Mother's Day ...........

I had a lovely sunny "Mothering Sunday Weekend" - I managed to spend time with my mum on Saturday and my mum in law on Sunday and was thoroughly spoilt by my three lovely daughters.

such sweet cards....................

some lovely pressies - I'm so lucky..................

I adore my measuring bowls.............

I'm going to wear my lovely cotton pj's tonight and plan to make lots of lovely Easter crafty things with my stamps and stickers and I can't wait to use my beautiful measuring bowls - I feel some baking coming on.

Hope you all have a lovely day - talk soon x

yummy shortbread..................

I seem to have fallen in love with shortbread and it's so easy to make. I think I had just forgotten about shortbread. As you know I love to bake and always have full cake tins and recently I have been baking for my crochet workshops - if that makes sense. We do crochet at the workshops but it's nice to have a cake and coffee break. I wanted to make a simple bake for people who didn't want richer cakes like cupcakes or chocolate cake. I stumbled upon this really easy shortbread recipe on bbc.co.uk/food.

For the plain shortbread you only need 3 ingredients, flour, butter and sugar.

125g/4oz butter

55g/2oz caster sugar, plus extra to finish

180g/6oz plain flour

1.Heat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5.

2.Beat the butter and the sugar together until smooth.

3.Stir in the flour and mix until you get a smooth ball. Turn on to a work surface and

gently roll out until it is 1cm/½in thick.

4.Cut into shapes or fingers and place onto a baking tray. Sprinkle with

caster sugar and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.

5.Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until pale golden-brown. Set

aside to cool on a wire rack.

Makes 16 -20 shortbread

My first batch I kept plain and they were yummy - although I did pipe a few dots of icing on some of the hearts.

 I made some more yesterday and worked some chocolate chips into the mixture before rolling out.

they worked out really well - I might add lemon zest next time or maybe some dried fruit. Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

talk soon x

Yarn along - sunny day.........................

The sun is shining, a parcel of new yarn has just arrived, I've started a new project - how could my day get better..................

I'm joining in with  Ginny, and Tami hope you all have a lovely day - I'm very happy on my sofa hook in hand and catching up with Greys Anatomy on the TV - bliss

talk soon x

craft group..............................

I met with my felting friends for our monthly craft club and it was Susan's turn to be hostess. We were very well looked after with some amazing home made soup and sandwiches, plus copious cups of coffee through out the day. The morning was spent learning a new paper folding craft and Susan taught us how to make trees from old paperback novels. The trees would make fabulous decorations for Christmas. We decorated the top of the trees with a tiny porcelain heart that Susan's very creative daughter had made.

After lunch we caught up with some more crochet. Susan and Rachel made granny squares and I taught Soozi how to make hearts and a simple flower. Have you noticed that we have a Sue, Susan and Soozi in our small crafty group - we are going to have to change Rachel's name if she wants to be part of our gang.

Rachel is hosting our next get together in April so watch this space................

talk soon x

Blueberry and Oat muffins................................

If you feel like a spot of quick baking have a go at these blueberry and oat muffins so yummy - I made them last week. They were very simple to make and even though they contained fruit they lasted a few days in an airtight tin. The recipe was from Lorraine Pascale's Fast, Fresh and Easy Cook Book which I've had a while but just seen it's on offer over here, I've also found a free link to the recipe here.

Kate had bought me some posh muffin cases, like the ones you get in coffee shops, so I thought I would try them out and they worked a treat.

I used frozen blueberries which was all I had in but they worked great and are much cheaper than fresh ones. 

The mixture makes 12 giant muffins - I might make a smaller cupcake size next time 

they looked very professional when they came out of the oven

and tasted very good........................

talk soon x

I'm so proud....................

Just a very quick post to tell you something lovely - as you all know I have just run my first beginners workshops and I've been so delighted with everyone's progress. A number of the women have continued to practice at home between lessons and have started some amazing projects. Cath from my evening group is  making a granny square blanket for her grandaughter and it's growing at a terrific rate, and to top this of Cath has just started her own crochet blog I am so delighted. Please pop over here to say hello.....

Felt I had to add a bit of colour to this post and it is workshop related so I've popped in a photo of my table before we started the last session - yarn and pattern all ready to make our very first crochet flower and leaf brooch - they turned out lovely....................

talk soon x

yarn along - crochet mandalas........................

