Bliss Knits

Crocheted Secret

2011-02-23T22:00:00.000Z

Pretty cotton/acrylic yarn for my new project (Sirdar Calico).

But I can't show you what I'm making 'cos it's a secret.

Shhhhhhh!

Bathroom Blitz 2

2011-02-23T21:43:00.000Z

... On Thursday the tiles all got grouted, plumbing and electrics finished and shower fitted.

And Friday - DONE! Lovely, simple white suite fitted. Toilet upstairs - woo hoo! We just need to paint the walls once the plaster has dried completely.

The guys were great and worked late most nights to get it all finished for us by the end of the week. It's a bit of a pain having a couple of rooms messy for a while but it was well worth it.

Ta dah! And this is the finished bathroom. We love it! Do you? It looks much better in real life (I had a lovely long bath last night and it felt like a nice hotel bathroom!)

The colours haven't come out very well - basically: white walls, suite and blind, black slate floor tiles, white and grey 'marbled' wall tiles, chrome taps and fittings, silvery mosaic mirror, white and lime green towels, candles and plant pot.

The bath is where the old bedroom wall was. So, obviously, the bedroom is a bit smaller (by the size of a bath) but it's still a decent size for a 2nd bedroom.

And there's the oh-so-important toilet upstairs now (what every viewer seemed to want!)

So we've got the estate agents coming back tomorrow to take new photos of the bedroom and the fab bathroom - and hopefully we'll have some new viewers soon too. Finger's crossed we get a sale very soon.

Turning Over a New Leaf - book 5

2011-02-19T21:48:00.000Z

Book number 5: What To Do When Someone Dies by Nicci French.

The blurb:
Ellie Faulkner's world has been destroyed. Her husband Greg died in a car crash - and he wasn't alone. In the passenger seat was the body of Milena Livingstone - a woman Ellie's never even heard of.

But Ellie refuses to leap to the obvious conclusion, despite the whispers and suspicions of those around her. Maybe it's the grief, but Ellie has to find out who this woman was - and must prove Greg wasn't having an affair.

And soon she is chillingly certain their deaths were no accident. Are Ellie's accusations of murder her way of avoiding the truth about her marriage? Or does an even more sinister discovery await her?

My view:

The main character, Ellie, can't grieve for her husband until she proves he hasn't, or has, been unfaithful. She becomes completely obsessed and her sanity is questioned by close friends as she strives to find out the truth. I know that it's a novel and not a true story but this book has a completely implausible plot, which gets even more unbelievable after the 'twist' near the end. A quick, read-it-on-the-beach book (no thinking necessary), but I actually think this story would work much better on TV than as a book.

Bathroom Blitz

2011-02-17T23:14:00.000Z

As regular blog readers will know, we've had a tonne of people coming to view our house, but no buyers as yet. Lots of people have loved the house but the stumbling block for many seems to be the lack of toilet upstairs.

So, in a bid to get that elusive buyer, we've decided to spend some pretty pennies on a bit of a bathroom blitz.

This is our small, but perfectly formed (apart from a loo) bathroom on Sunday.

And this is what it looked like when I got home from work on Monday!

Quite a transformation: the wall to the left has been knocked down and rebuilt, taking a couple of feet from the bedroom next door; bath and sink ripped out and a lot of the tiles removed.

On Tuesday we have beautifully plastered walls (and in the bedroom next door too), new electrics, and the additional plumbing started.

Wednesday sees the gorgeous new tiles going down, continued plumbing work - and the new bath is fitted!

This is the addition to the bathroom: a lovely bath alcove. It's a shame to make the bedroom next door smaller, but people didn't seem to love the house enough to want to walk downstairs to the loo.

It's a scary thing to be doing this - putting our faith in a spanking new bathroom - but we hope that forking out this money will get us a buyer for the house. We've already got some interested people lined up for when all the work is done so finger's crossed.

More to follow...

Turning Over a New Leaf - book 4

2011-02-09T22:02:00.000Z

Book number 4: Blackwater by Kerstin Ekman.

The blurb:

Midsummer eve, 1974, in the far north of Sweden. Annie Raft arrives with her six-year-old daughter in a small town called Blackwater to join her lover Dan on a commune. But Dan is not there to meet them. Panicking, Annie treks into the wilderness to find the commune, in the strange, hovering light of midsummer night. By the river, she finds a tent; and inside it two bodies hideously murdered - stabbed so violently that the feathers from their sleeping bag scatter the ground. Many years later, Annie has settled in the region, and Mia, her daughter has grown up. Early one morning glimpses Mia in the arms of the man she believes responsible for the murders. The seemingly inexplicable crime, long buried, is forced to come to its own dark and unexpected conclusion.

