WINNER!!!

I intended using a number generator, but when I mentioned that today was the day to pick a winner, Ian asked if he could pick out the name. I think he is desperate for entertainment lol he still has another 8 weeks in bed before he can start walking.

So here are all the names written out...



drum rollllll....



and the winner is ....



CLAIRELIZ!!!!!

...and this is what you have won, please get in touch with your full name and home address so i can post this off to you.

The bag measure approx 12 inches x 13 inches.

It is fully lined, with a pocket on the inside.

The handles are two-coloured and add another 10 inches to the length.

GIVEAWAY!!!!!

This post will stay at the top till the end of the month, scroll down for newer posts.

At last I can offer my followers a thank you gift, I wanted to have this ready for when I reached 100, but then that happened all of a sudden and I had no time...anyway here it it..

The bag measure approx 12 inches x 13 inches.

It is fully lined, with a pocket on the inside.

The handles are two-coloured and add another 10 inches to the length.



Hope you like cupcakes!!!

The background is coloured with transfer paints over a stencil cut on the cricut. There is hand embroidery and machine embroidery, beads,lace and buttons.

All you have to do to win, is ...

1.BECOME A FOLLOWER and then

2.COMMENT IN THIS POST

You have till the end of September, when I will use a random number generator to pick the winner. I am happy to post abroad, so please join in even if you live far,far away.

Good Luck.

Soft cookies

These are so quick and easy to make. You can add whatever flavours you like. They end up being a cross between a cookie and a scone.

Makes 24.

1/4 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup chopped nuts

Cream the butter and the sugar.

Add the other ingredients and mix well.

Instead of raisins and nuts how about dates and walnuts, or cranberries and macadamias, or chocolate chips.

Cover the bowl with clingfilm/saran wrap and chill for 30 mins. This is important do not skip this bit.

Line your baking trays with baking sheets and drop teaspoonfuls of the mix onto the trays. I put no more than 6 on a sheet, they don't spread too much but you do need a bit of space between them.

Turn onto a wire rack to cool.

Mix 2 TBspns of single cream with 1 tspn of orange water and enough icing sugar to make a thick spreadable icing.

Spread onto each cookie with a knife and leave to set.

A while ago I went to a workshop for the day, we made these panels which could be turned into cushions. during the day we constructed the main pieces, but there was lots of twiddly folding back and hand stitching to do once home.

anyhoo, I got mine done and was talking to my friend Ms.Effie and she said she didn't want her panel as she probably wouldn't do anything with it. So she passed it along to me so that i would have a pair.

This is how it looked when she gave it to me.




and here it is with all the flaps and edges folded back, twisted,curved etc and all hand stitched in place.

and here are both panels, just need to make them into cushions now.

Breakfast bars/Flapjacks...

As I have the invalid one at home, not exercising but still eating I wanted to make something tasty as a treat that was as healthy as possible. NICOLE very kindly sent me a recipe on facebook for these breakfast bars....though we have been eating them in the afternoons lol Do check out Nicoles blog, she is amazing, in constant pain, yet she manages to go running, do stuff with her family and create really inspired pieces of art.

1/2 Cup Oil
3/4 cup of sugar ( I used golden caster)
2 Eggs
2 TBL milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
3 Cups of Oats
1 3/4 Cups Flour
1 tsp Bicarb soda

Fruit and 'stuff' to make them tasty....add whatever you like.

the recipe that Nicole sent had twice as much sugar, and as I was trying to make a healthy snack I wondered if I could cut it right back. I halved it to just 3/4 of a cup, and it worked perfectly, the bars are just sweet enough.

1. Combine the oil,sugar,eggs,vanilla,milk and salt. Whisk until the sugar is well blended.
2. In another bowl combine the flour,cinnamon, baking powder and oats.
3. Mix the dry ingredients into the liquids.
3. At this point add 1 1/3 cups of yumminess....

However, as I have lots of packets of yummies that I couldn't decide between, I opted to split the basic mixture into 2 bowls.

4. In bowl one I added.. 2/3 of a cup of mixed chopped,dried cranberries,apricots and white chocolate chips. (2/3 of a cup in total, not 2/3 of each)




5. In bowl 2 I added 2/3 of a cup of dried banana chips,raisins and butterscotch chips ( available in Sainsburys)



6. mix well and turn into a greased baking tin. This is an oblong one, so I piled each flavour at the ends...



7. and then using my fingers I pressed the mixture down to flatten it.




Bake at Gas mark 4 for 20 mins, then leave to cool...

Cut into squares and enjoy with a cuppa.

OH is still in hospital, but looking more cheery each day. The swelling on the right foot has gone down considerably but the left is still pretty bad. OT and social services are involved now, in making arrangements for him to come home. We expect him to be home by the weekend.

To help stave off the impending insanity I have been knitting. These socks are the very first pair I made, about 5 years ago.



See the difference, I was totally shocked by how much they had faded. I hadn't even realised until i compared these photos.



Well after such good service all these years they had both worn out on the ball of the foot.



