Today we played "restaurant"...yummi ;  )

My shop is now open.

Today is sunny but there will be some clouds soon... in my shop ; )

I needed a child-friendly coffee table so I made this one with crocheted organic wool, luckily I found the perfect 
tray that goes with it...but the children use it either as a surfboard or as a flying saucer!

I love so much this house. 

Go here to see more:Bliss: my happy place: the work of eck macneely architects inc.

This is what showed up in my letterbox...thank you Ana :)

Today we stayed in so I had to keep little fingers busy...baking time! 

We made chocolate and rose cupcakes, messy business but in the end we made it 

(next time I won't do them brown...).

RECIPE (makes 12)

You will need:

for the sponge: 100gr plain flour, 20gr cocoa powder, 140gr caster sugar, 1and a half tsp baking powder, pinch of salt, 60gr unsalted butter, 
120ml whole milk, 1 tsp rose water.

For the frosting:125gr cream cheese or mascarpone cheese, 180gr icing sugar, cocoa powder (enough to achieve a nice colour).

Prepare a 12 hole cupcake tray lined with paper cases. Preheat the oven to 170C, (325F), Gas 3.

Put the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, salt, butter (at room temperature) and mix with your hands (old school) or use an electric mixer
(beat on slow speed) until you have a sandy consistency and everything is well mixed. 
In a jug, whisk: milk, egg and rose water and slowly combine with the flour mixture until you get a smooth consistency, 
be careful  of not overmixing. Spoon into the paper cases and bake for 20-25min or until the sponge bounces back. Leave the cupcakes to 
cool for 10min before turning onto a wire cooling tray to cool completely. Decorate as you wish...enjoy :)

I'm sewing something with this fabric...I will show you what it is soon.
Happy weekend to you.

There was a surprise in my letterbox this morning,  what it is?

More granny squares...this time it's a cushion cover. It still needs the fabric for the back. 

I quite like the combinations of pastel colours with browns and white.

Some day, like today, it would be better to do nothing :(
So to cheer myself up I went to my local bookshop and I bought this book: V&A Pattern, The Fifties. 

Feeling better already :)

Here we are: mamma Alessandra, Anita, Gingi and papa' Daniele (although Anita and I are brunette, Gingi is

a black and white moggy and Daniele doesn't have moustache but the hair styles are not too far from reality 

for the three of us!).

Gingi is a recent addition, he gatecrashed the house and never left.

By the way, I bought the rag dolls in a car boot sale for 50p and the dear lady who sold them to us said:
"bye bye family, you were so much loved". So sweet.  :)
The background is a map of London that I used to cover my daughter's chest of drawers,  
as a memento of were she was born.

I'm very fond of buttons, I collect them and the very precious one, the old and stained, the ones that once

belonged to someone else are the most treasured. Like these ones.

I'm making a blanket for Anita (my 4 years old daughter) and I know I need trillions of these little squares, 

not to mention all the threads I have to hide... I will finish it one day...eventually.

Look at this amazing textile exhibition at Renilde's. 

Super cute Papier Mache magazine is out with works of Gini, Elisabeth, Barbara and much much more. 

Eye candies everywhere ;-) hurray!

This "trendy chale" from Mlle Sophie it's absolutely a pleasure to make, the wool it's so soft that I can barely

stop knitting. Here how to make it and here your chance to become the owner of a chale made by Mademoiselle 

Sophie herself.

The sky from my window, this morning.

But of course...a mouse lives in the house!

Who lives in this house?