Devon was lovely.

Granted, it rained non-stop. But that didn't put me off it one bit.

The roads are really narrow, and driving along them is terrifying.

But: there is no place like home, and Devon feels like Home. There are harbours everywhere, plenty of sea, rivers, and pretty colourful houses.

















Oh, how I love rows of beautiful colourful houses - like beach huts, all lined up neatly. We saw some beach huts in Torquay which were amazing but it was raining an awful lot and my little camera doesn't like the wet that much.
















We camped in a tent. It rained and poured, and the tent was just fine. We stayed at the Dartmouth Camp Site right next to a field of sheep who merrily baa-d the entire trip. I half expected a sheep to come and snuggle up with us out of the rain, but they kept to their side of the fence.






















Dartmouth itself is a beautiful little town filled with plenty of coffee shops, restaurant and arty places to explore. There were lots of home stores (selling hand-made things) and lots of sweet shops. We bought super sour sherbet bombs (!) and Fizz Wizz popping candy, just for the fun of it.

















It did rain for almost the entire trip so our planned hiking was postponed. That being said, the rain let up for us just enough to explore the coastline and to see have a little walk around many of the neighbouring towns and villages.

















We caught a lot of boats and ferries! It was so much fun to go out on the river (and here you can see my in my incredibly red rain jacket - all prepared. At least you wouldn't lose me in a crowd) - that was definitely my favourite part.

















This looks less like England and more like a tropical island paradise! I can imagine that it must be such a hot spot in the rain-free bits of summer.






















This is a sight we're more used to seeing at home in South Africa, so it was quite a treat to see a bold splash of colour on an otherwise dreary day! Devon is full of colourful surprises, though, and just when you thought that the locals couldn't get any wetter, they held a craft market and antiques fair in the middle of the harbour.



Also, there was some creative gardening in celebration of the Queen's Jubilee!

... and what is a birthday without cake? We visited Anne of Cleves Tea Rooms in Totnes on my birthday proper (after a little browse - and buy - in Creative Crafts and Needlework just up the high street!) and sat down to a proper afternoon tea of Devonshire Scones with Cornish Clotted Cream.
On the way out we also walked past Roly's Fudge and bought some delicious clotted cream fudge which was incredible. I'd go back to Devon, even if it was just for the fudge.

I suppose the best thing about the break wasn't that we experienced a wonderful new corner of England, or that we ate out at Devonshire eateries and made new friends with some of the locals, or even that we walked about, went on boat trips and almost came home with a Boston Terrier. Oh no. The best thing about our trip was that we were away for a short break, together, and that we enjoyed the adventure of a rainy seaside holiday with lots of reading, plenty of chatting, and absolutely no computer.

Hello all you lovely blog readers!

This is just a quick note to let you know that we're back safe and sound after an eventful (and rainy) camping trip in Devon. Paris, alack, was postponed, so we opted for a birthday break in the ever-sunny South West. When we arrived, it started drizzling. By the time we'd pitched our tent, it was pouring. And it didn't stop for days. It was lovely and snuggly in the tent though, and we had plenty of quilting books to read, knitting to do, and adventures to have in the car as we explored the nearby towns and harbours.

I'll sort out all of the photographs soon and share my favourites with you. x

I have food poisoning. It's awful. I'm forced to sit still here on the couch as I look wistfully towards the pile of sewing waiting to be made into something amazing. I haven't cooked in two days. There a honey cake recipe I'm desperate to try but the thought of food is just ugh.

And so, let's focus on something else, shall we? Something happy.

I mentioned last week that I would tell you about the Abbey Gardens Community Patchwork Rug project. It was started by the talented Lydia from EEWI and Abbey Gardens, and the idea was for the local community members to each take a patch (provided) and to add their favourite fruit or vegetable in a crafty manner. You could draw, appliqué, embroider, paint: anything. Then, you needed to return the patch along with your 'veg story' or join in on the spot at the Abbey Gardens Summer Fair (it was on the 9th of June - you can read more here.)

