Summer Time

 So half way through my summer holiday.

The first week was spent in the garden.

I did some more of my Helen Hallows online course.

My sunflowers were growing fast...

The sun finally returned...

lots of meals were taken in the garden too.

I made deep filled blackcurrant pies...

Hubby and I celebrate our silver wedding anniversary next year and we booked a two night stay at Burgh Island Hotel....a dream come true for me!

Then we went away on holiday......

Two posts in one day.....

....I spoil you!

Well today has been a VERY LAZY day here. A few minor chores were done but nothing else really. I did do a post this morning and this is my second one of the day.

I had to show you a photo of Clemmy (short for Clementine) my in-law's cat. He is so regal isn't he?

I got given this bag of lace and ribbon by a lady at the Cats Protection Fair. I will make something for them to sell at their Christmas Fair on 21st November.

I have used one of Simone's owl tags on a birthday pressie for a friend, look good don't they?

Saturday morning in our house is Hubby, Lucy and I eating crumpets in bed reading the newspapers and looking at this wonderful view! It was beautiful-in between the showers last Saturday!

This is the main road in the valley down from our house. The fields on the right of the picture go down to the river then up the steep hill are the trees opposite our house giving us those fantastic views. The fields are greenbelt but unfortunately the council want to build 300 houses on them and this will be awful for the wild life. We have seen deer roaming those woods. I know people must live somewhere but feel there are plenty of brownfield sites that could be used first?

And finally, I have only gone and done it!

What?

Gone and taken the hint.

What hint?

I have opened a shop!

No, where?

Here!

It's Saturday!

What a beautiful day it has been here in West Yorkshire!

First thing this morning I had to go to Halifax to pick up a parcel and so I called into a couple of charity shops and picked up a bargain or two while I was there. Two 100% wool scarves in beautiful stripes of colour (which went straight into the washing machine to be felted) and four pretty napkins.

Then it was home and into the greenhouse to pot up Hyacinths and Miniature Iris into containers in the hope of things to come next spring.
I have been on the look out for a large blue and white china serving bowl to plant mini iris in but not found one as yet. Will have to be next year now.

Collete from Poppy cottage asked for the recipe for Green Tomato chutney mentioned in last post (I will be making more tomorrow!) so here it is.


It is from Good Housekeeping 'Preserves' by Joanna Farrow.

450g cooking apples, peeled, cored and minced

225g onions, skinned and minced

1.4 kg green tomatoes thinly sliced

225g sultanas

225g demerara sugar

2 level tsp salt

450ml malt vinegar

4 small pieces of root ginger

1/2 level tsp cayenne pepper

1 level tsp mustard powder

Place all the ingredients into a preserving pan or large, heavy based sauce-pan. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer gently for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until the ingredients are tender and reduced to a thick pulpy consistency. Remove the ginger pieces.

spoon into sterilised jars, cover and seal.

I leave mine for a while before eating so it gets less vinegary.

I sent off for a few bits from Mouse at Mousenotebook they arrived beautifully wrapped. Another bag for my collection. Also three little birds and a Bear-Cat you can see peeping out of the bag she sent. All are made with such care and detail.

Diane over at Heartshaped asked in her latest post if we have had any 'failures' this year? Well I have to say my beans turned out rubbish, my radish went to seed and my kale was ate by slugs!

THANK YOU if you have voted for me at the Dorset cereals little blog awards (link at top of my page-hint, hint!) I now have four votes so thankyou!!!! (I know Tracey , Diane and Michela have!)
Look out for this called 'Talking Threads, coming to SKY in October, might be worth watching.

Pop over to Hook and Scumble there is a brill giveaway if you would like crochet or would like to learn how to crochet

Finished!

Remember this post? Well that featured my imaginary magazine 'Everyday Life' July/August edition. So I thought it would be fun to do a September/October issue.

As you can see by the magazine cover I have finished my ripple cushion cover!

I am very pleased with it.

Now all I have to do is work out how I make these two granny square panels into a cushion cover? Any ideas on how to do the opening/fastening? should I do buttons like the one above only on the edge? any ideas most welcome!

