Hello February!

I've never been so glad to see the back of a month as I am to wave goodbye to January 2016!  What a ghastly few weeks it has been - I am hoping that February will see an upturn in our luck as we could sure use it.

This little pencil drawing has gone some way to keeping me sane - I've put a considerable amount of hours into it, but it is very slow progress.  Nearing the finish line now, just the left-hand greenery to do.  I'm using Derwent Coloursoft pencils - lovely selection of colours, but do need a lot of repeated going over to get the depth of colour I am after.  Not a problem, in fact quite soothing!  I did discover that I can scrape back the applied colour with a sharp blade to reveal the first colour used - terrific for detail on the shiny feathers.

I've had this sumptious ball of laceweight yarn for months now, since my last trip to London.  Finally started a wide lace scarf with it and am loving the way the colours blend into each other.  The flash on the camera has made the purples a lot brighter than they actually are, but it is still a stunning colourway.

I've been having a small spring clean of various drawers in the house lately, the spice drawer being one of them.  I discovered I had caraway seeds (who knew??) and with the left over beetroot in the fridge, it all came together to make this interesting cake, recipe in this month's Simple Things magazine.  I wonder if it tastes as good as it looks...

Alas, Poor Rudolph...

I made this...I know, I have a warped sense of humour. It's a mini Rudolph trophy to hang on the wall, complete with his ribbon & jingle bell.  This one is spoken for, but I can make more if asked...

I bought a book last week called 'Magic Cakes' which contains recipes for cakes that separate into three distinct layers while cooking.  This idea took my fancy and I started with the coffee cake - this is how much washing up it engendered...

It was also huge and needed a larger tin than I expected:

And then I couldn't get it out properly as the bigger tin was not silicone and I didn't have any baking parchment.  However, from the bits I ate while tidying up the edges (!), it is delicious and is sitting in the fridge waiting for dinner time today.  More like a dessert than a cake though.

Three Days Left....

  Currently on the easel is this portrait of a staffie called Troy.  This is being painted in acrylics on Dalerboard - it's been a very long time since I was commissioned to paint a detailed acrylic portrait.  Most of this is still just 'blocking in', the only part that is more or less finished is the eyes.  This will take a good few more weeks work - there is such a difference in the time taken between a watercolour or pencil portrait and an acrylic.  Possibly something to do with painting an A3 sized picture using a size 1 brush....

I work in a school four mornings a week during term times, which means I get to enjoy the school holidays.  So when it comes down to the last weekend before going back to school, I feel as depressed as any child does.  I've had a productive 6 weeks, getting on with all sorts of outstanding jobs round the house and had the time to get on with various arts and crafts projects. I shall miss having the time!

I've had the time to bake cakes - my daughter picked up this recipe for an almond and plum tart the other day at Waitrose and luckily I had all the ingredients at home.

I just substituted greengages for plums (same thing really!) and the end result was absolutely delicious! This is why I will never be thin...

When you are feeling blue and someone walks in with a big bunch of sweetpeas just for you, doesn't it brighten your day?  My daughter did just that on Tuesday - thank you Stacie!

Happy Birthday!

Hard to believe it's been 25 years since my world was turned upside down and took a very different path! I wouldn't change her for the world - Happy Birthday Stacie!

Things have been a bit tricky for her over the past few weeks - not her fault, down to other people.  You can read about it on my other blog if you are interested.  However, her birthday has been pretty darn good - it was up early for a lovely dog walk in the Spring sunshine, then back home for her favourite breakfast of pancakes and strawberries.

She's spent the morning happily painting some Easter eggs that we will hang from a tree branch to make a pretty decoration, while I have been tearing my hair out making this...

I do not profess to have any talent in cake decorating, I'm just glad it looks like what it is supposed to!  I tried making blue icing at home, but after pouring in over a quarter of a bottle of blue colouring and still not achieving the right  colour, I made a mercy dash to the local cake store and bought some ready-made icing.  Just as well - it's the right colour, and tastes a whole lot better!  The main thing is that Stacie loves it and is happy.  And her favourite present today?  Woolly David tennant of course!

Let It Snow......

...no, please don't!  I'm not a big fan of snow, despite it being so pretty.  It's all very well if you have nothing better to do, but when you have to go to work, get the shopping (carried the week's fruit and veg home from the market in a rucksack this morning - good job I'm a sturdy lady!) and walk the dog, quite frankly I could do without it.

Luckily the dog decided today that he quite liked it - yesterday he went on strike during both walks due to severe problems with ice-balls forming under his feet.  Not a happy boy at all!

Today was different though, with the overnight temperatures freezing the surface of the snow, so he managed a good run and some exploration.  I'm sure we saw Mr.Tumnus down here somewhere....

Maybe not!

Lots of pretty dried seed heads against the snow - everything has a blue tinge to it as this was very early in the morning, with the sun just coming up over the horizon.

Still, all this cold does give us the excuse to have some of this after our exertions - hot chocolate and raspberry sponge, yum!

There have been some shenanigans on the sofa too - cheeky pups!

Jubilicious......

....don't you wish I was coming round to your house?