Monday 26 March 2012

Reeeeeee-lax!

So, after Saturday, I had a plan to carry on the relaxation on Sunday. 

Unfortunately, that's not how it worked out!  We had car trouble after our afternoon walk...but less of that and onto good stuff!

Still in my 'Ma-Jamas' (a Tiddly Toes phrase!) I popped the oven on to warm some croissants....BUT....decided that it was wasteful to heat the oven for the sake of a 4 minute croissant re-heat so (still in Ma-Jamas!) got down to some quick and simple baking.

First up were Grandma Beth's Rock Cakes.

Want a go?  Here's the recipe and step-by-step photos:

First, measure into a bowl 200g (8oz) of Self-Raising Flour and 100g (4oz) of butter or margarine......


'Tickle' them into breadcrumbs and add 75g (3oz) of sugar and 100g (4oz) of fruit (we like the traditional option of raisins but you could use dried apricot or dates...see what you have in the cupboard).


In a small bowl or mug, beat an egg with 2-4 tablespoons of milk (the larger the egg the less milk you'll need).


Add it to the dry mixture and combine them well until you get a sticky dough....it should look rough and NOT smooth.....


Take out generous dessert spoon sized dollops and place on a baking tray, we got 15 rock cakes out of our mixture....


Pop them into a pre-heated oven at 200C/400F or Gas 6 for 15-20mins, the should be golden but not too brown, cool on a wire rack.

If they last long enough, Teenage Daughter loves to decorate with water icing and sprinkles!

Sounds good for a bit of Sunday morning baking eh?

Well...... it didn't stop there!

I then followed this recipe for Oaty Biscuits from Attic24, again we put raisins in, but any dried fruit works, any brown sugar works and anything runny (like golden or maple syrup) instead of honey works....the combinations are endless......and delicious!!

Mine looked like this in the making.....

100g of butter or margarine, 50g of soft brown sugar and 2 tbsp of runny honey in a microwavable bowl.....


Microwave for 1 minute until nearly melted....stirring it at this stage should get rid of any sugar or margarine/butter lumps and get it looking like this.....


Add to this 100g of self raising flour, 100g porridge oats and 50g of dried fruit, mix up into a sticky lump and spoon dessert spoon sized dollops onto a baking sheet, we got 16 bicuits out of our mixture.

Lucy flattens hers with the back of a fork, I don't....see what you think when you try yours.


These go into the oven 180C/350F Gas 4 for about 12 minutes.

And here are my racks of goodies.....

Ta-Dah.........!

 

They don't look very different (bad light!)  but the ones in the foreground are definitely more brown due to the brown sugar and honey.

So after the Baking Frenzy...oh!  And breakfast!  Teenage Daughter and I had an appointment with the shops to find her a new school bag....we didn't find one!!

But look what we did get!...


Any one would think she likes butterflies!

Trousers that fit (ladies size 6!!  Where is my little girl going!!)

And she also treated herself to this watch on a chain....


And for Mummy?! 

Some shoes to go with my Wedding Outfit......

Killer Heels......

 

Hmmm-mmmm!

Needless to say these were not the shoes I wore on our After-Sunday-Lunch walk!

Off now to cut out a pattern!  Could be another post and if all goes well a Ta-Dah that I can share.

See you soon....xx


Saturday 24 March 2012

Has Spring Sprung?

What a lovely day here in West Sussex....it really is beautiful, not a cloud in the sky.

I've been a bit quiet recently...plenty in the Making....but nothing I can share just yet for a couple of reasons....

1)  They are gifts!

2) Makes for a Wedding which must NOT be revealed (just yet!)

3)  I was in such a frenzy of creativity that I didn't take many any photos!

The first will be rectified when they are given, the second will be rectified when it has happened (3 weeks today!) and the third....well, I'll have to make the Make again and photograph it won't I?!  Haha!

BUT......

I do have some things to share!

Since we last had a catch up, it has been Mothering Sunday here in the UK, so I thought I'd share a couple of my gifts with you.

Now, as you might remember (when I shared this), I'm not a great reader of 'books'.

However, I have loved watching Call the Midwife based on the memories of Jennifer Worth and bringing the hilarious Miranda Hart to an acting role in which she is brilliant!  Anyway.....my lovely crew bought me this......


