Monday 18 May 2009

Unfinished Projects

Hello there



Well I never, I have my first comment! Thanks summerfete! I think that deserves a cup of coffee, don't you?


Life is full of PTA at the moment. Summer Fair in less than THREE WEEKS! Ahhhhhhh. Oh dear, why do I leave everything until the last minute? I've had a countdown on my Google page and I'm sure it said over 100 days last time I looked!


Must have been moaning a lot about how much I have to do, because Marathon Runner gave me THIS the other day ...




His black eye is coming along quite nicely, but it still hasn't given my mind much focus!



Lots of unfinished projects hanging around the knitting basket ....



How is that ever going to look like this ...I wonder?


And what about this ...





turning into this .....


?????????????????
Best of all: Is this ...





ever going to look like this ....







for a prize for the Pirate Treasure Hunt at the aforementioned Summer Fair?


ME? Panic? Don't know what you're talking about!
Must go....
PS Scary Daughter (brunette) wants to go platinum blonde! Shall we tell the Marathon Runner before, or after? What is it they say, forgiveness is easier to get than permission?

Friday 15 May 2009

Yet More Food!

We have a couple of French students staying at the moment and it just so happens that one of them celebrates her birthday today. So we can't let this opportunity pass without a cake, can we?

Does anyone fancy licking off the beater? Usually I have a fight on my hands at this point, but they are all at school/work! I wonder if there is such a thing as a mixer with THREE beaters? (That doesn't include me, I lick out the bowl!)

Our student's name is Mahault (pronounced Mao), so we thought we would make some badges for her as well!

Ta-da!



Let's hope she enjoys it!
One day I will get around to showing you the crafts I enjoy!
Adieu, or do I mean au revoir?


Monday 11 May 2009

May Festival

After many months of agonising over whether to start a blog, last week I finally extracted the digit and promptly had the most busy weekend ever, thwarting my attempts to post at every turn. Short of posting at half past stupid in the morning (not a good idea, my typing errors are legendary if rushed!), my new baby just had to wait.

What I wanted to start with was the fabulous May Festival we went to the previous weekend.

Kingsbury May Festival was a totally unexpected find. My youngest daughter (the Mad One) is rather fond (understatement of the year) of the
3 Daft Monkeys and so we picked the nearest gig and bought tickets. This happened to be in a lovely village called Kingsbury Episcopi on the Somerset levels. Well, a lovely time was had by all, even Scary Daughter coming out of the coffin and dancing, and it transpired that this was part of a May Festival continuing on the Monday. So after a jolly good bop on the Saturday, off we went up the A303 on an unexpected jaunt.

Well, I suppose I expected something along the lines of a glorified summer fete but the event was much more extensive. What really impressed me was the way the whole community seemed to be working together. Having had some experience with finding volunteers to man events (School PTA) I can appreciate the enormity of the task. Scouts (or cadets) were staffing the parking fields, the local school PTA had a baked potato stall and a separate ice cream stand. More local volunteers were doing ploughman lunches in the hall, refreshments in the church and even walking about with baskets of pasties. Many more local businesses and services were represented, so many in fact I wondered where all the thousands of people came from that attended!






















My absolute favourite thing to watch at this time of year is Maypole Dancing and I was not disappointed! Unfortunately we seemed to be wedged behind a very tall, fidgety man and a woman in a rather large and floriferous hat! My daughter did manage to get a picture of the lovely pattern made by the ribbons though.
















After the procession, all the May withy garlands were put in the churchyard and they looked so pretty fluttering in the breeze.
















Also in the church there were recitals and an art exhibition.

Several fields were given over to games and pursuits of various kinds and all the way up through the main street were craft stalls. So many, I really wish I had taken more money! As it was I resisted as much as possible, but still came home with these -
















The green bag was only £3.20!

The cactus is knitted!

The card has a beautiful beaded heart on the front that can be removed to hang in a window.

The two little boxes at the front are pill boxes and the photo really does not do them justice.

Plus a 'green man' single bed cover, which I will show you another time (I have plans for it!)

Banana tea bread just out of the oven and spaghetti to cook for five hungry children and My Marathon Runner! See you soon.





Thursday 7 May 2009

Beginnings

Bear with me, I am new to this blogging lark! My husband tells me I am having a mid-life crisis (well, he is)! He does things like run marathons. I am altogether the wrong shape for that sort of nonsensicality.

Therefore my resolution is to follow my dreams into the realms of crafting and creating and to stop putting things aside to finish them (or even start) on the proverbial 'someday'....... I hope you enjoy sharing my journey.

Oh, by the way, have a bun


and welcome to my world!





Friday 1 May 2009

Recipe for Fudge Tart


Ready made pastry case (or two depending on depth)

200g butter

4 tablespoons golden syrup

397g tin condensed milk


optional for decoration:


  • small amount (3-4 squares each) of milk and white chocolate

  • bananas


In fairly large bowl, melt butter in your microwave.


Add golden syrup and condensed milk and mix thoroughly until well combined.


Microwave on high (my microwave is 800 watts), one minute at a time, stirring well each time, for between six and seven minutes. It should be bubbling up and just beginning to change colour, but it is still liquid.


Let it cool for a minute or two, then pour into pastry case/s and leave for a couple of hours to set. It you're only using one pastry case, you may have a little left over. Pour surplus into a ramekin and use as a spread on a digestive biscuit, preferably when you are alone in the house and don't have to share it with anyone.


For optional decoration, melt chocolates separately in the microwave. Put each into a separate piping bag (I use just ordinary sandwich bags), cut off the corner and pipe backwards and forwards over the top of the tart.


Serve with sliced bananas.