make&do

proudly presenting...

2012-01-19T08:45:00.000-08:00

Haunt for the Xbox Kinect, made by my husband & his colleagues.

It's a fun, family friendly haunted house game (definitely not scary) suitable for age 7+.

You use your whole body and you arm acts as a torch/ flashlight to illuminate the house as you walk around it.

Click on above picture to see full image.

You duck out of the ghosts way, and can then strike it or dazzle it with the torch to get rid of it!

Really please that Microsoft has put it on their market place, do check it out, really is a fun game!

Very proud of husband and Zoe Mode.

new(ish) beginnings

2012-01-15T00:40:00.000-08:00

I'm hoping everyone has had a good start to the new year. Our Christmas and New Year celebrations were brilliant, we spend Christmas with family and had friends over for New Year's celebrations.

I did a lot of cooking and baking (as we had good friends stay over 4/5 days) and I used my new Veg Everyday book with great success. Definitely a new favourite! For dessert for NYE I made a pavlova topped with cream and passion fruit from my Nigella Lawson's "How to Eat" book. It always gets a big thumbs up from people who eat it. Another thing that worked well were the mince pies I made using Rachel Allen's recipe (just 1 jar left to use up this month!). Note to self, halve recipe as I don't need 5/6 jars of mincemeat! I made another huge batch of them this week and both my husband and I took them into our respective workplaces, and they were eaten pretty quickly!

Yesterday to help usher in spring I bought 2 pots of narcissi bulbs and some tulips from our lovely local florist, Miss Mole's Flower Emporium. I thought they all looked gorgeous lit up last night in these two gorgeous tea light holders that my sister bought for me.

My new(ish) beginning is that I started an Open University degree course in English Literature back in October. It's hard work, and a lot of reading and essay writing. This is my way of an apology for few and far between blog posts since the autumn.

If you want to see some more of me(!) on the web, I've recently opened a pinterest page as a one stop shop to link to all ideas/ recipes/ likes/ inspiration to ideas on the web. It's a great free resource.

Take care for now. xox

merry xmas

2011-12-19T14:14:00.000-08:00

Today I had a little pre Xmas tea party for my youngest son, with 2 of his nursery school friends. We made the Gingerbread house yesterday (all 4 of us had a hand in it!). I used the recipe and instructions from Rachel Allen's Bake book. We also made fairy cakes, gingerbread biscuits and homemade mincepies (1st time I've ever done that). Everyone loved it, so far we've eaten half of the roof!

Tudor Day Costume

2011-12-13T10:52:00.001-08:00

Sewn from a pattern in the Easy Costumes for Children book. Came
together very easily.

Somewhere over the rainbow...

2011-12-13T10:48:00.000-08:00

movember

2011-11-24T13:34:00.001-08:00

You might have seen a lot of moustaches appearing all over the place. Some looking not quite right. Well if they disappear next week, it's because it's Movember. It's a fun way for men to raise money for men's health charities (and easier than training for a 10k run!) My husband's giving it his best shot, find him here.

If you can't grow one, you can always buy this moustache eraser from the Tate Gallery shop for £2.50

Or get this cut out and keep moustache from freemoustache.com! There's a couple of designs to choose from.

Happy growing!

falling light

2011-11-16T08:21:00.000-08:00

The clocks have gone back and in the 20 minutes since I turned the PC on it's now dark. I caught the last of the day's light to take the photos below. With the cold winter weather coming my mind has turned to warm and snug things to wear. When I came across this book, Northern Lights by Lucinda Guy. I had to buy it as I had fallen in love with the Hulda Pullover and the Twined Socks.

The book takes inspiration from northern European countries Scandinavia, Iceland and the Shetland Isles.

The Hulda Pullover is in the Icelandic section of the book, so I found this shop, and bought my yarn from it.

My yarn came in a dizzying selection of colours, but I followed the exact shades from the book, as that is what makes it, I think.

The reds that go just around the base of the jumper, which lift it.

I love these oh so subtle changes from off white up to black in the yarn selection. This is what makes the stripes so lovely in this jumper with the gradual gradation of colour.

Now have I actually got any time to make it? Not really!

getting organised

2011-11-04T09:56:00.000-07:00

My handbag has become a bit of a mess, with my essentials fighting to be found with everything else. I have been very generous, and purchased a few new items to sort my life out. First up is a new purse, as my old one (5 years hard service) is falling apart. I spent more than I normally would, but decided it's used daily and is something that I want to look nice. It's a Radley trifold purse, with plenty of room for everything.

The next item I bought was a card holder for all those reward cards that I have ruining my current purse. Nothing more frustrating when I don't have my reward card on me.

Next up were some zip bags from zpm to keep hold of my pens, hair brush and nail file and other female items that I don't want the world to know about!

I feel all smug now with my new found order!

on the sewing table

2011-11-02T00:34:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I've done any sewing, not because I don't want to, but time pressures have placed restrictions on me.

I've bought a few patterns lately, which I need to buy fabric for. And one by one, I hope to make them over the coming months.

Firstly from the wonderfully written and designed Colette Patterns the cinnamon nightdress. I had hoped to make a summer sundress in a light cotton fabric, but now summer has gone maybe it'll be a heavier weight slinky satin/silk?

And hot off the presses the new Jasmine top. This is probably what I will make first. I just need to decide on some suitable fabric. I love the two tone one she has on her website. But it also looks great in one fabric too.

I haven't really made my children any clothing (apart from a shirt from Heather Ross's Weekend Sewing). But Oliver & S get great reviews, so I have purchased the Sandbox Pants to make for my younger son. If I can, I'll adjust them to make some for my eldest, who is a very tall 8.5 year old.

Finally, I was inspired by watching Gertie's Sew Retro class to make this dress. It's a Laura Ashley dress for McCalls M6350. You cannot buy this pattern in the UK (outrage!) so I had to buy it on-line from an eBay seller.

As you can see, lots of variety. I think the boy's trousers and the blouse have the biggest chance of being made any time soon! We shall see.

What have you got on your sewing table?

Happy Halloween

2011-11-01T09:29:00.000-07:00

Hoping that everyone enjoyed Halloween (if they were embracing it) and escaped from it (if they weren't!).

These were our efforts in Pumpkin carving. Designed from l-r 7yr old niece, me, husband, 8yr old son, neighbour!

We saw plenty of amazing designs on our travels last night as well. Inspiration for next year.

Doorstop Pattern Update

2011-10-05T03:12:00.000-07:00

I have drawn up a scale version of my doorstop tutorial, to clarify all the measurements. I hope it helps.

A big thank you to all the lovely comments that I have had from everyone who has used my pattern.

Claire xox

Veg Everyday!

2011-09-28T02:25:00.000-07:00

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has written a vegetarian cookbook!! We have been a fan of him since we first saw him on Tv (+10 years ago?) cooking a placenta. Don't ask!

Hugh has pulled together a brilliant vegetarian cookbook that uses easy to get ingriedients and easy to follow recipes. I'm not sure if he realisess that parmesan is not vegetarian, but apart from that it's vegelicious!

These stuffed peppers look fab They are definitely on my to cook list (when my oven is fixed!)

Yummy linguine pasta

Hugh has a few pasties, great for a more interesting lunch box. I also love his take on pot noodles, I'm going to give that a go too.

The book is broken down into the following chapters:

Comfort Food and Feasts

Hearty Salads

Raw Assemblies

Hefty Soups

Bready Things

Store-cupboard Suppers

Mezze and Tapas

Roast, Grill and BBQ

Side Dishes (including sweet asides)

Every recipe is photographed (which I'm a big fan of) and there's a lot of recipes to choose from.

I have already made 3 dishes, all of which were delicious. My favourite was the Pinto Bean Chilli, which could easily be doubled and then freeze 1/2 for another day. I also made the Chachouka which is a red pepper dish with an egg backed on top, very yummy and his pasta souffle which he suggested doing 2 ways (spinach or with courgettes) I made the courgette one which was also lovely.

Patatas Bravas - these look yummy. I'm definitely making them. Maybe for a nice big lunch with lots of things to choose from!

When my oven is mended I should be cooking more dishes. I still have my hob and the microwave! As you can see he has a chapter on raw assemblies if everything breaks down on me!

School

2011-09-14T08:33:00.000-07:00

My youngest started school today. He's 4 (nearly 5) and he seems too
young. But he seemed to enjoy himself and came out full of chatter.

wool week freebies

2011-09-12T01:24:00.000-07:00

The weather is slowly turning. Cold wet winds are trying to push out our warmer days and banish summer for another year. This change in temperature and climate makes me start thinking of blankets, crumpets, hot drinks, boots, scarves and hats!

So with great timing it's just been UK Wool Week (or Love Wool UK). It's time to get your needles or hooks out! I was in Leeds over the weekend, where there was an event on in the Corn Exchange sponsored by Rowan. On display were some lovely knitted & crochet goods and the lovely people from Rowan have put the patterns for free (yippee) on their website!

Union Jack Heart Cushion

Ripple Patch Cushion

Moss Stitch Ripple Large Cushion

Crochet Swirl Cushion

My main reason for being in Leeds was to see the Kaiser Chiefs at Kirkstall Abbey on Saturday afternoon/ evening. It was a really good gig, the band are from Leeds so it was a homecoming concert (and it kicked off their UK/ World tour).

I travelled by train, and I'm glad to say they were all on time and they all turned up!

on holiday

2011-07-28T07:28:00.001-07:00

(picture by Ken Ayres)

We are off on our holidays see you in a week or two!

penpal request

2011-07-26T03:40:00.000-07:00

My cheeky eldest son, aged 8, is looking for a penpal to email to over the school summer holidays and beyond. He has had a penpal from Mexico from school but that's now ended. He would like an email pal that is more regular (roughly weekly or so).

If you have a child of a similar age who would like to get in touch with a young Englishman with a love for nature, dinosaurs, rocks, fossils, bikes, sport, cakes and biscuits, music, films, books and just about anything else you can think of, then let me know.

He doesn't mind where you live (UK or beyond) and we can always use Google Translate if English isn't your first language!

He looks forward to hearing from anyone who is interested. Thanks. Claire

Summer bike ride

2011-07-24T11:27:00.001-07:00

Today we went for a bike ride on the South Downs, the UK's newest National Park. The weather was lovely, warm and sunny with just the gentlist of winds blowing.

My eldest son rode his own bike and the youngest relaxed on his dad's. (He even fell asleep at one point). There seemed to be more ups than downs. Or did the downs speed by and the ups drag on.

