Dusty Violet

I love colours that aren't true, that have been' dirtied' with a little ochre or umber or black. I very often like to mix my own colours when painting furniture as you can arrive at something a little more interesting. Even more than that, I love to add washes and layers to the finished colour to achieve something more complex.Here are some images from Pinterest to show you what I mean.

So soft and easy to live with all these dusky, dusty shades I find.

I hope you enjoyed my selection. Have a merry midweek. Love Linda x

Little Houses

I just love them in all their various guises. So when I found the above pattern for a knitted dishcloth on Pinterest, I was delighted. I am not the world's best knitter though and not one of mine ended up like the pattern, but who cares, I still have the prettiest dishcloths ever. You can find the pattern here.

I used two different cottons and preferred the one that was a bit thicker as it made a slightly larger and chunkier cloth. It was very easy and quick to do.

I also rather admired the first picture of little red houses that I also found on Pinterest, and decided to have a little go at making some tags. Here's my efforts.........

They are very crude and simple but remind me of German or Swiss houses, and would do rather well for adorning Christmas presents. I used one or two on some food gifts for a friend.

I made some Apricot and Almond Macaroons, which are quite soft and sticky, but quite delicious. I also made Amaretti biscuits, which are flavoured with lemon and cinnamon and don't have that marzipan taste which I am not mad about. I am extremely pleased with these, as they taste and smell really good and are just the thing to serve with coffee. If anyone would like the recipes, just let me know.

I received in the post this week a most gorgeous giveaway from my friend Zuzu at A Cottage In The Woods. These little tags are copies of her original art printed unto tags that are only about an inch in size. They came in a little lacy envelope that Zuzu had made herself. They are so delightful and so special I shall have to think long and hard about how I can best use them. On her latest post Zuzu has found a very clever way to display hers, click on the link to see. I made an enlargement of the bee, so that you can see how adorable he is. Thankyou Zuzu!

Zuzu's lovely envelope gave me an idea for making a little pocket to put my tissue hearts in for Valentine's day.

I filled the hears with love hearts, with suitable messages for each of us. I will probably slip in some chocolate, as there is a bit of room in the pocket.

I do apologise for my very blurry pics of the other hearts I made. I stained some with coffee and I am not too sure if I prefer them clean and bright. The toile tissue paper looks like old toile fabric now though. Which do you prefer? I am not sure yet how I will use these. I might just scatter them over the table, or put them in a jar 'jar of hearts!' Or sew them into a garland. We don't really go in for Valentine's day in a big red  rosey way, but we shall have a cosy little romantic dinner at home (for three!) I think it is good to make a little space for some romance, without going O.T.T. What do you think about it?

Hoping you all have a lovely weekend, love Linda x (p.s. my larder cupboard isn't finished yet!)

The photographs are from Pinterest or my own.

Doing stuff!

My work has gone unusually quiet these last couple of months. I put it down to the economic climate. Although I am slightly worried, I have decided to focus on other things and make the most of the free time I have. Money is tight so it forces me to re-use, recycle and restore, which is good! I have loved this image above which I found in Tumblr, so I have been making some of these little paper hearts to decorate the place for Valentine's day. I made some from tissue paper and they feel like little packets of sugar, which gave me the idea to make larger ones for place settings, and to fill them with an individual love message and sweets. I will let you see the pics in a day or two.

I have also been knitting dishcloths in the shape of houses, they are really cute. I will let you see the pics of those in a day or two! You will think I am spoofing, and haven't done anything at all...honest I have. Remember my biscuit disaster, well I couldn't let a batch of biscuits get the better of me, so I tried again! This time success..................................................................................................................................

I am useless at piping, so I just used some ready made fondant icing and painted on the little bunny features with a fine paintbrush and food colouring. The square ones, you can't see very well, but I stamped them with a rubber stamp that has a little girl and a dog on, and says 'I love my dog'.So these have gone down pretty well.