Busy, busy, busy!

Well, I should actually be tidying up the study/studio/workroom/dumping ground.

It's in such a mess, Hubby says I hoard too much and I say I may need it for something in the future!

Anyway I managed to hide away this week and paint a cat picture. The photo I took it from was not very good and they were black and white cats so I had to improvise on the white bits. I resorted to tiny strokes of white gouache (they don't show up on this photo) It looks OK and I am popping over to give it to a colleague I work with who's 60th birthday it is today (they are her cats, Ozzy and Elvis.)

Talking about cats, did you read this article in the FT today? it's by Tom Cox (under the paw) and is about Jackie Morris and her three ginger cats.

What else have I been up too? I made damson and apple jam, bought some cushion pads in readiness for my crochet covers, had a visit from a friend, baked a Lemon Cake, read Miss Pettigrew lives for a day (excellent) and started to gather things for a special book I am making for my mum's 70th birthday.

I also got this book, full of lovely things and I am itching to get out some of the lovely Rowan Yarn I bought this week and have a go.
Its called Beyond the square Crochet motifs by Edie Eckman.

I just also feel the need to show you some more photos from our second week away at the end of July.

We went to Ironbridge on one day and to Blists Hill Victorian Town Museum. What a wonderful place. Built up around a blast furnaces and brickworks built in the late 1700's. Many of the shops and houses were moved here brick by brick to save them from demolition and the whole town is delightful. I especially liked the Grocers store, the Draper & Milliner and the Doctors house.

The Public House served beers and you could get lunch at the fish and chip shop. Sweets were weighed out of jars and you could buy with 'old money' exchanged at the bank

Of course there was a lot to see about how people worked as well as lived and the Chemist, Cobblers, Plasterers, Plumbers, Locksmiths, Saw Mill and Masons were all being worked and the School Mistress was in the tiny school and the Doctors wife was sewing in her front room. There was a Butchers, a baker and of course a Candle makers where I bought some hand dipped candles!
I must leave you with some photos I took of Lucy this week, she's such a cutie!

Goodies.

This is the little stash I have from our holiday. The pale green floral cushion cover was from Parsley and Thyme. The green hand dipped candles, lavender bag, Teacher posters, linen hankie and plaster scroll (all on the right of the picture) were from Blists Hill Victorian town-more about that wonderful place in another post. The pewter bird necklace was from Newport made by Brown Bird. the cupcake is crochet and stiffened to make a basket and the postcards were from St Dogmaels and RAF Cosworth. You can't see them very well but there are two beautiful pieces of embroidered linen too. I am going to hopefully make these into cushion covers.

I also gave this little chap a home. I've called him Charlie, he is about 3 inches tall and is a cutie. We found him in a case in an antiques shop just waiting for a loving home.

Are you still awake?

Hope I have not bored you all to sleep?

While on holiday we called it the most lovely shop called 'Parsley and Thyme'. It is at a small cross roads outside New Quay, I hope they are a success, they opened in March and have had a good season but lots of shops don't make it through the winter when all the holiday makers go home. I hope this one works out as the lady who owns it was very friendly and I loved the stock she had. A lot of the things looked handmade and I bought a floral cushion cover from her, she wrapped it up in tissue paper and tied it with a ribbon so it looked like a little present just for me!

New Quay is such a lovely place. Dylan Thomas stayed here with his wife and children for a while and there is a Dylan Thomas Trail. The film Edge of Love with Keira Knightley was filmed here and is about the time they stayed in New Quay.

The houses I use to paint or draw when I was a child always had four windows-two up, two down with a door in the middle, a garden and an apple tree and a chimney in the centre of the roof.

The architecture in West Wales fits these memories of my early artistic efforts and although we once lived in a tiny country cottage for 8 months I know they are not for me, I still love the idea of them and dress them up in my mind and in the dead of night when I can not sleep, I decorate, furnish and live in these cottages.

I will post again later today to let you see what goodies I got from my holidays and my ideas for them.