Sew and sew

My collection of bought embroidery designs is getting out of hand and I have had to get seruously organised.

I now have a spreadsheet listing all the designs, complete with pictures, my ratings, and information on where I have put the embroidery files (and how big the designs are, how many stitches, the set name if it was part of a set........).

I've also continued with stitching out the designs, so I have a sample of each one.  That's taken a while, and I've still got loads to do.

This is one of the first designs I bought, but I've only just tried it.

Truth told, it's too big to be of much practical use....unless I did it either side of the front of a black waistcoat or something. The colours are gorgeous.

I've got a couple of samplers - here's one:

I've also had a go at an in-the-hoop banner - well, one pennant - and tha was interesting. I might try this again properly, I was just messing about  which is why the letter is rubbish:

It's still a bit too big for what I want, I might contact the designer to see if they could do some miniscule ones.

This is all so  not me, I'm fascinated by it all.

Bin there, done that.

We have 2 lovely auto bins in our kitchen.  One a large, 50L bin, and the other is a smaller one for food recycling.     We've bin very happy with them.  I've got so used to them that sometimes I stand by the chicken feed bin, which is not a sensor bin, waiting for the lid to open.

In the last month I have managed to lose the bag ring from the small bin.   I didn't exactly lose it.  It was a sleety evening and I was emptying the food wate into the outside food bin.  The inside bin was a bit full, and I knew if I took the compostable bag out, it would split... so I carried the whole bin outside, and emptied it into the bigger food recycling bin.

I came in, washed the bin out, and put it upside down on the draining board to air and dry.

The next morning, DH put the bin back together and asked me where the bag ring was.   I knew at once.  It had obviously gone into the bigger food bin, along with the food and the compostable liner.

Unfortunately,  the bin men had bin in the meantime.

No response from the company about how to obtain a replacement.

....

And a few days ago I took the lid off the bigger bin, in the usual manner.  The lid flipped open, I picked it up and pulled the lid off.   Except it came off. Right off.   I 'fessed up to DH.   It was broken. Truly broken.  A tiny piece of plastic had come off and wasn't fixable or replaceable. We needed a whole new lid.


This particular bin had bin horrendously expensive and I could see that, even if I got a reply from the supplying company - which seemed unlikely given their past form - a substantial part of the cost was the lid.

I decided it would have to wait until next month.

We put the lid back on, but it was a nuisance.  We left the lid off. It was worse.

By a stroke of luck, Costco were selling cheap autobins (completely different shape, mechanism, size), and I decided to get one while they had them in stock.  They were  much cheaper than I expected

 It works really well.  The lid is a bit flappy,  but the sensor is great. It also senses that you are standing there and doesn't slap the lid down just as you are pouring rubbish in.

So that worked out OK then!

Feet first

A while ago DH bought some piece of kit or other and an xy table.   The combination of this enabled him to laser cut foamy stuff to make a padded inside for an air pistol case.

He then made me an insert for my sewing machine feet.    I had to search around to find a suitable case.  I struggled a bit as, in order to find a case that could accomodate all the feet, it looked like I was going to have to get something too big.  Im the end I used a Prym stackable case which I had optimisticaly bought before Christnas, but hadn't used.

DH did a printout of the holes, and I then cut them out and moved them around until I worked out how to fit them in the space.  DH then reordered his cutting diagram so it matched my proposed layout, and then lasered the slots.

Each foot has it's own specially shaped slot...

..and I've labelled the base of the (I've removed 2 feet so youcan see the labels).

Vary happy!

Cock a hoop

Success!

I've seen posts on a Machine Embroidery Facebook group about 'ITH' or 'In The Hoop' projects. Mostly they passed me by.    I was looking for 'In the Hoop' videos on Youtube to see what it was all about and, luckily, I came across this one from PicklePieDesigns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us4CRL9_leE

I was amazed at how easy it seemed to be. Coincidentally, I had a USB stick full of photos to give to my DSD (darling step daughter), so I decided to have a go.

I had to order some zips first, and ordered a mixed pack from Amazon, which arrived the next day.  I bought the design from PicklePie, and had a go,

Amazing!

I showed DH who kindly showed interest. Then I made another.

 I didn't take a photo of the first one, which was made with a spotty fabric.  I've given it to DSD now.
Here are some pics of the second one I made.  I used a cat fabric for this and I worked out how to match it up on either side of the zip

I was really pleased.  

I looked at Pickle Pie's other offerings, looking for a tissue-pack sized zippered case.  She didn't have one, although she did have an array of different sizes.

I searched, and the other sites I found had them, but they had stipple quilting over them which I didn't really want.  I emailed PicklePie to see if she could, perhaps, put one up.  She emailed back to say she would add it to the list of requests.

Another website had anunstippled coinpurse, with the zip 1/3rd of the way down.  I bought that and tried it.  It was OK, but it wasn't as good as PicklePie's.  The new one involved spray fabric adhesive, and finishing off with wundaweb.  It was OK, but it wasn't as neat.

So I'll wait and see if PicklePie comes up with the goods.

Doh!

A hole appeared in one of DH'checked s soft shirts.

For a few days I considered patching it with a home made applique patch.  I've never made an applique patch, I wasn't really sure how or what to do.  I looked online, couldn't find anything that would help.

And then I wondered if I could darn it using my machine.  I looke din the instruction book, and there was a small section on a darning sticthc using the buttonhole foot.   I looked online for videos, but all I could find were videos about darning free-hand.  However, it did give me confidence that it could be done.

I got a small piece of material and forced a hole in it, and then followed the instructions.  To my amazement, it worked!

I found thread to match the shirt, took a deep breath, and had a go.

It worked beautifully.  A neat little darn, the thread matched well.  I was so pleased, I showed it to DH.  And then I realised that I had the shirt the wrong way round.  My beautiful darn was on the inside,  and on the outside was white bobbin thread.

