After the rain

April has been, well, typical of April I guess with the showers (and heavy downpours) and then sunshine.  Today was such a day, one minute it was tipping it down, the next, bright sunshine.

I popped out to take a couple of shots of my lovely tulips which I planted in the Autumn.  Very strawberries and cream don't you think? 

Of course all this rain is a blessing for the garden and it is so typical that it has arrived after a hosepipe ban has been issued!!  Ah, British weather - you've got to love it!

What got me running outside with the camera in the first place was the steam coming off the shed roof!

A heart warming present

Flopsy Bunny's belated birthday present arrived recently and boy, it was definately worth the wait.  After a couple of years of planning and collecting fabrics my mum has done herself proud on this gorgeous quilt.  Part of the delay was because she had also been making an even more wonderful heirloom quilt which is just amazing.  The thing I love about this quilt, apart from it being loving made to warm my little girl at night, is that I have donated some of the fabrics and it is that aspect of quilting that is so great - the recycling of once loved clothes that can be turned into something else and carried on being loved.

Blankets for Mice

Flopsy Bunny asked the other day what I was knitting.  'Blankets' I said and she had a good look at them then said 'they're a bit small'.  'Ah' I said, 'that's because they are blankets for mice!'  OK a bit of a silly response, but I had no idea Flopsy Bunny would be taking it seriously.  She has now been talking non stop about needing a cage for the mice and how many would we be getting!!!!  Eeek memo to self, never make silly comments to children as they will take them literally.  It did bring back memories of my own childhood, when I waited in anticipation for several weeks after my dad had said he was 'going to see a man about a dog', every evening I would wait for him to come back with the dog until at last I asked him and found to my dismay it was just a saying and he had gone out to visit a friend . . . !

Anyway this is the knitting I'm zooming along with, which I'd like to finish before I start on this!

Goat Girl

Flopsy Bunny has always been a lover of goats and the other day she spent ages feeding this little cutie.  Of course that is not to say that she is not partial to feeding . . .

 ponies or in fact . . .

deer - we did have a lovely time at this Farm Park.

The holidays were full of highs and lows.  Unfortuanately the low came with a nasty bug which laid Little Roo low for the second week, so we were rather confined to the house.  But despite this there were plenty of highs.  I think the major highlight came when we made THIS cake - oh how yummy it was.  It is now my all time favourite cake - not least because Little Roo insisted it was called Lemon Fizzle cake - well that is what it will be known as from now on in our house!!

Red, White and Blue

I'm not particularly patriotic but somehow I have got swept up in the excitement and organisation for our village Jubilee celebrations.  I made this little corsage with thoughts of maybe putting some in my Etsy shop.

I've also been persuaded to join the sewing team for our Jubilee Decorations committee - scary that there is a committee!!  But then I guess with two whole days of events there is a lot of organise!

Then while in that Red, White and Blue mood, I stumbled upon the most gorgeous pattern for a summer jumper and - well - there was no stopping me - no sooner had I seen the pattern than the wool had been purchased and has arrived!!  I've just got a little knitting project on the go at the moment which I'd like to finish first and then I'm going to dive into this gorgeousness.  Although it will be with a little bit of trepidation as the pattern involves lace and looks a little tricky - something I am going to need to concentrate on I think!

Hop, Hop, Hop

When I saw the pattern for these bunny fingerpuppets I just knew I'd have to make them!!

They added an extra hop and skip to the Easter Egg hunt this morning and are so easy to make, just don't forget to make the tail otherwise there will be some last minute pom-pom making!!

I also treated Flopsy Bunny to a rather gorgeous egg cosy from Snapdragon, although she wasn't as enamoured with it as I was - such a shame I don't like eggs!!!  I think Flopsy Bunny would have preferred chocolate, despite me hiding a chocolate bunny under this cosy!!

Happy Easter! 

It must be Easter . . . here's the tree!

I can't quite believe it's Easter.  Oh how this holiday has crept up on me.  I dashed out yesterday to gather some twigs for our tree - the little ones did enjoy rediscovering all the old decorations from last year and there were lots of oooo's and aaahhh's!  Although having looked back at all the Easter tree's I have put together, I am thinking less is definately more and may leave some decorations out for next year!

We then made a little chicken homage . . .

All ready for tomorrow - oh no wait - I still have some secret Easter presents to finish off - eekk!  Must dash!

... and relax

Phew, what a week we had in the run up to the Easter holidays!  There was an egg to be decorated . . .

. . . as an inspirational person - Flopsy Bunny went for Neil Armstrong!!  We also had eggs to decorate for the annual egg rolling down the big hill in our village.  Then there were the shows. . .!  Little Roo was in a little Spring show for nursery, it was so lovely to see all these 3 and 4 year olds singing along, so cute.  Then Flopsy Bunny was in a ballet show, she was a Tinkerbell fairy and danced beautifully and then in the second half she was in Lion King and sang and acted her little heart out - I was so proud of her.

Now we can relax, the Easter holidays are upon us and we have made absolutely no plans - how wonderful!  Yesterdays high light was Daisy chain making and we are hoping for other laid back days to follow.

Don't worry there has been some secret Easter making going on too and all will be revealed at the weekend!