Fan My Flame

Thank you... and Au Revoir

2009-07-06T09:55:00.004+01:00

I've a few belated thank yous and things I should really mention. First of all thank you to Lynda. I won a giveaway on her blog quite a while ago now and received this fabulous rust dyed notebook, which I've been using as a journal for my current degree module. Lynda also sent me instructions on how to make the notebooks which is definitely something I shall try when I've got a free moment...

I've also received this fabulous cookbook. Lucy reviewed it on her blog a little while ago and I left a comment saying it was a shame Able and Cole don't deliver in my area. To my surprise I got an email from a lady at A & C asking would I review one of their veggie boxes if they could deliver it. Of course!!! However, as yet they are unable to deliver the veggie box and instead I received the cookbook. I can only add to everything Lucy said... it's fabulous! It's well written, funny, all the recipes look simple and are seasonal, the photography is beautiful etc. etc. I will eventually do a proper review when I've tried some of the recipes... when I've got a bit more time...

And the third thing I received was this package of cards and an embroidery from Robinsunne as part of her birthday party giveaway... Thank you Robinsunne! I thought it was a lovely idea to have a virtual birthday party with cake to share with you all and party favours to give away and had fully intended to do the same... but I just ran out of time... because today is my birthday and there is no cake, only work to get done and classes to prepare...

Which brings me to the au revoir... you may have noticed there is a theme... there are just not enough hours in the day. I've work to finish for the degree, work that may or may not get finished for an exhibition, a summer school to prepare for and then go off and teach at the end of the month, I'm feeling just a little stressed, to say the least and so I really do need a proper blog break. Thank you for all your recent comments that I may not have replied to - as always they are read and appreciated. I will be back sometime in August but meanwhile enjoy your summer.

And I leave you with this... Kung Fu Panda... my birthday present from Sam.

I might be 52 but I don't have to be grown up! Au revoir!

Knitting... not as you know it!

2009-07-02T09:53:00.015+01:00

It has been quite a while since I posted anything degree related on here. My last module was a written module about Embroidery in its Social Context so not much to show. My latest module which is Personal Specialism so far has proved really frustrating and I haven't felt like sharing it, but at last I'm feeling fired up and enthusiasic so thought I would do an update.

Personal Specialism is about exploring our own creative style, researching ideas in depth and beginning to build a body of work. It's about pushing boundaries and looking at things with fresh eyes. Assignments are set to guide us through and the first one was about taking a technique and exploring it with different materials. I chose knitting and for reasons not entire clear to me I started with metres and metres of french knitting...

Which I then knitted! You won't believe how much this took to knit this small piece. It was useful for producing drawings of the structure of knitting but didn't inspire any further investigation.

Thinking about how I could change the structure of the knitted piece I had the bright idea of knitting with modroc (plaster impregnated bandage). Bright idea??? Dust and mess everywhere... but the finished results were surprisingly soft and almost lace like.

Then I dipped the whole lot in water and left it to dry... hey presto... solid knitting!

One of the other things we have to do is take lots of photographs of the work in different environments and I was intrigued by the shadows produced by the various bits of work. The modroc knitting, being rigid, produced beautiful shadows.

This seemed to have potential to take further but I didn't know how so changed track again and started knitting with string. This I sprayed with blue dye, giving lovely stencilled images on the paper behind and then I stuck it in water and took more photographs. I was quite excited by these images and liked the idea of permanently trapping knitting in water or something that looked like water. Resin maybe???

Whilst waiting for an order of resin to arrive I played with the idea and knitted with strawberry laces (very slippery if you ever feel inclined to try it)

Which I then set into strawberry jelly! Not quite the same effect and as the jelly set the laces absorbed the liquid and became quite revolting and distorted. When Joe did his customary look in the fridge for something interesting (as boys frquently do) he was disgusted... "Why is there a bowl of innards in the fridge?"

At this point I was feeling quite despondant. Lots of ideas, lots of experiments, some of them fun, some of them interesting but nothing that I felt I wanted to develop into a personal specialism. After a long chat with my tutor this week she suggested I should forget the knitting for a while and it was as if that was the key...