I couldn't see how to unpick it.  So, I decided to embroider something on top.  I found a heart, I found thread to match the red in the shirt.  I tested it.  I did it.  It worked.  Not sure how DH would feel about having a heart embroidered on his shirt, but never mind.

I trimmedround the embroidery and.....I made another hole.

Really.

So I had to darn that. The right way round.

It could be worse. 

That's what I keep telling myself.

It could.  I could have just binned the shirt without trying.  In that respect, we're no worse off than we were before.

That was quick!

When we get close to the allotment we call for Henry.  Without fail, we unlock the gate to impatient boks and burbles. As soon as the gate is swung open,  the harem pours out onto the grass path and starts nibbling grasstops.

Today I counted 7 black girls plus Henry (plus Nora and Batty,).   One of the Littlees had obviously attached herself to the harem.

The remaining Littlees, 2 black girls plus Big Bird and Princess, were wandering around as their own little flock.   

In between checking the feeders, I kept an eye on the newest member of the harem.  She mingled amongst the established hens without problem.  She got pecks on the head when she got too close,  but they were more of a "Oi", rather than an annoyed "OY!!!!!!!".

Doesn't mean she'll be roosting with the Establishment,   but so far so good.

Seeing red

I've been continuing to stitch out the embroidery designs that I've bought.   I tried a couple direct on to cardstock, but it wasn't entirely successful.

Today I decided to try a Redwork design.  Redwork is something that is very common in the US,  it is very simple outline embroidery, usually done with red thread (hence the name.).

I bought  pleasant hen design from emblibrary.com and then stitched it directly onto card, using a purple thread.

I think it worked well.  I can see me buying a few more of these  for card use.  I'm kicking myself because they sent me a fantastic discount voucher which I hadn't used, and it expired on Monday.

Sneaky peek

It wasn't my day to do the Allotment chooks today.  

This evening, however, I was driving through the village. It was dark, and raining.  I wondered if the Littlees were OK.   Although we have plenty of coop space,  I had visions of them being denied access to the coops by Angry Old Hens.

The next thing I knew, I had parked by the allotment gates and was slipping around on the mud trying to find my way down to our allotment.  Luckily I had a small torch in my coat pocket.  I bought 5 fantastic, small, LED torches from Amazon a while back, and I now have one in each coat, one in my handbag and one in my car. 

Shed: Henry and 4 wives;  Mrs' old ropey coop: SIouxsie in the nest box,  NoraOrBatty and 2 wives on the roosting bars'  home made coop: Norman and NotNorman in the nestboxes,  NoraOrBatty on the roosting bars.  And in the Littlees' coop?  All five of them, together.

All is well.

Looking forward to seeing them in the daylight tomorrow to check for signs of henpecking.

Chilly

It was -5 this morning, and the Garden Girls' drinkers were both frozen over.  Even the inside one, which is better potected and therefore usually less solid, required hot water and a bit of bashing.  Reminded me a bit of the old ReadyBrek advert, the one with the girl and her pony. Sorry, I'm digressing down memory lane..

It was our turn to do the Allotment Chooks today, so we went before breakfast. 

We started by poiring fresh water on top of the drinkers, and fresh water into a bowl.  This meant that the Girls could drink while we worked.     DH fired up the camping stove, and we defrosted each of the metal drinkers in turn.  Once the ice started to melt, I broke it with a stick. 

We then set up the tea lights (prtected in a small glass ramekin, with the ramekin inside an illy coffee tin, holes drilled at strategic points to let the condensation out), and put one under each of 2 drinkers. 

I also let the Littlees out to join the main flock.    I was surprised at the lack of hen pecking,  the littlees were even allowed to drink while others were drinking.   Maybe it was just too cold for any of the big girls to notice, or maybe it was because Henry was standing nearby. Or we were.  

The two flocks separated again, with main flock going outside to the grassy path and the Littlees staying in the allotment area and exploring. 

The Oldies came back fairly quickly,  and I spread corn out everywhere.  There was a little bit of head-pecking, but nothing major that I could see.

We put the door-into-the-Litlees-Paddock on its side (as in Raymond Briggs' "When the Wind Blows" ), leaning up against the fence.  This would provide additional refuge if any of the Littlees needed it. 

All done, did a quick headcount. It's much harder now. It used to be 

6 black - check

Nora & Batty - check

Norman and Co - check

Henry

 and

Princess - check

Big Bird - check

3 Black - check.

Today it was "Nora & Batty, yep; Norman & Co, yep; Henry, yep; Big Bird,yep.  1,2,3,4,5,was that Princess or a black chicken? - Princess - 4, 5, 6, haven't I just counted you?. Hold on.  1,2,3,4,5 here,  6,7, by the fence, Princess, stop moving, 1,2,3,4,Princess, 5,6,7,8, where's number 9? Is there a black chicken in the shed? Yes? 9. Right.

Hopefully they'll be OK tonight.   

If we didn't have a cockerel,  I wouldn't attempt the integration this fast.   Hope Henry does his job, keeping the Girls in order I mean.

 

.

Lucky girls

I raised the subject of the 5 dinner girls.   Time was getting on, and it won't be long before we need to have their paddock empty so it can rest and be re-seeded before the 2015 hatch go in there.  

We talked about options.  The mother of 2 of the 5 girls is unrelated to Henry - and a different breed -  so potentially we could keep them for breeding.  The mothers of the other 3 are related to Henry, so we don't want to breed from them.  

We could dispatch all 5, which is - after all - what they were bred for.

We could dispatch the 3 and keep the 2. 

We could rehome them

Keeping 2 was an attractive option.  We had planned to breed and keep some girls from her this year. The mother is getting on a bit, so we need to carry the line on while we can.    We don't even know if she'll lay this year.

However, introducing 2 hens to a flock of 10 isn't a particularly kind thing to do.