My view:

A long hard slog... but I always read to the very last page. A dark and disturbing tale; beautifully detailed descriptions set scenes and moments in time, but complicated, confusing and, at times, monotonous. Complex characters and Swedish names, and a plot jumping from one character to the next and from the present time to the past = not an easy book to read on the bus! The first half is very slow but the second half moves along at a slightly quicker pace as the plot develops and you understand the characters more. I think you'll either love this book, or absolutely hate it.

Is winter over yet?

2011-02-04T20:51:00.001Z

Oh, I do hope so.

I spent a lovely couple of hours in the garden last Sunday. The weather wasn't too bad (if you were well wrapped up) and it was great to be outside in the fresh air and daylight for a while. I'm so glad the nights are gradually getting that little bit lighter.

The garden won't be mine (hopefully) for very much longer. We WILL sell the house in the next few months, I'm sure, so I feel very much just a plant caretaker; no long term plans or new plants for this patch (I tell a lie, I couldn't resist a few packs of annual seeds...) Anyway, there were plenty of maintenance jobs that needed doing:

Leaves to clear away - and little slugs to dispose of.

Snow-damaged branches to prune.

More leaves and stems for the compost bin.

Climbers to cut down.

Containers to clean and tidy.

More leaves to clear up.

Some of my plants didn't survive this past winter, and others are perfectly fine: the smaller-leaved Hebe in the background seems to have faired much better than the slightly larger-leaved variety in the foreground. I'll wait a while and see if any green shoots emerge from the dead, brown ones.

I potted up a few of my favourite plants to take with me, but the frost has got to some of the containers so new ones will have to be purchased (always a pleasure!)

And it's never a chore cutting down old stems when you can see the signs of new life forming beneath them. We may not have seen the last of the winter weather, but spring is definitely on its way.

Do you have big plans for your garden this year?

Turning Over a New Leaf - book 3

2011-01-27T20:00:00.001Z

Book 3 this year: But Inside I'm Screaming by Elizabeth Flock.

The blurb:

'But inside I'm screaming' is one woman's unforgettable story about what it is to lose control as the world watches, to figure out what went so very wrong and to accept an imperfect life in a world that demands perfection.

While breaking the hottest news story of the year, broadcast journalist Isabel Murphy falls apart on live television in front of an audience of millions. She lands at Three Breezes, a four-star psychiatric hospital nicknamed the "nut hut," where she begins the painful process of recovering the life everyone thought she had.

But accepting her place among her fellow patients proves difficult. Isabel struggles to reconcile the fact that she is, indeed, one of them, and faces the reality that in order to mend her painfully fractured life she must rely solely on herself.

My view:

A disappointing read; a quick, read-it-on-the-beach novel rather than a realistic portrayal of mental illness.

I liked the fact that the main character's story was told through flashbacks of her life, whilst enduring the daily, personal torment of life in a psychiatric hospital. However, I thought that the author didn't spend enough time on the recovery process - Isabel came out of her depression way too quickly and easily for it to be true to life.

The ending was intriguing in that loose ends weren't tied up. We're left wondering what Isabel did when she was discharged, and how she coped with the decisions she'd made about her future - and I liked that. Full of stereotypes and two-dimensional characters though.

Granny in the Garden

2011-01-24T21:40:00.001Z

My New Year's resolution to make pretty things for me rather than to sell is going well.

I started making these crocheted Summer Garden Granny Squares over the festive break (see Lucy's lovely blog over at Attic24 for the pattern).

I used some acrylic yarn that I had in my stash - yarn that came with each issue of The Art of Crochet partwork that I collected last year. I never got past the first binder as I was quite disappointed in the number of designs for the price of each week's issue. Anyway, I had enough balls of yarn to make 49 squares (a nice size for a cosy lap cover). Nine colours were used, though I had more balls of certain colours (mainly the blues) so they tend to dominate.

I wanted to make each square different so I wrote out a little chart where I could check off colours against their row position in the square. This ensured that I had a pretty much equal amounts of squares with a white border, or a red border, or a lime green border, etc.

I had great fun trying out different combinations of squares - making sure that no centre colours or edge colours were next to each other; and then of course colours such as the white shone out so they had to be moved around until they were more evenly spaced. And then I joined the rows together in the wrong order so things were slightly more random than intended - but it looked ok and so I didn't bother pulling it out!

I didn't have enough of the yarn left for the border so I'm hunting now for some similar tones. I've found a green yarn in my stash and used that for the first row of the edging but I need a shopping trip to get a couple more to finish it off!

