Planning!!

This morning I was sat in my favourite chair in the bay having a coffee observing all the little buds starting to form on the rose bushes and plants in the front garden ,the Rhubarb is just starting to peek through the soil. Then I spotted something I just had to share with you, my alpine strawberry plant is fruiting. This then gave me the thought to get my planting and seed purchases started.

So we had a trip to our local garden centre this morning and I've made a start on purchasing the seeds for this years growing . I'm quite excited at the prospect of getting my hand dirty!!

Gardening aside, it's been a busy week , there have been a lot of demands on my time as chief cook and bottle washer!! here are just a few things I've made over the last few days.

Thia pumpkin and chickpea curry , this had mixed reviews between the boys ! 

My eldest son ( 10 years old ) made this with a bit of direction from me, for his home work . It was rather tastey!!

Cappucino cake a big hit with my youngest !!

Lemon drizzle bars , yum yum !!

So in between the cooking , childcare and housekeeping I have managed a bit of sewing and knitting time (not as much a I  would like though). I am still working on a friends cushion , it should be finished very soon .I have also managed to start on one of my Christmas wool purchases .A lovely Lacey scarf  that only takes a 50g ball of wool and I'm 2/3 of the way through it .

I just hope this week I get more time to sew and knit. Monday is always a good start to the week with an evening of hooky happiness with friends ( my monday evening crochet group ).

An evening of hooky happiness !!

Well Monday really didn't seem a promising start to the week!! My youngest took ill late Sunday night which resulted in a rather panicked call to emergency doctor.The result was an under the weather little guy and a visit to docs and the day off school for him and me (he is back in fine fettle now and at school today ).But every cloud has a silver lining ,  it ment a day at home with the little guy and a relaxed day of sewing, ahhh bliss!!

Monday is always a particular favourite day of mine as Monday evening is CROCHET!!  at our favourite  real ale establishment , there's folk music going on upstairs and we gather to crochet in the main part of the pub . We do get a few funny looks and the odd comment , but do we care ?  NO we don't . There are a few locals that rib us sometimes but it's all in good fun , I do like it though when the closet knitters and crocheters shimmy on over to see what were doing and con fess they like to knit or crochet . Here is a sneaky peak of us guy's.

So in the end Monday ended on a high note , a bit of hooky friendship to make it a good start to the week!!

Can I start out by apologising for not posting in the last 11 days , my laptop that has worked without a hitch for the last 4 years has decided not to play ball . It died on me whilst I was posting last Wednesday  , I've been assured it will be ready on the 1st February . My husband who's birthday it is tomorrow went into Leeds today to buy a note book style p.c for his birthday  . He set it up  when he got back this afternoon so I could blog ,  what a star .Unfortunatley a lot of pictures I took are on my lap top . I will post these at a later date.

The sweet little table above is a little project I did a few days ago to cheer myself up , the table was langwishing in our cellar in need of revamping . So I set too with a small tin of Farrow & Ball  , col White Tie . I am really pleased with the result it really brightens up the bay especially with a jug of springtime colour.

I may have mentioned before that the bay is one of  my favourite places to sit and sew as the light is just so good.I am still working on a piece for a friend and have been sat in my favourite chair doing my thing ! here's a sneaky peak.

Stitch details.

After nearly 200 French knots(yes I have counted them , I was just curious) I can start working on the leaves.

The sewing however was cut short with the Sunday routine of preparing for Monday , I did manage a quick bake after tea for the boys pack up's tomorrow . It's is my husbands Grandma T's recipe , it's a oatie flapjack type recipe that I add extra ingredients to depending on mood or cupboard contents .

I'm so glad to be back !!

A day for bright colours !!

Well goodness me I'm sooo tired, getting back to the normal rhythm of life has really hit me tonight.Although I'm enjoying being back at it , I didn't think i would be sooo tired .It has meant tonight that my eyes are too tired to sew so i decided to get my hook out and settle into the gentle rhythm of my Granny Square blanket. I
managed to finish another row of 10 squares ( not all tonight !!). So needed to delve into my box of centres to work out the sequence of the next row of 10.

 There isn't really a particular way I'm choosing the colour sequence I just don't want too many of the same colour repeating in a line .

