Country Bumpkin

 

Collecting eggs from Grandma’s chickens…

Patrolling Grandad’s allotment to make sure there are no strawberries left to be ‘harvested’

Sitting, twirling and FREEZE in the misty autumn leaves of a local park…

Embracing the moody lighting and NOT AT ALL enhancing any tones using computer-based photography tools… 

Exploring stately homes with our newly-gifted National Trust Membership. Tilly is ‘enjoying’ all the various education and engagement departments have to offer at each venue, regardless of suitability or interest. It is mostly for Mummy’s benefit, curiosity and research, but if the little lady enjoys wearing a backpack around the house, if not getting out the maps, information packs and activity sheets, then whatever keeps her happy is fine by us!!

Finally, some rather moody lighting afforded by a gloomy day at Deal Pier for the Boy’s birthday lunch. I’m sure Tils was merely considering whether she should pick her nose or not at that precise moment, but the picture would happily have you believe that my little not-quite-2-years-old-was in the process of discovering the meaning of life…

In fairness, you never know… This moment of solitude and contemplation may form the backbone of a future autobiography. Watch this space…

Plum Jam

Neighbours go away on holiday

Neighbours leave a fruit bowl in our capable hands to work through in their absence

Neighbours and I have similar fruit purchasing habits

An abundance of golden yellow plums

A quick and easy recipe

A good morning’s work… set to cool in their jars as the little one and I go off to spend a morning at the local park…

And then have managed to delete the picture and eat the jam before managing to post this. Oh the glorious life of the at-home-sleep-deprived-toddler-addled-domestic-goddess-attempting-mummy. Will post to have access to easy-peasy recipe in future. Oh joy.

Apple Butter

A glut from a local public orchard

A veritable windfall of fruit

A few helpful hands

A night in the slowcooker

My kind of preserving

A discovery of thigh-expanding proportions: peanut butter and apple butter on toast…

Thanks so much to the mummy of Tilly’s scrumptious co-model for capturing a lovely afternoon in the autumn sunshine. Regular readers of this blog will quickly note photography skills not usually demonstrated here. :-)

Have also had great success using up the inevitable last-year’s-mincemeat jar with this recipe, which produced a light and moist, flavourful afternoon cake. Excellent.

Non-gory Halloween

Having been brought up in the States, I have an incredibly broad definition of what constitutes a Halloween costume. I established my general horror of the British version of Halloween within about two months of arriving back in the UK, aged 11. I went to a Halloween party in the Cotswolds dressed as Lucy Maud Montgomery. I know, I was a geek. But I was also NOT a ghost, witch or spider… Needless to say, the strange child in the corduroy was viewed with no small amount of suspicion…

I have decided, now, to stick to the basics, until I can convince the Boy that I need a Halloween on the proper side of the Atlantic some time in the future.

I’m slightly against, however, dressing my child in costumes requiring fake blood, exposed bones or scaring other children… Sadly, she has been invited to two separate Halloween events this weekend, so a costume of sorts is required…

I came across this lovely tutorial a while back and required a bit of judicious googling to uncover it again. I had a tablecloth in my stash that had been embroidered rather haphazardly (!) and was not really suitable for my usual reusing in teacosy, bib or hanging heart form. A donated white cotton curtain provided suitable strength for the lining and it was a pretty simple affair.

I decided to base the shape on the embroidery in front of me, and came up with this ‘B’ shaped outline. Cut twice, there are now two sets of wings, probably one to be sold or given to a friend of Tils for an upcoming birthday. Right sides together, sewn around, trimmed and snipped before turning through, a quick iron and then attaching of elastic at the back and wrists.

At last – a costume that’s simple, effective, doesn’t restrict important exploring and appeals to my creative instincts…

   

It did rather flummox some of the more traditionalist costumes there though…

A wedding fit for a princess

Well it was only a matter of time, I suppose…

Why waste your breath talking about a derriere when you too can be sauntering around, upstaging your sister’s big day!?

In truth, any increase in the number of patterns for bridal attire that do not involve strapless wonders is fine in my book…

And just in case you want to go the whole nine yards…

Catherine-a-like Butterick 5731

Pippa-a-like Butterick 5710

Mini-a-like Butterick 5705

Mini-soldier boys optional extra…

Before the Autumn turns to Winter

I should probably post these ridiculous pictures of Autumn masquerading as Summer…

Saturday 1 October saw the little one in next door’s garden in a swimsuit…

In a paddling pool…

In a sprinkler…

Followed by a rapidly assembled Dragon Cake*

*Note to self: never ask for cake requests from 3year old boys… If you are expecting a suggestion of chocolate, banana or the like… you are likely instead to be faced with creating a mythical being in dessert form at two hours’ notice…

Blue Poppy Jewellery

Love it when you come across a designer who has your very same aesthetic. Hannah Shuckberg is excellent at finding them on her blog hanpicked… I’m still working on collating my pretty things – mostly through rampant amounts of online procrastination of housework (ahem… research) and then popping here to write it down to find later…

Today I came across this rather splendid designer, about whom I can find nearly nothing at all. I do have a bit of a hankering for most of her work though, with these reaching the upper echelons of the wanties…

lemon quartz earrings $70

morse code necklace $70

And finally, the wonderfully explained sisterhood bracelet $62:

The constellation Pleiades, also known as the seven sisters, has held a special place in the human imagination throughout history. This hardwood bracelet has been inlaid with tiny drops of silver to represent this star formation as a reminder of the unconditional bond between sisters.

