Little and Large

There have been a few little people arriving in my life lately. To welcome one such lady to the world, and celebrate her dad's moving in to his third decade, I made these two. 

More knitting plans are underway, but I also have some sewing ideas afoot. It all started when I browsed some old patchwork books and made a trip to Cowslip Workshops. Watch this space....

Three years later....

Over the past few years there have been some big changes to my job, location and marital status. It's been incredible and I've enjoyed it with old friends and new, but I thought that it might be time to dust off this old blog, and share some bits of life. 

In keeping with old posts, here's a little look at some of the handmade and homegrown elements of our wedding day. 

Photography by John Miles.

Invitations and menus designed and letter pressed by the wonderful James.

Homegrown herbs mixed with other beautiful seasonal flowers for the bouquets and the jam jars on tables.

Rose petal confetti - grown and dried at home.

Our tables, all mapped out on Dartmoor.

Homemade peppermint cream hearts were hidden inside the favour bags. I bought the fabric from Cowslip Workshops and sewed for days on end! I enlisted the help of Jo for her beautiful handwriting on the tags, then printed them with old bicycle plates found on the internet.

The boozy fruit cake made by Mama Brown was decorated with more seasonal flowers and herbs, and wrapped in ribbon from VVRouleaux.

When we sent out invitations we asked for pictures on the postcards that our guests replied with. We displayed these in books made by Liz Brown.

I loved all the making, baking, growing, laughing, eating, drinking, singing and dancing that went into our wedding, it made it ours. And at the end of it, there was just one thing that mattered...

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Noodles...

Yet again it's been ages since I last posted. The beginning of the summer has been a whirl of BBQs and sunshine, which I'm hoping will continue as I head down to Devon and Cornwall next week.

Rome and Dublin were highlights, but I've very much enjoyed chilling out in Leeds too. Last night we had fun with some Wagamama recipes. We made the Kai Sen Udon, and I made tempura from some smoked haddock.

Bonnes Vacances!

Refugee Week

Last week was refugee week and I had a lot of fun helping out with the 'Something I hope for' exhibition that was set up to go in the library in Leeds. There's more information and photos on the Integrate blog. It was a great pleasure to see some lovely people creating some beautiful art.

We also had a session at our youth project, for refugee week, which involved activities, discussions and information. A lot of this was aimed at dispelling some of the myths the media tell us about asylum seekers and refugees, and to promote open discussion.

Transforming the Concrete Jungle

I haven't posted for quite a while, and this is has largely been due to the good weather and the opportunity for all things outdoorsy. The sweetpeas that I planted at the front of the house have become quite tall in all this sunshine.


I also have a few of these 'Gardener's Delight' variety tomato plants and a strawberry plant. There are plenty more fruits and vegetables growing out front too, and several plants in make-shift containers, such as these blue flowers growing in a suitcase.


All this green makes for quite a pleasant area to enjoy the sun. The next plan is to plant things in the top of our wall. And so bit by bit, we transform our concrete jungle.

Make-do and Mend

I recently decided to have a clear-out of clothes that no longer fit or have fallen apart. I came to the realisation that far too many items bought incredibly cheaply from high street chains have either stretched or gained multiple holes. In addition, most of these are likely to have dubious ethical standards.
This wasn't really a huge revelation, more of an awakening and a decision not to settle for low quality garments that have cost someone else so much more than it's cost me in money.

So, after my clear-out, with the old clothes that were too beyond repair to go to the charity shop, I was inspired by stitchface's story to make something recycled.

This is what, or who I should say, I made from some stripey shorts. A bit jazzy for me to wear, but looks good on Bear.

Of course it's not just clothes that this applies to. I've been avidly watching 'Homemade Homes' on Channel 4.

Firstly because it's set in Devon and I wanted to spot Jo Colwill on it, but also because I like the ethos behind hand making your own home with things that last rather than filling it with throw-away flat-pack.




Sometimes this is easier said than done, but I'd like to take up the challenge!

Live at Leeds

What a great bank holiday weekend. This Saturday we spent the day at Live at Leeds, where the purchase of a wrist band will get you in to venues all around the city, showing great live bands.

I saw favourites Tigers That Talked at Joseph's Well, followed by the fantastic Wild Beasts. We then popped over to Holy Trinity Church, which proved to be a stunning location for the beautiful sound of Fionn Regan. This was a particular highlight.
We then spent a long time queuing for the Maccabees, but eventually made it in, which I was glad about, it was a fun gig.