I got all caught up in the Paralympics and other goings-on that I completely forgot to share with you the last official summery day here in London Town!

As it just so happened, we were invited to a Tea Party on said day.

















... and what is a tea party without cake? What a spread! Scones, muffins, fruit cake, coffee cake, almond cake, chocolate cake, sandwiches, fruit, and more.

















I say "and more" because I was somewhat distracted from the rest of the cakes by this piece de resistance! What a spectacular triple chocolate cake of greatness. We took home a slice to share (all legit, like. We got a piece to go).

















I don't know what's more impressive: the delicious fruit cake, or the pretty doily-style cake stand. Mm.

















Cake and Almonds, Oh My! With a lot of patience and a healthy supply of nuts, that centre blossom could turn into a bunch of chrysanthemums.






















I think you should forgive me for making floral comparisons: look at that garden. That's the first thing I saw when I walked in, so you can imagine what was on my mind. I know. I couldn't contain my garden-geek-excitement either. Monty Don, eat your heart out.






















I don't know a lot about gardening (I like to sit in them more than I like to, uh, make them) ... but I do know that some of these flowers are suspiciously successful at blooming all-year round.






















... another one of those annual bloomers. My kind of garden!

















The colours that you find in an English Garden like this could inspire a range of crafty goodness. Just look at that balance of pinks and greens!

















Add to that a healthy balance of sage green, cheery sunshine yellow and a deep, inviting maroon and you have a winning combination of colour goodness.

















Okay, I'm almost done here. Just a few more pictures of summer, okay?

















Echinacea?

















Garden squee! I will save you from the thousands of photos I took of Miriam's fabulous veg patch. Let's just say, she doesn't need to order a weekly veg box. Nosirree.

















Other areas of the garden included the piggery (!), the beehive (with real bees, I Kid You Not), the Giant Man Shed (filled with China), King Arthur's Grave, a pond, a greenhouse and let's not forget, statues of maidens.

I am so grateful that this is where we got to spend our last day of summer. The skies are now slightly greyed-over and there is a definite chill in the air. I am - as I type - wearing socks. Socks!


This is the kind of garden that inspired my Garden Party Quilt (okay, yes, and the garden where we had our wedding). I can't wait to snuggle up under the greens, yellows and pinks of my own piece of summer... now, if only the Cotton Patch would deliver my quilt wadding... Huff. 8 days of waiting and counting.

It has been a hot, hot week. The sun has been shining, the plants have been withering, the windows have been opened. These are rare things for London Town, so yesterday I popped out for a visit to the excellent Elizabeth who served coffee, scones and lemon curd cake in her beautiful garden. This is the ultimate mid-week treat; especially well-deserved after banishing a bunch of deadlines and starting on some new projects.






















Elizabeth's garden is a magical place filled with all manner of planted goodness - a veritable feast for the eyes! You can't see it from this picture, but there are all sorts of wonderful goings on inside this garden. There's a greenhouse and a selection of lovely tables. There are ornaments carefully placed amidst the plants. There's a collection of beautiful poppies underneath that archway... I shall endeavour to take pictures the next time to share some of its loveliness with you all.

And it just so happens that the walk up to Elizabeth's House is also the walk up to Walthamstow Market.

















I particularly love how bunting has made its way into the trees surrounding the market. Very festive indeed.

The nicest thing about Walthamstow Market is that it is a fabric paradise. If you want any kind of fabric for not-on-the-high-street prices then this is the place to be. I've visited fabric stores in and around London, and haberdasheries aplenty, but nothing quite compares to the market stalls here. Fabrics are an average of £2.00 a metre, although many bargains can be had if you're in the mood to rummage or hunt.

They don't have Makower and Moda, but they have plenty of good quality cottons for quilting. And, there is a stall selling Liberty Fabrics for £5.00 a metre. (If you bought it directly from Liberty, you'd pay around £21.00 a metre from their new ranges).

















This is my charming purchase - two half-metre lengths of "Liberty Fabric". I'm not sure whether it's Liberty as the selvedges have been removed, but it has that distinctive Liberty look and it's a good, solid cotton that will do nicely for quilting purposes. The colouring is slightly yellow which I think will go nicely with a natural coloured linen. I like the way the branches loop around gracefully.

















Possibly the nicest thing about Walthamstow Market are the haberdasheries. The market stall haberdasheries are there on a Thursday and a Saturday, selling all sorts of bits and pieces bound together with masking tape (like those bits above).

As you can see, I got really pretty embroidered ribbons for £1.50 for 3m (left) and £1 for 2m (right). The whole point of the trip was to buy velcro (tick!), plastic bobbins (tick!) and white lace for a quilt I'm working on (tick!).

