A Skull with no Crossbones

I have a small confession to make......and I am sure this will not be a big surprise! ....I have teeny tiny dark side.... Not all gothy and black(although black looks very good on my ample bottom!) I have a bit of a passion for skulls! Yes, you heard right SKULLS, as in Skull and Crossbones.

I have a gorgeous pair of skull earrings and a black heart necklace with a skull on it, and a gorgeous skull scarf that a dear friend brought me back from London. She said when she saw it she though I would love it and I do! Yes I am getting to the point, and the point is can you imagine my absolute giddy, happy, joy, when I open up the Simply Crochet magazine(the same one that the hedgehog family came from)that LSO brought for me and found a crocheted skull brooch! I was beside myself..... 

The Making

It was very simple to crochet, but it had to go to the back of the pile..... The Two Shades of Grey Blanket And the Hedgehog family were demanding to get finished..... Have I told you that I have made a vow, that I would try to finish off everything I started last  year before I started anything new this year!( oh stop laughing, I said TRY didn't I)   



I Love Yarn!

So one quiet afternoon I sat down, got out all the bits and bobs needed and got going. To my absolute delight the pattern worked out perfectly, it was quick, easy and well written. At this point I must tell you  yet AGAIN that I just LOVE  the Simply Crochet magazine and really wish we could get in here in deepest darkest Africa!!! Every single thing that I have tried from this magazine has worked perfectly with no tweaking or problems...... so if you are ever travelling to the UK buy it!!

 

 

It only took me about 20 minutes to finish and it looked like a skull from the word go! The only thing I had to do, was stream it. Have I talked to you about steaming your crochet instead of blocking, it is MUCH easier than blocking, although there is a bit of a knack to it, it is not rocket science! So put your iron onto the steam setting, place your item on a flat surface, I don't even get the ironing board out, I just use a towel. Then place your iron just above the item - NOT ON IT!! And let the steam flatten it out! Quick and Easy!

 

Hold The Iron Just Above NOT On it!

Decorating the skull came next.....The teeny tiny little flowers were hard and to be honest with you, and I didn't like the look of both flowers on top of  the eyes, so I played a bit!  

 

Hmm -Not So Much

Made some pink flowers... still wasn't loving both eyes covered! I liked the flowers so I played some more......And did the rest of the embellishment the book suggested but not everything.



 

There that's better, it still looked like a skull now!

Love It!

I happen to love wearing brooches and have a huge collection! Vintage ones from my great great Aunt, from my mom and some that I have bought along the way! The picture  below shows  my flavour of the minute brooches! I really LOVE the two African brooches.....

When it was done I pinned it onto my favourite denim jacket! My oldest and dearest jacket in the whole wide world - and  it certainly  has travelled the world and been with me through thick and thin, it is almost a 'YAYA' sisterhood jacket as many of my friends have loaned it too

We are having a viciously hot summer down here in the fishing village soooo ALAS I cannot wear my beautiful brooch at the moment! This makes my heart sad,  very, very sad indeed! ..... Oh well Winter will be here soon,  until then I will just have to admire it while hanging on my cupboard door ! xxx

  

Valentimes Love....

It's Valentines Day again..... It seems to have come around so quickly, as a matter of a fact  it has taken me rather by surprise! When Little Madame asked what 'we' were doing for her class for Valentimes - Yes, that's what she calls it! Too CUTE!! I really had to dig deep.....

So this is not my usual lengthy post, it is a quick post, possibly as quick  as all my Valentimes preparation this morning.



Heart Biscuits!

Butter Biscuits were made in double fast time - I kid you not.... I got home from the school run at 7 o'clock......and by 8 30 the biscuits were done and dusted.... all I had to do in the afternoon was add the pink hearts I had cut out while the biscuits were baking.....

Heart Brooches

I dug around in my crochet bits and bobs and found a few stray hearts I had not used for a bunting a few years ago, added some beautiful heart ribbon , a brooch backing and ......Voila! Valentimes Brooches for the teacher and her happy helpers!

 

Valentines Delivery!

And in the midst of all this mayhem, the door bell rang and a parcel was delivered to me from my Valentine who is far, far, FAAARRR away! Gosh I do love LSO so much! Much to Little Madame's delight one for the boxes turned out to be her when we opened them.... Did I say I love him?

