Scrappy do


 Last Sunday, Mr Moog took the Minx out for the day on his motorbike. They went to a ride-in day at Beaulieu Motor Museum with hundreds of other bikers. Although I don't want to be an old worrypants, I must admit I never relax or feel at all able to settle to anything until they're home safe and sound again.

To distract me from myself, I decided to ignore housework and spent the day playing with my box of scrap fabrics. There was no plan and I had no idea when I set out what I was going to make. By the end of the day, I had a floor full of skinny trimmings and 48 little 4.5inch scrappy squares and it totally took my mind off things.

 

 I'm still not sure what they'll become, as I need to make more if I even want to make a lap quilt, but they do make me very happy.

 

There's been plenty more sewing over the past couple of weeks. I managed to finish my  English Paper Pieced apple cores and got them stitched together - through gritted teeth, I might add, thanks to me being a bit too generous with the basting glue. They were somewhat tough to stitch together but have ended up becoming a very sweet little scrappy cushion cover.

Another cushion received a makeover when I dug out some of the scrappy squares I made back in April, and combined them with some scraps of grey linen, from the Scrapstore. I'm so pleased with this one, which now sits on my favourite armchair.

Earlier this week, on my way home from work, I called into a local patchwork shop that I recently discovered, Jolly Stitcher, tucked away on an industrial park in Fareham. It's a lovely shop with a great selection of fabrics and yarn too.

 

I needed some thread and hadn't realised how hard it is to find a decent sized spool of 100% cotton thread on the high street these days. Hobbycraft had nothing bigger than 100m, and the same went for my little local sewing shop but Jolly Stitcher had a great selection. However, it must have had special magic magnetic properties as it attracted all manner of other things into the basket with it.

 

One of those things was a new rotary cutter. My old one was very old and I'd been unable to find a new blade for it and had started to struggle with accurate cutting. Well, the new one - an Olfa rotary cutter - is a complete revelation to me! I had no idea just how good a sharp rotary cutter could be and what a difference it makes to your cutting.

 

I spent Wednesday evening, once again playing with my scrap fabrics, cutting little 2.5" squares and then carefully piecing them together with my new 1/4" sewing foot. I'm surprised and delighted at what a difference these two new toys have made to my piecing.

By the end of Wednesday evening I had nine pretty little nine patch squares. By the end of Thursday evening they'd been joined together with some skinny charcoal grey sashing, with little strawberry print highlight squares and thus became...another new cushion cover!

 

This one is my absolute favourite and I still can't believe I did such neat and tidy piecing!

 

In other exciting patchworky news, I got my copy of Issue 1 of Quilt Now magazine this week - edited, of course, by the very brilliant Katy Monkey . Not only is it a beautiful magazine, with bucket loads of inspiring projects but it's also so exciting to see someone who I've known in blogland for several years, taking on such an incredible venture. It's been great to share her excitement on Instagram, where I've been lurking rather a lot lately.  

 

So, now we're onto today. After a busy day yesterday, hosting a little family bbq, and a bad night's sleep last night thanks to the heat, I opted to stay home and potter today, while Mr Moog took children and dogs to the beach.

 

I waded through a mountain of ironing, whilst listening to sewing podcasts, and once done I rewarded myself with a very quick bit of sewing, attaching flags to some tape to make 10m of bunting for my friend's upcoming 50th birthday bash. Of course, being bunting, it's a pain to photograph but here's a snippet.

To those of you who left lovely comments, and emailed me, after my last post about Minx's 'friend' problems, thank you so much! I'm very pleased to say things did settle down, almost as quickly as they erupted. Her friend, completely uncharacteristically, apologised and suggested they put the whole thing behind them.

 

Although Minx wanted to tell her to shove her stinky 'friendship' I talked her down off that little ledge and she went into school happily enough on the Monday, with a view that she may as well say yes and have a more peaceful last couple of weeks of term!

 

Here's her latest loom band creation - no signs of this little craft obsession abating just yet :)

Only three more days of work and school and then the summer holidays begin - bring it on!!

