sunday

Today has seen a bit of this...

Finally finishing this...

A little walk...

Later, a bit of this...

And eating lots of buttery homemade scotch pancakes (the little fat puffy ones, yum!) 

I reduced the amount of sugar in the recipe (new year health kick an all that) and as I was eating them they occasionally reminded me of a concoction I used to make in the kitchen when I was little. My mum would give me free reign on the baking cupboard and I would measure out (mostly random) amounts of flour and butter and raisins and really what ever I fancied... I would then bake it in the oven in a cup (I think I misunderstood the reason for the name of 'cup cake' my mum used to bake; a cup of each, not baked in a cup :) ) I would feed the cupcake to my dad for his tea. 

And he always ate it too! (thats love for you isn't it)

monday

Where to start? I feel like I've been away for ages, what with the internet deciding not to work at all... So anyway, I've had a lovely sunny week (except for those 3 days of rain, they weren't sunny at all) just pottering about and generally taking advantage of having a whole big house to myself. Lots of room for sewing and printing and cooking, it's been lovely!


I spent quite a lot of time wandering and exploring the woods and fields where I used to play when I was little. I realise that I was so lucky to have all that space to play, all that freedom. I'm starting to think that that accounts for why I like to spend so much time on my own, and why I get all cranky if I'm around too many people for too long (oh I'm so lovely!) I used to play for hours amongst the trees, making things from sticks and drawing maps and weaving grass and who knows what. Talking to insects, making fairy outfits from flowers etc etc.


So every day this week I walked up through the woods to check on the horses, to make sure they had water and take them a little something to snack on...


And on the way back I sometimes filled the bucket with a little something to snack on myself...


Yummy. The only downside is the little grubs that live in the odd blackberry, not my idea of a treat, even if my Auntie does insist it's all protein...

beginnings

I made a dolls house when I was little, about 8 years old. I used a big old cardboard box (cardboard boxes have always been my favourite toys!)

This house I made didn't have any dolls in it, just lots and lots of miniature things I made from bits and bobs I had collected. Like empty film canisters, pen lids, bits of pottery and stones from outside, old note paper and magazines...

The room I worked on the most was the bedroom. I think it was my ideal bedroom, I made a canopy over the bed, chests of draws made from matchboxes with paper fastener handles, filled them full of tiny treasures, plant pots made from toothpaste lids with tiny tissue flowers. I embroidered miniature cushions, fitted a carpet, wove a small rug...

But my favourite part was a bookcase made of an old perfume box, and I spent hours lining the shelves with tiny books I made, each one complete with its own story or pictures.

The house doesn't exist any more, it fell to bits along the way, but I still have a few of the tiny books... somewhere.

A tiny book to remind myself of hours spent making tiny things for no reason other than to entertain myself.

dummy love...

I'm going on a first aid course tomorrow. it's something i've been meaning to do for a long time now, but i've been putting it off because i'm scared of these... aggghhhhh! I've been scared of dummys, waxworks, manequins, in fact any fake human thing, since my freind's mum took me to the Industrial Museam when I was about 5 years old. There were models of Luddites and Coiners and worst of all someone's head being chopped off in the Gibbet. I ran out screaming and had to be taken home. I can still remeber the dreams I had of Luddites with wild dirty hair laying beside me at night... But I think it's time to put things into perspective, i'm sure those dummies won't come alive and get me, i'm sure the resussitation doll won't wake up and grab me (it won't it won't) so i've taken the plunge and i'm going to do it beacause I think it is important knowledge to have. Time to face the fear :)


I was going to put a photo of a waxwork here, but looking at them on google images made me feel all aprehensive, and to be honest, I don't want to look at them! So here is a nice picture of Lemony chicken and her chick Linda instead. Much better.