Generally Gemma

Swaptastic!

A while ago I took part in a magazine swap that Cotton Strudel organised. It was the first swap I ever took part in and I must say that Sarah my swap partner, made it an absolute pleasure. The parcel of bounty that arrived on my doorstep was wonderful and most cheering to receive at the end of a week that had been horrible in the extreme back before we went on holiday.

This is Flopsy my bunny wearing the gorgeous hat that Sarah made for me and indulging in tea and magazines that Sarah included in my parcel. (There were also some chocolates but they didn't quite make it to the photoshoot. Somehow the yummy handmade organic loveliness disappeared into thin air!)

Another addition to my parcel were these divine little teas on the right and a bag of sugar cubes especially for tea. Whilst we in England may be known for our love, nay insatiable need for tea you in America have certainly taken it to a whole new level and I love it! My only concern now is when to drink my charming little boxes. Somehow I don't seem to be able to find a special enough time for them. I am thinking I might save them for when proper Winter is here and I need properly saving with a little ray of sunshine!

The magazines provided perfect commute reading. I delved into the world of American alternative women including how to be a bride yet shop indie!Learnt how to create individual items for my home out of basic Ikea furniture and an article of a pair of brothers that are taking old buildings in North West America and rejuvenating them sympathetically. Discovered how to embellish my life in a multitude of ways. And finally drooled over Interweave knits where projects both beyond my ability spur me to do better and items within reach caused me to shiver with excitement.  I think that Sarah may very well have started a somewhat interesting addiction in me for American magazines. Why is it that foreign magazines are always so much more interesting than anything you can get locally. This collection is already well thumbed and creased from travelling with me and many a happy hour was spent on the quilt in my garden brooding over them and creating plans in my head.

These cupcakes on the left, fairy cakes as we call them in England are certainly going to be making their way to my table at some point. Proof that floral needn't mean insipid. The shawl on the right has brought me back to the page over and over again. Filmy and floaty it puts me in mind of ballerinas for some reason. I adore it and am trying to work up the courage to actually attempt it.

Birthday Baking

Well, G is now another year older and one tiny baby step away from the big 3-0. (We don't talk about it. The idea of it stresses him out!)

His Mum and Brother came to stay with us for a few days and do London related things. I believe they went to Hampton Court one day although I have seen no photographic evidence of that trip yet.

I also seem to have made a rod for my own back in the baking of cake for birthdays, I think this is a tradition that I could well do without. I was wanting to make Nigella's chocolate birthday cake but the idea of having to come home from work and play with melting chocolate in a bowl over a boiling saucepan somehow didn't really appeal. So instead we went for the old school favourite of a chocolate Victoria sponge with buttercream icing.

It came out a little flat. It didn't rise quite as much as I would have liked but it was still delicious. Although H and G couldn't quite decide which way it was better, cooked or straight of the bowl!

Oh! One more thing, I made a new friend.

This beautiful creature came and rubbed and purred and stroked one afternoon. I had to lock myself indoors eventually before I stole him away from his proper family.

Pining for Summer

The inclement weather since we have come back from holiday has me properly in the doldrums. I don't seem to be able to settle to anything, not cleaning, washing, quilting, knitting. The only thing I seem good for is sleeping and watching tv. I did find the energy to lay out the finished patches of my quilt to try and find a pleasing line for them.

I also need to decide on colours for sashing and if it needs a border but I don't feel particularly inspired by any of it at the moment.

It seems an awfully long time ago since it was warm enough and dry enough to wear my sparkly flip flops. (Katherine I know you will feel my pain!)

Even longer ago since I sat down to paella on my last night at home.

All is not lost however! It is G's birthday on Thursday and his Mum and Brother are here. We are doing G's birthday tomorrow evening. Which means that cake must be baked this evening! Which always puts me in a decent sort of mood.

I must fly now as I have two hungry boys staring at me. (I say boys, they are nearly thirty!) In fact they look a bit like my adorable little Floss.

