Friday 27 February 2015

London and Back

Big Ben

Last week Wednesday we had a long weekend over in England.

We went over because Jas, being the huge Harry Potter fan that she is, wanted to go and visit the Warner Bros Harry Potter Exhibition.

This we did.

I was worried that it would be a let down and that it would not live up to Jas's expectations (which were very high by the time we got there. She even had a shopping list of things that she "needed" to have!!)

Well, I needn't have worried, it was amazing, and actually trumped our expectations!

Being Warner Bros they had all the original props, including Diagon Alley.
They are having the animal actors on exhibition at the moment so we got to see Crookshanks, Fang, Hedwig, Errol and Pigwidgeon.

Warner Bros Studios Harry Potter


Hogwarts

Room under the stairs Harry Potter

Hogwarts Clock

Would I recommend that you visit it? Definitely!

It was worth every penny :)
We ended up being in the exhibition for a total of 4 1/2 hours.

The longest visit was over 12 hours apparently - I could see that happening!

Any gripes about the place?

Well, the Butterbeer didn't live up to what I thought it would taste like and the food in the Back-lot did not have me drooling for any more of it and battling to finish what I had on my plate :(.

But besides that it was incredible!

Other than Harry Potter we did the usual tourist tour as the girls have never been to the UK, so we did Madame Tussauds, the London Eye and the London Dungeons.

madame tussauds London

We ended our trip with a wonderful 2.5 hour trip to Sainsburys :)
There we managed to stock up on long lost favourites like an enormous Marmite or two, Jelly tots, Flake, Crunchies and a Crockpot ;)

My crock has seen better days, and travelling back and forwards around the globe it's buttons no longer want to do what I want of them, so I am a proud owner of a new Crock.

Breville Crockpot

I have been trying it out and have made a couple of meals in it thus far.

One amazing meal was a Chili recipe that I found on Pinterest.

You can read all about the recipe on our Homesteading Blog, and if you also have some tried and tested recipes from Pinterest we would love to have you link them to our Pinterest Linky Party.

Okay, I am off, I really N E E D to get to the end of my Juliana!

I wish you all a good weekend.
X

Thursday 26 February 2015

Tutorial Thursdays Month Long Linky Party

Tutorial Thursdays Month Long Linky Party

Welcome back to another month of linking fun!

You have a couple more days to show off your amazing Craft tutorials for this month!

I would love to see them, so share them below :)

This month there is no theme, and no feature. 

Feel free to link up all your crafts below.
I look forward to visiting all of the links I find below.

If you want a button for your side bar - here you go:

Marigolds' Loft

Thursday 19 February 2015

Tutorial Thursdays Month Long Linky Party

Tutorial Thursdays Month Long Linky Party

Welcome back to another month of linking fun!

February is the month of love, have you created any cool "Valentine" Crafts?

I would love to see them, so share them below :)

This month there is no theme, and no feature. 

Feel free to link up all your crafts below.
I look forward to visiting all of the links I find below.

If you want a button for your side bar - here you go:

Marigolds' Loft

Tuesday 17 February 2015

Book Review: The Ward

The Ward

ISBN: 9780857895868

When I saw that this title was written by two South African authors I really wanted to read it. The excerpt looked quite good and I hoped for a good read.

The book starts off well enough and it caught my attention for the first couple of chapters. Thereafter I just wanted to finish the book unfortunately.

The story-line is about two characters who end up in hospital in Johannesburg.
Lisa is a plastic op addict of sorts, and Farrell is unsure why he is there. 

The book turns into a weird Sci-Fi story that has a behind-the-scenes, and under-the-hospital, body-morphing and organ-stealing plot.

At this point I found the book to be incoherent with the rest of the story-line, and I found the "Zombie" language to be slightly annoying.

I would have appreciated a much more "down-to-earth" story as the beginning of the book had so much going for it.

For this reason I award this title:

2 Owls

You can find my Book Rating Scale in the side bar.

What have you been reading lately?


Friday 13 February 2015

Sew-A-Long Fun

Sew-A-Long

On Monday when I was browsing through my Instagram feed, I noticed that Libby @ Truly Myrtle had started a Sew-A-Long with fellow Instagramers to make an A-Line Skirt.

