Easter biscuits

Last week I treated myself to a new mixer.  Aldi's Thursday offer was a bargain stand mixer in cream so I had to have it.  Yes a kitchenaid mixer would be nice but I really don't like baking or even eating cakes enough to warrant the price.  I also had a voucher so got the cute biscuit stamps for free.  

We had to try both last Thursday afternoon.  So obviously we would make biscuits.  I did a basic mix which was fine but I think the stamps would work better with a really dry mix and something that doesn't rise as this obliterates the writing.  Anyway with trial and error I am sure next times will be better.

So an hour or so later (I'm doing this with the help of an eager toddler so there's a lot of rolling, eating mix, squashing, starting again ....) a kitchen and child covered in flour and the biscuits were ready to go into the oven.  At that point (no sooner I swear) I remembered with horror that both me and the other half have given up biscuits for lent (I've given up crisps as well so roll on Sunday!).  

So a dilemma could Little L eat all those biscuits by herself and me not sample even one! I can't say what happened but there are no biscuits left.

Making the most of the heat you have

I bought curtains for our front door in the summer.  Yes I was going to make them myself but I found end of line lined curtains at Argos for £15 so there was no point.  Plus I bought the curtain rail but alas they sat untouched for months.  Once I had finished making the blinds for the kitchen my momentum just carried on and I set to attaching the track to the wall.  I had to attach a wooden batten first otherwise the track would have been really difficult to put up plus the curtains would have been too close to the wall.  That done and appeared to be straight onto the curtains.   Had to take a couple of inches off the length and then hand stitch.  With the leftover fabric I made a tie back which was really easy.  I just traced around another tie back to get the shape and used some D rings from old tie backs.

The curtains do clash with the green walls in the hallway but that was the choice of the old owners.  I did think about decorating the hallway before baby arrives but was told "No Way" by the other half spoilsport!  Hopefully next year some time I will paint the hallway beige/cream and the curtains will then match.

Not sure whether they make much difference heat wise as it's not been that cold yet.  But it does get very cold in the hallway so hopefully they will help a bit.

Another thing off the "To do" list and in a quest to spread the heat was drilling a 2 inch holes between the chimney recess above the fire into the kitchen which my dad kindly did for us.  The idea is that some of the heat that rises above the stove now goes into the kitchen.  It does work but hasn't made a vast difference.

And finally we bought ourselves a stove top fan,  we didn't get the original "Ecofan" as these were upwards of £100 but we got one from Ebay which works exactly the same way and was half the price.  This definitely works, it spreads the heat around the room and helps the washing dry quicker.  I would certainly recommend.

Been another busy week with groups and Little L's nativity play (that girl is a star and sooo cute in her costume). Plus I got the lurgy so we have both been ill all week. It's sad but at the moment my post birth craving/want is a lemsip.

Getting things done - Roman blinds

These last few weeks have been very productive if not a bit exhausting.  The mammoth "Things To do before baby arrives" list has been slowly shrinking and I have done some of the jobs on there that I had been putting off.

Top of the most put off was new blinds for the kitchen.  Now I did make new blinds back in March when I redecorated the kitchen but due to the bulk of the material and the rubbishness of the fittings they would never shut which isn't a problem in the summer but as we have one window that looks out at the front of the house I wanted that one at least to be able to shut during the winter when people walking past can spy into the kitchen.  So over the summer I had been collecting together the bits needed to make the roman blinds mainly from wilkinsons, diy shops and abakhan.  But still I couldn't faced doing them until about six weeks ago when the clocks changed.

Firstly I had to take down and carefully unpick the blinds as I wanted/had to re-use the fabric.

Then I had to make the linings, sew channels in them, sew them to the outer fabric.  Making sure that everything was straight and central.  Hand stitched the side seams.  Attached velcro and hemmed the top.  And hemmed the bottom by hand.  Then all the little rings had to be stitched in place.

Then onto the window fittings, using L shaped brackets I attached the wooden batten to the window.  Put velcro on it and screwed in the eyelets that would guide the cord.  

Then lots of ironing and trying to get them to hang straight followed.  And that was one blind made!  the day after I made the bigger blind, same idea but more difficult and I had to be even more careful to keep checking it would hang straight.  I am pleased with the result.  The small one is shut every night and is standing up fine.  The big one never gets shut really as we aren't overlooked.  Glad I made them myself, much cheaper and I got to have the fabric that I liked.  Then I moved on to hanging curtains but that post will have to wait.  

Do excuse the lack of blogging at the moment but I am counting down the days till baby is due and trying to get things ready for Christmas.  Plus attending all the usual playgroups, swimming lessons and appointments plus Little L has come down with a stinker of a cold hhhmmm great timing. 