It's such an easy pattern but the overall effect is lovely. Hopefully I'll post a FINISHED! photo soon, and I'll try and take a decent picture in daylight as these photos don't show the lovely bright colours very well.

What have you been making this month?

Turning Over a New Leaf - book 2

2011-01-16T18:23:00.001Z

Well I'm doing well so far - two books read this year and we're only in week two (only another 51 to go to beat my record!)

My latest read was The Savage Garden by Mark Mills.

Whilst browsing the charity shop shelves I'm always drawn to books with 'garden' in the title, or those set in exotic locations - this book was both. Full of intrigue and suspicion, this book is a decent mystery novel, with a bit of romance thrown in, centred around a memorial garden in post-war Italy.

Review from Fantastic Fiction:

A beautiful Tuscan villa, a mysterious garden, two hidden murders - one from the 16th century, one from the twentieth - and a family driven by dark secrets, combine in this evocative, intriguing mystery set in post-War Italy.

In 1958, Adam Strickland, a young Cambridge scholar, travels to the Villa Docci in Tuscany to study a sixteenth-century garden. Designed and laid out by a grieving husband to the memory of his dead wife, it is a mysterious world of statues, grottoes, meandering rills and classical inscriptions. But tragedy has hit the Docci family more recently. The German occupation during World War 2 had a devastating impact on them, and the tensions between collaborators and partisans were played out within their own tight circle.

Adam is fascinated by the Doccis and increasingly aware that there are dangerous secrets hidden within the family domain. The garden itself starts to exercise a powerful influence over his imagination, its iconography seeming to point to some deeper, darker truth than was first apparent. And what really lay behind a killing at the villa towards the end of the war? Past and present, love and intrigue, intertwine in an evocative mystery which vividly captures the experience of an innocent abroad in the uncertain world of post-War Italy.

This was a Richard & Judy Summer Read in 2007, so if you didn't read it then it's worth trying to pick up a copy now.

Every Girl Needs a Pink Dinosaur

2011-01-14T10:49:00.007Z

One of my major plans this year is to concentrate on making things for my own pleasure - whether it be for family, friends or home. There will be a lot less making to sell and I have no craft fairs lined up at all this year (though of course that may change). I'm keeping my Folksy shop open, and I'll list new items occasionally, but this year I thought I'd concentrate on learning new techniques and spending time developing my own ideas.

I really enjoyed knitting this dinosaur for my Great Niece Deja's first birthday (actually last November but I hadn't got round to posting the photos). Due to the copyright laws I tend not to make things from magazines, but when I'm knitting for a gift (and not to sell) then that's okay.

This was from Let'sKnit magazine, issue 31, June 2010 - knitted in oranges, blues and greens in the magazine 'perfect for little boys' - I thought it would look lovely for a girl in a variegated pink/lilac/white yarn with touches of minty green. I added the long eyelashes at the last minute to make her extra-girlie!

I'm not sure that Deja liked her birthday gift at first.

But she seemed too after a little while.

Every girl needs a pink dinosaur, hey?

New Year - New Book Goal

2011-01-12T20:43:00.001Z

As I've previously mentioned, I love reading. In a previous job my journey time to and from work was much longer, so I used to read a lot of books to make the time more enjoyable - 53 in 2007 (I was aiming to read a book each week but I miscounted!) But then I changed jobs and worked much closer to home so my travelling time reduced, and consequently so did my book quota - 45 in 2008, 32 in 2009, and a pitiful 26 last year.

You can see which books I read in 2009-2010 if you scroll down the right hand side of the page. I tend to buy most of my books from charity shops so it's a fairly eclectic mix of whatever appeals at the time.

I have big plans for this year - and one of them is to read a lot more. Over the festive break I managed to finish my first book: The Book of Names by Jill Gregory & Karen Tintori.

I really enjoyed it. It was easy to read, fast-paced, with a decent good-versus-evil plot.

Here's the blurb:

Within each generation, there are thirty-six righteous souls. Their lives hold the key to the fate of the world. Now someone wants them dead.

When a childhood tragedy comes back to haunt Professor David Shepherd, he finds himself in possession of knowledge that holds the world in a delicate balance. He uncovers the Book of Names---an ancient text originating with the biblical Adam, and thought lost to history forever. By Kabbalistic tradition, the book contains the names of each generation's thirty-six righteous souls---the Hidden Ones---by whose merits alone the world continues to exist. Legend holds that if all thirty-six Hidden Ones were eliminated, the world would meet its end.