I want back to the idea of trapping knitting into liquid and thought about trapping something that looks like liquid into knitting. Instead of abandoning knitting altogether I knitted another piece in pure wool, trapped glass nuggets by tying them into the surface which I then felted. The result is little shimmering pieces of glass showing through the felt which links right back to previous themes I've explored... protection, concealment and revealing.

Meanwhile the resin arrived... a very small amount for the money and I realised I would have to scale down. I tryed knitting a piece with sewing needles and cotton but it was painful! Instead I crocheted some very tiny flowers.

Which I have set into small resin beads. I love them!

I'm off now to trap these within some more felted knitting... Knitting (or crochet) trapped in liquid (resin) which is trapped in more knitting... how weird is that! Suddenly I have lots more ideas for felting and trapping and all sorts of things and at last I feel I have the beginnings of a personal specialism... could be gone a while!

Let me introduce you

2009-06-29T23:21:00.008+01:00

...to my girls. As you might imagine there was much discussion over names which involved ruling out the likes of "Tandoori" and "Tikka Masala" (Ha! Like no-one ever thought of those before!) Jacob wanted to name one Yoda... but Yoda is definitely a boy so sticking with the Star Wars theme he came up with Princess Leia. This caused much hilarity (Leia... Layer...eggs...) but it stuck so this is Princess Leia.

A beautiful red/brown hen with white feathers.... very much the Princess!

Another beautiful red/brown hen but with black tail feathers is Betty

Boudicca (named by Sam) is black with a beautiful green sheen to her feathers.

She also has a lovely copper colour around her neck.

And last but not least is Dorothy... a lovely Speckeldy Hen, who won't stay still long enough for a decent photo!

I promise not to keep boring you with my chickens... well at least not until we get our first egg! Off to fetch a tired and muddy Joe from the station.*

*He just called... his train is delayed and won't be in until half past midnight! Yawn!

Monsters and Girls

2009-06-27T21:44:00.009+01:00

Today was our last Young Embroiderers meeting before the summer break and I thought it would be fun to make some sock monsters. Given the age range in the group and the fact there was only me and one helper I think they did brilliantly. Not all of them were quite finished... Molly and Danijella have taken theirs home to finish off.

but they were all looking fantastic... and all very different. Alexija's is very quirky!

We had three visitors join us for the day, all of whom said they want to come back in September which is great news. Phoebe made this monster

and Rachel and Freya made these two, which they named Trinny and Suzannah!

This last one was made by Nikki. Didn't they do well!

On a completely different subject... did I show you our new house? A very stylish little cottage made by Diana's nephew Ben. Ben is only nineteen and has his own business making these little homes, which really are beautifully crafted. And the reason for our new house...

... are these girls! Having shared my home exclusively with men for the past 30 years I'm very excited to have some female company! They are a little camera shy at the moment but I'm sure I'll be introducing you soon.

I could sit and watch them for hours they are so entertaining... like I need another distraction! But they are rather gorgeous.

Food Glorious Food!

2009-06-25T12:45:00.008+01:00

I think it is official... this blog has absolutely nothing to with textiles. This was meant to be week of experimental samples for my degree, getting some work done on an exhibition piece and preparing some samples for an article... but when someone offered me a bag full of these at the beginning of the week it would have been rude to refuse...

Disappointed that I'd missed the best of this year's elderflowers in time to make elderflower cordial, I was determined not to let another opportunity pass. On this morning's walk I managed to find a few blooms of creamy flowers left.

Which was just enough to combine with the gooseberries...

to make six jars of gooseberry and elderflower jam.

I love that the jam is such a wonderful garnet colour compared to the vivid green of the berries. I'm off to make some scones now... after all the jam needs to be sampled. I promise something textile related soon. On the other hand there are still enough gooseberries left to make some ice cream...

P.S. Thank you for all your kind messages about Joe. While I was left with the anxiety of what might have been he has taken himself off on the coach to Glastonbury for five days... with not a care in the world! I guess that's how it should be.