 

So in closing this VERY brief and non rambling post, I would like to tell you what I think LOVE is....

 

LOVE IS FAMILY! 

 

It really is as simple as that!

 

Happy Valentime's Day peeps! I wish you All LOVE and PEACE! xxx 

Very Vintage

 

I have often thought that I was born in the totally wrong era..... I love all things vintage... I am also been going through a particularly vintage phase lately, I find myself buying very vintage looking clothes, tulle petticoats under full skirts and tight bodices! Hair in high ponies or up in big poffy buns! Vintage clip on earrings, black liquid eyeliner and blood red lipstick are completing my look right now!  

 

Full Skirts and Tulle Petties

  

 

Beautiful Magazines



 

So it is with much delight that I found one of my favourite magazines (you all know how much I LOVE magazines)had brought out a VERY VINTAGE issue, it was brimming with wonderful pages of beautiful and creative pictures..... Beautiful cakes, shoes flowers and wonderful mouth watering recipes! And all with a very Vintage feel! I read it and reread it pawed over the pages and then read it all over again! It was delightful...

  

 

The food section was really good, with loads of good old fashioned recipes, things that we don't seem to make anymore - finger sponges, gingerbread, vol-au-vents, coronation chicken, ripple cakes and pumpkin fritters. I had to stop myself rushing straight to my kitchen!

Pumpkin Fritters

The same week end that I got my beautiful magazine, we decided to pop down to the I heart Market in Durban, now this is epic in our lives.......Why?.....LSO and Little Madame have a very strong aversion to coming with me to markets.... It must be something to do with the fact that I can potter around for hours and spend copious amounts of money!!! But to my utter joy and happiness they both loved this market! The 'I heart market' is filled with crafter's, foodies and antique stalls, it is a lovely market that is held once a month only, so it is really unique! And I discovered and bought some gorgeous little bits and bobs!  

First up are these beautiful old magazines..... they are filled with useful tips and information, on how to be the best homemaker you can possibly be. They have no dates on them but are old, they look and smell old, you know what I mean that musty, stale  old book smell! There are no dates on the books so I googled them, they were published in 1930.....84 years old! They have amazing articles in them on sweet making, leather, work, sweet making and my favourite .... Infant Welfare! Back in the day when they were published they cost the princely sum of 1 shilling! What a find, I was giddy, silly happy with my purchase! These precious book now grace my entrance hall table!

Newnes Popular Home Books

With my Vintage Looking Blanket

I also bought a lovely candle stick, tee shirt, a soap making kit for little madame, two beautiful hand made roses that are going to be come brooches and two  gorgeous handmade bowls! The bowls are my favourite purchase (besides the books) although they are not old or perfectly made, they are lacy and pretty. Inscribed inside the bowls are beautiful words..... 'family makes this a home' These words touch my very soul!

Handmade Bowls

My Treasures

This post is a bit jumpy - SORRY!  But it all really does have to with being very vintage at the moment!

 

So back to that glorious magazine...... I kept thinking about the pumpkin fritters! My mother made us all sorts of fritters - sweet corn, pumpkin, butternut, they were bringing back a flood of good memories.... Days gone by memories, memories of happy family times around our dining room table!

Can you guess where I am going with this, we had decided to Braai(barbecue for the rest of the world) that evening for dinner and pumpkin fritters were on the menu! More memories were evoked when I smelt them gently frying in the pan...

 

Pumpkin Fritters

300g Cooked Pumpkin
120g Cake Flour
5 ml baking powder
1 ml Salt
1 Egg - Beaten
Sunflower Oil For shallow frying
Blue cheese

Mix everything together, Heat the oil and fry until golden brown on both sides. Drain on kitchen paper

Of course I did a sneaky apply to mouth before said fritter hit the table....... So yummy!

Vintage Spoon

The fritters were gone almost before they hit the table... they were really good and very easy to prepare. I had only ever eaten pumpkin fritters with cinnamon and sugar, this recipe called for them to be eaten with blue cheese.... LSO wasn't so sure about this but once we had tasted the combination together - WINNER! A modern twist on a vintage recipe! As for me and my vintage tendencies....I like to think of myself as a modern girl with HEAPS of vintage twist! xxx

 

Table Bound!

A Woodland Cutie!

