My Daughter - The Crafter

We spent a VERY long day at our daughter's yesterday.  Dad laid down her wooden decking and then put up fencing around it which took from about 10.00 am until 7.00 pm (but only cos Jess and I helped for the last couple of hours or it would've taken longer).  We had a 6.00 am wake up call to get to her in plenty of time and didn't get back home much before midnight.  Boy those last few miles were a struggle.

I managed to spend some much needed time alone with Jess and I love that we share a passion for crafting.  Although our styles may be very different - we also share a love for some of the same things like sewing, Cath Kidston 'style' stuff, retro, cupcakes - that kind of thing so we always find interesting things to talk about.

I wanted to share a few pictures from yesterday.  Jess is lucky enough to have not 1 but 2 spare rooms which means one has been turned into a guest room and the other is being transformed into her craft room (I have just the 1 spare room so mine has to double up).

Jess has been visiting Ikea to help kit out her room and I just love her shelving and clever desk which is set up coming off from the shelves. She just turned 27 this year and still hasn't outgrown stuffed toys which is why she still has so many around.  She has cleverly situated her sewing machine on a shelf level with the desk so she can just slide it on over when she needs to sew.

This is how the opposite corner is shaping up and she still has loads of room to spare.  It is void of any real colour scheme as yet so we talked curtains and paint but she has some of that pretty Cath Kidston bunting she plans to put up.  It's all gonna look so pretty when she's finished.  She has plenty of wall space so she will probably surround herself with framed pages and artwork.  She is a scrapper mostly and not really into card making.

She is still deciding how to display things and what kind of containers to use and if she's anything like her mother she'll change her mind several times.  I had one length of desk space, then had hubby double it for me and now I want to take it back to half again plus I have new cupboard doors waiting for when he restructures my cupboards.  I built up my room to be 1/4 guest room and 3/4 craft room but have now decided I want it to be 1/3 craft room and 2/3 guest room.  Maybe because even with a purpose built space I still like to craft at the kitchen table!

While we were looking around her room and sharing she shared with me and gave me some more lovely CK fabric.  She really shouldn't cos it's quite pricey but she has a John Lewis in town so she keeps an eye out for me.

I was thrilled tho' as I actually needed more of the pink paisley fabric so I can make myself a matching bag and apron to go wth my 'catch all' tidy (I had just enough left for an apron but not the bag).  I am gonna enjoy playing with this.  Thanks sweetie!

Pretty soon the talk turned to baking and cupcakes.  I love sharing so many similar interests with Jess which makes it even more of a shame that we only see each other less than a dozen times a year.

This was her newest book and it was full of fabby ideas for cupcakes that she was keen to try.  Hopefully she can come stay a few days in a month or so and if I can get some annual leave we can have fun trying a few of these recipes out.  This book is super cool - check these out!

Can you believe these cupcakes that are made to look like a chinese takeout?  This book is full of lovely illustrations too so over the page shows you photos of just how to make that life like broccoli using chewy candy.  Not sure I'd want to go to this much trouble but this is so cool.

These 'apple' cupcakes were so darn cute and feature a very clever way to get that unique shape.  Aren't they just adorable?  This is definately the 'mother' of all cupcake books.

I treated her to a girly lunch just the two of us and then we found ourselves shopping in her local Hobbycraft store (she lives within walking distance and this is way too much of a temptation for her).  As thanks for all his hard work Jess later treated her dad and I to dinner at a fab buffet restaurant featuring food from around the world - her dad's favourite (he'll really miss this if she ever moves).

We had such a lovely visit with her but her poor ol' dad is aching today in places he never knew he had!  Those 'dad can you do' jobs seem to be getting harder on him these days LOL!