Meandering in Wonderland

Happy Imbolc )o(

2012-02-03T00:09:00.001Z

Big Garden Birdwatch

2012-01-30T23:24:00.000Z

This year we took part in the Big Garden Birdwatch, which took part this weekend just gone.

I made some fatballs and seed stuffed coconut halves the night before in order to lure lots of birds into our garden.

It was a bright and sunny Sunday morning with plenty of of little birdies twittering and chirping happily. With several fully stocked bird feeders in my garden, I was sure this would be a success.

However, by the time we were ready to count (the highest number of species seen at any one time), the weather had turned very grey and gloomy and it was raining. We usually have lots of birds including some of the rarer species around, but given the weather yesterday the turnout was very poor.

Here are our rather disappointing results from yesterday afternoon:

Pigeon anyone?

2012-01-25T23:59:00.000Z

Last night when I came home from work I saw a pigeon sitting on our drive and it wouldn't move out of the way for my car, so I parked and went to take a look at it. With that it started flapping its wings and jumped out of the way, but didn't manage to fly away properly. Of course my cats noticed it straight away and tried to get it. So I chased the cats away and picked up the pigeon. It didn't look injured or poorly, I thought it was maybe just exhausted - or sad as I found the wings of another one in our garden, clearly attacked by the cats or something else.

To protect the bird from the cats and to give it a place to rest over night I put it in my old chicken coop, that I no longer use - I didn't want the pigeon to go in with my chickens in case it had a disease. I gave it some mixed corn and water to help it get its strength back. When we went to let it out this morning the pigeon was walking around the coop exploring, but didn't want to go, it didn't even make an attempt to leave.

Here's some pictures of it:

Pretty cute, don't you think?

It didn't have a ring, so I don't know if it belongs to anyone. Do you recon it's an ordinary wood pigeon? Any idea what type of pigeon it is?

What shall I do with it now? Keep it where it is (away from the cats) and give it food and water every day until it decides it's ready to go? Shall I pick it up and lift it up high to see if that encourages it to fly off? Am I stuck with a pet pigeon now?

Yummy Yoghurt

2012-01-24T23:45:00.002Z

These last few days I've been experimenting with dairy in an attempt to make yoghurt. Thanks to this post over at Zoe Bakes it's been quite a success. At first I thought half a gallon of yoghurt would be way to much, but I followed the instructions and quantities anyway ... and finished eating the lot within two days! Straight away I made another batch using half a cup of yoghurt from my first batch as a starter. The first lot was made from full fat milk and the second one from semi skimmed. I can't wait to start my next batch with skimmed milk, making it a virtually fat free yoghurt. As Jamie has just started decorating our kitchen, I will have to fit my yoghurt production schedule around all that, meaning I have to wait, which isn't easy now that I know how good homemade yoghurt tastes. I tried making yoghurt before, but the recipes I used previously weren't very precise about temperatures and timings, so they didn't turn out this well.

Here are some pictures of my yoghurt in the making

and here some photos of the end result.

I left some of it quite thin so I could pour it over my cereals and also so I could mix it with herbs as a tasty salad dressing. Some of it I drained through a cheese cloth until it reached a thick Greek style yoghurt texture. I also left a part of it in the cheese cloth for a bit longer, which resulted in a lovely soft cheese, kinda like Philadelphia. I had a little bit of it spread on a slice of toasted homemade bread, sprinkled with some freshly ground pepper - sooo tasty. Then I mixed some with well drained tinned salmon for a sandwich filler and mixed another part of the cheese with homemade lemon curd for a yummy cheese cake topping, but more on all that another time.

How to look a total Fool

2012-01-19T21:40:00.000Z

The company I work for recently moved office and for some bizarre reason there is a mirror mosaic elephant in our entrance hall, which is pretty cool especially when it's sunny as it then has the effect of a giant disco ball. Anyway I had this stupid idea to wear an elephant mask and convinced one of my colleagues to wear a tiger mask, so we could pose with the elephant. Much to everyone else's amusement this is what it looked like:

I think people are seriously questioning our sanity, but hey, we had fun.

Is it Spring yet?

2012-01-18T22:07:00.000Z

Guess what I discovered in my garden on Sunday? My forsythia started flowering! I mean it's mid January - what is going on?

As the weather was quite nice and mild, we went for a walk on the beach. Yes, a walk on the beach in mid January.

Just as we were about to go home, I found this pretty shell, a type I didn't even know lived in this part of the world. Nice, huh?

Cure-All-and-Everything Balm

2012-01-11T23:23:00.000Z

I've been getting light migraines these last few days, not the really bad kind where you can't do anything, but the ones that are just there, really annoying and feel like they could develop into something far worse. I had this for 6 days in a row and felt like I wasted some precious triptans in order to get it under control.

To find a non-drowsy and less chemical solution to ease the pain I've been experimenting with some ingredients from my store cupboard and there it was: the "Cure-All-and-Everything Balm" was born.

It smells strong and herby yet pleasantly soothing, which makes is ideal for easing headaches, when used on your temples, as well as clearing a blocked nose if you rub it on your chest and back (and a tiny bit directly under your nose).

Its ingredients are mild enough and and its texture smooth enough to sooth dry skin - especially on elbows and even on my face.

I am also very pleased about the balm's massage qualities when I kneaded into some rather sore neck and shoulder muscles.

I'm afraid if you want to make your own you will have to experiment with the amounts and proportions as I didn't make a note of that and simply followed my nose when throwing all the things together.

Anyway this is what I did:

1. I crushed some dried thyme, parsley, cardamom, cloves, basil, chamomile, mint, fennel and rosemary with a pestle and mortar.

2. I then added enough walnut oil to cover the dried mixture.

3. In order to infuse the oil I warmed up the concoction (but don't let it get too hot as you don't want to fry the herbs and seeds), allowed it to cool down.

4. I repeated step 3 a few times until I felt the oil was fragrant enough.

5. Then strained the oil. I didn't want to waste the herbs, so I added them to the bottle with the remaining walnut oil to infuse that naturally for the next batch.

6. I added some beeswax to the strained oil and slowly warmed it until the beeswax had melted.

7. Now all there was left to do was to fill the hot liquid balm into little jars and containers and wait for it to cool.

Flowers in January

2012-01-08T23:57:00.000Z

So far this winter has been unusually mild with temperatures way above average for this time of the year. When I went for a stroll through my garden today, I discovered theses:

Happy 2012

2012-01-01T02:11:00.003Z

... and Good Bye 2011

Happy Yule & Christmas Time

2011-12-25T02:09:00.000Z

A Dress fit for an Award Ceremony

2011-12-09T23:47:00.000Z

As mentioned in one of my previous posts my work's Xmas party this year was going to be in the style of an Oscars party, which called for an evening dress. I made one based on a vintage mini-dress pattern and simply continued working the skirt of it until it reached ankle length. This is how it turned out:

I'm rather happy with the result.

As there were some professional photographers present at the party taking pictures throughout the night, I've been holding off this post, so I could add some of those, but it's now a week later and the photos still haven't arrived. Should they ever arrive and turn out to be nice, I shall add some more.

I even won a gold star that evening as a long serving award and I got to leave my hand prints in clay, so we could mimic Sunset Boulevard, when we move to the new office.

Movember - The Grand Finale

2011-11-30T23:54:00.000Z

As mentioned in my last post some of my colleagues had decided to raise money for "Movember" in support of for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men. Although today's the last day, there's still time to support my work's team. A few of the guys grew moustaches in order to get sponsored - easy for them. It was slightly harder for us girls to think of a way to get involved and raise money, so some of us came up with the idea of hosting a photo booth. I made over 30 card moustaches on sticks in 5 different styles. I found the templates on this pretty blog, although I didn't even attempt on doing the swirly one, as I don't think my card would have been as strong as the foam used in the tutorial.

This is what mine turned out:

On those pics style 4 looks pretty much like style 2, but that's just because my hair is hiding the whisker detail of style 4.

The moustaches were a hit with the ladies ...

... and the photo booth was great fun.

I also made some stuffed felt brooches, which sold like hot cross buns.

My last contribution to today's charity event was a stuffed crochet cuddly moustache toy, based on this pattern to be handed over as a trophy for the guy with the best homegrown moustache, which luckily went to the one I voted for.

