Back to normality (and time for more crafting - yippee!!)

Hello~!

 As I sit here writing this I can smell the lovely aroma of fresh bread baking in my bread maker. If only you could all smell it! It should be ready just in time for lunch, and has been making for 3 and a half hours. Let's hope it tastes just as good as it smells!

Well, I am finally back in to the normality of family routine. Clean house, going to bed early to get up early, tidy garden, tea at 5pm (rather than when I feel like it!), and  finally time for some crafting. Since the 6 week summer holiday, despite taking a couple of craft projects away on my hols with me, I haven't made much at all. But now things are back to normal (well, as normal as things are in our house!) I can get my mind into crafting mode.

 I am getting rather excited about a few Christmas ideas that I intend to work on. (As of course, if you are a fellow crafter you will know that now is the time to start making all those Christmas gifts.) My Christmas order book is officially open, and so far I have 2 orders in there for my hand stitched, personalised stockings. So if you would like anything, go and take a browse through my photo albums on my Facebook page and message me if you would like anything special made. You can also buy from my Folksy shop.

Now my business plug is over (lol), I did manage to make a baby cardigan and matching hat, as one of my lovely friends has just had a baby girl.  Thank fully my friend loved it!I am currently in the process of making another matching cardigan and hat set for my sister- in-law, but in a different pattern, using the same colour wool. I will post pics on here when it is complete. I am about half way through. 

I  also have to finish off these 2 blankets that I started at the beginning of the year. They are for my 2 little men, to go on their beds. A LOT of work is needed to complete these, as well as a trip to my local wool shop to replenish my wool stock in order to get on and finish them!

One other project I did manage to make over the hols was this cute cotton teddy bear. I bought the teddy bear kit form Clever Cheshire Cats, a fellow (very clever - hence the name!) crocheter. If you have time, do go over and visit her page and see what wonderful work she produces. Not only is she a wizz with a crochet hook, she is also a really lovely lady who is always willing to help you out if you have any crocheting queries.

Back view

Side view

Right, my bread is out and cooling down, ready for my sandwich- yum! So I shall leave you for now and report back soon with what I have been up to. Don't forget to leave me a comment if you have anything to say! Speak soon, Natasha xxx

Some more holiday antics:

We spent quite a few days at the beach whilst we were in wales. As well as getting covered in sand, splashing in the sea,  and sunbathing, we had our very first attempt at fishing. We used  two children's fishing rods, which we had purchased online. They were actually river fishing kits, but they did the job none the less!  We managed to catch this little fishy (which we threw back into the sea) and a rather menacing looking crab!

Whilst the 2 little men were off splashing in the sea, I had a quiet snooze whilst sunbathing. But my hubbie doesn't "do" sitting on the beach. So he kept himself occupied by making sand sculptures. My pics below don't really do the sculptures justice. They really were rather fab!!

A man's head and shoulders buried in the sand!

A man (with a slightly huge bum) sitting on a rock!! Think this was an artists impression lol!!

You will have to try and imagine this one..... A mermaid lying on a rock. Her tail is flopping forward over the rock. Can you work it out??

There we go, 3 cute sand sculptures! Just as well we live near to Weymouth, as they have a sand man here that makes fab sculptures from sand. So when hubbie gets bored I will send him to create  some more sand art! Heeee!!

We visited Drayton Manor  whilst on our travels. Our main purpose of this trip was to visit Thomas Land, as our littlest man is Thomas The Tank Engine obsessed!! We actually camped in the grounds of Drayton Manor for 2 nights. It was lovely, as you could wander around the park grounds after the 20,000 visitors  had gone home. The rides were really good too. The only problem was (as with most theme parks) - queuing to go on the rides! But it is definitely somewhere to go and visit if you are ever in the Staffordshire area.

Just another of the many wonderful trains that we saw at the National Railway Museum. We had a great day out here. My grandad used to be a signalman and my brother and I used to take his lunch up to him in a wicker basket. We would stay there a while and help him pull on the signal leavers to change the track over, and press the alarm bell to warn car drivers of the barriers going down. I saw lot's of reminders of the" good old days" whilst wandering around the museum.  I totally LOVED this visit. 

