Year of pleasures #15: How to make an American quilt

SO it's been a while since I blogged here, as usual. Partly it's because I've just gone back to work, and I'm working towards Chartership (see my other blog, Librarian of Tomorrow). But mainly it's because I've been quilting.

I've always wanted to make a patchwork quilt (technically not an American quilt but I liked the title!). Mum got me a Moda charm pack for Christmas and I've spent the last few months stitching away, with the help of the lovely ladies at the sadly-no-longer-with-us Sally Bourne haberdashery in Crouch End, who helped me pick out fabrics.

I'm stitching it by hand, which makes it a much slower process, but I think it's more satisfying than using a machine (and I was rubbish at machine sewing in Home Ec!).

My quilting stitch needs work, and I've still to do the border and binding, but I'm pretty damn proud of this thing I've created. I'm hoping it'll be the first of many, but even if I never stitch again I've got a wonderful quilty heirloom that will be part of our family picnics from now till forever.


Rows stitched


All the squares


Inner border


Outer border and wadding


Stitching detail

Year of pleasures #14: Haircuts

I love getting my hair cut. These days it's just nice to get an hour or two to myself, but I've always loved it - taking the time to sit down, read a trashy magazine that I'd never dare buy and have a cuppa while someone makes my hair look prettier than I ever could.

Year of pleasures #13: glamping!

Although I hate that word, it was constructed by the media to make camping somehow hip and down with the kids, when actually anyone who camps knows it's never been uncool.

Yes, the Hoxton crowd may just have discovered it and yes, you no longer have to choose between a '70s-decor static caravan or sleeping on rocks under your own poorly-erected canvas, but camping in a yurt, a gypsy caravan or an eco pod (like we did) is still camping, as far as I'm concerned.

Anyway, much fun was had by all! The pods at the Camping and Caravanning Club site at Bellingham in beautiful Northumberland are much recommended. I thought we'd struggle to get us and both kids in (Logan slept in mum and dad's caravan) but the family next door had two teenage daughters and two dogs, so as long as you don't mind getting cosy it's a winner!

Year of pleasures #12: Swimming

I've been lax of late, partly lost the inspiration and partly distracted by my professional blog. Think of it as an extended holiday!

Ella and I started baby swimming lessons last week, and she's really enjoying herself! It's nice to spend half an hour in the water with her, and with all the other parents and babies. She's not quite confident enough to go underwater yet, but she's having a lot of fun, and so am I!

Year of pleasures #10: Hanging out the washing

Photo by Logan (better than my effort!)

The sun shone long enough at the weekend to put some washing on the line instead of on the clothes horse in the hall.

It was a lovely five minutes of quiet pondering, basking in the warm sun, admiring my tulips which have burst into life in the past few weeks and just enjoying the spring.

Year of pleasures #9: trips home

I had a bad blog week last week and skipped one, I promise I'll be good from now on!

I live quite a way from my folks, not in American terms I guess but it's a good five-hour drive from our home in London to theirs in Durham, south east to north east - definitely too far to pop round the corner for a cuppa! So I don't get to visit very often, especially with the price of train tickets and two kids in tow.

It means that when I do go home I try to squeeze in as many people as possible. We were up for less than 48 hours last weekend but we still managed to see my parents, my brother, my gran and uncle, two of my close friends and our closest family friends too! It might have been a fleeting visit but it was full of laughter, slightly chaotic but lots of fun.

I've lived in London for ten and a half years, and before that I was at uni for four; Hull and Arizona will always feel like home to me too. But Durham, where I grew up, where my family comes from, holds a special place for me. I love going home, back to my mum and dad, to the house I grew up in, the places I grew up in. And it's more than that: the north east is part of my identity, central to me. I've always thought that home is the place I feel loved, that it could be anywhere on earth as long as I'm with people I love. But I never feel more at home than when I'm there.

Year of pleasures #8: Pancakes!

An easy one this week - savoury (butternut squash with courgette and Chinese leaf) or sweet (lime and sugar, sharper than lemon) I love pancakes.

I love the ritual, the simplicity - weighing and measuring, mixing, pouring, spin the pan, toss, done. Simple to make but change the filling and the possibilities are endless.

And I love the greater significance, the tradition, Shrove Tuesday, emptying the pantry before Lent. More ritual.

Happy pancake day!

Year of pleasures #7: Snowdrops

Flash of green and white
Tiny harbingers of Spring
Heralding the sun

Year of pleasures #6: The kindness of strangers

I had a run-in with a bus driver a few days ago. I won't go into the gory details but suffice to say he must have been off the day they had their customer service training!

With hindsight, I'm a little bit mortified that I argued back at him, and let him upset me (crying in public, the horror!). I might have started to doubt myself, think I was making a fuss over nothing (which was clearly his opinion), if it hadn't been for the other passengers on the bus.

