A little catch up

Oh my goodness, what a lovely few days away we had last week.  My parents headed off to Norfolk on holiday and as luck would have it, booked a two bedroom holiday cottage slap bang on the Norfolk Broads. They asked if we would like to join them for a couple of days like we did last year, well it would have been rude not too! 

The cottage was beautiful, but the absolute best bit was being able to sit by the river, which apart from a couple car boot sales, is pretty much what I did for two days............

I had contemplated taking some of my works in progress, but decided that Poppy's quilt was too big to carry around and my crochet cushion required lots of concentration.....I've been joining the squares together with double crochet...I know that would seem not a difficult task, but for me, well lets not go there.....so a new crochet project has begun.....a blanket....oh yes....it may take me an age..... but a blanket will be mine!!!!

Seeing as I am going to be carrying this one around for quite a while, I thought I would take inspiration for the colour scheme from my Cath Kidston crochet bag....

As well as the ducks and swans...... we also an array of birds including the most stunning Barn Owl, sadly I wasn't quick enough to grab my camera, but then Mum spotted this chap in the field beyond....what a site!

  I am now counting down the days until we return for our annual family holiday.

 Back home I've been admiring the treasures that I snaffled as car boot....the jug was far to pretty to leave behind, the baskets, well you can never have to many baskets and I was so thrilled to find a piece of vintage snowflake pyrex to add to my collection.

Having not sewn for an entire week, I couldn't wait to get stitching again.  My project was a party dress for Poppy to wear to my brothers wedding this summer.  I wanted it to be really special and had set my heart on a dress with a Peter Pan collar, so I was extremely chuffed when I found this pattern.  As for the fabric, I gave Poppy the choice from any of the fabrics in the shop and she chose the pretty floral from the Little Red Riding Hood collection....good choice I think....I wanted the sash to be in a contrasting fabric and after much deliberation chose the red stripe by Sevenberry.  The pattern calls for it to be cut on the cross, which I think has been really effective, although it does make my eyes go a little squiffy...that may however be down to my new varifocal glasses!

I added some pretty lace trim to the sleeves and the hem and after much fiddle..... fully lined the whole thing, adding some net I had in my stash, in between.......Obviously it has now been put away safe and sound and well away from sticky fingers ready for the big day....now all I need to do is to make something for me wear!

I hope that you all had a lovely few days and I'll back soon with a ta dah!!!!