Attic24 is one of my favourite blogs to read, Lucy is a genius in my opinion! She was my inspiration when I was learning to crochet! I also love the very beautiful pictures she takes and the words that seem so effortless to her. I have even been to visit places she loves and have fallen in love with the places  LOOONG before I had even been there! I get so excited when she has posted something new, that I make myself a coffee and try  hard to find a quiet corner to sit and read her blog! I think I have mentioned this all before! Well why again... Shortly after I got back from my Big Fat American Holiday(post to follow shortly - am try to wade through 2000 odd pictures) I read her post on wreath making and she was crocheting a sweet cute gorgeous little Hedgehog! I had to have it, I just had to and luckily for me LSO was in the UK so I ask, no that isn't the right word... I BEGGED him to find my said magazine, so I could also make a sweet little hedgehog!

The magazine is Simply Crochet, it is brim full of wonderful creative crochet! I get GIDDY with happiness and excitement when I get my Simply Crochet, you don't get it all the way down here! When I got it I disappeared, away from every one...... I was looking for one thing and one thing only - A certain LITTLE HEDGEHOG! Peeps this little animal is so cute,  I was not sure I would not  stop at 1, I dashed down to my craft room, grab some yarn from my stash and got stuck in, this is the tale of a cute little hedgehog .......Or two!

This was also my first attempt at amigurumi crochet - this is crocheting in circles and is a very popular, when crocheting small toys and animals, I did however find it a bit difficult, counting stitches when a little monkey is chattering away to you,  can some times be a bit difficult. The pattern calls for stitch makers, at first I thought that I wouldn't need them.... But as I said before monkey + chatting = stitch makers!

 

Is She Sweet Or What?

Harriet the hedgehog's nose was loonnggg! LSO and my sister, commented on this a few times- they said it looked odd, but I pushed on, and slowly but surely she came to life! The pattern called for you to stuff her as you went, so the nose got stuffing, then the body and very cleverly you just sort of crocheted her bottom closed..... I added eyes immediately, I love making my creatures look alive as quickly as possible. I added a felt patch(the pattern said to just mark it off)  I sort of liked that she would have something to stand on.  

The Making

Up to this point, Harriet had been very easy..... but then I had to add her spikes, and this is were the going got tough, I had to  take my time, you have to work into the front of the crochet stitch only , I found it a bit difficult to pick up just this front stitch..... but soon was whizzing away, row after row! And Harriet was looking so sweet! Little Madame was hovering, waiting, wanting! I had nearly finished my sweet little Harriet when , I thought to myself, how cute would another one be, in that fluffy yarn, the sticky up stuff...... You know which one I am speaking about...... No..... Well luckily Mary at the yarn shop knew exactly what I was on about! and so began Harriet baby Hubert!

Baby Hubert

He is sweet and fluffy and cute and NEVER again to be repeated so he is also a one off unique little creature. This yarn was difficult to work with, and if I thought that picking up the front stitch on Harriet was a bit trying, try doing it when you cannot see what you are doing...... Sort of can't see the stitch for the fluff thing!

My Sister Said It Made A Better Beard!

My Two Favourite things... Crochet and Red Wine

I finished the family in 3 days and really, think they are so sweet. Needless to say Little Madame laid claim to them as I had finished taking the pictures. Harriet and Hubert now live a very exciting existence!

They give hedgehog rides to Barbie and Ken.....

They sleep in a Lego Den, that was specially designed for them....

They guard the Sylvanian Kingdom for invading monsters.....

And get loads of cuddles from Little Madame.....

 

Harriet and Hubert have fitted into our family really easily, they seem to be all over the house, I will walk past a potted plant and there they will be, or pop into the bathroom and Harriet will be sitting next to the toothpaste looking innocently up at me..... make you wonder if toys Really do have a life of there own........xxx

Love and War!

 

War in the first degree... LSO and I having a all out battle it is a battle of epic proportions! A war to end all wars! A battle of Britain type war ..... And it is not without merit! What is it all about I hear you ask? Very simple really it is about bread! As simple as that, dear peeps, B-R-E-A-D!