When the Hidden Ones start dying of unnatural causes, the world grows increasingly unstable: war in Afghanistan, massive flooding in New York, brutal terrorist attacks in Melbourne, a tanker explosion in Iran. David finds himself battling against the Gnoseos, a secret religious sect whose goal is to destroy the world by eliminating all of the righteous souls. David's involvement quickly turns personal when his stepdaughter's name is discovered to be one of the endangered. With the help of a brilliant and beautiful Israeli ancient texts expert, David races to decipher the traditions of the Kabbalah to save the righteous souls, his stepdaughter, and perhaps the world.

And here is an interview with the authors, explaining the background to the novel.

Can you recommend your latest read? Which books do you intend to read this year?

New Year - New Life

2010-12-31T21:37:00.000Z

Well we've reached the end of another year; I hope it was a good one for you. Have you made any resolutions? I haven't made any resolutions as such, but this new year will see many changes in my life so my resolution is simply to embrace life and all its challenges.

After 17 years of marriage, hubby and I have decided to part; so when we eventually sell this house we'll be going our separate ways. My daily life will be very different, but I'm looking forward to a new area to explore, new people to meet, a new house to decorate, a craft room to be creative in, a new garden to plant and enjoy, and a little dog to keep me company on long, healthy walks and nights by the fire. But whatever 2011 brings, I shall endeavour to look on the bright side - and on that note, as I'm sick of the snow and dreary winter weather, please enjoy this bright and cheery montage of flowers from my garden this past year.

New people? New places? New experiences? Whatever you wish for in 2011, I hope it's a happy and healthy one for you and your family.

Sharon x

We Wish You a Merry Christmas...

2010-12-25T00:25:00.000Z

Well the time has finally come.

The 'handmade' tree is decorated.

The fireplace is clothed in festive greenery.

The wreath is hanging on the front door.

The skinny tree is bright and sparkly.

The veg is ready for roasting.

The stuffing balls and pigs-in-blankets are ready for the oven.

The table is set.

The stockings are hung.

There's presents under the tree.

So that just leaves me with one thing left to do...

To wish you all a Very Merry Christmas

- hope you day is filled with love and happiness!

Sharon x

I'm dreaming of a...

2010-12-23T12:13:00.000Z

WHITE CHRISTMAS!!!

And it looks like we're going to get it!

It snowed last night, and again this morning. So even if it doesn't snow on The Big Day, we're going to have snow on the ground at least.

Everything looks so much prettier with some of the white stuff, doesn't it?

Though I could never tire of this view, whether it's white or not.

But I hope it doesn't snow as much as it did at the beginning of December; not much good for visitors and visiting over the Christmas break.

And eating al fresco on the patio seems a long way off...!

Keeping Cosy

2010-11-21T17:07:00.001Z

You may remember a while ago that I crocheted this blanket for my good friend's new baby.

So in true Attic24 style, here's some photos of Adam and his treasured blankie.

Adam loves getting cosy under his blanket; mum says he stares at the pattern and touches it, showing a great deal of interest. Mum and dad like the blanket too as it's a bit heavier than his other ones so he can't kick this one off and get chilly toes.

The cold winter weather is just starting to bite and I could do with a cosy, handmade blanket for myself. I really enjoyed making this cover as the individual crocheted squares are so portable and quick to do; I'd love to make a bright and cheery one (aka Attic24 again - love the style and colour hit!) Maybe that's a job for after the Christmas fairs though...

Happy 175th Birthday!

2010-11-11T13:03:00.002Z

Do you feel Christmassy yet? I don't. I can't believe it's only 43 days away. The shops are awash with tinsel and stocking fillers but I'm just not feeling it yet. Hubby says I'm like this every year. I just have to wait for Christmas Eve.

I guess once the tree and decorations go up in our house then things will seem a bit more festive. I'm not sure if I'll be putting much up this year though, with having the house up for sale - still. I think my full-on Santa's (tasteful) grotto may put some people off. Then again, what the hell. 34 viewings later (yes, really!) maybe if we put the Christmas tree in the bathroom they won't notice that the toilet is downstairs...

Anyway, before Christmas arrives we've got another three craft fairs to get through (that's about all I can manage with a full time job too!) Our next fair is this coming Saturday - the monthly fair at the Grainger Market in Newcastle city centre. The market celebrated its 175th birthday a couple of weeks ago and there were Victorian-themed events on all week (and a huge cake!)

Bliss Knits was invited to take part in the craft demonstration day on the Thursday. My big sis helped me out on the day and we had a great time chatting to people about knitting and crochet. Lots of the older ladies reminisced about the hand crafts that they used to enjoy, but could no longer manage due to arthritic hands. Very sad.

