Christmas Trees and Pots!

It's been a busy few weeks up here as I've been away on a wee holiday with Alby to visit his grandma and aunt, uncle and cousins.  I do have a few things to blog though!  Last year my wonderful handy husband made this little wooden christmas tree for me out of twigs and scraps of wood, he didn't like it and for some reason it stayed in the shed in the garden until I went to drag it out this week.  I think it is fab!  I have dressed it up with some of my stuffed heart decorations, my christmas pudding gift tags and the two little ceramic hearts I made at my most recent pottery course, plus some ribbons and a silver star kindly donated to my craft collection by Crafty Helen (http://www.caketops.co.uk/) so I can proudly say it is 100% handmade! 

We have also been glugging down the mulled wine which, despite me having a horrid cold at present, has been going down a treat.  It was just the ticket yesterday after we'd had a long and rather cold dog-walk collecting ivy, and when I'd warmed up over the wine I put on the carols and set to work on my wreath.  So far it is looking rather good, possibly my best yet, but I have yet to add the finishing touches of holly and berries so look out for the next blog where it will hopefully feature!

My last news is that I've finally collected my pottery from Pen's Pots in Aviemore and am delighted with the results.  Sadly the glaze has run on the teapot clogging up the little holes, so it will have to remain decorative, but I am really pleased with it and my other pots nonetheless.  I am newly inspired and will head out to my potting shed just as soon as the weather warms up a bit... some time next year I should think!!  Meanwhile I may be able to do a small amount of hand-modelling in the house where it is nice and warm and cosy.

Jen x

Birdy Cushion

Winter is well into its swing up here in the Highlands and the recent strong winds have left the trees all but bare.  On one hand it's a shame as the beautiful colours covering the glen are no more, but on the other hand it does make the birds all the more visible and noticeable.  I've been so inspired that I decided to make a cushion with some appliqueed bird shapes on it, and after picking up a remnant of beautiful charcoal-coloured fabric and getting some pretty floral FQs from my mother-in-law to use for my birdies I was ready to go.  I'd never used the appliquee stitch on my sewing machine so was a bit apprehensive but a practice session revealed that it was actually really easy to use and very forgiving - my few mistakes were virtually undetectable. So I got to work putting each bird onto my fabric, and when I came to the last one I was feeling quite nervous, not wanting to ruin it at the last minute.  But all was fine - again I made one or two mistakes but the stitch was so dense you couldn't really tell at all.  Putting the cushion fabric together took a bit of thought but was straightforward enough, and I'm really pleased with the result.  It looks perfect in our bedroom and has pride of place on the bed, where it cheers me each time I see it.

I've got some more ideas for appliquee, so watch this space for other projects.  Now that I've realised how do-able it is I will definitely be back for more!

Jen x

Mulled Wine Spice Bags

Well I've just seen my first Christmas film of the year so it's official - the festive season has begun! With this in mind I have just made this year's batch of mulled wine spice bags.  I made some of these little bags last year for the village Christmas Craft Fair, and have just made this year's batch ready for those cold evenings when we need a little festive cheer!

They are really easy to make.  Per bag I use a couple of tablespoons of sugar, a teaspoon of ground mixed spice and a pinch of any other Christmassy spices I have to hand - this time I used juniper berries, a small stick of cinnamon in each bag, some ground cinnamon, ground ginger and some orange and lemon zest.  Then just tie it up into a tight little bundle with some string.  I usually add a bit of orange juice to my wine too, which sweetens it up and makes it go a bit further.  Sugar to taste and it's ready to go!

I have some spares so if any of my faithful followers would like one just let me know and I'll send you one!

Jen x

Cake Decorator Extraordinaire!

Well I know I promised you a picture of Alby's birthday cake, so here it is, although I have to admit it didn't turn out quite as we expected.  The idea was to buy some ready rolled white icing and to make a snowman cake, using some small tubes of coloured icing to decorate him.  Unfortunately I mis-read the packet of icing and when we got it home realised we only had half the amount we needed.  The prospect of another 50-mile mile round trip for another batch of icing was too much, so sadly the snowman idea was out the window and we had to try and think of something else.  Our towering pile of cake was reminiscent of a robot-shape so we went with that idea, covering him in grey buttercream frosting (made using a small amount of black food colouring) and adding some decoration at the end.  Unfortunately our pile of cake was slightly off balance so over the course of the evening our little robot buddy developed a rather pronounced tilt, so we thought we'd better get on with it and eat him up before he fell over completely.  Despite the difficulties he was lots of fun to make and absolutely delicious, and perhaps I'll have a go at a properly iced cake some other time... there's always Christmas after all!