 

Moogs xx

 

p.s. Recipes!

linky link for my favourite falafel recipe - falafels (I added a pinch of cayenne pepper too).

 

Easy peasy tasty houmous:

1 400g can chick peas

3 tbsp tahini paste

3 tbsp lemon juice

1 crushed garlic clove

salt

 

chuck it all in the food processor and whizz until smooth - add more lemon juice if you want to. Yum!

 



Random Saturday

It's been a glorious sunny and warm week and I've been dying to get out in the garden and potter but our garden is still a weed-ridden tip, leftover from last year's building work, so I've been consoling myself with little views, like this one of my Narnia lamppost against a blue blue sky under which is my bird table, full of sparrows and baby starlings.

We have big garden revamp plans but Mr Moog has been having such busy, stressy weeks at work lately that he's done in by the weekend, and I've been extra good about not 'nagging' as the garden will still be there when we're ready.

I've been getting my flowery fix by pouring over gardening magazines and playing with flowery fabric. This week, I had a day off on Thursday and once I'd got the children off to school and walked the dogs, I had a very sudden and unexpected urge to stitch up a quilt top.

I've had this fabric for years - it's Chocolate Lollipop, Anna Maria Horner's first fabric range and I'm not even sure if it's still being made. I'd been saving all those fat quarters and quarter yard pieces for something and now its time had come.

It's my first attempt at half square triangles and I've since found out I should have trimmed them before piecing the whole thing but hey ho, it scratched the itch and I had a lovely day putting it all together. I'm now shopping for a very dark chocolate brown as it needs a border to make it a more useable size.

The leftovers are being put to good use with some English paper-piecing.

In fact, I do seem to have developed a bit of a thing for EPP patchwork just lately. I got an urge to do some apple core patchwork and spent far too much time on Pinterest looking for just the right template but nothing was quite right. Minx and I went shopping last Saturday at a local patchwork shop in the vain hope they might have a template, which they didn't.

So, I came home and had a play with a compass and a protactor but nope, still didn't quite get it. Then I Googled a bit more and all of a sudden I found the PERFECT tutorial on how to make your own template and actually laughed out loud when I followed the link - to my dear friend Thimbleanna's brilliant tute on making your own apple core template in any size you like!

I dug out a whole load of scraps of leftover fabric in reds, pinks and blues and so far, so good. They might be easier to piece had I been a little less generous with the basting glue but I'm getting there and these are destined for either a cushion front or a mini-quilt. That itch is nearly scratched.

This itch is ongoing and likely to be for some time.

 I seem to have decided to only do white hexies from now on, with the odd coloured hexie thrown in as and when the feeling takes me. This could be years in the making.

I seem to be amassing a nice little pile of summer holiday projects here....two and a half weeks left before we break up...not that I'm counting or anything...

In other news, the meat-free meals thing is going surprisingly well. Last Saturday we had aubergine lasagne and I was genuinely shocked that everyone loved it! My lot love a proper minced beef lasagne and this was a risk but it was obviously one worth taking. This was the least burnt looking photo of the dish in question - it wasn't photogenic but it was very very tasty.

Tonight's dinner was even more surprising. My lot don't share my love of blue cheese at all, not even a little bit but apparently gorgonzola risotto is the best dinner ever and a repeat performance has been requested!

I do plan on sharing some of these recipes but as most of them are from books or are slightly tweeked versions of online recipes I'm going to try to put them in PDFs to make it easier to print them off. That will take a little time as Mr Moog has upgraded various things on our PC and I seem to have lost my PDF making gizmo....amongst other things, like all my six years' worth of work folders and dozens of knitting/crochet/sewing files, ahem.

To round off a pretty random post, here's what my girl is up to right now - loom bands.

They're everywhere. I hoovered up several (dozen) today. She loves them and has made at least thirty bracelets so far. They're also helping her get through a pretty crappity and emotional weekend, all caused by one rather noxious little b**ch who claims to be her friend but has been anything but for the past couple of days, especially when cloaked behind the forcefield of Facebook personal messaging.

This child lives her life like it's an episode of Jeremy Kyle. Nuff said. She obviously doesn't realise that our girl can and does talk to her parents about things that worry her so we're onto her.

