All You Need is Soup

Kinda like the Beatles song but not quite....

Brrrrr where did August go?! Come back!! Don't get me wrong, I love Autumn, I really really do, but I'm just not ready for it yet, like the majority of people I know. It's been really rather cold, and given that it's August I can't legitimately put the heating on, right?

Sometimes all it takes is soup. Using this recipe (my absolute favourite by the way) I made lentil and bean soup yesterday before hubbie arrived back from an exhausting (in a pleasurable way) weekend at the Reading Festival. So being a good little wifey I welcomed him back with a clean house and some hot soup (procrastination from the thesis really can transform a person I've found...)

We got the lovely Le Creuset bowls as a wedding present, this is their first use!! The lid is particularly inspired as it keeps the soup warm whilst I faff before I sit down, and prevents me from spilling anything (no mean feat). And here's the soup itself:

Nom nom nom.

I had a lovely weekend at the spa for our friends' hen do (somewhat more civilised than the Reading Festival activities!) with a relaxing facial, pedicure, and lots of jacuzzi time. Bliss. When I got back on Sunday the Thesis was the last thing I felt like doing so I delved back into Mollie Makes Crochet......

I used Drops Safran yarn with a 3.5mm hook, these were the only colours I had so it was an easy choice. I wasn't so sure about the combination at first but now I really like it, it's different to other versions of the pattern I've seen this far. AND even C liked it (he has a slight doily phobia for some reason, I'm working on it). He even let me put said doily under his precious whiskey decanter (another wedding present) high praise indeed! I have been sworn to a 'no more doilies' mantra, but I'm not so sure about that...

I made another version of Regina's wonderful cake (here) this time with plums, absolutely scrummy! I really am becoming a procrastination master... but that is no good! I have so much still to write, edit and rewrite that I think my mind has just shut down. I feel like the girl in this picture I bought from my favourite artists in Berlin (here), weighed by time and drowning...

On a more cheerful note, after the wedding of our friends this weekend C and I are off to Berlin on Monday. Again! He is at a conference and I am slumming it in his hotel room and using the library, very excited to be back, it seems like a minute since I left though! I'm still working on my shawl for the wedding and hope to have a ta dah moment by Friday otherwise it looks like I will be very cold on Saturday...

Cs on Sunday

Yesterday the biggest C in my life was occupied on the golf course so I indulged in some blissful uninterrupted 'me-time'. I love lazy Sundays, they're something of a rarity at the moment so I seized the moment gladly with hands wide open.

I happily settled myself on the sofa with some of my old friends, including 'Bridget Jones' and 'When Harry met Sally' and Bella cat, one of the furry Cs in my life, looked optimistic...

Poor Bella cat, she was most perturbed when she was unceremoniously plonked on the floor in favour of some WIPs! I plodded on with the cowl I've had on the hook for far too long now. I'd started to find it a bit tedious to be honest, very slow and repetitive. So I don't know if my Ta Dah! moment was actually because it reached the length I was aiming for or because I just got a bit fed up...

nevertheless it is very snuggly and warm. I shall enjoy it in a few more months (although today is somewhat chilly so maybe I should use it right away!)

I also dug out my WIP that makes me feel ashamed. A few months ago I was blogging about cross stitching a gift for a baby due in the family... Well said Baby is now a month old and the cross stitch piece is still rather unfinished! I'd managed to go wrong twice the last time I had it out so I unpicked and restitched a bit and now intend to try and get it done this month... watch this space!

I've enforced a 'no wine whilst cross stitching' rule as I fear that a glass may have clouded my counting abilities!

My next C is more crochet.... coasters! I love picking up inspiration from blogland and when I read Deb's post here a week or so ago I promptly lined the coasters on my 'to do' list. I loved the colours she used and they looked so summery and pretty! I want to make some as a housewarming present for a friend, and some for my Dad for Father's Day (he is used to getting his presents a week or so late!). I love the fact the original pattern dates from 1893 :) see here.

I dug out some cotton, I wasn't too sure about the variegated stuff so am starting some in just a plain block colour as well...

And my final C was at the very end, made as a team when C returned, a Creamy Courgette Lasagne

The photo doesn't do it justice but I was so hungry I couldn't be bothered to take more! The recipe was from the wonderful Good Food website, here. It was absolutely scrummy.

So that was my Sunday, I hope you all had lovely weekends and have great weeks ahead :)