New years crafty resolutions

This year I want to:

• Finish all the projects that I start
• Make a patchwork quilt
• Learn to make clothes
• Blog more regularly

I've got of to a good start queuing up all my UFOs from last year to finish. I bought a book about dressmaking and best of all I have a beautiful jelly roll and quilt pattern lined up too :D

I am now a Mrs!

Life has finally calmed down a little, we've moved house, settled various rodents and furry critters into the new house and unpacked a bit.

I have some new furry family members to introduce you to as well. Remember last time I posted we were going to meet some kittens? Well it was love at first sight and Walle and Ebony came to live with us. They are real characters; Walle is crazy and playful and very cuddly - I would have unpacked far more if I didn't have to evict a kitten from my lap whenever I wanted to do something! Ebony is much more of a free spitir, everything is on her terms. As far as we can tell, this means that we have to leave her to do her own thing until she actually wants attention, at which point we must stop what we are doing immediately and pet her. Of course Ebony wanting attention generally occurs when I'm trying to go to sleep, or actually sleeping. Frustrating feline!

Since Ebony refused to pose for us, here's a picture of Walle looking cute:

We also ended up with another furry friend a week later:

This is Muffin. He is a rabbit. Definitely a rabbit. And not a novelty slipper as some people have suggested. And yes, that is the front. I saw him advertised on a free ad site and decided to have a look, and of course fell in love with him and decided he needed to come and live with me where he would get lots of love and the regular grooming he needs.

Then, on saturday, something much more exciting even than kittens and bunnies happened - I got married!

I started the day with a full english breakfast in bed, then had pink fizz and got ready with my bridesmaids. I had my something new, my wedding dress, and my something old, a horseshoe brooch which my Mum's granny lent to her on her wedding day:

And my something blue was a little heart embroidered into the lining of my dress by my Mum:

It really was the happiest day of my life, from seeing Ben waiting for me as I walked in, to relaxing in our amazing canopied bed in the wedding suite. I don't think I stopped smiling all day and we spent the evening dancing to a playlist of some of our favourite songs with all of our favourite people.

Just stopping by...

A high speed update tonight since life is incredibly busy!

The wedding is only 2 weeks away so I'm finishing the last minute details for that (the bridesmaids are still shoeless) and we're moving house next week.

I've managed to do a little crafting in the meantime although nothing is finished, I've started my christmas knitting, and I've got to hurry up with the baby cardigan since baby Evie has arrived. It's a good job I'm making it to fit a 3 month old really!

I'm also excited because I've ordered a copy of Teeny Tiny Mochi Mochi by Anna Hrachovec, so that I can knit adorable mini amigurumi things.

And tomorrow, Ben and I are going to meet a pair of kittens who will hopefully be joining our furry family.

Very happy right now :)

Life's gone mad!

Life's got pretty hectic lately:

The wedding is just 4 weeks away so we're trying to chase up late replies to invites, sort out the finer details of table decorations and so far the bridesmaids are still shoeless.

I have a new job, which I'll be starting when we get back from the honeymoon. It's as night nurse in a nursing home.

We're having to move house, the landlord has asked us to move out because of our pets....the same pets they agreed we could have 4 months ago. We've found a lovely new house where we are allowed our current pets and also have permission to get Misty bunny a friend and to get a cat. That means that we'll have to move either just before or just after the wedding - we've opted for before so that we can relax and enjoy our honeymoon without having a move hanging over us for when we get home.

So sorry for being all quiet on the blogging front for a bit.

I have been doing a little knitting in amongst all the chaos, I finished these fingerless mittens for the Craftster End of summer random swap:

They were my first attempt at magic loop and the first time I've tried anything that couls possibly count as lace. I love the mock cable pattern and it was incredibly easy to do!

I'm trying to get some UFOs (unfinished objects) finished to clear the way for christmas crafting, but I also have a house to pack up and wedding arrangements to finish....aaaaargh!

Birds

Had a day out with my parents to Harewood House near Leeds on wednesday. I have to admit that I find stately homes all look very similiar inside, but Harewood House have a bird garden. The birds all live in big aviaries or enclosures and look really well cared for. I didn't get many good photos because of the mesh on the aviaries getting in the way, but here's something you don't normally find living in the Yorkshire countryside:

We took a picnic (which we ate in the car sheltering from the rain), it amuses me that despite me having grown up and left home, my Dad still cuts my sandwiches into quarters like he used to for my school lunch box when I was little!

I've got another day out planned for sunday, going to the Great Northern Quilt Show at Harrogate with Mum. Looking forward to seeing gorgeous quilts and doing some shopping.

A sunny sunday

We have an annual tradition in my family - we go to Bamburgh in Northumberland for a day on the beach with family friends. So yesterday we packed up a picnic and left rainy York and headed north to glorious sunshine and views like this:

This is my favourite place, and the setting for most of the family holidays we had when I was a child. We walked on the beack, climbed up the sand dunes and investigated the rock pools. It was a lovely day and we arrived home late, tired and sunburnt, but more relaxed than we've felt in ages!

Some other news - we have some new additions to our furry family. 3 mice came to live with us this week, all named after Disney princesses thanks to the previous owner's little girl. Only one would stay still for a photo, so here's Aurora the mouse:

I hope everyone else has had a lovely bank holiday weekend. I'm looking forward to a week off work this week!

My new favourite meal

I haven't got any finished crafty projects to show off today, so here's a quick update on life in general this week:

We decided to stop buying meat, mostly to save money but I'm pleased because of the animal welfare reasons too. It's created a challenge thinking of meat free meals to cook, but my weekly shop had some interesting things:

 My new favourite meal is chickpea and veg curry - all you need to do is cook a chopped onion, a couple of cloves of chopped garlic, some cauliflower florets, a diced sweet potato and a diced butternut squash, add some curry paste (I bought mine but you could make it if you wanted), add a tin of coconut milk, a tin of chickpeas and a handful of spinach and cook it all till the veg is cooked through, then eat with rice or naan bread. Omnomnom!

I got my partner for the Random End of Summer Swap this week, this swap is a little scary as it is completely down to people and their partners what they make for each other. I’m only at the planning stage for this one but I’m looking forward to getting started.

The weather has been a little insane, poor Misty got caught in a storm yesterday:

And I'll have some new furry additions to our family to introduce soon.

I'm off to get some crafting done now, so I'll have something more exciting than a pile of veg and a damp rabbit to show you!