Ups and Downs

2009-06-22T08:20:00.007+01:00

It hasn't been the best of weekends. The sort of weekend that started in the early hours of Saturday morning with a knock on the door from two police officers and the words "There's been an accident". Fortunately Joe walked away with minor scratches and no one else was hurt or involved, which is more than can be said for the car he flipped over which seems quite badly damaged. There are times when I love the fact that he has a "Devil may Care" approach to life, living and enjoying every moment... but there are other times when he just worries me sick.

And so I did what I always do when feeling stressed... I cooked! Sunday all the family except Ben were here, including my Mum and Dad so we had a Father's Day meal for nine of us.

A red onion, spinach (from the garden) and feta tart.

Chicken braised with lemon, garlic and thyme (from the garden)

A middle eastern taboulleh salad (mint and parsley from the garden)

Potato and horseradish salad with radish and chives (both from the garden)

Herb (from the garden) and Garlic bread

And a blueberry and peach cobbler... which involved absolutely nothing from the garden!

Maybe this week I'll get some embroidery done!

Juggling

2009-06-17T20:48:00.002+01:00

In between...

Getting up to walk the dog
Finishing two loads of washing and getting them outside on the line
Going to work teaching my City & Guilds class for the day
Stopping at the supermarket on the way home to buy stuff for dinner, strawberries and cream
Taking in the washing
Walking the dog again
Taking Jacob to his guitar lesson which involved a 35 min wait in the car
Cooking dinner

... I made a cake!

Happy Birthday Stewart!

Trendy... moi?

2009-06-15T17:12:00.006+01:00

The son of one of my friends is doing an MA at the Royal College of Art. Part of his project has been to set up a web site http://www.wefab.org/ (still under construction) where potential buyers can source original designs for hand crafted items and find a maker on the same site who will make up the items for them. Last week I did a trial run for one of the designs... a duffle bag called "Bag 'N' Roll"

Version one was made from rather "on trend" Amy Butler fabrics from this season's collection, finished off with a couple of old French buttons.

Version two was made from a couple of "not the least bit on trend" Asda tea towels with plain black buttons.

I quite like version two but then I never was one to follow trends!

If you design and/or make hand crafted items to sell... at fairs or on etsy etc... then would you consider helping Edward by filling in the following on line survey?

http://bit.ly/tt0Vl

It takes about 1 minute and can be completely anonymous if you like. Thank you!

A French Breakfast

2009-06-14T20:32:00.007+01:00

I am very excited (it doesn't take much believe me) because today I have my first proper harvest since planting up my new vegetable beds. Just look at those radish! Variety: French Breakfast.

I'm not sure I would want them for breakfast (Surely a French breakfast is croissants???) but they made a welcome addition to tonight's supper - a smoked mackerel and potato salad. A perfect finish to what has been a beautiful summer day. Spinach leaves, parsley and chives all from the garden too!

Lest you should think we are going all healthy over here in the "Fan my Flame" household... pudding tonight is more Birthday Brownies with white chocolate chips and Macademia nuts because today is Joe's birthday.

Happy 20th birthday Joe!

And I don't only grow vegetables in my garden... a little past its best but still beautiful!

Art Van Go

2009-06-13T17:40:00.008+01:00

I've been working at Art Van Go today... although I've had too much fun for it to feel like real work! Seven lovely ladies and seven rather beautiful (almost finished) embroideries... the result of exploring textural stitches on their sewing machines.

1. Sheila

2. Judith

3. Eva

4. Janice

5. Gill

6. Val

7. Joan

Thank you all for a super day... we missed you Mavis!

And although it's been a super day I've come home feeling very tired so intend to put my feet up and do nothing this evening. Is it too early for a G & T?

No... oh good!

Tyvek

2009-06-09T09:47:00.009+01:00

In response to Mrs Locket's question "What's Tyvek?????" I thought I would explain to those of you unfamiliar. Tyvek is a man made material made from polyethelene. It comes in different weights, the heaviest of which is a paper like film, often used for envelopes. Because it is water resistant and virtually impossible to tear it is often used for mailing important documents.

The lighter weight tyvek is a lot more like fabric with a soft handle.

This weight is used for scene of crime officers suits because as well as being protective it also doesn't shed fibres so will not contaminate crime scenes.