And knowing my passion for crochet and knitting......this....


And my lovely Teenage Daughter made my card, look.......


Isn't it lovely?

Mothering Sunday wasn't the best weather in the world here, but since then it has been rather nice.

Very Spring-like.

Helped by the odd Spring-y Make by Tiddly Toes...... 


So Spring-y, it has been a Very Get-out-in-the-garden-and-do sort of few days!
And I have been.......doing that is.

Well, I had to really....look at these sorry specimens.....


And I am ashamed to tell you that ALL my pots look as sad and dishevelled as this!

BUT.....elsewhere in the garden, things have been Spring-ing into action.  A few days ago there was this sad bunch of sticks that has sprouted into this......


And my lovely clematis by the front door (which also looks like a sad collection of dead sticks!) is doing this......


Well Tiddly Toes and I cleared out the pot by the front door....look there it is with her little fork sticking out....


And today we went to but these......


And then I showed her this spotty, colourful delight (knowing that she wouldn't resist so it would be a good excuse to buy it 'coz I LOVE it!)  and she insisted that we buy it!!!  What a suprise!!!

Happy people all round!


So buying became planting......

Ta-Dah.........

......isn't that pretty!

And planting needs watering!


Then after the fun came the hard work!

....here's the before....See the bit in front of Teenage Daughter?


....and here's the after.....! 


All bushes, bulbs and weeds gone!

But look how much more there is to do!


So after the hard slog came the reward......sitting in the front garden (sporting my New Hair) crocheting a little something from the scraps I mentioned here!

(Please excuse the 'chewing' face!!  I think this is called 'Au Naturel'!!...


.....I'll tell you more about the Make when it gets it's Proper Unveiling (which could be some time!)....but here's a lovely, colourful, 'Work-in-my-Lap' shot to keep you going!)


WHILST.....watching Tiddly Toes play 'water' in a mini paddling pool with the bubble machine going!  Ahhh!  Bliss!!


So, that's the weekend so far.....here's hoping for more sunny weather tomorrow, then we'll see what the day brings!

Until the next time, may the sun shine on your face....xx



Monday 12 March 2012

A Love Re-Ignited

You know when life gets busy, children pop up.....decorating.....work.....stuff!!!!  And things that you once did become overlooked or even forgotten!!!

Well.......I've always loved quilts...they're very homey.  Once had a passion for making them and then life took over and I forgot!

Got into Pinterest and found myself drawn to quilts....so have a whole board dedicated to Quilty Delicious-ness!

Then I got chatting to Nicky (who I see every week but I hadn't realised she was a CraftSister like me!).....she showed me a lovely quilt and a gorgeous little pouch....


Do you like?  Lovely isn't it?  So very beautiful and clever...

So I carried on looking at quilts and I love this one.....


...called The Orange Quilt by the very talented (and unlike me!....colour-literate...) Allison Harris of Cluck Cluck Sew, one of my favourite blogs (check it out...it's amazing!)

That's when I discovered a box....full of fabric that was YEARS old!  Older, in fact, than my Teenage Daughter.

That was when I shared UFOs with you....and this very badly lit photograph....



....I had a thought of this becoming a quilt based on The Orange Quilt.

I then had a lovely visit to my CraftSister Nicky which she blogged about here.  What an inspiring day looking at Nicky's quilts, learning how to make pouches and cuddling her latest acquisition.....


...this B-E-A-Utiful cushion made for her by Helen of Archie the Wonder Dog blog, you can read about their swap here.

So.....for a couple of evenings, I've tucked myself away and.......

...well let me show you .....

I found this......


.....my first ever attempt at patchwork....made about 15 years ago for my Eldest Son (who will be 21 in October!)...I had COMPLETELY forgotten about it....and probably wouldn't have remembered I had made it....but I had signed it!

Then I discovered a half done apology for an attempt at patchwork!  Probably started at around the same time as the last one....yes 15 years!! 

I hadn't forgotten about this one because it kept coming back to haunt me!! Reminding me that I hadn't finished it!!  And I don't like not finishing (hence I hadn't had the heart to just dump it!!)