Rehomoming them was definitely possible.... except we know that the 3 of them (a) are likely to be very broody (their mothers are), and (b) shouldn't really be bred from.    (a) is a nuisance for hobby keepers with small flocks,  and both (a) and (b) are a problem for more serious keepers.   

DH talked it over with OC (other chap),  and in the end they decided to keep all 5.  We have a few hens who are getting on a bit and are likely to stop laying soon,  and we have the space to accomodate them all.    We'd ring the 3, so we can easily identify them,  and we can then make sure that we don't breed from them moving forward.

So, today we put rings on them.  We'll give them today and tomorrow to get used to their rings, and then on Tuesday, we'll open up their paddock so that all the hens can mingle freely. .  They will still have access to their coop (although, of course,  the older girls will have access to it as well).

There is plenty of space, there are places for cover.  Having Henry should, in theory, mean that the older girls are kept in line.

There is 1 older girl who has a marked card already, so we will keep an eye on her. If she is unnecessarily aggresive, we'll remove her.

Let's see how it goes.

Five go loopy

The 5 dinner girls are desperate to get into the main flock's area.     They have no understanding of hen pecking - because they have grown up together, the pecking order of their group has been achieved without them realising.

Today, they tried to push past me when I went into their run to do the waterer and feed.  I decided to let them - I wasn't too worried, as I'd let Henry and the Harem out onto the grass and the main area was mostly empty.

Except for Batty,  who was dustbathing under one of the old coops. 

She was lying there, fairly still.  I had to do a double take; for a moment there, I thought she had died mid bathe.  But no, she was just lying at an angle,   building up for the next flourish.

The dinner girl known as Big Bird (who happens to be Batty's daughter) walked up to her, and started intently, fascinated,  head down, watching.

Time stopped.

And then Batty realised that her personal space was being invaded,  fflipped over, and gave chase.

...

Henry and the Harem came back in to see what the fuss was about .  There were a few squabbles, but the Littlees were OK as long as they didn't get directly in the Big Girls path or beak-line.

Shortly afterwards I attempted to shoo the five dinner girls back into their own area.  Four of them went in easily.  The fifth, a small girl,  didn't.

We had a bit of a Benny Hill chase as I attempted to walk her in to her own area.  Each time I got close, she opened her wings and then ran, squawking madly.  She ran through groups of Harem girls, causing them to scatter and panic as well.   It made me chuckle (it was a pleasant day, so I wasn't in a rush).

If I didn't know better, I'd swear that Lotti - my loopy exchequer leghorn - was her mother.

Actually, as I typed that, I had to go and check my spreadsheet to make sure that there wasn't any way that Spike (Lotti's brother, culled because he was a nasty bugger) could have been her father.

Nope. Spike was culled in October 2013.

Eventually I managed to get her to go back in her own area, and all was well. 

I will miss them when they go.

 

  

Domestication.

Yesterday, I managed to turn up three pairs of trousers,  using a double zigzag overcast stitch (and the overcasting foot) and a beautiful straightstitch for the hem, using my hemming foot.

Anyone who does this sort of thing without thinking about it,  will doubtless be thinking "And....?", and will be waiting for the punchline.

But the achievement is the punchline.  This is so out of my comfort zone, I feel huge sense of achievement. Especially as we normally pay £10 a time to get trousers shortened.

I also made 8 litres of cream into butter,  which is business as usual.

Today,  DH made marscapone out of a litre of cream. This is the second time we've done this, and this time it worked like a dream.  He used the Codlo,  so that's another tick for that appliance.

And I used Thermy to make a lemon drizzle cake. 

Such domestication!

Out with the old

I'm on a mini decluttering roll.

I've bitten the bullet and put some lovely unread books in a pile to go.  Sadly, they aren't worth selling, despite costing a lot of money when new.  I checked on Amazon, and there are loads of all of them for sale for 1p plus £2.81 postage, so no one is going ot pay more than 2.80 for them incuding postage... and as they are all hard backed, postage costs too much to make it worthwhile listing them..

I seem to remember getting to this point once before and then deciding I might as well keep them,  but I still haven't read them, and I expect it will be the same next year.  

I did try posting them on a couple of Facebook local-selling sites, but even though I was asking little for them, they just aren't selling. 

I should have done this before Christmas, as they would have made great Christmas presents.   However, I'm not keeping them for another year.

They'll be off to the charity shop tomorrow. 

Reality check

Went to see to the allotment chooks today and noticed that all the hens had disappeared from a neighbouring plot.  

There were no signs of fox attack, nor of forced entry.  The hens were there on Saturday, I always say "Hello" to them as I walk past.  DH and I discussed whether the plot holders might be unaware of what happened.  It didn't seem likely,  they would probably have been down that morning already.

But what if they didn't know?

I phoned OC (other chap) to see if he knew what had happened or if he knew the phone number of the chaps who have the plot.  OC didn't pick up his phone,  so I carried on with my own business.  

I walked past the Allotment "office" on the way back to the car, and found the number for the membership secretary.  I called, explained why I was phoning, and asked her to phone the plotholders to let them know, just in case they didn't already.

A few minutes later she phoned me back.  They had removed the hens themselves, to be culled because they weren't laying.

It happens all the time, all over the place. For many people, hens have to earn their kee - and not everyone has the luxury of funding "freeloaders".  I realise that they don't have the space to keep so many non-laying hens.  

I was sad for the hens concerned, but I know they had a good life - better than many.

Most of our allotment girls are only" freeloading" over the winter.  For the second-year girls, I don't really think of this as freeloading. they are just having their winter break. For the older girls (3 are 5 years old and 2 are 4 years old), this might just be a winter break or it might be the henopause.    They are lucky girls because we have space to accomodate them even if they aren't going to lay any more. 

They have no idea how lucky they are.

Normal

DSD visited on Saturday, and so I bit the bullet yesterday and took down all the decorations.

