Some things that make me happy

This cherry and marzipan cake:

We all love it.  It's got marzipan in it.  It's helping us get through our plum jam surplus.  It's easy to make.  What's not to like?!

Sorting my fabrics.  I could do this all day...

Browsing a car-boot for more lovely fabrics and beads to cut up and sort.  Again, I could spend a lot of time doing this.  I realised that I hadn't been to a car-boot at all before yesterday morning.  I've been to similar things in France, people with trestle tables of random stuff that you can haggle over (if you're feeling brave and your language skills are up to it...)  Usually I'm not allowed to go to them.  There's probably a good reason...

And I'm sorry about the photos of half-eaten food, but we all enjoyed last night's dinner so much I had to take photos before it disappeared.  Leftover cauliflower curry with added chicken bits, and homemade naan bread.  Went overboard with the onion seeds because I love them.

And easy banoffee puddings - homemade digestives for the base (thank you Waitrose magazine), a goodly dollop of Bonne Maman confiture du lait (thank you France), bananas and whipped cream.  

I'll leave you digesting that little lot, and say that I may not be around for a while.  We're having a bit of a family internet holiday in an attempt to (a) give respite to Mr G who looks at a screen all day (b) get me to do a bit of work instead of blogging about my dinner and searching for more recipes to make more lovely things for dinner etc (c) get the Girl some focus and stop her rotting her brain playing computer games...

See you all soon!

Sunny experiments

A strange glowing orb has appeared in the sky the last few days and I've become slightly obsessed about being out in the garden soaking up the warmth!  So on Sunday, what better to do than a spot of sun printing.  Never done any before, but had the paint lurking around for a while...

I wasn't sure whether to use glass to hold the bits in place, or not.  The only glass I had to hand had tape around the edges. 

Regretted the tape in the end.  And I lost one pane of glass, as everything underneath was a bit steamy.  Thought I'd do a comparison.  The above is with glass, and this is without:

And this is the whole thing, masking tape lines and all:

In other news, I've been noodling away on a collage.  The background was put together last weekend, and I finished it today.  I think.  When to stop noodling?

And the Girl has been inspired by the dry weather, and created a bit of a primitive art gallery on the patio...

love that one with the spear...

she didn't like this one, so after a dousing with the watering can, this notice appeared:

Brrrr

We're back, from very chilly Normandy.  Possibly the coldest holiday ever, in a lovely but quite basic and VERY COLD gite....with no woodburner.  

It was so cold the simnel cake I packed nearly froze and needed to be hacked into pieces with the one and only sharp knife provided...

and the well-known brand of hazelnut spread needed to be chipped out of the jar...

But at least it was sunny.  Most of the time.

I have no idea what you call these stacks of wood, but if we'd had a woodburner we'd have pinched them.  We almost burnt the furniture in desperation as it was...

But despite the cold we managed to get out and about every day.  Random photos of old road signs were taken:

I indulged in the obligatory embarrassment of the Girl by taking photos of cheese:

We couldn't find any pirates, but we did find lovely chocolates and pastries within:

And we ran the legs off the Whippet with a 19 mile walkies (bike ride for us) on a resurfaced railway line.  Here are the Girl and the Boy disappearing off into the haze...

We didn't mean to go that far...

When we weren't out and about we wore as many layers of woolly clothes as possible without restricting the use of our arms, and sat in the sunshine on hideous velour-covered armchairs.  Or Mum, as the case may be...

Warmer than a hot-water bottle...but it made my cutting and sticking and sketchbooking a bit tricky...

We weren't completely without our comforts.  Gite cooking always starts unpromisingly, given the basic equipment and uncontrollable gas cookers, but I was very chuffed with this leek tart invention baked on a pizza tray:

although we all picked off the cherry tomatoes....

And come evening, what could be more cosy than a glass of wine by the fire?

Hmm.  I have a few thoughts....

But a sign of a good holiday must be that we were glad to be home, and appreciative of our warm house with a well-equipped kitchen and the lack of any need for woollen fingerless mitts while chopping vegetables, or the need to wear a hat in bed.  

And I got a ton of cutting and sticking and organising finished, and I'm all inspired and ready to go for the summer term, so that's very good indeed.

Close to home

Back in 1998, we were early for an appointment to view what is now our home. While we waited, we wandered up to the top of the street, just to see what was there.

We found a huge open space, with woods in the distance and views to the South Downs.  From the day we moved in, we took daily walks around the playing fields –before we had a dog, our cat used to join us.  On a clear day we can see to Firle Beacon in the east and the Jack and Jill windmills in the west.  In winter, sparkly cobwebs festoon the thorny hedgerows and maize stubble catches the frost.  In spring, we’ve watched lambs playing and calves being born in the fields, while the woods are full of bluebells.

This embroidery shows the district council’s plans to cover the land with 1000 new houses and industrial units – this same land that has provided a reassuring natural rhythm to the days and years.  If the fields are built on, we’ll lose more than our view: our connections to the land and seasons will be gone – and with them, what makes this part of Uckfield, our little corner of East Sussex, such a special place to live. 

This time last year we fought and won the right to let our dog run off the lead.  Unfortunately, at the same time we fought and lost the right to keep the green fields and our view to the South Downs to the developers who want to build 1000 unwanted new homes.

As part of our Embroiderers' Guild regional challenge, we are making a book about our branch and district, with each member doing a piece about where they live - and this is my contribution.  When I saw the plan the council had drawn up, with that pink zigzaggy line, I just knew I had to stitch it!

Chuffed

We have been moderated and verified, internally and externally, and we are chuffed!

Fabulous job, ladies - well done each and every one of you - and thank you!  My first City & Guilds as a tutor instead of a student, and you've done me proud.

If anyone wants to join us in the autumn to have another bash at it, sign up here!

On a roll

I've got myself organised, I've got a plan and so this morning I finally dug out my box of bits that I started way back in December...

This is as far as I got "before"

Just playing with colours and themes...

But then it stopped, I got stuck.  Until now!  On a quest for more discipline and in a spirit of "just get on with it" I scheduled the whole day today to do just that, get on with it.

So first, I needed some fibonacci spirals...

By lunchtime I'd got this far:

But that's it, folks - I can't show you any more at the moment!  I've photocopied and cut up lots more fibonaccis, but now I need to paint them.  Then the sampling begins.  I'm thinking a combination of collage and felt (my big newly-rediscovered "thing"!)

This is all for the Big Idea, which is still a big idea even though the exhibition it was all for has now been postponed.  Probably for the best, but it leaves me in the dangerous position of not having a deadline. 

Hence the self-imposed discipline!  Gosh it's painful...