I loved the idea of this project, not least of all because I've been working (slowly) on a collection of vegetable-themed brooches and buttons.

So, I asked for three patches, and here they are:

















This is my crochet apple block. This is a block for me: apples remind me of my mom. It feels as if we're millions of miles apart, even though it is only thousands. She bakes the most amazing dishes, but her apple crumble has always been her 'go to' dish for desserts or baking emergencies. I haven't had apple crumble yet in the UK, and despite being fairly adept in the kitchen, I haven't yet attempted her recipe in case I don't get it just right.


















This is my crochet pumpkin block. When I was little, I would go with my older cousin to our day-mother Ouma. She would make us eat all of vegetables before we were allowed to play. I remember being appalled at the amount of pumpkin and squash we had to get through (and sadly, not much playing) - and I .must say that I didn't eat pumpkin ever again until only a few years ago.


















My final block was a set of cross-stitched cherries outlined with embroidered chain stitch. This block took ages to complete and I was up for many late nights cross-stitching away to try and get these done on time! This block was for my OH: he shares an unrelenting love of cherries with his mother, and will always pick up a punnet of his favourites when we go shopping. They're not as readily available at home in South Africa as they are here in the UK, so he's really spoilt that they're available in shops, in markets and in all of the fruit & veg stalls along the high road too.























I was worried that I wouldn't finish up in time, but I did. I even had enough time to work up a pretty carrot brooch which made the perfect finishing touch to the parcel of patches!

I love this kind of community project where everyone can get involved and share their stories. It's a wonderful way to share some 'crafty goodness' with neighbours and to see what everyone has done with their squares, and it's a great opportunity to hear everyone else's experiences of our favourite fruit and vegetables which is always so different from your own. I can only imagine how big this community rug is going to be when it's finished! You can see the flickr group of all the patches and the progress here.

I've been searching for a pretty doll pattern for a certain little girl's birthday which is coming up very soon. 

My new sewing machine is lovely.

It is neat, and white, and still very clean. It currently sits on our dining room table which has now been dubbed "my sewing spot". The mister is being very patient and very lovely, and has even vacuumed up the bits of cotton that have magically found their way to the floor.
And so, I've been merrily sewing along to the tunes of various online tutorials and I happened upon this: a tutorial for an apple-shaped pincushion from Mollie Makes (their picture, below) and designer Jenny Dixon.














Aren't they sweet?

I made the smaller one on the right using scraps of pink and purple fabrics.

















In my enthusiasm I replaced the felt leaf with a fabric one (I just so happened to have a leaf-shaped piece of green fabric nearby which I sewed up and embroided with a running stitch) and I omitted the stalk because the button was a lot nicer. Also, I didn't have any brown felt or fabric.

So, this tutorial is easy peasy and can be found online at the Guardian. It was originally a tutorial from Mollie Makes magazine, and the templates can be found here.

The idea is to take six apple pieces (fabric pieces cut from a template and stiffened with interfacing) and sew them side to side to create a bauble with pointy bits. Then, you close up the bottom, stuff the apple, and sew the top closed. You add a button and sew through to the bottom to give it that pinched, gathered, apple look. Add a leaf and a stalk, and you're done. Or, sew up a leaf, ignore the stalk and add a bigger button. Mm, buttons.

It's so small, it's no wonder the picture above shows someone with a whole handful of them! It lives on top of my sewing machine (for now) and stores my hand-sewing needles. I think that apples like this should be made of out sensible apple colours and, while the pinks and purples are really quite sweet, they're possibly too feminine and not enough evil stepmother for my liking.

The whole of London was awash this weekend with rain droplets, English flags and bunting. There were fêtes, festivals, parties and jubilee celebrations across the capital; it was really something magical!

We didn't venture out to Battersea in the pouring rain, or to the other celebrations at Buckingham Palace. Instead, we lazily stayed indoors and I sewed while watching the celebrations on TV. It was oh so pleasant, and we sent the Queen our best wishes with our well-practised royal waves as she braved the great British Weather.