It took ages.  The boxes are currently standing on the landing, waiting to go into the loft.  No point putting them away immediately. as I inevitably keep finding bits of Christmas debris for a couple of days.  

I was marvelling atjust how many boxes of stuff there is.   We don't actually do that much decorating.  The tree decorations fit in one box;  the front-door-wreath have another box.  We have a 2...I can't think of the word...mantles is what comes to mind, but itsn't quite right They take up another box.  The bannister....mantle and lights take up another box.   Then there are the various battery-operated fairy light strings and the hangers for the kitchen...   

When I was a kid we had one small box of christmas tree ornaments,  a fake tree,  and some then-trendy shiny hanging things which folded flat (which replaced the old-fashioned paper ornaments which folded flat)   The fashion was to have these things hanging from the ceiling.  Everyone seemed to have them.   I left home at 18, and I don't think I've ever used those sort of ornaments in my own home... I wonder when they stopped being de rigeur?  

Once everything was packed away,  I carried our lovely tree and wreath round to the tree recycing point.  I'm very lucky that our local council provides a collection service, and even luckier that it's within walking distance.   I thanked the tree and wreath, and left them with all the others.

Today I'm putting newly-washed tablecloth, table runner, mats and stuff away,  and then I'll bring my sewing machine downstairs and think about what to sew. Or embroider.

I've already been clearing out stuff that we no longer need, or don't use. 

 

New Year

No New Year resolutions here.  Personally I find it best to make decisions on changes as I go, rather than waiting til January.

Had dinner with friends yesterday.  S had made a lot of her own Christmas tree decorations, mostly hand sewn.  I might try making a couple, ideally  now while I am thinking about Christmas...if I don't do it now then I won't have time later in the year. 

I'm waiting to take the decorations down before I set up my sewing machine.  Normally I'm more than ready to put everything away by now..but the tree is lovely and has hardly shed at all,  the front foor wreath still makes me smile,  and I like having the candles everywhere.  Maybe tomorrow. Or Sunday.   

The allotmenr chooks are all happy.   The little Dinner Girls escaped into the main run today.   One of them got very excited at being in Henry's presence.  She's obviously coming into lay as she crouched excitedly, waving herself at him.   He pecked her on the comb and walked off.  She ran around with the excitement of it all.

I shooed them back into their own area, reminding myself that we aren't looking to increase the harem with any girls from the 2014 hatch.   Back in the winter of 2012, DH merged the then-dinner girls with the then-harem for the winter... and couldn't bring himself to cull any of them after that.   I can see a similar slippery slope with this hatch,  and it it really isn't a good idea.     My plan was to do some selective breeding this year (2015) and keep some of those girlies.  If we keep the 2014 girls, we won't have room for any from this year.

At home, Custard is on a final warning.  She's always been a bully of a chicken. Not in Milly's league (Milly was the cream legbar we had to cull in the end), but she does have a nasty streak.   She's been particularly horrible recently,  and the final warning was issued when I caught her dragging Poppy round the run by the comb.      After Milly, I promised myself I wouldn't shilly-shally if it happened again, but I obviously am.  A bit.  Custard isn't in Milly's league of nastiness though.

We'll see.

Chilly

The frosts of the last few days have meant two trips a day to see the Allotment chooks.

We arranged bricks under two of the waterers (one in each pen) so that we can put an 8 hour night light under the metal waterer.  The bricks surround the nightlight completely.  The 8 hour nightlight is in a glass jar, inside a cut-off Illy coffee tin.

In the morning, the waterer is still frozen, but the ice is much thinner.  A quick blast on the camping stove and then the ice can be broken.

Top it up with water, and then put another nightlight ti try and keep it defrosted for much of the day.

Some days, it's not possible to get water.  The butts are frozen, sometimes it's only the tap bit, sometimes it's more frozen inside.  The allotment water pipes need priming, and for that I need water Even then, if there is water frozen in the pipes, it's impossible to draw water.  

I've taken to carrying a couple of bottles down with me.

The first night we went down, it was interesting to see how the hens were arranging themselves.  I imagined them snuggling up for warmth, but I know from mucking out that the main flock uses three coops.

In Mrs' rickety old coop we had 2 welsh blacks, one on each end of the roosting bars. In one of the nestboxes we had Siouxise or NotNorman,  I couldn't tell which,.

In the new coop we had Nora on theroosting bars,  Batty in one of the nestboxes on one side, Norman in the other side, and Siouxsie or NotNorman at the front.

Henry and his 4 other wives were spaced out on the roosting bars in the shed.

Not at all what I imagined.

After

Leftovers were frozen where appiopriate, or fridged where we thought we might eat them soon.

The roasted vegetables are waiting to be turned into soup.

Yesterday was my turn to see to the Allotment chooks, and I took some of the unused vegetables to them (squash, cauliflower, cabbage, swede).

After discussion this morning, I think we're having Gooseherds spiced pie for dinner tonight, to use up the last of the goose.   It'll either be with a mashed potato topping (a la Shepherd's pie),   or it'll be in a hot water pastry pie ( a la pork pie).


We had a lie in today.  No visitors due, didn't need to get up to go and do the chooks,  didn'thave deliveries coming.....    DH still not sleeping through the night,  and so my sleep is disturbed.  Truth told, I could probably spend the whole day in bed dozing!

Tomorrow's visit to the chooks will be quite a long one as they need sorting out,  plus we need to prepare for cold weather freezing the water.  DH might try coming to help. It's been 3 weeks since he's seen the chooks and he's missing it.

During

The goose was lovely.  I worked from my timings last year.  However, there was one problem with this - nNormally when I write my timings, it helps set everything in my mind.   No matter howmany times I read through the detaied instructions, I just couldn't get it set in my head.    Thank goodness that the instructions were  detailed.

Next year, if we have goose, I'll use the same instructions but I will rewrite them in advance so I get myself sorted.

