Stitch / Step / Stitch / Step

Utterly in love.

Utterly want.

Utterly can't justify four pairs of shoes in as many weeks.

Utterly disgusted with myself for having so much willpower.

Some more stitchin' and some bakin'

As modelled by the beautiful rocking chair...

An embroidered cushion for my shabby chic friend's 30th birthday...

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a dairy-free baking session for a work colleague's 30th birthday to accommodate a lactose-intolerance in the office, which will only add an element of challenge to my efforts...

Just about retained my domestic goddess crown with this decidedly flat whisked sponge cake by resurrecting the height with the last minute addition of soya yogurt and raspberries...

A pile of bananas muffins on the right made sure that none went hungry.

My parentals have a farm...

My dad is of Irish descent and has decided to return to his roots. My folks have put their house in the Cotswolds for sale and have purchased a plot of land in the middle of County Tipperary in southern Ireland. In order to get planning permission, they must prove that their land is for farming use.

Queue my parents playing at being farmer Giles, complete with beasts!!

 

Brilliant! The Boy and I are going out to play in July, so keep your fingers crossed that we manage to catch the five days of the year when it doesn't rain...

An Irish feast and a rainy spring feast

Well, the weather outside is frightful and the stodge has been just delightful...

Entertaining guests with lasagna and a decadent chocolate mousse

And a St Patrick's Day bonanza chez parentals featuring Bailey's cheesecake and Leprechaun Champagne

A Stitchin and a Rockin

A pinafore dress from cotton samples and Liberty Tana Lawn offcuts for my god daughter's fifth birthday...

 

And a bargain (by which I mean entirely free!) find in the wood and refuse pile at the local recycling centre...

All in all, a weekend well spent / saved...

Here to thrifty fun!

The calm after the storm

It is 6.45pm on a Monday and I am still wearing my pyjamas.

The reason for this is reviewed here, amongst other places.

The weekend was chaotic but great fun, although I think I have to work on my stamina. Fourteen hour shifts are just plain painful!

101 Reasons why I cannot be trusted

  Went to the registry office this week to publish the banns of marriage with the Boy. After providing all his details about himself, he was asked by the Registrar to give my full name and age.

I got the giggles that I was not allowed to answer.

A swift look from the Boy and I controlled myself.

Due to a long-unremedied error on my passport, the exchange then went as follows:

Registrar: And the bride's date of birth?

Me: 12 September

Registrar: Oh...it says 2 September on your passport...?

Me: Oh... um... whichever suits you.*

Registrar: Well, which is it?

Me: Tedious explanation which I won't bore you with.

The Registrar sighs, accepts my explanation and fills in my correct date of birth. After reading out the legal ramifications of the forms and the need for care, attention and avoiding prison sentences for incest and treason, she asks me to check the licence.

At which point, the Boy realises that I am not the age that he stated. I am, in fact, a year older.

I never could do maths.

The two marriage licences are destroyed and we have to start all over again.

My giggles have now reached a critical level.

Ten minutes and much glaring from the Boy later, we narrowly escape from the registry office with our licence and £60 worse off.

We are awaiting postal confirmation that all is well.

I am not holding my breath.

*Note to others. If you find yourself in a similar situation in the future, provide detailed corroboration of your birthday. Do not think it will be helpful to allow the Registrar to choose for you. They will think you are illegal. Or lying. Or stupid. Or all three.

** If this isn't an excuse for another showing off of the bling, I don't know what is...

A Valentine's Triumph

Bless him. One of the few times that the Boy enters the kitchen with grand designs is February 14th. For better or worse, he had the afternoon off clinic on that day so had a full 8 hours preparation time to brace himself for the culinary onslaught. Three supermarket trips later... and I came home to...

On the table, we had candles, a menu and delicious delights.

  

In the kitchen, a small hurricane had managed to decimate each and every pot, bowl and utensil that I own.

Mushroom and garlic flan to start and home battered calamari with watercress salad, pan fried potatoes and grilled tomatoes.

Bless the Boy. He was rightly proud and I was rightly full.

Love it or hate it?

Really can't decide...