It had a patched top attached to wadding and a backing by eight buttons!!!!  I'd obviously got that far and then not known what to do!!!

So armed with my new info from Nicky (and a good deal of Close Up Examination of her quilts)......I decided to try a couple of rows of BIG stitch quilting...... and then trim the wadding and the backing and simply turn them in and stitched (did you call this bagging Nicky?)

Well......anyway, it turned out like this.....

Ta-Dah.............!!!!!!!!!!


My daughter is WELL impressed....and I have to say - now that it is finished I'm quite chuffed too! 

AND surprised that it didn't take much effort to finish.... AND a passing moment of slight irritation to think that I had left it all this time and done nothing when it WAS fairly easy and effortless to achieve and feel so good about!!

Moving on.......I found a cushion cover that had been given to me to finish (see.....I get all these waifs and just don't have the heart to dump them!!!)

It's not my thing but I looked at it in a whole new light and thought.........why don't I just run round it a few times to machine quilt it and see what happens!!

So I did....(it had arrived with wadding and backing attached and another piece of fabric which I have made into an envelope back)....and here it is......


Phew!!!

We're nearly there!

Next up.....a pouch!!

Teenage Daughter chose some fabric a while ago to make herself a Something...the Something never material-ised (excuse the pun!) so armed with a bit of plain fabric (onto which I appliqued her initial using some of her Something fabric, like this.....)

 

(Sorry about the shadow on the photo...and the muck....she had started using it before I could get a photo....not too annoyed as I'm pleased she LOVES it.)

....and a white zip,  I followed Nicky's pouch instructions and........

..........Ta-Dah........!!!! 


And here's the inside all nicely sewn onto the zip!   Now that's clever Nicky....THANKS!


My other activity over the last 2 days of gorgeous sunshine has been to change the garage door!!  (Yes Mrs DIY took up the kindness of our neighbours in giving us their old garage door which was in better condition than ours and swapped them....looks lovely now.)

This spurred on a bit of Gardening Activity with Teenage Daughter as we cleared the front step and pots of weeds, swept the drive, cleaned out the garage and began weeding the front garden!

It continued today (but I can't do anymore as our Gardening Bin is full!) and once the bin is emptied tomorrow (and subject to more sunshine).....it WILL be continued VERY soon.

Hubby decided to wash the small car today......look at his little helper........


Aaahhhh!  Thank you Lovely Girls....xx

Well that's all from this 'ere neck o' the woods....see you soon....

N xx


Friday 9 March 2012

Pinaddicts Challenge - March 2012

It is that exciting time of the month for me!

I've been waiting almost all of February to get to this point so that this month I could enter the Challenge properly, well, OK prepared!

As I told you in this post, Lovely Mother-in-Law and I viewed my Pinterest Boards to see what delights I might create to enter for the Pinaddicts Challenge I told you about back here.

It has taken time and a bit of experimenting and sadly (or should that be stupidly!)  I didn't take any photos during the making process!  (Doh!)  But I have rectified that...just for you!

But lets go back......

I follow a blog called Tangled Happy, the colours, creativity and total deliciousness of this blog ticks ALOT of boxes for me.

There are so many thing I like!

One little thing in particular caught my eye.....a bag for my daughter based on the pattern for these ones.....


You can find the tutorial for the basic boutique bag here and here you can find all the pattern adjustments to make the three variations above. (Sara also has an Etsy shop where you can buy bags).

I took the basic pattern but made it slightly bigger by having 20 clusters or shells along my foundation chain instead of the 17 Sara has.

So this is my version.....

Oh!  I had to start with Tiddly Toes FAVOURITE colour!  Look....


It is Stylecraft Special Double Knit (100grams) and is available from Deramores at £1.99, this STUNNING colour is called Jaffa!  (Oh!  Hang on....just got to get a biscuit to go with my cuppa!)

I had some left over after I made this Mad Bag.......


So, as it's Double Knit (DK), that's a 4mm crochet hook.  I cast on 60 stitches (3 for each of my 20 clusters....so if you want it bigger just make sure your final stitch count is divisible by 3) plus 1 extra for turning as I'm now going to go back along my chain doing 1DC (Double Crochet, or SC - Single Crochet in the US) into each chain.