All in all along with today's effort and the online sponsorships we made way over £1,000 for charity, which our company is going to match.

Foggy Afternoons

2011-11-22T23:47:00.000Z

Although the temperatures are still unusually mild for this time of the year, the recent foggy days have are giving us a bit of a taster of what's to come. The misty damp weather is making it feel so much colder - typical cold and flu weather, only bearable with a nice cup of mulled wine.

Given the break since my last post, it may seem like I haven't been doing much, but I have been extremely busy preparing things for the annual Christmas hamper for Jamie's parents, making 2 batches of wine, tea tree and mint soap, lemon curd, cranberry sauce, and several pickles and relishes.

Also, it's my work's Christmas party next Friday and this year the theme is going to be "Academy Awards", which calls for an evening dress. As I don't want to spend a fortune on a frock I'm unlikely to ever wear again, I decided on making a vintage crochet evening dress. I made an ankle length version of this:

I finished it last night, way ahead of time. As it's rather see-through I ordered a black satin night dress to go wear underneath. Once I've received it and bought all my accessories I will share some pics of the finished object.

It's also "Movember" this month, so I'm planning on getting involved raising money for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men. I've got a few ideas, but more is to be revealed later.

A week later ...

2011-11-07T23:20:00.000Z

... and finally some more Halloween pics as promised:

Some of my decorations ...

... including a candlelit cauldron with skeletons, ...

... and my attempt of glow sticks in a jar (emptying the contents as covered in many tutorials didn't quite work out for me), ...

... my rather jolly looking pumpkin, ...

... and my favourite prop this year: my knitted witchy gloves from a free Lion Brand pattern.

Spooky Halloween

2011-11-01T00:30:00.000Z

... more pics to follow.

Pretty in Pink

2011-10-28T23:02:00.000+01:00

Today is "Wear it Pink Day", an opportunity for people to be part of the cure for breast cancer. In order to raise money some girls from the office organised a Pink Day at my work. Everyone wanting to take part dressed up in pink and made a donation of £2 or more for the privilege of wearing pink for the day.

There also was a Pink Bake-Off, which included some serious judging for the best cake, followed by a cake sale and a pink champagne bar. I entered some cupcakes, which looked good, but that was about it, as the jam inside them sunk to the bottom and the icing tasted of cleaning products. Needless to say: I didn't win that competition, but at least I didn't come in last. I got rewarded with a pink rose and a wooden spoon for entering.

Although I didn't win the bake-off, I did win a rosette and a box of chocolates for "Best Pink Outfit".

All in all we managed to raise just under £250 today, which the company is going to match, so our donation to Breast Cancer Campaign is going to be nearly £500. Quite a successful day I'd say.

A Hedgehog by the Fireplace

2011-10-26T23:22:00.000+01:00

The other week I bought a pack of air-dry clay with no plans in mind. When wrecking my brains what to do with it, I thought it should be something seasonal, yet quite simple as I had never worked with clay before. So the idea of an ornamental hedgehog was born. I picked a few twigs the wind had brought down and cut them down to about 2.5 inches for spikes and went through my button jar for some suitable eyes and a nose.

Kneading the clay was harder than I thought as it formed quite a few cracks on the the surface, but they disappeared when I brushed it with a bit of water. The head-body joint seems pretty stable, but has become visible now that it's dry. A few cracks also appeared around the "spikes" after drying, so that's something to bear in mind, in case I try again. I'm already thinking of smaller versions made in one piece out of white clay with match sticks dipped in white paint for spikes, then a sprinkle of glitter for a more wintry decoration.

Dear Pharma Industry,

2011-10-19T22:23:00.000+01:00

Do you really think we're that stupid?

Was this really necessary or was it some sort of joke or bet amongst pharmaceutical copy writers, seeing who can get the word poo into a trustworthy medical leaflet? Should this maybe read: "... your faeces (no this is not a spelling mistake of face, there is no danger to your fake tan)."

Strangely enough the very same sentence also mentioned the term "urine", but without any further explanation, so just in case you didn't know, that's otherwise known as wee, not to be confused with wii.

Maybe instead of worrying about the discolouration of their poo and wee, people should start reading the dictionary and maybe one day we'll all be able to outsmart these patronising pharmaceutical authors. Why not aim for a new word every day?

Anyway, after all that I got a terrible reaction to amoxicillin, not resulting in pale poo, but a horrible rash and severe itching, making me feel like faeces for a few days.

Teddy

2011-10-15T14:32:00.002+01:00

My friend from work left this week to go on maternity leave. As a leaving present for her and to welcome the new baby to the world I made a crochet teddy. I think he's quite cute. Let's hope baby likes teddy as much as I enjoyed making it.

The Big Knit 2011

2011-10-14T21:09:00.000+01:00

This year I finally joined the Big Knit.

I wanted to knit or crochet something for charity for a while, but somehow never got round to it. This time however, I made 20 tiny little hats to go on top of Innocent Smoothie bottles. Each behatted bottle will raise 25p for Age UK to help keep older people warm this winter. All hats had to be in by today, so I sent mine in a couple of days ago - fingers crossed they got there in time.

It's been a lot of fun to knit and crochet them, they're really quick to make and are great for stash busting and using up leftover yarn. I'm aiming to make at least twice as many for next year.

Message in a Bottle

2011-10-04T20:12:00.002+01:00

Indian Summer

2011-10-03T22:42:00.000+01:00

Last week including the weekend we've been enjoying some unusually high temperatures for this time of the year. As a matter of fact, this Indian Summer has been much nicer than the entire British Summer we've had this year.

So what a better way to spend it than having a picnic and a walk in the forest ...

... where I stuffed my face with delicious blueberries, ...

... found a huge ant hill with lots of busy ants, ...

... and a big mushroom, I am convinced is edible. I've dried it now, so if you think it's poisonous, please let me know, before I add it to any sauces or soups.

After our trip to the forest, we went for a stroll on the beach.

All that, and it's the beginning of October with first snow falls forecast for next weekend - how very strange.

One thing I couldn't get my head round, was that it felt like summer, but it was getting dark really early, but look what pretty sunsets we got to enjoy.

Jewellery

2011-10-01T00:24:00.000+01:00

I just realised that when I wrote my holiday post a while ago, I forgot to show off my new Sterling Silver pendants that I made. My sister and I signed up to a jewellery making course while we were on holiday. A lady taught us how to turn Sterling Silver wire into flat nicely shaped pendants by using a hammer and an anvil, then sanding and polishing it. The finished pieces are even hallmarked.

Pretty neat, huh?

Happy Birthday, Google

2011-09-28T22:31:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was Google's 13th Birthday and to celebrate Google sent everyone in the office a yummy Birthday cupcake.

Autumn Equinox

2011-09-24T01:01:00.000+01:00

Hope you all enjoyed Mabon, which I celebrated on the 21st, although I think autumn equinox officially fell on the 23rd this year.

To celebrate I created a cosy autumn display ...

... including some "autumn potpourri" ...

... and some dried poppy heads. Needless to say I saved all the seeds for some baking.

I also made this autumn inspired wool wreath, which is now hanging on my kitchen door.

Our garden is full of hedgehogs, which to the cat's horror are trying to fatten up for winter by eating all the food the cats can't finish in a single session.

Isn't he cute?

Happy Mabon

2011-09-22T00:02:00.000+01:00

The Hand of Glory & other Obscurities

2011-09-17T00:01:00.000+01:00

Here are a few pictures of weird and wonderful things from last weekend.

It all started last Friday, when I found the last giant puffball at work, that hadn't turned brown yet. It wasn't quite as big as the ones I saw before I went on holiday, but it was still quite impressive in size. When you looked at it from certain angles it actually resembled a freaky looking skull. I sliced the huge mushroom and dried it in my food dehydrator - one of my latest kitchen gadgets. I could only fit half a ~~skull~~ mushroom in at the time, as it was that big, so I ended up with two tightly packed jars of dried mushroom, which will probably last me a lifetime.

I think someone must have kept their fingers crossed following my last post, as the weather was splendid for us last weekend. We went to Whitby museum, which amongst other things exhibits the only alleged "Hand of Glory" known to survive.

