We are staying inside today and staying warm on this Good Friday. I am getting all my ingredients ready to start a little project this week.
While, I am working on that, I could think of no better way to stay cozy than to have a hot cup of chocolate. With whip cream and sprinkles of course!
Mr. Michie is working, I have been “Spring Cleaning”, since we “spring” forward tomorrow and we are just staying cozy, because there is a chill in the air.
I think I shall reward myself for a cleaning job well done, by doing a little shopping, I have a few surprises I need to pick up at Cath Kidston and if you go there, you never know what else might jump into your basket.
Hope you are having a lovely weekend, wherever you are!
(Image found here, embellished by J. Michie)
**OOPS! I must be more eager to Spring Forward than I thought! I just read my calendar wrong, it wasn’t little old England that was springing forward this weekend, we still have a bit more of a wait!
A lot like Christmas at the Michie house! It’s Official! We are slowly turning into a Christmas house. Mr. Michie and I went to the tiny grocery store near our house last night, where we go every year to pick out our wreath.
We chose this one last night and I sat on the couch listening to Christmas music and making the gingham bow to go on it. The ribbon was a great find, I have had squirreled away for the past month.
So, this morning we cleaned down the door, and Mr. Michie hung my wreath up for me! It makes the cottage feel more Christmassy just knowing it is on the door!
Oh Deer! She, just happened to jump into my hands at the Renegade Craft Fair and I took her home with me. Isn’t she lovely, she traveled all the way from Germany and she is made by hand.
I haven’t picked a name for her yet, but I think it has to be along the lines of Gertie or Heidi or Gretchen….
Today we have both been off kilter. We are fighitng off colds and back to school tiredness and so a meal of true comfort was in order. So, tonight I made our first pot pie of the Fall season. It was delicious and Mr. Michie said it was the best I had ever made! We made a turkey pot pie and I decided this time that I would roast the turkey and the celery and carrots instead of my usual sautéing the vegetables and boiling the meat.
I tell you, it had the most wonderful flavours and the turkey was so moist. When I pulled my roasting pan out of the oven, I went to work on making a gravy and when it was almost ready I dumped the cut up meat and vegetables into it, stirring in some beautiful red onions that I had leftover from breakfast the day before and some frozen peas.
The house smelled so delicious. As it baked we worked on making some mashed potatoes which were a wonderful and homey accompaniment to dinner. They were mashed with my favourite French butter, spring onion and cracked black pepper cream cheese, fresh parsley and goat’s milk. They were sinfully divine.
To top it all off, we did something we don’t normally do, we sat on the couch and watched TV while we ate. This has been a long week and so we vegged out and caught up on NCIS. I can’t think of anything better tonight then turkey pot pie and watching the adorable Mark Harmon on TV! Delicious!
What is it about gingham that just says Summertime? In its all its many rainbow colours, it is just pure happiness. It is a cozy pattern, it screams of Christmas, of Spring bouquets tied up with it and the sweetness of a Summer picnic as a gingham tablecloth sits beneath your bounty.
Gingham, its a good thing!
(Found In the Art Cupboard)
Oh, the lovely, lovely postman put this, through my racing green door this morning and I have never been so happy to get something in all of my life.
I have a terrible sinus infection and have come home a bit earlier from work and am now cozied up in bed listening to Christmas music, drinking hot tea and pouring over this:
HEAVEN! My fingers and toes are crossed for snow tomorrow, then I can stay in bed and look at it all over again!
Put the kettle on, I’m making scones this morning. I am making The Pioneer Woman’s delicious scones today. However, I have made a few adaptations, there are some things that I can’t get at my local grocery store in Jolly Ole’ England, so when in Rome…
The house smells like a cozy tea room and makes me yearn for the little cottage we stayed at in Cornwall with the sun shining so brightly today it would be perfect for a walk down the coastal path and a stop at Daisy’s for a doorstop sandwich and then some cake and tea.
Oh, I hear my kettle whistling, I wish you were here, you could join me for a spot of tea and a pecan scone….
I am an old soul, there are times when I think I have been born in the wrong time period! I am a nerd amongst my friends and quite happy to be one! I taught myself to knit two years ago and little by little I have been expanding my knitting pattern knowledge. This past year I taught myself to crochet (my Nana had taught me when I was younger, but I definitely needed a refresher!) and when I was at home this Christmas I went yarn hunting with my mom and picked out the colors for the Granny Square blanket I intend to make, with her discerning interior decorator’s eyes at my side!
I have a few stores I buy yarn from here in England, one of my favorite being a little gem on Carnaby Street, or in Kingly Court, I should say. My yarn tends to come from all over, I go for the feel and the color of it, I am sure I should think about ply and weight first, but right or wrong I go right for the textural and visual side of it.
I have used Lion Brand online as a resource tool when I am stuck on a particular stitch, they also have a wonderful supply of free patterns online too. I have knitted with their yarn for some projects before and this was the yarn I chose when I was at home. I wanted something colorful, yet rich, warm, yet happy and a reasonable price for a project I was going to be experimenting with; so I selected a variety of colors to work from(an ebony black, a warming charcoal, a rich red, a deep purple, a soft cream and a velvety green-sounds odd, but trust me they all work together).
Sitting in the airport, the Saturday after New Years Day, sad to be leaving my family and watching the snow fall from the window, my adorable husband appeared with a cheering up gift in his hands from the magazine store. A copy of the January 2010 issue of Martha Stewart. As I flipped through the pages I discovered inside an entire article on Lion Brand yarn (which he had already flipped through and seen and that was his entire reason for buying it, isn’t that thoughtful? What a cutie!), and now I dream of walking in through those doors of the flagship store in New York, sad I know! I love the fact that there is a sampling wall to try out yarn and you can take yarn home with you to try out, there is a place where you can just sit and stitch and play, like a toy store for grown-ups!!
I want to take that lion in the window home with me, I love his twisted yarn mane, he is like a giant yarn made Aslan, guarding the store and all who step over the threshold. I wanted to share some of the pictures from this article here. Knitting is like yoga or gardening for me, it is therapeutic and on cold nights here it is something to keep my hands warm. I am looking forward to starting my blanket, this will be my first project that will be able to keep me warm as I go, I can’t wait to get to the stage of it being so big it covers my lap as I work, but now, I am getting ahead of myself….
(All images copyright Martha Stewart Magazine)
We were kissed by the Snow Queen this morning. Awaking to more snow, swirling around in big fat flakes, like we were living inside a snow globe being shaken up. I love these mornings!
I am off to make a warming cup of hot chocolate and take my “lambiekin” clad feet back to bed for awhile to just enjoy the morning’s peace…
(Snow Queen Image by Angela Barrett)