You may recall that I had showed you the above material and pattern in a post from the beginning of the year (you can find this post HERE), and so I thought this Sew-A-Long would be the perfect opportunity to get started on sewing these projects.

I didn't use the pattern that Libby mentioned, but used the one I had planned - New Look 6854.

new look 6854

I chose to make view B.

sew-a-long

denim A-Line Skirt

The skirt is made of a medium weight denim.

I didn't include the ribbon that should be on top of the skirt.

But.....I had to make a decorative hem! (I can not stay away from decorative stitching no matter how much I try)


denim skirt

With knitting I don't do the swatching (which I should) so it is the same with the sewing, no muslin skirt for me - I just went for it!

The result was that before I added the facing of the waist band I had to add two pleats in the front of the skirt as the waist was a bit too big.

I do like how it turned out though and wore it to work today.
It is a bit hard to see in the image below, sorry about that :)


My only gripe about this skirt......
It constantly rides up my leggings in the front :(

Do I really need to make a petticoat/slip to wear underneath it?
What do you do if your skirts do this? 

If you would like to join me on Instagram I would love that :)

You can find me as marigoldsloft

x

Online Sewing Class

Thursday 12 February 2015

Tutorial Thursdays Month Long Linky Party

Tutorial Thursdays Month Long Linky Party

Welcome back to another month of linking fun!

February is the month of love, have you created any cool "Valentine" Crafts?

I would love to see them, so share them below :)

I wish you all a Happy Valentines Day.
x

This month there is no theme, and no feature. 

Feel free to link up all your crafts below.
I look forward to visiting all of the links I find below.

If you want a button for your side bar - here you go:

Marigolds' Loft

Tuesday 10 February 2015

Book Review: The Martian

The Martian Book Review

ISBN: 9780091956141

This is a very untypical book choice for me but Andy Weir pulls it off!
Who would think that someone could write a whole 400 pages about a man stuck on Mars and still keep it interesting - well, apparently Mr. Weir can!

I saw this book on my Wednesday wander through all the Yarn Along posts and the story seemed like it would be something that could be worth a read.

It was!

 I kept finding myself thinking "Fascinating how interested I still am in this plot" :)

The story is about an astronaut who gets left behind on Mars through an unfortunate event and has to fend for himself until a rescue party can be sent to fetch him.

I found that the author managed to capture the Mars terrain and feel very well, and could relate well to his imagery. I felt that the way he described the events and surroundings to be very plausible (I am by no way even remotely clued up on how Mars could possibly look or feel) which made me root for the main character - Mark Watney - that much more. 

It was like going on an adventure in a Mars Rover with a very human astronaut as a guide!

A great read!

I am thrilled to see that the movie comes out in November this year (Matt Damon will be playing the main character which I think is a perfect fit for the book!) so if you would like to read the book before the movie, now is your chance!

I award The Martian:

4 Owls
You can find my Book Rating Chart in the Sidebar.

Monday 9 February 2015

Juliana Progress

The Ward

Can you tell that I really want to be done with my Juliana?

I have become once again a monogamous knitter and have put all thoughts aside of any other new projects, or waiting projects, until my Juliana is off the needles.

juliana

The sleeves are moving forward, slowly, but my consolation is that once I am done they will both be finished and I can finally get on to a new project!

I have to knit roughly 46cm of sleeve so with my measurement of this morning it still makes about 32cm, give or take, before I can bind off.

I plan to be very diligent for the rest of the week (I need to knit about 5cm per day) and have hopefully something new to show you next week.

The scary thing is, I actually haven't tried it on yet, so I have no idea what kind of fit it is, hold thumbs for me that all this work is not in vane!

Reading Wise: I finished The Martian yesterday morning and have subsequently started and am almost done with my new title - The Ward. I will tell you more about this book next week.
Tomorrow I will share my thoughts on the Martian with you.

Next week we are going with the girls to London for a couple of days and I can't wait for the trip. We have great stuff planned and I will share it all with you once I get back.

I hope you all have a great, creative week ahead of you!
x
I will be sharing this post with my wonderful Wednesday friends.

Craftsy

Thursday 5 February 2015

Tutorial Thursdays Month Long Linky Party

Tutorial Thursdays Month Long Linky Party

Welcome back to another month of linking fun!