"A Hand of Glory was supposedly the carefully prepared and "pickled" right hand of a felon, cut off while the body still hung from the gallows and used by burglars to send sleepers in a house into a coma from which they were unable to wake. In one version the clenched hand is used as a candle holder for a candle incorporating human fat, but in another (consistent with the Whitby hand) the outstretched hand has its own fingers lit. In this case should one of the fingers refuse to light it is a sign that someone in the household remains awake. In either case the light cannot be extinguished by water or pinching but only by blood or "blue" (skimmed) milk - the usual method in the tales."

... freaky or what?

After the museum and a walk around Whitby, we went to Sandsend, but as the tide was in we went for a walk in the woods above the cliffs, where

... I had a bramble feast,

... climbed some spooky old trees,

which had eyes (!).

Then we discovered a "Money Tree", that amongst some recent coins, also contained some really old ones. The tree had almost completely swallowed some of the older coins. I tried to add a coin myself, but as I didn't have any tools to hammer it in, I'm not sure how long it will stay there.

We then met a rather friendly, but also rather small toad - probably a familiar of a local witch, spying on us.

On our way back we enjoyed some beautiful views,

... including Whitby Abbey at dusk.

A few days after this and the aftermath of hurricane Katia hitting the UK, we went for a moonlit walk on Hornsea beach.

PS: For those of you checking back here for some craft related posts, I promise there will be an update soon, well at least a little on.

Holiday Pics

2011-09-10T01:30:00.000+01:00

Jamie and I spend the past two weeks on holiday in Germany, where we took way over a 1,000 pictures. Below is a selection that sums up our holiday.

We went to stay with my family for a few days, enjoying actual summery weather.

We went shopping in Leipzig one day and because it was that hot, that I just had to find a fountain to cool down a little.

Back at my sister's house I spent a lot of time in her pool, the only way for me to cope with the heat, as I'm no longer used to proper summer heat.

While we were over in Germany my parents treated us to a 5-day trip to Prerow at the Baltic Sea, where the weather wasn't too kind to us unfortunately, but we still managed to have a great time ...

... playing crazy golf, ignoring the puddles

... going to the local museum, that had a festival day demonstrating local craftsmanship

... discovering an old-fashioned "beach changing tent" in the museum

... tasting freshly smoked herring, a local delicacy

... being amazed by the amount and size of locally found amber, something that area is famous for

... as well as adoring the beauty of the famous Darβ doors, a legacy of local fishermen

We also braved the many huge mosquitoes and went for a walk in the forest, where we came across some pretty toadstools

Needless to say, we spent a lot of time on the beach

... discovering old boats

... paddling in the sea, where you can go in really far, as it's quite flat for a few metres, followed by sand banks

... rescuing stranded jelly fish, releasing them back into the sea

... witnessing beautiful sunsets

... feeding sea gulls

... and simply relaxing in some of the so called "beach baskets", you can find everywhere around the Baltic Sea.

As you can see, I had a lovely time, but now we're back in England and the weather here seems worse than ever, although we do hope that it's not too bad tomorrow as we have plans to go out, so wish me luck and keep your fingers crossed.

A Preservers worst Nightmare come true

2011-08-16T00:03:00.000+01:00

I'M OUT OF SUGAR!!!

I had everything ready for a refreshing lemon and ginger cordial and then that: no sugar! How could that happen? I mean, I'm a sugar hoarder, especially this time of year when there's lots of preserving and wine making to do. O.k., so I did use quite a bit last night, when I prepared the must for my lemon and ginger wine - but all of it? There I was with no sugar at 10:15 pm, half the cordial prepared and the nearest shop 10 miles away and closing at 10:00 pm.

So, what's a girl to do? She raids her cupboards to find preserving sugar with plenty of pectin (probably not such a great idea) and three pounds of brown sugar. I made the obvious choice and picked the brown sugar. As this seems to suggest more of a hot drink than a refreshing summer one, I added freshly squeezed orange juice, star anise, a few cloves and cinnamon sticks for a warming winter toddy base, which doesn't seem like such a bad idea given the current weather here.

An initial taste test proved I made the right decision. It's still simmering away in the slow cooker, so it should be ready for bottling tomorrow.

Petition for Summer to come to England

2011-08-05T22:50:00.000+01:00

Last weekend we were spoilt with sunshine and warmth. This is what it should be like in summer, but unfortunately that seems to be a rarity around here.

Who would have guessed, the weather forecast for this weekend is rain.

So all that seems to be left of summer are the memories of last weekend, when we went to Wharram Percy, one of my favourite places.

It was so relaxing to enjoy the sunshine surrounded by seemingly untouched nature ...

... watching bees and other creatures, ...

... paddling in a cooling stream, ...

... and blowing bubbles.

I'm beginning to think that maybe I put an end to summer, by allowing my flower headgear to float away in the stream.

So, if want summer to come back to England, sign here and I shall see what I can do about it.

In the meantime I better plan some indoor craft projects for this weekend.

Happy Lughnasadh (Lammas)

2011-08-02T00:11:00.000+01:00

It was upon a Lammas night,
When corn rigs are bonie,
Beneath the moon's unclouded light,
I held awa to Annie;
The time flew by, wi' tentless heed,
Till, 'tween the late and early,
Wi' sma' persuasion she agreed
To see me thro' the barley.

Corn rigs, an' barley rigs,
An' corn rigs are bonie:
I'll ne'er forget that happy night,
Amang the rigs wi' Annie.

The sky was blue, the wind was still,
The moon was shining clearly;
I set her down, wi' right good will,
Amang the rigs o' barley:
I ken't her heart was a' my ain;
I lov'd her most sincerely;

I kiss'd her owre and owre again,
Amang the rigs o' barley.
Corn rigs, an' barley rigs, &c.

I lock'd her in my fond embrace;
Her heart was beating rarely:
My blessings on that happy place,
Amang the rigs o' barley!
But by the moon and stars so bright,
That shone that hour so clearly!
She aye shall bless that happy night
Amang the rigs o' barley.
Corn rigs, an' barley rigs, &c.

I hae been blythe wi' comrades dear;
I hae been merry drinking;
I hae been joyfu' gath'rin gear;
I hae been happy thinking:
But a' the pleasures e'er I saw,
Tho' three times doubl'd fairly,
That happy night was worth them a',
Amang the rigs o' barley.
Corn rigs, an' barley rigs, &c.

Robert Burns, 1783

On Lammas night tonight I had another go at making a corn dolly, which turned out slightly better than my last attempt. It's a basic 5-plait finished with a 3-plait ring, but the straw was really stiff and not very pliable, despite the fact that I soaked it for almost an hour. My book suggests it's due to modern varieties of wheat, so maybe next time I will buy some from a crafts supplier or I will try and find some seeds for some old varieties which might look quite nice when grown in pots.

I "sacrificed" some ginger bread men in the garden, which the hedgehogs sniffed out straight away.

I made a crusty Farmhouse-Lammas-Loaf and already ate the both of the poor fellow's feet, and they were delicious - mmhhhh feet.

Bottled Sunshine

2011-07-26T23:01:00.000+01:00

The other day I noticed that last year's supply of elderflower cordial was coming to an end. This made me panic slightly as I hadn't made any this year and elderflower season was almost over. Although not exactly full of hope I went out to find some anyway and I actually managed to find about 20 - 30 rather small heads of blossoms that hadn't turned brown yet. As they were very small I went a little heavier than usual on the lemon.

The result is a delicious and refreshing lemon cordial with a hint of elderflower, which I am sure would also taste great as a hot drink in winter, meaning I can enjoy sips of sunshine all year round. I'm so glad I made the effort to look for some elderflower in July, though next year I will definitely go earlier and hey, there's always elderberry season to come this year.

Weekend Project: Furniture Makeover

2011-07-18T23:40:00.000+01:00

A few years ago our neighbours were getting rid of a rather ugly stool,

just look at the horrible cheap plastic string cover.

I somehow saw potential in it and asked if I could have it. Since then it has been hidden away in a dark corner of the shed until recently rediscovered.

