Maternity Baking...................

One of my colleagues left last Friday to start her maternity leave, she has 6 weeks until little bubba's due date, to mark the occasion I decided that she needed some cakes, I didn't have the time to make them so I bought some 'naked' fairy cakes from Tesco and decorated them myself with an embossing mat and mould that I purchased at 'Cake International'.  I think Emma was very pleased with them.......

As we don't know if she is having a boy or girl I did a dozen each of pink and blue. I really love the embossing on the white icing, looks very pretty.

They have a mix of 'nursery' items, not the easiest thing I've ever done !

Hope all goes well when the time comes, and I will let you know what she has.

Until next time

The Patter of Tiny Paws.............................

Well a lot has been happening here recently, for a long time Marcus has been asking if we can get a dog, so far I've always said no........................until a couple of weeks ago, so finally we are getting a
lovely boy to be Marcus's best friend.  We have decided on a Jack Russell puppy, they are not born
yet but are due around the 23rd June, they will be ready for homing just when we get back from holiday, what brilliant timing.

These are the pups parents...................The Mum Roxy....

And the Dad Eddie........

They were both very friendly, happy dogs with lovely natures, we can't wait.  We have decided on the name Rexi, a cross between Roxy and Eddie, a name that we all like.  You will definitely be seeing photo's when we bring our boy home.

Until next time.............

Happy Easter.......

Happy Easter everyone, hope you are all enjoying your weekends, long or short.  I have spent mine making Bunting....................

Love the colours and very pleased with the outcome.

Until next time....

Mothers Day........

What a lovely day I've had, plenty of sewing and watched some good TV, but the highlight was the lovely plant Master M bought for me, picked himself and payed for with is pocket money, how sweet is that......

Then dinner cooked by the husband.

Thank you my boys .........

Until next time..............

New Blog.....................

I have decided to start a new blog solely for my sewing projects if you'd like to have a look and maybe follow you can pop over to And Sew We Go  to see what I'm up to, let me know what you think.


I will still be using Roses and Peonies for everything else, whilst I was at it I thought it was time to change the look so have been having a little play, I rather like the new look, what about you ?


Hope to see you there...

Lovely Day.................

What a lovely day today has been, a reminder that spring is on the way.  For the first time in ages I arrived at my home station in daylight !  It really does make you feel better when the sun shines doesn't it ?

Found out today which secondary school my son will be attending in September, didn't get our first choice but did get our second so all is well, Marcus was happy to find out that a couple of the other children in his class will also be going to this school too.

Lots of lovely goodies have been arriving from Ebay ready for my next sewing projects and I can't wait
for the weekend to get started.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Until next time............

New Project................

I decided to embark on my next project and as my boys are in Italy visiting my in law's I have a bit of time to myself in the evenings.  I'm still learning but thought I would make a small quilt either for Sophie's pushchair or for her to play with.  It's not perfect and next time I will do things slightly differently, but all in all I am very pleased with the result.

 It was made with a kit I bought from Ebay made up of various Cath Kidston fabrics.  I hope that Kelly and Sophie like it.  As a first attempt I don't think it's too bad.

Until next time ....

A Weekend with Cath !!!!

It all started 30 something years ago when I got my first sewing machine a Novum 5000...

She was a lovely machine and I did use her quite a bit.  I'm not that great at sewing and would certainly never attempt to make anything whatsoever for anyone to wear, but I'm ok at making curtains and that sort of thing.  Well sometime ago after a couple of repairs the old girl gave up the ghost, (I do still have her in the garage as buying her was one of the last things I did with my Dad before he died and I will never throw her away).  I decided to buy just a cheap sewing machine to replace her, but the old saying 'you get what you pay for' was most definitely the case here, and as a result I haven't made very much since.

Three or four years ago I bought the Cath Kidston SEW book with the little bag to make, yes you've guessed it, I never had the courage to attempt it so the fabric has been sitting in my cupboard all this time.

 I was most fortunate in January to get a bit of a bonus from work so I decided to buy myself a new sewing machine, and after much research I purchased this little poppet .................

My husband and son thought a Toyota sewing machine was quite amusing !  I have to say I am really pleased with it, it's quiet, smooth, easy to control and a joy to use, and very much like using my old Novum.

As I didn't have any plans this weekend and my son's rugby was cancelled I thought it was about time I had a go at making something with the new machine and here are the results...........

I even decided to add lining to the bag too.......brave eh!

I am very proud of my efforts, and do actually feel that I will be able to use the bag without being embarrassed.

I decided not to do the buttonholes but to attach the strap to the bag and make it the length I wanted it.



Turned out it was much easier than I though it would be, although there are a couple of little things that I would do differently next time overall I'm very pleased, what do you think ?

Until next time......

Home Made Gifts......................................

It's been so long since my last post and things have been very hectic one way and another. However, when it's coming up to Christmas I like to try to make something that I can give as gifts, so being a lover of all things Italian I decided this year to try Limoncello.

