Tuesday, 20 March 2012

TINY TEARS' NEW CLOTHES!

Whilst rummaging through my old patterns last week in search of my little green book on how to crochet I came across some dolls clothing knitting patterns that I'd completely forgotten I had.
 2 year old Jessica just loves dolls, calling them all her babies. Her first port of call when she comes here is to head up stairs to collect Tiny Tears but she's always concerned that the poor doll has no knickers!


So I've spent a few days away from my blanket squares and finding some oddments of wool have knitted the doll a new outfit, all finished ready to surprise Jessica when she comes here on Wednesday. 
 I think she looks pretty good for nearly a 50 year old baby!
Unfortunately I didn't find my crochet book but I do have hooks ready and willing. I haven't crochetered for about 30 or so years but I'm looking forward to getting back into it, I just need a refresher on what to do!


Meanwhile the sky blanket continues to grow and grow and I'm pleased that to date I haven't missed a day. 


The garden is now beginning to spring back into life, I love these little dwarf tulips. We've already planted potatoes in containers but in the next couple of weeks we want to crack on with vegetable planting.
I've been a bit lacking on the "planning" this year!

Friday, 9 March 2012

BACK TO BAKING AND MAKING!

This is coconut ice, Charlotte & Jessica's version!


Now we are back to normal in our house and we have a fully functioning kitchen I promised my grand daughters that on their next visit they could make coconut ice. 
I'd been given some neatly sliced, neatly wrapped free samples of this very sweet delicacy back in January when we'd been checking out caterers for my daughters  wedding and when the children tasted it I told them that I used to make it with my mum when I was a little girl.
Charlotte was eager to make it too so I found this Lesley Waters recipe on the BBC good food website and went in search of condensed milk at the supermarket.
When Charlotte came out of school on Wednesday we came back here donned our aprons and the three of us set to with our task of making coconut ice. For the first time, Charlotte had a go at reading the recipe herself and actually it was a good recipe to start off with as it had only three ingredients to measure and three stages in the method. Also it was good because Charlotte could mix the pink together and Jessica the white. The only slight deviation with the recipe came when Charlotte decided that she didn't want the ices one on top of the other, just side by side. But don't all great chefs use their own imagination!!
 It did look a little bumpy, somewhat uneven when it left here and my kitchen looked like a coconut bomb had hit it but the main thing was that the children had a great time making it. 






Sunday, 4 March 2012

THE KITCHEN IS FINISHED!

As I said in my last post, spring isn't really here. As I watched the weather forecast last night and it mentioned the S N O W word as a possibility for Sunday evening in the southeast, I thought very rarely does winter leave us without, a sting in its tail!
I wouldn't mind but I've cleaned my boots and put them away and my summer clothes are itching to come out of my wardrobe. I've already seen people during this past week walking down our Hight Street in shorts, tee shirts and sandals. I mean really, has it been warm enough for that?

Enough about the weather, after all we can't do anything about it!
Let's move on to my kitchen.


This week the appliances have all been taken away and put into store. Therefore no cooker, no cooking, no fridge, no fresh food.

 So on Tuesday it was a novelty -  a fish and chip night.
Wednesday night it was a trip to Prezzo's and a pizza to the rescue.
 By Thursday, all I wanted to do was stagnate in front of the tv, the idea of going out yet again was not appealing. I made what I thought would be a quick dash to Tesco's for supplies to put together a salad plus a chilled bottle of white wine, I though we deserved a drink. All I wanted to do was pop in and pop out but oh not so simple. I walked aimlessly up and down the aisles but couldn't find the wine chiller cabinet. A supervisor caught my eye so I asked her to point me in the right direction. Yes, she did confirm that they did indeed sell chilled wine but she also explained that they couldn't possibly have their entire selection of white wine in a chiller.
Ok, perhaps being just helpful and informative but I wasn't expecting a chiller the size of a house!
As our lengthly conversation progressed, I was advised, amongst other things that it would only be from their Finest range. I replied, that was fine with me!
And so the conversation continued!
Have got to say though that by the time we moved on to the fact that I would have to understand that it would cost at least £10 a bottle, I was gripping my small trolley containing my dinner, experiencing great pain in my knuckles.
"That's fine, that's fine" I exclaimed, " but my question again is, where can I find it???"
"Well, by the finest meal deals" she said and as she walked away "we haven't got a chiller solely for wine anymore!"
Now, if any of you can remember that song, "There's a hole in my bucket!" well my conversation in Tesco was along those lines!
By chance the same supervisor was standing by the exit as I was finally leaving to return home. I couldn't resist I'm afraid,( I think it's something to do with my character), my mouth opened and out tumbled, "I found my chilled bottle of white wine thanks and it was only £6.99!"
After  my experience of that exhaustive trip out, I then had to come home, throw my salad onto plates and unscrew the wine. Talk about stress!!!!