I sanded down the wood and gave it a fresh coat of duck egg blue paint and made a crochet cover in an adapted sunburst granny square pattern to turn the whole thing into something a bit more contemporary. Now it's actually getting used by Jamie when playing his guitar and recording his music, much better than getting cobwebs in a dusty garden shed.

Blessed Litha

2011-06-22T23:39:00.000+01:00

Hope you all enjoyed Litha, Midsummer's Day yesterday. I didn't leap any fires this time, but celebrated by lighting some candles in the garden ...

... listening to "Symbols of the Sun" by Death in June ...

... and enjoying a glass of delicious homemade rhubarb wine with a slightly meady taste as I topped up the demijohn with dissolved honey after the first racking.

Back to Medieval Times

2011-06-16T23:06:00.001+01:00

Last Saturday was the annual Polo event at my work again. So, as the my first sentence suggests there was a lot of professional Polo going on.

Dress code during the day was smart casual ...

... but as the UK weather is unpredictable I made myself the Short 'n Sweet shrug from Debbie Stoller's Happy Hooker Book. As it was quite chilly in the morning, this cardie turned out to be a blessing. Here's a picture of the back and a close-up of the relief shell stitch pattern.

This year this year's theme for the night was "A Knight's Quest" i.e. medieval:

There was some impressive live jousting going on and obviously fancy dress, finally giving me an opportunity to dress up as a chatelaine with a pointy hat, a strange thing I always wanted to do for some reason. So once I decided on my dream head gear I had to find an outfit to go with it, which seemed quite a task as I didn't want to spend a fortune and most dresses available to buy seemed rather expensive. After doing some research online, I found these s uper easy instructions on a German sewing site. So I got myself some cheap crushed velvet and had a go despite the fact that I have no sewing experience. After teaching myself how to wind a bobbin on my dusty sewing machine, I just went ahead and did it. Thanks to the clear step-by-step instructions it was really easy to do. My only regret is that I was a bit over enthusiastic when it came to cutting the fabric as it turned out too short, but I guess that's a lesson learned. As the dress seemed a bit short for the medieval theme I also had to make a long gold underskirt with an elasticated waist. Anyway, it all turned out well and from the extra material (from cutting off too much) I managed to make a matching draw-string handbag and of course my pointy hat. I made the hat by simply sewing some of the crushed velvet straight onto a piece of cardboard (as I didn't have any suitable glue to hand) and then attached an organza veil to it. All in all the outfit cost me less than £15 and I think an experienced sewer could probably easily make it in a night - needless to say it took me a bit longer than that. So after all this talk, here's picture of my medieval chatelaine outfit ...

... and my favourite accessory, the pointy hat with the veil that actually went all the way down to the floor.

An artificially prolonged weekend

2011-05-25T22:16:00.000+01:00

After some rather hard and sad weeks filled with worries and upsetting news, followed by a ruined weekend (a Saturday in bed with migraine and limited by extreme winds on Sunday), we felt that we really needed some cheering up and a way to make up for the spoiled weekend. So we went to Scarborough on Monday evening.

We went for delicious fish & chips at Harry Ramsden.

And then went to spend all our 2p coins (after raiding our piggy bank) in the amusements pretending we're in Las Vegas. Although I didn't win anything, apart from more 2p coins, it was good fun.

The little trip made up for what we missed out on last weekend and was a nice start to the week. Needless to say I slept rather well after all that fresh sea air.

Mini-Break

2011-05-03T22:59:00.000+01:00

As mentioned in my Easter post I've been off for 11 days. I'm calling it a mini-break as I only had to take 3 days holiday, the rest has all been public holidays and weekends. Today was my first day back at work, so I thought I share a few pics from the past few days.

Apart from a couple of days of gardening and shopping we've been out and about most of the time.

One day we went to Scarborough, where I bought this freaky bear mask:

Then we went to York to see the Minster and for a walk down the narrow streets of the Shambles:

And no trip to York is complete without visiting "Duttons for Buttons" where I had to get at least some buttons, of course:

As I already mentioned in my last post we also had a lovely day in Whitby on Saturday:

We walked all the way up the hill to the Abbey, which inspired Bram Stoker when writing Dracula:

In the wittered old graveyard in front of the abbey we found some pretty gravestones with angelic faces and some spooky ones with skulls and crossbones on:

Once back down at sea level, we went for a walk along the pier before returning home to my Beltane fire:

During my break I also bought myself an ice cream machine which I had to try out immediately to make some rhubarb and vanilla ice cream from some of the rhubarb in my garden. It tastes delicious, my only regret is that I wasn't careful enough when adding the food colouring as it turned out a bit too vibrant for my liking:

The ice cream cones are store bought, but now that I'm making my own ice cream I really want to make my own cones too, so if you know of any recipes and tips, then please let me know.

Merry Beltane, or Walpurgisnacht

2011-05-01T00:59:00.000+01:00

Hope you all enjoyed a lovely and sunny day like I did. Jamie and I went to Whitby today, but more on that another time.

For Beltane everything I did seemed rather miniature, such as this little ribbon decorated rowan, I only planted it last year and it's doing rather well, considering it's in one of the windiest parts of the garden.

I also made this tiny Beltane fire in my garden, ...

... which I was of course traditionally jumping.

And then I made this miniature May pole which is sitting in my window sill.

But if you would excuse me now please as I have to keep my appointment with the Wicker Man now, on DVD that is of course.

Blessed Be

Easter

2011-04-25T23:34:00.000+01:00

Hope you all had a lovely long Easter weekend, like I did. It started on Thursday, when a couple of my colleagues and myself organised another Easter Egg Hunt at work, following last year's success. This year we also held an Easter Bonnet competition, which won me a prize for most creative Easter Bonnet.

Here are all the entries:

And here's my prize winning entry:

On Good Friday I made some delicious hot cross buns and cornflake nests:

Saturday I decorated my outdoor and indoor Easter Trees:

I covered the windowsill with a strip of knitted green fun-fur to look like grass which gave the living room a fresh look.

I felt a bit like mad scientist when dying some hard boiled eggs that my chickens had laid:

Sunday I enjoyed a lovely Easter breakfast:

And as it was a nice day wheatherwise, Jamie and I managed to get a lot of gardening done, leaving our garden looking like a little piece of heaven on earth.

Today I went to the local car boot sale, where I managed to find an old copy of John & Sally Seymour's Self-Sufficiency Guide amongst other things.

Anyway, the best thing is, that after these wonderful four days, I'm off work for another seven days, so finger's crossed that the weather's on my side so I can enjoy the rest of my long awaited break.

Meet my chickens

2011-04-14T22:34:00.000+01:00

Unfortunately I lost poor little Antonia a couple of months ago. To keep Olivia company I got a trio of Bantams, but Olivia didn't like the little cockerel and kept fighting him, although he's only half her size. I had to keep them separate, which means Olivia was still lonely and tried everything to get my attention, so I decided to get her a new friend. Jamie's uncle and mum helped us build a bigger chicken run two weeks ago. As soon as it was finished I went to get a new hen, an ex-battery one this time. When I went to get her I couldn't believe that she used to live in a battery as she was so big and in such great condition, the guy who rescued her must have really looked after her which I'm very glad about. Anyway the new hen is called Matilda and the friendliest chicken ever, she gets on with all the others and just loves being stroked.

So, here's a picture of my new run:

These are my tiny Bantams: Little Jerry Seinfeld (the cockerel - obviously), Betty (the black hen) and Lottie (the grey hen):

Them two here are now best friends: Matilda (the brown ex-battery hen) and Olivia (the speckled one):

Unfortunately I can't get them all to line up, so you can see the difference in size, but to give you an idea here's a picture of me and Matilda ...

... and one of me an Little Jerry for comparison.

As he is that tiny, here's a close-up, so you can see how pretty he is:

It's not only the birds that differ in size, have a look at their eggs ...

Hearts & Flowers (& Cupcakes)

2011-03-28T21:55:00.000+01:00

I made some preppy crochet hearts and flowers cushions to brighten up the place. They are just big granny squares in one colour with basic shell borders and crochet applique. Really quick and easy to make and so cheerful to look at.

Oh, and whilst looking for my "cushions" photo folder, I also found one called "cushion" that had pics of some kitchen chair cushions I made last year, but I don't think I ever blogged about. I was really glad to have re-discovered them, the pictures I mean, not the cushions, because I'm still using them every day.