It was good to see so many young people that were interested in knitting and crochet though. They loved the different yarns and funky needles that we displayed, and took great interest in our stitch samples and the idea that you could make whatever your imagination wanted to - it's not just about jumpers and scarves! It was a really busy day and we sold lots of stock as well as doing our demonstrations and chatting. Huge thanks to family and friends who supported us on the day too!

Other demonstrations on the day included hooky/proggy/clippy mats. The ladies displayed a huge selection of items - gorgeous intricate designs and simple stripes using scraps of cloth. I have a couple of books on the subject, and the tools, and loads of fabric, but I've yet to try out these techniques. One day I'll make the time.

Beamish Museum had a display of beautiful Victorian clothing; I'm amazed at how it survived all these years, though slightly worse for wear in parts. And they also demonstrated amazingly delicate lace making techniques using those gorgeous fancy bobbins!

Regular stallholder Alan from Twisted Nature showed off his delicate watercolour techniques on the day. Like us, he found that people were much more willing to stop and chat than they usually are at the monthly Art & Craft Fair. I guess the Victorian clothing that we wore was a good conversation starter!

The girls at Wylde About Bears also had a good day, demonstrating bear making to lots of interested customers. Sewing the bodies is easy; making their little characters come to life is the hard part!

On the Saturday I was joined by my regular little helper for the Victorian Art & Craft Fair. Again we had to dress up, but this time we were just selling and not demonstrating. It was another busy day - and a good laugh too.

Hubby, who usually hates to have is photo taken, seemed to like showing off his Victorian get-up. Doesn't he look good? Many thanks to everyone who loaned us clothing for the event.

We always have a good day at the craft fairs as we enjoy chatting to the other stallholders as well as the customers. And because everyone was dressed up in their Victorian finery, there was lots of jovial banter going on! Harry and Edna of Bitz and Bobz are always good for a natter, and they did a roaring trade, as usual.

A fairly new trader to the Grainger Market, but not to selling his wife's pretty jewellery, was a very dapper Karl from vjwjewellery.

But my last photo of the day goes to my gorgeous hubby. As it was Halloween, we had some chocolate eyeballs to give away to children who stopped to look at our stall. Always up for a laugh, hubby found an alternative to eating them. Bet that wouldn't have been allowed in Victorian times...!

More photos of the week's events here and reported here.

Time is Whizzing By

2010-10-21T15:40:00.000+01:00

Where has this year gone? I can't believe we're two-thirds of the way through October already - the clocks go back on Sunday - and it's only 64 days until Christmas!!

I've had a busy few weeks: spending my evenings knitting and crocheting items for the autumn/winter craft fairs; a lovely long weekend break with hubbie; enjoying a new evening class; getting into a new exercise regime - as well as the usual 9-5 job, family and social life. More on these in later posts!

The biggest thing this month though was house related. After five months on the market, we accepted an offer on our house. It was lower than we would have liked, but the housing market is so stagnant at the minute that it was good enough.

We started looking again for a house to buy, as the one we found a few months ago has just sold after two years on the market! We found an AMAZING property - a lovely old stone terraced cottage which had just been renovated and we both fell in love with it. The garden wasn't as big as I hoped, but I thought I could do some great things with it anyway, and the house itself was just so gorgeous... like something out of an interiors magazine.

Our buyers pulled out after a few weeks (they loved the house - their uncle, who was putting a small amount of money into the purchase, didn't). So we're back to square one, and the amazing stone cottage will probably sell really quickly and we'll lose it. Oh well, everyone keeps telling me that 'it wasn't meant to be'. I'm not sure I like this thing called destiny.

The photos in this post are from a day out at the coast with my beautiful Mam a few weeks ago. We started out at some yarn shops in South Shields, took the ferry across the Tyne, wandered round the lovely gift shops in Tynemouth and then spent a couple of hours watching the container ships and passenger yachts sailing up the river and out to sea - and remembering my lovely Dad who sadly passed away six years ago to the day (9th September). Can't believe it's been six years, Dad. We all love and miss you so much.

Where does the time go?

Folksy Friday Harvest Festival

2010-09-24T00:01:00.000+01:00

The September Stars on Folksy are having a harvest festival!

Some rather tenuous links here! Why did I choose such a hard theme?!! Anyway, here's the bountiful crop that I've picked... (click on the shop names to find out more about each item).

Brighten up your home with these cute Russian Doll Matryoshka Hanging Decorations by Court & Spark - with their rosy red apples!

Prepare yourself for that scary party next month with these Happy Halloween Pumpkin Earrings by Miss Bohemia.

Sweet and very practical Baby Dribble Bib - Cherries by Painted Ghost.