Bye for now.  

New pram liners

I have been on a roll lately getting things done off the "Things to do before baby arrives" list and one such job was to make covers/liners for the new pram seats.  They are red and whilst the new baby will be in a carry cot or a footmuff for all of winter Little L certainly won't be in a footmuff.  In fact I do well to make her tolerate a blanket over her legs.  So I thought to avoid endless washing of the red padded seat liner I would make simple covers that can be washed and dried easily.

So months ago I bought a cheap red fleece blanket from Ikea (these blankets work out cheaper than buying fleece by the metre and the quality is fine too).  I washed it and it sat and lingered on my to do list for a couple of months at least until yesterday.  

When Little L had her sleep after lunch I got the sewing machine out, cleared the table and started cutting.  I simply cut the shape of the liner and then an extra section to form a flap on the back.  Hemmed it all (by the way I hate sewing with fleece even though I do have a walking foot for my machine my results are never great) and then set to marking out the holes (like large buttonholes) that would need stitching and cutting to allow for the seat harness to pass through.  This is quite fiddly and if you look closely some aren't straight but they will be fine. 

 I added a bit a ribbon to tie securely at the bottom and done.   

Plus I have half a blanket left which will be enough for a baby or toddler blanket.

DIY SOS - The kitchen floor

We all have these jobs/issues in our homes that linger, fester, keep you awake some nights, get steadily worse and just seem so potentially catastrophic that you put them off.  Well ours has been the kitchen floor.....last summer I noticed that the gap between the top of the washing machine and the work top seemed to have gotten bigger ?? no can't be.  But some delving around with torch and pulling plinths from the bottom of the cupboards revealed that there was a small (1cm) gap below the bottom of the skirting board and the actual floor along the wall underneath our kitchen sink.   Had it been like that since we moved in??? not sure so decided to keep an eye on it.

Well steadily over the last year the gap had become about an inch and a half, the washing machine had to be put on a board to bridge the hole in the floor underneath it and the units were beginning to drop.  So with thought it was decided it would have to be tackled.

So my other half had a day off work yesterday and my Mum and Dad (with the best nothing can't be fixed type of attitude) came down and we began.

You can see the gap

Sink disconnected, units taken out and very expensive lino carefully rolled back.

So looks rotten ......yes it is completely rotten and the floor joist at the back had actually broken

Floor ripped out 

Several hours later, joists replaced/strengthened, new flooring laid.

Floor down and yes I thought I'd just paint behind the washer whilst I had the chance

Finished, no leaks, no breakages or damage and a nice strong floor.  All in two days and thanks to my mum and dad we probably saved ourselves £500-£1000 by doing it ourselves

I can sleep soundly now knowing I wont fall through the floor.  Yes a lot of DIY of late and yes there is a reason for the sudden sense of urgency.....

Swimming

Over the summer holidays all the usual toddler groups etc stop so we have five whole days to fill each week.  One of the things we have been doing is swimming.  Little L can't swim and apart from going whilst we have been on holiday every year since she was born that's about it for pool activities.  But our local Sure Start Centre (if you have a little one and don't know about these find out they have great playgroups, activities etc) had got funding to offer free swimming lessons and daily sessions at our local pool.  So an offer not to be missed.

I can't say that she likes the lessons much and does cry a bit but there are parts of the lessons like the songs, jumping in (with mummy holding her!) etc that she does like.  So we will persevere.  We went yesterday just for a general splash and she really enjoyed it.  So hopefully this weeks lesson will go a bit better.

I think it is important for her to learn to swim before the compulsary primary school lessons because I hated swimming lessons at school (I couldn't swim) to the point of being ill and I definitely don't want her to go through the same.  I did learn to swim at school in the end but it was very traumatic.  I did consider trying to get her Daddy to take her to the lessons (as he is a very good swimmer) but I think he would give in when she cried!!

DIY Sandpit

Little L loves playing in the sand be it at the beach or at one of our playgroups.  So a little while ago I decided I would make her one.  I had about a month until her birthday so I would have plenty of time to do it......... so as usual nearly a whole month passed and then last minute this week during a couple of nap times I set to with saw, drill and wood to make it.

 

A simple box on legs.  Not too big and all made using thrifted wood picked up from freecycle etc.

Very easy just took a bit of time assembling it.  I pre-drilled holes and screwed it all together.  You probably could of just nailed it but I had to be quiet as little L was asleep!

 

 

A couple of coats of stain and a bag of playsand and ta-dah.  So pretty much free except for the playsand and much better than buying one. She was very impressed and it went down a treat on her birthday party which was thankfully dry and sunny!!

 

 

The dog did dive in a couple of times (front legs only) for a bit of digging too, can't blame her.