I pulled them back to the heel, intending to knit a new foot for each one. I knew i had enough of the original yarn left. But just look at the difference in colour. I didn't like this so pulled it out, and tried using a pale cream...i thought as they were so faded, a cream foot would look ok....but no, that looked stoopid too.



So i pulled the cream out, stuffed the socks in a bag and started on this new pair!

Answers on a postcard please,as to how I can salvage my old socks.

If you fancy a sweet treat this weekend, then how about making these. super quick and easy, and tasty,tasty,tasty.

Brandy Snaps.

This is a Be-Ro recipe.

2oz butter
2oz sugar
2TBspn golden syrup
2oz SR flour
1/2 tspn ginger

double cream


Line a couple of baking trays with parchment or grease them.
Melt the butter,sugar and syrup, mix well then add in the other ingredients.
Put small spoonfuls of the mix onto the trays, well spaced apart.
Bake at Gas mark 4 for 7-10 minutes.
Remove from the oven and leave for a couple of minutes.
Carefully lift each one and roll around the handle of a wooden spoon.
Place, still on the spoon, onto a wire rack with the join facing downwards.
When totally cooled, removed from the spoons.

Whip up some double cream and pipe into each end...enjoy!

Thankyou so, so much for all your lovely comments on Wednesdays post. My other half is still in hospital, the pain is subsiding but he is understandably very uncomfortable, frustrated , bored and hungry..he isn't impressed at all with hospital food.

The swelling has started to go down, and the docs hope to put a cast on at least one of his feet tomorrow.

these photos are all of his left foot, this is the worst one, with a major break aswell as fractures.

So,so sorry I haven't visited any woywwers, I am just so tired.

woyww

hello Wednesday from a very tired North East...late on Saturday night my other half fell at work and was taken to hospital. i met him there and didn't get home till 5am on Sunday. he is still there, and has broken both heel bones. he may be in hospital for 3 weeks and in plaster for 3 months. Sorry I won't get much blogging done as I am at hospital every day.

Please join in the giveaway, in the post above.

after finishing the bags for Moldova, i had a pile of small squares of denim left. not much use for anything really, not enough to make a bag, so I have gessoed them and will make some sort of fabric book...maybe..though when I will have time to craft now i have no idea.




While we were away we popped into a car boot sale and brought home this little haul of books....not bad for 20p each.
...

then we had a day in a town near us, that has 9 charity shops, and we picked up all these books. I am so excited to get the Chalet School Books as i collect them and they are hard to find.

also at the car boot, I got this..for 50p...it looks like it might be for printing??? maybe?? could be for pastry, though i doubt it. Anyway I shall use it for painting in art journals.

have a great week. I will visit as and when I can.x

Zucchini Bread....(or for us in the UK, Courgette Loaf)

Makes 2 loaves...

3 cups plain flour
1 tspn salt
1 tspn baking powder
1 tspn bicarb of soda
3 tspn cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup vege oil
2 cups sugar
2 tspns vanilla
zest of 1 lemon
2 cups of grated courgettes
1 cup sulatanas
1/2 cup of walnuts.



Whisk the eggs,sugar,lemon,vanilla and oil.

Mix all the dry ingredients, stir in the wet ingredients.

turn into 2 loaf tins, greased and lined.

Bake Gas mark 4 for 50 minutes.



I am not altogether convinced that cakes should have green bits in them, you could of course avoid this by peeling the courgettes first, it won't alter the taste. This is not a stunning nor exciting cake, but it is a very pleasant tea time cake, perfect with a cuppa.

I'm done!!! I aimed for 40 bags, but ran out of time and denim, so only 36 were done.

Here are the 16 drawstring bags for boys...

and the 20 long handle bags for girls.

and here they are all filled. We put sweets,toys,games,drawing books,pens,pencils and toiletries inside all the bags. Today they are setting off for Moldova, where they will be given to the children.

The guys are taking an internet dongle with them and will do their best to upload videos of the trip, they will be uploaded to this Youtube channel. at the moment you can see video clips from last years trip.

http://www.youtube.com/user/CWUHA

Thankyou for all your help and support.

How can it be a week already? hello Wednesday. Well I am back from the wedding in London, it was a pretty manic weekend. Some wedding photos are in the previous post.

Today's desk, my machine is out again, still making denim bags. Though by the end of today Iwill have them finished and they will have been delivered to the driver who is taking them to Moldova. I ran out of denim and time, so only 36 will be finished.

On my desk you can see that small pile of denim, no piece is bigger than 6 inches. That is all that is left from 14 pairs of jeans, 2 skirts and a metre of denim fabric. (The wool at the back, is to finish off a baby blanket, started 3 years ago)



Finally I can show you the wedding stuff, this is the card I made for them.

An easel card in the main, but with a slidey out bit at the front.

This is the gift box...

which contains the photo album that I made...I couldn't get a gift box to fit, so I bought a document box from WHSmiths, padded and lined it...added organza ribbons.

At last, here is the book that I made. It is full of tags and pockets and bits that are hidden and pull out. I am so pleased with the way it turned out.The bride loved it.

(It was made using instructions from Laura Denison )

This is the only full length photo of me where you can see my dress,necklace,bracelet cuff and bag .lol