The Great Spring Bloggy Meet-up . . .

After a week of lovely warm sunny days, last Saturday dawned, rainy and just a tad chilly but the clouds soon cleared and the sun put it's hat on.  Yay . . .

And from near & far, a confusion of bloggers gathered in beautiful Stratford upon Avon. 

 

around & about in Shakespeare's town

  

a spot of shopping at Sew Me Something

lunch & laughter at The Four Teas

We chatted (a lot) and we laughed (a lot), 

we shared stories, 

we ate, 

we drank, 

we shopped, 

we wandered,

 we nattered some more, and we laughed some more.

Oh what a fabulous day we had . . .

Thank you   Mel Makes,   Mellie Moo (on Instagram),  The Patchwork Robin,  Plain Jane,  Three Stories High,  Lazy Daisy Jones,  Perfect Sarah (on Instagram),  Love Made My Home,  and Sunshine Reflections
- it was such a blessing to spend the day in your delightful company.
Let's do it again.
 Soon. 








: - )


 'til next time,

xoxo

ps.  do pop over and read all the other accounts of our lovely day too, they're guaranteed to make you smile.

Crafternoon tales . . .

Hello lovely peeps, I hope you're having a happy Sunday ?  The clocks sprung forward this morning and we're officially into British Summer Time . . . well really?  Someone ought to inform the weather.  It's windy & rainy & besides being fairly mild, not at all summery.

But I'm not really complaining, because it's the perfect excuse to stay in and catch up . . .

So regular readers will know just how much I  L.O.V.E  crafternoons.  A good natter,  some yummy snacks or a delicious lunch (or both), and time spent with lovely friends . . . whiling away an afternoon and enjoying some creative time together.  We all seem to have such busy lives, but when my friend Sarah invited us to her lovely home for just such a day, it went straight into the diary and I set about making her a little gift to say  "thank you for a fabulous day"  (because I just knew it was going to be.  It always is.)

 

This is one of my favourite Dr Seuss stories, and as Sarah & her lovely hubby are about to acquire a delightful little vintage caravan, and set off on some summer adventuring, it seemed somehow appropriate.

And I think she likes it  :-)

True to form, we chatted, we knitted, we crocheted, we ate, we drank, we chatted some more and basically we just set the world to rights, as only girlfriends can.

it wasn't all just talk, look how much we got done too . . .

Even the two sweet pooches wanted in on the action - snuggling up on the sofa behind their mama.

And as if one lovely crafternoon wasn't enough... I had another.

This time I went a-quiltin' with Jayne.  She has been making the most fabulous quilt for her youngest daughter who is off to University this September.  Said daughter loves to travel and collects t-shirts wherever she goes.  So her clever Mama squirreled them all away and produced this beautiful work of art.

How fab-u-lous is that ?  It's truly made with love.

Right, the sun has just come out so perhaps I'll gather at least one of my adorable pups and head out for a little walk before it disappears again.  Or maybe I'll just curl up on the sofa with my knitting . . . hmmmm . . .  what d'ya think?

'til next time,

xoxo

 

 

It's sew me . . .

here's one someone made earlier to serve as our inspiration

I've been dying to give this a try for ages, so last Saturday I spent the morning doing the "Pretty Little Clasp Purse" workshop at Sew Me Something in sunny Stratford upon Avon. 

  Most patiently and ably taught by Rachel, and kept company by Sarah & Heather and some other lovely crafty peeps: 

we cut, 

we sewed, 

we embellished, 

we sewed some more,

 and we glued.  

And it was so much fun. 

 

 Oh, and did I mention there was cake ? 

 (Thanks Rachel, it was dee-licious)

And at the end, we lined up all our pretty little purses with pride . . .

Each one quite unique yet equally pretty.

 

  Here's my little make - I decided not to embellish it as I just love the fabric as it is, but I'm definitely going to be making a few more and hopefully be a wee bit more creative with the next one.

Just a perfect way to spend a Saturday morning, don't you think ?

Hope you're having a lovely week,

'til next time

xoxo

London Calling . . .

