen so many lavender hearts/flowers with some soft toy stuffing only scented with lavender oil... For me it has to be the real stuff. And they are made like a proper sacks, with the bottom folded, so they can stand on its own.

And the sky is so blue today...

Have a lovely weekend!

Buckles and the bulb

I needed to share this - another brilliant Buckles!

I get that all the time [who does not?!].  I guess I need to be more "energy-efficient" ;-)
Slow down like Buckles and have a nice day!

Sunny Sunday Morning a cat and more tiny curtains...

The sunday morning was perfect - a breakfast in the garden full of sunshine. And we had...
Apricot, Strawberry and Mint Homemade Jam with homemade butter [ I stopped buying butter few months ago. The homemade tastes much better and it is quick to make] on sourdough bread from Gails [we love that bread!!!]

I actually went downstairs to bring a jar of the jam, so I can eat it while I am writing this post... yum....

we had a "jam session"  :-)

We also had a visitor - this the king of the street! A neighbours' cat which does not miaow, because it does not how to! O do not get me wrong, the cat is not quiet, it speaks a lot! It is just the sound... it's like a barking and roaring while trying to say "WOW", but on a more pitchy scale... Hard to explain, but very funny :-). It is a very pretty cat and it knows that!

We also managed to hang the tiny curtain in place

And I made another one for my fridge corner, where I sit.
White linen fabric - base; top finished with off-white satin, bottom decoration - crochet lace in off-white cotton-viscose blend; wooden buttons. The whole thing [without the belts] it's about 126 cm x 20 cm. I still have blinds in the window so this was just to cover the blinds on the top to give that country cottage style finishing touch :-)