A little piece of family history

I had no idea what I was going to blog about today. I taught a card class this morning in Mere and by happy chance, one of our Meadow Barn group of friends was in the area and able to come and join me. It was a beautiful sunny morning and, as I walked back to the car afterwards, I was thinking, ’G is for….what?’

I thought of the Grove Building on the other side of town. Shame it’s bin day!

It was built in 1891 as an annexe to the school, with a gift of money from local benefactress, Julia Chafyn Grove. During the First World War it became a Red Cross hospital, staffed by volunteers.

So what’s the family connection? It’s where my Mum went to school, in the fifties.

I’m really enjoying the October prompts for Photo A Day. Today’s letter encouraged me to go out of my way, to find something interesting (to me anyway) to photograph and I’ve recorded another little story for my children.

Me on Monday

What a difference a day makes. The weather set in last night and we woke to pouring rain and fierce winds this morning. Once the children had left for school I got on with my usual Monday chores. Then I settled down for the first episode of a new show, Craft Daily.* A friend was demonstrating how to make a skirt today.

F is for….

….froth, in the bottom of my coffee cup.

This afternoon the sun came out and I enjoyed a catch up with a good friend who’s recently moved house. Home again just in time for the children. Greeted by the smell of the slow cooker doing its thing. Ah, gotta love Autumn, now it’s here.

Waving to Sian.

*If you missed it, it will be shown again on Thursday at 7pm.

Photo A Day ~ October round up #1

Several of my friends follow the Fat Mum Slim Photo A Day prompts and there have been a few occasions when I have had good intentions, but fallen by the wayside! The list for October is a little different and I thought it would work well for Blogtoberfest. I’ve kept up so far. Only four days in, that’s not much to shout about!

A is for….

….Autumn leaves

B is for….

….bank, black horse, bunting, blue skies….

….bridge.

C is for….

….cream, chicken and leek pie….

….church, community cinema.

D is for….

….dying. Hanging onto my Birthday roses, which are now past their best.

Anyone else following the prompts this month?

Saturday Soup Kitchen ~ The Germ Buster

September was a super busy month. The usual challenges of settling my boy back into the school routine, after six weeks of holidays. Starting my classes again and this year I had a few (too many) extra things thrown into the mix. I shouldn’t have been surprised to get struck down by a nasty cold the day after my birthday!

I discovered A Girl Called Jack’s Ultimate Feisty Soup when I had a similar “back to school” cold last year. It seemed to cure my sore throat overnight and I didn’t go on to develop an awful hacking cough like I usually do. Since then the recipe has evolved into my own comforting soup and I enjoy it just as much when I am well.

I use less tomatoes and extra stock, because I added lentils to make it more of a meal. I happened to have an odd leek hanging about so that went in as well. I was in a hurry so I grated the carrots instead of chopping them. They cook quicker that way and it meant that I didn’t feel the need to blend the soup once it was cooked.

I don’t tend to weigh vegetables for soup so there’s no need to follow the quantities to the letter, it’s just a guide. I have a Paddington mug which I use to measure out my lentils, but that’s not much use to you, so I’ve given a quantity. I use vegetable stock, but you could use chicken, if that’s your preference. If you want chunkier veg then that would work too. Just extend the cooking time.

Germ Busting Soup

1 red onion finely chopped

1 leek finely sliced

4 cloves of garlic crushed

4 carrots (approx 300g) grated

1.5 litres of stock

175g lentils

400g chopped tomatoes

chilli to taste*

fresh ginger grated**

2 tbsp lemon juice***

 

Heat a good glug of olive oil in a large pan.

Throw in the onion and leek (if using) and cook until softened. I put the lid on, and turn down the heat, to sweat them and retain any moisture

Add the garlic and spice and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring.

Add the carrots and stir, then pour in the stock.

Throw in the lentils and stir in the tomatoes.

Add the lemon juice and simmer for 10 mins or until the carrot is soft.

You could blend the soup at this stage if you wanted to, but I like the texture of the lentils so prefer to leave it as it is. Enjoy!

*I use one fresh red chilli or more usually half a tsp from the jar above, because my children like the soup, but not too much heat.

**I keep fresh ginger (peeled and wrapped in foil) in the freezer and just grate a finger’s width in. 1 tsp of ground ginger would do instead.

***Fresh if I have it, otherwise from a bottle is fine.

PS This soup freezes well and I like to keep some on hand during the Winter months

 

 

 

 

Friday Finds ~ Entrelac

Checking back through my blog archives, it appears that I stopped sharing Friday Finds over a year ago. I thought I’d resurrect the idea during Blogtoberfest.

So, what exactly is entrelac? Anyone? No, I’d never heard of it either.

It is a technique which produces this rather beautiful woven pattern and yet it is apparently achievable by “Advanced Beginners”. I’m not a knitter myself so I can’t say if that is true. The secret is in the self striping wool it would seem.

The pattern for the pictured scarf, by Allison LoCicero, is available free at Craftsy. There is also a video tutorial using it, by Staci Perry, if you fancy a peek. I’m hoping to persuade my Mum to take up the needles again and make one for me. As much as I am loving this prolonged Indian Summer, I’m sure scarves will be needed soon.

Holiday Home

I gave you a little teaser yesterday and here’s the full reveal. Oh, how I love these tall thin houses, all in a row.

The black and white houses are simply stamped on the background and the coloured house has been paper pieced. I stamped out five extra images. Two on white, one for the base and one for the windows and door frame. One each on bright yellow, red and pale blue, to cut apart for all the other components. This image works particularly well for the technique as it’s all straight lines.

We used the matching dies to cut the stamped houses for our next project, much to everyone’s relief! They wouldn’t work for the piecing, as they leave a narrow border around the image. Perfect here. I’m always a fan of kraft cardstock and it’s a great base for this simple box. A strip of patterned paper, a snip of ribbon and a few punched hearts, in Cherry Cobbler, all add up to a project with a seasonal flavour. It could be used to house (no pun intended!) a small gift or as a decoration. I can picture a whole row of them on a mantelpiece, or even hanging from the tree.

I’m putting together a tutorial for the basic box and I’ll be sharing that some time during Blogtoberfest, along with one for my take on the Card in a Box theme. You thought I’d forgotten about that, didn’t you? There’s one part of the process which I’m finding tricky to show/explain, but it’ll be coming soon.

Shameless self promotion coming up. The stamp set I used is called Holiday Home and is available to order at £13.95, if anyone is interested.

We’re still enjoying the sunshine here. Hope you are too.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday? #278

It’s that time of the week again. Time to share our desks, floors, kitchen tables or anywhere else you happen to get your crafting done. Julia has all the details here.

Tuesday afternoon means class prepping and kitting. The sample was made last week and the kits for this card already cut. I just needed all the little extras that make the demonstration flow and I like to refresh my memory! Most of my ladies have been coming for a while now, but you never know when a technique will be new to them. I play it by ear on the day and show as much or as little as needed.

This week the technique is paper piecing. Not something I do very often myself and this will be the first time in class. I do love a bit of hand cutting. It’s so relaxing.

Hope to visit you all some time this afternoon, with a nice cup of coffee. Happy Wednesday!