Weekend at my sister's with lots of knitty things, The week since which involves some Sewing and Baking, a haircut briefly mentioned, this weekend in London and the sudden future, Fill In the Blank Friday

Wow - it's been a busy week!

So I spent last Saturday to Monday at my sister's, which was really nice. Whilst I was up there she passed a knitted hat:

and scarf:


















and shawl:

onto me, which was really lovely. Aren't they pretty?! But then she also passed a whole bag of different yarns to me to take home and use if I could find a use for them! They're really gorgeous!

It was a fairly quiet weekend, which I really liked. We spent Saturday afternoon and evening at her flat, and as far as I remember we cooked supper then knitted and watched the film Wanted - a fairly terrible film, but amusing and easy to watch; happy stupid!
Sunday we went to Edinburgh in the afternoon, as my sister had a show to go to at the Fringe. It was mad busy there, which I didn't like. But we escaped into the calm of Edinburgh museum, which was kind of awesome and very interesting. I saw the Chronophage, which I really liked. It was enjoyable to think about, because it has these LED lights in it which denote the hours, minutes and seconds. The second lights would flash up all around the circle every second, moving one full revolution and one extra light forward so that it stopped on the next light every time - like a hand on a normal clock. But this means that it had to travel faster than one revolution a second. Isn't that geekily interesting?!

We also saw the animals room, which was amazing! I didn't grasp the full height and size of animals like giraffes and elephants until I was stood right next to the taxidermied bodies of them. They're huge!! I wouldn't even come up the entire height of the elephant's leg. I found it really interesting, and I found out that they don't taxidermy fish, as their skin is too fragile. Instead they make casts of them.

So that was really fun, and once the museum was closing we went with a friend of my sister and had supper in a little bar/cafe type thing. I finally had the fajitas I've been craving for about 3 months, and they were delicious! Then we walked along to the road my sister's show was on, and said goodbye to her friend, then told me how to get to the train station if my sister wasn't back in time for the last train, then plonked me down in Beanscene, and entirely scottish train of cafes. It was lovely in there. I sat and drank some tea, and knitted and people-watched. And, bizarrely, I saw the wife! I knew she was in Edinburgh that weekend, but it's a big place, and I didn't think we'd see each other, so I didn't tell her that i would be there. But there she was, walking straight past the window! I saw her at the last minute, and did a double-take. I realised she would be headed for the train station to go back to Newcastle. So I didn't call to her. I guess it just felt a little too much like a scene from a storybook. And my life isn't a story.

Anyway, my sister didn't seem as though she would be back  in time to catch the last train, so I set off for the station without her; but she did make it after all, so we headed back to Stirling and collapsed into bed. Monday she was working, so I lazed around in bed in the morning and read a Batwoman graphic novel, then made cheesecake brownies. My sister's SO fried some potato scones for me - I don't think I've ever had them before, but they were oh so very good! Then I packed all my stuff up, and went to Beanscene in Stirling to wait for my sister. We had a drink in there, and we got a full free drink card because they forgot to make my drink at first. Then we went to a little sweet shop and I bought some rosy apples and 'soor plooms'. We walked to the station, said goodbye to each other, and I got on the train and came home. Not altogether that exciting a weekend, but comfortable and relaxed, and the kind I like!

Since then I've been to the dentist, and she proclaimed my new false teeth beautiful; I've baked some, and I've sewed a lot. I finally made the pyjama top to go with the bottoms I made a while ago:

and realised I loved the top and thought it so gorgeous on that I was a little disappointed that it was going to be a pyjama top. I might wear it during the day sometimes!

And I made the same pattern in another fabric:

I love this on too, but not as much as the other! But I love them both very much, and feel good when I wear them! I made a huge batch of cheesecake brownies to use up some of the glut of cream cheese we had at home:

I love the cases! See, they're all spotty!
And I followed a recipe for Angel Layer cake. It wasn't very successful, in truth. It's basically like 2 giant meringues in different colours:

It's lovely meringue, don't get me wrong. But it's not Angel Layer Cake. Back to the drawing board!

I got my haircut today - no pictures, sorry! And I also dyed it this evening. See, told you it's been busy! And I still found time to put laundry through, do the dishwasher, eat, sleep...!

Tomorrow I'm going to London to see Les Mis with the wife - can't believe it's finally here! I'm very excited to see it, and looking forward to seeing the wife again! I miss her when she's not with me. And then next week is majorly busy too - meeting up with my high school form tutor and a friend; childminding; visiting another friend; and then there's less than a week before I leave! I have barely a handful of free days left before I go. nanny college was so far away when I first applied, I thought it would never happen. And now it's swiftly becoming a reality!

So last for tonight: Fill In the Blank Friday!

The best thing to do on a hot day is open all the windows, wear as few clothes as possible, drink cold drinks and lie around in the half dark with a book. Alternatively, carry on as though it's any other day but complain about the heat a lot!