I did, however, celebrate with the EEWI's JubiTEA party at Fabrications on Broadway Market.  I got up and braved the Great Outdoors at Very Early O'Clock despite getting home at only 4.30am the night before thanks to a spectacular show by Guns n' Roses. "Once in a lifetime" I chanted reassuringly while we queued for a taxi in the wee hours of the morning. In the rain. With thousands of other concert-goers.

Ah, I digress.

JubiTEA. The lovely Barley Massey of Fabrications fame had arranged for a day of making with ongoing make-and-take classes where attendees made fascinators using Barley's instructions and their choice of supplies provided free-of-charge.

















Supplies were a-plenty in this shop full of lovely bits and bobs all organised neatly into shapes, sizes and colours.






















Personally, I've always mistakenly called them agitators thinking that was a perfectly logical name and it wasn't until very recently learnt that the headpieces in question are in fact fascinating and not agitating.

It depends on who you ask, I think.






















And so, as the fascinators/agitators/hairthingies were on the go, the EEWI were there to serve tea and cakes.

These are my butterfly cakes on Elizabeth's oh-so-retro plastic cupcake stand. It wobbled a bit, but the colours seemed very fitting indeed.






















The baking theme was 'vintage', so I also made the swirly maple syrup butter biscuits on the lower half of the cake stand. They were delicious, but completely overshadowed by the impressive no-fat-tea-cake (made by soaking overnight in tea, no less) and the delicious chocolate brownies on top. Yum!






















Everything was very festive with the red-white-and-blue...

















... which extended to the flowers, the table cloth, the paper doilies and the sprinkles on the cakes!






















Aren't these lovely? Nothing is more British than blue, white, and red icing in matching paper cases, all topped with strawberries. Not to mention, we were also serving tea in teapots with tea cosies.






















This is Colleen's exceptional chocolate courgette cake. Oh yes, you read correctly: it was made using courgettes. It looked amazing, so I bought a piece to take home for tea. You couldn't taste the courgette at all: it was distinctly chocolately, rich and vaguely had a banana bread texture to it. I was terribly impressed, I'm going to try track down a recipe so I can use up my courgettes from this week's veg box!

Happy Jubilee, all! It's been a lovely long weekend with four days of rainy fun. It was a particularly wonderful weekend full of happy London locals, lots of new people around who happened upon London for the Jubilee celebrations, and many many umbrellas.

Here's what we did this weekend:






















We went to a concert. It was incredible! Thin Lizzy opened for Guns n' Roses (oh, that apostrophe bothers me), it all went on for ages and we got home at 4.30am after a £35 cab ride home. That was more than the ticket! It was worth it though.






















I baked. These are my butterfly cakes I baked for the JubiTEA party with the EEWI at Fabrications on Broadway Market. I had to get up at 8am after my late, er, morning. The market was jubilant (how fitting) and the whole of London (including the market) is absolutely covered in Union Jacks and the tell-tale red, white and blue. I'll post more pics on this later.

















I started a new project. I bought this magazine (on the right) long before I had even thought about cross-stitching because I knew I'd absolutely had to make one of those beautiful Moroccan cushions. The pattern says it'll take approximately 35 hours of stitching to complete the top of one cushion...

















I received a gift in the post!  Isn't it lovely? Plus, it comes with everything you need to knit Cooey the London Pigeon. More on that later!






















I finished a project. I finished my three patches for the Abbey Gardens Community Picnic Rug. I'll show you some pictures soon. This is the finished package, with one of my lovely carrot brooches. Incidentally, how do you like my new business cards? Cute, eh?


















I sewed. This is the start of my Garden Party quilt. I don't know the first thing about quilting, so I'm relying on a lot of lovely people from the blog community online, and a lot of video tutorials! So far I've collected my favourite fabrics, agonised over the colour combinations, cut out 5" squares, and sewn them together. I'm attempting a disappearing nine patch quilt: so far so good.

All in all: a really good weekend. I think we should have these four-day soirées more often!