cooking up a storm

I've made a bit of time to cook today. I enjoy cooking but wasn't do it only for pleasure today - I was adamant to use the remainder of my first fruit and veg box from abel&cole (my next delivery is tomorrow!).
I flirted with an organic veg box from Riverford a few years back, but found I just wasn't using everything, resulting in a waste of food and money.
A few years have passed and I thought it was worth giving it another go. I've become a bit better at not wasting food. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that I have been growing some of my own this year?

So today, I made:
some fruit salad - I know, its not exactly cooking but the fruit needed using:a potato, cheese and onion pie, using the last few potatoes and onions from the veg box and some courgette chutney - using courgettes, onions and apples from the veg box and some tomatoes which were just going a bit soft in the fridgeThe Courgette Chutney was so simple to make - you can find the recipe here

I also used one of my cucumbers from my greenhouse in the salad we had with our pie. In a way, I'm amazed that I have managed to grow things that we have been able to eat. This year I've grown and eaten radishes, peas, potatoes, herbs, rocket, cucumbers, strawberries, and tomatoes. At the moment I have a LOT of green tomatoes in my greenhouse - waiting to ripen in the sun (ever the optimist).

I also did a little bit of sewing today - just playing with sewing onto paper again. I might get around to sharing the results with you later in the week.

the weekend blogger strikes again

I'm going through a phase of blogging only at weekends again (I think it happened this time last year too). I feel like I have a split personality at the moment - the weekday me, and the weekend me. Needless to say, I much prefer the weekend me - I'm happier, more relaxed (read less stressed!) and get time to do this things that I enjoy - like pottering in the garden/greenhouse, reading, catching up from the week, being creative, cooking, and spending time my boy - Mr Monda. Mr Monda has been absent this weekend, visiting his parents so I have been home alone with my moggies. It's a strange feeling, almost like I don't know what to do with myself, by myself. This said, I have got quite a lot done this weekend.

One thing I wanted to do this weekend was try out my newly fixed and serviced sewing machine.
These interesting specimens were removed and replaced: A capacitor from the foot pedal (which caused the machine to work by itself!) and a new bobbin winder piece - apparently, this one was quite worn out.
It seems to be sewing well and seems a bit smoother too - such a relief. It cost £60 to be fixed and serviced by a nice man who came to the house (massively convenient) - a recommendation from a local fellow blogger - thanks Helen!
I think considering I've never had it serviced it was a good deal - especially if it means I can get years more sewing out of it.
During the week I also received some 'treasure' I purchased on ebay recently. In a moment of self indulgence, I bought a tin of old buttons - for my stash of course: The same seller had various other vintage items, so I indulged a bit more and bought a couple of old sewing/knitting books, and an old bridge set - mainly so I could cut them up and use them in some of my stitched paper collages:This last couple of days I've been working on some stitched postcards. I've made 8 different designs - so just need to photograph them and get them into my shop. Here is the first couple:


Back here next weekend then? :o)

This into that

Why is it that you can never sleep in at the weekend, even though you really want to? My body just woke up early this morning and didn't allow me to go back to sleep. So I got up and started reading my new copy of Olive Magazine Olive is a great food magazine - its a mixture of reviews of restaurants/eateries/places to eat out, ideas for eating in and entertaining, topical foodie subjects (this month is about British meat), recipes and ideas, where to buy, and generally quite inspirational mouthwatering photography.
Then checked my emails which let to a spot of indulgent online browsing - clicking links from page to page, site to site - I love doing this because you never know what you're going to find.
Today I came across a site called 'this into that' where the maker creates functional furniture and art from old books and tools. The book/wood shelf with the random hooks is my fave.
Take a look:
I've used the random number generator to pick a few recipients for my card giveaway. The lucky punters are: Jennyflower, Gina and Cat.
Ladies please email me your addresses (you can use the 'contact me' button on my profile page) and I'll pop them in the post for you.

In sewing machine news, the fixer man is coming to diagnose on Wednesday next week. I hope it's nothing too serious. I don't need an excuse to buy a new bernina, but I like my solid old one and would like to think it will work for many more years to come. Fingers crossed.

Bewitched Bernina?

What do you do when your sewing machine just starts working all by itself?
Well, you panic a bit, pull all the plugs out and then start un-knotting the thread that is wrapped around the bobbin case. Leave your sewing machine unplugged for a couple of weeks in the naive hope that the next time you plug it in it behaves.
2 weeks pass....
Plug sewing machine in. It behaves - great. Use it, and forget to unplug it. Get in the shower, and after a few minutes, wonder what on earth the noise it that you can hear above the shower. Pull back shower curtain. Shout and swear. Get out of shower and run to sewing machine being careful not to slip over or drip water in the plug socket whist yanking it out. Open the windows and remove Cat from sewing room because burning smell of bewitched sewing machine is foul. Be thankful that you were at home when this event happened and that you didn't need to call fire brigade whist sewing room is on fire and you are in a towel with unshaven legs.