Swing into Spring

2011-03-21T22:11:00.002Z

Happy Ostara

2011-03-20T22:51:00.001Z

To celebrate Ostara, the vernal or spring equinox, I made this cheerful little wreath to welcome spring into our house.

It's a styrofoam ring covered in different types of green yarn, including some eyelash yarn to mimic grass. I bought the little nest with the eggs last Easter and got the bird which originally was a Christmas tree decoration in the January sale, I found the flower and the butterfly in my box of craft supplies. It was a really quick and cheap, yet fun project to do and it sure brightens up my kitchen.

It's flipping time

2011-03-08T22:47:00.000Z

Pancake flipping time that is.

Happy Pancake Day to all of you!

A rustic crochet Tee

2011-03-03T20:19:00.000Z

I recently finished this rustic crochet tee which seems just right for this time of the year, these chilly in-limbo-days between the end of winter and the beginning of year, when I need an extra layer to keep me cosy and comfy. It's a basic t-shirt shape which fits perfectly over a blouse or shirt and the rather tight herringbone type stitch worked in an aran weight yarn means extra warmth. Pretty basic but very practical, I like it. Do you?

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T23:20:00.000Z

Look, what I made on the weekend: an embroidered felt Lebkuchenherz (= gingerbread heart).

Doesn't it look sweet enough to eat?

I also made this little stuffed crochet heart brooch based on this pattern.

First Signs of Spring

2011-02-07T21:09:00.000Z

Look, Snowdrops, at last!

These little beauties seem to be coming up everywhere at the moment, which can only mean one thing: Spring's on its way - hooray.

To stick with the Spring theme I finished the Fern Cowl from Inside Crochet, issue 14, in a fresh Spring green. The repeats were really easy to remember, yet it looks so effective and it's very snugly. Just right for the hopefully warmer days ahead.

I also made some orange and cinnamon lip balm with vitamin E and beeswax as part of my way-delayed Xmas parcels. The contents were all ready before Christmas (apart from the lip balm of course), but then Royal Mail couldn't handle the work because of the weather and then my boxes ended up in the bin as part of a tidy-up, so I still haven't sent anything to my friends, but I promise to send out the presents this week.

Happy Imbolc

2011-02-02T23:37:00.002Z

Imbolc

Author Unknown

Many grey veils, wrapped up, a old wish woman, mother earth in winterplumage.
this is the moment...

the sun rises, a sky in all the colours of cold and
silence. a flame of warmth breaks, cutes through fog and rags.
this is the moment...

unbreakable rare it pokes upwards, bud of snow and
spring green: the young bride. as for ever,
endless nourished by the first ray of the sun.
this is the moment...

I hear in the stable the birth bleating, weeping the
feast song on mother earth...
this is the moment

Dusk Scarf

2011-01-26T22:41:00.000Z

I actually finished the dusk scarf from Inside Crochet, Issue 12 a while ago, but totally forgot to take pics and post about it.

The edging looks so romantic and yet the hood is so practical and cosy.

Jamie said I look like a granny wearing it. He may be right, although I much prefer the term vintage over granny, but look for yourselves how it turned out and let me know what you think.

I have also just finished the Fern Cowl from Issue 14 from Inside Crochet, but more on that in my next post as I still have to weave in the loose ends and take some photos.

A stitch says more than a thousand words ...

2011-01-18T22:38:00.000Z

... and sometimes it takes a few stitches to get it all out of your system.

Don't you find it really annoying too when people think they know everything best and just constantly have to interfere with your life and totally disapprove everything you do, like or enjoy? Well, it upset me a lot recently and made me very angry, so I just had to make the above cross stitch. Sorry about the cursing but it felt so much better to simply release my anger that way.

However, I still prefer the one I made a few years ago from the Subversive Cross Stitch book by Julie Jackson.

Ok, enough with the profanities, here's something more cheerful. About a week ago I brought in a few twigs from our Forsythia shrub and it started blossoming. Doesn't it look pretty?

As promised ...

2011-01-09T23:30:00.000Z

... an update before they end of the week, just made it in time though. O.k., one thing I have learned from all this is that I really should post as soon as I've finished a project or have something to say rather than putting things of.

So what happened between my last post last year and this year's re-design?

I had a lovely Christmas.

The run-up to Christmas was busier than ever as we decided to make a hamper for Jamie's parents again but this time we didn't have anything prepared. Amongst plenty of other things we included a doily covered homemade orange and cinnamon soap, several jams & relishes with crochet doily covers that can be used as coasters and some hand-rolled beeswax candles.

We kept a few of the candles for us and lit them on Christmas Eve. They smelled lovely and looked so pretty.

For the first time ever I made Stollen but although it may look good on the pictures I left it to bake for too long, so it turned out rather dry, but hey, that's a lesson learned for next Christmas.

We got the cats a little house which they absolutely love, although Sophie still seems to prefer hanging out in trees.

I made some fat ornaments and popcorn, carrot and sultana garlands for the birds in the garden ...

... which even caught the pheasant's attention.

I received these lovely earrings which my friend Claudi made for me - Thank you so much, I love them!

Last but not least I made a little gingerbread village with houses that hug the brim of a tea cup based on this tutorial from Not Martha.

As every year the plan for this year is to start on my Christmas preparations much, much earlier but when exactly is the best time to start? One month, two months before Christmas, early autumn, late summer, now???

Still Testing

2011-01-07T22:44:00.001Z

Just having a play-around with my post dividers.

What do you think to this cute little owl?

Looks like I'm finally there with my blog revamp. It's been such a pain, these new blogger templates are such a nightmare to edit and many of the previous expressions have changed, it's no longer straight forward HTML but a mixture of HTML, CSS and lots and lots of custom tags. I'm still not 100% happy with what I've done but any further changes would just be way beyond my limited technical ability, so I give up and stick with what I've got so far. Hope you like it.

Edit: With all this testing and making changes I actually managed to remove my Google Analytics tracking - how stupid of me. Good job I remembered to check.

Just testing. Argh!!!!

2011-01-06T21:19:00.000Z

I'm way overdue a New Year's post and believe it or not this is not going to be one!

I am hoping to give you a quick photo and comment update by the end of the week about what I've been up to between now and my last post. I got slightly side tracked as I thought I'd give my blog a little design make-over, which has caused more issues than joy, but I like playing around a bit, so please bear with me until I get it fixed. In the meantime please stare at the test screen below - looks much better than the mess I've made.

Don't get me wrong, I really like the vintage background image and header from Shabby Blogs but by changing the actual Blogger template, I seem to have messed up some of the formatting and HTML such as frames around all my images, random squares following hyperlinks and other little annoying things. I seem to have lost my favicon and can't remember where I used to host it. The colours and formatting of my tabs and widgets isn't in line with the rest of the design and so on, but I guess as part of this re-vamp I should probably remove some of these anyway, so now's the time for a tidy-up.

I'm going to try to sort some of the things that I'm not happy with, but as I don't know much about design or HTML I don't have much hope for this project. But hey, one can always dream. I might even try adding some pretty post dividers and kitschy widget headers and blinkies.

Wish me luck.

It's freezing

2010-12-06T22:23:00.001Z

Winter has arrived. We've had snow for the past two weeks and it's bitter cold. Today it was so cold, that the drain pipes froze, so the dirty washing-up water just wouldn't go down - yuck!

Anyway, whilst stuck inside I managed to make a woolly wreath to get me into the Christmas spirit. Unfortunately that's the only thing I managed to finish recently. The closer it gets to Christmas, the more projects I seem to start and none of them are anywhere near finished. I decided to put any decoration projects on hold for now, so I can focus on getting gifts ready.

Oh and speaking of Christmas, look what my friend sent me: a tiny Krtek picture advent calendar. It's only the size of a postcard but by far the best advent calendar I ever had.

Danke Claudi!

With it being that cold here, I keep putting a hot water bottle in the chicken coop over night and I also made them a special treat of porridge and mealworm - yummy.