We ended up with a fair amount of leftover sponge cake and then we remembered our friend Crafty Helen uses hers to make little truffles, so we nabbed her idea and made these mini christmas pudding truffles, which went down a treat with all Alby's birthday party guests.

Wet Weather, Birthdays and Finger Puppetry

It's been a very soggy week up here in the West Highlands, and when it hasn't been wet it has been very chilly.  We haven't had any snow yet but there is plenty up on the hills already.  I have given the hens an extra thick layer of straw to keep them warm in the new hen house that Matt built this summer - so far it is doing a great job of keeping all the water out.  And now that we've had a good dose of frost it is parsnip time - I've lifted our first ones today, and although they were rather small I've told myself that they would be classed as 'baby' versions in the supermarket and therefore be twice the price of the larger ones!  They were boiled, roughly mashed and added to a chicken & parmesan risotto along with the lovely parsnippy water they were cooked in.  Delicious!

So while I've been sheltering from the rain and delegating all the dog-walking duties to my other half, I have been keeping busy making these little finger puppets as a Christmas gift for one of my nephews. 

They were great fun to make, although I must admit the stitching around the sides got a bit fiddly at times and I regretted some of the sticky-out bits as I attempted to blanket-stitch around them!  I have worked on them over the last few evenings and have enjoyed showing Alby a new one each morning.  He hasn't been allowed to get his sticky mitts on them - he has, however, had plenty of other presents this week as today he has celebrated his very first birthday!  Happy birthday Alby!  We're having another (mainly adults) celebration for him when some friends come over on Saturday and we have a rather elaborate idea for a cake.  If we pull it off I will blog it here, so if you don't see it you'll know it went belly-up!

Jen x

Knitted Egg Cosies & The Pancakes of Dreams!

It's that time of year when the flow of guests coming through the hostel door is slowing to a trickle through the week, so on those occasions when we're completely empty it means no work in the morning.  Of course having a one year old means that lie-ins are a thing of the past, but it does give us the chance to enjoy some sit-down family breakfasts for a change, and these seem like an enormous treat after months of getting straight out of bed and starting work.  This week we have celebrated our first couple of mornings off with breakfasts of christmas pudding pancakes, and boiled eggs with soldiers. 

Yesterday we had boiled eggs, fresh from the hen house, and I got my first chance to use the knitted egg cosies I made a few weeks ago in anticipation of a morning off!  They did a wonderful job, our second eggs were kept toasty warm and were another delicious way to start a day.  I forgot to take a photo but will take one next time.  Thanks hens! 

The christmas pancakes are a Gary Rhodes recipe (http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/536584) and are perfect for those cold rainy mornings when you feel like staying in pyjamas all day.  I must confess I don't make any of the extras and serve mine with good old maple syrup - there is no better way to start the day!

It's a good job I've started the day on such a happy note as the rain, thunder and lightning outside are doing their very best to dampen my spirits.  At least it's not too cold though which is a relief, as no guests in the hostel means no heating, if we can help it.  Thank heavens for woolly jumpers and blankets!

Jen x

Name That Blog!

Well it is probably appropriate in this post for me to explain the title behind my new blog.  A few months after moving to the country we decided to expand our family by getting a dog, which also led to us to develop our habit of long afternoon walks in the forests around our home.  As it was summer time it wasn't long before we noticed an abundance of small purple berries growing in vast quantities in some areas of the forest, and a quick google confirmed they were in fact bilberries, or perhaps I should say blaeberries as they are called here in Scotland.  Our next few dog walks were devoted to bilberry picking, which our new labrador Dylan enjoyed as much as we did as he tried to find the juiciest berries to nab for himself.  I made some delicious bilberry jam with our haul and have tried to repeat the exercise each summer since then, and jam-making remains one of my favourite ways to spend a free afternoon, it is just so satisfying.  Unfortunately the cleaning-up afterwards isn't so much fun, so it's probably a good job I only indulge in it once or twice a year!

So that explains the bilberries, and as for the bunting well it's a bit of a cheat as I've never made any proper fabric bunting, but this week I have just made some lovely paper bunting for my son's first birthday next week.  I found these gorgeous downloadable bunting letters http://ruffledblog.com/printable-alphabet-bunting/ and supplemented them with triangles cut out of some decorated paper to make a bunting banner for his special day.  Next year I've promised to do a proper fabric version so watch this space!

So there we have it.  My first foray into country crafts and my most recent. 

Jen x