So, what to do? I cannot believe my trusty Bernina is misbehaving. Perhaps this is an all out protest because I've never had her serviced since I purchased her (second hand) and she is very old.
I found this sewing machine repair guy via google. Has anyone used him?

Also, do you want to vote for my blog? Pop over the the lovely dorset cereals website and vote for me to win


I still have some of my cards on offer if you missed it in my last post. I'll leave it another couple of days and then draw the recipients.

shelf stacking

I just read my last post again. I'm glad I'm not feeling like that today! I've been feeling a little more energised these last couple of days thankfully.
I didn't press the button incidentally (although I am watching Lost on DVD at the moment!). I've skimmed speedily through my reading list without commenting as I usually do but looking at most of the pictures and reading some of the words and it made me feel better.

so, aside from work this week, I have managed to do a bit of a shelf stacking with some jumper kitties and some of my new cards which came back from the printers a couple of weeks ago I'm really happy with the cards - they are printed on 100% recycled card, and come with recycled brown craft paper envelopes.The printers actually gave me a few more cards than I had asked for (how nice) so I'm going to give a couple away. If you fancy them then just leave me a comment and I'll use a random number generator to pick a recipient, or two.

mindfulness?

I've just been reading about 'mindfulness'. I don't usually actively seek out things like this to read, but today I'm having one of those days when it just all feels like a bit too much. I've had a really crubbish day.

So back to the mindfulness thing:

"Mindfulness is the practice of becoming more aware of the present moment, rather than dwelling in the past or projecting into the future. It generally involves a heightened awareness of sensory stimuli (really noticing your breathing, feeling the sensations of your body, etc.) and being "in the now." While mindfulness has origins in Eastern philosophy and Buddhism, there is no necessary religious component to mindfulness -- anyone, with any belief system, can enjoy the benefits of mindfulness"

Sounds good in theory.

I have 1000+ blog posts to read. Google reader has stopped counting and just says 1000+! I have no idea how many that actually is. I do want to read all of these - I enjoy it, but it feels like standing at the bottom of a big mountain, and it would be so much less stressful to press the 'mark all as read' button. What to do?
I think I'm going to bed to practice some 'mindlessness' - everything feels better after a good sleep. sigh.

cornwall in pictures

we had a fab weekend Cornwall, despite the weather, which was glorious one moment and foul the next, with little warning between changes. It was hard to know what to wear. T-shirt's and umbrella's were the best combo.
We stayed just outside St Austell which in itself was not too pretty, but it was surrounded by lots of pretty places, so we ventured to Mevagissey, Pentewen and Fowey.
We camped for one night, and slept on the floor of my sisters holiday cottage another night (gale force winds and heavy rain = miesrable camping conditions).

we took lots of pics so here are a handful of my faves:

chips (that went with a pasty)

Surely not?
Mr Monda picking the buoys out of the sea
We are tall!
A bit of fun with beach debris

I've got some crafty goodness to show - this will have to wait till the next post though...

absenteeism

Please excuse the absence over the last week. My day job is crazy busy right now and I'm spending (too) many hours in the office - so not much time being creative.
Handm@de Winchester was a really great day. I met and chin wagged with some lovely fellow bloggers (both stall holders and visitors). My new little monsters seemed to be very popular, but I didn't sell everything - the nice result of this is that I have some new items to go into my shop.
I'm planning a shop update over the course of a few days next week.
This weekend I'm going camping in Cornwall - a little break and a change of scene is definitely in order.

Also, something quite exciting is in the pipeline, but still very much a wip for now...

do you remember...

when Blur looked like this:
I do. It makes me feel old. But not so old that I can't go and jump around a park in London this afternoon/evening watching them play live.

Also today, Kyoko was kind enough to feature me and my moggies on her blog- thanks for your kind words Kyoko.

I'm going to pretty busy this next few days so no blog posts from me until next week now. If you are in the vicinity of Winchester on Sunday do pop in and say hello. I'll be at Hamdm@de Winchester along with some other very clever crafty peeps.

schorchio!

Boy was it a hot day today - 22 degrees in 7.40am on my way into work, and 29 degrees at 5.40 on my way home - I've not idea how hot it got during the day but I'd wager we were into the 30's. Our office felt like a greenhouse though because as is typical on hot days, the aircon was not working.