Floral Bewilderment

I am trying to come to a decision about my bulb order. Not an easy thing to do. I have bought books, poured over catalogues, played on the internet in an attempt to finally pin down what it is I am looking for. I know that I want daffodils, tulips and some crocus. However, it is only recently that I realised quite what an abundance of choice that there is!

                  

Also, with my little garden I don't want to overwhelm the situation. I don't have big borders, in fact only one space out the back, I want to dig a new one, so I will also be having a lot of pots. Then out at the front I need to decide whether to go for daffodils or tulips as I don't think you can really mix them up in the one border. I think that might look all a bit wrong. At the back I'm not anticipating a problem as the pots can all be different. The majority of the daffodils will be planted in the bank and just left au naturel as it were, as will the crocus just peaking out of the grass.

I feel the tulips though will need slightly more formal planting, so they will go in the beds and the majority of the planters! Well there you go. Simply by discussing it here I seem to have a way to go.

I think I will have both the crocus varieties that I have here and I definitely want the Jenny daffodils as they are named after my Mother, or so I like to think. The others I am all open to ideas on really. I do think that the purple and white colour plan with the tulips is the way to go at the moment though. I don't want everything to get too complicated and G has had a blue Summer garden this year so I want to indulge my need for purple this Spring.

I'm also a bit sad as not only have I gone on whether I like the look of the flowers I have also been drawn to the names of them.One that I loved that I haven't gone for because I don't think it matches the scheme at all is this. It's called Christmas Dream, what a fabulous name is that! I'm not really sure why though. As fuchsia pink doesn't really conjure up the idea of roaring fires and chestnuts to me.

I also fell in love with this one to the right called Ballade. Not for it's name but for the shape of it. I think for the moment though I am going to go with the more traditional tulip shapes and make sure that I know what I am doing before I try to experiment with form as well as colour combinations.

I know that by just picking purple and white I am playing it safe. After reading Sarah Raven's book, recommended by the lovely and helpful Jane and in my sidebar at the moment, I was amazed by the vibrant choices she makes, much like Jane herself does. Colours that should seemingly clash in the garden at least to my mind, look incredible I just wish I had the courage to make such bold decisions and a larger garden to them justice.

For the time being though I am more than content with my little patch and trying to plan that is headache enough without having to try and think my way through an even more labyrinthine planning exercise!

Post holiday blues

Well, folks we are back from my blessed two weeks of Spanish sunshine at the ancestral family home. Today was the first day back at work for me and it has certainly sunk in that the holiday is no more. Work and English rain have certainly driven that point home for me.

What a lovely two weeks it was though. I haven't been at home for that amount of time for years. After a couple of days it feels as though I have never really left and two weeks meant that I was so laid back and relaxed I was floating on a horizontal plane for the majority of it.

Lazing in the pool for hours with good books and a beer

Watching the sun set from the terrace

My favourite meal at home. Lashings of prawns and mayo with nice brown bread and fizzy pink stuff!

And finally the view from my favourite restaurant. It is just down the road from our house. The fisherman come down and put their poles up, we sit on the terrace and eat yet more fish!

I love that restaurant. It is where we always go for celebrations or commiserations and anniversaries of all kinds. Sitting there with the sun just gone down is the coolest place in August. Breeze blowing in off the sea, coffee and Amaretto in hand. It is utter heaven, my favourite place on earth.

Spain!!

Yes, G&G are on holiday. I just realised that I had actually forgotten to tell anyone out there in blogworld about my departure! Opps, sorry folks, the excitement of packing and organising and locking up somehow meant that my beloved blog was forgotten in the storm.

But, we are here, see the banner change! The view from my favourite restaurant in the world. This post is pictureless because I have sat down to use the computer without a usb port so can´t put a single photo up for your delectation. But have no fear they do exist and will appear at some point I am sure.

Enjoy yourself folks. I know I am!!