 I like to bring back bottles of pure alcohol from my summer holiday to make Liquirizia a liquorice flavour liqueur, a particular favourite of my hubby, but decided to try making Limoncello for a change, this also is a favourite of his, I decided to adapt my recipe for Liquirizia.

I substituted the liquorice for the zest of 6 lemons plus the juice of two, this I put into a a demijohn and covered with a litre of alcohol, the top was sealed tightly and the jar put in a dark cupboard for two weeks, I did periodically take it out and agitate.  After a couple of weeks put 3kg of water into a pan and add 2 kg of sugar, heat on low until all the sugar has dissolved and the liquid is slightly syrupy, allow to cool, while waiting drain the alcohol from the lemon zest into a jug, mix this into the sugar syrup and stir, the Limoncello can now be poured onto bottles, I like to use muslin in my funnel so that no little bits get into the bottles.

There is no need to store, the Limoncello can be consumed immediately. All the recipients seem very pleased with their gifts.
Until next time .........................

Strawberry Jam......................

This week Kelly has had the lovely Michela staying with her and today we had a trip to the Jam Factory at Tiptree.

Obviously where shopping is concerned you need to make sure that you have enough energy for the actual shopping so our first stop was the tea room, a lovely cup of tea and slice of cake...............which was absolutely delicious.

We purchased quite a bit of Jam and some chutney to give to friends for Christmas.  After arriving home it was time for Sophie to get ready for her friends fancy dress birthday party, in keeping with the Jam theme, Sophie went as a Strawberry.......................how cute does she look ?

Good enough for Nanny and Auntie to eat, that's for sure.

Until next time ......................

Important Day for Sophie...............

Sunday saw a very important day for my Great Niece Sophie, her baptism.  What a wonderful day we had,  we are extremely lucky to have a good friend Trevor who is also a Reverend, yes we do call him Trev the Rev,  he performed the ceremony which made it very personal,  Trevor addressed Sophie quite a lot, who I have to say seemed very much to be paying attention, not bad for a nine month old.
Trevor is a great person and makes any service he does enjoyable.

The ceremony was held at The Abbey, Waltham Abbey a very special place. Sophie behaved impeccably, she didn't make a sound. Below is a picture of Sohpie being welcomed into the church.

I love the following picture as Sophie looks like a little Armish girl, needless to say the bonnet didn't stay on for long.

Marcus was very proud to be Sophie's Godfather, looks very smart in his suit, doesn't he ?

Kelly and James had a bit of a do after at a local Golf Club, very enjoyable.

Until next time............

A Day of Baking......................

Having watched Jo Wheatley win the Great British Bake Off I decided that I needed to start baking again, something I really enjoy but don't do nearly enough of, so after a trip to the supermarket to buy some supplies I set out to make some Cupcakes and a Bakewell Tart.

One of my favourite flavours along with Rose is Violet.............I know not to everyones taste but a flavour I adore, so I made vanilla cupcakes with a Violet buttercream, topped off with some edible glitter, I would have liked to put a little flower on the top but couldn't get any but as they were only for a bit of fun I wasn't too worried, also I need to practice using a piping bag.

Once these came out of the oven and were cooling I made a Bakewell Tart,  I did cheat a bit as I used a
prepared pie crust but I did make the Frangipane,  much easier than I expected so next time I have friends round for dinner I will be making this again from scratch, it tasted so much better than a bought tart.

 

 Next week I think I'll do a Lemon Drizzle Cake as this is one of Marcus's favourites along with some Coconut Macaroons.

Until then.................

Wimbledon.....................

Master M is a member of our local tennis club, he plays there at least 3 times a week.  The club are allocated a certain number of tickets, to give everyone a chance they put all members names into a draw and Master M was one of the lucky winners of a pair of tickets. 

We had a choice of days but so as not to have to take Master M out of school I chose Saturday the 2nd July which turned out to be Ladies Singles Finals day and what a great match that was. Master M and the husband had a fantastic day, they saw Nadal doing a bit of training too !

Master M and the husband before the match started.

Such a wonderful experience for Master M, you never know the next time you see him there he may be playing ................................wouldn't that be exciting.

Until next time................

Oooh I Say..............................

Well quite a lot has happened since my last post, the main thing being that I have very recently had an operation on my wrist, I am having to rest for a couple of weeks what a shame I can't go to work !!  

Doing ok but typing with one hand is slow to say the least.  I have to say that Master M and the Husband have been very good, helping me with the normal day to day things I'm not able to do, but the thing I miss most is not being able to drive, I am not used to being a passenger, don't think I make a very good one either, still it won't be long.  Stitches are coming out on Monday but apparently it's going to be a few weeks before it all settles down and stops hurting completely but I'm sure that will pass quickly.

Only a month now until my next trip to the caravan, can't wait to get back out to Italy I managed to get a couple of days holiday a couple of weeks ago and 'popped' over for a long weekend, very good it was too.

Hope you are all keeping well and looking forward to some better weather than we have had today.

Take care

Hugs