Finish For The Weekend

I have had quite the week this week, keeping me busy which I love.  It is Communion Season so church events have kept me busy too.  The weather has been typical of that of the start of Autumn and so akin to Island weather and that is changeable.  It is so difficult to know what to wear, even the heating system doesn't know what to do.  We have now ordered logs which will be delivered next week so that we can light the stove in the afternoon ready for the big drop in temperature as the darkness descends.  It seems to be getting darker each day so we are settling down a little earlier and moving into the Autumn/Winter mode of entertainment jigsaws, crosswords and crafting.

Preparing the store cupboard has been high on my agenda so after drying out herbs and chopping them finely I now have an assortment ready for those warming stews/casseroles.  I also have some that have been warmed in oil and bottled along with some chilli oil.  Sadly herbs and chilli's are the only produce that we have grown this year but we do have plans for next year.

The raspberry vinegar has now been bottled all ready to use for Winter salads.

Some natural twine wrapped around the bottle neck to give it some glamour.

I had quite the bake this morning filling the oven to capacity to optimise the electricity.  We are trying to keep the bills as low as possible so that we can have some extra treats on our holiday. The bread maker was put on, this time for a small white crusty loaf which was indeed very tasty and looked as it should despite it coming from a packet.  We have two more varieties to try and then normal service will resume.

Quiches, cranberry mincemeat pies and banana nut bread all ready for the weekend.

The blanket is now finished, I did another round on the initial granny square as it did not look full enough and then used a single crochet to put them together.  My apologies for not doing a tutorial as requested but it is on my list of things to do and I will get to it as soon as I can.

I have made a little shopper and a taggy blanket for little gifts.

Alterations have been completed finally, even petite is still too long for me so I do struggle with trousers been only 4' 11" tall.  I am once again joining Jill at Emerald Cottage for the weekly get together to showcase your finish's , why not join in the fun and pop over and see what has been created and indeed finished this week.

As always I thank you for your comments, emails and support they are greatly appreciated.

See you soon.

Finish For The Weekend

I have had a busy few days with a lot of finishes in the kitchen.  I have finally made a start on making jams, chutneys and flavoured oils to add to gifts for Christmas, but I will share all this in another post.  Today I am once again joining Jill over at Emerald Cottage for the weekly get together highlighting your finish for the weekend.  This week Gerard and I have finished painting the back of our cottage and we have also finished the fireplace.  I have just waxed the wood fire surround so it is looking good.

Each little job accomplished making it feel more and more ours.  It is such a lovely feeling to see something finished.

Whilst I have been working on Christmas gifts and cards, early due to our planned travels I was surprised on our trip to Stornoway to see so much Christmas goodies out on display in the supermarkets.  Despite my love of all things Christmas, I do feel that is a little too early for me.  How do you feel about it?

My finish for the weekend this week is Christmas cards, twenty to be exact.  I did have so much fun playing around with fabrics and papers.

It was a joy matching the colours of some of the beautiful tweed samples that Christina of a colourful life blog generously posted to me.

I love the reflection of the cards in the tin.

We have had some wonderful visitors in the croft behind the outbuilding, giving us hours of pleasure watching their antics.  They are certainly a distraction and a joy.

What have you finished this week?

See you soon.

Finish For The Weekend

Today I am joining in the fun with Jill over at Emerald Cottage for the first Finish for the Weekend.  I have many projects on the go particularly home improvements since moving to our dream cottage on the Isle of Lewis.  This will hopefully spur me on a little when it is needed.  This week a start was made on some of my Christmas preparations, early due to our travel plans.  These are a few of the things that I have finished this week.

The base of these tags are ceramic, which were bought in the January sales with no idea what to do with them.  There was 90% off them so a real bargain, but only a bargain if they are used.  I faltered for awhile not sure of what to do with them and then finally decided on adding some paper and stamping the names on them.   Some natural twine added and they can double up as a tree decoration too.

On out last trip to visit family we went to a lavender farm, which was a great outing with Bertie and Honey.  We had lost of fun snipping away at the rows upon rows of lavender.  We came back with two very large brown bags which I have dutifully dried out.  So my next finish is some lavender bags to be used as toppers for some of my gifts.  I enjoyed the process of making them and the wonderful memories that making them evoked.  I am hoping that my daughter will have some wonderful memories of picking the lavender when she sees them.

First up were some simple hessian/burlap bags tied with some natural twine and a few sprigs of lavender added.

I did spray the lavender sprigs with hairspray to stop them dropping, so they have lost their smell a little.  However the amazing smell from the bag is beautiful.

I had some lovely remnants of fabric which I have made some bags from, they are adorable with country animals.  Perfect as a topper for some country wrapped gifts.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and enjoy whatever it is you have planned.  We are planning on a relaxing weekend, catching up with each other and some reading and TV.  As always thank you for your wonderful comments and support.