I never find the country side quiet, well not the South Downs way. It was choca-block with walkers, runners (there was a huge race on) and other cyclists.

We stopped for a picnic where the boys found ladybirds to be enchanted by. In fact the ladybirds were out in force today as everywhere we stopped we seemed to find some more.

It was great that we can all ride as a family. We had been debating whether to get a tag -along for our eldest but he could cope mostly by himself ( and we were out for just over 4 hours). We'll probably get one for our youngest.

I did manage to get stung all down both legs on nettles - it still hurts 6+ hours later. And I'm now very saddle sore as I'm so out of shape on a bike. But it was fun and well worth it!

I hope you had a good weekend too.

Thank-You Tote Pattern

2011-07-19T10:30:00.000-07:00

APOLOGIES: BLOGGER HAS GONE MAD WITH MY FORMATTING!!! V ANNOYING - and I've made a few edits.

I made this pattern last year for my son's teachers and sensationally failed to take any photos of my efforts. I got my act together this year!

Last year I used linen for my outer fabric, this year I used a cotton drill fabric. Any medium weight fabric should be good, especially if using a medium calico as a lining. This should give your bag the right amount of body and structure. He had 2 class teachers again so 2 bags have been assembled.

The pattern:
Components:
120cm x 65cm - Linen/ Cotton Drill/ Medium weight fabric - Bag Front
100cm x 52cm - Calico/ Lining fabric - Bag Lining
5 x 13cm x 13cm coordinating Patchwork squares

Cutting List:

Front of bag:
13cm x 52cm piece of linen,
32cm x 52cm piece of linen
4 x charm pack squares and 1 piece of linen/cotton drill that is embroidered (we did a simple heart - see above photo). approx measurements 13cm x 13cm
30x30 coordinating cotton fabric for inner pocket

Back of bag:
50cm x 52cm piece of linen/ cotton drill

Lining:
2x 50cm x 52cm calico/ cotton -
30cm x 30cm coordinating cotton - pocket
Straps:
2x 13cm x 110cm linen/cotton drill/ patchworked squares

Sew all the patchwork pieces together (I centred the embroidered square).

Sew the 13cm x 52cm to bottom edge of patchwork strip

Sew 32cm x 52cm to top edge of patchwork strip. This is the front of the bag.

Sew front of bag to back of bag, right sides together around the 2 sides and bottom (use 2cm seam)

Make a bucket bottom by sewing a triangle across the bottom corners (about 8cm from the point). Trim point off.

Add slip pocket to lining, this is now the RS.

To make a slip pocket, hem the top of pocket by turning it over twice by 0.5cm and stitching down. Turn in the other three sides by 0.5cm and press down. Pin onto lining and sewdirectly over where you have turned the three sides over by 0.5cm.

Repeat sewing the lining together, RS together - pocket needs to be on inside(BUT LEAVE A 10CM GAP IN THE BOTTOM EDGE FOR TURNING)

Repeat making a bucket bottom in the lining

Attach lining to main bag. Put the bag (right side facing out) inside the lining. You will see the wrong side of the lining. The RS of lining will be touching the RS of the bag.

Line up seams, and pin round at the top. Sew together (2cm seam) at the top edge.

Turn the right way round, by pulling the outside of the bag through the lining. Sew up 10cm hole at the bottom of the lining with a zig zag stitch. Press entire bag, top stitch 0.5cm from top edge to keep lining in place.

Attach handles by sewing them firmly on (I sew a square with an X inside at the top of each strap to the fabric - see above photo )

handle options:-

Tough woven ribbon.

Main Linen fabric - 13cm x110cm - sew together with 1cm seam, turn out.

Patchwork handles

Trim all threads, press and your bag is ready to go!

dressmaking notions

2011-07-19T01:22:00.000-07:00

I have been watching the lessons for the Sew Retro Bombshell Dress on Craftsy.com. There are a few tools that Gretchen uses, that I think would come in handy. She gives US links, but I've tried to track some of these things down in UK/ Europe.

Bracelet Pin Cushion
I have found it impossible to find anyone selling this fancy pin cushion bracelet in the UK but you can get it in France (except the postage to the UK is ridiculous! I could almost swim to France from where I live !!! Crazy) It's by Bohin - called a bracelet (dore) pelote velours. Here are some links : shop 1 & shop 2. Can anyone explain why postage to the UK is sky high from France?

If anyone knows of a UK shop selling these, please share! I have to say I think I would feel very professional wearing this as I sewed!

Tailors Ham

This is not as glam as the pin cushion, but probably more useful! It's for ironing curved seams on. Costs around £10. Link 1 and Link 2.

Dress Form
This is the biggest layout for any keen dressmaker. But what a brilliant tool. Great selection from here. I would love one of these. Expect to pay £100 - £150.

Waxed Tracing Paper
Gertie gets it from here. Not sure where you get this from in the UK. Have you ever seen it for sale? Following a thread on a sewing forum, people like the Clover Chacopy tracing paper. Get it here for £3.31 + p+p. You will need a tracing wheel/ pen as well.

Do you have any must have dressmaking tools? Or any that are a waste of time?

professional dressmaking course

2011-07-11T05:02:00.000-07:00

We are still offline at home, but in my lunchbreak I've been catching up with Gretchen Hirsh's Sew Retro course on Craftsy.com. If you go to Gretchen's blog, she'll give you 50% off her course - you need her links or click mine!

I have to tell you about this course, it's amazing. I am a self taught dressmaker, so an intermediate sewer if you will. This course is showing me all the techniques I should be using, like trace basting, who knew about that? Also how to fit those Burda paper patterns together easily! Plus, more importantly small and large bust adjustments.

I can see a dress form is quite important for doing a good job with this style of dress. It's a fitted bustier style dress by Burda (the pattern is included as well as a download). Gretchen is also showing a few different skirt options, or making it as a top only.

Whether you want to make a dress in this style or not, the demostration of all the different techniques you need to make a well fitting garment is invaluable. For $29.99 you get 15 indepth classes showing you each step of the way.

I have watched about 1/3 of the courses and I've learnt quite a few new things. Even if you are a beginner sewer this course is great as you will be taught things that you may not know, or are yet to get to.

Once you have the course you can watch it and rewatch it indefinitely. Also you can add notes against the videos, and ask questions which Gretchen and others will reply to.

I do recommend checking out Gretchen's blog, as it's got loads of advice and interesting discussions on sewing.

Internet is down

2011-07-09T10:46:00.001-07:00

Our router is refusing to route. So until we can fix it I'm ignoring
the computer!

Typical as I just bought Gertie's online dress making tutorial!

Sent from my iPhone

the two of us

2011-07-04T08:07:00.000-07:00

This weekend it was just the two of us. My eldest son and I.

So I prioritised fun and mother and son time over everything else.

I planned a loose itinery for us to do which included: gingerbread men baking, swimming, picnic on the beach, DVD, 2 x art projects, bike ride, tennis. It turned out that we did not have quite enough time to do everything, but we had fun trying.

One of our art projects involved this Pop Up book that I bought recently. Pop-Up: Everything You Need to Create Your Own Pop-Up Book by Ruth Wickings and Frances Castle

I can't recommend this book highly enough. Inside are 4 scenes to turn into fantastic pop-up pages: a dragon, a jungle, a medieval castle and Frankenstein’s laboratory. There are some brilliant pop-up tricks that you try out. And you don't even need glue (every piece has sticky back plastic attached. Genius!

We also watched a film; How to Train Your Dragon, which was a brilliant story. We both really enjoyed that. And from that my son decided he'd produce his own book about Dragons. Each page had a dragon on it (some from the film, some made up) with information about the dragon. I helped with some of the drawing and writing, but that is our work in progress.

We also played on Beatles Rockband together, which was a great laugh.

On a sadder note, I went into Habitat for probably the last time. So sad it's gone into administration. I've bought some gorgeous things from there over the last 20 years. I have many beautiful vases from there, my everyday crockery (I went and picked up some more to cover breakages), bed and table linen, furniture. Sad times. Unfortunately IKEA, and all the supermarkets have been selling homewares in a similar style and a lot cheaper than Habitat do. However Habitat was always more original, more interesting and it used to be better quality as well. Hard times.

Kaiser Chiefs Bespoke Album

2011-06-06T05:46:00.000-07:00

I have created my version of the Kaiser Chiefs album, The Future is Medieval. For every copy of my album sold I receive £1. I will be donating all the money from "my" album sales to Motor Neurone Disease Association. Feel free to buy and support!

http://www.kaiserchiefs.com/BrightonClaire

Made by me

2011-05-24T10:35:00.001-07:00

Despite the cooler weather my salad crops have been providing us with
delicious food to eat for around a month now. I am growing a variety
of mixed salad leaves and radishes. Hopefully the courgettes will
turn up in a month or two. And if the birds don't eat then runner
beans as well.

these are a few of my favourite things.....

2011-05-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

Like everyone I have a selection of go-to recipes that work time and again, and taste delicious. It seems only fair to share a few of these with you, as it's unlikely that I will be cooking or baking for any of you soon! Unless my dream of Claire's Cakes happens some time soon!

1. Victoria Sponge Cake. This is a simple vanilla sponge, which should be light and airy. Fill with raspberry jam for a quick store cupboard make or add fresh strawberries and whipped cream for total decadence. I use a recipe from Nigella Lawson's first book How to Eat. Find it on page 26 of the hardback version. The great thing about this recipe is that you can make it in a food processor for a very quick make. I won't reprint any recipe here as they are not mine to start with.

2. Gingerbread Men. My search for the perfect gingerbread was a long one, but once I tried the nicely spicy gingerbread recipe from Dan Lepard my search stopped. This is my favourite because the gingerbread have a great flavour, are still a bit chewy in the middle (I don't want to break my teeth) but have the crunch on the outside. Find the recipe in Dan Lepard's Exceptional Cakes: Baker and Spice book.

3. Chocolate Brownies. Again the depth of flavour, fool proof, easy recipe has me reaching for Scoop by Natasha Zabolsky. Although this is an icecream book, she also has some recipes for things to have with your icecream! This brownie recipe calls for cocoa powder, and I find Green & Blacks cocoa powder is dark and rich enough to make these brownies delicious. The brownies are chewy in the middle and crispy and flaky on top. These never last long in my household.

4. All out show-off cake. This is my very very special occasion cake, as it's not cheap to make, and is incredibly rich to eat. I make Konditor & Cooks Curly Whirly Cake recipe is here. It looks brilliant when decorated with the vanilla bean frosting and the chocolate swirls but tastes to die for.

