The Angel Hotel, Abergavenny

Our first stop on our wonderfully relaxing honeymoon was our favourite place in Wales – Abergavenny – and this time we stayed at the Angel Hotel in the centre of the town – just for a couple of nights to relax on their dinner, afternoon tea and breakfast package. The afternoon tea was simply amazing with lovely champagne, a ridiculous selection of teas and loads of tiny little cakes – Mr B even indulged me by letting me cut each one in half so we could each have a bit of everything!

We spent the rest of our time eating copious amounts of food, wandering around the Abergavenny Toy and Vintage Car Fair (we were so lucky it just happened to be on), sitting at the top of the Abergavenny castle moat staring at Sugarloaf mountain and taking lots of baths in our gorgeous slipper bath!

It was just so beautiful, like our own little bubble of sunshine that we wandered around in for the whole time…

We also visited The Hardwick, just up the road from Abergavenny, whilst we were there which was some of the best food I have ever eaten…but that’s for another day!

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Dreamalittle is now Mrs B!

Crazy as it may seem (and way too grown up as far as I am concerned) – I am now Mrs B. After our wedding last weekend we ran off on honeymoon for our UK tour and have just returned to reality to he most wonderful preview photo from our awesome photographer – Sam Docker…

I want more!!! If this is how the rest of them will turn out then I can’t wait!

Whilst the wedding being over is sad on the one hand, I’m so excited to get back to making stuff for others and being able to share some of my wedding crafting and just blogging about the wedding and life generally. It’ll be lovely to get back to a little routine and I have A LOT of ideas of things I want to make and do for selling and gifting to friends and family  :)

Our engagement shoot in Oxford…

Firstly, I’ve been rubbish, I know. I’ve been busy dieting and mostly making bits and pieces for our wedding which unfortunately means that I can’t share any of it on here hence the silence. The thing is, if I’m putting this much effort in to the little things, I want it all to be a surprise for the guests…who knows, it may even be a surprise to me – if I get in all done in time!

Secondly, and far more importantly, we met up this weekend with our wedding photographer – Samuel Docker – for an engagement shoot in nearby Oxford (mostly the Botanical Gardens) and I wanted to share a few of the shots with you.

I should mention that as a (sort of) reluctant bride I’ve been more than a little nervous about being pleased with how I look in the photos of our wedding – it’s not that I think I’m ugly in photos and I am sure that pretty much nothing will make me feel bad that day as I’ll be so happy that I’m marrying Mr B – it’s just that in photos I never,  ever look like I look in my head…I kind of like being ignorant of the reality and thinking I look better than I do

I thought that having an engagement shoot would help manage my expectations of what the wedding photos would look like, I know I won’t suddenly turn in to Rachel Weisz but I do have somewhat unrealistic dreams, although I was a little unsure about having one as I’ve seen some of the American ones on the wedding blogs I follow and they are CHEESETASTIC – like the kind of thing I imagine some of them put on holiday cards (a concept that I will never, ever be able to compute) and I did not want to be part of one of those!

I shouldn’t have worried though (how ridiculously often is that true?) – what the day ended up being was a great opportunity to meet Sam, calm my/our nerves a little and get a better idea of how to pose so I can be happier with our wedding photos.

We ended up really enjoying having our photo taken but I was still worried that the reality captured in the photos wouldn’t reflect what I thought they’d look like in my head. But Sam’s only managed to make me look better than I think I do in my head I only hope he can work the same magic on our wedding day!

There’s a post on Sam’s blog over here…

I resolve to be less rubbish…

Yes it’s been two months since my last post and yes I have been extremely rubbish in not writing a single thing in all that time – and for not actually making anything in that time! I didn’t even finish off my American road trip round up…I will get on to that this weekend…well try to.

My birthday was lovely, Christmas was relaxing, New Years a raucous blur etc etc etc. Fun was had but nothing got done!

The main issue at the moment is the number of things I seem to need to do and the amount of time that I have to them, my mind is willing but time and body conspire against me and I never get to do any of the things I intend to.

At the moment I am intending to

finish decorating our house (3 rooms down, 4 to go), make a stupendous amount of stuff for our wedding at the beginning of May, lose at least a stone by having only 1200 calories a day and finish some of the numerous quilting/sewing projects that I started last year.

Even typing that has worn me out! But my resolution, above and beyond all the other things I need to get done in the next 4 months is to be generally less rubbish, more proactive and GET THINGS DONE!

That is all.

 

Another wedding quilt – Congratulations Claire and Simon!

 

Back in wedding season once again and an old friend from uni just got married (congratulations!), for their wedding gift I’ve spent the last few months creating a quilt which I hope they like and get a lot of use from.

I found some wonderful fabric from Moda called Good Fortune that just yelled to me wedding quilt. I created blocks of 2.5cm cubes and then sewed these all together to form a large cot sized quilt/foot warmer quilt for across the bottom of the bed. I then backed it in a vintage bed sheet – flowery blues and greens and bound in a upcycled white and green cotton pillowcase. This was then all quilted together using a grid pattern. Hopefully it gets lots of use and love or years to come!

Detail of the quilt top

Embroidered detail

Close up of the backing with the quilt label

Front and back of the quilt

Detail on the quilt

Quilt folded up and ready for wrapping

 

If you are looking to give a unique gift to someone for their wedding/birthday/anniversary etc then perhaps you would be interested in a quilt? I take commissions and would be very happy to discuss ideas if you have a particular fabric or style in mind, get in touch!

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Meat free week – Day seven

I completely forgot to take a picture of my rainbow rice dinner – an Abel and Cole recipe. But I thought I’d share with you a much better picture that I took yesterday…

My beautiful engagement ring

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The Q day pictures…well the Ewing wedding

So Saturday was a little bit of a crazy day, started drinking at about 5 and didn’t stop till past 1 in the morning – I am WAY too old for this malarkey! I still feel hungover now but it was worth – had such a good time. Just wish I was the one going on honeymoon today (not jealous in the slightest of course – just need a holiday!!).

A few pictures of the lovely day…

The groom and Mr B

The beautiful Ellie

The lovely couple

Mr B looking worse for wear

Why?!? A picture in the toilet – of course!