Add some individuality to your correspondence with Swirlyarts Jack and the Beanstalk Recycled Envelopes.

I think this luscious Red Cherry Coin Purse by Pipdesigns would certainly cheer me up on a cold, dark winter's day... especially if it was full of money ;)

And finally, Ialbert has produced this very stylish Fine Art Print - Damask design is all over an apple - perfect for your dining room wall.

Have a lovely weekend!

Folksy Friday - September Stars featuring Butterflies

2010-09-17T00:55:00.000+01:00

This week's Folksy Friday is showcasing the hardworking September Stars. This time, featuring BUTTERFLIES (and a dragonfly) - a final blast of summer heat and colour before the cold, wet and windy days of autumn take hold...

As always, click on the shop links to find out more about the individual items.

I love the little details and mix of gorgeous fabrics in this pretty, red Purse by Pants and Paper.

This Twilight Dragonfly Necklace by Whimsical Wren looks so classy in sophisticated black and silver.

Sweet and girly Pink Butterfly Fused Glass Pendant by Blue Daisy Glass.

For an unusual gift why not buy a Ceramic Butterfly Brooch by Tait Gallery? It can be personalised with the name and design of your choice.

This Beautiful Black Butterfly Jotter by Jessicas Jotters is stylish, and really useful too!

Another black and silver combo, this Butterfly Keyring by Sprinkles is simple, but stunning.

Beautiful colours and detail in this delicate Vintaj Woodland Necklace by Facets.

The bird/butterfly image on this Green Bird Pocket Diary by Lilly's Night Garden looks really striking against the gorgeous, handpainted background. I love it! I bought it!

I started my Christmas shopping on Folksy a little while ago. I tend to buy little 'bits and pieces' for my family and friends rather than one big gift, and I get a real kick out of buying them something handmade, something unusual, an item that they won't have seen in the highstreet shops. And of course the shops on Folksy never close for the day; you can browse and buy to your heart's content at 3am in the morning if you like! So if you haven't already, why not click on the links in this post and discover some fab designers/makers. Support handmade! Buy British! Christmas is coming...

Have a great weekend. x

New 'The Needle Works' Range

2010-09-01T10:00:00.001+01:00

These are my latest designs for my The Needle Works shop on Folksy. I made them for the August craft fair at Newcastle's Grainger Market where they received many favourable comments and lots of sales. A few of these charms, in various designs, are still available for sale. They are all individual and unique, and handmade by myself.

Choose from yummy cupcakes...

Or beach huts to remind you of summer...

Or pretty flowers and pots...

Or sweet little birdies.

The charms can be used in a variety of ways: attach them to your keys so that they can be easily found in the bottom of your handbag...

Prettify a handbag, or attach it to the zip to make it easier to grab hold of and use...

Or attach it to your scissors so that they don't get lost in the bottom of your sewing basket - and doubles up as a pin cushion too!

I love this range: so colourful and cheery. They'd make great little gifts or stocking fillers (Christmas is only 116 days away you know!) or as a lovely treat for yourself. Hope you like them too!

Apples and Pears

2010-08-30T00:33:00.004+01:00

Our next door neighbours have a great old apple tree in their garden. It leans right over our driveway and makes a fab arched entrance into our garden (though you have to remember to duck your head!)

This year has been a particularly good one for the apples and there's been a tonne of gorgeous, glossy red globes ripening on the tree this past week or two.

Unfortunately, it's also been really windy this week, so many of the apples have fallen. When we get home from work each night and open our gates, there's often a flood of apples that roll down the drive and onto the road.

If we manage to pick them up before they get splatted all over the road by passing cars, they either get put onto the wall at the side of the drive...

Or chucked under the hedges in the parking area for the blackbirds to have a peck at.

Today, however, I picked a few apples off the tree before they got blown down, with the intent of making some delicious culinary experience out of them. I've always fancied making jam, but I have no preserving pan or empty jam jars so that was a 'no no'; apple sauce sounded really boring; and I couldn't be bothered to start making and rolling out pastry for a pie...

So I settled on this scrummy, yummy Apple and Pear Crumble. It doesn't look fantastic in the photo, but it was DELICIOUS! Lots of different flavours and textures.

EDIT: With custard, it looks so much tastier!

I'd had a look through a good few of my cookery books for apple recipes but, as usual, I didn't have a lot of the ingredients needed. So finally I decided on an amalgamation of Bramley Apple & Pear Crumble (Seriously Good! Gluten-Free Cooking by Phil Vickery) and Spiced Apple Crumble (Complete Comfort Food, Contributing Editor Bridget Jones).