 Next sequence selected I can crack on with it ,I would really  like this blanket finished by the end of this summer and my eldest does keep asking me when he's going to get his blanket. He had quite an input at the start of the blanket as I let him Select the colours ( not colours I would usually work with on a piece destined for our house, but it will be in his room and I think work quite well in there ).

Today has been a day for working with bright colours , I'm going to let you have a sneeky peek at a project I'm working on with my youngest sons class ,we're producing a quilt to go on the class wall which will then become a perminent fixture in this classroom  for many years to come ( hopefully). The children involved are 4 to 5 years old and are learning to use fabric and sew.

I will be posting progress reports on how the quilt is coming on . I think you may also agree that it has certainly been a day for bright colours !!

Getting organised !!

Getting organised , as my husband is always telling me, is one of my favourite things to do . I'm always organising something or someone .So with two cushion orders in and  fabrics to organise, I was in my element on Saturday. One of the ladies in question popped in for a cuppa and to choose her fabrics which are to be used in her cushion.

My friend left refreshed by tea and happy with her choice of fabrics and she left me to do my thing !! I was happy to have the ground work for one cushion done . Then there was more fabricieeeeee fun, as I worked on putting together fabrics for what is going to be a fabric container/ basket , with my chicken design running on the outside and patchwork on the inside.

Saturday turned out to be very productive day , sewing wise . Today has been another day of organising , I have been preparing our household for the return to work and school . As well as the usual ironing of uniforms  , prepping swimming kits, p.e kits , footie kits ,karate kits school bags. There has been an extensive effort made in the kitchen so there are nice home made things in the boy's pack ups ( I do include my husband in this ).This included a big favourite of the boys, carrot cake.As  well as some cheese scones , for a bit of savoury.

I thought this was going to be it for the baking ,but when I was sorting lunch boxes I just check the bread bin and there it was, half a wholemeal loaf which was past it's best . Well me being me and not wanting to throw food away got out a tried and tested recipe for such an occassion. A recipe for bread and butter slices (which my hubby loves ).

That's everyone's tastes cattered for and I am sort of looking forward to rhythme of a normal week with everyone back to school . Me going back to work is bitter sweet, I now my little job helps us financially but it seriously interrupts my sewing day ,as it's right in the middle of it , well never mind . Bring it on !!

Getting on with it !

When I woke this morning I breathed a sigh of relief when I realised there were no strong winds or heavy rains battering our house. The scene out side this morning was a good hard frost , this I can cope with. But it did put me in the mood for some warming food , on this occasion it was going to be home made veg soup.       

  So I set too and got chopping  , Celery, Carrots, onions, Suede, potatoes , cabbage and Garlic . I Added 1 Tin of plum tomatoes and veg stock. Also added salt,  pepper , oregano, thyme and basil .             

   The result was a very comforting  bowl of soup for lunch  ( in truth it was two ). This fuelled me up for an afternoon of working on a friends cushion and sorting out the colours she had picked ( not a colour palate I'm used to working with) , but I am enjoying the challenge.  

   Now time to the a applique , before I can start the quilting and embroidery .  

Tried and tested !

Well our house was being battered again today by the wind and the rain so a stint in the kitchen was needed. I pulled out a magazine i keep with my recipe books as a recipe within it's pages is a big favourite with my boys .  How apt, I hadn't realised  it is a January edition (2009), of Country Living " A cook's year in a Welsh farmhouse". The recipe that's always a hit is Welsh cakes , my eldest loves them with jam on my youngest loves them with cream cheese on. So I set to work .

 They went down a treat , yum yum !!

It's all in the detail !

I am determined this year to keep a visual record of my work for me to look back at whenever I need to check a previous design out. I'm starting with the Chicken design, as I will be working on more additions to this range over the coming months .

 Today has been a positive start to the year in sewing terms.I have sat in the comfort of my chair in the bay window (it's  my favorite place to sit and do hand sewing as the light is so good ).I was able to make a start on a cushion for a friend , while the boy's played and the wind and rain battered our house .I'm always at my most content sat with a project on my lap and a needle and thread in hand !

More sewing tomorrow , happy times !