I've had a few days away, visiting my lovely sis in London, and enjoying a most fabulous time at the Coronation Festival in the gardens of Buckingham Palace.

Wandering around the stalls, listening to some talented musicians, sipping Champagne in the sunshine, and nibbling on smoked salmon & cucumber sandwiches, and yummy strawberry cream scones as we picnicked in the rose garden.

As One does, you know  :-)

Sadly now it's back to the reality of a Monday morning and my chores await . . . 

Wishing you a happy, sunshiney week,

xoxo

Would like to meet . . .

Anyone fancy a wee blogger's get-together ? 

Blogland really is a small world, and I love that on a daily basis we get to chat about & share little snippets into the lives of our fellow bloggy friends.  And it's even more fab, when we get to meet the person behind the blog and make "real life" friends : -)

 SO, having fairly recently discovered that some of the lovely bloggers that I follow live literally just down the road, I thought it'd be a fun idea to make a plan and organize a little get-together.  A chance to meet up, have a natter, inspire one another  . . . and enjoy some yummy eats.

Here on this Great British Island of ours, it's pretty easy to get around, and no place is really that far away from any other - especially here in the middle of the country.

So here's an invitation to all fellow crafty Midlanders and UK bloggers:
fancy a wee trip to the heart of England ?

More tea, anyone ?

Nothing fancy, just a fun, informal get-together of creative bloggy peeps on  

Saturday, 29 June 

 in the pretty county of Worcestershire** ,

 right in the middle of this green & pleasant land. 

If you'd like to come along, or you think you'd love to join us but would like more details about where/what/when/trains/planes & automobiles, then please leave me a comment on this post or drop me a wee email : gillymakes(at)gmail(dot)com to let me know, and we'll chat about the finer details.

Looking forward to getting together  . . .

love Gilly

xoxo

ps. Must love dogs ;-) 

** easily accessible by train and just off the M5 & M42 motorways.

I'm Dreaming of a White Easter . . .

 Whilst we've had a beautiful sunny day here, it's jolly chilly and there's still lots of snow around.  We live almost at the top of a hill, and seem to have our own little micro-climate.

So there's every possibility, that come Sunday, we may just have to hunt for Easter eggs in the snow :-)

But in the meantime, we've been decopatching,

 

and putting up the Easter decs (the girls) , 

Sweet little chick from the lovely Vanilla Squirrel - I just couldn't resist it . . .

 

baking yummy chocolate cake (Princessfairygodmummy - that's me), 

icing the cake & learning to knit (gorgeous goddaughter) ,

sewing an oh-so-cute Easter chicken (Lee-Anne, the mum),

still in the making stage, pics to follow when it's done . . .

enjoying the above-mentioned yummy cake, and treating ourselves to a very dee-licious cream tea to celebrate the gorgeous goddaughter's 12th birthday . . . at The Bluebell, Henley-in-Arden.

 

All in all, a perfect start to the weekend . . .

Wishing you & yours a truly happy & blessed Easter,

xoxo

Think pink . . .

We're having a schlumphy * Sunday here - slept late, the Hubby made us yummy bacon croissants for breakfast, lazed on the sofa knitting and watching last night's Strictly Come Dancing on Sky+, and now I'm catching up with things whilst the Hubby, the sis-in-law and the two most-adorable-pups-in-the-world are making the most of this crispy, sunny day and have headed up the lane for a walk in the woods.

So, let's catch up !
Rewind a few days, back to Thursday . . .
It was a really cold and mizzy day - the rain never let up all day, so it was just perfect for being indoors with the oven on. Which was fortunate, as I had a whole bunch of things to do and yummies to bake for my (what looks like becoming an annual event) fundraising Morning Tea Party. 
So, all day Thursday, I prepped, baked, cleaned, tidied, and shoo-d the pups out of the way, with the help of my willing SIL (thanks Oz !)

Friday dawned with blue skies and sunshine, the muddy pups were banished to the garden with a supply of toys and chews, and the guests arrived.

