If i was a boy

I would only wear this stuff.

By FOLK.

Lovely clothes and shoes.

Seeing as I'm not ( a boy that is) it's a good job they have started making lovely things for girls too!!!

You can buy these babies 

At the fantastic Last on line HERE or in person at their beautiful shop HERE.

Well jels

x

What I saw today

Small dogs..... everywhere.

x

I promise i will be a good girl if...

i can have one of these -

Thankyouverymuchyessir xx

Coffee Breath

Okay, I'm feeling much better today, or at least I am now.
I've had a right tizzy of a day, but I finished it off by eating a rather large slice of my first ever coffee and walnut cake, which i have written my first blog about here on my new blogspot! I know it looks a little bit wonky but it tastes scrummy.

Also, the mouse spent some time playing in a box, so that made me feel better too.

Thank you little mouse xxx

ps. just so you know we didn't drink a whole box of Co-Op Californian Chardonnay. I'm not really a Chardonnay girl.

Rainy days and Mondays

I had great plans for today.
Big plans.
I saw myself springing out of bed and squeezing every last drip out of my Monday.

As it stands i feel as heavy as cement and I have now moulded a good spot in my bed that has me at the correct height for computering and snoozing.

I am sick.
I hope, wish and prey that it's passing. It's not a natural state for me.
I'm not a good patient.
The melancholy hits in and nothing seems possible, nothing apart from the possibility of me spending the rest of my life in this state.

woe is me
xx

Hot Ribena

I don't feel very well. I'm having a hot ribena.

I've had a lovely day. A slow morning and a very long and lazy lunch with best friends, but i'm home now and i've come over all wobbly.

There could be several reasons for this 'un-well-ness', but i think mostly it's about the change in seasons, changes in life and making sure the changes i make, make me happy.

You can see one of those changes here.

To soothe my heart and ease my mind K's made chicken soup with beautiful Borlotti beans bought from the fabulous Farm Market. 

It's sometimes hard to remember how lucky i am. I am.

xx

TUESDAY.

I'm not sure what happened on Tuesday. I went into a baking frenzy. I can only imagine that I was trying desperately hard to distract my self from painting Susy John's house (the hall way is now a beautiful take on Lemon Meringue Pie!) and thinking about all the pre-school thinking I should be doing to prepare (WHAT THINKING?). I've also been inspired by the super The Great British Bake Off.

I made in order:

Starter for Sourdough Loaf - this hasn't yet got to the sweet bready smell, it is currently at the putrid sour smell stage!

Meringues

Macaroons - I should have read the recipe(this one is very good), very tasty but i didn't whisk the eggs before folding them in. K still loves them :)xxx

Small Wholemeal Loaf - soooooooooooooooo good with loads of butter and Grannie Annie's thick cut Orange Marmalade. yum.

Fresh egg pasta

Plum Tarts - they were a bit dry, but we smothered them in custard and they were perfect.

Mincemeat Mix

Lordy.

x

Ticking off the list

This has been starting at me for god knows how long

Last year i bought some beautiful vintage fabric and 'knocked' up a couple of cushion covers. For the last year the shoddy covers have been eating away at my sense of doing it right. So, i sucked it up and fixed them. Took me an hour. 

Currently trying to learn from my own teachings.... 

Crazy Bakey Lady

I've got the bug, i've got it bad.

As i type i have a batch of meringue and my first ever set of macaroons in the oven! The passion has been resurrected by my mammoth baking session last week where i baked 7 x 29cm beautiful sponges for our friends wedding.

2x Chocolate Cherry with Chocolate buttercream icing

2x Lemon Drizzle

1x Victoria Sponge

1x Orange & Ginger with a Sugar Crust

1x Plum, damson & Almond

We had to leave just after the ceremony so that we could get to our other wedding party that day! (don't ever do two weddings in one day, it's two too much).

But i hear nothing but good things about the cakes, especially the plum one.

You can see a few more pictures of my baking here.

I'll let you know how the macaroons turn out.

Over and out.

x

Caged

The Mouse does not like going in the basket :(

Not-for-profit Creative

Seems that most of the creative juices that have flowed out of me, over the last couple of months, have been in aid of tokens and gifts for my various friends that are or have got married over the summer.
Last night was no exception. I rushed home after a morning with fried eggs, chats with pals and a good 45 minutes (check me out!) swim, just in time to eat a big bowl of veggie chilli (thank you x) and make some MAP inspired Bride and Groom peg dolls to take with me to the Hag (hen & stag) party I walked through the lovely warm rain to get to.

Such a fun, quick and free (if you have all the bits at home) way to give a little token of affection!

Kolkata Fair

This month is the last month that I will be working with Kolkata Fair Trade, a small fair trade company based in Brighton.
Over the last year (and a bit!) I have met and worked with a great bunch of people both here in the UK and across the world in Kolkata, Northern India.

We have designed and produced a few really lovely products including: a stationary range with a women's vocational training NGO 'Karmyog' -

These are from the beautiful Elephant range - Look at the adorable elephant stamp on the back of the envelope!

And I can't wait to see the dresses that we have designed, being produced by the women's group 'Jeevika' (the picture at the top is of the girls there). They have now gone into sampling; beautiful embroidery and fantastic colours and fabrics... i can't wait to see the results!

I'm sad to go, but the next couple of months hold the next stage of my adventures! AND I will never forget those girls!

xx

Black Cat Records Logo

New logo design for K's business

xxx

S&E Wedding

Congratulations to my good friends Sarah and Edric 

who got married on the 10th July

Their gift was a framed hand stitched S&E embroidery

Sarah had also commissioned me to make the wedding party pin holes (a collaborative design between the two of us)

(this one was Ed's)

I had such a lovely time, as i always do with them, but their wedding was something really special

(I sobbed so hard i did a massive snot!)

x