This unlikely looking material can be painted with water based paints - I usually use watered down acrylics or silk paints. It can then be stitched, layered, cut etc in all sorts of ways... and then comes the interesting part. It can be heated using an iron (over baking parchment) or a heat gun which causes the tyvek to melt, bubble and distort creating heavily textured effects.

Both weights can be used in the same way, the fabric producing slightly more subtle effects and the result can be as wild and wacky as you like. It makes great "exotic" flowers.

And fabulous sculptural beads.

And if you want to have a whole day investigating and playing with this material, I'm teaching a tyvek class at Art and Stitch in Peterborough on Saturday 12th September... would love to see you!

So What's on your Washing Line?

2009-06-08T10:59:00.006+01:00

On mine last week... several pieces of painted tyvek hung out to get really dry.

This was in preparation for one of the nicest, most relaxed workshops I've ever taken. Six lovely ladies gathered to celebrate a special birthday for one of them. At the birthday girl's request we had a day playing with tyvek. She had invited five special friends to her home and hired me as a tutor and we made tyvek flowers, seed pods and beads. We had lots of fun, lots of laughs, a great lunch and even party bags supplied by one of the guests - beautiful little patchwork bags filled with packs of needles , chocolate and other goodies. I'm sure they won't mind me sharing this picture of them all at the end of their birthday party.

And these are just some of the things they made.

I hope you had a wonderful birthday party Harriet... I certainly did! If anyone is interested I'm available for Weddings and Bar Mitzvahs too! That wasn't the only fun workshop I did last week and you can see pictures of me ~~slumped asleep over my sewing machine~~ working hard at Angela's on her blog.

There is a reason for my return to blogging this week... the results of my giveaway! So many great comments... thank you and sorry I've not had time to reply to them all. It was good to "meet" new people and hope you return here again. I was a bit flumoxed how to do the draw as some of you requested the notebook and others wanted the chocolates and others didn't mind or didn't specify. So in the end I decided the first name out would get their choice (if they had made one) and second name would get what was left! I assigned everyone numbers in the order the comments were left... did a random generator thing and the first number up was 57... which was

Vintagerockchick

Well done Gill... the notebook will be on its way this week.

The second number was 64 and that was

Jennyflower.

Well done Jenny, the chocolates will also be on their way this week when I've sorted out some packaging!

Not entirely sure when I'll be back blogging again... it might be tomorrow, it might be next week or possibly longer. I'm busy knitting with all sorts of strange stuff (last bit was modroc!) for the first assignment of my next module... watch this space! And of course there is more teaching and two family birthdays in the next week so I might be a bit busy again! I'll leave you with a picture of the poppies growing by my garage wall. I know I show them every year but I love them!

Three Hundred!

2009-05-28T15:15:00.007+01:00

Unbelievably this is my 300th post... how did I ever find time to write so many words? I wasn't sure what it would turn out to be when I first started this blog almost two years ago. I had a vague notion it would be a journal of my progress through my degree but as many of you will know there is comparatively little about the degree or my embroidery but an awful lot of baking, family life and teaching... which is probably a far more accurate representation of my life! It is self indulgent, allowing me to look back over events of the past couple of years (have I really made that many cakes???), it has made me several new friends, some of you still "imaginery" but others very real and most of all it has felt like a happy place. Lately though it has felt like a bit of a chore at times and I feel this is a good time for a break. I've a busy couple of weeks ahead with teaching, I start a new degree module on Monday and feel I need to devote more time to developing my own work.

But first of all a thank you and a giveaway... Huge thanks must go to Michaela for making fifteen wonderful wiggly bags all in fabulous cheery fabrics that I know will be much appreciated by their recipients. If you would like to know more about wiggly bags then follow the link. Please feel free to email me for instructions if you would like to make some.

I couldn't go without some baking... Apple and cinnamon muffins made this morning with a jar of Bramley Apple sauce that was lurking in the back of the fridge on the wrong side of its sell by date!

And the giveaway... I have made some more felt chocolates and thought these might be fun to give as a prize.

But then perhaps I should give something with a bit of machine embroidery so thought about this lutradur and felt covered notebook...