Finished Cowl

I cast this on last week because I just couldn't decide on what to knit next.  So an easy and quick  knit was called for.  I used some leftover wool from my swing cardigan and I found the perfect pattern on Ravelry for this cowl,  I love the weave effect (think its called basket weave) and it is reasonably snug so easy to slip on under my coat. 

Knitting this in the round on such short needles was pretty hard on my hands though.

 

This weekend we have been outside a lot as it has been a bit warmer and sunny.  We have been walking down the canal, been to the park and done some gardening and general pottering.  This morning though my other half was busy collecting our free set of garden furniture.  Three trips were involved and we now have two benches like this

Two chairs like this

 

And one huge table.  I will paint them all and if I get fed up of any of them they can be added to our wood stack or put back onto Freecycle.  

Kitchen finished

Well it is almost finished still some glossing to do when the weather warms up. 

 

In the end it took 6 coats of paint to cover the red and on some walls 7 coats but it was well worth it.  A very neutral ivory colour (yes a bit boring but I don't intend repainting in there for a long time).  I didn't go for dulux like I've used before because the paint was going to cost around £50 that's way too much.  So I went to B&M and they had 20% off all paint so 5L of Jonhstones was about £17.  It gave a really good finish, covered well and was almost the same colour as the dulux I wanted but for less than half the price.  I'd definitely recommend this paint brand.

Rather than buy new blinds I have used the old roller blind fittings (they were red of course so I couldn't put them back up) and made new blinds.  I didn't really want plain and patterned blinds were quite expensive so I thought I would have a go myself.

The fabric I wanted was £22 a metre and I needed 3m so I decided to use some fabric I already had because I wasn't convinced this would work anyway.  So free blinds.

 

And the walls before and after shots...

 

 

 

 

 It is so much lighter and we really like it.

More shabby than chic

A present from my sister arrived at our house last Saturday.  Described by sister J as a vintage/retro little table with stools to match.  Hhhhm yes it is a table and it has stools but I think maybe it needs a bit of tarting up first. 

 

Black formica drop leaf table with two matching stools

 

 

Love these little pegs that secure the seat in place so at least I can recover them easily

 

It is pretty sound for its age, it needs new hinges for the drop leaves and a bit of glue on some of the joints on the stools.

 

Not sure what to do with it. 

I am tempted to paint it all and recover the stool seats. 

Or I could just paint the formica top and leave the legs and the stool legs as varnished. 

Or I could take the top off and find a new top for it out of just plain wood. 

 

So many possibilities ............. the fire oh no sorry I won't burn it

 

My sister sent me a photo of a similar table (use your imagination) she had seen at a display at a garden centre.  Not sure mine could look like that!

 

Bye for now

Time flies on Ravelry and Ebay

Still looking through endless patterns on Ravelry.  I kind of love and hate Ravelry.  I am very indecisive and think I have become a lot worse with my constant indecision since leaving work.  I fear my brain is being turned to mush through too much Mega blocks and Cbeebies.  Anyhow Ravelry has just endless patterns and I think I am going to have to try knitting in the round as all the decent modern patterns seem to be in the round and top down (another thing I've not done).  So cue Ebay and some searching and i have two sets  (40cm and 80cm) of 18 sizes of circular knitting needles.  Much cheapness and they are only coming half way round the world from Hong Kong

 

 

Watch this space I might be knitting in the round by Christmas   

New stove

After much hunting and research we found the stove we wanted weeks ago.  The only problem was the £700 price tag which we really didn't want to pay.  So I searched and searched for a second hand one on Ebay or a similar one even but even the second hand ones were going for about 500 which still I didn't really want to pay.  But my hunt paid off as I found one on Ebay almost identical to the one I wanted.    We picked it up at weekend from North Wales and we also collected a bargain fireguard.  Another Ebay purchase.  The stove is in great condition and has been looked after well. (This is the stove, ours is just like it but it was so dark in the garage that I couldn't get a decent photo)

 

I left little L in the kitchen whilst I was cleaning the new stove in the garage and when I peeped around the door she was busy doing a stock take of the potatoes!

 

Need to move and do some tidying up whilst little L is asleep. 

Bye for now

Feature wall?

Sunday morning, before the rain set in, me and little L headed out for a little walk down the canal.  We left Mr P at home with a big hammer and a chisel to start knocking out the fire.

 

So this is the fire last week

 

This was the fire this morning

 

And then when we got back from our little jaunt, Daddy had been busy

 

 

It is a lot bigger but still a way to go! Next we will be cutting the fire place with the grinder hhhmm .... dusty.

