Red velvet cup cakes and chocolate ripple cake

 Christmas is over now and it is time to sit and recov er.

One of the highlights of this Christmas has been the sweet dishes.

On Christmas eve we had chocolate ripple  cake cooked by grandson Michael.  Absolutely delicious.

On Christmas day we had red velvet cup cakes made by our daughter Meaghan.   Also delectable. 

 I have spent little time in the kitchen due to an injured knee but I did manage to buy some treats:  rocky road and fruit mince pies to have with coffee.





Now it is time to take a more sensible approach to food.

I hope you have all enjoyed the festivities.

books and eggs

It has been a busy week, again, so we are sitting down and watching an old episode of Frasier.I have seen this before so I can write while I listen.


In the past couple of weeks I have found three really interesting new books.  The first is Make Your Own Books & Boxes by Peter Baumgartner published by Search Press in 1996.  It was originally published in German in 1994.   This edition was translated by Clare Turner.  I have never managed to find such a useful book on the subject.  This is one that I will use often. 

 The second book is by Meg Evans,
Hand-Stitched Boxes.  This edition was published by David & Charles
in 1998.
This has so many wonderful projects and easy to follow instructions.  I can see one of my stitched gardens on the top of one of these boxes.

I bought the third book just because the cover looked so interesting.  I am not really interested in making lace, well I wasn't until I started reading this.  Anyway here are the details.  Contemporary Lace Making by Constance Nieuwhoff. Published by Van Nostrand Reinhold in 1975 and translated from the Dutch by Danielle Adkinson.

And now for something completely different.  Last week I broke an egg to find it has two yolks.  This is a rare occasion these days although I remember as a child our own chickens often produced double yokers, as we called them.  Anyway this evening as I was preparing a quick meal I was thrilled to see two more and couldn't resist taking a photo. I know it is a bit off the track but it shows how easily I am impressed.

City & Guilds and other thoughts.

As the new month starts I seem to have created a whole lot of mess in my studio/sewing room.  Too much thinking and not enough action lately.

Anyway one thought that comes and goes with some regularity is the idea of doing a City & Guilds course by distance learning.  If anyone can offer any advice on the matter I would really appreciate it.  Perhaps I could make up my mind one way or another and then that would be one less thing to keep thinking about!

In the meantime I will address a couple of things in previous blogs.  Thanks for the kind messages regarding my dear grand children.  The three in the previous blog are the children of my youngest daughter.  My eldest daughter also has a son but we do not see him as often.  They will all sleep over here on Sunday night as it is still school holidays.  Anyway, as far as the cooking is concerned: the children decide for themselves what they want to cook - usually something they have done at home or at their other grandmother's house.  We then write a list of the supplies needed and go shopping. 
After that they do the preparation and the cooking.  They set the table and serve up the food.  I guess it is only fair that I clean up afterwards!!! 

Jensters,  you asked me about my ATC for Stitchin Fingers.  I did finish mine and posted it on Monday.  It took me quite a while to decide what to do but once I decided I found I had something already stitched and I only had to add some water colour to it.  It was much more challenging than I had expected.  I hope it fits the requirements.  I think this month's theme of "wings" will be much easier.

School Holidays

Today has been wet and windy and bitterly cold so three of my grandchildren came to visit and will sleep over tonight.  They had a wonderful time searching through the stash for "suitable" fabric for capes etc.
They then made up games and generally made a mess.

Later we went shopping and bought the ingredients for dinner.  The three of them prepared and cooked the meal for all of us which was a real treat.
They used the spare kitchen downstairs so it was a bit of a challenge but they did really well.  Their grandad was most appreciative too.

I must admit to being exhausted but they are still as energetic as ever. 

They will go home early tomorrow and return again on Sunday when we have a family day with 16 of us sitting down to lunch - then our other grandson will also stay the night.

I do enjoy the school holidays.

June Needlebook .... started

I

I was given this piece of silk by a friend in Belgium a long time ago: it is a gorgeous grassy green and I wasn't sure what I could use it for.  Another friend who I met through the Country Bumpkin forum does wonderful smocking so I asked her if she would be kind enough to pleat several pieces for me.  That was ages ago and it has been stitched to a piece of calico and laced onto the frame for longer than I like to admit.  It has been hanging on the wall above my sewing machine for a while now and last night I decided it would be the ideal starting point for my June needlebook.  I will do some random stitching in whatever colours come to mind.  You can see I have made a start.  Once the stitching is done I will decide on other trims, charms, buttons etc from the stash. I have an idea about the lining but will show you that next time.

This is one of my grandsons (Michael) waiting for me to make some space so he can do some painting.  All of the children love to sew and paint and generally make a mess of my sewing room - it is lovely when they come to stay as there is always something for them to do.  Michael is particularly interested in cooking which is great.  He made a mud cake on Thursday night and a vanilla cake on Friday night.  So much for the diet.