Just say ‘Fromage!’

A lucky prize when entering a competition at a makeover/photography shoot in Cheltenham …

A sesh with a makeup artist

A rather bored small child – resulting in lots of sessions of ‘Dingle Dangle Scarecrow’

 

A fabulously cheesey set of photographs to set in stone this happy year of toddlers and milestones…

The delights of Garter Stitch

Simplicity in a ‘knit every row’ mantra need not be limited to starter knitters…

Contemporary Cardigan by Bugs & Fairies

Annabel Cardigan (Pattern) by Quince & Co $6

Garter Yoke Baby Cardigan Pattern

Oh the simplicity and the prettiness!

Have been having much fun recently mastering the ‘top down in the round’ technique for a few ‘bumps in the making’…

 

One done, one on the needles and the third poised for cast on. Would everyone please coordinate diaries in future so I’m not baby-bombarded like this in the future??

Selfish, I tell you.

A Dessert Buffet for a Vintage Birthday Party

A busy week at the helm of the KitchenAid

Lemon & Ginger Gateau

Lemon Cheesecakes

Cherry and Chocolate Biscotti

Amaretto Chocolate Truffles

Almond Macaroons with rose petal frosting

Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Chocolate Orange Whoopie Pies

Butter Shortbread Buttons

resulting in this little lot…

 

Followed by a gorgeously decorated light fruit cake, the result of a secret baking sesh by The Boy…

Not bad for a first time bake?! Clever little button x

Sunny Days and Smiley Cards

A lovely birthday

A milestone reached

A new pair of sandals in which to reach the next milestones!

A fabulous card from the little sis… enclosing a list of 30 of some of the ‘fabulous achievements’ from my life thus far… To confirm: this is not from me so I can write this with irony/modesty as they are not my words, but from elsewhere!

1. Your lovely daughter…
2. Rocking dungarees and clogs 10 years before Alexa Chung
3. Bagging a Doctor (queue ‘i can’t believe I’m marrying a doctor’ from Beaches)
4. Knitting a cardigan a day for #1
5. BA Hons First
6. Click Click STOMP Click Click STOMP aka Best Tap Routine ever!
7. Rocking Mad Men chic before Mad Men
8. MA
9. TOES
10. Selling actual things to actual people through the actual internet web thingy
11. Cycling in London (mentallist)
12. Having a wonderfully exotic accent that even Sam West couldn’t place
13. Passing your driving test while 8 months pregnant
14. Being the family encyclopedia on Shakespeare
15. Wearing yellow eyeshadow
16. Organising the PERFECT wedding
17. Flying across the Atlantic with a 5 month old baby
18. Year Book Editor
19. Keeping said Doctor in baked goods on a daily basis
20. Climbing Maccu Piccu
21. Growing really long hair for perfect wedding
22. Raising money for Maccu Piccu
23. Being a wonderfully caring and fabulous friend
24. Having a wedding dress with POCKETS
25. Having purple/mahogany hair while still in school
26. Introducing me to talking weird (see #12), fashion (#2), makeup (#15), hairstyles from Sliding Doors (#25), dancing (#6), and safety first at the poolside (#9)…
27. Storming the blogosphere
28. Knitting yourself a migraine (your hubbie’s words-love it!)
29. Secretly being the buyer/trendspotter/trendsetter for Anthropologie, Hobbs, Clarks, The White Company and Space NK
30. Being a fricking awesome sister and friend who is TURNING 30!!!!!!!

What better present could a person get?!

Gotta love family. Thanks, Cate.

On my way out to drinks, so will post this and then rush off to a cocktail bar, then drunkenly edit this and add links etc later. That will end well, I’m sure. PS Today’s Cake: Lemon Meringue Cake by Nigella. Yum. That’s all I need to say.

Thirty before Thirty – an update!

