A Random Selection of Weekend Photos

A thrifted tunic bought for £3.50 and worn a couple of times over jeans.

Another longer tunic also £3.50 that I've worn over leggings as it's a bit longer. This one still had the shop tag hanging from it!

A double poly/cotton sheet (£3.25) that I am going to use to make curtains for my Shed.

DD came for the weekend and we saw the advertising she's had put on her van. Hopefully this will generate some more business. She's also going to have a stall at an animal rescue centre's open day in July and I am going to miss my monthly quilting group to go along and help her.

We popped to the village Sunday afternoon and I took DD and her boyfriend to the church to see this! It's a model (of the church) in the church made out of ICING, with rice paper windows!!!! It's up for auction during the Flower Festival in July but, lovely though it is, I can't really see that it would be suitable for anywhere else other than in the church.

And lastly, here's a picture of the view from inside the choir vestry. (I'm afraid it's a bit dark because I didn't turn on the lights in the church when we went in). The window you can see through the door is above the altar at the far end of the church. The window above the door is actually a reflection of the window behind where I'm standing and was an unexpected surprise feature that was produced when this glass screen was installed a few years ago.

Well, that's the end of the weekend round-up. Hopefully some stitchy progress of some kind next time.

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Bye for now.

Teresa x

How to Hard Boil the Perfect Egg!

Nothing cryptic here! That's exactly what this is about - hard boiling eggs!! I made some boiled eggs the other day for the picnic at the castle and it occurred to me that some people may not know the tips I've learnt over the last few years to make the result a bit nicer (mainly aesthetic). I have only 3 tips but they make all the difference. I'll apologise now if you've heard these already and I'm 'teaching my grandma to suck eggs'!! :-) And when/if you get to the end maybe you could leave me a cooking tip or two that you've picked up along the way, especially if it's about how to poach an egg because I've never found a foolproof way to do this!

I've heard all sorts of suggestions for preventing an egg cracking when you put it into the water - from adding vinegar to putting it in cold water to start - and nothing worked for me until I heard about putting a little hole in the shell. It needs to go in the rounded end of the egg where the air-sac is located. I do it by stabbing the egg deliberately but controlled and twisting the skewer to grind the hole without cracking the egg (sounds more complicated than it is but I don't know how else to explain it).

Here's a close-up of the hole. See, it doesn't need to be very big. I think the science behind this is that, as the egg cooks, the air-sac expands and the hole allows the air out of the egg instead of causing the egg to crack. You still need to be careful putting the egg into the boiling water.
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I boiled the eggs for a full 10 minutes. As soon as the time is up, drain the hot water off and immediately cover the eggs with cold water, then drain and repeat a couple of times finally leaving the eggs to cool in more cold water. This process prevents the outside edge of the yolk from going grey.
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Then it's time to peel the eggs. I tap the side of the egg on a chopping board (again be deliberate but contolled) to just break the shell. Next, using the palm of your hand, roll the egg back and forth and the shell will break up enough to peel it cleanly.

The finished result! You have to admit it looks more appetising than a greying uneven lump. Now don't forget to let me know if you have any useful tips to share!
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Bye for now
Teresa x

What a Whirlwind Weekend!!!

Wow!!!! Another fantastically successful Music Festival is over for another year. My feet have hardly touched the ground all weekend!! Once again the weather was kind to us (except for some heavy showers Sunday afternoon that disrupted the Open Mic sessions). My DD and her boyfriend spent the weekend with us and my DS didn't have to work so we all spent some lovely time together.
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On Friday we spent the evening listening to a rather good cover band at The Crown pub although we did have to go outside in order to speak to eachother (but that was OK because we could still hear the music).
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On Saturday morning DD and I went for a long walk (6 or 7 miles) in the countryside (does anyone know what those cobwebby patches are in the hedges at the moment that seem to be killing the hedge?). After lunch DS joined us and we went up the castle to see an amateur group performing a Dragon story of how the red and white dragons fought each other before joining forces.
It was quite a spectacular from the costume perspective but the story part was bit sparce.

I don't suppose the children noticed with all the action going on and we don't really need an excuse to sit on the grass amongst the ancient ruins with fantastic views on a lovely sunny day!!