 

Whilst he was knocking out the fire and little L was asleep I did a bit of planting as on our jaunt we popped into the supermarket and the cyclamens (my absolute favourite winter plant) were half price just £2 for 6 bargain.  And Ta-dah I have some on my kitchen and dining room window ledges and some at the front door.

 

Hope you all had a fun Sunday. 

 

 

 

 

Sickness & a new car

So this week we have been busy getting a new car and being ill!  I started with a cold last weekend, by Tuesday my nose was just streaming and sore throat too.  Wednesday I felt much better and there was no sign of my partner getting a cold or little L ........ I was wrong.

Wednesday afternoon after a busy morning at playgroup little L kept sneezing and sure enough Wednesday night she didn't sleep as her nose was streaming.  She ended up in mummy's bed poor other half downstairs on the sofa and no sleep for me as she woke up every hour. 

So the end of the week has been full of sleepless nights.  Last night she was coughing a lot poor thing.  Anyway I'm sure by tomorrow she will be feeling better.

 

Aside from that I got a new car (well new to me!).  We have been struggling since having little L as we both have small cars and two adults, a baby, baby seat, pram and a large dog don't fit into a two door hatchback!?  So this week I waved a very sad goodbye to my honda civic (sadly it might end up going to car heaven (scrap yard)) and hello to a huge MPV definitely not fast or good for my street cred (ugh Catherine you don't have any). 
So goodbye youth hello practical.  It will be good for camping, days out, taking our bikes out, carting wood etc and it was a bargain.

This ......

 

 

 

to this omg!

 

Hope you are all having a good weekend x

Home made wine

There are only 104 days until Christmas (15 weeks) yeah I can't wait.  But that did get me thinking about money etc so I decided to get some home made wine on the go with the hope that it will be ready by Christmas.  I first had a go with home brewing about five years ago after chatting with a friend at work who had made allsorts of concoctions and the idea of free alcohol sold it to me straight away.

 

Now don't be fooled its never going to taste like blossom hill but it is drinkable and some is even quite nice.  Over the years I have made

- elderflower champagne - easy to do but didn't taste like champagne but a nice fizzy drink

- elderflower wine - not so nice had to drink with lemonade and then gave up threw it out

- elderberry wine - lovely rich colour and nice wine but quite potent

- apple wine - not so nice

- damson wine - lovely and fruity easy to drink

- sloe wine - not as nice as damson just use the sloes for sloe gin it is easier

- And lots of kits mainly from Wilkinson's

 

So I haven't made any wine since before little L was born so I decided to try an easy cheap wine made with red grape concentrate. There it is bubbling away in the kitchen.  I didn't know where else to put it as upstairs is freezing except for little L's bedroom which gets sun during the day but her bedroom was a definite no no.  So for now it can just sit there in the kitchen.  I will top it up with water in a few weeks. 

 

 

And I am going to buy a kit for Black Cherry I think and get that started too.  The kits are about £8 plus about 50p worth of sugar so roughly  £1.50 per bottle which is cheap I think.   I'd quite like to make some sloe gin but apparently there are hardly any sloes about this year and gin is pretty expensive to buy. 

 

Has anyone else had a go at making wine before and what recipes do you use?

Bye for now x

 

A new old basket

Last Sunday we had a trip to Preston to join in with the Guild celebrations.  On Saturday and Sunday they had a Vintage weekend in Avenham Park.  There was lots to see and lots of stall oh I wish I had some pennies.  It was mad busy and really hot but we had a really good day with my sisters and their families and my parents. 

 

 

 

Little L had chance to show off her cute new shoes!

 

And on the way out I spotted a basket for sale and after a bit of haggling it was mine.  I wanted an old traditional basket to put my knitting in to stop it getting tangled up and to be able to quickly put it out of reach from little fingers.

 

I decided to line it as it was too snaggy for knitting as it was.  So I chose this material mainly because I had lots of it.

 

I cut a template for the bottom of the basket and then a rectangle for the sides.  I measured around the top of the basket and added an inch for hems and roughly measured the depth of the basket and added a couple of inches to turn over at the top.  I stitched the short ends of the rectangle, to give a tube of fabric.  Then I pinned it to the base oval of fabric.  I pinned it first on the four flat sides of the oval and then gathered and pinned folds into the corners or curvy edges.  It sounds complicated but it wasn't.  I was doing it at fifty miles an hour with one eye on little L and I managed it.  

 

Then I cut a slit down either side for the handles and hemmed it (sorry forgot to take photos).  Then I stitched a channel around the top.  I threaded some thin elastic through the channel and around the handles to hold the lining in place.

 

Done, not bad for a couple of hours and it will do the job.  I had to put a little band of material on the handle because there is a crack in the handle which I just had to put some gaffer tape around.

 

Hope you have all had good weekends. 

Bye for now x