Six years married

Today is mine and Gareth's six-year anniversary. Yikes. Where have those six years gone?! Never mind the eleven we have been together.

So I just wanted to reminisce and share a few wedding photos and memories of our special day, a Saturday just like today.

Me and my late granddad, who gave me away

My favourite photo of the day

Our beautiful cake

Awkward first dance!

And I have also managed to dig out a few pictures of some of the things I made for our wedding, which included the stationery, table plan, favours and even confetti cones.

Rose petal confetti

Table plan, in our colour scheme

My lovely bridal bouquet

It's funny, but looking at these photos now, if I were to be getting married any time soon, I would have a completely different wedding! I mean, I loved our wedding, it was lovely and I wouldn't change a thing about it, but styles and tastes have really changed in six years, particularly mine! That's the problem with my job, every day I see a gorgeous new bridal dress and finishing touches to die for and I get wedding envy (is that even allowed when you have already had your wedding?! Lol!) I would have a different colour scheme completely, a more fitted dress, probably with lace, and I would spend more time being choosy about our venue, things like that. But then aged just 22 (far too young!), paying for most of it ourselves (ambitious!) and me being a little bit pregnant (ok, 14 weeks - but we had been planning the wedding for 18 months before I hear shouts of "shotgun wedding" in my direction!) I should probably be grateful for what we had lol! Maybe I could have another mini wedding blessing when we get to ten years married, and have our two handsome boys as best men, hmmmmm. I'd certainly like some more photos of just the two of us in our wedding attire as we hardly have any, and none really stunning or romantic ones that I would enlarge and frame and hang on the wall. Sigh.

Guess I'll have to make do with this one for now, taken at my brother-in-law's wedding three weeks ago.

Happy anniversary babe, love you.

xXx

Oh! What a week!

Sorry for not been around so much this week, it has been a crazy week that started last Saturday like this...

Sam, the lovely bride-to-be

Shakey shakey!

Fellow bridesmaid Tracey with her winning creation

Moi

Sam & Johnny Depp (she wishes!)

Book of memories & wishes

It was my bestest friend's hen day, organised by yours truly, and thank goodness it went down a storm! We spent a few hours at a lovely hotel spa, chatting in the pool, jacuzzi, sauna and steam room, then we had a fabulous cocktail making class at the London Cocktail Club, which I would recommend to anyone, it was absolutely awesome! Then we had a gorgeous meal and more cocktails at Roadhouse and to top it all off we went to see Grease the Musical, which was brilliant.

The next day I presented my bridal shrug, plus the one I made for the other bridesmaid Tracey in a colour to match our dresses, and I'm pleased to report that they went down well too. We also lunched out and went to Rigby and Peller for a special fitting, followed by a whizz round Harrods and the coach journey from hell back home. Ah well, it was worth it!

Then Monday was my birthday, and this led to all sorts of silliness at work...

Birthday goggles, made by my sister

Chocolate birthday cake, from my dad

And the rest of the week was spent dining out with different friends to celebrate my birthday, and last night I managed knit night at Baa Ram Ewe where Louisa Harding was giving a talk and showcasing her new yarns and patterns, as well as the new shop season launch. Followed by a yummy meal at Wok On next door. Needles and noodles! Heaven!

New Rosetti yarn - scrummy!

Rachel wearing a lovely chunky pattern from the new book

Dinner, nom nom!

I didn't spend too much, thank goodness, but I may have bought this lovely purple yarn to start this gorgeous capelette for autumn and winter, which seems to be coming round a little too quickly for my liking.

(yarn on the left - the brightly coloured yarn is for my monster toy, more on that later)

Pattern here.

So, as you can see, busy busy busy! And now it's the bank holiday weekend, we have out and about plans, hubby has overtime and it's our 6th wedding anniversary tomorrow. Yikes, where has the time gone?!

xXx

Pretty things

It has been such a busy week craft-wise - and it's only Tuesday! Yikes!

