This summer we moved to the country and according to the song there should be ‘Millions of peaches, peaches for me..’ Maybe you have to be outside the M25 for peaches?

We moved to a real peach of a house in Caterham Valley and so that’s where I’ve been, exploring the area, decorating and generally settling in.

We’ve got a new addition:

This is Scooby a lovely 2 year old cat we got from the Cats Protection, they have a couple of kittens listed on their website with broken legs – I can’t get over how cruel people can be! But Scooby seems to be settling in well and hopefully will be very happy with us!

We have another new arrival on the way, due in April which is another reason for the lack of blog posts – I’ve been pretty exhausted for the first few months of my pregnancy, but I’ve at least started knitting again – nearly finished a hoody cardigan for my friend’s baby, Isabel (I’ll post a photo if it turns out OK!).

I’m going to try my hand at quilting over the next few months (/years) and am going to make the quilt below.. it’s a bit of a challenge, but it should keep me and Scooby busy!

It’s twenty past four, no work tomorrow, a very busy weekend planned and I can’t sleep.. So I thought a blog post was in order, please excuse my late night ramblings!

We’re traveling up to Yorkshire tomorrow for my sister-in-law’s wedding on Monday, so I’ll have another bash at starting knitting my shrug. I started it a few weeks ago, but haven’t quite got the hang of the ribbing, I’m hoping my Mother-in-law will have chance to help me out this weekend! Though I imagine it will be a pretty hectic weekend!

In fact I’ve just come across a site with quite comprehensive instructional videos on knitting, I think I might have to try ribbing on a practice piece before attempting it in a garment!

A friend sent this video through to me – it’s fabulous, watch through to the end, it just gets funnier!

Mary over at Needle’nThread has a 10% off deal for the month of April with The French Needle, they have some beautiful surface embroidery kits I love this bird but between the exchange rate and the duty payable for shipping into the UK it works out quite expensive!

While I quite like being awake while everyone else is asleep, it’s so quiet outside and there’s no pressure to be doing anything, I know I’m going to be exhausted tomorrow so I should try and grab a bit of sleep.

Goodnight all!

Having had several conversations with people about how nice it would be to join a book group I decided it was about time that we did.. in a rare proactive move I set one up..

It was so easy.. I just emailed 3 friends and told them to invite a couple of people and that was it

We’re meeting in a bookstore that has a bar and serves cake (covering all bases!) and I thought it might be nice to share..

Our first book is the 19th wife by David Ebershoff and we met on the 24th March. If you’ve read the book or have time to read it let me know what you think in the comments below and I’ll share your thoughts with the group and report back after we meet..

So that’s what I’ve been reading,

I’ve been watching Series 1 through 6.. (this may explain my intermittent blog posting)

playing Ginger Dawn check out the intro

buying wool – I’m trying for a garment rather than a scarf this time.. you may see photos (depends on my success!).

I’m playing catch up on reading blogs as well as writing posts but have just spotted a great post on different scissor types over at Purl Bee. I have a worrying scissor purchasing addiction which this may do quite a bit to feed!

When Duncan and I got back from honeymoon we searched through the 1300 pictures he had taken! I have previously posted some of my favourites. Duncan’s favourite was a picture of a cheetah he had taken on the second day of our trip.

We were driving along the bumpiest road known to man. The route took us from Lake Manyara, up past the Ngorogoro Crater and on to our lodge in the Serengeti National park. About 10 minutes after leaving the check point to pay for entrance to the Serengeti our driver got a call on his radio about two cheetahs that were just sat by the side of a small road we were about to drive past. (How anyone spotted some of the animals we saw I will never know!) We turned off and sure enough there were two brothers relaxing in the sun. The had obviously only just eaten, their bellies were enormous and they still had blood around their mouths. We spent a good 15 minutes just sat in the van admiring them.

Duncan had already found a place that did canvas prints – CanvasRus. We went for a canvas with gallery wrap which looks amazing. The print came within a week and we are both chuffed, I’d definitely recommend you give them a go.

Cheetah canvas print from CanvasRus

The honeymoon was amazing and having this picture around will bring back all the memories. We are going to put it up in our hallway.

So I didn’t make it to Liberty, my meetings were moved, my lunch break was free and I had just enough time to race there an back… but an over strenuous aerobics session the day before meant I could barely walk, never mind rush across central London..

I did, however, make it to John Lewis on Wednesday, not to meet Amy Butler but to browse the stand they had set up. I had a lovely browse through MidWestern – which just looks amazing, very inspiring designs, ideas and beautiful photography.. it felt very tranquil! – definitely on the Christmas list if anyone’s taking notes!

and I admired piccies on Lisa and Jo’s blogs – neither of them was so foolish as to cripple themselves with too many leg lifts!

Once recovered from my aerobic endeavours, I ventured into the world of tap dancing this week. A lunch time beginners course in the gym at work – and it was fab! We did the opening to All That Jazz, from Chicago.. Jazz hands a plenty!

I’m having a real summer of Hen Parties and Weddings this year, which I’m loving, certainly not getting Post-wedding blues with so many others to look forward to! My new colleague is beginning to think I do nothing but attend these functions though.. It’s hen party number 4 this weekend – a joint Hen and Stag do in Chester, a city I’ve never visited before. I may do further injury to myself on Sunday at the high wire forest adventure course Go Ape…

Yukkk how I feel right now! I have a cold and Yukkk was about as far as my befuddled head would go! I’m going to head back under the duvet now..

Hog roast I get married in just 10 months .. eek! and we’re having a hog roast buffet as the wedding breakfast – I’m very excited about it!

Hearth Growing up we always had an open fire in the winter and I still love curling up in front of the fire! We recently stayed in a cottage in Wales – my parents and sister stayed there for a week and we went just for a weekend and slept in front of the fire in the living room..

In other news Sharon Boggon’s In a minute ago blog has moved to here so update your feed reader! Suzi