I had a super busy weekend. On Saturday I got the train up to Grantham to pick up our new (old) car that I bought on ebay a couple of weeks ago. I've never bought a car on ebay before and I have to say it's quite a scary thing to do. Fortunately the seller had described the car well and we got what we were expecting. We're taking it into the garage this week just to make sure it's all OK on the inside too.
On the return home we stopped off in a pretty little village (where I used to live when I was young) called Edith Weston - in Rutland. After googling for pics, I was surprised to see that my old house is now a rental cottage. It's a very pretty and tranquil olde village with very old stone cottages a plenty. Its also right on Rutland Water, again, pretty and tranquil, so I would definitely recommend a visit there.

Yesterday, I was busy making cute little jumper monsters and Kitties in preparation for Handm@de Winchester next weekend. Pics soon - not enough light tonight.

Today is my Dad's 60th birthday - happy Birthday Dad. Thanks to Parceforce (said through gritted teeth) his parcel didnt arrive in time. I made him a card too. I hope he likes it when it finally arrives tomorrow (?)Tomorrow I'll be getting on a train again, and then a hot tube across London to the O2 arena to see Kings of Leon (woot) - and if that wasn't enough excitement for one week, on Friday, I'll be in London again, this time in Hyde Park to see Blur (woot woot). Yes I am a lucky girl!

at the printer

This last couple of weeks I've been working on some cards which I am getting professionally printed (in big quantities!). They went off to the printer today and hopefully they should arrive within the next week - very exciting. Do you want to see?
The day job is manic at the moment - some very long days being spent in the office right now. I'd much rather be out spending time in the sunshine, the green house or sewing - roll on the weekend. I'm glad the days are long though - we had an amazing sunset last night - this was taken at about 9.30:
I'm also tweeting. Much to my own disgust, I have succumbed to twitter! I like it for the fact that I can just write a few words each day when I don't have the time or energy to blog. If you want to follow me you can find me via the link in the sidebar.

I'm off to water my plants, the poor things are really parched.

weekend fun

Why do weekends just seem to zoom by? I suppose one of the benefits of this is that I do always try to make the most of the time - a nice mixture of time spent with my family and crafting and pottering in the garden was what happened this weekend.
I went to LEGOland on Saturday with my sis/bro in law and my nephews. If you've never been, it is a nice day out - especially for kids and the landscaped grounds are lovely - needless to say a nice day was had by one and all. One of the attractions I like most is miniland - lots of different countries made from lego bricks. This is London (click on pic for supersize version):Today I've been sewing up some softies, making some cards, and pottering about in the greenhouse. Today I picked a cucumber, a couple of radishes and a strawberry from the greenhouse, so me and Mr Monda shared a bizarre and rather nouvelle cuisine style lunch of a radish each mixed with some chopped cucumber followed by half a strawberry - we really know how to live in this household!
I'll leave you with a question. Pear or Kiwi? :o)

blue and green

Thanks for all the well wishing comments from my last post - I'm just feeling a little run down right now. Down but certainly not out.

I'm just popping in quickly today - I'm busy beavering away on various things at the moment as well as preparing for handm@de Winchester in a couple of weeks. Spinning many a plate seems par for the course of late.
I made this brooch when I wanted to take a break from making jumper kitties. I've been wanting to make some new brooches for a while, something a bit more summery, and less felty. I've used some fabric strips - denim from a pair of old jeans, a napkin I purchased from Laura Ashley in the sale and a couple of vintage buttons from my stash.

This is a sneak peek of another little project I'm working on:Without even realising - both my pics in this post are blue and green. How nice that I co-ordinate without even realising I'm doing it.

I seem to have lost all sense of priority with my making at the moment and I don't know why this is - perhaps I just like making things difficult for myself? Perhaps this is a mid year crisis? Perhaps I should stop procrastinating and do some making.

it's oh so quiet

So I've been a little quiet around these parts lately. A lot is occupying my thoughts and world right now but it's not really stuff I feel I have the energy to write about, partly because I'm feeling a little run down and lack lustre. It's a small miracle that this is happening at the moment:Back soon, hopefully with more oomph and pizazz.

a good cause treasury

One of my chicks has been included in an Etsy treasury with a good cause theme. A little non profit organisation called Little Hen Rescue in the UK are aiming to rehome 11,000 ex-battery hens by 29th June.
If you can't rehome a hen, you can sponsor one, knit a jacket for one of the poor birds who has lost her feather due to stress, anxiety and ill treatment as a battery bird, or you could volunteer your time to rescue hensCheck the Little Hen Rescue website for more details. Also Annette Tait sums it up quite nicely in her blog post here.
Thanks to Pey for featuring me in the treasury and for highlighting such a good cause.