When he refused to give me his driver number, two elderly ladies pointed out the bus registration number and joked that they'd be in trouble next. When he yelled at me to sit down or get off the bus, a woman seated just behind him called TfL to report him. Another passenger gave me her number in case I needed a witness.

I don't want to get all over-emotional, but they turned a shitty experience into less of one, and gave me the confidence to report him, so this week I salute small acts of kindness.

Year of pleasures #5: A night out down the pub with your mates

I've been out quite a bit recently, at least more than the previous four or five months! This week it was my wonderous no-longer-colleague Holly's leaving do, at the Queen's Head near Kings Cross.

The beer was good (Redemption Hopspur) and served in a proper pint pot, the pub was impressive (there's a real ale festival there next weekend, lots of whiskies if that's how you roll) and there were loads of friends there, some who I see often and some I hadn't seen for years. There was even a swing/jazz pianist.

If it hadn't been that Holly is abandoning me it would have been the perfect sort of pub night out! A random coming-together of people, ideas and slightly drunken rambling. Lovely.

Year of pleasures #4: Birthday treats

I turned 33 this week, a bit of a non-birthday numbers wise but it has a nice ring to it so I'm excited to see what the year of 33 brings. The last four or five years have been pretty significant, what with babies and weddings and the like, so maybe this will be a bit calmer and more settled!

I've had lots of treats this week. We had a Sunday pub lunch at the Maid of Muswell with some good friends (delicious, and the veggie option still includes gravy and Yorkshire pud, result).

Mark took my birthday off and we had a fun morning at home with Logan then dropped him off at nursery and watched The Fighter at the baby club at Screen on the Green (more boxing than I expected, which sounds daft I know, but some brilliant performances and the whole cast were marvellous), followed by a yummy burger at Byron and Ottolenghi cupcakes with Anna and Lucy.

Then I hotfooted it to the SLA Winter Warmers pub quiz with Team Gav. Lots of fun, it's so long since I had a proper night down the pub! The last few rounds were tense but we triumphed in the end, hurrah! I managed to carry the bottle of cava (and the library textbook!) home on the tube without dropping it, too.

Mum and Dad are staying with us so Mark and I had a rare night out last night. We pushed the boat out and had a proper posh dinner at Oxo Tower on the South Bank. What an experience! I think I managed to hide my excitement quite well, but I'm not sure I was quite nonchalant enough to look like I was a regular! I love the atmosphere there, the service and the view of St Paul's. The food was delicious - pumpkin gnocchi with goats cheese, truffle potato blinis with wild mushrooms and watercress and orange salad, and the chocolate plate (four different desserts, all yummy but not sure about the odd caviar-like balls).

Of course we had to have cocktails to start (dark and stormys), a bottle of wine with dinner (Dog Point sauvignon blanc from New Zealand) and port to finish... It would be fair to say I felt a little rough in the taxi on the way home but luckily Ella didn't wake up until 6.30am so I had a chance to recover. It was a really special night and it's a good job because for that price we won't be going out again this year!

We did go for lunch with mum and dad, Aunty Celia and Uncle Nick today though. We don't see Ciss and Nick nearly enough, so it was lovely to catch up with all the family gossip over a long lunch at Souk, in Seven Dials. It's one of my favourite restaurants - the food is really good (couscous, tagines, baklava and sweet mint tea), but it's the atmosphere that I really love, it's so theatrical, just like being in a Moroccan souk (I'd imagine!). And it doesn't cost half a month's salary either (I hate being on maternity pay).

Year of pleasures #3: Family

I've been thinking a lot about family recently. My Grandpa wrote a kind of memoir about his ancestors and his life many years ago, and I'm in the process of typing it up digitally (it was written in the days before PCs, before word processors too, so he wrote the entire thing using a good old-fashioned typewriter). It's absolutely fascinating - I knew certain anecdotes about my dad's family, knew where people fitted into my family tree, the bare bones of the story, but now it's all coming to life. I feel closer to my ancestors, part of an ongoing narrative.

It's been a sad few weeks as well - Mark's Nanna passed away after months of ill-health, and it's the funeral tomorrow. Everyone grieves in their own way, but for me, as well as sadness, I feel the need to celebrate life too. It's made me think about the nature of family, and want to be close to mine so I can appreciate what they give me.

So this week's pleasure is my family; the family I was born into, the one I married and the one we've made for ourselves.

Year of pleasures #1

My old college friend (and now baby and blog friend) Aimee pinched this idea from her friend, who pinched it from Elizabeth Berg, and now I'm pinching it from her. The idea is to blog once a week or so on something that makes you happy, or that you're grateful for, as a way of looking on the bright side. It may be a little bit 'self-help book' for your tastes but I like the idea so tough cookies.

So I'll start with an obvious one - my two babies - who are happy (most of the time) and healthy (if a little snotty at the moment) and generally adorable (puke, right?). Logan told me last week, "I love Ella so much, I want to cuddle her all day and kiss her all day." I melt.