france 2013 part 2

Well here I am with my second and final installment of my French holiday photos, I was going to do another post after this one but I decided to make just one more do, so it is a very picture heavy post, I hope you’ll bear with me.

As I mentioned in my last post we do like to visit the markets when in France and the above photo and the group below are from the market at Valbonne.

So much produce in the little narrow streets!

Of all the markets the Saturday morning flower market in Nice is my favourite, the flowers are amazing and I just wish I could share the scent in the air with you!

The produce is fantastic too.

And there’s plenty to see with artists and street entertainers!

Of course no matter where you go in the south of France there is a photo opportunity, I just love shutters, peeling paint and geraniums.

On one of the days we took a little trip into Italy to a little town called Ventimiglia and naturally we did what anyone would when in Italy ~ we had ice-cream!

We really did have a lovely afternoon over the border in Italy, it was such a beautiful day. It was the day of the Monaco Grand Prix and the above photo is actually looking towards Monaco. The train goes through Monaco on the way to Ventimiglia and after the stop at Monaco it felt like we were the only ones left on the train as everyone seemed to be going to the Grand Prix!

The above photos are from Tourrettes-sur-Loup and St Paul de Vence. Tourrettes-sur-Loup is known for it’s violets, it even had violets painted on the cobbles. I brought back some lovely violet decorations for cupcake making and the potter in the above photo is making beautiful pottery with little violets painted on it. We found the grave of the painter Marc Chagall in St Paul de Vence.

Well if you’re still here, well done, I thought I’d share one more photo of the beautiful Alps with the city of Nice below them. So that was our French holiday for another year but already I’m saving my pennies for next year!

Just in case you thought that we spent all our time in France running around, that wasn’t the case……..

…..there was plenty of this too!!!

 

france 2013 part 1

Hi everyone, here I am back again after my wonderful French holiday! I have so many photos to share that it will take more than one post to get through them all so I hope you don’t mind.

One of my favourite places on the Riviera is Cannes and as we always go in May we are always there during the Cannes Film Festival.

I do love a walk around the harbour at Cannes, I think this is where I’ll keep my yacht, when I get one! I quite fancy one like the green one, so my colour!!!

No matter which town or village you visit there always seems to be a boules match taking place and a very serious business it is too. This competition was one we watched in Cannes.

These pretty fountains are in Antibes and when it’s hot, which it was on the day we were there, it is very tempting to run through them!

We always love to visit the markets, Thursday morning is Antibes market and it is always so colourful.

The fruit and vegetable market is amazing, I wish we had markets like it here.

The harbour at Antibes has some fantastic yachts too! If you look in the background of the above photo you can see the snow on top of the Alps this always feels strange when you are taking the photo in almost 30 degrees heat!!

Well I think that’s enough photos for today, I’ll be back in a few days with some more.

Happy Monday, it almost feels like summer here today!

 

à bientôt

Tomorrow morning my Hb and I will be flying off on our hols and after all the upheaval of new kitchens and decorating and wedding planning we are so looking forward to a relaxing ten days on the French Riviera. This will be our sixth time there so you will have worked out that we like it down there. We will be able to get our batteries recharged for the final run up to the wedding.

I thought I would share a few garden photos with you before I go, I expect there will be big changes in the garden while I’m away, everything is growing like mad now!!!!

Look after yourselves my friends, I’ll ‘see’ you soon!

à bientôt

 

Happy Easter !

Just popping in to wish you all a very Happy Easter!

I kept a photo of my last Easter girl especially for today, her name is Henny and she is happily settled in her new home for Easter Sunday.

I love her skirt with it’s funny chickens, they seem to be concentrating very hard on their egg laying!

Anyhow I’m off to enjoy my family Easter Sunday, hopefully you all are doing the same.

May all your eggs be chocolate ones!

HAPPY EASTER!

P.S. Don’t forget my giveaway which ends at midnight tonight!

 

Three Little Maids

Well I hope that wherever you are you’re getting some of this sunshine today. It’s still very chilly but it looks like spring and most importantly it looks like Easter. Daffodils are blooming, washing is on the line and the cupboards are full of chocolate!!!

I’ve spent most of this week finishing off bunnies so that they can be in their new homes for Easter.

I’d like you to meet my three little maids!

This is Fleur, all sugar pinks and pretty flowers!

This little one is Clementine probably my personal favourite of the three because I just love her colours!

Thirdly this is Easter Ellie, all dressed up for Easter with her Easter egg print skirt and Easter eggs on her bow and a big Easter egg button!

So with the bunnies all wrapped up and ready to go, it’s time to enjoy my own Easter bunnies, just a few of which can be seen above, believe me there are more and chocolate, it’s definitely time to enjoy some chocolate!!!

Thank you so much for dropping in, remember my giveaway is still open until midnight on Easter Sunday when we will be in British Summer Time, how good does that sound!!! Weather take heed!!!

Wishing you all a wonderful Easter weekend!!!

 

St George & St Patrick

Yesterday we paid a visit to one of Belfast’s famous attractions, St George’s Market. They run a City Food and Craft market on Saturday mornings.

St George’s market was built between 1890 and 1896 so it has been on the go for quite a few years now and it’s great that this old Victorian market is still in use.

There was all kinds of produce, lots of lovely fruit and veg, I bought some lovely new season rhubarb for rhubarb crumble.

Some local produce and some with it’s origins from further afield.