Last night I was lucky to attend a special Amy Butler night at LYS (local yarn shop) Baa Ram Ewe, with a special guest appearance from the fabulously talented lady herself. It was a busy but really enjoyable evening spent peeking behind the scenes at her beautiful offices and home and drooling over her new fabric, wool and wallpaper ranges. If only my budget was so unlimited. Sigh.




I didn't actually buy any Amy Butler products (that is quite disgraceful!) as I wanted fabric for my new bedroom (no, still not quite there - I don't think it ever will be lol!) and her fabrics are just too bright for the pastels in there, but I did buy these lovely fabrics in various different sizes. Love love love!




They will become cushions and possibly recover my dressing table stool shortly - but not this week at least. Because I am crazy busy organising the mother of all hen events for my best friend Sam, consisting of four different but equally fabulous parts - and she doesnt have a clue about any of it! Organising it has been fun but not too easy seeing as I don't know the city (London) or most of the hen's friends. But I think we are nearly there now, which is good as it all kicks off this Saturday! I can't wait!

I have also been busy knitting up Sam's bridal capelette, plus two more for me and the other bridesmaid Tracey, ready for Sunday when I will be having my dress fitting and Sam will be buying her undies at the gorgeous Rigby and Peller. I'm going to cry seeing her in her stunning dress again! And here is her matching capelette - I really hope it matches and fits.




Sorry for the poor quality photo, I haven't seen daylight at home for three days because of Amy Butler night yesterday and knit night tonight. I will try get some better ones before it goes off to it's recipient, and maybe even some from this weekend if you're lucky! :)

xXx

Knitted baby vest

Finally got round to weaving in the millions of ends on my knitted baby vest top, and getting it photographed in some natural daylight... and here's the result:

I really enjoyed making this, and I'm so pleased I managed to work the shoulders and arm holes without help or too much difficulty - and they look quite neat too, hurrah!

 P.S. Do you like my brightly-coloured new table cloth - it was only £3 for one metre in Dunelm Mill and is worth every penny to protect my table from the boys' dinner/crayons/glue!

I think this one will be heading off in the direction of Naomi's baby boy, who is for now nicknamed Smudge, although I might make a couple more for other friends who are expecting (oh, that's pretty much everyone right now!) I think I need to find a suitable baby girl project too (or maybe I could knit the above in pink? Hmmmmm.)

The weather has been so rubbish for weeks now, so we haven't really done as many fun outdoor things as we'd planned to. It's bucketing it down again today, so we are stuck indoors and B.O.R.E.D. (hence the reason for middle-of-the-day blogging).

So on that note I'm going to try and get a few things done, and as with some of my fellow bloggers, who I follow, I'm going to write my to-do list here in the hope it may actually motivate me to complete a few items. So here goes:

1) Finish the paint touching-up in our bedroom (yes, still)
2) Sew and hang the second and final roman blind using the pretty rose fabric I bought (might have to borrow my sister's sewing machine again though if mine doesn't play nice)
3) Take photos of the finished room (I am so close now promise!)
4) Plough through the washing pile (ahem, mountain)
5) Scrap at least one layout (it has been too long - again)
6) Decide on a new knitting project and cast it on (just don't seem to be motivated to do this, I don't know why)

Right, so if you see me online please kick me off to get some of the above done, and hopefully next time I blog I'll be able to cross a couple of those off (here's hoping!) :)

xXx

Wedding photos

Here they are, as promised, a few pictures from my brother-in-law's lovely wedding on Saturday.

Beautiful dress - love the length!

Back of said beautiful dress

Sumptuous cheese cake - literally!

Cutting the cake - force needed!

First dance

Alex catching bubbles

I have loads more to polish up and give to the happy couple and family members. The white marquee was perfect for taking photos with all that lovely natural but diffused light, and many of my photos show off the colourful bunting and it really does frame the shot nicely in them. It was definitely worth the time and effort - not to mention the blood, sweat and tears - I poured into it.

So all that's left to say for today is congratulations to Andrew & Kat and I will be back tomorrow, hopefully having finished my knitted baby vest top so I can share a photo or two.

xXx

In the Bath

Oooops, no photos of the wedding to show you yet as they are still all on the D80. I shall post them tomorrow. But I can tell you we had an absolutely awesome day. The wedding was wonderful, the bride gorgeous, the food and drink delicious and the company great. And the boys were total angels all day, they charmed the pants off many of the guests. It was a fab day.

