My back garden

Just another addition to my earlier post, thought I would show off the bit of snow we have had here in Warrington, this is my back garden at present, hope it stays till Christmas, it would be nice if we had a white one this year.

Christmas Cakes

Well I've been at it again I have made some more cakes, two are orders from friends and one is a gift for my next door neighbour, still a bit rough round the edges but with more practice I will get better, these are my usual Victoria sponge cakes decorated in festive designs. The mince pies I had made didn't get a look in as my son has taken them to work, I have one jar left of the mince pie filling, so I think I will just make a few more. Well wrap up warm if you have to go out me, I am going back to the kitchen, then relaxing in front of the fire and TV. If I don't get chance to speak to you again have a great Christmas and New Year.

Home made Mince Pies

Well here I am again, baking is getting to be quite adictive. Here is another tantalising look at some more of my cooking, this time it is home made mince pies with home made brandy/rum soaked mince pie filling. Yum Yum, these will be going into work tomorrow for my friends.

Crochet Baby Shawl

In addition to my baking bonanza I have also been completing this baby shawl, it is crochet done in 4ply and it was a pattern I liked in one of my magazines. Two girls at work will be having babies in May next year so I thought I would make a gift for them. This is the first shawl and I will be making another one shortly in a different design.

Christmas decorated cake

Thought I would let you know on the addition to the baking fest I had at the weekend,I made a smaller cake and decided to decorate it for Christmas, here is the result. Enjoy (hopefully)

Update

I have been so busy lately what with studies for my HR course and in between doing some crochet and just lately I have spent a lot of time baking. This weekend I had a mamoth cooking session and I made some mince pies a coffee flavoured iced sponge cake and a plain sponge cake to take into work. I am planning to do some Christmas decorate cakes and was out at the weekend buying some bits and pieces. When I have finished my course next year I want to enrol at night school and learn how to ice cakes properly and also learn Sugarcraft, I am intending if I am able to make some pocket money from baking and selling my cakes. I am next March going to the NEC in Birmingham to a Craft Fair with some friends from work so I want to get some pennies into my craft fund. I thought I would share some photos for the cakes I have made. I am in the process of icing a sponge cake with Christmas decorations,I am not sure if I will have time to do a proper fruit cake as it does need some time to mature, but a good alternative I believe is the good old Victoria sponge cake (not everyone likes the fruit cake) so this makes a good alternative.



I am off now to do some crocheting as I am currently making a baby shawl,will share this with you when I have finished it.

Have a good week everyone.

Bye for now

Day out and stocking up

Well once again the weekend has flown by and we seem to cram so much into it. Saturday as usual we did the weekly shop, we were up and about at 7.30 so hit the shops at about 8.00 am and it was nice and quite. Got home and put everything away, had a little tidy up and then we had a trip out in the afternoon to a Farm Shop near Marbury Park, near Northwich, we had seen it on our travels and hubby had decided he wanted a gooseberry pie (guess what they are not in season yet I say)he wouldn't listen but we had a good mooch around and he had tea and scone.

Sunday we were up early again and decided that we would go to Abakhan Mill out near Flint in Wales, its a fantastic place to go if you are into any kind of craft and I had some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket, on the way to the Mill there is an outdoor market called Greenfield so we stopped in there had a wander round got some really fresh veg and I spotted a stall that sold odds and ends and he was also selling packets of really nice fuzzy wool bought three packets Blue, Lilac and White. Then on to the Mill where we had breakfast and he told me to scarper and have a mooch. I can tell you I didn't need telling twice. Bought some more wool, as you can see from the picture I have quite a bit to add to my stash, I have all sorts of ideas buzzing around in my head. The day didn't end there though we carried on to Swallow Falls, had a cup of tea then on to Llandudno, where I found to other shops that sold wool and stuff (will have to remember them on the next trip. We went up to the ski slope on the Great Orm had another cup of tea then rounded off the trip pay taking the costs road around it and came ouot at Conway just by the castle what a great end to the day. We did a lot of miles and I wasn't expecting to cram so much in but the weather was good to us and a great day was had by both of us.

Well will have to go now to make tea but here is a picture of what I have bought.

Baking

Hi everyone, its been a little while since I have visited my blog, but I have been busy working, baking and crocheting. I had a cake baking session at the weekend and I thought I would share one of my cakes, I made a lemon drizzle cake which was from a recipe I got off the internet, It was meant for my son, but I took it into work instead and asked my colleague's to do a taste test, I am pleased to say none was left much to the dismay of my son. I will have to make him another one. Sorry Phillip - Mum xx

Furry Cushion

Here is something else I did at the weekend,I was feeling creative. This was from one of the bags that I store my stuff in. It was from Wilkinson's dead cheap and I knitted it on 6mm needles and in garter stitch, I am planning to make it into a cushion cover so will be looking at doing a fabric back in a contrasting colour, I thought satin or some such I will have to see what I can find.

Tunic for a friend

Well, I said I was on a roll the other day in getting projects finished. The crochet tunic I was making for my friend at work was finished but only just in time for her holiday in fact the day before, so I didn't get chance to take pictures of the finished item. However my friend has kindly took some photo's for me, what do you think?

Blue Beenie

I seem to be on a roll today, here is another crochet beenie that I have finished, I have used the same make of wool as the pink one shown earlier but I must admit I prefer this shade of blue or is it turquoise.

In the Pink

I have finished another project, this is an order from a friend at work, she is getting ready for winter.