Teenage girls are horrible. I know because I once was one and I wasn't even keen on them then!

Moogs xxx

Seasonal crafting

Do you find your preference for different crafts changes with the seasons? I've noticed a distinct pattern with my making over the past couple of years and it seems to be a seasonal thing. When autumn arrives and we move into the short, dark days of winter I begin to hibernate and seem to choose cosy, woolly knitting and spinning as my favoured crafts.

As the days lengthen through spring I gradually slow down on the knitting and seem to find myself with a hook in my hand, crocheting as if my life depends on it. It's a more immediate craft as it seems to grow so quickly and gives the instant gratification that I don't seem to need in the winter. As the summer comes on I lean away from anything yarny and seem to prefer crafts involving fabric.

So it is that in the past couple of weeks I finished off the last few bits of crochet that I just HAD to do - you know, HAD to do it or the sky would fall in... 

It seems my thing for rainbows shows no signs of diminishing. Several people have admired these little bowls that are now nestling on my kitchen island unit and all have asked what I use them for. I didn't realise I had to use them for anything :)

Whilst on my crochet binge the seedling of an idea had germinated and once it took hold there was to be no stopping until it was done. So with this:

 and rather a lot of this:

and the addition of a bit of cardboard and some moving parts, I made me a crocheted clock for the kitchen, complete with flowers placed not even approximately where the 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock points should be. Still, I like it being approximately something o'clock-ish.

Having exhausted my crochet fixation I dug out some paper-pieced patchwork that I started ages ago. I hadn't got very far initially but it's been growing steadily over the past week or so and I have over 100 more hexagons ready to add to it. I love just picking it up whenever the fancy takes me and doing a few hexies.

I've also machine pieced a couple of lap quilts and both are ready for hand-quilting. This one is still waiting whilst the other is under way but unphotographed:

It's been a bit warm of late to sit stitching under a quilt but with a cooler weekend on the cards I'm planning on plenty of quilting fun.

In other news, I'm currently conducting a culinary experiment on my family. 

During a chat with my work friend she told me she'd seen a very disturbing film about the terrible impact of meat production on climate change - I think it was this one Meat the Truth. She then told me she and her family had taken the decision to stop eating meat as a result of seeing the film.

My first instinct was to say we couldn't possibly do that as Mr Moog loves meat and would miss it too much and the children would too. Then, after one particularly meaty filled weekend with the in-laws down to stay

(father-in-law is a total carnivore, has sausage and bacon every morning for breakfast, and has at least one more meat centred meal a day on top of that) during which we'd had a barbeque and a huge roast lamb dinner, I felt it was time for a change.

I know I'm not the only one who gets thoroughly bored cooking every night, trying to come up with different meals that everyone will enjoy but usually sticking to tried and tested favourites and lacking variety. 

So, after that meat-fest of a weekend I pulled out my recipe books, poured over foodie websites and set the family a challenge to each find a meat-free recipe they liked the look of, which I would cook for them. I wrote out a menu plan for two weeks of evening meals and have surprised myself by sticking to it!

We've had some delicious meals, which everyone has enjoyed, and I'm thoroughly enjoying, planning, shopping for, and cooking our meals. Favourites so far have been Spinnachio Pie from the Abel & Cole cookbook; tomato, thyme and goats cheese flan, and feta & pesto stuffed peppers from River Cottage Veg; and homemade savoury rice from Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook. 

Tonight we've had a Middle-Eastern feast of pitta breads, with homemade falafels, homemade tsatsiki and the best homemade hummus I've ever made:

Everyone tucked in and it was a resounding success which will definitely be repeated. I found these recipes somewhere online and wrote them into my recipe book, so have no idea where they came from! Let me know if you want the recipes and I'll do a recipe post.

I'm amazed at how well the family Moog have taken to this change in diet, and we're now down to one or maybe two meals a week which contain meat or fish and the meat is no longer the star of the show but a small addition to add a different flavour. I've got Aubergine Lasagne planned for Saturday - I'll keep you posted!

Moogs xxx

Thank Crunchy it's Friday

It's been a funny old week.