Here's my interpretation of the two recipes, using mainly store cupboard ingredients as a substitute for the fresh ones in the originals. Serves 4-6.

Ingredients:

'not' butter, for greasing

450g/1lb cooking apples

1 tin of halved pears in juice, drained

1tsp extract of oranges

1tsp vanilla extract

50g/2oz soft brown sugar

For the topping:

175g/6oz plain flour ( I used Doves Farm Gluten & Wheat Free plain white flour blend)

75g/3oz 'not' butter

75g/3oz caster sugar

25g/1oz chopped hazlenuts

Preheat oven to 200c/gas mark 4 (or 190c for fan oven).

Generously butter a 1.2 litre/2 pint baking dish.

Peel and core the apples, then slice them quite thinly into the prepared baking dish.

Slice the tinned pears and place them on top of the sliced apples. Level the surface.

Sprinkle the vanilla extract, extract of oranges, and the brown sugar over the top of the pears. Set aside.

Sift the flour into a bowl and rub in the 'not' butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Stir in the caster sugar and chopped hazelnuts.

Spoon the crumble mixture over the top of the fruit. Press the topping around the edges to seal in the juices, but leave the rest 'crumbly'.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the crumble is golden and the fruit is cooked (the pears will be quite soft but will still hold their shape, and the apples shouldn't be mushy either, they should still have a bit of bite to them).

Serve hot with custard or vanilla ice cream.

I'm sure the original recipes taste fantastic, but I think my substitution of certain ingredients worked really well too, and that's half the fun of cooking isn't it?

The Pigeon and the Egg

2010-08-29T23:09:00.001+01:00

It was so windy today that the seeds and currants we threw onto the patio for the birds mostly got blown into the shrubs and in between the paving slabs before the birds could land. We did notice one lone wood pigeon though, braving the high winds to hunt for the seeds.

We chuckled at the bird trying to stay on its feet whilst the wind was gusting all around and the washing on the line was flapping over its head. And then we noticed that the reason the pigeon was walking funny wasn't because of the wind, but because it had an egg between its legs!

Now I'm no avian expert, but I guess this isn't supposed to happen. The pigeon wasn't actually laying its egg on our patio, it was quite happily eating its lunch showing no concern, seemingly.

You can see the egg better in this close-up. The bird wasn't distressed at all. And it flew away quite normally after a few minutes of seed pecking.

Is this common? Have you seen this before?

Folksy Friday Pattern Picks

2010-08-20T00:16:00.002+01:00

My Folksy Friday this week takes its inspiration from the theme of pattern. They can be subtle, they can be bold - but all of these items have stunning patterns that caught my eye in their own individual ways.

As ever, click on the shop links to find out more about the items - posted by my fellow industrious A-teamers on Folksy.

Bright and cheery, and really useful too! Polka Dot Fabric Boxes by Forest Flower.

My Pounding Heart Necklace by Esme Dodsworth Design. Simple, sophisticated and gorgeous!

I love, love, love this Luna Moths Handbag by Shop Stitch Me Lane. Fab colour and stunning design!

The dreamy, swirly design of these Blue Swirl Disc Earrings from Pyro Angel's Sweet Trinkets is really beautiful.

Rag rug making techniques brought bang up to date with this gorgeous Ragged Heart Lavender Pillow from Woolly Lakes.

Amazingly detailed Wooden Cat Picture by Dach Crafts - all hand cut with a fret saw!

Hope you like my pattern picks. Have a great weekend.

Speke Hall and Garden

2010-08-15T22:49:00.001+01:00

A few weekends ago Mam and I went to the Tatton Park Flower Show. As part of the organised coach trip, a visit to a garden of interest is also included in the price. This year we went to Speke Hall and Garden in Liverpool.

It was raining when we got there, so we took the opportunity to have a look round the fascinating house (no internal photos, sorry, as photography wasn't allowed).

It's a fascinating house, 'One of the finest Tudor mansions in the country', says the guide. For a nominal fee you can join a guided tour of the property with one of the costumed volunteer guides, or you can wander through the house on your own too. Speke Hall, as it stands now, dates from the period 1490-1612, but there is evidence of an earlier building on the site (having been mentioned in the Domesday survey of 1086).

The estate has been owned by many families over the years and different parts of the house itself have been built, restored and refurbished by them all. Some of the rooms and furniture date from Tudor and Jacobean times, but the history as told within the house itself centres on the Victorian era and Adelaide Watt, it's final owner, who lived there from 1878 until her death in 1921. It has been in the ownership of the National Trust since 1943.