See those yummy Lammingtons?  I'd been craving them since Sarah Jane at Chantille Fleur mentioned them on her blog here, and then she very kindly published the recipe here.  Thanks Sarah Jane, they were indeed dee-lish-i-us  : - )
We had a fun time, eating, drinking and being merry, and at the same time, raising some funds for a great cause.  With October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month,  "Help Whip Cancer" was the chosen charity. A cause dear to many of our hearts.

My lovely old (as in "we go way back") friend and fellow S'African expat Carla, who is a Pampered Chef consultant, came along to show us all their gadgets and goodies.  First, she whipped up a yummy trifle . . .

. . . here's the "before" pic . . .

. . . but for some reason it seems I didn't get a pic of the bowl of strawberry & rhubarb yumminess that resulted, which is a real pity as it was all gorgeous layers of deep red and cream with white chocolate curls on top.
Then we moved to the dining room table and Carla handed around all sorts of cake decorating gadgets and some bowls of varying shades of pink cream cheese icing, and we all tried our hand at icing and decorating the little carrot cupcakes. 

An array of skills and lots of creativity produced this tower of scrumptiousness.  Don't you just love that little pink piggy on the top?
(Oh, and I've just noticed: if you look really closely at the pic above, you can see the lovely layered trifle just peeking out from behind, to the right of the cakes)

A BIG thanks to my friends & neighbours who supported the event, and a special thanks to Carla for being the perfect pampered chef !

Hope you're having a happy & schlumphy * Sunday too,

xoxo

* Schlumphy - from the verb: to schlumph.
Definition:  to laze around, preferably still in your jammies or trackies and slippers.
Pronunciation: sh-lum-fee
Origin: unknown ;-) Someone made it up, once upon a time . . .

A Mama's gift...

A few months ago, whilst in the midst of re-arranging the sideboard in the dining room, the Mama (who lives in Glasgow) called to say she had some old china for me if I'd like it.  

Like it ? ?

I'd LOVE it.  (very happy face)

So she boxed it up and put it aside, and this week it found its way to me.

 (Via my cousins who very kindly brought it back with them after a trip to Scotland.)

 

I have always loved this china set - it has been well used and much enjoyed for years, having travelled (carefully wrapped in a tea chest) across the high seas from Scotland to South Africa in 1968 and back again (carefully wrapped in a container this time)  40 years later.

It was given to my Mum & Dad as a wedding present,

 51 years ago today . . .

Happy Anniversary, Mum & Dad . . .  and thanks for my tea set.  I will always treasure it.

xoxo

Where there is Tea...

Happy 1st of July... wow, time flies... where has this year gone?

Just spent the last few days having a lovely catch up with an old school friend visiting from Cape Town. (An aside: I was born in Scotland but brought up & schooled in beautiful South Africa before moving back to the UK 8 years ago).
 Desre & I went all the way through Primary School, High School and College together but hadn't seen each other for a good few years so we had lots & lots (& lots!) of nattering to do.  It was just a whole lot of fun.

So - we shopped, we ate, we nattered (did I mention that already?!) and just enjoyed our time together.
All too quickly that time came to an end but it will stay with me as another very treasured memory.

Desre's daughter, Nicole is an avid fan of all-things-Shakespeare so we spent a lovely day meandering along the river and wandering the streets of Stratford-upon-Avon.  It's such a quaint little town and one I always enjoy visiting.

Around & about in Stratford-upon-Avon

I was back there again yesterday too, for a spot of shopping and a yummy lunch with my sister.  She lives in London, so we like to "meet in the middle" every so often and one of our favourite shops happens to be in Stratford-upon-Avon so it's the perfect meeting place.

In deciding where to have lunch we stumbled upon The Four Teas , a Forties-themed tearoom which was so full of delightful 1940s decor.  We had a yummy lunch and it's definitely going to be our new "place-to-lunch- when-in-Stratford" from now on !

"Where there is Tea, there is Hope"

I didn't have my camera with me so just snapped these pics with my phone, which don't really do it justice, but the attention to detail was lovely.  The Ration Book contains the menu and all the crockery & decor were just vintage perfection.

More friends arriving from SA tomorrow, and quite a busy week ahead so there probably won't be much time for crafting, but on the plus side, there will definitely be more TEA :-)

Have a happy week,
xoxo