One of the reasons we all congregated in Bristol over Easter was to all be together to go through Nan's house contents. She lived in a little bedsit by herself so there wasn't a lot there.

It was so nostalgic going through all the photos, birthday cards, postcards that we had all given her over the years.

She was such a hoarder and we discovered photos that we'd never seen before of family members that we had no idea who they were.

Like any elderly person she had collected a lot of bits and pieces, some of which unfortunately weren't fit for much. But there were also some real treasures.

One such treasure was bequeathed to me...

Her sewing box and all it's contents.

And just look at all these contents. Vintage heaven! I did have to wade through the mountains of worn out and beyond use items, but what absolute treasure she had collected.

We just don't manufacture things how we used to. The care and attention to detail on packaging way back when is indescribable and is so evocative of days gone back.

Thank you Nan for leaving me your valuable treasures and thank you Sister-In-Laws for not being sewers so didn't stand a chance!

When the date for Will & Kate's wedding was first announced and it became apparent that we were getting another 4 day weekend, my initial reaction was "What, so soon?" I was not only to be juggling 3 weeks of different school holidays, Easter long weekend, trying to keep up with orders so soon after BCTF, but I was now being told there was going to be even more disruption to our routine.

I didn't anticipate quite how relaxing it was going to be having yet another 4 day weekend. It has been the absolute best.

It started off with us having a fantastic time sipping bubbles at 11am, watching the wedding with friends. Didn't Kate just look amazing? She was just born for the role and I think she is going to be fantastic for the Monarchy. Well, that's my opinion anyway...

On Saturday we had a day trip to York, which involved a walk along the walls, shopping (for me), ice-creams, a picnic in the park and a leisurely ride along the river in a little motor boat. Life really did feel good.

By yesterday we really were in holiday mode and it felt fantastic to wake up yet again and ask "what shall we do today?"

A trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park was in order. It is my absolute favourite place in Yorkshire. It's very easy to get to from us and is just big enough to feel you can see everything, without being too large to feel you are missing out on bits.

The exhibitions change several times a year, so even though we go on a fairly regular basis, there's always something new to see.

There is an amazing exhibition on at the moment. Probably the best I have seen there. The work is by a Spanish artist, Jaume Plensa. The work is incredibly tactile as well as visual and appealed to the children as much as it did us grown-ups (particularly with the search for rude words within the letter statues!)

Whilst I absolutely love taking the children to YSP and opening their eyes sublimely to art (there's always a football accompanying our trip there to disguise it as merely a cultural outing), I always come away yearning to revisit the exhibition by myself and take more time over it all.

Whilst the enormity and detail of the sculptures themselves in this exhibition were incredible, I came away falling in love with this etching with the most wonderful Martin Luther King quote:

'faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase'

I was very tempted to bring it home, but at £350 I resisted.

I'm not sure if it was the weather, having time to enjoy life, not working, not shlepping kids to various activities or whether I actually enjoy my family's company more than I thought. Whatever it was, I'm a converted advocate of the 4 day weekend and here's to the next, whenever that may be.

I am very much made up of contradictory elements. On the one hand I fail to cross the finishing line when I am almost there. On the other hand I get a bit obsessed so when I have something in my head I have to get on with it.

At least the advantage of the latter is I get things done.

Hence the making of cushion number 2 in double quick time.

Thank you for all your comments and ideas for this second cushion.

I decided to go for using a piece of the first fabric but incorporating the grey too.

I'm really pleased with how this second one has turned out and how they look together. In fact I'm liking them so much that I think I'm going to have to do the same combination in our bedroom.

Or is that overkill?

I just can't bear to have this gorgeous fabric in the place in the house that I pass fleetingly without stopping to admire and appreciate.

I suppose I could always take my coffee break in one of the seats...

How was your Easter weekend? Great I hope.

We have just come back from the best weekend ever. We went to visit one of Matthew's brother's who lives in Bristol. The other bro and his family came over too. We get along just brilliantly. (Take a look at us girls here). I couldn't ask for better sister and brother-in-laws. Really, I couldn't.

And what's more all the cousins, ranging from my big boy Sam at almost 14, down to little Luka at almost 3, are so close and love spending time with each other. They are a great team.