Slip Stitch (Sl St) into your turning chain to join into a ring.

Now make 3 chain (equivalent to a Treble here in the UK, which I think is a DC in the US!) .....like this....


and into the same chain that your 3 chains come out of make 2 Trebles (or DCs)....

then miss 2 chains and make 3 Trebles into the next chain (by missing 2 and doing 3 into 1 chain you are keeping the same number of stitches...get it?)

When you finish that first round....Slip Stitch (Sl St) into the 3rd of your 3 chain that started you off.  Sl St across the next two chains (last 2 stitches of your first cluster of 3 or shell) AND Sl St into the first gap between clusters or shells.

Then, chain 3 and Treble 2 into the same gap, then 3 trebles into the next gap, 3 trebles into the next gap and so on, you're still keeping 60 stitches or 20 lots of clusters but now working in the gaps not stitches......it'll start to look like this.....


The picture above shows 6 rounds in the making, once you've done 8, finish your round by Slip Stitching it closed as before...BUT...this time you are only going to make 1 chain as you're going to do a whole round in DCs (or SCs in the US)....go!


At the end of this Sl St, make a chain and go round again and Sl St to end that round.

Next is the round that splits the handle, so start with your one chain then DC (or SC) into the next 7 stitches, then chain 15, count 15 stitches and leave that gap and then DC into the 16th stitch (if you want a longer handle then why not try 30 or 45 Stitches but remember to DC back into the 16th stitch).

DC a further 15 stitches, then chain 15 (or however many to match your other side!) and DC into the 16th stitch, you should then have 8 stitches left to make and that's your 60 stitches again!

Your handle gap should look like this each side......


Do 2 more rounds of DCs, Sl St the rounds to a close.  On the final Slip Stitch, cut the thread leaving a tail for darning and pull the tail through the Slip Stitch.  It should now look like this.....


Darn in your ends and turn it inside out to whip stitch or oversew the bottom.

Now....... I wanted to decorate mine with a flower.

Knowing a good Crochet Flowers and Leaves Pattern (and Tutorial) that I used on my Mad Bag from....yes...... you've guessed it.......Lucy at Attic24...I just thought I'd do that again!

I use a magic ring so that I don't get a hole in the middle, 3 chain (count as 1 Treble) then 11 Treble....so that's 12 'spokes' in all....like this......

Pull the tail of your magic ring to pull it closed and Sl St into the 3rd or your 3 chain at the start.  Like this.......

I went on to do the next round in the same colour (but you could change colour if you like)......4 chain (first one counts as a DC), miss a 'spoke' and DC into the top of the next 'spoke', chain 3, miss a 'spoke', DC into the next 'spoke', chain 3 etc, etc....Sl St back into the place where your original 4 chains come out.

You should now have a 'tyre on your 'spokes' with 6 chain-y gaps!

Into these 3-chain spaces make :Sl St, Half Treble (htr), htr, Treble (tr), htr, htr, Sl St.

Sl St into the next 3-chain space and repeat the sequence and so on.....at the end Sl St back into the base where you started, cut a tail and pull through (as you did with the bag).

With a different colour....hook through one of the chains you missed on the 2nd round (putting on your tyre!) on the tops of your original 'spokes'.

If you bend the petals back you might see the chain more clearly.

So the sequence for a smaller petal here is: dc, htr, tr, htr, dc.

This is half way round that round......



Finish with a Sl St into the first dc of this round.

And here we are tails 'n' all!....


So here's my bright little bag.........

......and here's my bright little bag with bright little flower!!  (I used one of the 'tails' to attach it to the bag).......

Ready for the full monty......

Ta-Dah.........


Here are my 'practice' ones that I shall fill with Easter Eggs for cousins we shall see over the holidays......


SORRY....about this pic being sideways!!!  The computer just wouldn't behave to twist in 90 degrees!!

The purple one now belongs to Twelve-Teen Teenage Daughter, who loves butterflies and has a dress in these 3 colours.

So there we have it!

My Pinaddicts Challenge Entry for March 2012!

What do you think?

I've had great fun with this and I'm looking forward to next months entry.....!

See you soon....Nora xx