I also got cotton (50p) and zips (20p each), as well as a selection of other things I Really Didn't Need (but they were on sale, I protest).

I have such buyer's remorse now. But, oh, the pretty things!

















I have a project in mind for each of them. I know, I really do.

















Isn't this one particularly lovely? It was £2.00 a metre from RIBBONS, a very pretty shop along the market street. It also has a lot of other useful goodies like self-covering buttons (4 for £1.00) and cottons, tapes and ribbons aplenty. It is slightly more expensive than the other shops around it but they always have excellent service and the shop staff know a lot about their products.

When I got home I realised that I had left the two priced bundles of ribbon behind at Benny Ds (a nameless haberdashery shop further up the road, right next to Benny Ds). I was distraught. I had carefully picked them up out of the pile of millions and had given them love and attention while choosing. I couldn't abandon them. So I popped up this morning and I'm delighted to say that I successfully reclaimed them! The girl behind the counter insisted that she had no idea who I was, so I was not impressed. The owner recognised me and gave me one of the bundles back, and I had to pay for the other one (£1.00). Huff. We'll stick to RIBBONS from now on, methinks.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favourite things.


Well, there were plenty of raindrops and kettles and kittens yesterday. It was the monthly WI Coffee Morning, but this time we did something different: instead of heading to a local coffee shop extraordinaire, we went to Colleen's House which was equally extraordinaire like a little haven of teatime goodness tucked into the rather beautiful Tredegar area. It had a real sense of magic: just follow the bunting to find the x marks the spot.

















It was raining and pouring. It was, as we say at home, bucketing down with heavy raindrops that prevented me from reading my post-it note, on which I had neatly written out Colleen's address for quick finding. Nevermind, it was easy to find and inside it was warm and friendly; just what was needed on a cold wintery morning for a bit of a pick-me-up.

















This pop-up tea room was to raise funds as a Cake Break for MS.We all brought with our baked goods (mine were the brownies, bottom right), chose a cake stand for displaying, and settled in to a proper tea with cups and saucers. 
























... and milk jugs. I do love milk jugs. They are so superfluous and wonderfully unnecessary; the perfect tea time accompaniment in a world that is otherwise worried about other things. For me, the milk jug is a symbol that everything is, and will be, okay. I treasure my milk jug: it takes pride of place on our mantelpiece.






















Here are my brownies again, just in case you missed them the first time. I had a jam drop cake which is known here as an English Madeleine. It has a sponge cake centre that has been rolled in jam and coconut, and topped with a cherry. Also on that cake stand were beautiful vanilla cupcakes which I didn't get to sample, sadly, but don't they look grand with the beautiful tulips, Clare's Knitting and the tea cups framing them?






















Here is the really-quite-wonderful Elizabeth enjoying a spot of finger knitting whilst also enjoying a spot of scone with jam and cream. Ho Hum. This reminds me: I mentioned kittens, didn't I? And what kind of bloggeroo would I be if I didn't add a bit of kitten to your reading moment now?

















Why hello kitties. I've borrowed this photograph from the EEWI newsletter. Elizabeth's newly-adopted stray cat has had kittens! And she has four lovely fluffballs which all need loving homes. I'm going to foster one of the tabby kittens (ah, well, we'll see which one has more personality when we go and visit) so if you know anyone in London who is looking for a beautiful little catkin of the feline variety, then do please get in touch. If you don't, I'll have to name the kitty and love the kitty and well - let's face it - keep the kitty.

















Despite the hail, thunder and lightning, spring has sprung. These tulips made a cheery addition to our tea tables.

















Just before I left I got completely sidetracked by a lovely magazine called Making. We got to talking about magazines, as you do, and how we never make anything that the magazines suggest. And then this came out of hiding: you'd be forgiven for thinking that it's a bit of quilt with all of the fabric prints, textures and little bits of cotton peeking out.

















Really, it's a beautiful little notebook all covered with pretty paper that is more than just storebought whatnots: the cover is a photocopy of Colleen's own quilt, scanned and printed, and folded up neatly. It was inspired not by a magazine but by a magazine's website (Mollie Makes blog post: http://molliemakes.themakingspot.com/blog/thrifty-thursday-notebook-cover). What a brilliant way to preserve your quilt patterns and to also enjoy them in other parts of your life! Like when you absolutely have to admire your notebook cover as you take notes. Mm, crafty quilty goodness. I've quilted a book cover before but never a whole quilt... it is on my to-do list so (hopefully) watch this space!

We had a bread-free Easter. Actually, it happens every year. I know - no hot cross buns, the horror! - but every year at this time of year we celebrate Pesach (Passover) which happens to coincide with a bread-ban over Easter time.