The mansion is big, but it isn't huge; it feels very lived in and you can actually imagine a real family (and their servants) spending their days here. You can wander through most of the rooms, though a couple are roped off and you can just view them from doorway. The rooms are all furnished, many with huge ornately-carved wooden pieces, and there are loads of tapestries, paintings and ornaments to look at too - though I was most taken with the intricate William Morris wallpaper (some original!) in nearly every room.

Each room has a descriptive textual guide which points out the items of most interest (an eavesdrop in the courtyard, hideaways in walls for persecuted priests, fossils in the stone floor of the Great Hall, to name a few) - and every room also has a room attendant who is ready and willing to answer any further questions that you have. The various bedrooms, morning room, billiards room and dairy were interesting, and I loved the Great Hall with its huge portrait, fireplace and suit of armour. But my favourite rooms were the kitchen and scullery which I thought were fascinating, with lots of strange-looking implements and cooking paraphenalia to view (and the room attendant here was particularly knowledgeable and enthusiastic).

By the time we finished our tour of the house, the rain had stopped and the sun was peeping out, so we enjoyed a walk through the relaxing and peaceful gardens - punctuated by the occasional plane flying VERY low overhead (part of the old Speke estate was sold to what is now Liverpool John Lennon Airport). I didn't mind this at all, far from it, I got excited every time I heard the woosh of the engine as each plane took off (so excited, in fact, that I never actually took a photo!) Anyway...

The gardens as you can see today were created by Richard Watt between 1855 and 1865, and restored in the last few years by three National Trust gardeners in his mid-Victorian planting style. The rose garden (photo above) looked really pretty and the scent was gorgeous, and the south lawn (3rd photo) was very impressive - the estate's gardeners must spend an awful lot of time on its upkeep. The moat borders (5th photo) were designed by Graham Stuart Thomas in the 1970s with lots of dark foliage (Cotinus 'Royal Purple', Corylus 'Purpurea') and splashes of colour in the foreground (daylilies, astilbes, paeonies, echinops, etc).

There's also a stream garden to explore; the north lawn with its evergreen borders; children's play areas and views over the Mersey estuary; and views of the Welsh Hills from the woodland estate walk.

My favourite area in the garden was the long border opposite the house and bordering the south lawn. I'm more of a fan of the lacecaps, but the colours of the mop-head hydrangeas here were stunning.

The garden is open all year round and the house from March to mid-December. There's also a great little shop (including plants for sale), the Home Farm restaurant for a bite to eat, and there's lots of events on throughout the year in both the house and garden (the Victorian Christmas Weekends sound fantastic). You can find out more at the National Trust's website on Speke Hall. We had to return to our coach to travel to our hotel for the night so we missed out on a couple of areas in the grounds - so I'd thoroughly recommend spending the whole day on a visit if you get the chance.

Fabulous Florals for Folksy Friday

2010-08-06T01:12:00.000+01:00

The weather has been pretty rubbish lately - especially on a Sunday which is usually my day of pottering in the garden. So to save me from getting withdrawal symptoms, this Folksy Friday is on a floral theme. All items have been chosen from the August A-teamers (who are listing every day, just like the July Jesters and all before them). As usual, click on the links to find out more about the individual items.

Okay, first of all: me! I've been listing these cutesy little hair slides in my The Needle Works shop. Different colours are available - and more are to come. Perfect for that sweet little girl in your life (but would actually look great on a 'big' girl too!)

This 'Rosalie Fabric Heart Cushion' by Polka Dots and Posies is vibrant but so romantic too. It would look very pretty on your bed, piled up with other shabby-chic style cushions and a cosy throw.

I love the colours of the floral beads in this 'Pretty Fairy Garden Bracelet' by Jinja Jewellery: so soft and fresh. There's so much detail in this bracelet too - can you spot the little fairy charms?

This bright and amazingly detailed 'Sunflower Print' from Passionate About Photography would certainly cheer you up on a cold, cloudy, drizzly day.

Lonely Hearts has these 'Perfectly Pretty Chrysanthemum Studs' available in pale blue or pink. Wow, I love the pink! Wish I had my ears pierced...

Bring some of the evocative scents of the garden into your home with this cute 'Lavender Bag' by Adien Crafts.

Or how about personalising a bag or cardi with these sweet and simple 'Flower Fabric Buttons' from Cwtch?

And finally, store all your pins and brighten up your sewing table with this gorgeous 'Aster Lilac Flower Pin Pot' from Granny Ruth's Gift Emporium.

I found an amazing array of florals when I browsed Folksy looking for items for this blog; only a few of them are listed here. So if you're inspired by fabulous flowers, please take a slow wander through the handmade horticultural delights on Folksy - I'm sure you'll find something that you love!