Hello my lovelies!! Thanks for popping by on such a miserable day, I worked all weekend and the weather was beautiful (may I please state that where I work we have no windows), now I'm not at work it's horrid!! Typical. Am feeling a bit under the weather with a rotton cold looming so it's quite nice to cosy up inside really. 

So I finished my blanket! It's not as big as I'd hoped but because I made it one big blanket rather than joining squares together it was taking me ages just to do one round! So it's now a buggy / comfort blanket for my littlest girly.

I am proud of myself for getting the hang of it quite quickly, and this week I shall be teaching my friend to crochet (not that I'm even remotely close to being good enough to teach someone else, will just be the basics!!) I am now working on lots of different squares from my new 'blocks for afghans' book, some solid ones rather than ones with holes in! Am currently doing a square which is called 'lemon peel' which has a funny little bobbly effect. 

While I was upstairs taking this picture I thought I'd take some of the duvet cover I made for her bed.

 

It's a Cath Kidston fabric, it was a remnant I picked up from the outlet CK store close to where I live, I love going there and picking up some bargains!!

I love the delicate little flowers teamed with the gingham. Sweet but not overly floral!! 

This weekend I had a cake to do, and had to stay late at work so was a hectic weekend for me! I enjoyed it though and at least it gives me some more money to get saced for our little holiday we are going on in July. We are off to Dartmouth for the week, I cant wait. I much prefer holidaying in the UK, it's not too hot, you dont get sick from drinking the water, and you dont have to worry so much about getting too sunburnt ;) Although we would like to take the girls to Florida in a few years time. When my littlest starts school and I can start working full time then we can probably save up the money to go.

Here is the cake I did - I was given a picture of another cake that the custome wanted to recreate but with some different elements. The playing card cupcake toppers were also supplied by the customer. I was really pleased with the way it turned out! 

I've just put smallest girl in bed for a nap, and now I'm going to go and watch Breaking Dawn Part 1.... Eeeee!!!!! 

Leanne

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New name...

So I decided to change my blog name, as I am moving away from cakes a bit I dont want to solely be about them!! Sorry to confuse!! Let me explain the reason for the name choice though - my late Grandmother has inspired me to craft, she was a tailoress and was always making things, I remember her knitting dresses for my dolls and I used to love looking through all the little knitting patterns she had. She used to make lovely dinners and puddings too, she was a truly wonderful lady and it makes me so sad she never got to meet my little girls as they would have absolutely adored her. When she passed away I was a teenager who didn't care about much else other than themselves, and I feel an overwhelming sense of guilt alot of the time that I wasn't a nicer Grandaughter towards the end of her life. It's for this reason I like to do the things she used to enjoy, I do enjoy them aswell but I feel I am almost making up for lost time and carrying on her legacy. So, the name - my Nan always loved robins, and whenever I see one I am always reminded of her. When I was a little girl she used to sing a song to me called "I've got sixpence", which is why I chose the blog title "A Robin & A Sixpence".

Anyway!!

We went to the Norfolk coast at the weekend and it was absolutely beautiful!! (Camera went waffy on quite a few occasions, very annoyed!) It wasn't quite the weather we were hoping for, but I would prefer it like this than blazing hot. There were so many people with dogs there! We have been discussing the idea of a dog for some time now, and seeing all these dogs made me want one even more! 

We had a lovely time walking, collecting shells and splashing in the water. Cue crying smallest girl with wet tights, and biggest girl not waiting for smallest girl resulting in more crying....!

After our little walk we went for lunch at a little cafe just at the top of the road to the beach, it was so so beautiful in there, lovely vintage crockery, knitted tea cosies for the teapots, painted tables and chairs, and a big fat yummy sausage baguette and carrot cake!! I took pictures of the lovely plates and tea cosies, but you can guess what happened. Why is it always the pictures that are the nicest?!! 

We then drove along the coast to Sheringham where we had great fun chucking the big pebbles in the sea (I was slightly scared that my biggest girl was going to knock her Dad out with a stone at one point). There are some lovely little shops but I was really proud of myself that I didn't spend any money!! 

My biggest girl has been a bit poorly this week, I wish all this illness would jog on!! Cant wait for a bit of sunshine, I thought it was on it's way but then we had a big downpour on Sunday with snow aswell?! Talk about random!!

Am back to work this weekend, but have a big poker themed cake to do aswell. Am getting up to date with my sewing too, have made my littlest a new duvet cover for her junior bed as I cant find any nice reasonably priced ones anywhere! (Will take a picture when it is in on!!) Have finished a few other bits I was needing to do, now I need to get on with my Mum's Mothers Day present, and my Easter decorations - am going to make the girls little Easter baskets this year, they get far too much chocolate without me getting them an egg, I found some Easter Eggs in the back of the cupboard from last year that had been forgotten about! I am also on the look out for a little display tree, I might have to just paint a branch for the garden and put it in a pot! If anyone knows somewhere I can get one please let me know!!

Leanne 

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Tourist!

I went into town today, town being Cambridge. Me and my littlest walked and walked around for a long long time - I was hoping she would fall asleep but she didn't. When you have grown up somewhere and are so used to it, you really dont appreciate it's beauty. There are so many Japanese tourists in Cambridge, and I always chuckle to myself at how excited they get about Kings College, because I just dont see Cambridge like that. So today I tried to see Cambridge from a tourists point of view, studying the beautiful detail in the architecture, the beautiful green spaces and the picturesque River Cam. I took loads of photos but my camera decided to play silly buggers and half of them are no good at all. But Cambridge really is so beautiful, I should appreciate it more.

 

I do love a nice red phone box. Or 4.

 

The beautiful Kings College, I will be taking a nice walk around all of the colleges another day I think.

 

St Johns College....look at the detail! Stunning!!

Every head around the edge of this college was different. 

There are even details in the pavement!

 

The River Cam

(This is where the camera started to go waffy - I had some lovely river shots aswell - this is adding to my reasons for wanting a new fancy DLSR camera!!)

 

Some of the houses in Central Cambridge are so beautiful, I thought this little street looked very quaint!

The Porters Lodge of Jesus College - love that beautiful blossom.

I then wandered around the market and a few shops, and then met up with the lovely ladies I spoke of yesterday. So off to Yo Sushi we went.... cue Justine retching about raw eels!! My littlest was very excited at all the dishes whizzing past, and I lost count of the times she said "Wow Mummy look at this one!" 

 

She didn't eat her 'spaghetti' (noodles!) though, still a bit squiffy from her tummy bug I think. So she played on her big sister's DS, with a chopstick, as we couldn't find the stylus.....

I actually really enjoyed my food (I didn't master the chopsticks though - I used the cheating chopsticks - but then had to resort to a spoon on the end) and the dessert I had - Lemon Shortbread Cake was yummy!! 

So my blanket is coming along, I will be adding some more tonight while snuggling on the sofa. I'm not the most patient person in the world so it's taking all my willpower not to put it down and do something else!! 

Leanne

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