This is a view up the top of one of the mountains in the Lake District. WOW!!

Where I am pointing should be just about on top of Dora our campervan.

A beautiful stream that ran just up the road from our camp site in Cumbria. In fact the water we drank came from this very river.

This was the colour of our drinking water!! Take a peek at the next couple of pics.....

Being a soft southerner, I made the mistake of going to tell the campsite owner that I thought the water shouldn't be this dirty, yellow colour. I was met with a funny look between the 2 men in the campsite reception, and then one of them explained that the more rain we had, the yellower the water would be. But it was perfectly fine for drinking. Well, we did drink it, and to be honest it tasted delicious. Our  camping neighbours ( from Sunderland) said to us that they were boiling all their water or using bottled water (even for cleaning their teeth!)  So maybe us Southerners are really not that soft after all??

 We wandered into the nearest little town of Keswick. It was gorgeous! I just had to come away with some delicious Kendal mint cake. Unfortunately it only lasted me a few minutes!! I LOVE Kendal mint cake!

Wandering around on one of our many afternoon strolls I took some pretty pics. Here is a wall covered in moss. In fact most walls surrounding the campsite were covered in  moss!!

Lot's of "Black Beauties"

A view of the nearest lake to us.

On the very last night of our holiday we were met with this beautiful sky. WOW.

We really did have an amazing holiday. Shame it all doesn't last a little bit longer.  We traveled 1200 miles, and visited places we had never been before. Hopefully we will pop away on the odd weekend in Dora until the time comes next summer for our next family holiday. Hope you have all had a lovely summer? Let me know what you have been up to as I would love to know xxx

Back from my hols...........

Hiya! Well I am finally back from my 2 week camping trip with my family. We went travelling in Dora the Explorer around Britain. 1200 miles in total, stopping at various campsites on the way. Yes, she made it the whole 2 weeks without a single fault - yippee!! (Wales, Cumbria, Stratford- Upon - Avon, staffordshire and York.) I will tell you more at a later date, but it's more packing for me as I am off to my parents for a couple of nights, in Devon, with my 2 little men. Then back for the weekend, giving me just enough time to re-pack ready to go for another 3 nights camping with my 2 little men and my best friend and her children. But I thought I had better let you know that I am still around! I will be back with a longer post in a couple of weeks once all my holidays are over. So here are a few of my holiday snaps for you to take a peek at. Enjoy  the rest of your summer hols, Tasha xxx

St David's Cathedral - the smallest city in the UK

My 2 little men fishing in Wales 

The Hillbilly's base camp in Wales!!

Lily our Cairn terrier came on our hols with us.

Sunset at the campsite in Wales

We saw the Hogwarts train at the National Railway Museum in York - If you are ever in York, and like trains this is a must to visit.

The gorgeous view from the top of a mountain in Cumbria - WOW!

Sunset in Cumbria - another WOW!!

Look what I won!!

I am busy getting organised for our holiday in Dora the explorer, packing, tidying the garden (in the hope that it doesn't get too overgrown whilst we are away), painting Dora (don't ask!!) - She has had a lot of work done on her recently due to her literally falling apart.  My lovely hubbie is working  all hours to get her ready in time for our hols.  We are now having to leave 4 days later than planned. I am actually that organised that I have all  the new school uniform ironed, named and ready for going back to school in September! But before I do go away, I just wanted to share these gorgeous earrings with you that I won from "Dear George Designs"  on Facebook. All I had to do was share a photo from her page and that was it, I was the very lucky chosen one! Arn't they gorgeous?

I had my pair made with a lovely light blue crystal. If you would like to buy a pair here is the link to them:

Buy me

They arrived in a lovely hand stamped box with a gorgeous hand made newspaper flower (which you can also buy from Dear George Designs Folksy shop - Thank you very much Sarah!