We had tickets in the evening for the performance of rock stars Geoff Downes and Friends. It was a fabulous, high-energy show that got us all up dancing and singing along. This was a particularly late night!!

Sunday morning I went to the Community Service in the school grounds where we (The Saturday Singers) sang 'Ride on Jesus, Ride' and 'As I Went Down to the River to Pray'. We went an hour early, to practice in the open air and get the sound right, and it went quite well with some favourable comments received afterwards! (sorry no photos of this)

Then was just time time rush home and pack up a picnic to take up to the Castle (again) to sit in the Fountain Court and listed to the Ebbw Vale Male Voice Choir and a young lad singing some wonderful solos. He was only 17 but had a lovely, rich, mature voice for his age. (The boots at the bottom left belong to my DS. He took the photo for me as he was sitting stretched out on the castle wall with a better postion for photo taking than me!).

That evening, after a flying visit to the rain-interrupted open mic session we got changed into our 60s/70s gear for The Beetles tribute band gig at the Hotel. Not quite a Yellow Submarine behind us but somewhat appropriate! Someone said the theme next year will be The Wombles but they were joking (at least, I hope they were!!).

And here they are in action! They weren't as good as the Abba Tribute last year but we had a fun night nevertheless with more dancing and singing along.

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Next week is the 50th birthday party of the chap on the far right above so we'll be getting together again sooner rather than later.

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I'll be tidying up the house tonight after work (we spent the weekend rushing home and changing, throwing clothes off and on and eating on the run). DD should have left by then and taken her belongings so I should have half a chance! Then I think an early night is in order!

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Bye for now

Teresa x

Stitchy Stuff!

It's about time I had something of a stitchy nature to show here!!

Last Saturday was my monthly quilting club meeting which was in a lovely new (to us) hall. We've been struggling for a few months in a room that was much too small to spread out our work properly and without decent facilites, so this was a welcome change. This is a sneaky pic I took of the beautiful quilt the lady next to me was hand quilting. I'm looking forward to getting mine to this stage.

This is what I was working on. The final block for my quilt-as-you-go quilt at last. Also here is a pile of all my blocks so far, quilted and unquilted, ready to lay out to try and work out in what order they are going to be put together.

And here they are laid out. This is the final layout after 6 or 7 people had an input into how they should be arranged!! To tell you the truth, I wasn't too bothered whether 2 curved blocks or blocks with the same fabric were next to eachother because the whole style of this piece, to me, is scrappy and random. I'm not saying I won't make more structured pieces in the future but this one is more pot luck. The bottom of this layout will be the top of the quilt.

Here is the view from the side. There's one empty gap because I left one patch that's partially quilted at home. When enough have been quilted, I'm going to add a light coloured sashing and start joining them together using the method we were shown on Saturday. It's taken well over a year to get to this stage and I'm anticipating it will take just as long again to get it finished, especially as we'll be doing other things at club sessions now.

I had a little time on Sunday for stitching too so Cushion No 2 was finished for the porch bench. This is a bit of a random design. I stitched together a selection of squares and then kept cutting and restitching until the desired size was reached. I'm not so sure I like this one so much but I'm sure it'll look fine when I've finished all 4.

This weekend coming is our village Music Festival so it is very, very, very unlikely that any stitching will be done. Hopefully it's going to be a fantastic weekend as it has been evey other year. We have tickets for Saturday and Sunday nights at the Beaufort and I will be going to the Community Service in the morning (where we are singing 2 pieces as the Saturday Singers) and up to the Castle with a picnic (weather permitting) to see the Male Voice Choir Sunday afternoon. Apart from that we'll just be wandering around the village, enjoying the atmosphere and listening to whatever takes our fancy. I'm really looking forward to it, but I'm going to be shattered come Monday morning.

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Bye for now

Teresa x

I'm Back.........and you didn't even know I'd gone!

The residents' lounge
Access to CAT via gravity/water powered carriage

OH and I have been away for a long weekend to Mid-Wales. We left Friday afternoon and arrived back Monday afternoon. It was a lovely break and nice to not think about housework or cooking for 3 whole days!