This is my terribly messy larder cupboard which has been moved to a different spot in the kitchen and is getting a bit of a facelift. (In a couple of days, I hear you mutter.) Yes! So I will love you and leave you, and see you soon. Wishing you all a merry midweek, love Linda x

Tales of the Riverbank

It was a very cold but lovely morning in Antrim today. I decided to take a walk and take my camera with me, so that you can see where I live. I love to see where people live, so that I can picture them there, in my mind's eye. First things first though! I would like to thank you all so much for your kind and thoughtful comments on yesterdays post. You really are the most uplifting bunch of people to be around, and I love you for it! Things didn't turn out too badly for Lois, her best friend's granny took Lois under her wing, which was lovely and made her feel included. As for my being a 'domestic goddess'.....it went sadly wrong! I decided to make biscuits (which I have made many times before), and something made them spread out in the tin and all join together to make one very large, very crisp biscuit! At least we got a laugh out of it. Just as well I had the malteser bunnies in reserve! (Have you tried these, by the way?)

Oh I must tell you too, that Santa was a very good boy and brought me my desired red (well burnt orange to be exact) Nespresso 'Pixie' coffee machine for Christmas. It is completely fabulous and makes the best coffee. So I am on my way to achieving my coffee counter a la Martha Stewart, but I need some new cups and a tray, so watch this space! Anyway, back to my walk.........

At the end of the street where we live, you cross over the road and you are into the Castle Grounds (or the park as we call it). It really is a delightful place, so full of history with old buildings, castle ruins, a river, Lough Neagh, and wonderful wildlife. We are so lucky to have it on our doorstep. It is owned by Antrim Council, who seem quite forward thinking, for a council, and have received grants to improve and restore it. There has been a lot of work going on there and you will see signs of it in the photographs, but it will be very exciting when work is completed.

Can you see, the Heron? I saw three this morning, they always give me a thrill I don't know why, they seem so pre-historic or something!

I always love this part of the river where it bends and is overhung with trees, so peaceful.

There is a lovely geometric garden which is very old. It all looks rather grey today.

This is something new, I am not quite sure what this will be used for. It looks like something you would see in Europe with it's canvas roof. Don't they know it never stops raining here?

Ducks and Swans, and this other little fellow, not quite sure what he is, and he rather rudely turned his back on me, and you can't see his very pointy little beak!

Then I met two very friendly Robin's who made me smile, it was almost as if they were  posing for the photographs.

Then as you come up to the lough, there are all the little boats huddled together, and I loved the weathered and worn green paint on an old boat shed.

I was very aware of all the different textures, the moss, the lichen, the frosty grass, the bark on the trees....wonderful!

I have some more, but I think I will save them for another post. I wouldn't want you falling asleep.

I would just like to share something before I go. I am sure you are all like me, and you follow too many blogs, and can't keep up with them all. However, here is one, that you may have missed that is totally fascinating. My sister stumbled upon it and told me about it. It is called Spitalfields Life and the author writes about this part of London where he lives and the characters who live and work there. It is a totally enthralling piece of social history. I have only just subscribed and so have only read a little of what there is to read, but I found it, as did my sister, totally absorbing and interesting. He has written a book, which will be out in March, under the same name. Wishing you all a very happy midweek, love Linda x

Life is a song....

and my song is a little sad today. Why? Because my little chick is sad. And when her little heart is blue, then mine is too.

Today is Grandparents day, and in her school they hold a special mass for the Grandparents, who get to go.
Unfortunately for Lois she has only one living grandparent left, her granny Cassie, who she loves to bits, but she has Dementia. It is too difficult to get her granny up and ready in time for mass so Lois has no-one to represent her. It is difficult at nine years of age to cope with being different from the rest of your class, so we have had a few teary nights this week.

Needless to say it has made me think of my lost loved ones and of the passing of time. So I am sorry I am not my usual cheery self. However, I won't stay sad, because at 3 o'clock, my daughter needs me . So I am off to bake something lovely for her coming out of school, to have the house tidy and warm, to get ready to wrap my arms around her and let her know ....THAT SHE IS LOVED!! To change my song to a happy one!

She will get a big sloppy kiss from 'Sparky' the dog too! Love, Linda x