Easter Parade

I love the holidays.... Especially any holiday that has to do with CHOCOLATE... So it must be very obvious that Easter rates as one of my favorite times of the year!  There is not a whole lot I want to say today, So I will let the pictures tell the story..... The very Chocolaty story......

Pretty little jars of Chocolaty Easter biscuits, made for teachers and friends!

Yummy Easter Nests for Little Madams class at school - so easy!! Rice Crispies(or any cereal your child likes) LOTS of melted chocolate and a bit of  melted butter, mix it all together Form little nests, add tiny speckled chocolate eggs and put in the fridge to firm up - Children LOVE these!!!!

Start of an Easter bonnet for Schools Easter Parade

All finished, with real chocolate eggs in the basket on top

A Chocolate bunny staring wistfully outside

Easter Chick and more chocolate eggs

More chocolate eggs -can you see a pattern emerging?

A few decorations around our kitchen, I made the cute little bean bag chickens last year....

and bought the little hanging decorations in the UK about 2 years ago!

We are off on a little holiday soon,so no more post for a bit! However I know I will be brimming over with inspiration and happy memories on my return. So watch this space!!

with that said...... HAPPY CHOCOLATE -I mean EASTER everyone!!!!

Done and Dusted!!

TA DAH!!!

Done..... Dusted..... Delivered!!

Yes, it most certainly is!! I am so happy with the way it turned out too, whats more my dear friend loved it! That after all is the most important thing!!

 

It is unlike any other baby blanket I have seen, I didn't want a wishy washy, pale baby blanket and all these gorgeous vibrant colours are just perfect! Elle Gold wool is what I used to create it! And I am VERY VERY happy with the result! I was hoping to get a picture(and a cuddle) of the gorgeous little bundle of joy on it but ALAS she was having a lovely nap when i went to deliver it! Oh Well,maybe another time............

Knitty bits

One of my earliest memories, is sitting at my mother’s feet, in my Aunt’s house listening to them talk while they furiously knitted!  I can still hear the sound of the knitting needles clackety-clicking. They would churn out school jerseys ,hats, baby clothes blankets and many more gorgeous items.... the school jersey were the warmest and the always a little too big!(“she will grow into it”) There were stripes,  blocks and raglan jerseys with different colour sleeves . Not an ounce of wool was ever wasted! My Mother knitted beautifully, and still does today, producing gorgeous Christmas presents for the whole family last year!

A sunny spot in the corner, perfect to knit



Polly Dolly

I was very interested in learning this beautiful art form from an early age but alas, I am a LEFTY!!! Oh horror of horrors! I spent many a long afternoon, trying my best to get it right but my tension was always off, stitches were dropped and no one could really teach me, until my mother hit on the very clever idea of me sitting in front of her and doing everything the opposite of what she was doing! Very soon I was clackety-clicking with them but not at the speed they could produce things. Knitting for me has always been a very slow process and to be truthful not my favourite thing....  I knitted a baby layette although I think it took me years!! I am not joking!(Am proud to say the little Madame did wear it) I find knitting patterns very hard to read and when they say continue for 40 cm I want to cry, knowing that it will take me hours and hours of very concentrated work, and Oh My Word, Heaven help me if I drop a stitch! (I simply pull it all out and start again)
Where am I going with all this boring waffle about knitting......... when little Madame came to me about 2 years ago and asked me to knit her a dolly that was in one of my beautiful books, I nearly had a heart attack!! “Wait for your Grandmother “ was my reply but Madame was having none of that and she kept on nagging......  So what’s a mom to do? I got some needles and set about knitting her the doll and clothes to fit it!  After many, many, maaaaannnnnyyyyy  telephone calls to my mother, I started to get the hang of the pattern and a Polly Dolly began to take shape! The sheer joy on my little madams face, spurred me on.....   I now enjoy knitting and have discovered many beautiful magazines that now include funky little project, one of the best being the British magazine Simply Knitting. I have yet to tackle anything big, and will still say that I love to crochet best of all! But ultimately I must thank my Mother, Aunt’s and all their friends for instilling in me at a very early age, the absolute love of wool,  beautiful knitted things, and the art of it all. I am sad to say that I think it is an art form that is dying out, I will however try very hard to pass the love I have for all things woolly onto my angel child!  As my mother did to me! Thank you Mom!

And her Dress



Little China Girls!



Halloween Mouse





Pretty Tea Cosy and some of my first crochet flowers

PS-the book that i got Polly Dolly's pattern from is called Knitted Toys Tales - Laura Long(Metz Press)

Victorian Sponge Yum-Yum

Have you ever had one of those days –the kind when you just want something really yummy to eat, well it happened to me a few days ago! I just couldn’t decide......something sweet......... decadent and indulgent, or something savoury........ Salty and satisfying?? I just couldn’t decide, and being on the eternal diet (YES, that swears word-DIET!!!!) I knew that if I was going to break out, it needed to be the perfect delight!