5. Meringues. All you need to know is 2oz of castor sugar to every egg white. Your bowl and beaters need to be scrupulously clean. No grease or dirt, otherwise it will not work. Beat your egg whites until you can stand the bowl upside down and the egg whites won't fall out. Then add in the sugar, beating as you go. You can cook these 2 ways; to make them pure white and dry and crisp all the way through a very very low heat 110 deg c for many hours for a crisp meringue. Or bake at 140 degrees for 40mins for a crisp outside and a chewy middle. Turn the oven temp down by 10 degrees if browning. Eat as desired, but with fruit and cream is delectable.

6. Lemon Cakes: I have 2 different types, depending on the occassion. To impress I make the sublime biscuity/ cakey lemon bites which I found online c2 years ago. Thank you wonderweb! Julie Biuso's recipe always gets a great response when I make it. Or if I want something less decadent, then a simple lemon drizzle cake. This sticky sponge is a classic.

7. Bread and Butter pudding. I have never liked bread and butter pudding, too dry too bready, and certainly not dessert! That is until my sister recomended that I try this recipe by Skye Gyngell. It was moist, and vanilla-y and delicious. This is the only recipe I'll be using in future.

8. Fruit Tart/ Cake - Ok I can't describe this but this is the fantastic Stone Fruit Tea Cake in the Rustic Fruit Desserts book (which I would recommend to anyone). You can get the recipe if you register at Gourmet.com . I use plums in it and it works o-so well! Most people want seconds! And get a sad look when you tell them it's finished!

Well that little lot should keep you very busy. Give me a shout of your go-to recipes, so we can all share!

Happy baking xo

reviews

2011-05-14T02:27:00.000-07:00

I have done it again and broken my rule of NOT BUYING ANYMORE COOKBOOKS - bad Claire!

But I saw these 2 and I knew that I would be cooking from them:

This book appealed to me, with the words, healthy and minutes. Plus there are alot of vegetarian recipes in here. Fantastic! Monisha's website is here.

The for some more baking pleasure:

Oliver Peyton is a judge on Great British Menu and he runs very nice restaurants and bakeries in London. I always like getting a good baker's recipes, so when I saw this and the book above on the book people I could not resist.

As always the proof of the pudding is in the eating. I am making dishes from my Indian cook book first. On Monday night I made an aubergine curry. It was straight forward, quick to prepare and cook and very tasty. What more could you want?

On Tuesday I made a spinach and tomato curry.

the eagle has landed

2011-05-10T01:46:00.000-07:00

Time has been running away from me again. After the fun extended break with so many bank holidays, we are now all getting back into our routine of work, school, nursery and home.

Each half term my son's school do a different project. This term it is about the rainforest (so I presume they will do some biology, geography, history etc within the topic). This Friday his class are doing a play about the rainforest. I do have to go to work, but when I saw what they were doing, I booked the morning off. (It's sad when you can't always get to see everything)

Last week, he came home with what he needed to do for the play. Number 1 learn lines, number 2 get an eagle costume together! Oh I do love another job, in our already choc-a-block week. My husband said he would take charge and get it done this week.

So yesterday (Monday) the eldest returned from school saying he needed the costume for today. Plans had to be changed as not all costume materials had been bought.

So with yellow card, that we had from are infamous Daffoldil hat and brown fabrics, left over from my sister's quilt, an eagle outfit was made!

The headpiece was made by my husband.

The wings that I made sewing 4 skinny quarters together, so they would overlap. I then hand cut all the "feathers" into the fabric. Then I hand stitched each wing onto the sleeves of a brown top (purchased for his last school play).

From the front, the graceful eagle still in his pjs.

easter weekend

2011-04-26T05:55:00.001-07:00

I hope your Easter weekend has been as good as ours. First we were invaded by bunny rabbits. Two have already been decapitated!

Then someone turned 41, so you can only really go BIG and FUN with a birthday like that!

This is a home-made Genoise Cake (recipe from Eric Lanlard) filled with fresh cream and strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. I calculated the calories and it's a terrifying 520 per slice!

Much lego has been built. Battle hideouts...

...and dragons.

Then we decided to go back to an old (but brief) haunt of ours, Godalming, Surrey.

There is a lovely riverside walk that we did, past the boathouse (who had rented all their rowing boats out by the time we got there!)

The lovely river itself. There were narrow boats, canonists, rowing boats and even someone punting! It reminded me of this song.

I love photographing my 3 boys! Look at the height difference! That's a 41 yr old, 8 yr old, 4 yr old! Even though the 8 year old is very tall, he's still small compared to his dad! (Not me, he comes up to my shoulder already). The boys walked along the river looking for wildlife, using a stick as a gun, a walking stick, a probe. Far too many dandelions were picked up and blown by my little one. Near misses with stinging nettles (how we got away without a sting, I don't know). At the end of our walk, a riverside pub for bitter shandy and lemonades.

There are some amazing houses that back onto the river. This house had beautiful lilac wisteria growing all it. On a day like yesterday, it felt like life was perfect.

The whole day was stunning. And our guilty pleasure on the way home (using our Chippy app to find a fish and chip shop!)

2011-04-20T03:27:00.001-07:00

This is a selection of what I am growing for the summer, courgettes
(zuchini) and salad leaves and herbs plus raddishes in our shared plot.

Tea Cozy

2011-04-19T00:23:00.001-07:00

I whipped up this tea cozy yesterday after my husband mentioned it
might be useful to have one. Who am I to disagree?

I used my insulating batting and normal cotton batting on the inside.
I measured the teapot and added c10cm in width to give enough room for
lining and battings and seam allowance. You need to make the interior
slightly smaller so it will fit in nicely. I also added c8cm to the
height for seam allowance and extra room as it's quite bulky.

All in all I'm very pleased with my quick project.

Now the cafetiere is saying what about me?!

weekend

2011-04-13T00:01:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had some good friends to stay, a wonky witch and a zombie lover! They came to support a family member running in the Brighton Marathon. They have 2 children, their youngest was only born in January.

As a present for the baby, I made him a quilt. I used the left over fabric from my son's Castle Peeps Quilt, and designed a quilt for him.

I can finally do a reveal:

For my son's quilt I used the pattern that Lizzy House made up. For this quilt I was inspired by other Castle Peeps Quilts I had seen on Flickr and other places. I measured all the fabric that I had left over, and designed the pattern so it used up all the fabric. (it was quite a headache due to the lack of peace and quiet in our house)

I didn't have enough fabric to do a traditional binding, so I sewed round the edges with 2 parallel rows of straight stitching. (the batting is enclosed as I sewed it right sides together and then flipped it to the right side out, and then I did the 2 rows of edge stitching.) I chose the diamond quilting design, as I felt that fitted in with the "medieval" look of the fabric.

I am very happy with this quilt.

Here's a reminder of my original quilt (from the Lizzy House pattern) :

I still have my eldest son's quilt to do. I'm not in a rush with that. And I have 2 quilt tops to either stick together or do 2 quilts from (they are from the Midwest Modern fabric range by Amy Butler) again, no rush!

sewing shoes

2011-04-12T12:33:00.000-07:00

I've seen these a few times today (blogland, not on real feet) and thought that I would also share! Just the thing to feel glam in as you sew! $795 if you are interested.

Christian Louboutin Dressmaker shoes:

colour

2011-04-12T05:11:00.000-07:00

For many years I have kept things simple and sleek in my kitchen, all stainless steel and black utensils. A very efficient look indeed.

But as time has gone on I got a bit bored with the austere look and wanted to brighten up my cooking. Not one to replace things just because I see something prettier, I have just added to my arsenal of utensils when I have had an actual need.

The red spoon and the green pastry brush are my latest additions, I have a few non scratch saucepans, so that has been useful. I wasn't sure whether the pastry brush would be any good, but it worked a treat when I applied an egg wash the other week.

The yellow bowl is my salad bowl (it's white on the inside). I definitely like going for the citrus colours, they cheer me up the most. I have bought most of these lovely colour things from Steamer Trading or Berts Homestore.

My dream bit of colour is a red Kitchenaid mixer : )

Is your kitchen brimming with colourful things, or do you have a thing for shiny stainless steel?!

calming art

2011-04-11T08:46:00.001-07:00

After a 1.5 hour swimming class some quiet drawing is just thing to recharge the batteries! After we had a BIG refuel!

Doctor Who is the inspiration today.

Plum tart

2011-04-09T06:30:00.001-07:00

First plum tart of the year - I can't wait!

don't forget

2011-04-06T00:36:00.000-07:00

In recent weeks I have managed to leave the house without my lunch for work and without my keys! To be honest it's not surprising as our life is so busy with our family of four all going four different ways every day; nursery, school, work and work.

So due to our hectic schedule some pertinent reminders are needed to help our days go smoother.I have put together a don't forget lists in three colourways for anyone to use. An easy print out and put on the wall, by your front door! This has been quite a palaver involving google docs - I won't bore you!

Red : Blue : Green

Hopefully I wont have to sit on the floor outside my front door again (luckily my wifi worked on the outside, so I sat reading The Guardian on my phone, eating the olives I had bought at Brighton Farm Market).

british museum

2011-04-04T18:20:00.000-07:00

The British Museum, London, is an incredible museum full of artifacts that tell the stories of civilizations over thousands of years.

My eldest son is doing a school project on ancient Egypt, and has become really caught up in finding out more. We took him to the museum yesterday, so he could see the artifacts that he has been told about, seen on websites and books for himself. Ok it's not as good as going to Egypt, but as that is out of the question, at the moment, this was almost as good.

Apart from what is on display, the building itself is glorious. The new coovered section, the great court, takes my breath every time I go in there. The architecture is stunning, and it transforms the museum into an even better building than it was.

Is there a quilt pattern that could be found in the roof or windows?

my perfect rice pudding

2011-03-29T00:07:00.000-07:00

I grew up eating Ambrosia Rice Pudding (the tinned stuff) and that to me, was for a long time, is how rice pudding should taste! (My husband would KILL me to hear me say that!)

On and off over the last decade I've been making homemade rice pudding. Every recipe is slightly different. But the other day, I think I nailed it. I combined the best elements from a few recipes.

So this is my rice pudding, that is still moist, with the rice in a lovely sweet vanilla milk and nutmeg on top.

ingredients::

90g pudding rice

700ml milk (I used semi skimmed)

30g caster sugar

0.5 teaspoon vanilla extract

butter

nutmeg

Oven proof dish

150 deg C

method::

Pre heat oven to 150 deg C.

