Blog encounters of the nicest kind

One of the advantages of living a bit closer to home now is that my Mum can come and visit more often and we can leave the kids with her! She graciously agreed to look after all four so that Keith and I could have our first ever vacation without them to celebrate his birthday. We left Jersey on Saturday morning and by Sunday morning we were landing in the island's namesake New Jersey en route to a long weekend in New York.

In the few hours that we were at home we had the pleasure of meeting my very talented blog friend Kirsty and her lovely family for real. Her gorgeous and funny blog is one of my all time favorites. She was also the first person ever to leave a comment on one of my posts which means she has a special pace in my bloggy heart! As crafting crazed mothers of four writing about ex-pat life in France whilst photographing all that we do, we have a lot in common and with precision timing they happened to be practically passing our doorstep on their way to Versailles on the only evening we were in France this Spring Break. It all worked out perfectly and I whipped up dinner for twelve (just two families!) courtesy of our favourite fast but yummy Jamie Oliver recipe the sausage and tomato bake. Try it, you'll be glad you did. We like it best with French chipolatas. Miraculously with eight children running around, we managed to finish a few sentences and were still chatting away way past the kids', and our, bedtimes!


On arriving in a wet and windy New York, top of my places to visit was Purl Soho, store front for the legendary (in the craft blogging world anyway!) Purl Bee blog. The blog has been inspiring my stitching ever since I discovered the wonderful world of craft blogs and I have made many of the projects featured. Visiting the store and seeing the actual projects made for the blog was almost, but not quite, as exciting as meeting a blog friend for real!

The bulky baby blanket that the giant bunny in the window was sitting on was the first Purl Bee post I ever read and it inspired me to start knitting again so that I could make it for Florence.

The shop did not disappoint and I spent an age deciding what to buy. Keith was a good sport and helped me pick out co-ordinating colours, only escaping to the Mac store for a little bit! I came out with quite a stash which should keep me busy for a long time to come.


This colourful collection has already been pre-washed and cut ready to make a birthday outfit for Florence. In a truly craft crazed moment last week I signed up for the Kids Clothes Week Challenge. Spend an hour a day every day for a week to make something for your kids. Clearly I already have plenty to occupy me this week, but the Purl visit at the start of the week combined with Florence's birthday at the end of the week meant I just couldn't resist. Wish me luck!


I spent an hour or two on the plane home sewing in all those loose ends and stitching together this cardigan for Florence that I started before she turned one! A KCWC success - if it fits...