But I can't decide which...

So I have decided to give them both away...

If you would like a chance of winning either the chocolates or the notebook leave me a comment telling me which one you would like by 7th June... regular readers or new visitors I don't mind. I will then perform the customary draw and announce the winners on the 8th June. I'll be gone at least until then... and maybe a bit longer until my blogging mojo returns. The last time I took a break it only lasted 10 days so I doubt I'll stay away very long. And I'll still be visiting to see what you are all up to....

All's Well

2009-05-25T08:48:00.010+01:00

Thank you all so much for your kind messages and well wishes. I haven't had time to reply to them all but every one was read and appreciated. Our day started yesterday with a call to the vet to hear that Barley had had a good night, was off his drip, all blood tests were negative and he was eating again. They wanted to keep him in a bit longer to see how he coped but it was looking good. Which meant that we were able to relax and enjoy our party. Perfect weather meant we could be outside - a lovely day with family, friends, sunshine and good food.

The published author and birthday boy had a good day too - lots of people brought along a copy of his book for him to sign.

And even I managed to sit down and relax... not something I do often!

Of course it wouldn't be a birthday without cake... so there were birthday brownies.

And at Sam's request, coffee and walnut cake - individual sized!

When most people had gone home there was another call to the vet and we were told Barley could come home. He's still on four lots of medicine (fun and games getting that into him this morning!) and a very bland diet and has to go back to the vet tomorrow. But overall he's much better, glad be home and enjoyed a snooze in the last of the evening sunshine last night. It's good to have him home.

p.s. Next post is my 300th... you know what that means!

Very Poorly

2009-05-23T15:35:00.004+01:00

Joe came home in the early hours last night and found a bit of a mess on the floor. He cleaned it up and very kindly left us a note...

By the time we got up and found the note Barley was very poorly indeed. He'd been very sick and had passed a lot of blood. After rushing him to the vet he was admitted to the animal hospital to be put on a drip and have tests. They are hoping it is just a tummy upset but it could be something serious.

I had all sorts of photos this week of sewing finished, cakes baked and plants growing, not to mention some lovely work from students but somehow I don't feel much like blogging about them now. Meanwhile I've got to get back to the kitchen as we've thirty people here for lunch tomorrow... a bit of a celebration for Sam for the publication of his book and because it's his birthday on Monday. I don't feel much like celebrating though... hope I'm back next week with good news.

Considerations

2009-05-18T21:07:00.010+01:00

Making a sock monster for a new baby, not yet arrived, has required some consideration. First of all - what to do about the eyes? Buttons won't do... but some heavily stitched felt should fit the bill and not come unattached.

And what about colour? Traditional baby pastels perhaps? Neither pink nor blue but lemon and lavender, gentle soothing colours?

Or possibly more intense pastels combining pink and blue?

Or perhaps something really bright and eye catching? Babies like bright colours, don't they?

Unable to decide... I've made all three!

Soft and gentle

Slightly bright and whacky

Or all out bonkers!

I think I know which one is my favourite but which would you choose? No names yet either... all suggestions welcome.

Any of these take your fancy Jude?

According to Plan

2009-05-17T21:19:00.011+01:00

Don't you love it when everything goes according to plan. Saturday was spent with the Young Embroiderers. Due to a couple of the girls getting Saturday jobs and another couple of families moving away (... or maybe it's just me that's put them off???) we only had five of our members turn up. But it was still a good session and these are their holiday postcards:

Danijela and Alexsija (who happen to be twins) both made ice creams.

Nikki made a snazzy pair of sunglasses... don't you just love the crab with its little beady eyes?

Quentin, who is only 11, was really nervous about using the sewing machine as he'd never done it before. After literally only 5 minutes showing him how it worked, he not only attempted regular sewing but was free machining too... look at those fabulous waves! He even called his boat "Bernina" and wrote it on the side in free machining.

And Molly, our youngest member made a picnic on the beach.

Today, there was plenty of work done in the garden as planned and I've finally planted up two of my vegetable beds. There are peas and garlic... (okay... those are marigolds too!)