Put pudding rice in bottom of your ovenproof dish. Add your vanilla extract and sugar to your milk, give a quick stir. Pour milk mixture into dish on top of rice. Make sure rice is spread out evenly in your dish. Dot small pieces of butter over dish (just 4 or 5 small pieces). Now grate fresh nutmeg all over the top of dish.

I put my ovenproof dish on top of a baking tray to catch any spillages. Now put in oven for 2-2.5hrs. After 30mins, give everything a stir. Some people try and keep the nutmeg on top when doing this, which is quite tricky, my husband thinks stiring the top back into the mixture improves it. Then stir again around the 1-1.5 hour mark. If you think it's going to dry out keep an eye on it. (aim between 2 or 3 stirs) And I would be prepared to add some more milk if you are concerned about it drying out. I tested mine at the 2hour mark and the rice was done, so I removed it from the oven and served it up.

Variations::

You may prefer it slightly sweeter, in that case increase sugar by 5-10g max

If you prefer it richer, use single or double cream for some of the milk.

Do you have a perfect rice pudding recipe? Let's share!

spring sunday

2011-03-27T12:32:00.000-07:00

Spring is definitely here, which gives me a very happy feeling inside. It seems like we have had a very long and cold autumn and winter. It is so nice to see the sun, and feel the warmth of it on my skin.

On Saturday I had the pleasure to meet Lisa Lam from U-Handbag. She is so nice, people! She was running a new craft fair in Brighton, called Craftaganza. There were some great stalls, really nice things. Lisa was just overseeing it all, she was not selling any of her bag making things. Lisa and I had a lovely chat. She is very giggly. She is writing her second book, this time there will be 15 projects (not all bags) and it is coming out in 2 parts. The first part is an E book with 3 projects and then the second part (2012) will be the entire thing.

I do plan on making a few of her bags from her book, it's just finding the time and money for the projects I would like to do (namely the gorgeous weekend bag).

But right now, the outside is where it's at! Suddenly a coat is not needed, just a cardigan. Boots have been put away and trainers are back on my feet (soon I hope I shall just be wearing sandals). The bikes have also been in heavy use again this weekend. All the boys were on their bikes.

The park offers many areas of pleasure, like finding a gnawed pine cone. Who has been chewing on it, we wondered.

And some interested new hedging has gone up, with an explanation of how and why it has been done. (thank you local council!)

Look how they split the branches to bend them into place. Not many things can survive being cut in half!

Here is the small growers exhibition garden that had been set up in the park. It is a demonstration to everyone in what you can grow in a small space. This year they have doubled their plot size. It's a very interesting project. Inspirational even!

And then to round off the weekend a nice game of Doodle Dice. Lots of fun, even the little one can play it with my help.

I hope you had a lovely weekend as well.

wonky witch

2011-03-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

A dear friend of ours has recently opened a rather lovely needlecraft e-shop named Wonky Witch.

The cross stitch patterns that she has in stock are really detailed and amazingly intricate and fabulously designed. But if like me, you've never tried it the Wonky Witch team also have some starter kits, which have some really sweet designs like this cute watering can.

Or for the experienced cross stitcher one of these designs from Bothy Threads.

If you have any questions, just send the Wonky Witches an email, and I know Zoe will get back to you very soon. And if you need another blog to read, look no further than here!

whoosh

2011-03-22T05:52:00.000-07:00

I don't know how this happened, but it did. Just thought I'd share my happy accident with all of you.

Spring seems to be coming along now. I optimistically started sowing some salad seeds last week, no shoots yet though. I am hoping that I will not have to buy any lettuce/ herbs over the next few months.

I still have major pigeon problems. If you have any anti pigeon ideas, I am all ears!

Bikes

2011-03-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

(photo taken on phone with sun quite low!)

Possibly the best thing about my childhood was spending endless days on my bike around our neighbourhood. You know those days when it was hot all the time, and the days and weeks of spring and summer just went on forever.

It gives me so much joy to see my two on their new / old bikes, experiencing the freedom of our local park, spending brief moments out of easy reach. Their first taste of freedom.

I think we'll be spending many upcoming hours / days/ weeks here. Me still, they on the move.

(blogged from park!)

uber choccywoccyness

2011-03-21T04:05:00.000-07:00

Choccywoccydoodah is on TV!

(piccie courtesy of Good Food Channel - everything in it is made of chocolate, apart from the guy in the middle!)

If you haven't caught it already (it's on nightly at 9pm, on the Good Food Channel - SKY 249/ Virgin 260 - but lots of repeats inbetween) it's a documentary about Brighton's extravagant Chocolate Cake Shop that is Choccywoccydoodah.

I appreciate the Americans have the fabulous Charm City Cakes but we have the highly imaginative, creative, extravagant, flamboyant, cheeky chocolatiers in the centre of the city. We love looking at their window displays, which are amazing.

I will only have some of their cake, from their cake bar, every few years (it is v v rich, but v tasty, and I just can't justify it, unless it's a special occasion!)

They do not reveal how they model with the chocolate (some magic recipe with glycerine, maybe?) Although you can buy modelling chocolate from other sources (I once bought some but I didn't like the taste) and I'm sure I was given a recipe from a chocolate workshop I did a few years ago? Or do I imagine that?!

The artistry is superb, and it's amazing to watch how they put together their cakes.

Didn't mean to be away so long...

2011-03-20T14:09:00.000-07:00

I really didn't mean to be away so long, but life has been so busy over the last 6 months so some things had to be dropped temporarily. I am always thinking about this space even if I'm not present.

But now I have to go as the wonderful Prof Brian Cox and the Wonders of the Universe is on TV. (BBC2).

PS. I'll be having the marmalade for breakfast!

mexico

2011-01-28T06:02:00.000-08:00

No I am not going to Mexico, but I took my children to a Mexican themed art afternoon, where we learnt some new crafts, and also traditions.

We made Ojos de dios, God's Eye. There are some tutorials about here and elsewhere. All you need is some wooden sticks (lolly sticks/ sugar stirrers) and some yarn.

We also made some easy to make maracas using paper plates, dried beans and selotape/ staples.

And these lovely flags that could be very intricate and lift up any room. All we did was fold some tissue and crepe paper in half, then half again. Fold down the narrowest end over (about 2cm) and then we started to cut shapes out. Unfold and you have your decorated flag. Then put some yarn/ sting fold over the flap and stick down.

This was fun.

I hope all of this has given you some inspiration of some not too messy art projects.

don't look now

2011-01-19T00:01:00.000-08:00

I have discovered, via my lovely local quilt shop Quilty Pleasures, a beautiful quilting pattern company called Don't Look Now.

They are based in Australia, but their patterns are being sold around the world, or direct from them. All info can be found on their website.

I personally love the ABC quilt, all the flowers/ trees and birds quilts. Basically the entire collection!

There are also some freebie tutorials on the Don't Look Now website as well.

time for tea

2011-01-18T01:59:00.000-08:00

There has been enough of a gap, of the over indulgence of Xmas/ New Year, to start to reconsider making and eating cakes and the like.

To make sure that my cakes look as good as they should I bought this tiered cake stand from here for them. It was reasonably priced and quite sweet. Also I can flat pack it when not in use.

I also use my sweet little heart milk jug by Beverly Hewitt that I bought last year, that makes everything look prettier on the table.

And what should go on this stand? Well the BBC has a new baking series on Monday nights, at 8:30pm called Baking made Easy with a new (to the the TV screen) chef called Lorraine Pascale. She has a very friendly easy going manner, that drew me into the programme. All the recipes from the series are here (thank you BBC).

And of course, my new book by Eric Lanlard, Home Bake. Although I have not forgotten about Rachel Allen's Bake, Jane Ashers Baking book or the wonderful Rustic Fruit Desserts book.

To get me into the swing of things, I made some scones at the weekend. Just a simple recipe, served with raspberry jam and a cup of tea. Sometimes in life the simplest things are the best.

corners of my home

2011-01-12T00:00:00.000-08:00

We have been looking for new bedding for well over a year now. I have the (good) problem of having a husband who is interested in design and by that has a say in what we buy. Although by and large we sing from the same hymn sheet so we have never had an argument over our choices. It can be tricky choosing some things such as bedding. I wanted something bright and cheery but it had to appeal to both of us. He doesn't want anything overly feminine or flowery and I don't want anything that is too sharp, graphically speaking.

But sometimes the wait just gets a bit too long. You know what I mean? And our old duvet cover had seen better days, so I binned it. Then we took over the guest bed linen. So I had to replace that!

photo from KAS website

I had a look in the Xmas sales and saw this set by an Australian brand called KAS and their range called Cruz. What I liked about it was all the colours, the design, slightly tribal, and the fact it would match the curtains (a plain silk effect plum/ aubergine colour). I showed the husband, and he said "buy it" so the deal was done!

Of course I could have gone cushion mad, as per their very pretty set up, but budget and so on has stopped me doing that!

This is our more simple set up.

I need to buy some coordinating fitted sheets and pillow cases, and then we are good to go! Apart from new light shade, a rug, side lights, painting the room, art on walls etc. It really is never ending.

snippets

2011-01-11T06:23:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to share with you a new (free) service from the lovely Colette Patterns:

a weekly email with a sewing snippet.

castle peeps reveal yourselves!

2011-01-10T10:24:00.000-08:00

There are many times (a week) that I plan out a post in my head as I go about my business. This is usually in the chaotic time of getting home from work, picking children up from nursery and school and making dinner and doing some home chores (not exactly a calm environment).

They can range from many different subjects, whatever has caught my attention in the day. It’s probably a good thing that my head is not connected to my blog, otherwise my blog would be very random in deed, and I would probably come across as a mad person, with half baked ideas.

I guess what I am saying is that I want to be able to put together more satisfying posts that say a bit more about me and my life, but it’s very hard to find that silence and solitude in a house with 2 youngish boys and 2 buy working adults. When the silence does come (usually by 8:30pm) I just want to spend some time with my husband.

Last night we had our sofa date night. We watched “A Single Man” the film by Tom Ford. My husband was wearing his Tom Ford glasses, so was perhaps privy to an even deeper understanding of the film. The film was excellent, it showed a depth of human emotion that was so bitter sweet and wonderful.

I also managed to finish my youngest son’s Castle Peeps quilt. The fabric and quilt are designed by Lizzy House.

This has gone on a bit too long. I was aiming to have it done for his birthday, but as the fabric did not arrive until that very day that was impossible.

