Sky lanterns

Filling the sky with fifty of these lanterns made for a memorable sight as dusk fell

Wedding celebrations

Two weeks ago K & J got married on a fabulous sunny day.

We decorated the village hall with a "vintage tea party theme" including forty yards of bunting some of which you see pictured here.

50 sky lanterns lit the sky as darkness fell - just one of the highlights of a perfect day

Painting more pots

Paid a return visit to the Pottery Cafe today - this time to paint some birthday presents for my mum. We decided on a fruit bowl and a jug - these pics are unglazed - glazed version to follow in due course.

Can't figure out how to turn this pic round - sorry!

Painting Plates

With only 18 days to go until the wedding - Saturday was the gathering of the "hens".

First stop was the Pottery Cafe where plates were painted as a gift for the bride to be along with a spotty teapot. Lots of fun - return visits already being planned!

Birthday cake

Judging by the number of birthday cards I received featuring cakes most of my friends and family know well what the best part of birthday celebrations is in my opinion - the cake - this year's featured fat-free sponge with a filling made from fresh raspberries and mascarpone & a frosting made from cream cheese -Mmmmmm!

The magic lives on

The southernmost point of our trip was Orlando which of course meant a trip to The Magic Kingdom first visited many years ago when our (now grown up) children were small.

Still magic!

We arrived in time for lunch and managed to fit in thirteen rides, two parades, a firework display & dinner with this as our view :)

Afternoon Tea

Mother's Day provided a good excuse to make

some cakes, get out the teaset and enjoy a

family tea party!

Presents and cards were received by the Mums

who were there and a good time was had by all.

Pompoms

As the wedding plans progress plans have

been made for decorating the venue.

Options include these giant tissue paper

pompoms. This was the first attempt,

hopefully we will improve as we move to

mass production.

Birthday Bags

We have just celebrated K's birthday and her
main request was the latest Cath Kidston
bucket bag. To complete the bag theme and
continue the tradition of little treats I sewed
drawstring bags to package up the smaller
presents. It will be K's last birthday at home
as she gets married in three months!

128 days and counting

Recent days have seen my craft
room and craft time devoted to the
mass production of these.
They are wedding invitations for my
daughter K's wedding which happens
in 128 days time!
As she only got engaged just over a
month ago planning and preparation
has been moving along at a fast pace!

Always time for cake!

No sooner do we finish all the
Christmas baking and resolve to
eat healthily for a while than it is
time to start making birthday
cakes. This one was for J's birthday
last week. He helpfully agreed to
eat most of it himself!

Winter Sunshine

The Beach at Seven Sisters on
New Years Day.

Happy New Year

New Year's day 2010 was bright and sunny
though VERY cold here on the beach at Seven
Sisters country park where we went for a walk
to celebrate the start of a new year and the fact
that for once it wasn't raining!
It was a great start to my New Years resolution
to walk more and the beach was beautiful in the
winter sunshine.

Christmas is coming

The tree is up, the decorations are
up and the house is almost ready for
Christmas. Still lots of wrapping and
baking to do though!

The white stars came from the Pearl

Bazaar in New York bought on our

trip last May.

Cake

Silver wedding

Back home I've been celebrating the Silver
Wedding of my brother and his wife with cards,
a party for family and friends and of course
cake.

More birthday cake

Time for more birthday celebrations
and of course cake - this time to
celebrate Nick's birthday.
The cake is chocolate made as always
from a Nigella recipe and filled with
raspberries and cream.
Candles were lit and cake sampled
before heading off to the New Forest
and Dorset for the weekend.

Birthday time again

Last saturday we had a belated birthday
celebration for my mum.
My contribution to the food was as ever
cake!

Birthday cake

The birthday cake was classic
victoria sponge - set off by crazy
candles which re-light every time
you blow them out - supplied by
my mum and caused great hilarity
as I tried in vain to blow them out!
I was eventually rescued and helped
when the onlookers had stopped
laughing long enough.

Baby Bunting

Isn't this baby bunting pretty? Such fun to make
and a great way to use stash fabric up - though
I must confess to buying a few of these specially.
This is a present for a friend's new daughter -
she is three weeks old so may be a while before
she can decide whether she likes it or not!