As well as French beans. The courgettes and sweet corn are hardening off and seeds are sown for radish, lettuce, spinach, kale, beetroot and carrot. Now's the difficult bit... waiting for everything to grow!

And when the rain showers forced me inside there was even some baking done... date and walnut muffins which weren't half bad!

There was also some sock creature creations but they're not quite finished so you can't see those yet... maybe tomorrow.

Not being able to take another single day let alone One Hundred Years of Solitude, this is going to be my bedtime reading for tonight...

I've got to do something while I wait for those seeds to grow!

I Love Ripples

2009-05-15T14:31:00.009+01:00

Thank you for all the very kind get well messages which seem to have done the trick. One advantage of feeling under the weather was an enforced day on the sofa yesterday, watching old films (sadly no Richard Gere)... which meant I finished my ripple blanket!

I started it with some Rowan DK wool left over from the spotty cushion, knitted about two years ago. I ran out of yarn pretty quickly and invested in another half dozen skeins... and then some more... and then even more. It used masses more yarn than I ever envisaged and as a result I hate to think what this blanket has cost but I do like it... very much! It will live in my lounge to keep me warm in the evening while I work on another blanket!

It looks pretty good on my messy bed too! (The lumps underneath are piles of clothes!)

Did I tell you how much I like it??? I love it!

Today I'm still coughing and spluttering but feel much better... definitely only a cold and nothing to do with pigs. Which is just as well as tomorrow I've got the Young Embroiderers. They are going to be making fabric postcards with a holiday theme for a competition to be held at the Embroiderers' Guild regional day in Bedford in July. I thought I'd better make a sample first to make sure I knew what I was doing. Looking forward to seeing what the youngsters come up with.

Have a lovely weekend! I plan to be in the garden in between YE and rain showers.

Honest Things

2009-05-13T17:54:00.015+01:00

A little while ago Jill awarded me this blog honest award. Obviously as with any blog what you read is an edited version of my life but I do like to think that what I do choose to share is honest. As with any award there are rules which I won't play by... I'm not passing it on but I will attempt to list 10 honest things about myself.

1. My Favourite Film ... I like films, old films, new films, sad films, happy films but if I'm being honest my favourite is still An Officer and a Gentleman. If you have read my profile you'll know I'm the first to admit this is very cheesy... but Richard Gere... on a motorbike... in that uniform... I love it!

2. I am reading... One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Sam bought it for me for Mother's Day so I feel I must read it, but I'm struggling through. The reviews say things like "required reading for the entire human race" and "The greatest novel in any language in the last fifty years" but I just don't get it!

3. I am listening to.. Hunky Dory by David Bowie. Still love it after all these years!

4. My favourite item of clothing... does footwear count? My lollipop shoes!

5. My favourite holiday... I'm lucky enough to have visited some beautiful and interesting places but Stewart and I went to the Maldives for our honeymoon and that has to be the most stunning place. The sea really was that colour, the sun shone, we snorkelled and saw the most amazing sea life and we were just so relaxed... it was fabulous!

6. I am messy... I hate being messy, I wish I wasn't messy but I am as you can see from the following two pictures of my workroom... I am very messy. Maybe this will shame me into tidying up?

7. The last thing I ate... was a raspberry muffin.

8. My pet hate... is sand, especially sandy feet (unless I'm in the Maldives!) This would be my idea of hell. These are not my feet I hasten to add!

Photo from Google images

9. My luxury item... would be freshly laundered cotton bedlinen every day. No photo for this because I don't have freshly laundered bedlinen! In fact my bed is very messy (See no. 6 above!)

10. I'm feeling... horrible! I've got a bunged up head, I'm running a temperature, I ache all over and I'm coughing, so if you'll excuse me I'm off to my messy bed.

Jazz it Up

2009-05-11T15:09:00.013+01:00

A little while ago I gave a sneaky peak of some work done by Zigzag, the group that I mentor. The exhibition of their work was on Saturday as part of a larger quilt exhibition at Haberdasher's School in Elstree and now I can show you the pieces in full. This was a group exercise based on a painting by Canadian artist Eric Waugh called Jazz it Up. A copy of the painting was cut into six pieces and each member of the group was given a piece. They were then given free rein to use this as inspiration in any way they wished the only restraint being they all had to be the same size. They've worked in sketchbooks, made samples and developed themes and as you can see they've come up with six very different interpretations.