I’m not as bad as some bloggers (I will not name names in quilting procrastination). I do love it.

Was it a bit unimaginative of me to copy the pattern exactly? Yes, but in my defence, I had so little time to fit it in, I did not have that creative stewing time that is needed for creative quilting. I put it on him last night as he slept. He was very happy with it this morning when I showed it to him.

It has yet to be washed and "shrunk!" I'll do that this week sometime.

Big Decs

2011-01-05T00:07:00.000-08:00

Although we have just taken down all Xmas decorations tonight, I wanted to share this sweet reindeer that I bought in the lovely Inhouse Space in Brighton the other day. The shop is in the North Laine area, on Gloucester Road.

I saw him before Xmas, when I was buying a present in the shop, and then couldn't get him out of my mind! I went in the other day and even though not in the sale I decided to have him anyway! When I got to the till, the owner said, without any prompting from me, I'll reduce that, and knocked about a third off. That was very nice of her.

It is made by a company called Big Decs Unique whose website says they are eco friendly, handmade, and fair trade.

Then I went into Berts (who I have mentioned before!) and saw these two ornaments, also by Big Decs. They were reduced so I had to have them! The red is looking brighter on the computer than it does in real life. They have a nice tactile quality. I think the heart and star are made from shredded coconut palm.

All of the decorations are quite large, around 30cm/ 12". I am very pleased with them, as it's nice to have a few things that stand out, and capture your attention. The fact that they all match is good, as it'll help create cohesion within the flat!

Season's Greetings

2011-01-04T06:04:00.001-08:00

I made the "kill you in a hearbeat" malteaser bites from Eric Lanlard's newish book "Home Bake" as part of the baked goods for our New Year's guests. They are easy enough to make with children but good enough for grown ups too!

The book was a present and has many lovely cakes to make in it. Just look at the front cover! That says summer birthday cake all over it!

I'm sure there will be plenty of baking in 2011. Which brings me to say;

Happy New Year, I hope you all saw the new year in with family & friends. My eldest was awake until 11:30 he just couldn't quite hold on!

Xmas greetings

2010-12-20T15:03:00.000-08:00

Tree's up, cake baked, presents (almost) wrapped. Gingerbread House is still a baking fantasy.

Just one more job; to thank all of you for stopping by and reading this blog.

Have a very merry and prosperous Xmas and New Year.

See you in 2011.

Claire xox

Herbst Bowl

2010-12-14T07:51:00.000-08:00

This is a Herbst Urchin Bowl made from a pattern bought on etsy (it was a downloadable PDF). I bought the 5mm 100% wool felt from Blooming Felt.

It came together quickly. I want to improve the seams so I will do a larger seam allowance on the next one. This is a 9" bowl there is also an 8" size as well.

This makes for a very quick make. Two bowls sitting inside each other looks good too.

Reviving my Spirits

2010-12-11T08:17:00.000-08:00

In between doing my best impression of Florence Nightingale I made this lovely Tea Fruit Loaf from a Sainsbury's recipe card that I picked up a few years ago.

It is very quick and easy, and apart from soaking your dried fruit for a while in tea, it comes together very quickly.

The recipe is as follows:

350g mixed dried fruit (I used 200g sultanas, 100g raisins, 50g currants)
350ml tea
Cover the fruit with the tea and leave overnight (or a few hours depending how desperate you are)
Mix with:
2 beaten eggs
200g dark brown soft sugar
270g self raising flour
1teaspoon of cinnamon

Put into a lined loaf tin, and bake at 170deg C or fan 160 deg C or gas mark 3 for 1.5 hours. I checked mine at 1 hours fifteen minutes and it was ready, so out it came. Cool on a wire rack and eat as soon as you want to (preferably with a nice cup of tea). Sainsburys suggest you spread margarine on it, I leave that up to you!

I have also been having a go at Attic24's crochet star decorations. Hooky fantasticnous! One wonky point but I got there in the end!

Have a lovely weekend. BTW My son is a bit better today.

Love

2010-12-10T10:32:00.000-08:00

My lovely eldest son has Scarlet Fever. Apparently it is still
around. The doctor brought in 2 other doctors so they could look at
his symptoms ! A course of antibiotics and he should be well again .
Here's a lovely note he made for me earlier in the week. We do love
him very much here. In between sleep we've watched The Flumps and
Paddington - good 70s children's shows.

pretty patchwork

2010-12-08T02:29:00.000-08:00

Here is another dolls blanket that I have made from fabric scraps that I have. I used some of the decorative stitches that my sewing machine does.

It looks a bit wonky in the photo, and dark, too many sunless days.

This is the back.

Now onto a quick and fast way to create a patchwork piece of fabric.

The first step is to sew together larger fabric scraps together into a rough square/ rectangular shape:

If this isn't patchworky enough for you, then re chop it up:

Now move the strips around into a pleasing new patchwork design:

Then sew back together:

Now you have an even more intricate patchwork piece.

You can keep chopping it up and resewing it as many times as you like, the only thing to remember is that it becomes smaller with each round.

Use this in projects such as lavendar bags, as a pocket on a bag or apron or in another way you see fit! You could sew a piece of fabric to the back, so it looks neater (there are a lot of seams)

Tuesday Photo

2010-12-07T00:55:00.001-08:00

It is a cold and frosty morning on this first Tuesday in December.

artistic treasures

2010-12-06T04:08:00.000-08:00

Brighton is in the middle of the Xmas 2010 Artists' Open Houses. I have mentioned this amazing scheme before, as it also happens in May for the Brighton festival.

It is the most wonderful thing. I walk to houses, within 5mins of my own, and get to meet artists, see their work and buy things that I like (and can afford).

I started at at the Dragonfly House (#48 on the house tour) which always has a great choice of artists and disciplines. In this house, the ceramicists really caught my eye. There were three (I think, all with totally different styles).

I picked up this heart Xmas tree decoration made by Stacey Manser-Knight.

I really love it, very simple but stylish.

And to prove not all art is expensive, it was only £4.

I believe this sweet little bowl is made by Christiane Kersten, who usually makes printed ceramics. It was only £8, which I thought was pretty good for a limited edition piece.

The next house, that I bought something was The Family Show (#46 on the house tour). The standout artist for me was Shyama Ruffell. I bought this flower print from her (stupid blogger keeps turning it around!) I might be able to sort it out later, I've already tried twice.

I like the seedheads and flowers in this. The originals in oil were amazing, but I could only afford this print, which cost £25.

The next house that I went to, that I was impressed with, was 24 Yardley St (#24 on the house tour) There were three artists, Belen Gomez, John Dilnot and Kate Jenkins.

These 2 cards were by John Dilnot. I have seen his work in a shop in Brighton. I like his animal/ insect prints. All I could afford were these cards at £2 each. I plan to frame them, and put them on the wall in my son's bedroom. My eldest son likes them and wants them above his bed.

I picked up this sweet locket (£8) made by Kate Jenkins.

But my favourite things in Yardley St were these:

One side of the mug

The other side

The ceramics are made by Belen Gomez.

She is a lovely lady, and talented artist. I bought 2 mugs and 2 egg cups from her, with her allotment/ hen theme.

They are all on English fine bone china. (which is always nice to drink out of).

I hope you will agree, this is a great way to find some lovely presents for your family and friends and yourself!

Gift Ideas - Doll's Patchwork Quilt

2010-12-03T00:59:00.000-08:00

This is another stash busting gift, a doll's patchwork quilt for my nieces.

I pieced together some of my fabric scraps in three coordinating fabrics. These fabrics had been originally used to make myself an apron, and dresses for my nieces. I had saved the last few bits away, I pulled them out and I literally tried to piece them together like a jigsaw, so I would end up with a rough rectangular shape (c45cm x 35cm). As you can see there is no set design, more crazy paving, if you will.

Once that is large enough. I trimmed it down to a rectangular shape. I them cut out a piece of cheap gingham fabric, I had, to the same size.

sewing batting together

Now for the clever bit, I have sewed together left over batting, from quilts I have already made, again to the same measurements. The way I did this, was to butt them up against each other and join using a zigzag stitch. That means it's a flat seam.

batting all sewn together

I'm not going to bind this, so I am laying the batting down then I lay the two rectangles of fabric right sides together.

Batting, fabric 1, Fabric 2 (rst)

I stitched all the way around, leaving a gap of between 5-8 cms. Turn inside out. Poke out corners. Now whip stitch gap together.

Feel free to quilt the blanket if you like. Make it as simple or as decorative as you desire. Time is probably an influencing factor here. It measures approx 19" x 15".

Gift Ideas - Lavender Bags

2010-12-01T00:47:00.000-08:00

I am going to try and show you the things I am making for friends and family.

My first set of gifts are some quick and easy lavender bags.

I am using up small pieces of fabric, that I probably won't be needing for anything else. You could piece them together, if you have more time, but I'm just using 2 coordinating fabrics for the front and back. I'm just cutting them into squares and rectangles. I am attaching ribbon, so they can be hung on hangers to scent clothes, and keep those moths at bay. You could omit the ribbon, and have them to be put on shelves and in drawers. I am making some for my husband as he had some suspicious holes in one of his jumpers. But we haven't seen any moths, but better to be safe than sorry.

I bought the dried lavender from a shop on Ebay, specialising in organic french lavender, a few years ago. Believe it or not, it still smells pretty strong. It did not cost too much either.

The tricky bit is inserting the ribbon.

As you can see you make a sandwich, with the fabric right sides together and the ribbon in the middle. You only want to sew the ribbon down on one side, so tuck it in as you sew round.

Sew around the edge with a 0.5cm seam (or whatever seam width you like). Do leave a gap, so you can turn your bag inside out and fill with lavender.

Gap left, and ribbon inserted.

Bags ready to fill

I filled with the lavender using some paper rolled into a cone shape, to help the lavender go in without making too much of a mess.

Once filled up whip stitch the hole up.

One lovely gift!

A Sprinkling of Snow

2010-11-30T00:37:00.000-08:00

This is my Tuesday Photo, just taken, on my way into work.

Brighton finally has a small scattering of snow. The rest of the country appears to be drenched in the stuff, but here in the sunny south, we have, so far, got off very lightly.

I do love this plant, especially in winter. It doesn't seem to capture my attention in the summer. Is it Dogwood? I'm not sure, I should probably ask my dad, who is pretty knowledgeable about these things.

Well wherever you are today, I hope the weather is to your liking!

Final Final Reminder: www.stevenoake.zenfolio.com get your 30% off with some Autumn Cheer - CODE: Autumn30.