The best place to be on a hot day is somewhere cold! Maybe swimming in the sea? Otherwise outside in the shade, assuming there's a strong breeze.

The best thing to eat on a hot day is fruit - watermelon, if possible. And salad. 

Hot days are few and far between in England. They're good for ripening fruits and vegetables, and can make going for a ramble very enjoyable.

My go to uniform on a hot summer day is a loose cotton dress - and underwear, obviously - and nothing else. No tights or socks or shoes, no cardigan. Just a nice dress to let any cool breezes flow through and over my body!

The scent that reminds me of summer is the smell of Asda's giant M & M cookies. Weird, I know, but they smell warm and slightly spicy, and always remind me of how it smelt out in the middle East when we used to live there. Specifically, it makes me think of the evening walks we used to take. And I vaguely remember some kind of droopy tree which dropped lots of leaves and these long seed pods. Couldn't tell you any more than that, though; I was only 6.

My favourite thing about summer is the time I spend with friends in it. The planned excursions and fun we get up to in summer is brilliant!

And that's all. Well done if you managed to get to the end! See you in a few!

Love love xx

Fill In The Blank Friday, Visiting

Just a quick Fill in the Blanks!

The age I will be on my upcoming birthday is 20. Shock horror! No more teenage years!

The best birthday present ever would be harmony between all magical and non-magical peoples... oh wait. No. That's Gilderoy Lockhart. My favourite present is seeing people I love. But not for so long that I start wanting to tear my hair out and scream!

My favourite birthday to date was last year's, my 19th. I don't have the best track record with good birthdays, and last year all my friends were going to uni so there would be nobody around to celebrate it even. But the wife invited me up to Newcastle to spend it with her, so I had a glorious birthday with her, and we went out and explored a bit, and bought cupcakes which made awesome birthday cake substitutes; and we watched some Tribe and just generally had sweet sexy wife time! (in which nothing even remotely sexual went on, as usual).

Birthdays make me feel miserable, usually. Because I know I should be happy because it's my birthday - and yet almost nobody ever makes any effort with my birthday. In fact, almost all of my friends tend to forget it. And then when they realise 2 weeks later, they say, 'why didn't you tell me it was your birthday?!' As though I should feel bad for them making no effort, even though it's my birthday! Sorry, it's something I find really annoying! And I guess that's why I always try to make an effort for other people's birthdays. I would hate for anyone else to feel the way I do on my birthday. I would hate for anyone else to feel that there are so few people in their life willing to make an effort.

The worst birthday I ever had was ummm... I don't know. Birthdays are so often filled with good and bad, and any that are particularly unimpressive I don't bother to remember. I don't remember very many birthdays - 2 or 3 of them, that's all.

When I was born my mum was relieved, I think, since she started labour the week before! I was also a little blondie from birth to about the age of 7 at which point my hair darkened into a fairly standard brown.,

So far my favourite age has been this age. Life is so content right now for me - I have people that I love and who love me, I have my studying and then career to look forward to, independence coming, and a strong faith in a loving God. Otherwise, I would have gone with anywhere between baby and 5-year oldness, since I'm pretty sure they tend to be easy, worry-free years for most people! 

And that's it! I'm spending the weekend at my sister's, so no promise of any posts during that time. Maybe, but unlikely. Until Tuesday!

Love love xx

Pictures, Bread, Quilt Block, Socks, Nut Butter, Knitting

I didn't realise later would mean the next day. Sorry. Here are pictures, as promised!

Beautiful bread:

 Sorry - I realise now it doesn't look as beautiful as it did before I grated chocolate all over it then tore great hunks of it off to gobble down in satisfaction. But I didn't take any photos before I did that stuff, so you'll have to use your imagination. It looked a little reminiscent of this

 I made a loaf of it the other week with the wife, but we followed the instructions exactly and it turned out like lead. This time I just added an entire sachet of yeast, and I chucked all the ingredients into the breadmaker and got it to do the dough bit. Then I rolled it out and up and so on.







Then my block for the Quilt Around The World II:


It isn't finished yet. I still need to edge all of the appliqué and do some fabric painting fun on it. But they're supposed to be scarlet pimpernel. and yes, I know they aren't scarlet. Neither are the actual flowers, apparently! But they are native to Britain, which is what I wanted.

 This is the first sketch I made, when I was getting a feel for the scarlet pimpernel. I'm not very good at drawing, so sorry about that. But I used this to then trace onto greaseproof and position everything; then onto bondaweb.

and there's a flower up close. I'm going to put a sort of fabric paint wash fade thingy into the centres of the flowers in pink to mimic the actual flower. Then, once I've done that and appliquéd it all, I can send it onto the next person who is, incidentally, my mum. This is why I feel less bad about not getting on with it. I should be doing it right now, but I know my mum knows what I want, so I've been lazy. But I need to finish it and get it up on flickr for the other members to find out what I want - which is a neutral background (any greys, black, white or cream) with a flower that is native to their own country. I don't' care about flower type or colour, or how they put it on the background - appliqué, paper piecing, whatever. Just a native flower on a neutral background, with the flower name and a signature block to go along with it. Now all I need to do is finish it, and work out how to use flickr! Should be easy, right?!

and some beautiful socks:

When I visited my sister ages and ages ago, she set me up with some needles and self-striping yarn and instructions for making socks. I finally finished them! They're blue and stripy and cosy and comfy and warm and I love them oh so very much!