After being thoroughly coughed and sneezed on, by a very poorly looking little girl, in one of my school visits for work last week, I wasn't in the least bit surprised to find I was starting a cold over the weekend.

I was totally unprepared for a whole week with a very very sore throat and resulting disrupted sleep - plus feeling generally very sorry for myself. I don't do feeling poorly and self-indulgent very well. I get extremely cross and bored with myself.

It has meant that I've made a little more headway with the WIP targets. Two more pairs of socks were ticked off the list.

A pair for Minx....

...and a pair for the big-footed teenage Monster (these are my favourites and I'll be claiming them when they get too small for him).

Both pairs made from leftovers. Both pairs needed a ridiculous number of ends sewn in. Minx's pair alone involved the weaving in of 87 ends!

I'm now dithering between several WIPs and need to refocus. It might be the crochet blanket this weekend as that'll both keep me warm and see another tick off the list.

There was pudding last weekend. Minx did this one with very little help (interference) from me.

Kiwi pavlova.

I had some for medicinal purposes - delicious.

I'm now playing catch-up, writing Christmas cards, wrapping presents, getting the house ready for the in-laws visiting this weekend and a trip to the panto.

Sunday pudding is planned. The pastry is made. I'll be back with photos.

Moogs xx

Cosy

I know some people find this time of year very hard going, with the shorter days, long dark nights and grey weather and I can fully appreciate how you can feel like that, after the long bright days of summer are a distant memory.

However, I feel each season has it's merits and something I truly love about the  transition from autumn through to winter is the opportunity it gives me to cosy down and indulge myself with comforting indoor activities, scented candles and comforting (but healthy!) food, without feeling guilty for not being out and about, dashing around here and there the way I seem to do all summer long.

This week's wet, grey, dismal days have certainly given me ample time to indulge - apart from venturing out to make sure Merlin has had a jolly good walk, I've spent a good deal of time indoors and have managed to rediscover my knitting mojo, which had been missing in action since the beginning of September.

A recent post on Yarn Harlot's blog had me scurrying to Ravelry to purchase a new pattern, just perfect for some Christmas knitting. Some might say I became rather obsessed with knitting these - three pairs were done in four days, with non-stop knitting squeezed in around work, feeding people and Moog walking. Three late nights are a small price to pay for ticking several gifts off the Christmas list.

I still have at least two more pairs of these in my head, waiting to be knitted and there's no signs of boredom setting in, which is the sign of a really great pattern.

An unexpected sleepover invitation meant that Minx was away for most of Saturday but the first thing she did when she got back this morning was make Saturday/Sunday pudding. Having two brand new cookbooks for inspiration meant, of course, that she went onto Google to look for the right recipe (!!).

This time, a very simple and straightforward but no doubt very delicious concoction of whipped cream, lemon curd, crushed ginger biscuits and blueberries, artfully arranged in layers - Lemon and Blueberry Pots. Now chilling in the fridge ready for tonight's dinner.

I'll be having a dish of fruit salad whilst gazing wistfully at my family as they demolish this rather mouthwatering summery dessert.

In other news, it's been a milestone week in Moogshouse - my lovely boy turned into a teenager. I have no idea how that happened. Surely, it can't be 13 years since I first saw that gorgeous little face. Don't tell him but I still love to gaze at him when he's asleep - he still looks like my baby boy when he's sleeping :o)

Now, while I head back to my snuggly chair for more knitting I'll leave you with a gratuitous Merlin Moog photo.....just because....

Hope you're keeping warm, dry and safe, wherever you may be xxx

Friday

I couldn't think what to call today's post but finally decided that the wonderful word 'Friday' just about sums it up. It's been a mad busy week all round so there's a certain amount of relief that today is indeed Friday.

In between the madness I treated myself to little moments of calm, most of which were spent in the kitchen.

The sloes are now in a lovely big jar, getting to know the gin and the rosehips have been turned into four small jars of cough-soothing syrup.



I've never made rosehip syrup before and it was incredibly easy. I used a recipe from my River Cottage Handbook. Here's the recipe I used if you fancy having a go.

