Mmmmmmmagazines!!

I used to subscribe to Marie Claire when in my early 20's ... but soon lost interest in that kind of glossy magazine in favour of my Mum's old copies of Good Housekeeping or Country Living.  

I occasionally find myself buying a knitting magazine or cookery mag ... but really fancied looking for a mag that I could subscribe too.  A magazine which would drop through the letter box each month without me having to battle the crowds around the magazine stands in the local supermarket!

Recently I have tried out three potential subscriptions:

So far, Homemaker and Mollie Makes are my favourites.  I have taken advantage of a '3 issues for £5' for The Simple Things and a '3 issues for £6' for Homemaker Magazine.  I just need to decide which will be my new year subscription!

Do you have a subscription?

I can crochet!

Last night I had my second class at The Make Lounge and it was much more successful than the first!!

I managed to do a bit of practising during the week ... not as much as I would have liked, but think that I have now got a hang of the wierdly named stitches (double treble - I ask you!!). Anyway, here is a picture of the flower I made last night!!

I am now going to have a go at crocheting a granny square and may even book myself onto the Super Cool Crochet Squares workshop!

I probably said this in my last post about learning crochet - but I would definitely recommend The Make Lounge. There were six of us in the class, of varying ability ... but Catherine (the teacher) made us all feel relaxed and explained the stitches in terms suitable for absolute beginners (like myself!) there were plenty of biscuits, tea and wine to keep us going! It feels great to have learnt a new craft this week!

Hurray! It's Friday and due to being super-diligent at work today ... I don't have to go in for Saturday overtime! Yey!! Having worked almost every Saturday since the August Bank holiday ... I am ready for a two day weekend ... with nothing planned yet (a trip to Northcote Road (Cath Kidston) or Marylebone High Street (Cath Kidston)? A nice breakfast somewhere?) .....

Learning to Crochet!

Tonight I went along to a beginners crochet workshop at The Make Lounge in Islington.

As you know, I love to knit ... and my mum did teach me how to crochet many years ago - but I have forgotten! It was seeing the lovely images of crocheted squares on the beautiful blog Do You Mind If I Knit? which inspired me to book this workshop - and I am so glad that I did!!

I would recommend this to anyone wanting to learn a new craft (and there are lots of workshops to chose from!). The first session was three hours long (and it whizzed by!), there was tea & coffee, wine and biscuits and five girls all wanting to learn something new! Tonight we learnt the basic crochet stitches and next week we will be making flowers!!! Very exciting ... I will be spending the next few days practising my stitches!

I will add photos of my little bits of crochet that I did tonight when I am able to move without being attacked by kittens!!

I will let you know how I get on with my crocheted flowers next week!

Kitchen Project - Cabinet Transformation: Part 2

I thought this was going to be easy-peasy!

Anyway ... cabinet is now painted (and re-painted by Mr Plum to a much more professional standard!) 

Lovely Cath Kidston "Chicken" oilcloth has been purchased!

Sewing machine has been brought out of 

hibernation ....

But (arghhhhh!) I have had a nightmare trying to thread the machine - thankfully that has been sorted out now.  Then I tried to sew the oilcloth and the needle was skimming over the material and getting all tangled ..... hmmm

I'm hoping that by discovering an ancient blog which hasn't updated in a while may have solved my problems and I can get on with finishing the cabinet.

Thanks, in advance, Sew, Mama, Sew!   Fingers crossed and the third part of this saga will be the finished product!

Lovely Lavender!

This morning I finally got around to picking the remaining flowers on my lavender plant.  I have managed to get a good sized bunch, which is now hanging in my kitchen to dry, before I make scented sachets for my drawers!