I was pondering my dilemma when my sister (Pro Chef-yes really!) asked what the faraway look was all about –when I told her she sat down to ponder with me........ We debated all sorts of wonderful and delectable things....... but just could not decide.

This issue,  and it was becoming an issue, seemed to go back and forth between us for a few days. When suddenly I blurted out, that I really felt like a plain cake, a lovely sponge cake filled with fresh fruit and butter cream! Not a huge chocolaty master piece, or creamy indulgence just a plain tummy satisfying cake!



As quick as I flash sister-o-mine was on the internet and had procured a VICTORIAN SPONGE CAKE recipe, and we set to work, it is probably the easiest cake I have ever made, as everything is just paced in the mixer, beaten and baked. No long winded creaming butter and sugar, add one thing at a time, just plain old lob it all in! A very short path to total tummy filling cakey satisfaction!









 

Little Madame in on the action and her gorgeous ballet baby cakey!

That said here is the stunning recipe:

200g Castor Sugar

200g Soft Butter

200g Self Rising Flour

4 Eggs

2Tsp milk

1 tsp baking Powder

Now honestly throw it all together beat and bake at 190degrees for 20 minutes –let it cool down and then ice with the following, 100g butter and 140g icing sugar, we added a drop of vanilla essence, just because! Place ALL the icing on the bottom layer and we added some fresh strawberries!!!! Oh my Word just typing about it makes my mouth water!

Tea for three

We set the table for an impromptu tea party, at little Madame’s insistence (I could have eaten in on the kitchen floor, I was so desperate to get it into my mouth by this stage), invited a friend that needed some TLC and got stuck in......  And yessssssss what total and absolute yummy satisfaction!



Oh so very yummy

Pretty Things

Sometimes, on my little jaunts around my home, I just see things that make me happy, make me smile and quite literally make my heart skip a beat...... It could be a flower, a tiny little visitor to my garden or the way the sunlight is playing with the trees outside my front door! All I know is that it makes me happy right down to the tips of my toes..... I rush to get my camera and snap away to try and capture that happiness forever! Sometimes it works and sometimes not...... but I know one thing, the very next day.... something else makes me happy and smile, so here are a few things from the last few days, that made me girly-giggly-happy!

A tiny little visitor-can you see it?

Thats better-a purple dragon fly that made little madame squeal

A tiny rose bud-about to bloom, in amongst lavender,my favorite smell

Sunlight dancing

A bag full of yarn and magazines

Beautiful green leaves

Crochet candle holders in my kitchen, I light them every night,just because .........

Garden Heaven

  
                                                                                                            ' The kiss of the sun for pardon

The songs of the bird for mirth

You are nearer God’s heart

In the garden than

anywhere else on earth’

When we moved in to our house almost three years ago, one of my main concerns was the garden, having lived in an apartment for most of my life, green fingers, I had learned were not a talent I possessed! The day we walked into the oasis that was to become our home, I remember thinking “thank you “the people that were living there possessed an abundance of these green digits that had seemed to elude me for most of my life (I couldn’t even keep a love palm alive) All I had to do was give it water and hopefully this beautiful established garden would be just fine...... And so began my love affair with my garden. For the first few months I did exactly that water and it was doing well but slowly, very slowly I began to want to plant thing, I love Hibiscus flowers so those were the first few plants to go in and yes they flourished!

Very soon we were planning a vegetable garden, very ambitious for a non green fingered person , but a patch was dug up by LSO and a trip to the Garden centre planned, we bought Brinjals, carrots green peppers and the dreaded tomato(will explain why dreaded further on ) Books very purchased and we began to plant!

Very soon we could see the “fruits” of our labour begin to grow. I will say this a veg garden is not for the faint hearted, we have tried very hard to be organic but it would seem that insects love garlic spray almost as much as they love teeny little baby plants. Tomato’s are by far the hardest thing to grow, they need constant care and love, and between running a house, looking after a toddler and trying to craft........ Tomato’s come in a very sad last,( we have had tomato’s but they are very unhappy little things) And this makes me sad... so we are trying with them again! (For the 10^th time)

Rosemary and mint

To cook with things that you have grown is very rewarding, and somehow the vegetables just taste better! Herbs followed soon and we have a gorgeous rosemary plant, every time I water it, and the heady aroma hits me, I can almost taste the roast lamb and potatoes. Next to that is mint and parsley so everything one needs for gorgeous scrumptious food! (I am making myself hungry-the last thing my voluptuous rear end needs!)

And Yes! You guessed it 3 fruit trees followed. Lemons, mangos and paw paw trees, we sadly lost the paw paw tree but the other 2 are doing superbly. So enough of me waxing lyrically about vegetables and fruit, here are a few pictures of my little piece of green heaven