OB1 came for the day,  which was great as he always likes what I cook.  Sadly he didn't stay for Boxing Day, he decided to visit out parents instead.

We were all stuffed, but it's funny how the mention of cheeeeeese and nibbly bits clears tummy space at about teatime.

Before.

At short notice, my lovely brother, OB2,  drove me to Kent to collect the new worktop.  We stopped on the way back for something to eat.  We went to a McDonalds.   I haven't had a McDonalds for 20? years. Maybe longer.

It tasted much as I remembered.  I would have been happy without the burger, as the overriding taste I remember was the cheese and the gherkin.

Half an hour later, I started to have indigestion.  I mentioned it to OB2 who started to laugh as he admitted having trouble too.

I guess it'll be another 20 years before I try it again.

The worktop looked great, and was - as expected - a smidgeon too long really.  We decided to fit it the following day, and we'd deal with the extra length etc after Christmas.

OB2 arrived on Christmas Eve to help DH fit the worktop.  (DH has a broken rib and a fractured vertebra and is wearing a back brace, so has limited movement).  We measured for leg positioning.  We considered. We discussed whether to do the cutting now, or to wait. In the end,  we got the worktop outside so it could be cut to the better length AND have the corners rounded.  Poor OB2 was with us for several hours - but the result was fantastic.

Meanwhile,  I got on with makig mince pies and palmiers to eat; and then I made the light goose gravy, Red Cabbage, and the gingerbread stuffing ready for the next day.

We delivered some of our neighbours cards, but I didn't get as far as my friend's house. Bit of a shame as I'd actually embroidered a card for them.  Never mind!

Profiteroles

Yesterday I made profiteroles for the first time!

I made the choux pastry in Thermy, and it was really really easy.

I was very slapdash with my spooning out, so the resulting profiteroles were mishapen lumps, but they tasted OK.   At the time of making the pastry, I hdn't decided wheter I was going to make savoury or sweet, so I omitted sugar.   Of course when it came to it, I made sweet, and they would have been upgraded from "OK" to "good" if I'd put sugar in.

I just whipped up double cream for the filling, and melted some chocolate for the top - very unoriginal. 

Yjese will definitely be on my "easy to whip up" list. In fact, I've bought extra cream cheese, just in case I get the need to make savoury ones over the next few days.

I also made marscapone for the first time since the cheese course.   Double cream, tartaric acid, a bain marie and some patience.   I now have that as an option for making savoury dips (or fillings).

And I went to Costco to buy some cider, chestnuts, mixed nuts and double cream.... and came out with a few extra bits.  It wasn't too bad in there. Busy, but manageable.  At least it was when I went in, but by the time I got to the tills it was getting less so.

Today has been erratic.  I cleaned the fridge, then took the goose and giblets out of the freezer and put them  in the fridge to defrost.  I packed stuff around them.

Tomorrow will be a busy day as that's when I'm going to be making the red cabbage and the stuffings for Christmas Day.   That and the fact that DH may be fitting a new worktop.

Getting in gear

I looked at the Ocado delivery.  The purpose of today's delivery was to get all the non perishable stuff.  Some of it was stuff that I had meant to add to next week's delivery, not today's. (2x600ml of double cream.  Pomegranate seeds. Cheese.)  And some was stuff that I'd obviously added to my trolley with the intention of  making a decision and removing later - who needs three types of blue cheese?  

I looked at my list and looked at the stuff that  had arrived. This time I worked out when was the earliest I could make things if I wasn't going to freeze them. I debated whether to make some stuff now and freeze it.

I considered a trip to Costco.

Instead, I cleared the worktop, cleaned it, and marzippaned a cake.

Then I decided that I really needed to clear up before I attempted the other christmassy chores on my list.  Instead I opened one of the bags of crisps and started to eat them.   I checked Facebook.  I bought some bits online. Things I'd meant to get for this year, had decided last year to wait for the sales, and then  had forgotten.

I put the steamer on to steam last year's Christmas pudding to make Christmas Puddini bonbons. The pudding didn't look great, so I threw it out.

I started to make cranberry mincemeat a la Nigella.  While it was cooling, I tried to make myself clear up.    I ignored myself.

Eventually I decided I'd have to use rewards.

I gave myself 1 point for everything properly put away. When I got to 100, I could make a cup of tea.   At 79, I stopped and embroidered a card for my next door neighbour.

I decided to unload the dishwasher, as that would put me at nearly 200 by theh time I'd unloaded and reloaded it.   When I opened it, it hadn't drained.  I shut the door and finished the crisps.

I opened the door again and unloaded the clean items.  I took the baskets out and partially loaded them with the dirty dishes, but left them on the draining board. 

Eventually the kitchen looked more respectable. 

I need to put the sewing machine away for Christmas. Maybe Monday. Maybe I'll get on and make the Christmas bunting.

Or maybe I'll try Nigella's (Lychee Martin)  Lychini instead

photo from foodnetwork.com

Going through the motions

I need a kick up the backside.

I'm sooo tired. I haven't had a full nights sleep since DH broke his rib and fractured his spine. Neither has he, of course.     I've been going through the Christmas motions, but I'm not really feeling the festive spirit.

The front door wreath has been made and is hanging on the front door. Did that on Wednesday. Tick

The tree arrived, and is a gorgeously compact Fraser fir.  It's about 6 foot high. DH put the lights on, and I decorated it yesterday. Tick.

The inside mantles/wreaths/what-have-yous are all hung - Wednesday. Tick.

I made all my Christmas cards yesterday. They were a bit slap dash... squares I cut last year, hastily machine sewed on to cards.  I printed paper insides and glued them on the opening flap to cover the reverse of the stitches. Not mybest work, but still all home made.   I also managed to get them in 2nd class post, just. Tick.