 

It all started when LSO got a bee in his bonnet about making Corn Bread or to us South Africans Mielie Bread! It is simple I said - a can of sweet corn, a 500 ml self raising flour and a can of beer! Well apparently I had no idea what I was talking about, he went off on a mad tangent and started to try every possible mielie bread he could on the net....... to the detriment of my ever expanding rear end! I would be telling you a lie if all of these golden loaves of yumminess turned out well.... most of them were a bit ... well ..... flat and not so bready! I stepped up and made the bread I had spoken of- Voila! Perfect - But apparently not to his taste or specification - really! ..... How difficult do you want to make this....

 

And so began Our Battle - he had actually challenged me... Bawahahahaha! What a laugh I would win hands down! This dear darling peeps was a no brainer!

  

 

 

 

He arrived home with, what I must admit, is a lovely bread recipe book. And battle began. I however did not need any recipe book, I had a little help - YES, ok I cheated ...a bit, but just a little!! I was reading Attic24 a few days ago and Lucy had made this wonderful looking Artisans Bread! And that was to be the bread I brought to the War room!

 

The best thing about mine was that while LSO kneaded away, I mixed mine up then stood back and watched! He waited for his Olive Foccacia to rise, beat it down and then let it rise again..... then the process started all over again! I look and smiled a serene smile of the soon-to-be-VICTOR!

His Dough

My Mess

The only teeny weeny small problem with mine was that I had to let to rise for 18 hours! I like to think of it as a strategy, if LSO's was absolutely fantastic, I could review my battle plan.... Crafty, aren't I! I have to begrudgingly admit his looked really good - while mine was a gloopy looking mess - yikes what if I had to get out the white flag......

 

 

In The Oven

Foccacia  Bread

Looks Great

Tastes Better

With  Red Wine

Now I am not a someone that likes to lose, I think I have quietly mentioned this before....So it is with great pride-in-my-pocket that I have to tell you LSO's bread was sooooo good, especially with a glass of red and dripping with olive oil and balsamic vinegar! We devoured it, it was dense and flavoursome, it was totally and with out a doubt the best focaccia I have tasted - but did I tell him this? Not on your life!!! Not until I had baked mine! I can be a very sore loser!

  

Artisan's Loaf

The next day was my turn and as I mentioned before, mine did not look great, it was far from a dough, actually it was a mess, a gloopy, runny, yucky smelling MESS - but never one to be defeated I did exactly what Lucy said to do and into the oven it went!  I was worried really very worried! Worried with a capital W!

Being Cute!

After about 20 minutes a wonderful bready smell came wafting through the house..... Could it be..... Was it actually working..... I could not resist running to the kitchen... there I found a somewhat disgruntled looking LSO peering into the oven! 'It smells good!' was the comment! YES!!!

Bread and Butter!

It actually looked really good too! I was really impressed with myself, its one thing producing a cake BUT a whole other ball game making bread! But would the taste live up to expectations? Out came this piping hot mouth watering bread! it was quite a airy , holey looking bread when it was cut through.... As usual it never got the chance to cool down - lashings of butter and mouth application.... It was really good...And so?? I hear you ask  who won? To be honest I thought it was a pretty evenly matched battled but LSO  decided to called a "neutral' body into the kitchen..... Little Madame! She was instructed to taste each piece and give us a verdict! She tasted one then the other, she hmmmmed and ahhhhed until she pronounced, "the Winner is....... this one!" Double YES!!! It was mine! Do I have the best child in the whole world or what?

Bread And Cheese

So in ending this post, I have to be fair! LSO's Foccacia bread was a total different bread to my Artisans Loaf, so in my opinion, you could not really compare the two! they both had their merits But as they say - Alls fair in LOVE and WAR and  although his was good, mine was better! xxx

Marvelous Mini Cakes!

Oh Boy, did I make yummy little cakes a few days ago! So yummy in fact that I have decided they will be my new dinner party trick, the real yumminess to these fancy little cakes is that they are sweet and tart all rolled into one! The other thing that attracted me to they is they are SuPeR Easy - and you all know by now my middle name is EASY! 

 

I found this recipe in our Wine of the Month Club magazine! Yes!  Of course we belong to Wine of the Month Club, we should actually belong to Wine the WEEK club..... But any hoooo, on with the rambling...

 

LSO was oohing and aaahing over said box of wine that had been delivered, I grabbed my favourite part of the delivery - No not a bottle of red, the lovely Magazine, Good Taste,  that comes with the box. There are always gorgeous articles and recipes in it, but I have never tried any before.... they all look super complicated! However this particular article had an article on high tea's and a delectable little morsel caught my eye, I mean really doesn't Mini Rose and Raspberry Cakes sound just wonderful? They did to me! And you all know me... straight to the kitchen....