The first one is by Ann and I think this is called Drum Beat and is incredibly effective... you can feel the drum beat!

The one below is by Lynda and involves lots of stitched metal so has a wonderful rich, sumptious feel.

This is by Joan and has a fabulous embellished background.

This is Bernice's picture which has lovely 3D spirals and a very delicate feeling about it.

Sandy's has gorgeous layers of sheer fabric cut back to reveal glowing colours

And last but not least is Lynne's which was based on the devestating effects of hurricane Katrina on the city of New Orleans and is full of amazing detail and wonderful stitching.

I think they all did really well in interpreting the theme in six such different ways, the work looked fabulous hung together and I look forward to them exhibiting together again. Well done ladies.

Rhubarb!

2009-05-07T14:46:00.005+01:00

What do you do when a friend drops off a bag of rhubarb fresh from her garden...

Make Rhubarb and Ginger Jam! (inspired by Mags) It's not the prettiest colour jam (I won't share with you what one of my lovely boys likened it to this morning) but it tastes wonderful!

And lest you think this is fast becoming a food blog I will share some rather stunning experimental embroidery on Lutradur... not made by me I hasten to add but by a couple of my City and Guilds students.

From Sheila, a gorgeous vessel inspired by seaweed.

And the most stunning waterlily and journal cover from Linda... inspired by Monet of course!

Reasons to be Cheerful

2009-05-03T21:20:00.016+01:00

1. The weekend started with blueberry muffins for breakfast on Saturday.

2. The sun has been shining which has meant plenty of time working in the garden... with this little chap for company all day long.

3. British asparagus is in season. I don't like eating asparagus (or strawberries) out of season, which makes them taste all the better when they are!

4. The sun is shining so I can serve up salad for dinner!

5. My wisteria is in flower and looks so pretty.

6. I have finished my first "pair" of socks since joining in with Michaela's sock startitisis club.

Of course I wish I'd just made two the same because now I've got to knit another pair that look like this:

7. My broad beans (kindly given to me by Celia) are in flower... and such beautiful flowers!

8. Inspired by the fabulous Bakewell tart we ate last week, I made one for pudding this evening.

Very good warm with ice cream!

9. My essay is finished!!!

10. Because it is a bank holiday there is still another day of weekend left. Hope you're having a good weekend and the sun shines where you are too.

Derbyshire Dales

2009-04-28T11:38:00.015+01:00

Indulge me while I bore you with some of my holiday snaps... we've had three glorious days walking in the Derbyshire Dales.

It was perfect walking weather, no rain but not too hot. And there was plenty to see from flora...

To fauna....

Just occasionally it felt like one stile too many and it required a sit down half way over the wall... although a good excuse to consult the map.

As you can see.. some of us were good at reading maps

While others were very good at carrying things!

I would like to think three days walking in all that fresh air did us both a lot of good. But then I think a few too many of these...

and a slice too many of tradional Bakewell tart may have offset the healthy benefits of our mini break.

But we did have fun! Thank you to everyone who left comments on the last post. I know I won't have time to reply as I really do have to get my essay finished this week. And special thanks to Julie who recommended the lovely cottage where we stayed in Taddington. We'll be going back!

Calorie Free

2009-04-23T09:38:00.005+01:00

What a fun day yesterday... I went to Peterborough with my friend Jane to a workshop at Angela's shop Art and Stitch, where we made "chocolates" from felt with Linda Beer (who just happens to be Gill's little sister). It was a lovely stress free, no pressure sort of day and I ended up with a box of calorie free chocolates! My sons were not impressed... they prefer the sort you can eat!

Linda even gave us these little labels to go in the box.

And these are everyone elses chocolates... although it does look as though someone has eaten a couple in the middle!

Continuing with my new stress free lifestyle.... I'm going to be gone for a for a few days. See you next week!

Thank you Ginger

2009-04-17T09:28:00.000+01:00

It was a perfect breakfast!