Three days to go before the big THREE OH…

Highlighted in red are my outstanding tasks…

There seems to be a distinct lack of ‘months’, ‘weekends’ and ‘excercise opportunities’ before Monday… Methinks the nominated charity is going to be getting a donation shortly… Send over album suggestions for music to listen to over my non-technical weekend and I’ll get them on iTunes before I unplug! Oh… but then I can’t listen to them… Oh crikey…

1. Go to one restaurant a month that I’ve never been to before

January – Dinner complete with silver ‘reveal’ domes at theEastwell Manor Hotel

February – Took part in first Supper Club at the Courtyard Cafe for Valentines Day

March – Afternoon Tea at the Ellenborough Park Hotel

April – Amazing Lunch at Wheeler’s Oyster Bar in Whitstable

May – Sunday Lunch at the Queen Adelaide in Shepherd’s Bush

June – Pre-concert dinner at Positano in Cardiff

July – Lunch at the Bridge Lounge, Southwark 

August – Lunch at Sazio’s in Harpenden

September – Dinner at Sagra Brasserie in St Albans

1. Eat 5 foodstuffs I’ve never tried before DONE: Romanesque Broccoli, Octopus, deep fried oyster, Preserved Ginger in syrup (without it being in a cake or jam!), and… BREAD MADE BY MY OWN FAIR HANDS!
2. Bake bread. Actual bread. Not just yeast-assisted cakes DONE!
3. Knit something in Fair Isle/stranded colourwork or a lace shawl DONE!
4. Give handmade presents this year (I’ve given myself a loophole in case I run out of time to make every present myself) – and make them GOOD THINGS that are wanted and liked and appropriate and… and… and… Done for friends’s 30th birthday, for friend’s new babies and for sister’s birthday!
5. Listen to 10 albums by artists I’ve not listened to before! Buena Vista Social Club, Hugh Laurie, French album in the car I’ve not got the name of…
6. Write a letter for Tilly to open when she’s 18 DONE
7. Write a letter to myself to open when I’m 60 DONE
8. Read three ‘classic’ books I haven’t read before Started Vanity Fair, thoroughly enjoyed the first third of it and then lost momentum… :-(
9. Drink only water for one month this is going to be HARD – tea… wine??
10. Don’t complain about anything for a week DONE and it was beautifully refreshing and surprisingly easy
11. Go completely ‘unchained’ for a month (ie no shopping at any chainstores for food, clothes, etc)
12. Unplug for a whole weekend (no phone, Internet, television etc.)
13. See 10 ‘classic’ movies I’ve never seen DONE! – Gentlemen prefer blondes, Sabrina, Annie Hall, The Hurt Locker [it’s won an Oscar – does that make it a modern classic?), Avatar, Up, Harry Potter & Deathly Hallows Part 2, All About Eve, Blythe Spirit, Exit Through the Gift Shop
14. Workout for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, for 4 weeks
15. Write a list of 101 things I’ve already achieved in this lifetime
16. Write a list of 50 things I like about myself
17. Write 5 letters to 5 people who changed my life DONE and Sent!!
18. Sleep in a tent, outside, with my husband and my daughter Instead – organised a big camp-along for twenty-five people in Norfolk and slept in a caravan – cheating?? Possibly…
19. Make £100 from my crafting in one calendar month £106 made in March and again £120 made in June!
20. See 9 performances featuring my friends (acting, singing, dancing etc) – professional or amateur Tick One:Fiona Bevan at the Tate Modern, Tick Two: My Goddaughters’ end of term ballet recital
21. Help organise a street party for the Royal Wedding: Done!
22. Help organise a Big Lunch party for local families: have had to postpone this due to timing and local busy-ness. All set for Big Lunch for next year though…
23. Go a week without spending any money bar Tilly essentials – diapers etc DONE – surprisingly difficult but very liberating! And boy, our storecupboards were scraped bare!
24. Grow a plant in this house that does not die within four weeks of ownership DONE – my gorgeous mini-herb garden!
25. Have a ‘no rubbish’ week
26. Don’t swear for a week this is going to be bloody difficult – geddit??? DONE!
27. Take part in three craft swaps – the two last year were BRILLIANT and they made me so happy! Done! Done! and Done!
28. Put aside £10 for every I task I complete to buy myself a fabulous birthday present Donate £10 to charity for every task I don’t complete

Baking and Creating

Recent makes include:

ipod Cosy from Mollie Makes gift-pack, made for lovely friend’s birthday pressie

Triple Salted Caramel Cupcakes with a good friend

Mending a Victorian velvet cushion with charity-shop velvet patches…’after shot’ to follow…

New baby quilt for born-today Nieve! Congratulations all!

Mastering the ‘top-down raglan in one’ construction with Linda’s cute eyelet pattern

Coconut Meringue Roulade and Pear & Chocolate cupcakes to take along to a …

Pizza and Pottery afternoon at the home of the fabulous Charlotte Storrs!

Savoury Picnic Bread made vegetarian with mozzarella, spinach and onion….

 

And even little people have been getting creative…

First ever decorating-cakes-with-Mummy session and first ever millinery creation…

To quote Miranada’s mum… SUCH FUN!