Ocado delivered today.  My "to do" list has lots of christmassy things on it, but I'm having a serious bout of CBA.   The kitchen is a mess.  I just cannot get myself in to gear.

Cheeky Chooks

The remaining 5 dinner chickens, all girls,  are getting very cheeky.   A couple of days ago Princess crouched for me, so I was anticipating that we might have eggs soon.

When the Big Girls get corn, the Littlees get very impatient and have been known to escape through the tiniest of gaps to try and get in on the treats.  They are rebuffed quickly by shapr pecks from the Big Girls, and end up running back to the sanctuary of their own paddock.

I've double fenced their area now to make accidental escape harder.

Today, I turned round and found that Princess had managed to fly up and over the netting and was perching on the rickety barrier that separates the two pens.

A few moments later, she was hjoined by one of her sisters.

  ignored them for a while, and carried on mucking out the other coops.  They sat on the fence for ages.  Princess is on the left. She's black with a gold neck, a bit like a Black Rock. (She doesn't have any Black Rock in her at all).

In the end, they returned to their own pen, without visiting the Big Girls first.

Fortunately there is plenty of shelter in the Big Girls area, so if they do fly in and are too daft to fly out again, they'll be able to keep out of the Big Girls way.


 

A bit behind

After last week's mini drama, I'm gradually catching myself up.   I haven't caught up on sleep - DH either sleeping on his back (so snoring) or waking up - but I am catching up on some other things. 

I managed to get some of DH's woodworking stuff photographed and up for sale.  I haven't posted it on Ebay yet,  I'll see if I get any interest elsewhere first.

The decorations are down from the loft , all I need now is the tree. Wednesday should see that happening.  That gives me time to try and make space for the tree. I know where it went last year, I just can't quite see how.

While I was in the loft retrieving the boxes of decorations, I managed to bring down a few other bits and pieces to dispose of.  A couple of things might sell, but others bits - like the VHS tapes - can't even be given away.  

This created a few tiny pockets of space, and  I moved stuff around a bit to create a single space big enough for the sewing machine's enormous box.

I've resorted to a "to-do" list.

I'm aiming to make mincemeat and puddini bonbons on Friday,   and I might make the Christmas red cabbage then too.  And possibly the gingerbread stuffing. Maybe.

I haven't done anything about cards yet.  I fear I may run out of time.  I don't really want to buy cards, but I've given up on the idea of making them with embroidery designs on this year.  I started to stitch out one of each of the designs I bought, all on one sheet of fabric.  The idea was I'd be able to see exactly what they come out like, and I could then choose the right ones for the right people.  I haven't even managed to stitch out one of each yet....I've spent ages doing them, they just take time.

I haven't even had time to try out the new magic stabiliser. Never mind,  maybe I'll just get ahead on next year's cards.

For the first time, I am regretting selling my lovely MC4900 sewing machine.  The new one is much MUCH more advanced,  but if I'd kept the 4900, I could have been sewing cards on that while the new one did the embroidery.  Mind you, if I'd kept it, I'd be tearing my hair out with the lack of space.

A&E

DH always carries a glass of water for each of us up to bed.

Last night he managed to miss his footing at the top step and he fell backwards, whump, landing on the log basket at the bottom of the stairs.

He was very badly winded and it took a long time before he could try and get up.  I checked that his toes wiggled and his fingers wiggled and that he still had feeling down his back and leg.

As soon as we were able, we drove to A&E, our local one being about 7 miles away. We got there at 1.30am.

It's changed a lot since I was last there. Now they have a vending machine,  a bottled drinks vending machine,  and a Costa Express machine.  It was also much brighter and cleaner than I remembered.

The wwaiting time was estimated at 3.5 hours.  We were triaged fairly quickly, with he triage nurse assessing that DH should be given the once over by a doctor, just in case there was internal damage.

3 and a quarter hours after arrivin, we were called. DH was assessed,  and we were sent  for many, many xrays.   This was an ideal time to visit the xray department,  DH was in the xray roon a couple of minutes after arriving.

Next, straight back to the A&E to find out what the Xrays said. Fractured rib, and possible damage to one vertebrae. 

This part of the process had been super-efficient, and 45 miutes after seeing the Doctor we were waiting to see one of the orthapaedic team to find out more about the vertebrae.

After another hour and a half one of the orthapaeds came and poked DH a lot, and then said he was going to look at the xrays and discuss with his colleagues.  Personally I would have preferred that he looked at the xrays then  poked and prodded.

A couple of hours later, one of the lovely A&E peopl echased up for us and spoke to another orthapaed. She appeared a little later and said it looked like DH needed a CT scan and possibly a stay in hospital.   Later still, we saw the orthapaeds again. This time the decision was a back brace, another xray (with back brace),  and a follow up appointment tomorrow.  Painkillers were prescribed.  

Much later, the porter arrived, and disappeared again when what we had been told didn't match what he had been told.   We waited for him to come back, but he didn't,  and in the end we decided to take ourselves off to the Plaster department.  The kind nurses in A&E found a wheelchair for me to use.

By now, the hospital was heaving.  The people who were fitting the brace were lovely and really helpful.

The Xray department was jam-packed, and the wait was showing as an hour and a half.    A&E referrals must have been in the fast lane, as DH was seen in about half an hour.

We stopped on the way out to sort out the next day's appointment,  and we left the hospital some 11 and a half hours after we had arrived. 

Lucky for us the parking charge is capped at £10 for 5 or more hours. 

Home, cup of tea, lots of biscuits.  We want to try and stay up, otherwise we won't sleep tonight. 

And we have to go back to the hospital tomorrow.

A load of old Codlo

After 18 months since pledging a Kickstarter investment, our Codlo finally arrived.

It was originally due to ship in March 2014 but, as is always the way with these brand new tech things, it took longer than the designer estimated to finally get everything working, then manufactured, boxed and shipped. 

