such lovely things

Hello! It's been a while! I hope you haven't felt too abandoned! Summer time is a bit crazy around here and this year was particularly full on. That's a great story that I'll tell you all about another time. Now, though, the kids are back to school and it feels like the beginning of a new year; time to reflect on last year and time to think about this coming year. What worked? What didn't? What will we change to improve things for all of us?  I'm masterplanning some changes in the house - we haven't done ANY decorating for TEN years and it's really looking like it! It'll probably take another ten years to get it all done, but step by step it'll happen. You'll probably get to hear about some of that in due course. I'm also enjoying the last of the summer sunshine. The mornings are feeling more autumnal but the sun is still shining - and long may that last. Both girls are in the top year of their school. I remember that ...

Take a moment to look, look around you, look not with your own familiar eyes, but those of a stranger, a visitor, someone looking at this for the first time.  What do you see? Isn't it incredible? I'm on a train heading to our capital city for a much awaited lunch with a good friend. In the row opposite me a woman held her phone up to the window and filmed the outside. The bright blue sky filled with puffy white clouds; for once the sun is shining and it highlights the immense green - the hedges, trees, fields. The colours stretch on and on as far as the eye can see as we hurtle along. I look - from a distance - through her phone, watching as if in someone else's eyes. Then I look out if my own window and I drink it all in and marvel at the beauty. Sometimes I forget to look up, sometimes I forget to really look as if it's the first time. Do it! It's beautiful out there!

Hello lovely people! Spring is finally here! Hooray! The sun shone for a brief day and gave us a hint of what may follow. Oh, please don't be too far away, sunshine.... Easter seems to have snuck up on me and disappeared as quickly as it came  - shame, really, as I had LOADS of crafts in mind and, once again, managed only one. But since it was a good one and can be adapted for any subject, I thought I'd share it with you. Tissue Paper Art It really is super simple... I'm not terribly good at drawing so cheated by asking Google for an outline of a chicken. This is what I came up with... Holding this against some black card, I cut out a silhouette of this lovely chicken. Then I found several different colours of tissue paper, piled them up and cut out a suitable sized egg shape. The fun was then to arrange them on a large piece of white paper and glue them into place.  And that was it! Super super simple! I'm going to think about other ...

Oh my, what a neglected blog this is?! Dear reader, if you're still out there, thank you, for patiently waiting.....   Today is 1st March, a step closer to Spring. It's grey and rainy outside and feels much more like November. Better than November though because the nights are lighter and that means summer is coming. Hooray! The best time of year - signs of new life and hope for the warmth of the sun in the not too distant future. We have been busy with life, of course, since I last wrote. If you follow me on Instagram (@such_lovely_things) you'll have seen some of the loveliness. In case you missed it, here are a few pics to whet your whistle!!  Turning an age-old hand-knitted Aran cardigan  into a cushion cover. I LOVE this so much!  Collecting 'lovely things' on the beach in Mallorca.  A bit of twisted sister! Quilt and curtain-making... Unsurprisingly, only one of these two things got finished. The curtain is done ...