Weekend

A quiet weekend spent homemaking, baking, jam making and crafting.  Relaxing and enjoying each others company...

 

There were a lot of MDF sheets and wood offcuts left in the outbuilding which we intend to put to good use.  Already doors have been made for the attic openings in the bedroom and Gerard intends to box in some pipework in the lounge.   An electrics cupboard will also be made.  There were a couple of sheets that were quite dirty so they were used to cut out some shapes so far a boat and a butterfly.  An anchor for the bathroom will follow.

They have been painted grey and  either wallpaper or fabric added.

The wallpaper is the same one used for the drawers in the bedroom so is a wonderful addition.

The boat was covered in Cath Kidston  fabric and looks quite effective in the bathroom.

Some good old fashioned bread pudding was made to use the bread that was going stale.  Put in the tin which should last a few days.

Both strawberry and peach jam was made. In the past I did like to buy local and pick my own strawberries from a local farm, but here on the Island that was not possible.  The next best thing was to buy as local as I could which turned out to be Perthshire, they certainly tasted good.  Of course I had to test them...several times.

Finally there was a downpour of rain last night that I thought I would share.  It was bouncing off the road and  falling horizontally, a phenomenon I have never seen before so quite a sight. The photograph does not really do it justice, it was incredible.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  As always thank you so much for your most welcome comments and emails.


See you soon.

Summer Bounty

The weekend was quiet after such a hectic week, but we enjoyed the peace and getting the house back in order.  Our next lot of visitors arrive tomorrow, Lucy and the girls.  Then we are all driving down to Ampthill to Amie's for a barbeque on Saturday.  A day of rest Sunday and Victoria and the boys arrive Monday.  I love the crazy hectic days of Summer.  We still have not been able to book our holiday as Gerard is  on weekly blood tests and visits to the hospital fortnightly.  The right medication has been a little elusive this time round and taking longer than normal to sort.  Time will tell how things progress.

We have been enjoying the bounty from our garden once again, lettuce and spring onions are been harvested on a daily basis.  I have just pulled the last of the broad beans and intend to freeze them for a taste of Summer in the cooler months.

 

I have also picked the gooseberries off one bush and was inspired by a blog that I had read earlier to add a load of strawberries to make strawberry and gooseberry jam.  Gooseberries have a high pectin content so the jam sets rapidly.

 

 

I did pick the last of the strawberries from the garden but I have put them in the fridge for after our meal this evening.

 

 

The strawberries I used for the jam were some that I picked up yesterday on a yellow sticker for 13p a punnet from our local supermarket.  At that price it was rude not too.  I used the River Cottage cookbook recipe for the jam, it certainly reached setting point very quickly.

 

 

4 jars were made for the Winter store cupboard, a wonderful taste of Summer in a jar to evoke the amazing memories of a long hazy Summer filled with love and laughter and lots of rain but I am trying to forget about that.  The tomatoes have been a complete disaster this year, must check back and see what variety we used so not to use them again next year.  We have been lucky, a man sells his surplus from small holding so we are getting home grown, you can certainly taste the difference from those bought from the supermarket.

 

The skies on an evening too are a joy to behold, we have managed to stroll along the beach a couple of times and it has been amazing.  The gentle lapping of the sea as it rolls onto the sand is music to my hears, a stark difference to the crashing of the waves in the Winter months.

 

 

 

Summer at its finest.   What Summer memories do you want to treasure?

 

See you soon.

 

Five on Friday - Completed Tasks

After a rough few weeks of dealing with medical professionals we seem to be back on an even keel, thank goodness.  We had a quiet Bank Holiday weekend and a well deserved rest.  We did however, manage to complete the projects started from the week before with a few additions.  All in all a very productive week.  Once again I am joining in with the Five on Friday weekly get together, pop over to lovemademyhome.blogspot.co.uk/ to catch up with everyone.

One

I have now completed the cards that I need for June which includes a Birthday card for Mum and a Fathers Day Card.

 

Two

 

The cupboard door is now aligned and has been lifted into the bedroom.  The colours are perfect for the guest room and matches all the other décor in there.

 

 

Clothes hangers were painted and adorned with a lace shabby chic flower to give it an extra dimension.

 

 

Three

 

The children's clothes hangers were finished and added to the Christmas cupboard, I usually buy them an outfit for over the festive period so this will be the perfect thing to hang them on.

 

 

I will distress them a little later once the paint has settled.

 

Four

 

The burlap picture is now complete, the buttons were stitched on a card secured on the back to hide all the stitches.  It is the perfect match for a chair that I had done previously.

 

 

Just need to decide where to hang it.

 

Five

 

Finally I have had a few sessions of jam making to stock up the cupboard.  We are great fans of jam with scones, an easy make for when we have visitors so nice to have some in hand.

 

 

Blackcurrant, some of which has already gone to my parents as it is one of their favourites.  Made using tinned blackcurrants, a really cost effective way of making it.

 

 

Traditional strawberry using fruit that had been reduced in the local supermarket.

 

 

Pear and ginger, using some pears up that had been lingering in the fruit bowl, waste not want not...

 

 

This was an experiment using a very large tin of oranges but worked incredibly well.

 

We have tried and tested them all strawberry came top for my husband, the pear and ginger for me although we were quite partial to the blackcurrant and then the orange with the added port had a lot going for it...

 

 

The rain has stopped today so I am hopeful of getting some jobs done in the garden.

 

See you soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life's Simple Little Pleasures

Woke up Saturday morning to a dull, overcast and very damp morning so we didn't bother to go to the car boot sale.  It dried up very quickly so we went out for a stroll to the church rummage sale instead.  There was a lot of clothes which were picked over very quickly.  There were also a lot of bargains to be had with bedding and linens but nothing appealed it was all too modern for my taste.  I did however come across a very nice craft bargain of alphabet stamps with ink, card stock and some beautiful papers for the bargain price of £1.25.

 

 

Perfect for cardmaking and scrapbooking.  I loved the Vintage style papers I already have a couple of pages worked out in my mind.

 

I also managed to pick up an old war postcard for £1, for some reason it spoke to me.

 

 

I also picked up a postcard of cotton reels which I thought might make a nice picture for the craft room for 10p.

 

 

A stop at the local co-op was well worth it as I managed to get some plums that had been reduced to 20p per punnet.

 

 

I very quickly made it into plum jam, its in the fridge all ready to go.  One jar already delivered to my parents for them to have on their breakfast toast.

 

 

 

I have also been busy making soups.  I made a carrot and sweet potato one with added onion, celery and red pepper to give it some flavour.

 

 

I have also made a Mediterranean vegetable soup consisting of tomatoes, peppers, onions, courgettes and basil, roasted in the oven, stock added and then blitzed.   The colour of it is a little off putting but it really does taste good.

 

 

 

There is a date and walnut loaf in the bread machine, yummy!  It doesn't take a lot to make us happy, life's simple little pleasures. 

 

See you soon.