HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

This is Pierre, the pumpkin we're been growing all year, fulfilling his destiny and becoming a beautiful halloween pumpkin!

Hope you have a spooktacular halloween!

Crocheting and Sewing...Crochet Plant Pots, Market Bag and Cath Kidston Handbag...

It's been a flurry of activity this week chez moi...this chilly weather makes me want to stay in on my sofa under a blanket watch dvds and making something lovely...I made this plant pot by crocheting round a plastic pot that used to have jelly in...

And this bag, to send to my best friend who lives in Brazil, I made it using a free lion brand market bag pattern, but it was too big, so I had to rip a lot out and make it up as I went along...I'm super pleased with it...

I also had my sewing machine out (last time I used it I sewed through my finger...it was grim....it hasn't bitten me since though, so I think we're friends again...I did break a needle sewing this...perhaps that makes us even!) to make the bag-kit that came with Cath Kidstons Sew book I treated myself to the other day (it's currently about £6 on amazon).  The instructions were quite complicated, and I had to use things like facings and top stitching, but this is the nicest thing I've ever sewn, it's all nice and neat and straight (ish!) stitches...I love it...I added the lining and pocket from my vintage fabric collection...I have made the handle, but I'm yet to tackle button holes on the machine, so I'm leaving it as it is for now...

Have you made anything awesome recently? 

Library Love...The Night Circus, Junk for Joy, The 100 Foods you Should be Eating...

This month I have mostly been reading...

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

I loved this book about 2 magicians locked into a challenge in a magical circus...pretty much all the action happens in the last 100 pages though, which resulted in one very late night for me as I couldn't put the book down and go to sleep until I'd found out what happens!

Junk for Joy - Sian Berry

This book is kinda like a lot of the other crafty/upcycling books that are about, but it has pretty pictures and I particularly liked some of the instructions for more unusual crafts, like glasses from wine bottles, that cost a lot if you buy them from craft shops.  It also had lots of advice for furniture type crafts, like stripping paint and upholstery, which would be useful in the future when I have my own house and furniture to make pretty.

The 100 Foods you Should be Eating - Glen Matten

I needed this book to help get me out of my current crisps-and-sweeties-diet...it has lots of information about the nutrition of each food and how to cook it...I especially like that it doesn't focus on 'super foods' or food fads, but on sensible things we can all buy and eat easily...a good kick-up-the-bum-and-start-eating-properly motivator!

Have you read anything fabulous from your local library (or otherwise!) recently?

A Hat For Percival...

At work we have a little pig that lives on the desk, his name is Percival and he has been MISTREATED by some cruel staff members, who have PICKED his ears off! Oh the humanity!  Percival's earless state has been distressing me for several weeks, so this weekend I took him home with me and made him look a little more presentable...his new, attractive appearance has earned him a place on top of the till, rather than under the computer screen, so he can be admired by all the customers...

Before...

After...

Ridiculously Easy Biscuits...

While we had the oven on last night I decided to try out another baked recipe I'd seen on the TV this week (I can't remember which programme it was on unfortunately) for palmiers or elephant ear biscuits...they're supposed to turn out looking like this...

Mine did not turn out like that...I was using up some ready made puff pastry that I found in the freezer and there was only half of it left, so mine were very small and also I didn't roll them up tightly enough, so I made strange little piles of puff pastry and sugar...my goodness they were yummy though...I rolled out the pastry a little on a sugared surface, I used soft brown sugar mixed with a little white, which made them lovely and caramelly, then I sprinkled more sugar on top, rolled them up, cut the roll into 1cm segments, put them on a lined baking tray and baked for about 10 mins...they were so good we ate them in one go!  The sugar sort of melted out around the bottom of the biscuits and went all hard and crispy and tasted all syrupy....

  Have you baked anything exciting recently?

Back With a Garden Update...

So after much more whizz-popping my old computer has been sent to the naughty corner to think about what it's done and my lovely auntie has given us her old computer, which after a bit of rummaging about in it's insides and deleting the 70billion antivirus programmes she had on it, works beautifully! Yey!

Our garden is still being exciting, even though it's definitely autumn now (we had a mad week of sunshine last week, temperatures of at least 30 degrees and vest tops and summer dresses on, but we've settled back down to crispy golden leaves weather now!)  We have hazelnuts in our new garden!  It's only a tiny corkscrew hazel in a pot, but it's nutted this year for us...fresh hazelnuts taste soo good!

I think this little green bug sat on this red leaf on purpose because he wanted his photo taken!

We lifted the onions a coupl eof weeks ago, the ones that survived are delicious!  In their space we put some leeks and planted some garlic bulbs and beetroot seeds too...

This is what happens to asparagus once it's finished giving you asparagus stems to eat, you let it grow into a fern, before cutting it down ready for next year...I think it looks very festive and christmassy!

I LOVE nasturtiums!  They've been so magnificent this year, and they're still going strong!

This is Pierre the pumpkin a few weeks ago, he's bigger now and more orangey...

Here are some of our harvest baskets from the past few weeks...I'm especially excited to pick my first peppers (I hope they're ripe...I don't think it's hot enough for them to turn red or even yellow) I'm making pepper and mushroom pizza tonight!

How are your gardens growing??