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!

We recently took some Year eleven's (from Hubby's school) on a retreat. The centre was at a place called Kintbury in Berkshire. I have been quite a few times with various groups. The people are lovely and the grounds around the centre are just fantastic. I can truly say that I come away feeling totally refreshed everytime I visit (even when I am kept awake by very rowdy teenagers!)

I have decided that this year I am going to make all presents. A little bit of a task, I know, but I am sure that it will work out a great deal less expensive. This is the first effort. It was for my Mum's birthday. I was quite pleased because the wood, fabric and padding were all off-cuts. I only had to invest in the ribbon and pins. She was delighted as she had seen this fabric some time ago when I was making curtains for a client. This piece was destined for the bin and I retrieved it.

Also as we are starting Lent this week, Hubby and I were trying to decide what positive action we could try and follow for the forty days. We are going to repeat last year's effort. We are giving up supermarkets. We found before that we did not spend much more money that normal. It will be interesting to see if the same happens this year with financial situation. However in order to ensure that we keep to our goal I am going to be posting regular updates on my blog to keep everybody informed. Watch this space!

Having seen the forecast for this weekend, hubby and I decided to batten down the hatches and get the wood-burning stove going. Ours has an oven in the top, so I cobbled together a lmb hotpot (more hotpot than lamb - but very tasty) and put it in the little oven. After an hour of burning just little waste sticks found in the garden we had a very yummy meal. Also we did not have to use any electricity to cook it. Simple and cheap!


I have managed today, with hubby, to clear all the logs that we have been given and have been cluttering up the patio. The log store is well and truly stuffed. Half of it is for next winter. They have to be seasoned, I am told. I seem to be learning a great deal. I then spent some time wielding an axe to chop up some kindling. What fun! Actually we have quite a few friends who seems to be chopping down trees and don't want the wood. It's all free. I just spend quite a bit of time collecting it. Still I am developing some impressive muscles.

This is a pair of curtains that I made recently for a client. I just loved the fabric. They look so bright and cheery on a winter' day ( or any day for that matter!). I only wish I had another room in my house so that I could use the fabric.

It has been a week full of surprises. Having finally set up this blog, I am finding that there is so much I want to tell everyone about simple living. As this week saw freezing temperatures, I decided that pots of warming, homemade soup had to be the answer. As I was waiting for my Riverford box on Thursday ( we have one in the winter when our vegetable supply is a little depleated or as I discovered, the leeks were frozen solid in the ground), I had to be very inventive. Still I had one onion and four slightly dubious looking carrots. Once everything had been peeled and chopped I browned them off in a tablespoon of olive oil. I then added a can of drained butter beans. (Very good for protein. As an alternative you can always use one large potato, peeled and cubed.) To all of this I added 750mls of stock made with a stockcube. Covered the pan and brought to the boil. In fact I used my pressure cooker. Once hissing I let it carry on for 10 minutes. After that I used one of those whizzy, blender things. What a lovely soup. It kept me going at lunchtimes for three days! And was very yummy! Also much cheaper to make than buying one of those boxed soups which do not seem to last very long.
Actually the pressure cooker is also a brilliant item. You use far less power, probably about half in fact and when you cook veggies in them they appear to retain their taste and colour. Happy simple cooking.

Finally I have got around to start writing a blog. I have been meaning to do this for ages but the start of a New Year has forced me to get writing. After a lovely Christmas spent with daughter + new husband, son ( who managed to write off our car 3 days before Christmas), mother-in-law (who has more energy at eighty than I will ever have) and hubby, who has spent the last 3 weeks with the lurgy, it is now time to put down what makes me tick.
The seed catalogues have arrived, although I still have a many packets left over from last year. First rule of simple living. Do not spend money on things that you already have. The seed packets all have 'use by' dates on them and as far as I have found out, the only ones that do not keep are parsnips. Hopefully as I get this blog going lots of photos will appear of veggies growing in our garden.