Hearts and Flowers

Yesterday was of course St Valentine's Day and I decided to have a very homemade valentines this year. A thrifty valentines, and a valentines that is full of real sentiment and real love.

Do you like my necklace? If you look carefully at my dress you'll see the polka dots are in fact little hearts too. Aaaaah.

And here is the first home-made valentines item. Little valentines cupcakes! Red velvet cupcakes in fact, to celebrate the Saint of luuurrrrve. The recipe is from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook, and was a really nice one to bake. The cakes came out PERFECT though my kitchen was a mess of red food colouring and icing sugar afterwards. The frosting is a cream cheese buttercream. NOM. I got this red plate years ago free with a tub of Flora.

The next home-made addition to Inverleith was these crochet hearts, strung across the fireplace in the lounge.
I forget where I got the pattern for these, I've made so many. The pattern is really simple:-

DK yarn and a 4mm hook
Chain 4, then slip stitch to form a ring
Chain 1, then 10 single crochet (or double crochet in UK terms) into ring
Slip stitch into first SC then in second SC, crochet five double crochet (or triple in UK)
One DC into next three stitches, then one half treble crochet into the bottom stitch.
Then reverse the pattern-one DC into next three stitches, five DC into next then slip stitch into top of the now heart.
The final round is in SC again. Chain one, slip stitch into first stitch.
In the next THREE stitches, do two SC. Then one SC into next four stitches.
In the bottom stitch add three SC, then reverse the pattern up the other side:
one SC into next four stitches, then two SC into next three. Slip stitch into the top and fasten off. The string is just a chain, with 15chs between each heart. EASY! And each one takes just five minutes, if that. Apologies to whoever this pattern is written by. Let me know if it's yours and I'll give you a full credit.

I had to take a picture of the baking process. These silicone cupcake cases from Tesco were just too pretty nestled in the muffin pan.

 And here is the final result! Creamy red cakes in their little rubber homes prettily displayed in my wire cake stand. And with a Loveheart popped on top of each cake!

For the rest of the day I made Darryl's favourite Shepherd's Pie, chilled a bottle of Prosecco. He came home from work with an armful of red roses, now proudly displayed on the dining table in a cream vase- they look divine. It's a pity they don't have a scent.

This was my Saturday activity while I waited for viewers coming to see Inverleith. Mmmm Crochet and Country Living- a match made in Heaven? I made some wrist warmers for my friend Nikki. It was her birthday yesterday and she had been hinting for ages that she'd like some. My friend Sarah is next! We went out on Saturday night for dinner, cocktails and boogieing at my fave boogie spot- the Bassment. Nikki eventually arrived dressed as a glamorous flapper girl- drenched in sequins and looking fabulous!

I purchased this glorious jug of heavenly flowers from the street market on Friday. Their flowers are amazing, Albie loved the colours while I parked him up to choose my blooms. I couldn't resist some hyacinths- the colours and scent of spring. They smell so incredible, it's intoxicating. I also loved these Paper White Narcissus- also a divine scent and they look so fresh and simple. SO pretty.

My blog will be kept short today as my little Albie requires attention. He has been off colour for a few days- lost appetite, very grumpy all the time- as he has a new tooth emerging. His sixth- can you believe it? He's not even nine months yet. This crawling, tooth-growing boy needs to slow down. he'll be a toddler before I know it! It's our nephew Theo's first birthday tomorrow so we're having a little party here at Inverleith on Saturday to celebrate. I can't wait to get the bunting and balloons out! I'll show my cake efforts next week.

Hope your valentines was everything you hoped for

xxx