Mrs........

 

Hello, and thank you all for the lovely wedding wishes you sent.

 

Unfortunately, I don't have any actual wedding photos to show you at the moment, as we haven't had chance to view them yet.  It will be a bit of a wait I'm afraid, as we aren't booked in to view them until the end of August. 

 

What I can show you, are some photos I took.  Though there aren't that many.

 

This was our beautiful hotel room.

 

 

And our fancy shamcy bathroom.

 

 

I think Violet was a bit upset that there wasn't a third sink for her.

 

We stayed at the Hotel Du Vin, in York.

 

This was my bouquet.

 

 

I only wanted something very simple.

 

Three heads of white Hydrangea with some Bear Grass around the outside.

 

It's still looking good, sat in a vase on my kitchen window.

 

I kept my fingers crossed for some sunshine on the drive up to York, and luckily it kept dry all day.

 

The wedding was a very simple, intimate affair at the Register Office, with only a handful of guests.  Then it was off to the Museum Gardens for some photographs, before heading off the Betty's, for cakes and some fizz.

 

Here's a pic of my new husband with Violet outside York Minster.

 

 

Look at the glorious blue sky.

 

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Matching

Nails

 

 

to match

 

 

my shoes.

 

I love them.

 

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Counting down

 

 

Only 5 more days till the wedding.

 

 

Everything is all organised. 

 

It's a shame I can't book the weather!

 

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Another year older

 

I may be another year older, but I wouldn't say that I'm any wiser.  More relaxed and content with my life, perhaps a little more rotund around the middle, maybe a tad greyer, but wiser?  Never. 

 

To mark the occasion; I decided to make myself my favourite dessert.

 

It's the dessert from my childhood.

 

It's the dessert my mum used to make for me every birthday because she knew that it was my absolute favourite thing in the whole World.

 

 

Where the recipe originates from I can't tell you. I just know that it's been enjoyed by my family for a long time.

 

It reminds me of my mum, and that's why I think I had a yearning to make it today.  She was on my mind when I woke up this morning.  I wonder how she felt this time 41 years ago, holding her new daughter for the first time.

 

Mothers are truly special people.

 

I'm gonna write the recipe down for you.  You never know, it may become your favourite dessert, or become a family favourite.

 

My mum used to call it a Poala (as in Koala, but pronounced with a P), and the meringue is soft and fluffy rather than the hard meringue used in Pavlova.

 

To make your Poala, you will need the following:

 

Ingredients:

3 Egg whites

6oz of Caster Sugar

1tsp Vinegar

1tsp Cornflour

1tsp Vanilla Extract

Carton of Double Cream

 

1.  Heat oven to 160 (fan oven).

 

2.  Line a flan tin with tin foil. The sides will need to be a few inches high.

 

3. To make the soft meringue. Whip the egg whites to peaks.  Add one quarter of the Caster Sugar and whip again.  Now fold in the rest of the Caster Sugar, together with the Vinegar, Cornflour and Vanilla Extract.  When combined, pour in to the lined flan tin.  Cook for about 25-30 minutes.

 

4. When cooked, turn out on to a wire rack to cool.  When cool remove all the tin foil and turn over on to a plate.

 

5. I use tinned Raspberries for the filling of my Poala. My brother also recommends Blueberries, but you could use whatever soft fruit you prefer - fresh or tinned.

 

6.  Now whisk the Double Cream until quite firm, and spread it over the filling.

 

7.  Top with fresh Raspberries (or other soft fruit).

 

8.  Eat and enjoy.  Don't even think about the calories!

 

 

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Bag lady

 

Yesterday, I spent some quality time with my fabric stash and my sewing machine.

 

I decided to make myself a bright, shove-everything-in-must-be-able-to-carry-it-on-my-shoulder-type bag.  I'm sure you know the type I mean. 

 

After much deliberation I chose these pretty fabrics:

 

 

Top left: Sketchbook Roses by Amy Butler (from her Alchemy collection)

I'm not sure of the print names for the Dandelion print and the purple & grey pattern, but they are from the Pure Style collection by Stof.

Bottom right: Charleston Farmhouse by Felicity Miller.

 

I would have liked to have made the entire outer bag in the Sketchbook Roses print, but sadly I didn't have enough fabric.

 

 

I think I wasted the most amount of time working out the dimensions.

 

I find measuring and cutting out a dream these days, after investing in my rotary cutter, steel ruler and cutting mat.  These 3 simple tools have taken the stress out of sewing for me. 

 

 

For extra strength, after sewing my front and back panels together, I attached interfacing to the back of the fabric. I also made a gusset (is that the right terminology?) at the bottom of the bag, and also lined it with the Charleston Farmhouse fabric.

 

 

 

I've already used my new bag for the school run this morning - it's amazing how much stuff a 5 year old has to take to school.

 

This was such a fun and easy project, that I'm definitely going to make some more.  It may clear out some more of my stash. 

 

I have made a tutorial, mainly for my benefit so that I've got all my measurements to hand, but please feel free to use my notes as a guide should you wish to try and make one for yourself.

 

Will the sunshine make it out from behind the clouds today?

 

Wishing you all a very happy Wednesday.

 

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A little Rainbow

 

 

 

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May I just thank you for your encouraging comments regarding my Bolt scarf yesterday.  Perhaps I am looking at it with too critical an eye. 

 

Wishing you all a lovely Tuesday. 

 

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Bolt

 

  I've finished knitting Bolt by Veera Välimäki.

And I'm feeling a bit 'meh' about it.

 

 

It's not the yarn, which is absolutely lovely.  I used Fyberspates Scrumptious in natural, together with Fyberspates Vivacious in Mixed Magentas.  Both are super soft, the mixed magentas really sing.

 

It is supposed to be for a friend's 40th birthday, but I'm loath to gift it to her as I don't feel that's it's good enough. 

 

The first part of the shawl is of triangular construction.  Casting on 5 stitches, increasing to 137, using the M1R, M1L method at each edge at regular intervals.  I absolutely love the stripes.  Though I'm hating the edges, where the increases are so noticeable.  Especially when stitches are picked up along one of these edges, before continuing to knit the remainder of the shawl. 

 

It just looks messy and amateurish to me.

 

 

You can just about see what I'm talking about in the above photo.

 

Should I frog the whole thing and knit something else?????? 

 

Should I gift it to my friend for her birthday, knowing that I'm not entirely happy with it????

 

or

 

Shove it in a drawer and forget that it ever existed?????

 

Decisions, decisions.

 

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