Guy Fawkes, Halloween and finally an Up-date

2010-11-11T00:04:00.001Z

O.k., o.k.: I'm five days late with my Guy Fawkes post, ten days late with my Halloween post and several months overdue an up-date. I can't really blame you, if you've stopped visiting, my very own sister told me that she's given up checking for up-dates. In my defence: I really haven't been too well recently but now I'm back and I'm planning on posting more regularly. I know I've said this before but with Christmas just around the corner I'll be working on quite a few projects for presents and decorations which I'd like to share. Also, as it's getting dark early now and the weather isn't too pleasant I will probably be spending most of the time, especially the evenings indoors and at home, so regular up-dates should come naturally.

Now back to Guy Fawkes and Halloween. As I still wasn't feeling too good on Bonfire Night we didn't go anywhere to watch the big bonfires and firework displays. Instead we invited Jamie's parents round to our house for a quiet evening with hot dogs, jacket potatoes, modest fireworks and of course sparklers.

My Halloween decorations this year started from a simple autumn display and then just grew from that ...

... after adding this little amigurumi pumpkin and this cute woodland owl - both free patterns from Lion Brand ...

... then came the t-shirt & chestnut ghosts, ...

... the flat crochet pumpkins and ...

... the scary egg skulls produced by my hens and inspired by this post.

Along with some mini cauldrons and glow-in-the-dark skeletons they formed my Halloween trees.

Based on this awesome idea I created this gruesome zombie doll graveyard in a plant pot.

Although no one really ever comes to out to our house, I made some cup cakes just in case some little trick-or-treaters got lost.

But Halloween wouldn't be Halloween without some carved pumpkins. Jamie's (on the left) was meant to look like Ace Frehley from Kiss, whereas mine (on the right) looked rather jolly this year.

Last but not least there was of course dressing up: first as a witch ...

... then as a cat with some hand knit accessories from this free pattern.

But it didn't just end with me getting dressed up, I made some little devil horns for Zoltan.

Although, I made them especially for the cat, Teddy and the devilish apple on the tree wanted to get dressed up too.

Trapped in a Box?

2010-07-31T23:25:00.000+01:00

No, I'm just having a play-around with my scanner after reading about the Face your pockets project.

Once again, I am very sorry about the lack of posts. My aim for this year was to post at least once or twice a week and I'm soooo far from it, I think my post frequency is actually worse than last year's. Maybe it's just because it's summer and I am spending as much time outdoors as I possibly can to make up for the long winter we've had and in fear that the coming one might be just as bad. It's not like I've been idle all that time, I've done lots of things I'd like to share on here, so maybe I will "travel back in time" and show you all the things I've missed to blog about. I'm also working on a secret little project I am hoping to have completed by mid October, but I shall tell you more about that closer to the time.

I've joined the Circus!

2010-06-19T22:54:00.000+01:00

Sorry it's been a while since my last post but I've been extremely busy. No, I haven't actually joined the circus, although it may look like I have in some of the following pictures.

It's been the big annual event at my work again, where several polo tournaments were held, and clients, suppliers and staff and their partners were invited to. We were all welcomed with champagne, followed by a posh picnic, afternoon tea and of course watching polo, including the traditional divot stomping at halftime like they do in Pretty Woman. They also had an old fashioned carousel, which wasn't going round until later at night, but that didn't stop me from getting onto one of the horses to pose for a picture.

The party in the evening was themed fancy dress. This year the theme was Circus and I decided to go as a lion tamer and Jamie as an evil clown. I managed to get my outfit sorted without spending much money and by making my own accessories: the whip was a crochet covered stick and the fire-ring was a crochet covered hula hoop with some fabric added to make it look like flames.

When we arrived at the Circus ...

... I found a lion to tame near the popcorn machine, ...

... some mirrors, that make you look funny, ...

... a proper circus performing, ...

... Danger Mouse and ...

... candy floss!

Also, after waiting patiently all day I finally got my ride on the merry-go-round.

Summer's here!!!!!!!

2010-05-24T22:46:00.000+01:00

Yeay, the thermometer climbed up to 28.7 degrees Celsius this weekend, which is rather unusual for the UK, especially for this time of the year. I know it's not going to last and it's already cooled down a little, but it made such a nice change. As I spent most of the weekend outside gardening, I ended up with a minor sunburn, despite being in the shade most of the time, but it was the first summery weekend in a long time and I'm just not used to it - next time I will take more care.

I filled a little paddling pool with water in order to cool my poorly ankle, but then it got that hot, that I just really fancied a full-on dip in it - and so I did + I took Zoltan, the nosy cat with me, needless to say he didn't like it too much although he only ended up with a slightly damp tail.

As I usually suffer from real bad headaches and even migraines when it's too hot and sunny - especially now that I dyed my hair a darker shade, I made myself a rather hippie-ish, floppy-brimmed sun hat based on this pattern. Ahh, just in time. It's just right, not too warm, not too heavy and bright enough to reflect the sun light instead of attracting it like my current hair colour.

Ouch & Mmmh

2010-05-18T22:49:00.000+01:00

Last Friday evening I was clumsy enough to slip and fall in my garden, where I sprained my right ankle, pulled a muscle in my left leg and trying to stop my fall, landed full on in the nettles with my hands - ouch. Luckily my neighbour is a first-aider and looked at my ankle straight away and told me what to do. It actually looks worse than it feels, but means I am now going to my work in my slippers, as there aren't any other shoes that fit me and offer support at the same time, but I'm telling you it's so comfy to wear your slippers to work, actually they are slipper boots, which look like fake uggs, so it's not too obvious.

Anyway, hooray to elasticated tubular ankle support, which saves me from bandaging it every day after applying my cooling gel + it's offering great support. However, looking at the simplicity of the design, I could have probably knitted something myself with some stretchy, elastic yarn. I think I might just do so anyway, just in case I'm stupid or clumsy enough to have such an accident again + it would probably look far more funky than this. All it seems to be is a tight legwarmer, that's stretchy enough for the swelling and bruising without feeling uncomfortable - right? A simple 1x1 ribbed knitted tube should do the job.

Despite being slightly lame on foot, I managed to make this cinnamon lip balm based on my own thought-up recipe which goes like this (in case you'd like to try it):

Add some lilac blossoms, a tea spoon of honey, a tea spoon of freshly brewed ground coffee grains, a tea spoon of cocoa powder, some ground cinnamon, a few drops of essential cinnamon oil, three tea spoons of petroleum jelly and a little beeswax into a microwavable bowl and microwave for about 1 1/2 minutes or until it's all melted. Then I pierced a few vitamin E capsules and squeezed the content into the mixture and also added the empty capsules to it and microwaved it all again for 30 seconds. I then strained this through some muslin into a clean container and left it to cool. It's a really nice texture, scent and taste and cinnamon is meant to have a plumping effect, so this should help to get a perfect pout - hehe.

My chickens have also been very busy and I made a tasty egg mayonnaise sandwich for my pack-up with some of the fresh eggs and some fresh chives from my garden. Hopefully next time the mayonnaise will be homemade as well.

Muscle Rub & Greenhouse Joy

2010-05-12T22:27:00.000+01:00

I made some nicely scented muscle rub last night by adding a few drops of eucalyptus oil, some pine needles, rosemary, thyme and plenty of chillies to some melted petroleum jelly and a little bit of beeswax. I've used the chillies as I was hoping to create a deep heat treatment but that didn't quite work out. Anyway, I've been using the balm this morning as I must have slept funny and had a bit of a stiff neck .... and it worked! It's probably due to the rosemary aiding blood circulation and the thyme having a numbing effect, whatever the reason, I was impressed it worked. I even applied some to my temples when I felt a headache coming and even that worked! The beeswax turned it into a nice textured balm, which was just right, not too soft, yet not to hard and really easy to apply.

Also, look what Jamie got me: a little greenhouse. Just what I need to protect some of my plants after the frost the other night destroyed my runner beans.

Last but not least tonight: I'm sharing the beautiful view I have from the bottom of my garden.

Eggcited - Part 4 & 5

2010-05-11T23:02:00.000+01:00

I finally got my chickens last Wednesday and I absolutely love them. The ex-battery deal didn't quite work out, so I had to find a local breeder, which certainly wasn't easy but definitely worth the effort as they are so lovely and so much fun. These cute little ladies are called Olivia (at the front) and Antonia (at the back). They're about a year old and already seemed to have settled in, they even eat bread and worms (!) out of my hand and are really good going back into their coop when it's bed time. I'd love to let them roam around freely during the day but one of our cats just seems a bit too interested in them and unfortunately that's the cat that previously killed a pheasant, so I think I better invest in a bigger run (although ours seems a decent size for two) and only let them out when I'm around, so I can keep an eye on them.