Now back to the kitchen.
On Friday, after the two new cupboards were put in place and the flooring laid Michael was able to paint the ceilings and walls and put the tiles up which have been sitting in our garage since October.


We're both so, so pleased that it is finally finished after all the hassle with the people we paid to fit it in the first place. We're also really pleased with the result now that another company and ourselves have put it right. Let's hope that there's no other problems, resulting from the poor workmanship of the company who originally designed, supplied and fitted it, lurking in the background!
Fingers crossed!

Sunday, 26 February 2012

A BRIGHT WEEK FOR MY SKY SCARF CHALLENGE

We mustn't get too excited, we all know that Spring isn't really here, but the weather this past week has been verging on "springlike" and it's been nice to knit some brightness into my sky scarf. 


It is coming a long nicely, although it is rather wide and it is going to end up somewhat lengthly. Oh dear!


My socks are finished and as always, I am pleased. Not just because they're now ready to wear but because they've turned out to be equal in size. Now I need some colder weather to wear them, so they may have to wait patiently in the drawer until next winter.

On Thursday evening my friend and I went to the private view of  The Material Girls "Bridging Waters" Textile Exhibition. Both Miriam and Diane were exhibiting their work and over the past weeks having heard snippets of what they were intending to make, it was exciting to see their completed projects. Their work was excellent as was the entire exhibition. Beautiful wall hangings, colourful barges, all made from textiles were just some of the items that could be admired. I hope the exhibition is a great success for them all.


Saturday sunshine brought out the gardening boots, gloves and tools. Not for digging in our garden, but Jo and Robert have many plans for theirs. Michael and Robert worked hard all day moving earth and rubble. My task was cutting back and digging out unwanted bushes and moving those that hopefully are going to stay in the new flower beds.
At last I was also able to transport Charlotte's magnolia tree from the pot in my garden where it has been residing for the past year, since their house move, to it's new home. (We bought the tree for Charlotte when she was born so it's now 5 years old)

Finally the week ahead is going to be the week that my kitchen gets back to normal since the kitchen fitter  failed to do his plumbing job properly when he installed the kitchen back in July, causing the leak from the soil pipe which wrecked two kitchen cupboards, some plastering and all of the flooring.
On Monday, I have two new cupboards being installed. On Tuesday after all the appliances have been taken out and put in storage, the flooring is going to be laid over two days. Then on Friday all of the appliances will be returned and reinstalled.
The fact that we can't refrigerate anything or cook anything during that period is just a minor blip BUT to get the kitchen finished is going to be heaven!

Tuesday, 14 February 2012

STEPPING UP A GEAR


Due to the cold, snowy and icy weather conditions last week, if nothing else, I did manage to crack on with my knitting.
These socks are coming on a treat


and i've already knitted 4 squares out of the 49 needed to make my blanket.


But by Sunday evening, I felt that if my pace of life became any slower I would actually come to a dead halt! When I went to bed I made my mind up that I would somehow get myself motivated and have a much more active Monday.
So, after an early morning swim, I threw myself into dusting, hoovering and washing. The several pairs of shoes and boots which only normally see the light of day when there are severe weather conditions were tidied away and I gave the fire and hearth a thorough clean.
To my amazement I still had time left in the afternoon to make spaghetti bolognese for dinner and make these blueberry muffins.


Today, driving home from my swim and still motivated I decided that I'd clean the car after my breakfast. Then I remembered that on Saturday the outside tap seized up. Fortunately I remembered that before I'd got the car covered in soap suds!
So a little later this morning, I'm off to have the car cleaned while I do some shopping in the supermarket. 77 belle has been making some lovely Granola and I want to pick up the ingredients and have a try.

Sunday, 5 February 2012

AND MORE SNOW PICTURES!

Before I could settle in front of the fire for an afternoon of knitting, Michael and I couldn't resist a walk to take some pictures of the river Blackwater and the canal.








THE WEATHER MAN WAS SPOT ON. IT SNOWED!

We looked out at midnight and saw this -


At and 9am -

If I was a soufflé maker I would be thrilled if they turned out looking like this!


I love the snow when it is fresh, crisp and picturesque!



Knitting is the order of the day, I think!