And what's more (just gets better and better, hey?) they all let me indulge myself by being my willing guinea pigs in crafting activities.

I'd brought along freezer paper, fabric paints and bags for a little activity yesterday afternoon and as if they'd be prepped by the other Mum's and Dad's - "you know what Auntie Karen's like. Just humour her and play along..." - they all sat willingly to 'play'. They continued to play along, even when I made them sit and work out their design properly before letting them lose on the freezer paper and paints.

Even Anastasia, aged 4, took it in the spirit that it was meant to be taken...

The boys were surprisingly keen. Hardly surprising. They've know Mummy/Auntie Karen for long enough.

They were only supposed to do one each (at Auntie Ruth and Auntie Alex's request to do one too) but as you can see they all loved it so much that they wanted to do a second. I was so impressed with what they've produced. It was such a fantastic afternoon and a great activity to do with them all as, despite taking some effort and concentration, results were pretty rapid and immediate.

And the bags came in pretty useful for our next activity - having something to carry home the precious rocks in that they had all collected in the rock pools by the beach.

I don't know about you, but I am so slow with finishing touches. I'd like to think it's because I don't like to rush things and like things to come together organically, working out what would work in a space.

Quite frankly I think it's because I'm not good at the finer detail.

However, in an Etsy perusing mood last week, I hit on this fantastic piece of fabric by the uber talented Heather of Skinny Laminx. This has long since been an absolute fave piece of fabric of mine and something that day connected with my brain and told me to buy it right now to make the much needed cushion for the newly appointed hallway.

Heather's fabrics tick every single box for me...

hand-printed...

crisp linen...

simple eye-catching designs...

lots of greys and yellows.

Even without seeing this fabric in the flesh I knew it was going to work perfectly in this space. It compliments my hand-printed wallpaper by Missprint beautifully.

I used some of my new Ikea grey linen for the backing, which I binded with another new (to me) Ikea fabric, the pretty ditsy daisy.

I love the splash of colour here in the hallway and I love the fact that the space is just about complete. I say just about because as you can see there's a second chair that needs a little Skinny Laminx treatment. The question is do we go for a cushion in the same colour and design or same colour, different design? Me being me I'm all for a different design. I'm not too good on matchy matchy.

What do you reckon? If this was your space, what would you do?

It's that time again. The next Grey Circles is in just 2 weeks. Something to look forward to after the mayhem of interrupted time due to school holidays, Royal Weddings and Official Bank Holidays.

If you fancy some 'me' time after all that, then grab a place on our Children's Clothes Workshops on Saturday May 7th.

You will learn to make a top or tunic, along with a pair of trousers for any age from birth to 8 years. We ran the workshop back in February and it was a great success, both meeting great people and learning new skills. These designs are perfectly suited for summer clothing, so come along and design something unique for the children in your life to wear and enjoy all summer long. All you need to do is turn up and we'll provide everything else; including machine, all the fabrics you will need, lunch, tea, coffee, cakes, everything to enjoy the perfect day away learning new skills and meeting new friends.

Need to know anything more? Just contact myself or Manda for further information.

Ready to book? Go straight here and we look forward to having you join us.

Whilst we are on the subject of spring and garden's and enjoying our beautiful weather here in the UK (sorry Aussie's heading towards winter) let's just stick to the theme of flowers for one more day.

I'd mentioned that my garden and particularly my deck needs some attention and colour leading into summer, so yesterday, when I walked up to the local florists to get Passover gifts for family we are visiting over the next few days, I put in a few sneaky purchases for us.

These daisy plants just sang out to me and I can just picture them re-flowering throughout the whole summer. They depict summer perfectly to me and I'd already decided I fancied lots of fresh white and yellow on the deck.

I'd seen some mini ones of these and already thought a row them in yellow would be fun filled with an abundance of white flowers.

Then I placed my daisy pots in my flower stand, which my lovely Grandma bought us for a house warming gift and decided that this filled with the white daisies would get the look I was after too.

So my 3 pots are a start - it's amazing how many plants you actually need before you start noticing them - and pretty soon the deck will be my summertime solace and if the sunshine continues, then all will be good.