Aren't they nice? It was so difficult to choose as the lady who sold them had so many different pure and mixed breeds to pick from, but them two were my favourites when it came to character.

Hey, believe it or not: they laid an egg within the first 24 hours. The eggs are tiny, but just look how proud I am.

Oh, the reason I haven't been posting for a while wasn't just because I've been spending a lot of time with my new pets but also because we had company: my dad and sister came over from Germany for the first time to come and see us. I very much enjoyed the few days we had together and I think they did too. Just look at them enjoying their first ever portion of fish & chips near the sea front - they don't like their pics being published on the internet, hence them being in disguise.

When going out for days with my dad and sister I found a Dr. Who Tardis in Scarborough ...

... and had lots of fun jumping up and down on the beach.

Crochet Necklace & 70s Style Photos

2010-04-28T22:13:00.000+01:00

Inspired by this ruffled crochet bib necklace I made a 5-layer one in a spring yellow and I love it. It worked up really quickly and just brightens up any outfit, whether it's a plain black top or a floral dress, it's pretty versatile and would even look good with smart office style clothes. It's certainly a unique accessory.

After having seen quite a view 70s style photos recently, I thought I'd try it myself. The only problem is: I don't have Photoshop or any other fancy photo editing software, so I had a go with Photoscape and it turned out alright, not as professional and authentic as the ones I've seen but it's close enough to a retro shot and I quite like the effect. What do you think?

Look, what I found!

2010-04-26T22:25:00.001+01:00

Quite the opposite to Alice's "Drink Me" bottle, a "Not To Be Taken" poison bottle! I found it when turning the soil in my veg patch the other day. I keep finding all sorts in there. Not sure what used to be here a few decades ago, but I found lots and lots of vintage pharmaceutical bottles in the garden when I first dug up the lawn to turn it into a veg garden. I might clean them all up and have them on a shelf as there are quite a few pretty looking ones. I think my best find, yet waste, so far was a little bottle that still had some liquid in it, thinking that it might be some old, gone off medicine I discarded the content and was pleasantly surprised by the smell, only to find that the bottom of the bottle read: "Chanel No. 5" - bummer, what a waste! Anyway, amongst all those treasures I've also come across some rather grotesque big bones, including several pig jaws with their teeth still in it - yuck!

Eggcited - Part 3

2010-04-22T23:31:00.000+01:00

After sawing some wood and hammering it into the ground around the coop and run, I am convinced that my chicken house is now fox proof.

O.k., so I suck at DIY and the whole thing doesn't look very professional or pretty but it should do the job and stop any fox from digging its way in.

Hey, and look how big the run is: I can actually fit in it! That should be big enough for two hens for while I'm at work and when I'm at home they can roam around freely in the garden. I also got some chicken feed and straw today, so I'm all set, the only thing missing now are the chickens. Fingers crossed that I will get them this coming Wednesday.

Been Poorly

2010-04-19T23:45:00.000+01:00

I haven't been very well recently, hence the lack of posts. It was really just a cold but it was so intense that it knocked me out for several days and I had to stay in bed.

I've been nursing myself with some homemade remedies such as elderberry cordial which I made back in September last year. I was well impressed that it actually helped me. I'd say forget about lemsip or any over the counter cold and flu medicines, this cordial works miracles and tastes fantastic. I had a few spoons full on its own to sooth my throat but I mostly had it as a drink diluted in hot water.

When I made it last year I said I'd never go through all this effort again as it was quite a messy job despite doing it in the slow cooker but as soon as I tasted it I knew I'd make it again, especially now that I know that it actually works.

I've also been having some chili sherry that I prepared last June but it's now that hot, that I can literally only have a tiny sip of it at the time and even that is giving me hiccups straight away but it sure warms you all the way through and clears your nose.

To make sure I kept having enough liquid I enjoyed plenty of the lemon cordial I made last August. I prepared that one in the slow cooker as well, so hopefully it preserved some of the vitamin C.

Thanks to all these remedies I'm already feeling a lot better and seem to have recovered quicker than when taking the usual over the counter medicines.

Eggcited - Part 2

2010-04-11T21:58:00.000+01:00

My chicken coop and run finally arrived on Friday and I've been itching to put it together. I think I did really well putting the house together all by myself but then Jamie and his dad took over and built the run. Being typical men they decided to go against the instructions and placed the sides the opposite way round, so the door would face the garden, which now makes it impossible for me to reach the little door and window at the front of the house. I will have to take the run apart again and assemble it as intended. Anyway, there's still plenty to do before any chickens can move in, first of all I will have to make it fox-proof, but I might be able to get it all done next weekend, if the weather is on my side and then I might be able to get some hens the week after.

Jamie also painted my shed blue, which makes it look so much better, kinda like a typical British seaside chalet + my gnome stickers in the window look so much better on a cheerfully painted shed.

We went for a walk to the pond this afternoon where I saw this nest in the water with what I assume are duck eggs, but please let me know if you think they might be something else as I'm really not sure.

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T23:21:00.000+01:00

Jamie was at work today, so I had my Easter afternoon tea all by myself, enjoying my homemade hot cross buns. As I'm not a fan of sultanas and raisins, I substituted them with dried cranberries and candied citrus peel.

Then I made some super cute chocolate coated bunny cookies.

My Easter tree wasn't as exciting as last year's as the blossoms haven't opened yet, but I added some crochet covered polystyrene eggs this time.

I also bottled my carrot and orange wine last night which turned out very clear and tasty despite the strange sounding combination.

Easter Egg Hunt at Work

2010-04-03T11:32:00.000+01:00

My colleague, Katie and I decided to arrange for an Easter Egg Hunt at work.

Oh, what fun it was to see everyone turn into little kids when they all stormed off searching for eggs before we even got chance to give the go-ahead. I even made myself a bunny ear hat based on this pattern. I might take some more photos of it soon.

Our design team was nice enough to turn my crochet bunnies into a poster:

Whilst looking for chocolate eggs, we came across a bird's nest full of real eggs. Hopefully mummy bird returned shortly after the pic was taken to keep her eggs warm.

Empty Jam Jar + Crochet Cover = New Spring Flower Vase

2010-03-28T23:31:00.000+01:00

We have lots and lots of daffodils everywhere at the moment and I just had the urge of bringing some inside to brighten up the house. Unfortunately I didn't have a suitable vase, so I decided to "make" one. I made a crochet cover for an empty jam jar that seemed the right size for the amount of flowers I picked and ended up with the perfect vase for spring flowers.

Invasion of the Easter Bunnies

2010-03-22T23:14:00.001Z

For once I seem to be on top of things and way ahead of time as I've already started on my Easter preparations. Hooray! I made these cute little amigurumi bunnies based on this Lion Brand pattern, but I kept decreasing, so I could turn them into stuffies. There might be a few more to come, although I'm planning on making at least a couple of actual egg warmers as intended by the pattern. I've edited one of the bunny shots I took this weekend and added some text and cartoony hearts in order to have it printed as a set of Easter cards for me to send to all my friends. I'm also planning on sending some of the actual stuffies, starring in the picture, along with the cards.

Anyway, as proud as I currently am for being more or less prepared, there's still plenty to do before Easter, but I'll make sure to keep you in the loop.

Oranges

2010-03-10T22:01:00.001Z

When I went to supermarket the other day, I walked past the reduced to clear section and saw mountains of reduced oranges, bags of eight for £0.39. I mean, there was nothing wrong with them, oranges don't really have a sell-by date, they all looked perfect. So, what's a girl to do? Just keep walking and ignore them? No, not me. I grabbed two bags and left the old granny that was looking at them too to decide how many she wanted as I didn't want to look too greedy, then when no one was looking, I went back and got two more bags. So, what happened to the 32 oranges? I used them all up of course.

