Cakes and crafts with the WI

Ah, the WI. I love it. What's not to love? Lovely ladies, tea, cake and an improving talk - what more could one ask for of an evening? I'm a member of my local WI, and despite stereotypes, we are definitely not just about jam-and-Jerusalem. The Borough Belles (my local group) meet once a month and this month we had our spring party to celebrate Easter and the Royal Wedding (I cannot wait to see what Kate, ahem Catherine's dress is like!) and have a good old chit chat while learning a new craft.

I learned crochet! I had the most patient of teachers, and after 30 minutes' intense concentration, I ended up with this:

It's supposed to be the beginnings of a granny square. I need a lot more practice but I can see this becoming quite addictive. Particularly as it's so portable.

We always break at half-time for a cup of tea, slice of cake and a bit of socialising.

But as it was a party, tea flowed freely all night and much cake was consumed. I contributed cucumber sandwiches to the very generous spread and ate much too much cake (if such a thing is even possible). And jelly.

Well it wouldn't be a Royal Wedding celebration without jelly! yum!

Enough about the cake, I hear you say. How much sewing have I done this week? Um... not much. I've got some catching up to do with the Crescent skirt sew-along. So I'll sign off and get to it now!

Have a lovely Easter weekend and speak soon!

A nice little award and revving up for a sew-along

I'm thrilled that anyone reads my little blog and am delighted to receive an award!

Thank you Scruffy Badger (who, by the way, is not at all scruffy - just look at all her lovely makes - check out her Me Made March posts... jewellery too!)!

The aim of the award is to bring recognition and exposure to smaller blogs, helping them become bigger blogs. The idea is to link back to who nominated you, and then nominate some other small blogs. So in turn, I pass the award on to:

• Reana Louise of Curves Patterns and Pins - she's just all round fab, and seems to sew wonderful dresses in no time!
• Cecili of Sewing and so on - whose Me-Made-March gave me serious handmade wardrobe envy.
• Molly of Pinned & stitched - a fellow newbie to the world of sewing and blogging.
• Laura of Laura in a tangle - another fellow newbie to sewing/crafting and blogging.

hurrah for spring time!

I've done very little sewing of late. Over the past couple of weeks, my day job has left me completely drained by the end of each day and as a result I'm in a bit of a creative funk. But my Colette Sencha blouse pieces are all measured, cut and ready to sew. I am hoping to get quite a lot of it done this weekend, as next week I'm joining the Crescent Skirt sew-along. Here's my fabric:

It's a cotton lawn, and the selvedge reads:

And in Liberty news this week...

Much has been made of the Liberty/Nike collaboration. I was quick to pour scorn on this, arguing that it somehow cheapens the brand (which I still believe). But the more I look at this particular pair, the more I want them. My mind says no, my heart says yes. Fortunately, it seems they are sold out, so my wallet says "phew".

[I was in Liberty this weekend on other business (ok ok, just drooling at the fabrics) and saw the whole range of Liberty Nike trainers. I have changed my mind back. They are ugly. So very ugly.]

this week's flowers

 Have a lovely weekend & speak soon!

Presents and parcels!

It was my birthday on Monday and Mr Pins & Needles spoiled me terribly!

birthday treats!

What a treat! He went on a secret mission to Liberty and picked them out himself! And they're exactly what I would have picked.

Dorothy Watton B and Caroline Jane C

Lola Weisselberg A and Sophie’s Blossom C

While I was looking up the design names, I discovered that each of these are inspired or designed by children's illustrators. All except the last one (Sophie's Blossom), which was designed by a nine-year-old girl (each of the flowers represents one of her friends).

I have one metre of each, so I need to find some blouse/top patterns for these - let me know if you have any suggestions!

I also received a couple of parcels that I've been eagerly awaiting for a couple of weeks. PATTERNS!

lots of spring sewing!

So that's my spring sewing sorted out! I'd better get cracking!

Have a lovely weekend & speak soon!