February is the month of love, have you created any cool "Valentine" Crafts?

I would love to see them, so share them below :)

This month there is no theme, and no feature. 

Feel free to link up all your crafts below.
I look forward to visiting all of the links I find below.

If you want a button for your side bar - here you go:

Marigolds' Loft

Tuesday 3 February 2015

Book Review: And the Mountains Echoed

And the Mountains Echoed
by Khaled Hosseini
ISBN: 9781408842454

What an amazing book!

I think that Mr Hosseini is an incredible story teller! I loved the Kite Runner but was weary to read another book of his as I had quite high expectations after that title. But, wow, this book was just as good!
The author has a way of spinning a story web that keeps all his characters included and involved with their own independent story that fits and accompanies the general story line perfectly.

After finding myself bawling my eyes out at page 50 or so, I knew that I was in for a good read, and Mr. Hosseini did not disappoint. I loved the depth of the characters and felt for each individual of the story.

His stories are so filled with life, hardships, love and touches on a culture that we can only understand and see through first class novels like this one.

Upon reaching the last couple of chapters of this book, I found myself not wanting to read it all too fast but at the same time had to get through the torment I felt due to the characters life circumstances! 
So, bleary eyed, I finished this heart wrenching and heart warming title.

Needless to say I have already purchased the last of Khaled Hosseini's books I have yet to read "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and look forward to delving into that title in the very near future.

If you are looking for a book that has depth, and has that "can't-put-it-down" feeling attached to it, then this is a book I would warmly recommend.

I give this book:

5 Owls
(Book Rating Scale on my Sidebar)

What Title are you reading at the moment?
x

Monday 2 February 2015

Weekly WIPs

 wip

Another week begins and with it a new month :O

What have you been up to this past week?

Let me share what I have been doing with you all :)

First up - Juliana

Juliana

Hooray, Hooray, I am finally on the sleeves!
As you may know I am a big Second Sock Syndrome Knitter, so anything that comes in twos gets knit together these days!

2 x 2 rib sleeves

I managed to start my sleeves on Friday last week and am progressing nicely. They are knit in 2 x 2 rib which is nice and mindless. The only problem I am experiencing with knitting them together is that I have to continually thread one or the other yarn ball through the back section as it gets wrapped around my needle continuously. But as that is the only problem (it really isn't a "problem" if I think about it) I will suffer through till the end and I hope that end will happen soonish!

On the body of the project I have not yet unraveled all the dropped stitches but I think I will be leaving that until the sleeves are complete as I don't want to be catching them whilst knitting!

felted cat balls

My Cats are addicted to their felted balls that I make for them.
Each year I make about 8 of them and they carry them around like babies - it is so adorable. Our boy kitty constantly drags them outside and we are forever finding felted balls in the street, in the garden and in our neighbours yard :)

As last years supply of these balls has more or less run out, I thought that I would make some more this morning and I will see if the rest of the family each want to make 2 over the weekend so we have a good supply of them again for this year.

Once I had finished making them I placed them on the radiator to dry, but that is by no means a safe place. Our girl kitty woke up and grabbed them off there to begin her playday :)

No sooner had she started our boy was also there to grab his new toy :)
He will now carry this ball around with him for the rest of the day until he loses it under the TV or a bookshelf!

ball love

If you would like to know how I created these balls, you can watch my video where I explain the procedure to you - HERE

Here is a glimpse at some of the Instagram fun they have been having:


A video posted by Natalie Buehler (@marigoldsloft) on

Yesterday was our "Fasnacht" which we love to visit each year. I actually love it when it snows, more reason for a glass of Glühwein and something yummy and warm to eat :)

Thuner Fasnacht 2015

I love Fasnacht - do you celebrate something similar where you live?

A video posted by Natalie Buehler (@marigoldsloft) on

Reading Wise: I have finished "And the Mountains Echoed" (I will do a book review tomorrow) and have started reading "The Martian". I saw this title last week on a Yarn Along Participants Page and it looked really good. So far I am enjoying this book - as well as my new Kindle ;)

I wish you all a fantastic day and week ahead of you.
I will be sharing this post with all of my Wednesday friends.
See you soon
x

Craftsy

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