Autumn Loves....

Autumn has definitely started to slowly arrive here
....I can feel a chill in the air....
....the leaves are turning orange, red and sparkle in the sun....
There is nothing more fun for me on a sunny Sunday afternoon in October 

then a long walk with Mr. Mc and the Paperdolls....

....I love the sound of crunching leaves under wellie boots....

....I love wearing woolly jumpers & tweed jackets again....
....I love to watch the Paperdolls exploring in the autumn woods....

....I love being covered by pretty amber coloured leaves gently falling from the trees.... 

....I love the blissful beauty of autumn....

I just loooooooooooooooove autumn!!

Have a beautifully coloured week wherever you may be.
Thanks for stopping by, it is always nice to see you here again!

Baking Again....

Earlier this year I would have described myself as a daily baker who loooooves baking.
Nothing really fancy just little every day cakes....muffins....scones....cupcakes.....cookies etc.
Hardly a day went by where there wasn’t freshly baked goodies waiting 

in the kitchen for the family coming home.  
It’s been a couple of months though since I last baked anything.  

In all honesty I think I suffered a tiny bit of baking burnout after 

the last Vintage Tearoom at the end of July. 
But watching the current Great British Bake Off has reminded me 

of just how much I miss baking after all.  

So baby Paperdolls birthday last week gave me the perfect excuse 

....not that I really needed one.... 

to get started again.

Traditional style birthday cakes, the sponge ones with butter-icing and jam in the middle 

aren't really baby Paperdolls thing and she intensely dislikes royal icing

....well she isn't fond of any icing really.
Her favorite cake has to be strawberry cake and a close second are brownies.
With strawberries out of season, brownies it had to be.

Brownies made from yummy dark chocolate with a gooey chewy center 

and large chunks of white & milk chocolate through it....

dusted with a little icing sugar ....strangely baby Paperdoll likes it on brownies....

and sprinkled with 100 & 1000s plus smarties. 

Super Scrumptious was the verdict by baby Paperdoll and the rest of the family.
And for me it was a perfectly fun way to start my baking adventures again 

and I enjoyed it that much, I was baking yesterday again 

....so maybe not daily baking for me just yet but weekly!

Have a lovely weekend!

My "me" Coffee....

I normally have two coffees on a school-day morning, 

the first I only sip on, in between emptying the dishwasher trying to organize everyone 

having breakfast and leaving the house on time with all they need

....school bags....gym kit....lunch boxes....keys etc....
But after giving my last goodbye kiss for the morning,

 I take a deep breath enjoy the calm that has returned to the house and have my second coffee.

  I call this one a “me” coffee.
“Me” because it is all about the things I really enjoy doing whilst drinking coffee on my own

....like reading the latest posts on my favorite blogs, feeding my Pinterest addiction

and jotting down ideas for “must make” projects.
Most of my “must make” ideas are swirling in my head for quite a while before I put them on paper.  No different with this little one, I have been wanting to make a hot water bottle cover 

since last winter, but somehow couldn’t decide if I like to crochet or sew one
 ....Can’t decide....
means the idea stayed in my head buried under lots of other “must make” ideas 

that are all suffering a similar fate indecision by me.
It was only when I needed the hot water bottle last week that I thought about the cover again.  

Not sure if it was the wind outside and the blue sky with the fluffy clouds or 

baby Paperdoll’s request to go kite flying but somewhere in all that 

I had the light bulb moment.

So on my next “me” coffee I started sketching the idea down.  

 Funny thing is....when I know that a design is right then I know its right 

and it is easy for me to work from that. 

I hope this makes sense?

 At first I thought of using a grey linen fabric as the base but as I opened my fabric cupboard 

my sight fell onto this lovely cloud fabric I had bought in Denmark recently.
I had bought it just like so many of my other fabrics with no specific project in mind.  

And like so many of my projects it evolves and changes slightly as I work on it.  

Quilting a couple of the clouds has given the cover a very lovely snuggle feel.  

And I am so pleased with how the kite has worked out.  

I LOVE...LOVE...LOVE... kites!!! 

I could waffle on forever about my great childhood memories 

trying to fly kites on windy autumn days....

This kite reminds me of the ones I made as a child from paper with lots of ribbons!

Let the cold days come we'll be toasty & snug!!!
Have a beautiful autumn week!