Visit to National Trust Standen

First of all, I apologise (to any reader that has stuck around this long!) for the lack of posts. I'm planning to do a summer sewing review post so you can see what been keeping me so busy! And now...
This week we visited Standen, which is a beautiful late Victorian house and gardens in Sussex. (Yes, on a weekday... the joys of homeschooling!) I used to quite dislike trailing around old houses and gardens which all looked the same to me, but in recent years I've come to love visiting National Trust properties. I hadn't used my camera for a while so decided to bring it along and I was pleased because there were lots of lovely photo opportunities. The sun was shining and I was able to learn a bit more about using manual setting on the camera. First we went to the kitchen garden, which was full of produce and beautiful flowers.

Flowers in the kitchen garden, it was fun to experiment with focus.

I was really pleased to take photos of the large white butterfly and wasp because I've been trying to get a close-ups like this for ages and never succeeded!

We went for a walk to other parts of the garden, including the orchard which had beehives, and my sister pointed this beautiful butterfly out to me. I'm trying to work out what species it is.

Fresh flowers and vegetables from the kitchen garden for sale.

We had a guided 'taster' tour of the house which was very interesting as we learnt about the Beale family who lived here, Philip Webb the architect who designed much of the interior as well, and Morris & Co. which designed much of the wallpapers and other furnishings. I really liked to rather unusual style from the Arts & Crafts movement combined with the feeling that it was a family home. I went back to take some pictures:

The billiard room, where the men got together on wet days.

Some of the crockery on display in the dining room.

All the bedrooms we saw had their own dressing rooms.

I liked the colours of this bathroom. There were only two bathrooms in the house, most people used a tin bath in their bedrooms.

Mrs. Beale and her daughters embroidered this fine screen from a Morris & Co. kit.

An example of the wallpapers in the house.

After a picnic we relaxed in the garden. This is the back of the house, and you can see the sandstone blocks which came from a quarry on the large estate. Also the lovely flowers everywhere!

As you can tell I really enjoyed the day out and loved the house and gardens, especially learning about the design element. Please comment if you enjoyed reading, and let me know what you think the red butterfly is!

Trip Up Town

Though I live in London, I don't often get to see 'the sights,' so last week my friend Grace and I took a trip Up Town to take photographs and enjoy the general atmosphere of a city summer. Its an interesting mix of people who work here and have a destination to get to, and those who are following a more relaxed sightseeing pace. Street dancers, artists and musicians add to the mix, as well as the contrasts of old and new archetecture. I enjoyed myself so much, that I'm going to try and take you on a tour through our photographs and words.

The view of the London Eye from the rather crowded Westminster Bridge.

'Big Ben' is a nickname for this iconic and ornate clock tower and is actually the name of the biggest bell inside it.

This area is full of monuments like this one which remembers the service of those who gave their lives for the freedom of our country.

Walking on to Trafalgar Square you see the Blue Chicken, a recent, quirky, and fun art installation.

These street dancers attracted a large crowd outside the National Portrait Gallery. For this photo I held the camera above my head and hoped it would turn out ok!

These street artist were completing the flags of many nations, and people would put a few coins onto their flag.

This is Trafalgar Square. This picture beautiful architecture, dazzling fountains and many sightseers, but I think it also gives an idea of the lovely atmosphere in the square.

 Perspective from outside the National Portrait Gallery looking down onto Trafalgar Square.

One of the many brightly coloured stalls at Covent Garden Market, just a few streets away.

We saw this cute cute truck in Covent Garden, Milo & Hectors Tremendous Ice Cream Sandwiches. I love the colours.

This guy was dressed up as the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland, with a tea party set up and a real doormouse in his teacup! 

To me this picture really captures the brightness and energy of London streets in summer.

Back in Trafalgar Square in the dazzling sunlight. Here I was playing around with manual focus on my camera.

A mounted guard on the famous Horse Guards Parade. I didn't realise the light had come out that way until later, but I like the effect it gives.

This statue on Whitehall remembers the service of the women during World War II, because although they didn't fight, they drove ambulances, worked in factories and supported the troops in many other ways for the war effort. It's such a beautiful monument.

Mocha Torte {recommended recipes}

June is full of birthdays for my family, so theres always a bit of a scramble when it comes to who's making the cakes. I got to make my Dad's cake this year, and I knew straight away that it should be chocolate. I searched around pinterest for ideas, as I wanted something different, but I just found loads of 'best ever chocolate cake' recipes.