Holiday Ideas

2010-11-27T10:47:00.000-08:00

I do plan on doing a tiny bit of making, but that is looking more and more impossible as the weeks go on. I d want to do a tutorial for you guys, but it might all be getting a bit late, for you and me! I have though made a Christmas Cake for my husband using Rachel Allen's recipe (same one I used as last year) Of course now I have crystallised stem ginger in my cupboard that I'm supposed to do what with?? Any recipes using that would be most appreciated!

On the buying front I was in the city today and just on Sydney Street I found these lovely things in the IO Gallery.

lovely glass coasters, in a variety of colours by Lorraine Cole £10

Some great prints and original paintings. These two caught my eye:

Brighton Twittering by Kim Glass - the map in the ones in the shop was of Brighton. £90 framed.

First on the Beach by Ed Boxall. I am very drawn to this, as it reminds me of my sons on the beach. £40 unframed/ £70 framed.

And some books from Dave's Comics, also on Sydney Street for the comic book and anime lovers:

We are big fans of Studio Ghibli films in this household. Film4 often shows them. They are really worth checking out. Howl's Moving Castle is absolutely brilliant, with the young heroine being cursed by a witch and being turned into an old lady. She has to find a way to break the curse with the help of Howl, Calcifer (the talking fire) and the castle. All good stuff.

Final reminder, just a few more days to get your prints with the 30% discount. Code: AUTUMN30.

If it's snowing where you are, stay safe. As yet it hasn't hit Brighton. But that did not stop me from buying some Yaktrax. I'll let you know if they are any good, once I see some snow and ice!

The Last Hurrah

2010-11-21T02:53:00.000-08:00

My geraniums are still going, despite the frost. I'm grateful for
their resilience.

It's a lovely zing of red on the ever increasing grey days. I am
happy to take colour from wherever it comes from.

Autumnal Cheer

2010-11-17T00:01:00.000-08:00

For all my lovely readers, I have managed to press-gang my compliant husband into arranging a super duper offer. (This might come in useful for some Xmas presents). I'd take advantage quickly before he comes to his senses - he's a Yorkshireman.

So for the next 2 weeks (until the end of November) you can get a whopping 30% off his Landscape and Abstract prints from his website. All you need is the code: AUTUMN30

Tuesday Morning

2010-11-16T00:37:00.001-08:00

This might be the start of a semi regular feature, Tuesday morning.

It's really what I see on my way to work, a reflection of the changing seasons and weather.

Today was the first frost I have seen since last winter. That probably means my geraniums on my balcony will not be lasting much longer! Feel free to join in and send me your link.

sewing table - woo hoo!

2010-11-15T00:01:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the picture heavy post.

But here is my new sewing table. All keen followers of my blog will know that I have been looking into a suitable sewing table for a long time. so I will talk you through it and give you my opinion. I ordered it without seeing it in person, but the Horn Website has videos on it, which was instrumental in helping me make my mind up.

This is the Horn Hideaway 33. Despite every website that sells it saying it has a 28 day delivery, it came in a week, and with the correct cut out for my machine.

So this is it as a table, which is an ok size.

And from above. You can see the grooves, where the 2 table top pieces join. If I wanted to lay a pattern out and copy it, I'd have to be mindful of those grooves.

This is the upper table piece being raised up, to fit the sewing machine in. It has a very smooth action. You can raise it via those black screws, so it fits in line perfectly.

This is the plastic insert that fits around my machine.

The machine in situ.

As you can see the plastic insert and upper table, extends the sewing machine, giving more support to the fabric as I sew. This is especially useful for quilts, as they get very heavy.

The plastic insert has a ruler on it, which is handy.

I have already used it as I'm sewing a quilt at the moment. I have found the table to be really sturdy and well made. It is easy to open up and down, and I couldn't be more pleased. Now all I have to do now, is create a space for it in our spare bedroom. It's currently in our hallway, which has no natural light.

I would definitely recommend this. It also comes in wood, but I thought white would be easier to see the true colour of fabric on.

jewelled delights

2010-11-14T07:34:00.001-08:00

It was my birthday on the 5th November, and my sister made for me these wonderful necklaces and bracelets. They all came wrapped beautifully inside the box above.

I love this simple, classic purple and silver necklace. Not the best photo, but it looks great in reality.

Take a look at these amazing orange, red and brown beads for my autumnal beaded necklace. My sister has done an amazing job sourcing all these cool beads. I love the middle bobbly bead above!

And look at the opulence of those red and gold beads, fantastic. Somehow, I have failed to take a photo of the entire thing, but it's brilliant, trust me.

This is my silver charm style bracelet, which I love. Great day or night, sufficiently sparkly for either time! I especially love the super glittery balls and the hammered silver hearts.

This is my blue glass beaded bracelet. Again photo issues, so expect to see this again soon! It's so nice though.

Here is my blue disc necklace, which i have round my neck as I type! A Grecian feel to it maybe?

This is my blue beaded necklace, again, beads that are good enough to eat!

A further close up of yumminess.

I think my sister has made some gorgeous pieces for me. She has sourced some amazingly beautiful beads from around the globe. I believe she may start an online shop. If you want to encourage her, send me a comment and I'll pass them onto her!

My jewellery box is now overflowing!

UPDATE: I should clarify, my sister is looking at selling jewellery that she makes (not individual beads)

Hideaway

2010-11-11T00:07:00.001-08:00

I am not in hiding but somehow life has got very busy again! Lots to
share and show, not least my brand new Horn Hideaway sewing table that
arrived yesterday. I'm super excited. See you later today.

xox

Sent from my iPhone - I'm blogging on the go!

Jewellery

2010-11-08T06:25:00.001-08:00

My lovely sister made this bracelet for my birthday. I really love
it. She also made some necklaces as well which I shall photograph and
show you soon.

I love the hipstamstic app too much I think!

sunday lunch

2010-11-07T10:08:00.000-08:00

The traditional British Sunday lunch is Roast Beef, Yorkshire Puddings, Roast Potatoes and lots of vegetables with gravy and is very popular indeed. Although being vegetarian the Roast Beef is left off the plate!

So although that might not be my favourite line up of food, the tradition of having a fine Sunday lunch is certainly one I am happy to go along with. My sister and her husband were here for the weekend, and as a treat and a part celebration of my birthday and their visit we all went out to lunch.

I chose the lovely Bills, which is a famous Brighton restaurant. It's the perfect place for family and friends, but a word for the wise, get there early, as the queues are long. We did arrive reasonably early (11.40ish) but with 6 of us we had a fairly long wait. However, we were expecting that. It's open all day, so there was a lot of people having a Sunday breakfast (another popular Sunday tradition which should be indulged every now and then!)

The restaurant were kind enough to give us free drinks as they thought we were waiting too long (it was about 45mins) but we didn't mind. We were chatting and enjoying ourselves. And the children were playing games on our i-phones!

We ended up sitting in their small upstairs area, but you get a good view of downstairs and the busy hubbub going on. I love their rafia and tissue paper hanging up to decorate. Also the walls packed full of things to buy, chutneys, olive oils, balsamic vinegar etc.

I chose the Meze dish which was lovely and very filling. It has Houmous, Olives, Baba Ganoush, Cucumber Salad, and another salad with toasted bread .

As it was my birthday I had a Pavlova with fruit, far too much cream and a berry coulis. It was good!

It was a lovely way to have Sunday lunch, I thoroughly recommend it!

piecing together the pieces

2010-11-06T04:35:00.000-07:00

So this is what I have been up to:

The yellow quilt piece is the back of my Midwest Modern quilt, I was just using up all the scraps of fabric I had.

Below is my Castle Peeps quilt, front and back.

When it will all get quilted together I don't know. I will do the Castle Peeps one first. I have everything ready for that, the batting and binding.

I hope you have a lovely weekend and are enjoying the fireworks. We went to a display last night, which was great, as the 5th is my birthday!

Brighton Artists Open Houses

2010-11-04T00:19:00.000-07:00

The Christmas Artists Open Houses is back on, it started last weekend, will be on this weekend and the 11th and 12th December.

This is a great way to find lovely gifts and support local artists. Plus it's a great to have a nose around people's houses!

There is a flickr group as well here.

homemade home

2010-11-03T01:39:00.000-07:00

Kirstie's Homemade Home is back on TV and I thought I would do a quick review, as it's a slightly different format to the first series. The first series should Kirstie learning new crafts to decorate her "Meadowgate" home with. It was quite in depth with seeing how you do blacksmithing, knitting, stained glass window making etc.

This time Kirstie is helping a different family a week. So the first family had an amazing 6 bedroom Victorian house that they had bought 18 months ago and it needed a lot of T+C. As this programme wasn't DIY SOS, Kirstie ignored the kitchen and bathroom, and focused on their hallway and a study/ office.

So with a trip to a huge second hand market and a salvage yard, period furniture and fittings were picked up.

The couple got to make some wrought iron bookends, a stained glass window for their door and some lovely curtains.

Kirstie met crocheting/ knitting legend Erika Knight, who had a tiny bit of screen time. Erika seemed to do all the work, crochet wasn't coming naturally to Kirstie last night!

The couple's hallway and study looked fantastic after they had renovated and decorated it with all their newly made things, and vintage furniture.

All in all there was so much crammed in, nothing was covered in as much detail as the first series.

I believe that Manda from Treefall blog is featured in the series as an expert. I'm not sure what project she is doing, but that'll be nice to see her in "real life". It's great that there is a mainstream craft programme on primetime TV, I'm sure it's very inspiring to a lot of people.

On the site is a sweet knitted house tea cosy tutorial.

All photos courtesy of Channel 4.

UPDATE

My brother in law, ran the 10k, at the weekend. He did it in an impressive 1hr15mins. And has raised well over his £100 target to cancer Research.

I was too tired to quilt last night, so piccies should be on here soon!

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

2010-11-02T02:28:00.000-07:00

At the weekend we went to Portsmouth to the Historic Dockyard. It's the home of the Royal Navy, and it has a load of old warships to go on, plus the Mary Rose Museum (who remembers the Mary Rose being brought up and shown on Blue Peter in 1982?)

We went on HMS Warrior 1860 and saw a gun demonstration by an ex Naval seaman called Knocker Wilkins (or something!) I love the naval names, as soon as you join the navy you seem to lose your first name and get a new nickname that stays with you for the rest of your life.

