Goodbye Nutmeg

It has been a very sad week for our family as my mother's cat Nutmeg passed away on Thursday night.  She was 12 years old and so had become a big part of our family life.  My children will especially miss her as they spend as much time in my mother's house as in ours and Nutmeg has been around them from the time that they were born.  Beforehand with my son because she loved to sit on my belly and purr gently when I was pregnant.  She was the most gentle, affectionate and friendly cat that I have ever known.  She spent her days on the garden wall saying hello to all the passers-by with her funny little purr-meow that she always did when she saw a friend, of which she had many.  There was no child, teenager nor adult that passed our house without stopping to cuddle her or pet her on the head.  And the funniest of all to see was a big Husky that refused to pass by the house unless he saw her.  Not to chase her or bark at her but just to have a 'kiss' from her where she would rub her head on his face and neck and lick his nose!
Telling my kids was heart-breaking.  They screamed and cried for a very long time.  We kept them away while my mother buried her under the cherry blossom in the back garden.  But yesterday morning we went and bought a beautiful pink rose together and planted it to mark her grave.  A very sad, sad day.
Goodbye Nutmeg. You brought a lot of love into our lives.  Thank you. We will all miss you a lot.

Making Dinner With Lucy

I have to be honest and say that I'm really just a big child.  And one of the best thing for me was when I had the kids was realising that I could let my inner child run wild. I can't resist a game of hide and seek or eye spy or even stuck in the mud.  So when Lucy took out her box of Playdough and asked me if I wanted to play, I was in there as quick as lightening.  We decided to try and make something resembling a dinner.

We decided to try and make something resembling a dinner and we made steak, carrots, beetroot, peas and sweetcorn, tomato and spuds.  It's amazing what you can make with palydough!!

Coconut And Apple Oaties

We all love oaties here in this house and I think that they are a great source of fibre for the kids.  With this recipe I thought that I'd combine a couple of my favourite ingredients; coconut, cinnamon and apples. The apples are a little soft after baking. This may not be to everyone's taste and if you prefer you can always leave them out.  They will taste just a good. I hope that you like them as much as we do.  So here goes...

Ingredients:
110g butter, softened
100g caster sugar
100g soft light brown sugar
1 egg
2btsp water
1/2tsp cinnamon
110g self raising flour
125g porridge oats
125g coconut
1 granny smith apple, peeled and chopped into small pieces

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C.
• Soften the butter in a food mixer or a large bowl. 
• Add the soft brown sugar and cater sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
• Next add in the water, egg and combine well.
• Using a wooden spoon mix in the flour, porridge oats, apples and coconut.  This will form a mixture like dough.
• Take pieces of dough the size of walnuts and roll in your hands to make balls.
• Spread these apart on two papered baking sheets.
• Bake for 20mins.  They should be light golden brown but still slightly soft to touch in the middle.
• Let them cool on the trays for a few minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack.
• Sit with a lovely cuppa, put your feet up and delight in what a wonderful domestic goddess you are.

Winter Is Coming Yippeee!

My favourite time of the year.. winter.  I love that now the evenings are getting shorter and there is a slight nip in the air.  I've always thought that there is something very romantic about winter.  It makes me think of cuddles on the sofa beside the stove, walks with the kids in the frosty forest all wrapped up with woolly scarves and mittens.  I love going from a cold frosty world into the comforting warmth and love in our home.
But that does not mean that I don't want colour.  At the moment I'm gone ever so slightly pea green mad and I'm working on a scarf pattern from The Knitter and a sock pattern from Interweave.  Woolly, warm but still bright and cheery.  What more would you want.

Fishing Socks

I finished my sons fishing socks today and even though the season is nearly over now, I bet that he'll get lots of use out of them as wellie socks when the cold weather starts.  He loves them and I delighted about that because we could never find any jumper patterns that he actually liked.
I have not done out my basic sock pattern out for you here because I'm still working on one that's as clear as possible.  I'll keep working on it.

Can I have a bun please?

Now that the kids are back at school I'm able to spend more of my time on crafting.  And as I spend a very pleasant morning sewing I realised that there is one thing in all of my crafty possessions that I use the most.  A little felt bun that my sister-in-law gave me two Christmases ago as a present.  I use it as a pin cushion and it is permanently beside my sewing machine.  Quite often  I can be heard asking one of my kids "pass me my bun please".

This got me thinking about other crafty things that I have that mean a lot to me.  At the moment I don't have my own craft room so these are dotted around the house and the first that I laid my eyes on is my Dad's old cigar box with a weavers knotter, vintage buttons and zips inside.  He was a weaver by profession but of all the tools and sample button cards that he had this is all that is left.

My button jar which is loved by my kids and whose contents are often spread all over the kitchen table.  And in this picture is a drawing that my daughter did when she was five of herself, my mother and me.  So cute!!

My mothers old sewing box.  A little worse for wear now being about forty years old.  I have memories of sitting on this as a little girl beside the fire while my mother brushed my hair.  I may be a bit battered but I love it.

The needle pot that stands on a shelf in my kitchen is one that I bought in a little pottery shop in Easkey on one of our first ever visits to the village.

And last but not least, my tablets.  Knitted by my friend to cheer me up when i was sick and going through a hard time changing all my medications.  Always hanging from my bookshelf, it cheers me up whenever I see it.

Cranberry and Raisin Oaties

Ingredients:
100g butter, softened
100g caster sugar
100g light brown caster sugar
1 egg
2tsp water
1tsp vanilla
250g porridge oats
110g self raising flour
1/2tsp salt
100g cranberries
75g raisins

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180°C
• Cream the butter in an electric food mixer until soft.  Add the sugars and beat until the mixture looks light and fluffy.
• While still beating, add in the egg, water and vanilla.
• Using a wooden spoon gently mix in the oats, flour, salt, cranberries ad raisins to form a stiff dough.
• Line two baking trays with baking parchment.
• Take pieces of dough about the size of walnuts, roll them in your hands to form balls and place them on the baking trays, leaving a space between each to let them spread.
• Bake in the oven for 20-25 mins until golden brown but still slightly soft in the centre.  If you like yours crunchy like my kids do, leave them in for the 25 mins or a little longer.
• Allow to cool on wire racks.