 Especially, can I just say, I love the triangle detail that comes with the joining of the heel flap to the rest of the sock! Not too bad for a first pair of socks, eh?










And one last thing:

 

 Some mixed nut butter. This is roast almond, pecan and walnut butter. I didn't just make that piffling little amount - I made about a jarful. But I promptly used most of it in some no-bake energy bites rather like these. I really like them, as shown by this being the second time I've made them! They taste really good, and I can pretend they're healthy!

I'm going to vanish now and either sew a little on my block or knit some on a baby blanket I'm making for my pregnant friend. Pictures of that will come at some point, but not right now!

Love love xx

Friday, other people's problems, walking and baking, recipe, visiting, new teeth, Fill In The Blank Friday

It's Friday. I was meant to be doing fun things with my very screwy friend, BM. But she cancelled on me by saying that she 'thought it was next Friday' I had suggested. I smell bull. Because when I say 'shall we do something next Friday' on a Monday I'm talking about the next Friday, not the one after that. But I'd never really expected her to do anything but come up with a reason why she couldn't meet up today. And if I'm really honest, I wasn't particularly in the mood for doing anything with her either considering how she's been recently. I know it's selfish of me - she has depression, and so can't help being how she is, really - but I'm just a bit worn down by other people's problems right now. There are so many people coming to me with their problems and inability to cope. And whilst I'm glad people feel they can do that, I can only take so much.

On the other hand, I went for a good long walk today, through the fields and across the train track and along the field paths beyond it. I saw many trains, and waved to one. The driver waved back as well! And then I came back and baked cookies and made another batch mix ready for when the trays come out of the oven. So I'm going to put that batch in soon and make another batch, and then I'll have done all the cookies I'm doing. It's a really simple recipe, from the Good Housekeeping Cook Book, but I vary what I add to the basic mix. Their basic mix is for chocolate chip and walnut. I don't think I've ever added chocolate chips or walnut to it. I have, however, added pecans, macadamias, hazelnuts, cranberries and cherries in various combinations. Here's the recipe:

3 oz butter
3 oz white sugar
3 oz brown sugar
drop of vanilla/almond essence
1 egg
6 oz self-raising flour
pinch of salt
4 oz whatever you're adding.

Cream butter and sugars. Add essence and egg and mix. Add everything else and mix. spoon onto baking sheets and cook for about 15 minutes at 180 c or gas mark 4. Eat them all. Start again.

See? Simple! Once I have done my third batch of these cookies I will pack for going to my sister's tomorrow. I'm just a little bit very excited! I haven't been up there in ages, so it should be really nice. I need to decided what knitting project I want to start, and she'll help sort me out with yarn and needles. And we're going to go and see the new Muppet film on Sunday, which should be lovely - I haven't been to the cinema in ages, either. My life is so sad! But I am really looking forward to seeing my sister.

Next week, can I just say, is so exciting for me! I finally will have my new teeth fitted!! as in permanently! Having worn a denture for a year, I am so excited to be getting rid of it for 3 new teeth. Yesterday I had them checked at their halfway stage of making, so they were matte and didn't look like real teeth yet. But the dentist was able to check the colour-match, shape, size and fit of them. The new teeth are made of two sort of screw-in centres which are hollow and pale white. The teeth will, I think be glued onto these. But when the dentist was screwing the centres in it was really painful, because they're flared to give a more natural look; and the 2 holes that have been made and formed and maintained by healing caps are narrow and cylindrical. So the dentist didn't screw them all the way in; and she changed my healing caps for some which were marginally bigger and flared to reduce discomfort when the teeth are fitted fully next week.

Finally, today is Friday! Here are my Blanks:

My favourite room in my home is the bathroom. It is the one place where you can have absolute peace - and where you deserve peace! With the job I do, I often find I can't even get a few minutes' peace to wee in the day. So the 10-20 minutes in the shower every morning is absolute bliss to me.

My current decor style is only based on my own bedroom. But light and breezy, I would say. Lots of white!

I wish I could redecorate the kitchen in my house to make it more interesting. My parents have very bland, safe taste; and I like to experiment a bit more with colour!

My dream house absolutely has to have a lot of quirks, like reading nooks and a door hidden behind bookcases and a swing sofa.

One house item I am willing to splurge on is doors and window frames. Weird, I know - but all too often they look shabby or mismatched to the house or just plain grubby.

A decor trend I just don't get is bunting to decorate random bits of house. I just can't see a point to it?

So! That's this week's. I hear cookies calling me; and I have some letters I need to write as well, so I'm going to stop here for now.

Love love xx