A Few Days Away

During half term, hubby and I went for a few days away to the delightful little Norfolk town of Holt. If you ever want to be inspired by crafts and a simple way of life, Holt has it all. As an extra special treat we stayed at Byfords (http://www.byfords.org.uk/). We were made to feel really at home at this beautiful B&B. The food was great and the bedroom was out of this world. We even had our own sunken bath!

During our time in Norfolk we discovered that it was 'Open Studio' throughout the county. We would be driving along a country lane and suddenly come across a sign directing us to a studio which was open for visits. ( All free!) The studio above was a glassmakers (in an old railway carriage). Chris (the artist) was a charming man and it was not long before we were tempted to buy something. ( More in the next blog)

Each night at Byfords, as you wend your way up to bed, you find on the landing a jar of homebaked choccy-chip shortbread cookies. We were always so full after our lovely meal to eat them that evening, so we saved ours for the morning to go with the first cuppa of the day.

Although we only went away for 4 days, we both can honestly say that we feel as if we have had a whole weeks holiday. The only problem is that we are now suffering from sensory overload. But what a lovely problem to have!

Slipper Making

Just before Christmas I booked myself on a felt slipper making course with Gillian Harris at www.gilliangladrag.co.uk. What fun! I met some great people and rediscovered an old skill that I had more or less forgotten. However, under Gillian's great tuition, I was able to make a pair of funky slippers. Above you can see one of the layers.

I had to bring the slippers home to finish. Here is the final product. Hubby has decided that he would like a pair of purple ones. (He does have a pair of purple Doc Martens!) Also H (my daughter) clapped eyes on them when she was visiting last weekend. I nearly lost them. The only problem is that now the weather is warming up, my feet tend to get rather warm in them.

I loved the whole experience and have booked to go on two further courses with Gill. Hatmaking and bagmaking. Also, as I now know how to make the flowers, I have some ideas of my own. Watch this space!

Painting the old chair

I am sorry to all in Blogland that I appear to have disappeared recently. Life! Mine is definitely not simple. I may have to change the name of my blog name. However, at one manic point last weekend, hubby thrust sandpaper, paintbrush and pot of paint into my hands and told me to have a break outside and do something instead of work. A very different thing for me to do. This old chair has been with for us for about 20 years and I have always been meaning to do something with it. In fact in recent weeks we have moved it into our dining room so that I kept tripping over it to remind me to do something.

I finally finished it and I am really pleased with the results. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed creating something for myself instead of making things ( curtains) for everybody else. That is what simple living is all about. I have a feeling that this is the beginning of a new adventure. Hooray!

Oat Cookies

This simple living is not turning out to be as simple as I had thought. After a manic week sewing and fitting curtains and one day where I completely crashed and could not even tell you my name, I have finally got round to updating my blog. My good friend Sal thought that I should show the recipe for my Oat Cookies. (Actually it is my Mum's recipe). It's very easy and they always go down well as a gift. Maybe instead of an Easter egg.

Ingredients

100g margarine

75g castor sugar

50g oats

100g Self Raising flour

3 teaspoons of boiling water

1 teaspoon of golden syrup

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence

What to do!

*Cream the margarine and sugar together.

*Add the other dry ingredients and mix well..

*Add the liquid ingredients.

*Use a heaped teaspoon of the mixture and roll into a ball. Place on a greased baking tray. Press lightly with the back of the spoon. Make sure that you leave plenty of space between each cookie.

*Cook for 15 - 20 minutes in a 140 degree oven.

Remove from oven and place immediately on a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy!

Sausage Making

This week also found me learning a new skill. Sausage Making!. My good friend Stuart from Southborough Butchers is hoping to go to Nepal later on this year to help build a house with the charity Habitat for Humanity. He needs to raise a great deal of money so he decided to offer sausage making lessons. I was first in the queue. What a giggle. There is definitely an art to it. I now have a great deal of respect for all of those people who appeared on the Generation Game and made complete fools of themselves. It's a lot harder than it looks.

I managed to get the knack of getting the sausage meat into the skin but trying to twist the things so that they looked anything resembling sausages was a bit of a disaster. However this did not appear to affect the taste and sausages are now a staple part of our diet.

In my quest to make all pressies this year, I was having great difficulty as to what to give my Mum for Mothering Sunday. Being a very creative person herself there is not much that she has not made, or been on a course about or has already got. It was while looking through Leigh Radford's book, 'One Skein' that I came across her pattern for cupcakes. After a rummage through my wool oddments box, I found some yarn and Hey Presto! She was delighted with her gift. ( Apparently she is going to use it for her lace making- I said that she was creative.)
Also my hairdresser saw the end result and has given me an order for two!

Happy Spring Chicken

Our chicken are enjoying the first signs of spring. All of them are now laying, including this large light brown. She is five years old and her name is Tikka. I know. It does sound a bit odd, but she obviously is not too bothered. The eggs are delicious though.

It is that time of year again, when Hubby and I spend a great deal of time preparing the garden and the allotment for this season's produce. The only problem, is that we have not finished last season's. Still this cabbage and these leeks were very tasty with our Sunday lunch.

Last weekend I realised that it was the birthdays of some friends of mine. They are twins and they were ten. Having remembered my commitment to try and make as many pressies this year as possible, I decided to raid my fabric bin. An hour later. This was the end result!