Codlo is a way of cooking sous vide without a sous vide cooker.   you leave it plugged into a socket, and then put the probe into your existing rice or slow cooker - assuming you have one.   We didn't, so we also bought a Codlo rice cooker to go with it.

I've never had a problem cooking rice and so I've never understood the point of rice cookers.   I can see that if  one is cooking vast quantities of rice, perhaps it's easier in a rice cooker?  This one can cook up to 15 cups of uncooked rice.    There are only 2 of us, so that's not likely to be something we need to do.

I was going to write about how it works, but it's probably easier to just post thei Kickstarter video

We tried it with ribeye steak yesterday, and it was a great success.   The steak was evenly cooked  throughout, which was the main reason for using it. When I have really good beef, I like it medium rare (or rarer).  This ended up being medium, or  a bit over that,  but it didn't matter. The steak was cooked evenly and was very moist. 

We will definitely be cooking it this way in future, and I might even try a leaner cut of steak. Maybe.



Kickstarter has had many sous vide alternative devices, and I was envious that my online friend John received his sous-vide-alternative (not Codlo) back in March.   Thank you John for your post on steak, we used your learning when trying out Codlo yesterday! Here is John's entry for anyone interested http://johnnorman.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/sansaire-sous-vide-steak-est-est-est/

 
 

Lion tears

I was playing Orla this morning.  I haven't played for a few days,  and it's been a loooong time since I've played anything except the pieces I am trying to master.  On impulse, I pulled out one o fte song books and started playing.

I played a few songs, each one with errors... not a surprise really.

The final song I played was "Born Free".   Part way through playing, I suddenly had part of the film playing in my mind,  one of the bits with (the actress playing) Joy Adamson narrating about how the time had come...

..and I started to cry.

How bizarre.

I haven't seen Born Free for more years than I care to admit.

And I've often thought about the film while playing the tune.

No idea what provoked such an emotional response this morning.

It's a hard life for our cats

Wash, relaxing in front of the fire after a hard day's sleeping.

Behaving like a child

The rest of the week - well, it's been a bit of a funny week really.

DH had to go again to his parents. leaving home at 6.30am on Wednesday.  BiL has been building a new mobile home for them,  and DH needed to go and help. He's popping home today for a couple of nights, nominally to see me but mainly because he has other things pencilled in for Monday night and Tuesday night.

On Friday night I wanted to watch TV, but there wasn't really anything on.  I had a look at Amazon Prime Instant Video. We have access to it through the TV, but hardly every bother.  I wouldn't have bought a separate subscription, but it was added to my  Amazon Prime membership.    I started to watch Alpha House. It was gentle, and mildly amusing - not laugh out loud funny, but an OK way to while away half an hour.    I watched the second episode. And the third.  And I carried on.

By midnight, I was far too tired to carry on, but I only had 3 episodes left of season 1.   I watched them. All of them.

On Saturday morning, I had trouble getting out of bed.   I was soooo tired all morning.   I perked up a bit after some lunch, but then I had my cranky pants on.   Just like a child!

My brother stopped by, so he could try out the machine he had just bought from me (more on that in a later post),  and that helped stop me being so grumpy.

I decided to have an early night.

Instead, I watched the whole of season 2 of Alpha House.  Fortunately I started earlier, so I was done by 11.30pm.

It's not really the sort of thing I would go for normally, so I'm not sure why I liked it.  I think it was probably because it was gentle, a little satirical...and unexpected.

Probably a good job there isn't a season 3 yet, otherwise I'd have spent my Sunday watching that!

Birthday Oscars

DH's birthday bash went really well.     Everyone, everyone, enjoyed the archery;  even those I had thought really really  wouldn't.   Some got a bit competitive.   Several talked seriously about wanting to take it up, although I suspect few will.   The children were well behaved,  the sports hall gave the youngsters room to charge round and burn off energy.

Sincere thanks to Angela and Russell of R&A Activities (aka ArcheryFun4u), who were SUPERB.  I would definitely recommend this as a group activity.    Our group ranged from 6 to 78ish, plus 2x3 year olds who were allowed a go, so they didn't feel left out,  under very careful supervision.  http://archeryfun4u.co.uk/index.html

All the taxis arrived on time and got us smoothly to and from various places. Big thank you to Fountain Cars who were great, right from my first enquiry.

Dinner at The George in Wraysbury was EXCELLENT.   The room was a lovely shape, square-ish rather tha long and thin. We'd pre-ordered the food,  and it all worked like a dream. Tania and her team were fantastic, both in the weeks leading up to it (as I popped along to measure this,  try out that,  emails about this and that),  and the service was happy and efficient.  The servers were also really great with the kids.   http://www.thegeorgewraysbury.co.uk/  Sadly I didn't take any pictures during the evening!

 The artwork (graffiti sprayed words saying "60th" and "Happy" and "Birthday" were fab.  The "Happy" and "Birthday" are enormous, each word s about 8 feet long.  It's currently in my hallway while I work out what to do with it next.  It was done by Arron https://www.facebook.com/plaqaza  He also does amazine chalk artwork https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chalkboard-Art-Azucit/110651505680851

The table-covers and bunting looked great,  even the carpiest one didn't look bad.  The nameplates with the chosen menu items worked really well.     I can't thank Louise enough for her time and help getting it all set up.

Very happy with it all.  So glad it went well.

Today's the Day

I got up this morning and I ached.

I don't know if it's stress, or because I'd realised yesterday that I'd done everything I could and that if I hadn't done something (like a cake) it didn't matter.

Or because of the faffing about with the table runner.

Whatever the cause, I was in trouble.

I tried exercises, I ued my massager,  I used my back frame.

And then I drove off to collect my friend Louise (and, as it turned out, her daughter Sasa) to go and get the room ready.

By an incredible stroke of good fortune, the people who had the room booked before us cancelled their booking,  so I was able to go along with Lou to set up,  Thank goodness I did.   There was so much to do!

