Oat and Coconut Yummies!

I have refrained from baking!!! It has been a very hard task!! A very HARD task indeed!! Let me tell you why........ the rather voluptuous rear end that belongs to me, is getting more and more and MORE VOLUPTUOUS!!  So after a rather sad afternoon of trying on jeans, I decided that drastic action was needed! I booked an appointment with a Dietitian dusted off my running shoes and got serious!  I decided to book with said learn'ed person as I really don't know how to eat anymore, there are so many different facts about what to eat and what not to eat..... that that I am confused!!(and that happens very easily with me,  just ask LSO) I am sure you all know exactly what I mean......

It has been going well, and I have been slowly getting used to eating "normally" again and am happy to announce that I am now fitting into some of those pants again - just- but getting there! So back to the  no baking, which if you have been reading my blog, is very very painful for me........  BUT any excuse to bake...... BACK TO SCHOOL deserved a lunch box cookie baking spree - don't tell the dietitian!!!

I love the Women's Weekly range of books and I have a few of them,  Macaroons & Biscuits being one. Little Madame and I had a quick browse through and decided on Oat and Coconut Cookies- as always very easy!

Creaming Butter and Sugar

Adding Golden Eggs

  

So the yumminess is as follows:

125g Butter

165g Brown Sugar

1 Tbl Syrup

2 Eggs

2 Cups Self Raising Flour

1 Cup Desiccated Coconut

1/2 cup Oats

Mix the first 3 ingredients together until smooth

Add the eggs 1 at a time - mix well!

Stir in the flour, coconut and oats!

DONE!!

Roll into small balls and press down with a fork, bake at 180 degrees for 12 min!

so Easy and so Yummy

You can sandwich them together with some Chocolate but we needed to keep them a little healthy so decided not too - last sentence was typed CRYING onto my key board( Chocolate is the DEVIL on my shoulder!)

 

Good to Go

As you also all know by now Little Madame loves to make her own too! She weighs and measures and she added Chocolate !!! Her little mixer spins and whirls, she just loves it!

Mix Mix Mix........

Very Soon the delectably delicious smell of baking brought the entire family into the kitchen and before the golden  morsels were even cooled we had all tried them and they were yum yum yummy!  Not actually sure how healthy but certainly YUMMY. I am glad to say that I only tried one BUT..... they yell and call to me every time I pass the cookie jar "Eat me Eat me!!" I will not, I must not......... mmmmm maybe just 1 more! xxx 

PS: Somehow Little Madame's baking always turn out perfectly yummy too, not sure how she does it but she does..... Maybe I have the next Nigella Lawson on my hands!

Cold Hands,Warm Heart...... Warm Hands

Cold Hands, Warm Heart, or so the saying goes......... and I thank the Good Lord above every day for the Warm Heart but those cold hands....... Ever since I can remember, my hands have  been cold. I was always  always tugging my jersey sleeves down, or sewing a loop in the cuff of my jerseys and sleeves to keep my hands warm! Even on the hottest days, I can elicit shrieks and screams from Little Madame if I plunge my hands onto her warm little tummy -  That little tummy is BLISS, for cold hands , actually double HAPPY BLISS!!

I have recently been noticing Funky little Mitteny Thingys, popping up in all the fashion magazines and decided to take a closer look, they looked really simple, and as SIMPLE is my favourite word I decided  to try and make some, and I am awfully pleased with the results of one Sunday afternoon...... Take a Look...... 

It really was very easy when I got down to it.. So instruction are:

 Ashley's Funky Little Mitteny Thingys

Knitting Needles size 5mm
1 Ball Elle Double Knit Chunky

1. Cast on 30 stitches
2. Knit 40 rows in plain (measure as you go as to how long you want your funky little mittens)
3. Cast off
4. Fold over so you have a tube
5. Measure about 4 rows from the top and sew it up, then put it on your hand, and measure what is comfy for your thumb and sew up again - you now have a gap for your thumb to pop through

I then decided they looked a bit plain..... So out came the Crochet hook.......




I made this up as I went and jotted it down, so as follows:

Crochet hook size 4

Join your yarn at the sewn up end of the tube, then "slipstich,single crochet, 3 trebles" and repeat 10 times. this will give you 10 neat cute little shells to edge your Funky Mitteny Things! So sweet and soooooo WARM!

Oh you can find the way to make the crochet stitches here

And so the problem of my cold hands is solved, now, of course Little Madame apparently NEEDS a pair too!


Work in Progress!

My FAVOURITE little basket in the world - waiting to begin a little pair of Funky Mitteny things xxx

PS: By the way my blanket problem is solved..... YAY! A baby blanket for a certain little baby boy in the UK is about to be started...... off to shop for yarn tommorow, (any excuse!)will show you as soon as I have it!

Long Forgotten Valentine's dress!

While going through so pictures in my "blog pictures file" I found a few pictures that I took way back in February. I was going to do a post about this gorgeous little dress I made for Little Madame, but I think in all the excitement of getting my Blog up and running they got lost in the million thoughts that run through my head every day( YES!- millions of  random, trivial thoughts)

I found this gorgeous fabric a few years back and it sat on my sewing table for a while, then got put in a drawer, only to be forgotten! It really is the prettiest fabric, very vintage looking chocolate box style figures with tiny teeny little hearts as the back ground, and so it lay there, sad and forgotten until Valentines season this year! Little Madames school had a Valentines picnic and she wanted something with hearts on to wear!(I was told she wanted to look "beautiful" for the love of her life, Thomas!!- she is only little, can you imagine what she will want to wear when she is 16!) A light bulb moment, I rushed down to the craft room and got it out, along with a simple dress pattern, I had made for her before. It is a very cool summery little dress. She did however tell me she wanted a long twirlly dress, and as there was only a meter of fabric,  a plan had to be made! Another light bulb moment(I was doing really well with ideas on that day!) I also just happened to have some Gingham fabric too.  I cut out the exact same pattern and put it under the vintage fabric!(almost like a lining) It looked awesome!

Vintage Looking Fabric

Kate Moss Modelling Moment

I cut a long strip of the gingham out and sewed it together to make a pretty bow on the side(the pattern calls for straps, but I like this whole vintage thing I had going on!) And what was more important is that Little Madame loved it! The more it came together the happier she got! Now I must tell you that I have sewed alot for her, and she has worn the items a few times BUT she has worn this dress over and over again, apparently it twirls WELL and is very cool and comfortable SO the moral of this story is don't make what Mama likes, make what Little Madame likes and she will wear it!

Pretty Bow Detail

Little Madame Cutting A Dress For  her Barbie

So  she came with me to buy the a new pattern, and after much perusing of pattern books, these are the two new patterns we came home with! Guess which one she HAD to have? Oh well she is a PRINCESS after all!! xxx



PS:: the pattern I used is a Macalls Pattern Serial Number- M5797(It really is simple)

A Hot Little Holiday

Hellooooo, Was I missed? Sorry but I forgot to mention, Little Madame and I went to join LSO on a little exotic jaunt to Dubai..... again !..... Pictures and exciting desert trips to follow.  I was meant to download the next post, before I left BUT time flew by and I never got round to it..... SORRY! but better late than never..... xxx