I know I am sometimes quite slack at posting but I really can't believe a mont
h has passed since my last post! Where has that time gone? And I didn't think I'd been that busy until I went to see all the pics of my makes since my last my post - lots to show you! But first a few updates from my previous posts.
Firstly - sad new :( Cecil is no longer with us. I forgot to feed him and he died ...a horrible smelly death which was much like his life!! lol!! I really need to make Cecil number 2 as I would like to have another crack at making sourdough.
Secondly, the kitchen curtain still hasn't been hung up! I have however added the tracking to it and just need to sew in the ends to complete it. This is all on the list of things to be done this week when hubs has a few days off to put the track up on the door. Talking of things that haven't been finished or even touched - the *$£*&^%"" play house is still undone. :( I keep resolving to finish it in the evenings but I just don't have the patience or energy to do so and then feel quite down that it's still sitting there. So I've bagged it up and put it upstairs until I get a day or maybe even a few hours to myself (of course by this point Isaac may be too old for it!! but there is a rumour that I may get a few quiet hours next week so watch this space but please don't hold your breath!!!)
The throw that I had started for the living room however is coming along nicely but I'm not using the squares posted in a previous post!! I made a lovely order from
Wool Warehouse and that arrived mid April with lots of lovely new colours of wool for me to play with. They offer free postage on orders over £25 so it seemed churlish not to take advantage of this!!
The big parcel that I collected from the post office and it's contents. I've got plans in my head for two more projects from this pile....although I've got a few more in my head since I made this order!!
I decided on these colours originally for the throw to go with my living room curtains as shown above with a few sample squares. Although I was totally convinced by the Teal on the left so have ordered a few other colours and tried them out and finally decided on these 8
These are all knitted with Stylecraft Special DK Wool - in the following colours : Parchment, Mocha, Aster, Meadow, Turquoise, Pale Rose, Raspberry, Violet. Mint is Stylecraft Life DK and the dark green is one I already had in my stash,
All the colours are stitched and are just having the edging put round them so I'm getting there. I've not decided on a border as yet - I think it will be a parchment border, possibly scalloped but have seen
this on Pinterest which is making me wonder if I should do a more colourful border of smaller squares. Think I will decide when I've sewn all these squares together first - although whether to do that randomly or in some kind of order is my first decision!
I think the husband has cottoned on (get it?!!) to my new addiction as he came home with this yesterday :) Lots more ideas for me ....just what I need! ;)
You may remember I posted some pics of my little man watering the seedlings we had just planted - well I'm not sure how it's happened but they have all grown!!! :O And here's the proof!! And we've even eaten some of the rocket in our salads this week :) I've convinced hubs to let us have a patch of our garden as a vegetable patch so some of these will be moved into that - another job for his few days off!!
I have bought a few more items in my summer wardrobe challenge - a number of items at our local jumble sale for £2.50! But they are spread around the house in either the ironing pile or the washing pile so haven't got a picture. Will try for next time as some of them are really nice. I also bought a M & Co Skirt and a floaty top from the charity shop yesterday for £8.50 in total but I'm in two minds about whether I am keeping them or not so have not taken a picture of them either. I think I am going to have to buy some new stuff - leggings, flat shoes and a new swimming costume so it should be interesting to see if I can do that within my budget.
So what else have I been up to?!
My mum had a sale for Suffolk Animal Rescue and I did lots of baking for the cake stall including my first ever attempt at chocolate bourbons.
Although I bought home a lot of stuff!!! This is just a small selection - I do love a bargain! As I will show....
I bought this lovely book in our charity shop for 50p - some quite old fashioned recipes in here and it's a lovely book to flick through
I've had some flower luck in our local Tescos on the past couple of Sundays - firstly these gorgeous daffs for 45p!!! And then this lovely Finest bunch of flowers today for £1!! :O I couldn't believe it! And it shows how much I love a bargain because I'm not really that much of a flower fan!!
And then of course there has been some cooking.....
This is Jamie's Beef Hash and Beans from his 30 Minute Meals
Healthy Ham Egg and Chips (the arty pic is due the sunshine - I point this out as you maybe unaware what this bright thing is!!!)
Thai Chicken Curry - which hubs wasn't wildy impressed with as it was too 'subtle' for him!
Frangipan Tart - which is AMAZING!!! This is from Jamie's 30 Minute Meals again and
this recipe although I used my own pastry and put it all in one large flan dish. It takes about 30 - 40 mins to cook. I did make the Jools Pasta from this recipe the other night too and have to say I really wasn't impressed. I will give it another go as I wonder if I did something wrong as it was not a good day!
I also made sundried tomato bread and Sexy Pauls Lemon Drizzle Cake which (prepare yourselves) isn't actually the best Lemon Cake I've ever had. I've made it twice and think it's a bit on the dry side which is a shame. However he did redeem himself with the recipe for these baguettes made in my new baguette tray :)
Focaccia Alla Putanesca (get me!!!) from Gino's HomeBaking - which still hasn't gone back to the library! hehe!
Which lent itself to a Tapas Feast (even though the bread is Italian!!) with cold meats, sundried tomatoes, olives and
patatas bravas with chorizo. This was washed down with a lovely bottle of red and was one of the nicest meals I've had for a while.
Filone All'arrabbiata (I know I'm almost fluent!!) - chilli bread from Gino's book
Lemon Love Cake - which was my husbands fave pudding at school and something he periodically goes on about! This apparently was a very good version so will be being made again. There are some other lovely recipes on this site that I might have a go at
A wholemeal loaf (which slightly exploded sideways) and an apple crumble cake :)
And as if that wasn't enough I've also started a couple more projects in the garden (and there was me thinking I hadn't been busy!! I do like this blog for making me realise that I do actually do more that sit and surf the web all day! Obviously I do some looking after the little man as well! hehe!)
Currently in the process of turning this old cupboard into a play kitchen for the little man. The spray paint I used didn't go on very well so it needs touching up quite a bit but I have plans and hope to get it done soon. It doesn't help that the weather has turned nasty so I can't get outside to do it and it's hard to paint with the little man around as he wants to join in!!
When we did have some nice weather I did manage to give our small table and chairs an update with some cream paint - they look much nicer and almost Parisian now - all we need is some nice warm nights to sit at them with a bottle of wine (well I can dream about having the weather and the energy can't I :P )
So that's me all up to date - lots still being worked on but it's all good. I've found some new apps on my phone which will hopefully let me update this a bit more frequently which will mean posts should be a bit less lengthy!! hehe!
xx
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