The blackbird

At last someone's opened up a lovely little Tea and Coffee Shop right round the corner from where I live. It is everything you could want from a Tea shop. Quaint, pretty, full of comfy sofas and blankets, original fire place and lots of choice in tea and cake! Even the book shelves are stacked with craft and gardening books. I absolutely love it and shall be frequenting it regularly on my day off instead of my usual Cafe Neros visit. I'm even thinking of trying to gather some people together to start a knit and natter there. It would be a perfect venue - I wish you could join me!

My favourite spot

Very creative and friendly staff

Yummy cakes

Little chairs and toys for little people

A nice selection of loose teas

A window seat or....

A comfy place to bring a friend and do a little spot of knitting!

Speaking of knitting, on my needles at the moment are next years Christmas presents! Don't groan. It's just that as some of you already know, I love knitting whilst watching Larkrise to Candleford when its rotten weather. When the weather changes I like to be out and about or sewing instead so I'm making the most of these long wintery months. I can't show you exactly what I'm knitting because I don't want to spoil any surprises but I can give you a sneaky peak. They are all very cheery colours and the pattern is lovely and relaxing now I've got used to it!

At the Seaside Stitchers group I go to on Mon nights we had a talk about couching. (For anyone not into embroidery this is using stitch to anchor down yarn, wool, or other materials to fabric and is very versatile) I have done some before but it was a very inspiring evening. Some people in the group had done some amazing work and I borrowed a lovely book called Stitch Magic by Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn. So as soon as I get some spare time I'm going to try some more couching onto felt. I'll let you know how it goes.

I hope you have some little crafty project on the go and are enjoying it as much as I am. x