Things that make me happy: 4

My lovely studio...

a very happy place to be!

Rebecca

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Things that make me happy: 3

Blue skies make me very happy indeed...happy Wednesday from sunny Yorkshire!

Rebecca

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Things that make me happy: 2

I love making bread!  When our last bread making machine broke (we've worn out a couple over years!), I started making the dough in my Kenwood Chef.  I just pile in the the ingredients: 

 150g strong white flour

 500g brown flour

2 tsp salt

2 tsp brown sugar

 1 sachet of dried yeast

 1 tbsp sunflower oil

 14 fl.oz of warm water

 and then turn it on!  There's something quite reassuring about the clunking and rocking of my trusty, old machine as it sets to work turning the ingredients into a dough.  I let the machine have its turn at kneading and then I always like to give it a go myself so I tip the warm dough onto a lightly oiled work surface for a few minutes kneading by hand...nothing beats it for removing the stresses of the day!  Using an oiled surface was a tip that I picked up recently from a repeat of Great British Bake Off...it works a treat, so much better than using flour!

Put the dough back in the bowl and leave to rise.

Then, when the bowl is filled with pillowy dough, comes the joy of knocking it back and kneading again before shaping into a loaf or rolls.

Leave to rise again.  Then bake - Gas 7, 30 minutes for a loaf and 20 minutes for rolls - and enjoy the lovely smell that fills the house!

Last night's loaf!

The happiness continues...

with a big bite from a door step of sandwich made with last night's loaf....delicious!

Rebecca

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Things that make me happy: 1

Happy Monday...the beginning of shiny, new week so full of possibilities!

Primulas just fill my heart with joy!

55 pence for a pot of sheer delight!

What's making you feel happy today?

Rebecca

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Flaming Ballerinas and Flying the Nest

We moved our gorgeous girl down to London at the weekend ready to start university.  I knew it would be emotional, but I have to say that I was not at all prepared for quite how upset I would be.  There was a moment on Sunday when I thought I might never surface from my pile of soggy tissues.  It sounds rather dramatic, but I felt grief stricken and rather lost, even though I am not completely "empty nested" yet.  It is a very strange feeling indeed and I don't like it but, as my husband (who is always very level headed about these sorts of things) keeps saying, we're just moving on to the next phase of our lives.  I'm not sure whether that's a comfort or not when you think that it also means we're getting older!

Dorothy's room at the Hampstead residence is much bigger than we had expected and it was instantly transformed by the addition of the blanket that she has been crocheting over the summer.


             














It was her 19th birthday on Monday so we had "fake" birthday celebrations last week with cards, presents, a family dinner, silly games and home made chocolate birthday cake.

Hubby went off into the kitchen to make some coffee and do the honours with the birthday cake.  As he came around the corner into the dining room, cake in hand with candles lit, and we began singing "Happy Birthday to you...", he said "those ballerinas are candles, aren't they?"

Well...we could hardly draw breath for laughing...the ballerinas were plastic cake decorations that Dorothy had spotted in my candle box as I was making the cake earlier that day.  She recalled how she had had them on a cake that our very kind neighbour had brought round to us the year that I was laid out in bed with an injured back following the collapse of our ceiling.  That was in 2002, her 9th birthday!

Ten years on, the two ballerinas with their gold and silver headdresses and tutus were a perfect match for the gold and silver candles that I had already put on the cake.  Unfortunately, they are now a little worse for wear...one suffered a burnt scalp, the other lost her head and most of her left arm in the incident!  I shall keep them in my candle box though and they will bring a smile to my face with each birthday cake that I make!

Dorothy seems to be making lots of new friends, finding her way around and partying well during freshers' week so all is good so far!  I miss her so much, but I don't have a tissue in my hand as I write this so I am seeing that as progress!  I know she will be feeling a little up and down for a while too and there will be things that trigger a tear or two for both of us, but we will be fine!

...and we have plenty!

I am so excited for Dorothy as she begins university life at King's and starts to enjoy all the delights of living in London.  When Dorothy started school here in Yorkshire one of the other children told her "you talk funny you do". Dorothy replied "Well, I was born in London you know!" so it's as if things have come full circle really.

Meanwhile, back up north, I am throwing myself into my work and keeping myself busy (to avoid falling into the tissue box!) by spending most days at my lovely new studio, which is a great place to be. I love the light here, I love having so much space to spread my things out as I work and I love having an internet connection which means that I can try to keep up to date with things like blogging!  I am very much looking forward to welcoming people to workshops at my new place and you can see what's coming up here.  

Bye for now,

Rebecca

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Flea market finds

Today is flea market day, which means that I shall be taking a wander round the stalls at lunchtime.  Last week I found so many lovely things, I could hardly believe it...and all for a grand total of £5.60!

Old books, crochet cottons, vintage buttons & snap fasteners...I'm in heaven! A vintage embroidered table cloth for 25p - it has a huge hole in the middle, but I'm not worried about that as it will be used to make more handbag mirrors or magnets.  An enormous pillow case with a beautiful crocheted edging, also for 25p.  I usually end up paying a lot more for vintage linens like these so you can imagine my delight!

Two pressed glass bowls at 20p each.  There was a lovely pale blue one too, but it was damaged so I shall be on the look out for another one of those - I wonder if there are other colours too...green perhaps?  I found one lonely etched glass (20p) and this has now joined some others of the same design in our glass cabinet ready for when we next "pass the port"! A very grubby coffee cup in a box full of crockery grabbed my attention...I love Portmerion Botanic Garden and thank heavens for dishwashers!

As you will see, there are a lot of flowers amongst my finds:

I love these old books with floral designs on the front - this one is from the pansy series.  I've been crocheting pansies too using one the crochet cottons that I bought for 50p.

So much for so little...I wonder what I will find today?

Rebecca

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£1.50's worth of happiness

I love Sweet Williams

Great British flowers in a crochet covered jar


£1.50's worth of happiness!

Rebecca
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