There were cupcakes galore and the results of some very busy Northern Irish hens!!!

I loved this as it’s my son’s name, the christian names are different but the initials are the same!

There were lots of crafts on display too and joy, there was even a little yarn stall, where I may have purchased a couple of balls of yarn (it would have been rude not too!!!).

We were well entertained too!

And as today is St Patrick’s Day there were plenty of goodies on sale to help with the celebrations!

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend.

Happy St Patrick’s Day to you all!

 

Birthday Girl

Despite a rather wet and windy Saturday, spring is still happening out in the garden, bless them they just keep on going no matter what the elements throw at them.

Poor little daffodils hanging their heads in the rain!

Not only do I enjoy making bunnies, I enjoy buying them too! This pretty little thing is Pip and she has been made by the very clever Nicky from The Vintage Magpie, isn’t she gorgeous! You can find more of Nicky’s wonderful creations here.

As far as my own bunnies are concerned well I have been making some little springtime skirts this week, hopefully next time you see these they’ll be on some springtime bunnies!

And the title of my post, well today is my daughters birthday and we are all off out tonight for a family meal!

Happy Birthday Lyndsey, wishing you a wonderful day!!! xxx

Before I go I would like to thank the lovely Christina of From The Hearth Room for awarding me the Super Sweet Blogger Award, that was very sweet of you Christina!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and manage to see and feel a touch of spring and to all mothers everywhere, Happy Mothering Sunday!

 

Valentines

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Not being the most romantic person in the world, Valentine’s Day usually means sweets and chocolates to me rather than love. What with Pancake Tuesday and Valentines Day all falling in the one week this year it has been quite a treat filled few days!!!

I must say though I did receive some of my favourite perfume from my Hb!

What a lovely day it is today after what has been a quite grey, wet and cold period, today is bright and the temperature is quite pleasant.

My little primula are very happy indeed!

I’m still waiting for some of my garden bulbs to bloom though, I’m sure I had some out before this time last year.

I was very lucky this week to receive this pretty little brooch which I won in a giveaway. It was made by the talented Claire Garland from Dot Pebbles! If you love little knitted animals and toys you’ll love Claire’s blog, I have actually been very lucky on Claire’s blog because a few weeks back I was also lucky enough to win this beautiful pattern too. Claire has written quite a few books which you can find here. You can also find her here, here and here.

I’m fortunate in that as my name begins with ‘V’ it means I can wear my little brooch all year round and not just on Valentine’s Day!

I’ve finished my fourth and final Valentine girl, for this year anyway.

Her name is Aimee which is from the French je-taime (I love you) and means beloved friend, quite appropriate don’t you think.

Well, as I started with some sweeties for Valentines Day, I thought I’d finish with some too!!

Have a lovely rest-of-the-week and a wonderful weekend, thanks as always for all your visits and encouraging comments!

And again Happy Valentine’s Day !!!

 

Pancakes

The butter, sugar and lemon are ready and waiting!

The batter is made up!

Just waiting for everyone to come home and then I’ll heat up the pan!

Happy Pancake Tuesday!!!

 

Review of 2012

JANUARY ~ FEBRUARY ~ MARCH ~ APRIL

It was so hard to choose just one photo to represent each month of 2012 as I have uploaded so many during the year! I have tried to cover everything that this little blog is about as well as representing the year that was 2012.

As you know I believe it’s never too early to look for spring and I began the year doing just that, February brought Valentines Day and all it’s sweet treats!!
During March, while playing about with yarn and a crochet hook, I made a rabbit, her name was Lavender Rose, well wasn’t she the start of something, many, many more bunnies followed.
April brought us Easter, my very favourite time of year, bunnies and chocolate, who could ask for more!

MAY ~ JUNE ~ JULY ~ AUGUST

May time is France time and we enjoyed a wonderful holiday in the south of France, while June brought us the Diamond Jubilee in all it’s red, white and blue glory!!
July was spent mostly in the garden and despite some unseasonal weather, flowers bloomed. From the end of July through to mid August we enjoyed the wonderful 2012 London Olympics and at the end of August we had a mini break to Edinburgh where I managed to tick something off my bucket list, seeing a panda in the flesh!!

SEPTEMBER ~ OCTOBER ~ NOVEMBER ~ DECEMBER

Now of course the cats featured many times on my blog throughout the year, this particular photo is of Charlie helping me with my crochet in September. October brought autumn time and autumn crafting.
November as always makes us stop and remember the sacrifice of others.
Then quick as a flash we were in December, where I seemed to spend most of the month crocheting Christmas bunnies!

So here we are at the end of the what has seemed to me the fastest year ever! Generally it has been a good year and we have had lots of enjoyable times. Bunnies always feature on my blog but this year they featured strongly, I have had so much fun making them and thank you for all your encouragement and support. Thank you all so much for being with me during 2012, thanks for your visits, your lovely comments and your friendship, the blogging community is a wonderful thing and I’m so happy to be a part of it.

So a new year beckons and for us personally I expect the first six months are going to be a very busy time as we have our daughter’s wedding in July. I fully intend to keep on making bunnies and hopefully there’ll be lots more cats, flowers, gardening and outings in this little space too. I do hope you’ll join me and if I could ask one thing of 2013, it would be, please go a bit slower than 2012!!

All that remains is for me to wish you all a very happy, healthy, peaceful and wonderful new year!!!