Month: August 2010 (page 2 of 2)

Wee Wonderfuls

A few months ago while reading the lovely Hillary Lang’s site Wee Wonderfuls, I saw this picture:

I was in love. I commented along with many others who were all hoping she would share this adorable pattern with us. She wrote back to tell us, that she would and it would be so much better than just a pattern it was going to be a book:

I was ecstatic and rushed to Amazon UK to see if I would be able to pre-order. I didn’t think I could wait to get it into my hands, after seeing some samples of  the absolute cutest, sweetest, vintagey-est, lovely little things that are held within those pages.  There is a nice old-fashioned feeling to these dolls, like the dolls you played with when you were little. Look at this lady for example:

I see her in my future, sitting on a shelf or a desk, smiling as she watches what I am getting up to. On Friday, Martha Stewart’s Craft site did a small feature on Mrs. Lang and with her permission was kind enough to share a pattern from her book.  The pattern is: The Mermaiden.

And, I can’t wait to try her, I have the perfect fabric in mind for her little tail. Never having tried my hand at free-motion quilting, I am looking forward to giving this project a go.

This is the only pattern I have yet to see in full, unfortunately Amazon UK has not yet received shipment of this wonderful book and so my patience must win out, because it will be another 2-3 weeks before this wee lady has her wee book! In the meantime I can just dream about all the wonderful things held within those pages…

*Click on The Mermaiden image to be taken to the pattern
(All images copyright Hillary Lang, Wee Wonderfuls)

I Love to Snog!

Armed with my new camera, a trip into central London this week, meant an excuse to go into Snog and grab a tasty frozen treat! I’ll be honest, at first, I was not sure about their frozen yogurt, but now I think I have been won over. I really enjoyed their chocolate flavour with white chocolate stars, and they were far from skimpy on my toppings!

The walls had wonderful colorful art, like a page out of a storybook. My first Snog treat was on my Birthday day out and I was not expecting the Greek slightly soured tartness to it, I expected it to be more like frozen yogurt from the States, which is sweeter, but little by little, it is growing on me, even if only for the chocolate stars!

* A note, for my non British readers, “snog” is slang for kissing in jolly ol’ England & I like the fact that they have played on that word, because who doesn’t “fancy a snog”?

A Tuesday Date

Now, that Mr. Michie and I are both off together, we headed out Tuesday afternoon to run some errands. While running them, we decided to go to the movies, it was bargain Tuesday after all and all movies are £4 all day long! Woo-Hoo!

A quick trip into the candy store armed us with chocolate and strawberry liquorice.  He grabbed the tickets to “The A-Team” and I grabbed the Coke and popcorn. It was a great movie, just a good ol’ Summertime movie!

We held hands, and stuffed ourselves with popcorn and just enjoyed being with each other. After the movie we headed to Nando’s for an early dinner and then back to reality with a little grocery shopping, but not without stealing a kiss or two on the aisles.

There are no pictures to show for our date, but should there be? We were lost in each other and perfectly content!

(Image: Norman Rockwell)

Lawnlite

Ha Ha Ha, I want furniture that “laughs in the face of weather”. My Grandparents had some lawn chairs like this and every year they were taken out of the garage, with the smell of salt & sea on them from the previous year and packed up in the back of the car as we headed to the beach.

We usually headed down in two cars to the beach house, a trip that seemed to take forever before you could smell the pluff mud in your nostrils, and start to see the water through the pine trees.

Our fishing gear was always tucked away in my Grandpa’s car underneath the chairs that he would use to sit on and direct us with some fishing advice from the back porch.

There was a creek that was fed from the ocean behind the house and if we weren’t swimming in it, we were fishing in it. My Grandpa would hold fishing competitions between us and inevitably, someone would catch a puffer-fish and he would come down and help up us take it off our line and toss it back.

Summers at the beach with my grandparents, held a magic to them, a place where time stopped, where even after a year in between visits to the house, we fell into the same routines of swimming, playing good old-fashioned board games, reading musty smelling books left on an old bookshelf, listening to beach music and just enjoying each other’s company.

To be little again and enjoy the company of the ones you love away from all the hustle and bustle of the real world, to just get lost in the magic of the beach…

(Image: Found in Mom’s Basement)