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A weekend in a Welsh cabin To celebrate my birthday last weekend Tom and I headed for a couple of nights in the Welsh countryside. I found a cute little cabin in mid-Wales (via Canopy & Stars) without TV or internet (hurrah!) with a log burner and only sheep for company.

Caban Coch (aka 'Red Cabin' as I found after checking a Welsh dictionary!) was decorated in a quirky vintage style and despite its small size was very well equipped with a cooker, mini fridge, double bed and shower. Plus the view from the window was beautiful, so it made for a really relaxing break. We spent a day at Aberdovey beach before heading to Dolgoch waterfalls. I had been here as a kid so it was really fun to go back and explore this Welsh 'rainforest' again. We bought some Welsh-cakes, played board games and cosied up in front of the log burner. Even when it rained on our final evening it just made us feel even cosier so it was a perfect mini getaway. Posted by Laura at 18:52 2 comments


Film Friday: Far from the Madding Crowd Plot Thomas Hardy's story is set in the fictional Wessex, and revolves around Bathsheba, a strong independent woman whose uncle leaves her his farm to manage. She is pursued by three very different men - Gabriel Oak, a sheep farmer,  Frank Troy, a mischievous soldier and William Boldwood, a wealthy bachelor. But Bathsheba doesn't want to be any man's property!
Guest appearances Carey Mulligan is great as Bathsheba, and Michael Sheen is also strong as Boldwood, although I wasn't quite as struck on the other male leads.Fun facts Carey Mulligan was allowed to ride her own horse in the film and ended up getting concussion which lasted throughout 6 weeks of filming.Overall I really enjoyed FFTMD; of course being a Hardy story there's a fair amount of tragedy (the film kicks off with a sad moment right at the beginning involving a flock of sheep!) The countryside scenes were beautiful and I have to admit I did do a fair share of 'aww'-ing when Gabriel gave her a pet lamb at the beginning- how can you say no to that, Bathsheba?!
Posted by Laura at 08:18 4 comments


Made: Cushion covers This blog was originally started as a way of documenting my creative projects and inspirations, but over the years I have let the 'make & do' aspect slip a little to the wayside. But moving house has meant the perfect chance for me to get creating again.

Since buying our burnt orange coloured armchair I wanted to make some cushions that were grey and orange to complement it, to go on our sofa opposite. I looked far and wide but couldn't find any fabric I really liked until a friend sent me a link to Miss Matatabi's fabric shop on Etsy. So many pretty patterns! And the postage was pretty cheap too. In the end I chose this Japanese fabric which I love. I bought the cushions at Primark a few years ago for about £1 each - this was the original tartan cushion cover, slightly naff ... but it took me a while to get around to replacing them!

I followed this tutorial to make cushions with an envelope seam, perfect if you want to use two contrasting fabrics for the front and back. Last week my neighbour April (who has a lovely sewing blog, Thimbles & Teapots) kindly gave me some spare fabric to use on the back of the cushions so I was all set!

My sewing machine was given to me by my Nan who used it back in the '70s, and I'm happy to say it's still going strong! Although I did have to replace the thread in the bobbin to begin with, which took me forever as I'd forgotten how to do it (a YouTube tutorial helped!). My sewing soundtrack was the new Sufjan Stevens album, perfect listening for a rainy evening.

I'm really happy with the final cushions (although I may invest in a rotary cutter next time as I found it hard to get straight lines when cutting the fabric). I'm glad I'm back in the creative loop and excited about more sewing projects now that I've dusted off my machine again! Posted by Laura at 16:26 2 comments


Film Friday: Cobain - Montage of Heck Plot Montage of Heck is a new documentary about Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. It's endorsed by his family and includes footage of Kurt as a toddler right through to home videos of him with Courtney and his own baby, Frances.
Guest appearances Apart from family, Courtney features, in past footage and recent footage. I did notice that Dave Grohl was strangely absent (edit: after some googling, apparently Grohl's footage was recorded too late on to make it into the film).Fun facts Montage of Heck was named after a mixtape Kurt made, which was released online last year featuring some of his favourite music.Overall This was a really good documentary. The animated sections worked really well and brought some of Kurt's drawings to life, though Tom and I pondered afterwards whether we'd be happy with some of our personal sketchbooks being revealed to the world or not. Some of the footage is a bit uncomfortable to watch too as it is so personal. But I did enjoy seeing early clips of the band, and the music still sounds great; I was reminded of just how good a songwriter Kurt was.
Posted by Laura at 08:15 3 comments As featured on...