We also had a tour of HMS Victory, the warship that Vice Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson fought the Battle of Trafalgar on in 1805, and where sadly he lost his life. They brought his body back to England is a brandy barrel, nice!

The children loved Action Stations which is a building full of hands on things for children (and adults) to do. You can fly a Merlin Helicopter, shoot and enemy missiles, do the Ops Room, I think you get the picture.

We also had a boat trip, which is the Harbour Tour. You get to see all the naval ships/ subs that are in port.

All in all the day was a big success. We didn't do everything, but as the ticket lasts a year, you can return and finish the tour off!

Castle Peeps

2010-11-01T02:17:00.000-07:00

The Lizzy House Castle Peeps fabric finally came on my son's birthday. It is just as sweet in person as I had hoped.

I have already cut it up and pieced it together. Front and back! That is how quick and easy that pattern is. All I need to do now is add the batting, then quilt it and bind it . Then the job will be done. I notice that Lizzy House did a variety of quilting styles on her one, I'm not sure I'll follow suit, I might just stick to one style only.

Just so you don't think I've forgotten my other quilt (Midwest Modern one) I've also been piecing the back together as well. Hopefully I'll finish the back tonight .

I shall reveal all soon. Happy sewing!

feet

2010-10-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

I am lucky enough to have plenty of sewing machine feet that came with my machine, Janome DC4100. These include:

Standard Foot
Automatic Buttonhole Foot
Blind Hem Foot
Overedge Foot
Satin Stitch Foot
Embroidery / Free Motion Quilting Foot
Zipper Foot E
3 Way Cording Foot
Beading Foot Set
Custom Crafted Foot ( Open Toe )
Ribbon / Sequin Foot

Now time to be honest, do I use all of these? To be fair I've given most a go. I still can't work out how to do a blind hem, so that needs mastering. The 4 bottom ones were "bonus" feet but they have not come in handy. I think I might have used the ribbon foot, but that is limited to quite a narrow ribbon.

I mainly use the standard foot, overedge foot, automatic buttonhole, zipper foot and for the odd bit of decoration the satin stitch foot. If I do free motion quilting that foot will be used too. Apart from my first quilt, I've done stitch in the ditch or straight line quilting.

Every now and then I look at the feet that I could have! I'm usually inspired by something I've read somewhere.

On my list of interesting feet are:

1/4 inch seam foot, perfect every time! £13

An Ultraglide ( Teflon) foot for oilcloth? £24.50

A circular attachment - this most excites me although it's £39. I think this would be great for quilting and embellishing things I make. Plus you can use all different stitch settings with it.

Ditch Quilting Foot for stitching in the ditch. If I did more quilting I would consider this, as it's nice to be accurate for a more professional look. £13

Ruffler - although I'm trying to not make clothes at the mo, as I'm never that happy, shopping is more fun with my time restricted time.

I might ask for the circular foot for Xmas. Are there any feet that you find invaluable? Do share!

present ideas

2010-10-26T03:03:00.000-07:00

We are having a birthday this week. Our youngest is turning 4. 4 I know, I can't believe it. Sometimes I feel like I never want my boys to grow up. They are at such great ages, and just like all things in life, once it's gone, it's gone.

Of course, the older they get, the more complex they are. My eldest is just surprising and delighting me with his creativity. We can read complex novels together and both really enjoy it (we're on the Harry Potter series at the moment).

But back to the younger one. It's been quite difficult deciding what to get him. We are very resistant to purchasing more plastic toys, that seem to get everywhere around our house. And of course, having an older brother, a lot of stuff gets handed down. But we have come up with a few cool presents that we think he's going to love.

We have bought him a Vtech Kidizoom Camera (suitable from 3-7yrs). It looks pretty good, you can zoom, do fun editing options and do small movies. I think it's going to be very popular! This is the first working camera that we have bought for either of our children, so I hope that it doesn't cause jealousy with the older one! We will see.

I also bought him a few puzzles and games from a lovely independent toy shop called WigWam in Brighton. There is another great toy shop in the North Laine, on Sydney Street called Daisy Daisy.

The lovely jigsaw we got is by Djeco. I love these, they come in different shaped boxes to fit around the character. They do a ballerina, a pirate, a Knight to name a few.

I love games and when I saw this small card game I couldn't resist. It's Happy Families, which I definitely played when I was little.

The illustrations and design style of these Djeco puzzles and games just make me so happy. I adore their sensibility.

I also picked up this lacing set, which is great for hand eye coordination. You get to make a few sweet pictures.

As my son's birthday is by Halloween, I bought him this very clever torch. In fact I liked it so much, I have bought more of them for other gifts. It doesn't have batteries, you just "wind it up" via squeezing it's sides. Clever!

I have probably spent more than I normally would but he's not having a party, and I can't help feeling as the second child that he misses out on lots because we've already got it/ done it. I hope that he gets a lot of enjoyment out of these gifts, I'm pretty sure he will.

Additional Note: I'm pleased to say that most of my gifts have been bought from independent local shops. And there isn't a huge amount of plastic - phew!

weekend randomness

2010-10-25T05:46:00.000-07:00

We went on a family wander through our local park yesterday. It was a beautiful, but chilly, autumnal day. We are capturing the changing colours of the leaves before they all drop.

I love the colours that you see all around at this time of year. It's like summer giving us one last fling.

Bright colours to keep smiles on our faces, even though I could no longer feel my hands.

Fun around the clocktower. Where endless battles are fought.

Always full on fighting with branches and swords.

Beautiful ironwork to enjoy the "secret garden" through.

Stunning skies, against an interesting skyline.

And a rest in the "snake" tree.

I hope you too captured some good weather and good times this weekend as well.

(all photos taken on random with the hipstamatic app - that is everywhere right now!)

plans

2010-10-24T00:11:00.000-07:00

I know I've barely used my sewing machine in the last few months, but that doesn't mean I don't have big plans for it. My list is starting to run a bit long, so I thought I'd list it here (rather than my head) and see if that mobilises me into action!

1. Cushion Cover to match my sister's quilt - for December

2. Midwest Modern Quilt finished - January

3. Place Mats for children x6 - November - I don't have a design yet, but probably something simple, so they can be put in the wash on a daily basis!

4. Denise Schmidt Quilt "Snake Charmer" for eldest son - March or sooner!

5. Castle Peeps Quilt for youngest son - December

There are probably a few more things, that will be added onto this list. I have a friend who is expecting a baby, due on Xmas Day, so they may well get a lovely baby quilt for their newborn.

I need to get some more fabric for the Denise Schmidt quilt, I've been stock piling slowly! With the cushion cover and place mats I'll use fabric from my stash, and I guiltily suspect I already have enough fabric for a baby quilt!

Plus I'm hoping I will get my sewing table very soon as well!

My new favourite chocolate

2010-10-23T13:26:00.001-07:00

Montezumas - made down the road.

Dacia Ray's Peace & Quiet Book

2010-10-23T00:31:00.000-07:00

One of the lovely blogs that I read, Dacia Ray, has just shown her beautiful peace and quiet book that she has lovingly made for her son. Dacia has kindly let me share her book with you, enjoy her craftmanship and please go and read her post here.

I have seen soft books in shops to buy, but nothing as personal and special as this. If I had seen this a few years ago I would have made one for my children. It truly is a work of art, a very special book indeed.

numbers

balloons

As Dacia mentions she was inspired not only from her own childhood book that she had, but also from Empty Bobbins, Moda Bakeshop and Posie Gets Cozy.

Learn how to tie a lace

Learn how to dress yourself!

I think this would be a beautiful thing to make for your own child or grandchild. If anyone else has links to other "peace and quiet" books let me and Dacia know!

Serious Bit:
Dacia gave her kind permission for me to reproduce her photos, they are her copyright, and can only be used with her written permission.

ingenious children

2010-10-22T00:02:00.000-07:00

I love the way if my children don't have something, they make it for themselves out of what they already have.

Lately my eldest has been really impressing us with his creations.

He was very ill at the start of term, and he watched Spiderwick on dvd at home. He was really inspired by the film, and he set about making his own Spiderwick Field Journal, using the DVD extras as a guide.

For a boy who begrudgingly writes, this was brilliant!

Next are the never ending lego models. He's creating his own army here.

And after this week's swimming lesson, he had accomplished a few new moves, so he decided he needed some swimming badges to mark the occassion! From left to right, Pencil Jump, Swimming Unaided with a float, Mushroom Float and a Starfish Float.

quilt front woo hoo

2010-10-20T01:20:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a longtime coming, but here is my quilt front. I'm not 100% sure about the orange, but I'm hoping when it's quilted and washed, it will sit a little better!!! In a bright room, it's too loud, but when it's dark ie bedtime, it looks ok!

It's all Amy Butler Midwest Modern. I seemed to have a load of this in my cupboard, left over from other projects, some cut into small pieces. I had to come up with the best layout for it. I decided to go for a busy all over print design, as I've grown to like them in recent years (although simplicity and modern designs tend to inspire me more).

The back is being pieced together also from the Midwest Modern design, but more of the green and pink shades, with a bit of the brown/ orange thrown in to make it cohesive. They are all cut into 5" wide pieced strips. I've got a plain yellow (school bus yellow?) to go with it. I'm still umming and ahhing over pattern design.

Should I make all of the planned back pieces into a quilt top, and just back the quilt with plain fabric? Not sure, not sure.

So far, I've tried to make the backs as good as the front, ie 2 quilts in one. This doesn't seem to be what anyone else does! The fabric is expensive, the time taken on this ridiculous (too much internal debating, which is still going on), the quilts are being made just as spare blankets, although there is another option, I'm weighing up currently (keeping that secret). Yet again decisions decisions! There is this to inspire me and this and this! Thank you Moda Bakeshop!

I've got visitors for the next 3 weeks, so I doubt I'll be doing any sewing, anyway! More time to spend thinking about it then.

veggie cooking

2010-10-19T00:00:00.000-07:00

I got a new cookbook the other week, Rose Elliots New Complete Vegetarian.

I made the cauliflower and leek curry and it was delicious. (photo doesn't quite capture the colour, it was taken with my phone). Husband said it was even nicer the next day.

Also it wasn't spicy, not that the children would touch it! I have a few of her other books and have always been impressed. This is an updated version of her classic book and it is bursting with recipes (but if you like photos in cookbooks of the dishes, there aren't many.). I trust her, so I don't let that put me off! I'm looking forward to making more dishes. The best thing was I had all the ingredients in the house already, so it was an easy to do job!

batty me

2010-10-18T01:09:00.000-07:00

Gingerbread Biscuits made for an early school Halloween Charity Cake sale.

