Not a March Hare at all, She's a Bunny Girl.

The day started bright and sunny and absolutely freezing, there was a thick layer of frost on every surface at 5.30 this morning.
I made a brew and took it back up with my knitting from last night that needed sewing up.

Meet Bramble Bunny, go on wave back.

She's sulking now because you didn't wave, and she's flashing her little tail.

I will make this outfit next but I will use the yellow wool for the jacket (still a Norwich supporter at heart).

 I will make the bag as the pattern and a pair of shoes to match.

I do have a third outfit pattern and there will be another in the next magazine issue. I hope that these will help Kaitlin to learn to dress and undress and give her some fun, she does love her dollies.

I walked Ben and Greg round the field this morning and took a few photos but the wind was so brisk that they are not wonderful.

This tree is in a very sheltered spot and you can see how the tassles are being blown about.

It may be better tomorrow, although tonight is supposed to be a harder frost than last night, bang go my peaches.

I will have to make the most of the rhubarb, that is rampaging along.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. A new blog to read, Be Happy, from someone just starting on the frugal pathway.

2. I managed to find Paid in Chickens on Bloglovin, another happy read.

3. Bramble turned out ok, my first knitting project for absolutely ages.

4. Roast Duck for Dinner, love it love it love it.

5. Lots of yarn ready for an afternoons crafting.

I have just remembered that although I finished my shawl I have not taken a photo, I will remedy that tomorrow, I may even model it. 

I will have to see if I can shrink the pattern and make one for Bramble.

The sun is shining as bright as it can so I am off for a potter round the garden, no work mind this is my day off.

Enjoy your day where ever you are and what ever you are doing.

       TTFN                          Pam

Banshee Party on the Roof

Oh What a Night, never mind late September back in '63, it was. The Banshee's took over the rooftops and had a wail of a time, howling and screaming the night away. They made so much noise that I could not hear the Telly, well not without risking my eardrums.
I cut some fabric and went to bed, luckily I dropped off to sleep quickly and had a wonderful 90 minutes or so. Then the party kicked off again, after tossing and turning for an hour I surrendered and got up. I moped around with a cup of mint tea for a little while, feeling bad done by and persecuted, then my brain started to work and I started sewing.

A good stack of 9 patch blocks waiting to be trimmed.

The trimming has begun, tedious work so I decided to have a few intermissions and make these.

Some more tissue holders for the CS, I will be filling these with tissues, they are 99p for a sleeve of 10 small packets. As it is nearly Valentine's day I found some pink out and will make a dozen or so.

Some 2 1/2" by 5" strips that will become 4 patch blocks.

The first step is to sew into pairs.

My first 2 squares, the first one should have a round of white but I changed it to yellow as these will be part of a small cushion to bring a splash of sun into a dark corner.

I realised that the cap fits and therefore I should wear it, the Dunces cap that is. For ages now I have been following Bunny Mummy, reading about her family life, her running and her craft, especially her beautiful Crochet and the Tutorials that she writes!!!

I was reading her latest post yesterday evening and there they were in the sidebar, all these pretty things and links to the tutorials. Now over the months I have been reading these and thinking "one day I will try this" that day has come. She even suggests wool for all budgets and I knew this. Hangs head in shame, takes a sip of mint tea, yes even my cast iron tummy succumbed to the Banshee wailing and I have a touch of heartburn. Goes nicely with the heartache of knowing that I could have started crochet months ago with all the help that I could want sitting in my blog list.

Reasons to be grateful. 

1. A productive night, lots of scrap sorting done.

2. My next project has a massive head start.

3. My bedroom had a birthday in the wee small hours, all that is left to do is vacuum.

4. The day has dawned bright and dry.

5. The Banshees are resting.

I usually change my bed and "do" the room on Monday, but as I had twisted the sheet and duvet cover into a corkscrew, I did it when all hope of sleep had fled. The linen is now whirring round in the machine. The heavens opened at around 3.30 am and it lashed against the house for a good hour and then dried up. It is dry now and fairly bright.

There were some dustbin lids rattling down the street earlier, mine are turned upside down on the bins with a couple of house bricks in them. I would not be surprised to see a few of the older trees down and possibly a scattering of roof tiles. It is 09.57 and I have Ben to walk .

TTFN                       Pam

Just popped back to say sorry for the abrupt cut off, my Ben is a stickler for time and at 10.00 every morning he goes out for a run with Greg his BFF. If I am too slow he barks and runs round in circles, leaps up and down and generally behaves like an idiot, trying to get his lead on becomes a 3 part farce. We have a run in the afternoon but he is relaxed about the time then.

By Heck it's Been a Lovely Day

The sun has been shining since quite early, Ben has enjoyed 2 long walks in the warmth of it. I have spent my time sewing, cooking and reading. Lovely Day.

This was gifted to me at the weekend, I have seen it but never bought a copy, I love magazines but they are very expensive and my storage space is finite, and getting full.

It is full of bright colours, lots of adverts which I will ignore and several freebies which I will enter to win, well someone will win them.

It came with a free novel, I passed that on already. It also had a small pack of felt and bits and bobs to make these little things.

The templates are included and I will photocopy them at various sizes, buy some bigger pieces of felt and make a little family. I am not sure whether I like the Fox or the Squirrel the most. I feel a visit to Button Up and Stitch coming on.

Three fruit loaves, 1 for each neighbour and 1 for us, I tried it while warm from the oven, well it was a new recipe, ooh nice, no need for butter I will make it again but will add more cinnamon.

More Wholemeal bread from my Polish Organic flour, very tasty and not in the slightest bit naughty, well not yet anyway. I will slice these when cold and freeze them. we do not eat a huge amount of bread and I do not want it to spoil.

My final bake was this pair of fresh pineapple cakes. I got 2 big pineapples for £1 on Burton Market Saturday. Some I had fresh, some went into these and the rest is frozen.

This is ready for me to make a batch of chutney, all I have to do is dig out the recipe, get the rest of the ingredients out and tomorrow morning it will be made. This is for my hampers and will be ready by Christmas, it doesn't need 3 months to mellow like some chutneys. Date, Orange and Apricot it even sounds a bit Christmassy.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. A house full of the smells of baking.

2. Cottage Pie, made earlier, ready to pop in the oven for dinner.

3. Empty laundry and ironing baskets.

4. No pain at all.

5. A pile of little sewing jobs done.

My sewing was nothing spectacular, buttons needing replacing, a hem to sew up, a zip to replace, all that kind of thing. It had been looking at me for far too long and now it is done.

Tonight I am going to sew the strip sets for the Oz quilt, it will be a fast make, I already have the batting and backing.
I have my swap partner for the Christmas Cracker Swap, I read her blog and know exactly what I am doing. I just have to find out her colour preference and I will be away.

I just need to shred some cabbage and cut some broccoli florets and dinner will be sorted.

                                        TTFN      Pam

PS . Does any one read The Iowa Housewife blog, it is on my list. There are some brilliant recipes and I have not had a failure yet. Todays was a bread recipe to keep in the fridge, you just take the dough out in the morning and have fresh rolls in no time. Guess what I will be doing after dinner.

1 last pic from my mag.