Love the print

Hate the cut

Love the pleating detail

Hate what it would do to my chest

Love the colour

Hate the length

Votes please...

Weekends and lovin'

The sun came out last weekend and showed St A off in all its brilliant glory. We fed the ducks who had by then realised that spring was beginning to sprung.

 

 

 

The Boy came up with the goods with a newly planted and installed hanging basket that will certainly last much longer than the sad little roses that wept on supermarket shelves...

 

  

 

 

 

Valentines dinner was a triumph over adversity and involved three trips to the shops... Images and carnage to follow...

A week in the kitchen

The Boy has been on nights. It's been a rather chaotic time. The food must be good enough to last the night but mild enough to wake up to and be the 'breakfast' of your day. Oh, and it must be cooked between me getting back from work and the Boy getting out of the shower...

Queue stews, bakes and macaroni cheese.

Just what you need for the frostiest days of the year...

The Master of the Universe

It's official.

I'm now BAMA... What do I have to do to get the O so that I can join the US election campaign??

House of Paper (& Scaffolding)

Further to the request following my last post, here is the exterior of the thatched cottage. The roof was re-thatched before major structural work had been completed so the scaffolding is there as a precaution to reduce stress.

Because it's been lived in for so long by an elderly gent of limited means, the before and after photographs are rather topsy-turvy.

The below is the 'before' shot, taken from a village photograph in the mid-1960s.*

I think the word is 'potential'...!

*Historically, it was usual for thatchers to thatch upon thatch increasing insulation but of course thickening the layers each time. Look at the difference in chimney exposed between the two images once all the layers had been completed scrapped and the thatch started again!

House of Paper

My inlaws have this month brought together all the money in all the little pots that they possess and bought and tumble down wreck of a little chocolate box cottage in Kent: the Boy and I couldnt' be more green with envy.

It has one sink, no toilet, ancient electricity and a well to be uncovered in the garden. There are about six to ten layers of wallpaper on every wall in the house and I want them all. It's a bit like dating a tree, where you can peel off layer after layer and date them back chronologically in print design.

My favourite is the birds in the middle. The bottom left is thought to date back to the 1750s.

There is also a Victorian fireplace to be removed, to reveal the Inglenook nestling in secret behind, and five-hundred year old brickwork to restore and protect.

 

 

 

It's going to take some work to get it to a habitable state, but boy, would I love to be the one doing it!

Local shops for local people

Oh the gorgeousness of farm shops in deepest Kent...

yum yum scrum

Banoffee Splendour

With thanks to Tord Boontje for making it presentable...  

Winding down the holidays

A trip to the panto and a puppet workshop...

My beautiful goddaughter in denim and her big sister enjoy opening presents before seeing Jack and the Beanstalk at the Barbican.

 

 

 

 

 

Good ol' arty children's workshops. We made the most fabulous puppets on sticks using polystyrene eggs and funky foam. God love a good pipecleaner.

 

 

 

 

Nibbled on the remains of the cake and basked in glow of the tree (in my period bay window - god I love my house!) before taking it down yesterday. 

New Years came with Fun Rolls (Summer Rolls to non-antipodeans) and a towed car on New Years Day.

A wopping £300 to retrieve it from the pound. With hangover. Happy New Year indeed...

And for those of you interested, here is the finished gingerbread house. Quite chuffed with it myself! Will certainly be tucking into it later though. January is well and truly underway.

Very Happy Holidays

It has been a whirlwind of a year here and December has been no exception.

Christmas passed in a blur of roasted vegetables and cracker innards.

All I have to show for it is a tidy haul of beautiful presents and a fridge-full of slowly thinning leftovers.

I shall share it with you in pictures...

Fondue on Christmas Eve followed by tipsy Jenga and a victorious father-in-law!

 

Christmas day with presents, preparations and the scrumptious feast

The Boy was a triumph in the kitchen, and sleepy in the afternoon! 

Followed by a sunny boxing day walking around Bedfordshire and stumbling upon a delightful working mill with its own secret garden...

 

Now there's nothing left to do but face the tidy up!  

All will be well in 2008!

Best wishes to you and yours

xx