The big 50

Well, I have to admit it I have reached that time in my life that most people dread but I must say it doesn't bother me in the least. In fact it shocked quite a few people at work when they realised I was celebrating the big 50. I was working on my birthday, but my best friends and coleauges at work made it an extra special day. They had decorated my desk, I had flowers delivered a big arrangement from hubby and loads of cards. (shame I didn't take a picture of my desk but here are some that I have taken at home of the flowers and cards and balloons. Also special thanks to my sister who sent me the pin cushion and needle case, I so admire these creations she comes up with. You will find some more of these on her blog and on busymits.

Our Jungle

Hi everyone,

Looks like the weather is getting better, hope it stays nice for the weekend. The other night in the garden I thought I would get my camera out and update the photo I previously posted about the Australis, this year it has about five flower heads on it and the scent in the evening is absolutely fantastic can't wait until my summer jasmine comes into bloom the scents will be heavenly.

I've been baking

Hi everyone,what dismal weekend in this part of the country nothing but rain. Compared to last weekend when we had glorious sunshine and we spent all our time in the garden.

Anyway I had a request from my husband to bake a cake to take into work, so here it is, cooking is one of my other hobbies, well its my first hobby really I absolutely love cooking and I love trying out new recipes, I also love to buy cookery books, I can't resit them, I love to sit in my conservatory and plan some special meal for hubby and me. I try to include our son but he keeps strange hours and is not always hungry at the same time as us. Anyway less of the nattering here is a piccy of my chocolate sponge (I know I'm boring showing this off) but it looks quite scrummy even though I say it myself.

Well I'm off to do some crocheting now, got to finish the tunic I am making for my friend, speak to you all soon.

Love Sue

Saturday 23rd may 2009

Hi all

Thought it was about time I updated my blog and showed you how the tunic is going, I have nearly finished the front and about to start shaping the neck once that is done I can start on the back and then the sleeves, I have a deadline to meet so I had better get cracking as I need it to be ready by the end of June as that is when my friend goes on her hols.

Bye for now
Sue

Monday 13th April

Haven't been on my blogg for a while so I thought I would give you an update today, in between doing a home study course, which I am finding hard going at the moment, I have finished another project and have started another.

The first one is a knitted baby shawl from a patter that was in my mothers pattern collection, the version in the pattern is all one colour but I decided to do the border in a pale lemon colour to give a slightly different look. Have a look at the picture.

I have also started another project this is a crochet tunic for a friend from work, I had taken my book into work to show someone and the pattern was spotted, its needed for her holiday in July so I am starting it now so that I can do it in between my course. Here us a look at it so far, will say bye for now so I can get some more done before I have to cook tea. See you soon.

Red Nose Day

It was decided amongst a few of us that we would try and raise some money for Red Nose Day. We had a dress down day for which if you wore denim you paid £1.50 entry fee and if you wore an item of clothing that was red you paid £1.00 entry fee, this kicked off the day to a good start as by about 9.30 am we had raised about £70.00. A few of us ladies who are into cooking got together and made a selection of cakes and sold them at various prices per slice throughout the day. We also had organised a hunt the red nose, of which 80 carboard red noses had been hidden around the office, it was quite fun to watch everyone wander around the building pretending to be working but looking for the hiding places, there were 80 red noses to collect and you paid a further £1.00 to enter into the fun, the first and second prizes were a bottle of wine. There was also a bonus ball lotto organised where you picked a number of your choice from 1 to 49 for a fee of £1.00, the money collected was split into a donation to our red nose fund and the remainder is the prize money for the number that matches the bonus ball on the national lottery tonight. In total we raised I think it was £165.00 and we all had a lot of fun. Here is a picture of the selection of cakes that were on sale.

Full Moon

Hi everyone

I noticed that my sister had spotted the full moon the other night and tried to take pohoto's I had a go as well the stars were also very bright but I didn't manage to get them, I think I will have to keep practising as well

My first project to show off

Hello everyone its been a while since I last left a post, I have been busy trying to finish a few things off so I can show them off, unfortunately, I am limited to when I can go on the Internet as I have to share it with my son son when he is at home I don't get a look in. He is at work today so he has graciously let me have access.

Anyway down to the real reason why I am here today, I have finally finished the throw I was making, I have made it our of Denim Ultra in the cappuccino shade, which was difficult to get hold of enough of in the end as it has now been discontinued. I knitted 24 16" x 16" squares in garter stitch, I kept it basic as it knits up to chunky. What way to snuggle down in an afternoon with a good book on a miserable day.

Well, I am off now to pursue another pass time of mine, baking, I haven't done any in a while so thought it was about time I got back into it. See you soon.

Well hi everyone thought I would try and have another go at doing some more customising of my blog page, its slow work, as i don't have a clue what I am doing.

Have just taken the Christmas Decorations down, how depressing everywhere looks now and to top it all me and hubbie are back at work tomorrow. Hey Ho another New year Starts.

I am currently finishing of a throw that I have been making in Denim Ultra it looks good even though i say so myself, look out for the picture, it will be the first crafty thing I have put on my page.

Must go now I think the breakfast is burning.

New Years Day 1st January 2009

Well hello everyone, hope you had a good time celebrating, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the best for 2009.

While I am adding this post, I thought I would try and add a picture of one of my dogs, this one is Kaara and she loves having her photo taken, our other dog Kyrie is camera shy.