Monster has had a bit of a week, which started with minor surgery for a very poorly ingrown toenail, followed by a return visit for 'wound dressing' and then a whole day out with his year group to the Southampton Boat Show. He had his first full day of the term in school yesterday - just eight days behind his rather disgruntled sister.

He's been in need of cake all week and somehow I just didn't get round to baking until today. Poor child has had to have fruit or yogurt instead. Can't wait to see his little face when he gets home and sees a tin full of rock cakes :o)



I've enjoyed a visit to the farm shop to stock up on some wonderful seasonal veg. I couldn't resist a beautiful red cabbage and came straight home to try out a recipe from the Abel & Cole Cookbook - red cabbage braised in balsamic vinegar. Very very easy - all you need to add to the shredded cabbage is half a mug of balsamic vinegar, half a mug of sugar and a mug of water. Bring it up to the boil, then simmer it gently for an hour - making sure it doesn't boil dry. Absolutely delicious!



I also bought one of these - mainly because it's so pretty - but I'm not sure what to do with it! Answers on a postcard please.




I needed a very simple knitting project to relax with in the evenings this week. I trawled through all my patterns and mooched through all my lovely sock wool and still hadn't a clue what to do.

Then I unearthed my basket of scraps.



Yarn held double and 4mm needles led to some very satisfyingly quick sock knitting. Sock 1 took a few hours. Sock 2 is well on it's way but this is secret knitting, to go into Minx's Christmas stocking, so finding time to knit it without old eagle eyes about is proving a challenge!



We're discovering the harsh reality of life that is later bedtimes for the beasties. Mr Moog and I get all misty eyed and nostalgic for the days when we actually had an evening - babies fed, bathed and in bed for 7pm......

......sigh.

xxx

Strange

I have a secret. Something I've learned to keep to myself after years as a 'northerner' living down south.

Having been met with sheer amazement, nay abject horror, when mentioning this particular quirk of mine to the native southerners, I now keep my mouth well and truly shut when it comes to the mention of that very dirtiest of words......

.......autumn.

It's not so much the word itself that causes folk to step back in fear, more the statement that I happen to love this season more than any other.

How could I love the end of summer? The cooler days? The darker evenings? The damp mornings?

Well I do. I love all those things about autumn and more but by far my favourite things are these:

We reclaim our forest from the summer crowds.
We can take poor old Moog out for forest walks without her wilting in the heat.
We don't have to sit in queues of summer traffic for hours on end.
Foraging for freebies from Nature's larder.

The unique smell of the forest in autumn.

Today, Mr Moog was adamant that we should not waste a glorious autumn day at home, so off we headed to a very secret bit of the New Forest where we knew from past experience there were treasures to be found.

We came home laden with rosehips - now steeping in readiness to make rosehip syrup; sloes - a bit early but now in the freezer to immitate an early frost, ready for turning into sloe gin; and of course, blackberries - now bagged up into five generous portions and sitting in the freezer, ready for winter puddings.

Naturally, we had to test some of our harvest just to make sure.



Blackberry and apple crumble, made with homegrown dessert apples, and served with delicious Mackies vanilla ice cream ( BOGOF at the Co-op right now!).

So now, I'm going to say it. LOUD. AND. PROUD.....

I LOVE AUTUMN!!!

xxx

Alchemy

I do love it when a little kitchen experiment goes according to plan.



Unlike a recent dismally failed attempt at creating a sourdough starter, the latest bit of kitchen chemistry is a resounding success.



Homemade yogurt.



Using just a few basic ingredients and a food flask, I have created white gold - creamy, smooth and sweet white gold.

For the curious among you, I opted for skimmed milk (just under a litre), a heaped dessert-spoon of skimmed milk powder and a tablespoon of Yeo Valley Probiotic natural yogurt.

Yum xxx

A little cookery and hookery

First off, I need to fulfill an obligation. Having promised to write a review on my blog in return for a free box of Abel and Cole organic fruit and veg, I feel it's only fair that I do so.