One always takes a chance booking accommodation online but, fingers crossed, we've been lucky so far. We stayed at the Buckley Arms Hotel near Machynlleth where we were made to feel thorougly relaxed and at home. All the rooms were large and comfortable with everything we needed at hand. On 2 out of the 3 evenings we ate dinner here too and the food was delicious. The Residents' Lounge was a dramatic room with an old-fashioned feel, but everything looked quite new (see top photo, sorry all the photos didn't load the first time and then I couldn't move them around).-
Saturday was a bit of a wash-out weatherwise but we managed to find an indoor boot sale (didn't buy anything) and a craft centre to visit.
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Sunday was much better and we took the opportunity to visit the Centre for Alternative Technology which was one of my reasons for staying in that area (and can now be crossed off my Things I Want To Do list).

The veg garden at CAT (above and below)

An insect home wall

The new conference and education centre (called WISE but I can't remember what it stands for)

Ducks by the pond at CAT having a thorough grooming session and taking no notice of us at all.

In the afternoon we drove to the coast. It was very windy and not terribly warm. The people there were almost willing it to get warmer by dressing in shorts and t-shirts (there was even one brave girl in a bikini!). We kept our jumpers firmly on and I don't think I'd have been too warm if I'd worn a coat too! I saw one chap wearing a woolly hat and sandals - this weather is very confusing!!

Despite that we had a lovely relaxing afternoon:

admiring the views........

watching people trying to catch crabs (OH said he thought it was a competition as they all had the same buckets. We didn't see any crabs getting caught - they usually fell off the bait before the fisherman was able to pull the line back up)...................

and eating icecream (well, you've got to at the seaside) while relaxing on a bench and people watching.

On the way back to the hotel we passed this beautiful lake (or is it a reservoir, I'm not sure) where 2 lads were fishing from a little dinghy.

It really was a lovely, relaxing time but all too short.

We had a couple of cream teas while away (not this one, I didn't take photos unfortunately) and I did quite a lot of thinking (thinking in general for a change instead of about what I have to do next). At one point, I mentally planned my perfect day which involved:

1 A sunny summers day

2 Me selling craftwork and sewing from my Shed

3 DD selling her products and promoting her business

4 DS making and serving cream teas on the lawn.

I aim to do at least part of this at some time in the future but it seems a long way off at the moment.

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There were shelves of books in the hotel lounge so one evening after dinner we sat there and had a browse. I didn't want to start reading something and then have to leave it so I picked the smallest book in a set of classics and read it in an evening. It was The Wizard of Oz!! (they were children's classics :-) I was surprised at how different they made the film to the book but enjoyed the quick read. I already knew the shoes were silver and not 'ruby red' (due to the fact that silver wouldn't show up well for the film on a yellow brick road) but a lot of the other changes surprised me which was good because then it wasn't too predicable. And I can add another book to my reading list for 2010, meaning I'm almost on track for one a month (pathetic really!)

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Bye for now

Teresa x

Everything in the Garden is Lovely!

The weather is still holding up, but last weekend it was absolutely amazing and (dare I say it?) a little too hot at times! I'm not averse to a nice bit of sunshine but when the temperature rises by 20 degrees overnight there's no time to acclimatise. I made the most of the gorgeous light to take a few pics around the garden.
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A newly planted bed next to the shed. There are even a few beetroot beginning to pop up in here too.

Potatoes and onions. Strawberries

Carrots, spring onions and other veg that I've forgotten (OH planted it all - not me!)

and rhubarb (lots and lots of rhubarb).

OH picked some for my mother (down the road), my auntie (up the road) and gave some to the Avon lady because she happened to pop by at the same time.

He also picked some for us which is now cooked and frozen.

It was perfect weather for drying the washing. The sky was a fabulous dark shade of blue with not a single cloud all day.

On Sunday afternoon OH and I went for a bike ride with another couple along the shady river path to Symonds Yat.

25 minutes there, 25 minutes pit-stop, 25 minutes back.

I also managed to finish this chef's hat that I showed cut out in my last post. It's for my nephews birthday next week. I'm giving it to him along with a packet of muffin mix and some cake cases to see if he takes an interest in cooking like my DS who is very kindly modelling it for me here.

