Goodies from France

When my daughter's boyfriend asked if there was anything that I would like him to bring back from France, I couldn't resist asking for a copy of Marie Claire Idées, which is always inspirational, and some soap...I love French soap, particularly the handmade lavender variety!

The shea butter soap (at the bottom of the picture) is in the bathroom at the moment and it smells gorgeous! I have had a quick flick through the magazine, but I'm saving a proper look in the hope that, by doing so, I can hang on to 'été' a little longer! Despite today's blue sky and sunshine, there's certainly been an autumnal feel to the last couple of days, particularly the evenings, which have found us reaching for our blankets to keep our flip-flop feet warm as we relax on the sofa!

Bye for now,

Rebecca
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Muddy delights!

Thanks to our allotment-keeping friends, whose son plays rugby with ours, this is what came home from rugby training on Thursday evening:


Crates of mud-covered beetroot, courgettes, squashes and spinach...a very pleasant change indeed from the muddy boots and dirty washing that usually lands in the kitchen after training!

Spinach and potato soup is simmering away as I type, the beetroot is ready for the oven and I've been consulting my Women's Institute Book of Preserves and Pickles for chutney recipe ideas as the courgettes are more of marrow proportions! I love pottering around in the kitchen...the simple things make me so happy!

Back soon,

Rebecca
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Home Grown Produce

We have had the house to ourselves this weekend, a situation that is becoming all the more frequent now that the children have grown and have busy calendars full of social events! Our daughter is jamboreeing in Norfolk for the week - camping is not really her thing and the weather has not been too good, but I do hope that she's enjoying the experience! We have no way of finding out until she comes home as, much to her disgust, mobile phones were not permitted! Our son is away in Wales with one of his friends and, despite the rain, we know that he has been having a good time from the texts that he has sent us!

We dug the first potatoes from the garden yesterday...well, hubby dug and I held the bowl! We must have looked a sight...both of us grinning with sheer delight as each little potato was revealed! It was very exciting indeed, especially as these have grown from a supermarket potato that we chitted! And, of course, nothing beats home grown produce! We had to remember when to stop digging as we are only cooking for 2 at the moment and not 4! On the way back to the kitchen I collected the few sugar snap peas that were ready - not enough for 2 helpings, but delicious to crunch on while preparing dinner!

We were also able to collect up the seed pods from the old purple sprouting broccoli plants, which had been left at the side of house to dry. We probably have enough seeds to keep us in purple sprouting broccoli for the rest of our lives! Now that we know what to expect, we'll probably give growing it another go next year as it was delicious!

We've also been enjoying home grown produce from some friends of ours: spinach and courgettes - long ones and round ones! We've not grown spinach before so, when we spotted some packs of seeds reduced to 19p each when we were out yesterday, we couldn't resist! I am going to plant some this week and see what happens!

I hope the spinach is a success as we've really enjoyed eating it torn into warm, griddled courgettes, peppers and red onions with some basil leaves, as pictured below alongside the home grown potatoes, which have been tossed in butter with mint from the garden...accompanied by a glass of something of course!

Over this weekend I have realised who makes all the noise, all the mess, all the washing and eats all the food! It is lovely having the house to ourselves, but I do miss them...they make this house a home!

Back soon,

Rebecca

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Twittering about at Home

The plus side of not going away this weekend was that some things got done around the house!

Hubby made a start on the much needed painting of the outside of the house and managed to complete the sanding and undercoating. DIY is his least favourite pursuit of all, so I'm quite pleased that this job is now a work in progress! Of course, it probably means that it will rain every weekend so that it takes forever to finish the job, but at least it's a start!!

I finished a cushion for the sofa...I know, it has a button and a flower...sometimes I just can't help myself!!

I also listed a few more things in my Folksy and Etsy shops, and found time to explore Twitter! I have to say that I'm still a little unsure about the whole twittering thing...what should I tweet about? Obviously, I would like to use it to promote 'rebeccamaryjane's', but I don't want it to turn into a 'look what I made, buy it here' kind of thing. However, I do need to find a way to increase my sales and I'm finding that a lot of people have never even heard of Folksy and Etsy!! Any tips?

Poorly boy is feeling much better, thank you - indicated by the return of his favourtie words, "I'm hungry" and "What's for lunch?" So, I guess that my cue to go and butter some rolls...

Back soon,

Rebecca
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Butterflies, crochet & scarecrows!

What a lovely weekend it has been! The weather here was glorious, which meant that all those gardening jobs got done, washing dried nicely on the line and, best of all, we managed to have breakfast and lunch outside on both days!

The garden has been aflutter with butterflies (and not just Cabbage Whites, which have no doubt hatched from all the hungry caterpillars that have been eating my broccoli plants!).

As an alternative to one of the many buddleia flower spikes, this Peacock butterfly took a liking to a crochet flower on the shawl that was drying on the washing line!

My lovely neighbour, B, popped her head over the fence on Sunday morning to give us one of these:

A little something she had picked up during her visit to Kettlewell Scarecrow Festival on Saturday!

I managed to finish this cushion, which will go to the wool shop to promote the granny square workshop that I'm doing in September:

Here's the finished rag ruggy wall hanging piece, which will also go to the wool shop.

This is only a small (6" x 6") piece to demonstrate the technique but I'm really pleased with the finished result! I made it by prodding small strips of old t-shirt fabric into hessian, using a whittled down wooden peg, which is how I was taught to do it as a child growing up in Norfolk. It is so soft and plump- a bath mat made this way would be fabulous! It would be time consuming to make, but is a brilliant way of recycling old clothes and, with a bigger project, the design can be more detailed.

I also managed to complete one side of a circular crochet cushion cover for the living room, which I shall photograph when it's finished.

So, a good 'at home' kind of weekend was had...pottering about doing some of the things I love best...crocheting, gardening...oh, and a little bit of baking - blueberry muffin cake and lemon drizzle buns! Time for a cuppa I think.....

Back soon,

Rebecca

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