The funny thing was I was getting all stressed about making something and then my husband said why don't you make biscuits with your Halloween cutters! He was absolutely right!

My eldest helped me make the dough, which was great fun. It had to rest for a few hours in the fridge, and by the time I got it out again, I just wanted to do a quick job of rolling it out and cutting out the biscuit shapes. The pumpkin and cat are in my children's lunchboxes today as a treat. The gingerbread recipe is by Dan Lepard in his Exceptional Cakes book. To my mind it's the best recipe I've got for it. Absolutely perfect!

castle peeps

2010-10-14T10:12:00.000-07:00

I have been inspired by the Lizzy House Castle Peeps collection. This is a great fabric range for boys (no flowers or fairies!) and even though Lizzy House is American this range feels decidedly British, to me anyway. It's the medieval people and castles that do it. It comes in three colourways, the blue, a vibrant red/orange and a calming green/ yellow.

I love this quilt idea, download it free from here. Also, it looks pretty straightforward to me, to do as well (which is always a good thing!) As usual it's far cheaper to buy the fabric from an American shop, than a British one (when is that going to change?) Have you made anything with this fabric?

Another photographer in the family

2010-10-11T06:37:00.001-07:00

My eldest took this, I think he's giving his dad a run for his money!

Yes it's me, sitting on the steps outside the Unitarian Church in Brighton, on a very warm October day. He used my (new) IPhone (courtesy of my older sister) with the Hipstamatic app. He did a good job, as it was really busy! I don't know if he did the diagonal on purpose and with artistic intention, but it certainly looks good.

The bag is full of (heavy) library books. My son got one called Witches and Wizards and we've spent the weekend finding herbs and flowers so he can make some magical potions!

lovely films

2010-10-01T03:07:00.000-07:00

As Autumn has arrived (proof I’m wearing tights for the first time in 7 months), it’s time to plan for our shorter and colder days ahead. I like nothing better than snuggling up on the sofa and all watching a film together. I don’t know what we’ll be watching yet, some old films and some new gems to be discovered.

This has made me take stock of what I have enjoyed recently. My old list ran something like Usual Suspects, Good Fellas, Cinema Paradiso, When Harry Met Sally,, Fargo. Most of the films that are my favourite were made in the last century, mainly in the 1980s or early 90s.

I think it’s time for a new list.

I’ve probably missed loads of films out but here are some that I’ve really enjoyed and been impressed by in the last decade. Although I have to admit most of them were made in the last 3 or 4 years. I think we missed a lot of films from 2003 onwards (when our eldest child was born) until we got Lovefilm in 2007! Please fill me in on my gaping hole of a film memory!

Possibilities for All Time Favourites:

Moon: Fantastic, atmospheric, psychological, perfect

Juno: Funny, smart, heart warming take of teenage pregnancy!

Kick-Ass : I liked the crazy violence, the humour, the fact it had a big heart. The writing, the performance, the direction.

Stardust : fantastic modern fairy tale. It was brilliant. All the characters, such humour, brilliant.

Little Miss Sunshine

Highly recommended and commended

Me and Orson Welles: The old world charm. The craziness of being young and being with a big headed star.

Damed United: love the tale, Brian Clough, what a legend

Adventureland, I enjoyed the nostalgia, the capturing of youth, the inexperience, the half way house between childhood and adulthood.

17 again: Surprise contender, but for what it was, it was done well (favourite character was the Dad’s best friend!)

City of God: arresting

Brokeback Mountain

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day: Totally delightful. See it if you haven’t yet.

Oh Brother Where Art Thou? : Hilarious.

George Clooney Films: Burn After Reading, Good Night & Good Luck, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Michael Clayton

Childrens Films

Curse of the Wererabbit – Wallace and Gromit

Nanny McPhee

Studio Ghibli Films

Enchanted

Penelope

Nim’s Island

Stardust

Walle

Let me know your favourites and any you would recommend!

Have a lovely weekend, we’re away, as we’re off to a party in Leeds.

Sewing Table

2010-09-28T04:12:00.000-07:00

I do not have a designated sewing area in my home and I am always envious of anybody who has a room for their hobbies (I can only dream!). At the moment, if I want to sew I have to do it on the dining table, which as anyone else who does that knows, is not very practical.

I had been thinking of getting a folding sewing table for a while. The SewEzi table was one I had seen online, but not in person. But with all the uncertainty over my husband's job I put it to the back of my mind.

It now has a rival, from Horn. The Horn Hideaway, model #33. It also does a cut out for your machine to slot into, so you get a larger sewing area, great for quilting (same as the SewEzi). It is a similar price (currently £159). It comes in either oak or white.

From the dimensions, the Horn slightly longer by about 17cm.

If you have experience of either the SewEzi or the Horn table please let me, and the other blog readers know of your experience with it. My birthday is coming up, so this could be a great present for me!

Bake

2010-09-27T07:40:00.000-07:00

I haven't been baking but buying a lovely leather/ fabric tote bag from Bake on Etsy.

Photo courtesy of Bake.

Bake is Becca from West Yorkshire, with some gorgeous bags. The fabric is Anna Maria Horner, which I absolutely love.

The leather should make the bag last longer, and stay cleaner than my other totes. It's a brilliant touch.

BTW This is yet another recommendation from Treefall, embarrassing but true! I look like a stalker!

Prints

2010-09-19T00:06:00.000-07:00

I have been buying art (mainly prints) for my children's shared bedroom. Partly for decoration, but hopefully to inspire. I hope it just seeps in everyday.

These two prints are by Laura Amiss. She is from Holland, but sells via etsy, both prints and originals. I really liked the pictures, I hope my children do as well.

On a related note, I am pleased to say that my eldest will be attending an after school art club, which I hope he really enjoys. I am looking forward to seeing his creations.

summer

2010-09-16T00:02:00.000-07:00

I've been a bit remiss recounting what we did over our short (10 days) summer break. We snatched a week and a half away in Yorkshire, before returning to work.

We took my father with us on a trip to the York Maze, which is a brilliant day out. The theme of this year's maze was the Battle of Britain. The maze was in the shape of a Spitfire plane. The maze took 1.5 hours or so to do. We ate our lunch in the picnic area in the middle of the maze, which was nice, apart from the wasps! Then the boys spent the rest of the time there playing on their play equipment and feeding the farm animals! They had a great time.

After the maze, we went to my dad's allotment. He always saves some vegetables or fruit for my children to dig up and pick when they visit. They do enjoy doing that, especially as we live in a flat, with not much growing room. Certainly no opportunities to get a spade into the ground for some decent digging.

Steve took the triptych, which I love. I think it sums it up.

the last biscuit

2010-09-15T06:46:00.000-07:00

The other day I felt like something sweet. Not a large portion of cake or pudding, just a small bite to satisfy my appetite.

I made some biscuits, from Rachel Allen's Bake book (which I have mentioned before). It was a pretty simple mixture, to which I added lemon zest (using a new zester bought at Peter Jones aka John Lewis the other week).

On a different note, it's so nice to buy kitchen tools that work!

Anyway, they were a hit. Too much of a hit, as I was left today with the last biscuit.

You will be pleased to know that I enjoyed half of it with a cup of tea. My son enjoyed the rest of it with some milk!

doorstep loveliness

2010-09-13T09:50:00.000-07:00

I have just discovered that the very reason why I started this blog, is amazingly how most people stumble across it.

My doorstep tutorial, which I wrote up nearly 3 years ago, has been really popular with crafters. I still receive messages and emails from people who have made it.

The latest person who has made some doorstops is Mooncalfmakes. She has done a great job to boot! Check out her site.

I just thought I'd say a big thank you to everyone who has visited, and passed on the link of my doorstop tutorial, as it certainly has reached a wider audience than I would have anticipated.

Like I said, I was inspired to write a blog, after searching for an online tutorial myself. I did not find one, but read enough blogs that gave me the confidence to give it a go anyway. I missed my "3 year" anniversary but long live the generosity of all bloggers who share their time and patterns/ recipes/ ideas. It has enriched my world, as I'm sure it does yours.

fabulous quarters

2010-09-12T00:49:00.000-07:00

I picked these up the other day. I plan on doing 2 bespoke quilts for my sons. I have one in mind for my elder one (a Denis Schmidt pattern from her book) and I'm not sure of a design yet for my younger son. I want something that will last! So no Thomas the Tank Engine fabrics etc!

I saw these fabrics, and I liked the fact that they weren't all pink and flowery. They would definitely fit in with a boy's quilt. It is a Robert Kaufman, called Metro Retro! I believe. EDIT: No it's Groovy Bars in Spring by Caleb Gray for Robert Kaufman!

I do like this yellow fabric, it's Robert Kaufman, again.

And I love this geometric on the dark brown. This may well go towards my elder son's quilt! I got them all from Quilty Pleasures, my local independent shop. Liz the lady who runs it is great. She told me they are relaunching their website, with an online shop at the end of this month. So do take a look!

saturday things

2010-09-11T04:55:00.000-07:00

Everyone in my house is ill (some horrible tummy bug) which has kept me very busy this week, with the Dettol spray and disinfectant.

I decided to bring some cheer to myself, by purchasing a few necessary but top quality supplies this morning.

First was a trip to my local deli, where they had just received their delivery of bread from Real Pattisserie . I picked up a delicious Farmhouse Cob (the kind of addictive loaf you can eat in a day) and some gorgeous chocolate macaroons.

Yes they were as good as they look! Sorry picture not in focus, clearly couldn't keep my hands steady in anticipation! I'm pleased to say that they tasted great with a cup of tea.

Then to Miss Mole's for some flowers. Aren't they amazing?

I have forgotten their name, but they are from the proteas family. I think it's a Leucospermum from a bit of googling.

I also picked a bumper crop of tomatoes from our 3 plants. I have to say I wasn't that happy with the yellow ones, they were not as good as the other 2 varieties in taste or texture.

I hope you have a great weekend too, full of fun and fantastic things.

gaudy gourdes

2010-09-09T00:12:00.000-07:00

I just had to show you these:

My friend T, grew them. They are inedible, and purely for decoration. But aren't they good fun! They'll be used in my autumnal bowl, which the children fill with conkers and acorns and leaves etc!

Luckily summer is stretching on, so I'll keep enjoying that while it lasts.

photography blog

2010-09-07T04:09:00.000-07:00

We have started a new blog, purely for our photography busine ss. If you want to see what we do behind the scenes, please take a look here.

Photo from a recent wedding