As I said previously, I have wanted to try an organic box scheme for ages. I was really pleased with the selection in the A&C box and the contents lasted us for several lovely meals. I think our favourites were the sweet carrots and new potatoes. In my opinion, the broad beans were delicious - not an opinion shared by the children but then that doesn't surprise me, as I wouldn't go near a broad bean until I was at least 20!

The lettuce was very tasty and crunchy - and any less crunchy bits were enjoyed by the chickens.

The watermelon went down a treat, as did the apples. I wasn't so impressed with the bananas, which didn't seem to last very well, and soon went black. However, not one of them went to waste, as they were turned into banana cake and banana custard ice cream.

I think the thing that struck me most of all, is how determined I was not to waste any of the fruit and veg at all. Every little bit got used up and I also made much more imaginative meals than usual.

It's so easy to get stuck in a rut of buying the same veg every single week from the supermarket, or even the farm shop. Having the choices made for you, really does encourage you to be a bit more creative and lot less wasteful.

So, will I be placing an order? Most definately, but possibly not until autumn as we'll be living off the homegrown veg for the next few months. This week we have mostly been eating mange tout :)

Now then, now then....onto something pretty.

Baking for the cake stall at Saturday's school fair.



I really enjoyed the school fair this year. Could have something to do with the fact that I was right next to the Pimms stall?

In lieu of anything sewey, I have been very busy with the hook this week. I find crochet extremely therapeutic when I'm feeling slightly wound up....let's just say, my Dad is still in hospital, my brother's family have swine flu and Dad is not helping my brother by helping himself!

So, over four evenings last week, I made a little hooky cushion - edged in cream, because I started making this knowing I had only one ball of the turquoise and the yarn shop no longer stock that colour.



Once that was done, the hook was in full flow, so I made a few pretty squares for hooky cushion #2.



I've just got the back to finish on this one ....but seem to have become distracted by some gorgeous rainbow sock knitting....

There are plans afoot for a full day of sewing this week - and about time too!

I'm now going to water my poor parched veg patch - phew, it's been hot today - 26 degrees inside the house ....no laughing you southern hemisphere types!!!

I know some people who are too hot when it hits 20 degrees :)

Hope you have a lovely week, whatever the weather xxx

Top tip from the kitchen of Moog - and a nice looooong walk

Just in case you were ever curious about what might happen, should you forget to ensure the 'paddle' is in your bread machine prior to baking your daily bread, here is photographic evidence:



On the left....with the paddle....on the right..without - same ingredients, same settings on bread machine. It would seem the paddle is very necessary, when it comes to making an edible loaf.

Hope that was useful :-)

On a less disastrous note, good use has been made of the freebie Abel & Cole veg box, with a most delicious coleslaw using veg box carrots, leftover veg box cabbage and spring onions - yum!



With no crafty doings to show you, I thought I'd share our Saturday walk.

When the babies were small we would be up and out, bright and early, every Saturday morning for a good long walk - each of us carrying a baby in a backpack. I was very much fitter and thinner then!

Somehow, we got out of this habit once the children started school.

Moogsdad decided to remedy this on Saturday, by selecting a gentle 6 1/2 mile walk in a part of Hampshire we had never explored - using our trusty walking guide.

The start was very promising. Even if it did take us 40 minutes to find it - thanks to the wrong road name being given in said 'trusty' walking guide!


It took us very little time to realise the guide was somewhat out of date - for this walk at least.

A great deal of lovely woodland management work had evidently taken place - resulting in every single footpath mentioned in the guidebook being moved to goodness knows where!

The maps and text in the guide bore no relation, whatsoever, to what was 'happening on the ground'.




We valiantly persevered - over stiles.

Through ear-deep swathes of flora.

With Moogsdad stopping frequently to frown and check his bearings.

Until, finally, we managed to find something that was in the guidebook!

The remains of Odiham Castle.....

....and the beautiful, incredibly clear-watered Basingstoke canal.....

...that someone was most happy to take full advantage of :-)

Despite the fact that we somehow managed to walk what felt like 10 miles, rather than 6, it was a great way to start the weekend.

Even the children enjoyed it - once they'd got over the shock of being made to walk for more than an hour :-)

xxx