And last but definitely not least I must mention this lovely Sweet Blog award that was given to me by Marivel from Cristali Designs. If you haven't come across her blog before do pop over for a gander. She makes such beautiful things. I think I'm supposed to pass it on to 3 people but it would be unfair to single out anyone when I don't have many followers and you are all so sweet. Therefore, anyone reading this can consider themselves a Sweet Blogger and you are welcome to pass it on if you so wish.

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Bye for now

Teresa x

Still going after all these years!

Just a quick post today to say 'Hi' and show you this photo which was is over 30 years old!

It's my church choir when it was made up of children (as opposed to the women it consists of now). We're singing at a Mother's Union Deanery service tonight so I thought I'd take it along to show the current members. Sadly, all of the gentlemen pictured are passed away, as is one of the children (my brother, Peter, first row far right). He died in a motorcycle accident at 18, 25 years ago and exactly one week before my wedding. I was quite protective of my younger siblings and when I saw this photo again recently I wanted to take my brother into the vestry and get him a longer cassock! We were always the last to arrive for church and had to take what was left whether it fitted or not. I should point out the rest of the family to you - I am in the 2nd row, far left with long hair, youngest sister is 2nd from right front row next to Peter, middle sister is in front of me and big brother is 2nd from right back row.
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I've got photos from the lovely sunny, hot, clear blue weekend but I'm afraid I haven't loaded them yet but I'll catch up with you soon.
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Bye for now
Teresa x

I could See for Miles and Miles and Miles and.............

Two friends and I took part in the Big Black Mountains Challenge on Saturday. We were rewarded with fantastic views (and sore leg muscles!). We followed Route B which was 29km long and took in 4 peaks. Unfortunately, I had to stop after 3 peaks (due to a weakening left leg - the result of an underlying medical condition and nothing to do with my fitness, which was really annoying) as I thought it would be unsafe to continue. My friends refused to leave me and gave up the chance to finish the course! We then walked up the road (instead of the mountain) until we got a mobile signal and phoned my OH who came to pick us up and take my friends back to their vehicle.
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Mistake No 1 - My friends had taken part last year so when they walked out of the car park at the start and up the road, I followed them...............until we realised we were going in the wrong direction and had to turn back to follow the correct path (while acting as we passed the course marshalls as if we'd meant to do that all the time!! Why they didn't tell us we were going the wrong way in the first place, I don't know!).
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Mistake No 2 - When I decided to give up, my friend (who had done the course before, remember) said that the 4th mountain was only added last year and that, if we walked up the road we would eventually get to the finish......................After a couple of miles we WE CONSULTED THE MAP, decided we were on the right road and continued to the nearest village which is where we got the phone signal. We found the village on the map and it was the opposite side of the mountain to where we thought we were and when we rang my OH he was an hour along the course, in reverse, to meet us!! However, he was lucky enough to know one of the marshalls and got a lift back in the ambulance before picking us up.

Quite an eventful day all-in-all but well worth it for the views!! I'm sure we could see for 10's of miles (if not hundreds!) from this view. The weather was dry and mostly sunny with a strong wind in places which was cold.

I'm afraid I didn't get as many photos as I would have liked. After a while, taking photos was the last thing on my mind! My lovely OH cooked me some tea when we got home and I sat in front of the TV and, for a couple of hours, did nothing else (which is unheard of for me) except watch, Dr Who, Over the Rainbow and Britain's Got Talent (until I recovered a little and finished knitting the dishcloth I started the other day).

I've photographed it on the bathroom sink because it could also be used as a flannel. The pattern I used is from Homespun Living and I'm looking forward to trying the new one she's promised soon.

Here are a couple of bits I've got on the go. Above is my second Dresden Plate block for my quilt-as-you-go quilt (no, I haven't finished the first one yet) and below is a birthday present cut out ready to sew. It looks quite grey here but it's actually blue check.

I really wanted to take part in the Great Giveaway being hosed by SewMamaSew today but time ran out on me and I've missed the deadline. I had great fun taking part last December so I hope they run another one this December. I can still enter them though :-) and there are some great prizes on offer. Hope you win something if you enter (hope I win something!!).

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Bye for now

Teresa x