Bunting

A little birthday gift I created last week at the request of one of my oldest friends. I've known her for twenty years now and she requested red, white and cream bunting for her new kitchen. Here's how it turned out.

At the Back

Like many crafters out there, I've been enjoying displaying my embroidery efforts in the same hoop I used for the stitching. I'm sure there are lots of ways to finish off the back, but this is how I do it to give mine a neat, handmade finish ... just in case it's of use to anyone out there in the blog ether. [The embroidery I'm demonstrating with here is one I did last week for the baptism of a friend's little boy]

What you need ...

• Your finished embroidery & hoop
• Co-ordinated embroidery floss
• Co-ordinated ribbon
• Backing fabric
• Pinking shears
• A pencil
• Needle

one. Place your hoop on top of your embroidery and backing fabric. Use a pencil to draw a circle round the outside, about 1 inch from the outside edge of the hoop.

two. Use pinking shears to cut round this line - pinked edges won't fray as badly as straight cut

three. Place your embroidery circle right side down, place your backing fabric right side up on top, then pop the inner ring of your hoop on top of the two layers of fabric.

four. Now squish the whole thing into the outer hoop and tighten, pulling your fabric taut

five. Take your embroidery floss and stitch up through from the backing fabric side - this will mean your knot is hidden underneath when you're done.

six. Sew a running stitch all the way around the flap of fabric that is now sticking out the back of your hoop.

seven. When you get back to where you started, pull the floss taut which should bring all the flap in, and tie off.

eight. If you want to add a loop and bow, I usually do this by cheating and using two bits of ribbon. First, I tie a loop of ribbon round and hide the knot at the back of the screw.

nine. Then I use a second piece of ribbon and tie a bow round, which will also keep the loop in place and hide the knot away at the back. Voila. Easy peasy.

I Like to Ride my Bicycle

Mr Biddle grew up in Cambridge. Ergo, he is an excellent cyclist and extremely confident on two wheels. I grew up in hilly Lancashire, hilly being the operative word. So hilly in fact that at the age of seven, when at the time I might have described myself as a confident cyclist, I went too quickly down a hill, flew over the handle bars, and skidded head first down a steep path of gravel. I haven't been on a bike ride for about twenty years and am not a confident rider.

For Mr Biddle's recent 30th birthday, Little B bought him a baby bike seat so the two of the them could pedal off on adventures together. So for my birthday last month, they bought me a new bike in the hope of us all heading off on family trips. Here's the lovely lady ...

I was completely over the moon to have my own bike for the first time in almost two decades, but I have to admit I was also a little nervous - what if my lack of confidence with cycling meant I was too scared to use it. Then, every day since the blue beauty arrived, it has rained and poured and drizzled. The only chance I'd had to get on it was one quick, damp cycle round the block where I almost crashed into a recycling lorry. The signs were not looking good. But today, the rain stopped. So we climbed on our bikes, popped on Baby B's helmet, and set off along the canal to the village of Bathampton. And it was amazing. I loved cycling and quickly felt like I was that confident seven year old again. I don't think I'll be venturing on to any main roads any time soon but I used all the puddles to practice weaving in and out of tight spaces and my confidence grew by the pedal. Hoorah. Living so near to the beautiful Kennet and Avon canal means that there will be days out aplenty for the Biddle biking family.

In case you fancy riding a beautiful blue bike too, it is the Somerby by Victoria Pendleton for Halfords. Mrs B x

One Man Band

Mr B is, among other things, a musician. His main instruments are his voice and piano, but he's one of those annoyingly talented people who can pick up pretty much any instrument and manage to play something with it swiftly. Last year for example, he bought his first guitar and was playing like a pro before we knew it. As a result of all this musical prowess, he seems to gather instruments as he travels through life, either because he finds them on his adventures or because people donate them to him in the hope that their trusty old instrument will find a new lease of life. Here are two of his recent vintage acquisitions.

This Lorenzo organ sounds like an accordion on the flat. It came from a junk shop in Melksham, and for the bargain sum of £40 it has a fab sound and is a real story telling instrument. And it all parcels up beautifully into its case, with the legs unscrewing and attaching into the lid.

My stepdad declared his brass days were over and passed on his beautiful Louis Armstrong antique trumpet. The trumpet is, unusually, a lovely silver colour and is covered with delicate engravings. Mr B can now just about get a scale out of it.

For My Beau

For Mr Biddle's 30th birthday, there had to be a little homemade goodness in the mix of presents alongside the remote control helicopter and other boy gadgets I bought him. Here's what I came up with.

A guitar cushion to sit on the new sofa in his music room. I love a bit of rick rack - it's like manly ribbon isn't it?

 And a little embroidery for the music room too. The words are the title of a song Mr B wrote for me in the early days of our courtship, and still remain true seven years on.

A Chair Story

When Mr B and I had been dating for a couple of years but hadn't yet decided to move in together, I took him on a magical mystery trip to Sussex to visit an aviation museum (my boy loves planes), head to the seaside for fish and chips, visit a British vineyard, and see a good friend in a play in Chichester. After a beach walk in West Wittering we came across a junk shop and I spied four Harris Lebus chairs which I convinced Mr B we'd regret not buying. Now bear in mind that this was their original seat covering ...

... Absolutely hideous, eh? But I loved the wood and the shape, they were only £20 for the four, and I knew that with the help of a trusty staple gun, we could work some magic. So Mr B agreed - the proviso was that if we could fit them in the back of our ancient and tiny Peugeot 205, we'd get them. They fit. Hoorah. And they've been one of our best ever bargain buys. For the last five years they've been covered in one of my favourite ever thrifty fabric finds, a beautiful green floral print which came from a charity shop in Scarborough. But since our move in January, we've noticed holes appearing in the fabric through wear and tear, and it felt time to give the chairs a face lift (I will of course be salvaging the green floral to use for something else).

Taking our inspiration from Little B's Tripp Trapp highchair which is a vibrant fire engine red, we decided to use a mismatching red theme and picked out the following fabrics from my stash.

A retro Windhams fabric I picked up at the Vintage & Homemade fair last summer ...

This vintage rulers print from Country Threads in Bath ...

And a red floral print which was once a vintage skirt I bought which was far too big for me but I bought because I loved the fabric so much ...

There's still one chair left covered in the green floral for now which sits at my desk. I'll be a bit reluctant to say goodbye to that fabric altogether. But we're very pleased with how half an hour with a staple gun has given our kitchen a new look.

Thirty

My gorgeous, kind, talented, caring husband is now thirty. Phew - I am no longer dating a twenty-something! To celebrate, I threw him not one but two surprise parties and treated him, among other things, to the remote control helicopter he's always dreamt of. I think he was chuffed that even though he's now a proper grown up / husband / father, he can still play with the odd toy! Here's some pics from the prep for the first of his two parties, which took place on the actual day.