And today has been pretty sweet too. Despite Gareth having man flu, groan. We went into Bath to meet up with other family members and spent the afternoon lunching on Italian food, browsing the kitsch kittle shops and spotting random decorated lions as part of the Lions of Bath charity display.



This one was my favourite, designed by (as if you can't guess!) Cath Kidston. Talking of which, we also went in here...


... and I may have bought a couple of little bits in the sale, ahem.







A button box and pin cushion, seeing as both those things usually end up scattered across my floor.

I also took a photo of the All Saints store for my mum, who wanted to see one after hearing about their window displays of old Singer sewing machines.



And now we are just heading out of Bristol and heading Leeds-bound, and it's my turn to do the driving (or rather it will be after the first stop). And that means no knitting like on the way down here, which reminds me that I finished my baby vest top just as we arrived the other day, so I'll take and share pics just as soon as I've added a button and sewn in the umpteen loose ends.

So, here's hoping for a safe journey back and I will catch up properly tomorrow, hopefully. Byeeeee!

xXx

Stressed. Out.

Today has been ridiculously stressful. Everyone is mad busy preparing for the wedding and irritable and snappy. Mix in two naughty boys and a husband who seems to be deaf to our voices equals a not very happy Natalie. And I'm sure tomorrow will be even more fun seeing as I'm being left alone to get myself and the boys ready in the morning and G is on best man duties all day. Sigh. I wish I was home chilling out on MY sofa, sleeping in MY bed and not having to worry about pleasing everyone else - its impossible anyway. I'm just in desperate need of some 'me' time and a long sleep right now and it ain't gonna happen. :(



On the bright side, my bunting did just the trick in the marquee, brightening it up no end. We had just enough for the space - talk about jammy! And it looks even better with the tables covered and decorated.








All that's left to do now is get Harry to go to sleep, eat, for the first time today, alter G's trousers, iron all our outfits, oh, and sort G's best man speech. No, he still hasn't done it despite weeks of me getting on his case about it. Don't know why I bother.

Will try to update Sunday about how it went, hopefully with a few pics. Until then, wish me luck, I'm sure as hell gonna need it.

xXx

Triangles of doom

Thank goodness that's done. The bunting I had to sew for my brother-in-law's wedding is done. Finally. I didn't realise quite how much time it would take to do, and time ran away with me and I started later than I should have done, and my sewing machine has been a nightmare, which has meant me working all day and pinning and sewing until 1am for the last four nights. Coupled with the five-hour drive down to Bath today I am absolutely shattered. I'm not quite sure how I am still awake and able to blog as I can barely see - but I'll be in trouble with Rachel if I don't lol! I will take some photos of them hung up tomorrow or Saturday and post asap.

In the meantime here's one pic for you, it's me at our fortnightly knit meet-up, which has been re-located to Starbucks at the top of Briggate while West Yorkshire Playhouse has some down time over summer
I really should have been at home sewing, but I figured I'd stay until just past the boys' bedtime as I'd never get anything done with them around anyway and I just really needed an hour or so off to take my mind off it with friends and do something else. I'm glad I did. And if I ever see another fabric triangle in my life it will be too soon.



And the item I'm knitting there I finished just as we pulled up at our destination having finished it on the drive down. It's a baby boy's sleeveless top, and I'm so proud I managed all the shaping without help or without quitting or getting stuck. It looks so cute. I'll post a picture one I attach the buttons and sew in the ends once back in Leeds. But what to start on the journey back, another top or a cute monster? Hmmmmmm.

But back to the matter of Starbucks, look what I got on the way down. Chocolate frappucino, yum!



And a chocolate-dipped marshmallow stick (I had one of those at knit night, yum!)


And only one blurred picture of Harry as he had become camera shy!


Hope I can get some good photos on Saturday, especially as all four of us have had our hair cut and look pretty darned good (this never happens!)

Right, I'm off to crash, laters.

xXx