Basic Vanilla and Raspberries

A basic vanilla batter, with raspberries and rosewater was really very simple. I must be honest I am very confused as to how come I had rosewater handy... honestly, I just cant think when I used it, but it was there and I was happy! Twenty or so minutes later they were in the little silicone cups and waiting to go into the oven..... EASY PEASY LEMON SQUEASY...

 

Waiting to Bake

The recipe? Well, alrighty then here it is....

Mini Rose  and Raspberry Cakes

125g Butter(soft)
150g Caster Sugar
1tsp Vanilla Essence
2 Eggs
185g Flour
1.5tsp Baking Powder
A pinch of Salt
1/2 Cup of Milk
1 cup fresh Raspberries
1 cup icing sugar
40 - 60mls Hot Water
A few drops of Rose Water

Cream the butter, caster sugar and vanilla essence
Add the eggs ,one at a time and beat well after each egg
Add the flour, baking powder and salt -beat
Add the milk - beat till smooth
Fold in the raspberries
Divide between the moulds, or you could use  a muffin pan. My moulds made 8 perfect eaty size cakes, with a muffin pan you may get more....
Bake at 170 degrees Celsius for about 25 - 30 min, but test them often... I found mine needed more time because the moulds were high

While they bake, sieve the icing sugar and add the hot water, a little at a time, drizzle consistency is what you want, add the rose water, and drizzle over the cooled cake - Yeah right, let them cool - NEVER, I had applied one to my mouth very soon after they came out the oven, and Oh Boy they are good!

 

 

Dercorated with Rose Petals

Yummy!

The rest of these little cakes made it until after dinner time,and once served,  they were pronounced winning little morsels by the entire family, except Little Madame(who else?) who proclaimed " Mama I absolutely and positively do not eat fruit in my cakes" My reply was quick and short, " Well that is  fine, more for me" And I popped another sweet, soft, spongy and tart spoonful into my mouth, closed my eyes and sighed...... xxx

New Year Ta Dahhhhh!!

It's been in production for  a long, long, long time  but here it is .... finally! It is finished, can you believe it, No ? Well to be honest neither can I , and I bet that you have all looked down the page already and seen the my big Ta Dah is in actual fact the Two shades of Grey Blanket! YES,  lovely peeps it is FINALLY finished after two long years, actually, when I think about it, it is longer, I started these, beautiful flowers when I had just learnt to crochet, and that was about 4 years ago.....  

Two Shades of Grey

The Story of this blanket seems somewhat epic. I first saw these Japanese flowers on Attic24 my FaVoRiTe blog in the whole wide world of cyber space! Lovely Lucy had made a scarf, a long soft delicate beautiful scarf, and of course I had to have one, even though I was a raw,  let me say that again RAW beginner. I sat down and got stuck in, and slowly worked it out. It was painful but in the end, I totally got it right, BUT alas as you can read in this post, it was not to be!

And A Little Pink

And so it was shelved, while I pondered it.... actually, to be honest, it was forgotten... This post and then I had an epiphany in the middle of the night.... This post and the blanket was born...  that seems like it was ages ago, and it was, I gave you an update on it last year - Here. Now four posts dedicated to one blanket seems excessive, yes even to me! But here it is and it is all done and dusted.... The pictures above are not great, I found it very difficult to photograph, it is awfully big!



It Is Huge



 

I have to do this simply because this blanket and my finger deserve a big fat, WELL DONE! So......Brace yourselves....... Here it comes......TA DAH!!!!!

And Warm

 

I asked LSO to take a few pictures of me and my "Two Shades Of Grey Blanket" As you can see I am pretty chuffed with myself! It is just like Lovely Lucy's scarf! It is soft, warm and BeAuTiFuL!!



And I Am HAPPY!

And now I hear you all ask, what are you going to do with yet ANOTHER crocheted blanket? That my lovely peeps is an easy answer... It is going to be given with all my LOVE to a very special person, who has wanted it with a sore heart since she saw it. It will wing its way oversea to the very cold city of Baltimore in the USA. and do a good job of keeping my baby sister warm! So my darling Cindy this one is for you.... xxx