More Photo a Day...

Feb 17th; Miss Babs and Miss Berta sitting where THEY think is a good place to lay me eggs!

Feb 18th; Mum and I went up to Somerset House to a Valentino exhibition and this was the "installation" advertising it. Amazing dresses but we weren't allowed to take photos and we decided that the 80s were definately the decade that taste deserted!

Feb 19th; decorated our bedroom and a lovely shot of me cutting in (I believe that is the technical term for doin' t'edges!)

Feb 20th; Ta dah...all finished (and yes I know this is a repeat!)

Feb 21st; went to my Dad's for dinner and he has a snooker table where everyone plays at some time during the evening....this is Jasper.

Feb 22nd; still over-run with eggs and bananas so Eliza baked more banana and chocolate cupcakes.

I can knit a rainbow.....

Well it's crochet really but I have FINISHED! I began this just at the end of November last year and finally finished it just last weekend. I was inspired by this and then gave it my own slant.

As this has been Half Term week I have also decorated my bedroom. All the walls have been shocking, raspberry pink for the last 17 years so we decided it was time for a change. Now we have this rather classy chocolate brown feature wall and cream on the other walls.

My new bedding is chocolate brown too which acts as a great background for all my quilts and throws that I intend to rotate throughout the seasons. Here is another view of my rainbow....

...and again in duplicate, reflected in the mirror! I love it's happy colours and it makes me smile every time I walk into this rather grown up looking bedroom that just looks way too classy for my house!

Just to finish, a close-up of the great design of the squares that magically change from circles to squares. A little miracle every time I crocheted one, that never ceased to amaze me each time I completed one!

Photo a Day

It's been a little while since I bored you with more details of my days so off we go again!

Feb 10th-made lemon cupcakes, each with a dollop of lemon curd inside!

Feb 11th- we were at Burnices cabin and it was Linda's turn to improve her knitting skills! I just love the concentration on their faces.
Feb 12th- is a picture of me working at school so I can't show you because of identifying the children.

Feb 13th- saw these beautiful snowdrops just where I park at school

Feb 14th- a romantic valentines evening of study for me!

Feb 15th- got home to discover that at last, one of my Welsummer hens is finally laying and we will now be getting these beautiful, chocolate coloured eggs!

Feb 16th-Mum asked me to teach her how to crochet. Imagine that...ME who has only been able to do it for a scant 15 months! She can do a bit but like me, she struggles to hold the wool the "proper" way. So I showed her how I do it, like a knitter apparently, but it works for me.
Pop back tomorrow and I will show you my latest finished crochet project....

A baking day

My hens are all a-laying like gooduns now! One of the "babies" that I got last August, (the very expensive pedigree Welsummers!) has finally started to lay and I was very excited to find a beautiful, chocolate brown egg nestling on a pile of fertiliser sacks in the garden.

What's a girl supposed to do with 25 eggs and 12 bananas? Bake of course....

Beat up those golden eggs with sugar and butter before adding mashed bananas, flour and spices.

Pop them in the oven...yes I am a messy baker...

20 minutes later, delicious, soft banana cupcakes.

Quickly beat up butter and icing sugar and cocoa powder...

....to turn them into banana and chocolate cupcakes!

Delicious!!!
I then made a banana loaf but that just isn't so photogenic! If there's any left tomorrow I'll bring you one Burnice!!!

Blooming Flower cushion

Another "make" that was inspired by this and I followed the tutorial.

Once I sorted out all my DK wool I found that I have a surplus of cream and white. I envisaged my version of this starting with an  intense orange and fading to white on the outside rim, much like a narcissus...

Here is the finished front. I am quite pleased with the effect.

The back is the same minus the petal rows, but it does curl up a little!

I was quite impressed how even my crochet is becoming.

Then I joined the two halves together by slip stitching and stuffed them. There was a small hole in the centre where I had formed the foundation ring so I popped a button in it and pulled it to give the cushion some shape.

Quite chuffed with it now and it looks particularly effective against my brown sofa!
Right no more projects until my rainbow blanket is done. Just 16 more squares to go...

Photo a day

Next instalment ...

Feb 3; Celebrating Mums birthday that was on Thursday with a roast

Feb 4; finally I have been able to get hold of the cream wool I need to finish the rainbow blanket!

Feb 5; we celebrated Chines New Year at Guides with some silly games!

Feb 6; a carrot that we found in the value carrot bag!!!!! Need I say more....

Feb 7; I had my first HLTA training day at K College...very scary

Feb 8; Day two of training and this is the view from the floor our room is on, right across the Weald of Kent

Feb 9; I had three of my quilts on display at a little show in a nearby village (Burnice had 4 of hers there too!)

Journal My Christmas

Bit more of this to show and tell...

Red- saw this gorgeous cake in a shop window in Brighton when we went to the concert so I edited it a bit to accentuate the red flower.

We always have candles at Christmas; these are in my fireplace and I also have them on the table usually.

This house at the top of the estate has always had a beautifully lit tree that I see every evening as I drive home. I would never have multi coloured lights myself but this sight always fills me with delight!

I saw this beautifully frosty, foggy fireld on the way to a friends house for a Christmas craft session. I actually took the picture in colour but it almost looks black and white.

What could be more evocative of Christmas just around the corner than the school Nativity, complete with tinsel-clad angels!

We have two houses just down the road, that always have this amazing, over the top, display of lights. This year I grabbed a tripod and photographed them properly. We call it "The Mad House"

A bowl of baubles I noticed at the door of the church when we were there for the Scouts Carol Service. If you look closely you can see my reflection!
See, still very simple and plain, no frills pages and I am managing to crack on a fair bit with them. Might be a pause now however as I have just embarked on a training course that is going to occupy me rather until April.