Then I remembered that I'd been wanting to try a special occasion cake from The Caked Crusader blog, as they always look really good! The mocha torte looked perfect, combining my Dad's love of chocolate and coffee. As I read through the recipe it sounded better and better: a hazelnut base.... baked ganache filling... coffee cream... more hazelnuts.

As I had a busy weekend I could spread the work by making one element at a time. I decided to go for a simple topping of roasted chopped hazelnuts instead of the extra cream and chocolate on top. All the elements were really nice and balanced well, with contrasting and complimenting flavours and textures. It's very rich, which was appreciated, and as we couldn't manage big slices there will be enough left for another slice each (if Dad doesn't get there first!) a rare thing in a big family. So yeah, I would totally recommend this Mocha Torte recipe!

. . .

Now I am getting a little busy to do so much blogging, I thought I'd start a new series. {recommended recipes} will be reviews and photographs of recipes from the internet that I've successfully made. See all of them here. Enjoy!

Easter Inspiration

It's been a while ages since I last posted anything as I've been busy (yeah, you guessed it!), and I kind of forgot all about easter until I realised that we are on easter holidays for the next two weeks. So although I haven't made anything for a while, I have been storing up inspiration for you. The following post will be a bit of a mish-mash of pretty, easter-y things, from old favourite bakes to new craft ideas.

Painted Easter Bunny Jars- these look so cute and so effective! Paint and craft cute easter bunnies out of baby food jars and fill them with easter treats to give as gifts.

photo: dotcomgiftshop

Hand Painted Hanging Easter Eggs- another idea for a sweet easter gift, especially as they come in a cardboard egg box and you could hang them out in the garden for an egg hunt!

photo: magpie patterns

Chubby Chirps- use your leftover yarn to create a clutch of chicks nearly as cute as the real thing! They would make such cute easter decorations on the mantelpiece and lovely gifts.

photo: lakeland

Simnel Cake- This is a recipe for a classic easter cake and a favourite in our house and I can't wait to make it again soon.

photo: soulemama

Gratitude Wrap- I know this isn't particularly easter themed, but I was really pleased to receive one of these from my mum a while ago, and I've got into writing letters and cards this spring. pdf here.

Vintage-Style Card Making

Recently I've not had much time for blogging (or to finish sewing that potholder!) so it was lovely to have ten minutes yesterday with beautiful sunlight and some time to create. The weather has been so changeable recently: from mist and cold to beautiful sunshine and warmth! I started out scrapbooking some vintage-style items I had been saving for a while but it soon lead on to the idea for this card. I thought I'd practice my photography and document the process. The finished card is far from perfect, I would change a few things, but what I wanted to show is the process of creating a card from some random craft items.

I started with a blank card, some lace, a luggage tag, vintage layered sticker, and some washi tape. I gather a lot of things with the same theme ('vintage-style' for instance) and then see which ones I use.

Next I lay the items over to card to work out where each will go and in what order. I find that this is better than layering up as you go along but I'm sure you could pull that off nicer than I could.

Now I start to build the card. Glue is my worst enemy because its so easy to get your fingers and card dirty but its also my best friend because it's an invisible way to attach things like lace as it dries clear.

I like to add a little extra length to my lace when I cut it to the sides of the card so that I can fold it over and glue it on the back to create a neater finish.

Trimming the luggage tag down to fit to the card at the right angle is a little tricky, I think I tweaked mine too much because it's ended up a bit small. If you can notice, the pattern builds up layers that are either going straight across the card or at an angle.

Finishing touches now. The message is written with a pencil first and then I go over in pen. And at the last moment  I decided that a bow would balance things out nicely.

So finished it is. Next time I would change a few things, but I hope you enjoyed watching the process.

Life {Monday 24th}

This past week I've been having a half term break from school work. I have no finished projects yet to show for it, just a few works in progress, mainly of the sewing kind. But spring is in the air, and I've been finding many opportunities to use my new camera. This morning we had a quick trip a local garden and the light was so warm and bright and everything seemed so right for photography! I followed this robin around for a while and he was most helpful, looking at the camera and staying still for me to take his picture.


These muffins are the result of a half an hour spent with a little friend of mine. It's so sweet to see her enthusiasm for things like licking the spoon and washing up!


The daffodils are out, hooray! Every time I catch sight of them above my desk I'm happily reminded of the slow shift in the seasons.


And here is a sneak peak at one of my sewing projects. I'm hoping for to complete this pot holder and write up a tutorial sometime soon.

I do hope you enjoy the week that lies ahead and that the lovely weather will continue!