First I made some spiced orange wine from 16 oranges, which is now bubbling away happily in my airing cupboard. It smelled really nice when I poured it into the demijohn, so I can't wait to sample the finished wine, but it's still got quite some time to go before it's anywhere near ready.

Then I made spiced orange and cranberry cordial. Sounds Christmassy? Think again! Think: bitter orange cocktails! Think summer! Once diluted in cold water it's such a quenching and refreshing drink and so tasty. I haven't tried it with hot water yet, but then I guess that would be quite a Christmas reminder.

Here is how I made it: I sliced 8 oranges (incl. the peel) and put them in the slow cooker, added two 400g jars of homemade cranberry sauce, some sliced root ginger, 3 cinnamon sticks and some cloves. I then diluted 1.3kg of sugar in just under 2l of boiling water and added it to the fruit and spice mix. Just to be on the save side I added a teaspoon full of pectin destroying enzyme as I didn't want the cordial to set and turn into marmalade or turn cloudy. This mixture was then cooked in the slow cooker for and hour on high heat and then for another 3 hours on low heat. Then I added two teaspoons of tartaric acid and waited for it to cool down. Once cold I sieved the cordial and filled it into sterilised bottles.

Finally I turned the remaining eight oranges into orange curd. Believe it or not, but this time I managed to control myself and stayed away from adding any spices, not even cinnamon.

A Giant Granny Square Blanket

2010-03-07T22:29:00.000Z

I finally finished this giant granny square blanket.

I must admit I neglected it for quite some time since I started it back in January, but seeing this huge unfinished bundle every day got pretty annoying, so I decided to just keep going round and round until I eventually ran out of yarn, otherwise I'd probably still be working on it.

My next problem is: how do I get this thing over to Germany as it's a present for my mum and dad to go into their new guest room which means I get to use the blanket when I'm coming to see them. For now though, I guess I will have to go on the hunt for a giant postal bag.

Faking it

2010-03-07T00:19:00.000Z

Although the world outside has slowly started coming back to life following this long winter, I got a little impatient the other day and just fancied some instant spring, so I decided to fake it by tying some pom pom "blossoms" to a twig to brighten up the house.

I also made this not so fake but rather alive little mossarium with some moss (obviously), active charcoal from a fish tank filter, some pretty purple pebbles I got from a garden centre, a b it of old tree bark, some rotten wood and an empty snail house. Now I just have to remember to water it every three months.

First Wine of the Year

2010-03-05T23:51:00.000Z

This week I finally filtered and bottled my apple wine, that I started back in January.

Also, with the weather starting to feel a bit more like spring, Jamie and I got chance to go out in the garden for a long overdue tidy up. We gave our composter a bit of a make-over too by adding some cute gnome stickers to it.

Jamie even managed to dig in our new wildlife pond. It still looks a bit empty and rough around the edges but we are going to get some plants to go in it and are waiting for the ones around it to grow.

We went for a walk to look for some frog spawn to rescue from the goldfish pond on the farm but I think it's still too cold and too early for that as the pond seemed lifeless.

But despite the still low temperature it's nice to see at least a bit of flower power around the house.

Eggcited - Part 1.1

2010-03-03T21:49:00.000Z

Quick update on the chicken front: unfortunately I won't be having chickens in time for Easter. The company I ordered the coop and run from are out of stock of the normal size one. They've upgraded me to the bigger one at no extra cost which is great but they are also out of runs at the moment which isn't great. I am now looking at delivery first week in April, so I will be getting my chickens in mid or late April. This might actually better anyway as I am hoping that it's a bit warmer by then, which must be nicer for the chickens. Now that I am getting the bigger coop I am thinking of getting four hens as the coop is suitable for up to eight chickens.

Old School Friday

2010-02-26T22:57:00.000Z

Haha, I've just come across this long forgotten song, I used to love back in my teens and I must admit I still sort of like it. Embarrassing or what?

I might actually make old school Friday's a regular embarrassing feature on here. What do you think?

Eggcited - Part 1

2010-02-22T21:55:00.000Z

Last year I decided to get some chickens in 2010, so I bought a few books on keeping chickens and saved my Christmas money for a chicken house. Today I finally ordered my coop and run. This is the one:

I went for the 600 mm deep one which houses up to 6 chickens, although I am only planning on getting 3, but that way they will have plenty of space. I bought the run as well, as I will have to keep them in there during the day, while I am at work, because I am worried the fox might get them and living on a farm I've seen quite a few of them around. That means I will only be able to let them roam free in the garden when I am out with them, which I am hopefully going to be a lot once the weather gets better. I hope it arrives soon. Jamie and I are both on holiday (at home) next week, so if the weather allows we should be able to put this up.

Once we're all set this will make a lovely house for 3 ex-battery hens. Oh, I can't wait to give these poor things a proper home. Hey, maybe by Easter I will have my very own chickens, and maybe even eggs. How cool would that be?

As the "Part 1" bit in the title suggests I am planning on keeping you in the loop, or should I say coop, with what's happening, so watch this space.

Lemon & Poppy Seed Muffins and a Crochet Plant Pot Cozy

2010-02-17T22:08:00.000Z

After my last few rather brief photo up-dates, I'd let you know about my new favourite sweet treat: lemon and poppy seed mini muffins. I've been having them for breakfast every day for last few days. I saw a pack of 6 absolutely tiny ones in the supermarket and just wanted some but refused the to pay what I thought seemed totally overpriced for something that surely must be simple to make for less money; so I just added some lemon juice, grated lemon rind and poppy seeds to a basic sponge mixture and the result was delicious.

What I did buy from the supermarket though was a pot of basil which I planted into an empty plastic lemonade bottle that I had cut down in half. To make the pot look less ugly I made a snug little crochet cozy for it. O.k., ignore the state of the plant; it looks a bit poor due to the fact that we used quite a bit of basil on our pizza and in our spaghetti bolognese.

Happy Pancake Day

2010-02-16T21:57:00.000Z

mmmhhhh, yummy!!!

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T21:16:00.000Z

Discovering the Magic of Animated GIFs

2010-02-09T21:05:00.000Z

Finally: the first Signs of Spring

2010-02-07T21:56:00.001Z

Shortbread Buttons

2010-01-31T21:46:00.000Z

Inspired by this post, I just really wanted some shortbread buttons myself. They didn't turn out as perfect as Nikole's but were fun to make and eat nonetheless. I followed a basic shortbread recipe, containing just flour, sugar and butter, and of course food colouring.

I accidentally emptied an entire bottle of food colouring into the mixture, making my dough look like I blitzed a smurf.

Treats for Me

2010-01-19T22:57:00.001Z

Ah, at last some treats for myself ... in the shape of homemade crackers, homemade cheese and homemade ginger beer. Life doesn't get much better.

And, yes, you did read right, I made my own cheese. It's only a cream cheese made from homemade youghurt and salt but it's very yummy and tastes a bit like Philadelphia but much better.

I also made some banana bread for breakfast ...

... started some apple wine ...

... and bought a daffodil to bring some spring spirit into the house.

I'm still practicing on my sewing machine and would like to try some applique, so I was looking for some bits of suitable fabric and was thrilled when I found some vintage scarves and pillowcases in a charity shop in my lunch break. They're all printed in lovely colourful patterns, which seems perfect for what I've got in mind.

The cat wasn't included but as always he had to be the centre of attention and posed in the middle of my fabric treasures.

Oh, I did end up making something for Jamie too. He got himself a new mobile phone last week and I knitted him a little cozy for it to keep it free from scratches.

Treats for Everyone

2010-01-10T22:12:00.000Z

After a rather stressful visit to the supermarket yesterday - people were panic buying because of the snow, so it was super busy, yet the shelves were empty - I realised I forgot to get cat food and water biscuits.

So when I got home I decided to make them myself.

Here are some water biscuits for Jamie, ...

... tuna biscuits for the cats ...

... and then I thought: why not make some seed and honey treats for my budgies ...

... and a fat cake for the birds outside.

Everyone was very happy but I somehow seem to have missed out this time.

Lunch Break

2010-01-07T23:06:00.001Z

This lunch time a few of us from the office decided to make a snowman. It was great fun, yet quite a task as the snow wasn't very sticky; it was the really powdery stuff but I think the result is still quite presentable although it took five of us an entire hour to build it.