Saturday 17 March 2012

Flowers and stars

Well, spring has well and truly been springing all over the place round these parts, as you can see from the lovely little daffodils tenaciously clinging to life in my front garden (as previously mentioned, this is just about the only place in the vicinity of my house that is safe from uber-violent footballing activity, although I have noticed recently that the two hooligans have taken to playing the odd game/wrestling match on the front grass - an unwelcome and soon-to-be-quelled occurrence).  I have especially noticed the recent springy-activity on the 'A' road back from my local John Lewis - this is a well-trodden route for me and is therefore a barometer of the changing seasons - if it all looks a bit misty green, as it does at the moment, it's definitely spring (if it's white, it's probably winter and if it's wet and grey it's almost any time of the year.)
In a pleasing coincidence of life imitating art (or, in this case, nature) the floral theme has been continued on the domestic-front too - my 'baby' has had a birthday party, though not an actual birthday, confusingly.  Unbelievably, she will be two in a couple of weeks, but as we'll be in Turkey (our first, ever foreign holiday as a family - all five of us are counting down the sleeps til we'll be on a plane) on her actual birthday, and as my mum is visiting us for a few days, we thought we'd have a little tea party for her royal highness this week.  I was lax and forgot to take a pictures of the cake,which was pink with Smarties on - I surprised myself with how girly I made it, but she loved it.  I did, however, take some photos of more cake-related goings-on that took place recently:
A large bowl of icing and a very muddy elbow - it would appear that some things are worth coming in from playing football for.
 Looking at this photo I notice two things: 1) I'm a stingy sprinkler - this is something I will be rectifying asap; 2) just look at the size of the blob of icing middle has put on his cupcake (top right of the picture)...
I may have neglected to take any cakey photos, but I have taken some of her big present from me and Mr N, which I secretly feel I may have bought as much for me as for her:
It's floral.  It's got stripes.  It's got gingham.  It's a wigwam.  I think I might move into it.
And can you see the little porcelain tea sets set up inside?  One of them is a Cath K one that my mum got her for her bday, and the other is mine from when I was a similar age to my baby girl.  I even have the original box still (deep down I know that very soon I am going to be heart broken when one of my oafish boys breaks the box/smashes a cup.  Maybe I should hide it away again for another thirty-five years, just to be on the safe side.)  I can't explain the thrill of excitement I got, laying all this out with my girl because I know how much fun I had doing this and I can't believe I get to do it all again with her.  (Let's face it, I still do it for real - a stripy tablecloth, a nice bit of cake and my Pip crockery - nothing's changed!)
This is my set - it's vintage dahling.
 And this is me taking a photo at the exact moment middle decided it would be a good idea to jump on my back and cling to me, koala-style.
 And this is the Cath K set.  Just look at teddy bear in the background - he must be a boy - look at the way he's sitting...
And finally, after getting as far as I can for the moment with my granny ripple blanket:
here is my latest wip:
It's my all star blanket, which I have just started making for middle after a tough process of negotiation over the Rico Creative Cotton colour chart - him: 'I want that one (orange), that one (red), that one (black), that one (grey) and that one (green)'.  Me: 'hmmmmm.....' x

16 comments:

  1. Oh, I do like that teepee. I want one! Good present choice. The star crochet is so pretty, nice colours. (also that little white rocking chair is adorable). Gillian x

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  2. Oh my I love that teepee, I think I would like to live in one too :) it's so pretty! I also am in awe of your star crochet - are you following a pattern or did you make it up yourself? I think it looks amazing! Have a lovely rest of your weekend, Jenny xxx

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  3. I WANT A GIRLY TEEPEE in my lounge! (ooops, a little girl envy crept in there for a moment)
    Lovely post Emily - and I like that I now know who I'm 'talking' to!
    Happy mother's day for tomorrow - and more than that,
    .....................H♥PPY HOLID♥YS.............................
    fee x

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    1. Me too, Fee. But we will make a girly den at Easter!

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  4. Love, love, love the star crochet, would be great for my boys....I, like you, would definitely 'shape' the colour combinations!

    Happy birthday to your little girl, what a fab teepee....how perfect! I'm afraid I'd get a bit squirmy about letting my boys anywhere near my old toys, oars would fit my lads too.

    Have a fabulous holiday, I am super jealous, we haven't been abroad for many moons....ten years.....maybe one day when the kids are at least twenty.

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  5. I want a teepee too!!
    How much fun could you have in there??

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  6. Awww Happy Birthday to your little princess :) wigwam heaven!! Shhhh.....I've got the CK one and I'm determined to get it up this summer....wanna come & play tea parties!? Hehehe :) really love the star squares, the colours are gorgeous.

    Hope you are having a lovely weekend x

    Jo x x x

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    1. WOW, what a post and where to begin? Firstly Happy Birthday to your little girl. I lurrrrve the wigwam, the colours and patterns, just gorgeous. And as the the tea set, my oh my, heavenly. I had a little tea set which I still have and my girls enjoyed playing with when they were little. Nothing quite as lovely as the two in your post though.
      Those cupcakes look yummy and the sprinkles....well perhaps a few more might be nice. :) My kids use to turn their cupcakes upside down and dunk them into a bowl of sprinkles to make sure they got the maximum amount on their icing.
      I love your granny ripple, it's just beautiful.
      Have a wondeful time in Turkey, leave some room in your bag for exotic Turkish shopping items. :)
      Anne xx

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  7. Happy birthday to the little princess. When my boys were small, they had a tent out on the balcony and would have lunch out there. Now they are 13 and 16 so those simple days are long gone and they are on to other things. Love the ripple and the stars -- in a circle and square. Fantastic! Lovely colors. Enjoy Turkey! We've only had a 9 hour layover there about 13 years ago -- and believe me, we did as much as we could during that time. Have talked about going back but haven't made it yet. Have a great week. Tammy

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  8. I just fancy a quick curl up in the tent!

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  9. little message for you over at mine....fee x

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  10. I absolutely LOVE the colours you've used in your ripple blanket! I might just steal them for my next project. Thanks!

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  11. Oh my, that is one perfect birthday prezzie ... I'd want to move in too!

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  12. Tee hee (laughs at mental image of koala-child jumping on to you during photo shoot!!)
    Such a cute tent!
    I also love the colours of your ripple and those stars are AMAZING!! I'm working wih the Rico at the mo - it's a bit of a splitty wotsit isn't it? Still, it looks perfect!
    Xx

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  13. I just don't think I can be friends with Rico any more. Too splitty! But your stars make me think maybe....

    Boys hey! Mine are total mud thugs too. They are just gross. They had a friend over last night and I could hear thudding on the wall of the house. On inspection they were flinging mud and plant pots at the wall and each other. Why do they do things like that?!

    I do like that tee pee. I loves a den I do. My Middle son likes a den and he is quite happy for me to make it as girly as I like with real china. I don't think he gets as much out of it as I do but I'm just grateful someone will play with me!!

    A family holiday in the sun. Have fun!!!! I'm such a crap holiday person, I just like staying at home. I even try to find excuses to not go to our Seaside House even though it's like a home from home. I am weird aren't I!

    Ripply goodness....ahhhhhhhhh.

    xxx

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  14. Loving those star squares, they're going to make a fantastic blanket.

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