I'm afraid I've caught the bug and yes it has laid me low, not much has got done this week I haven't even had time to catch up with your posts - sorry! I blame you all really - it started with an innocent enough post here then I popped over here. It didn't stop there, next came this and this and finally I found this and I succumbed - have you guessed yet, yes I have a very severe case of the "mandala bug" - I just can't stop and Chrissie didn't help my recovery with this post yesterday

I have fallen in love with the spring mandala pattern written by Barbara which she has kindly published on her blog for us all to try and as you will see below I have made a few........

and I have just started another...........................

the colour combination was inspired by this ..............................

To help my recovery I thought it was time to do a little more than crochet so I have added in reading - I am loving this new book which was recommended by lovely Linda, I am still busy with my crochet but planning to make yummy meals - when I have time to step foot in the kitchen of course.

I have even planned a workshop as my beginners group finished yesterday and they all want to have ago - I think I might have passed the bug on....................... I contacted Barbara over at K- town and she has given me permission to use her pattern at my workshop - bloggers are so kind.

I am joining in with Ginny, Chrissie and Tami...............

Hope you don't catch the bug - talk soon x

Sweet treats ...........

More baking and another big batch of Victoria sponge - this mix went on forever. I wanted to make some plain buns for the freezer and some small buns to decorate as presents. I did this a few months ago and thought it was time I made some more to give away. A close friend of the family has been having a really hard time; she has recently been diagnosed with cancer and has started chemotherapy. At times like this it really makes you count your blessings and focus on all of the good things we have in our lives. I've felt really powerless as I can't do very much to help. I did come up with a few practical ideas and knitted some little pull on beanie hats to keep her warm as she has lost all her lovely hair and I thought some little sweet treats might tempt her to eat.

lots of little cup cakes with fondant icing and butter cream

I had a very productive baking day as not only did I bake the buns, I also iced some plain rich tea biscuits with some spare fondant icing - these biscuits are an absolute favourite with the little ones and so quick and easy to decorate. I also had some sponge mixture over so added lemon juice and made a lemon drizzle cake.

talk soon x

happiness...................

Happiness is receiving my tickets for the "Country Living Spring Fair" through the post - thank you Helen
for your lovely giveaway prize.

Alex and Finn snuggled under a blanket playing with my iPad

Sun shining through my kitchen window

Daisy making a bed for Rainbow bear

lovely moments to share........................

talk soon xxx

yarn along - crochet bits and bobs.....................

I have been so preoccupied with my crochet workshops that for the first time in ages I haven't got a project on the go. I have been busy trying out stitches and making little samples to show my two groups. This week I had planned to teach half trebles, trebles and decreasing. So I made this little stitch sampler, which started with double crochet as a refresher from last week and included all the new stitches. It's like a little house.

The group had all done some crochet practice at home and were raring to go - so we started the sampler and did the new crochet stitches but didn't get to the decrease as everyone was really keen to learn how to do a granny square. As trebles were fresh in every ones mind we took the plunge and I had made a colourful sample earlier which helped guide us ...................

The granny square technique was picked up very quickly so I am expecting great things for next weeks class.

I have also been trying to teach myself how to crochet with my left hand as one of the women in my group is left handed and I found it quite difficult to teach and support her last week.

a little bit wonky but my first attempt at making a granny square and a little sample of stitches all with my left hand - I was quite proud of myself and it really helped me with this weeks teaching session.

I am joining in with Ginny, Chrissie, Marianne and Tami.

talk soon x

superhero play date...............

Most Wednesdays mornings I look after my grandson Noah and we always have a special time together, but last week a superhero came to play.

Now it's not often I have superman round for a play date so it had to be a bit special - we started with table football.

I love the look of concentration on his face  - he is really good, although you would expect that from a superhero.

I'd heard that superheros like to bake - but I think they just like to eat the mixture, especially the butter cream.................

  they did turn out yummy................

 and after checking the mixture it was only right that superman had to sample the finished product.

Even superman has to brush his teeth after such a lot of sweet stuff

we had such fun - pity I didn't show you a glimpse of my superhero outfit!

(sorry about the poor quality of my photos but I just had to share them)

talk soon x