Right, back to the organising and packing!! I have managed to download the blogger app on my smart phone so I will try and add a few pics of our travels. Catch you soon xxx

Chutney & Cheesecake!

Hi! How is everyone? What have you all been up to? (comments below please!) 

Since the start of the summer hols I haven't had chance to be very crafty. You remember I said that I would make some new granny squares and show you the results in my next blog? Well, unfortunately I haven't had chance to have a go! I will try, and as soon as I have created some I will write a separate post......hope you don't mind? 

My friends first baby is due in August ( she is having a baby girl) so I am desperately trying to crochet her a cardigan. I am slowly getting there, as it is rather fiddly and the hook I am using keeps catching on the thin wool. I have never attempted a baby cardigan before, so its been an enjoyable learning curve for me. Would you like to see what it looks like?

I have got a little further on than you can see in the pic. I have about 7cm of shell work to go and then I have to crochet the arms and finish it off. I do so hope it works out! - I will keep you posted.

Whilst I think about it, I must just show you this......

I meant to include this pic in my last post. My littlest man created these stone sculptures when we had our lovely day out to Church Ope Cove. He was even rubbing the stones together first thinking that the static would hold them together. It was lovely to just sit back and watch him concentrate.

So, back to what I was telling you (my excuse for not creating anything handmade). I did have a day of baking this week. I made some green tomato chutney- a real favourite of mine as my lovely Nan used to make this, and as a child I ate it with most my dinners - yum!. And a delicious strawberry cheesecake (hence my post title!)  

Green tomato and apple chutney

Ingredients you need:

225g light soft brown sugar

850ml malt vinegar

900g green tomatoes, roughly chopped

900g Bramley apples, cored and roughly chopped

225g sultanas

115g raisins

225g shallots (I used onions and couldn't find shallots)

Juice of 1 lemon

25g salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon ground mixed spice

We grew our tomatoes in our green house so due to the lack of sunshine we had plenty of green ones!

1) Put the sugar and vinegar into a large pan, over a medium heat. Stir often, until the sugar has completely dissolved. Add the remaining ingredients and return the mixture to boil.

2) Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 2 1/2 - 3 hours. Check if the chutney is ready by dragging a channel through the mixture (with a wooden spoon) so that the bottom of the pan is visible. If the channel fills immediately with liquid, the chutney is not yet ready. cook for a further 10 mins and check again. The chutney is ready when the channel does not fill and the mixture is very thick.

Like so!....

3) Remove the pan from the heat and leave to stand briefly. Carefully pour into hot sterilised jars and seal. Allow the chutney to cool completely before labeling and storing in a cool, dark cupboard. Store for at least 2 months before eating. (we couldn't wait and opened our first jar the next day, it tasted lovely but I am saving the others for 2 months time!)

Now for the cheesecake..... yummy!

Strawberry cheesecake

Ingredients you will need:

125g digestive biscuits

75g soft butter

300g cream cheese (I used marscapone)

60g icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

250ml double cream

fresh strawberries

1) Blitz the biscuits in a food processor until beginning to turn to crumbs, then add the butter and whiz again to make the mixture clump.

2) Press the mixture into a well greased tin; press a little up the sides to form a slight ridge.

3) Beat together the cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice in a bowl until smooth.

4) Lightly whip the double cream, (notice my lovely Nan's old whisk I am using in the pic above) and then fold it into the cream mixture.

5) Spoon the cheesecake filling on top of the biscuit base and smooth with a spatula. Put it in the fridge for 3 hours or overnight.

6) When you are ready to serve, slice your strawberries and place on top - perfect!

Very tasty it was too. If you have a go at making either of these recipes I would love to hear from you, so please leave a comment.

Right I am having a quiet day at home today so I am actually going to get creative this afternoon, once I have folded up the lovely sun dried washing. I won't tell you what I am going to make today, you will just have to wait until next time!

P.S - We are away on our 2 week camping holiday at the end of next week. I will try and use my phone to add the odd pic here and there of our adventures. If you don't hear from me you know where I am - "wish you were here!"

I will see you soon, have a lovely summer xxx