Despite taking a step ladder, neither of us could reach to hang up the bunting.  We dragged in a taller member of staff to do it, and he was fantastically patient with us.

The venue had done a perfect job of laying out the tables and the cloths and the runner, exactly to my specification.

Of course we had to move things around a bit.

It took an hour and a half to set up.

Sasa, aged 5, set up the childrens activity table for us, and did a brilliant job. She also helped by checking that things were centred and giving us her input on positioning of bunting.

Even the crappiest table cover looked OK, I was very relieved.

We stopped for a much needed drink, and then I came home to change.

Hope it all stays up!

Ironing out

Last night then, I looked online for irons.

I remembered seeing a cordless iron recently, and that seemed like a good idea. 

The cordless ones were less than half the cost of the steam generator irons. It's not as if we are suddenly going to start ironing clothes,  and a cordless iron would be much easier to use for the stuff I was making.

I was too late to order one and get it delivered next day,  but I could see they were available locally  in Lakeland.

I went out first thing, to try and get one.

As I drove to town, I  had a flashback of me seeing a cordless iron.  I couldn't remember where that would have been.   I don't remember looking at irons since...well, since that day at the Ideal Home Show.   What on earth made me even think of a cordless iron?

And then I realised.   I must have seen in when I was in Lakeland last week. But the only area of Lakeland I went to was...... oh my goodness!  There must have been one upstairs, in the "bargains" area!

And do you know what?   It was still there!  Half price!  How lucky was that?

I've used it already, and it was perfect for this.  Not sure it would be that comfortable to do a whole pile of ironing with,  but perfect for using with sewing stuff.

So, a good ending overall.

Iron Fist

Bother!

Where to start? 

DH has a special birthday this year, and we are having a big family activity and dinner to celebrate.   DH knows about the dinner and the activity,  and he knows that I have been making bunting to decorate the room (it's hard to hide the fact that you are sewing metres and metres of bunting, especially when it's being done in the kitchen), but he doesn't know about the other decorations I am undertaking.

Making the other decorations has invoved an inordinate amount of ironing.     We own a humungous steam generator iron,  top of the range, bought for an extortionate sum of money from the Ideal Home exhibition about 10 years ago.      It's first airing was with the bunting making,  during which time I manage to singe and ruin the ironing board cover on the equally unused ironing board.

Anyway.   I'm making 4 tablecloths and a table runner,  each covered in photos. I had printed the photos on to tee-shirt transfer paper, and then ironed them on to the tablecloth.   The first one is easy.  It gets harder as more are added.  Each table cloth has taken 2.5 to 3 hours of ironing time,  not counting the cutting of the cloth, selecting and printing the photos etc. 

The transfer paper requires extrmely high heat, and a lot of pressing.   I had to abandon the ironing board and use the breakfast bar.  To protect the breakfast bar I mada Princess-and-the-Pea type affair with a towel,  a large piece of wood, a towel, a flattened cardboard box, a wooden chopping board (which I also ruined in the process), a towel, and a new tabletop ironing cover thing.

I've spent bloody hours of my life doing this.

And it's all on disposable "Duni" luxury banqueting roll.   If I had realised when I started just how much effort it was all going to take, I would have invested in (or made) proper washable tablecloths.

I've also used a whole tube of hot iron cleaner - not all at once - as I've had to clean the plate a lot. 

Yesterday, I was adding an embroidery patch to the table runner that I had made for the main table.  The runner is 3m x 1.5m (although the photos only cover about 1m of the 1.5 metre width).   I was adding a final flourish,  a piece of fabric I had embroidered.  I could see that trying to sew this on, even with some stabliliser, was asking for trouble so I decided to use some spray fusible stuff. You spray, place the item,  cover it with cotton, and then iron it with a really hot iron.    I used the ironing board for this.   

The damn stuff didn't fuse, but it did leave a mark on my embroidery, it sort of soaked through.

I decided I'd have to sew it.  I moved the sewing machine to the breakfast bar, threaded it up with some suitably colured thread,  and tried to work out how to do it.  In the end I had to roll the table runner up,  and put a stool either side to try and support the length.   It was a pain in the bottom, and I ended up with a very wrinkled middle where it sagged; and the end where I was sewing looked a but worse for wear.

I decided I'd have to try and iron bits of it,  although I know from experience that I have to avoid ironing the photos, even if I cover them with silicon paper first. 

I dropped the iron. Or rather, I didn't put it properly on the base, and it fell off.

Luckily, I didn't burn me, or the cats, and I manged to pick it up before it singed the floor. 

I looked at it, and thought I might be able to put it back together.... but I remembered from somewhere that irons are like crash helmets and riding hats:  if you drop one, you shouldn't use it. 

More haste, less speed.

Time is running out.

Piggin' forgetful

It's only been six months since our last half pig,  and we just couldn't remember what to do. Hopeless!

Fortunately I had printed out my previous notes, so we could try and work it out.  It was a little more complicated because

1. this porker is huge, ideal for bacon and roasting joints.
2. We don't want bacon or large roasting joints this time
3. We wanted to separate out the shoulder meat to use in making luncheon meat, pork pie, and Nuremberg sausages.

Here's what we did. From what I can remember, while I remember.

DH started on the back leg, cutting out a piece for ham.

While he did that, I took the fat off the loin, and I took out the tenderloin.  Then I started taking the fat off the belly. 

I took the rest of the back leg from DH and started breaking it down into lean dice, lean mince,  meat for sausages, and fat for rendering into lard.  I used to hate lard, home made lard is amazing.

DH worked on the belly, taking out the ribs, and cutting  some pork belly joints for roasting.  I then took the rest of the belly for processing.

DH worked on the shoulder,  cutting a hand of pork for roasting, and then the rest of the shoulder.  I used separate bowls to produce lean shoulder dice, and lean shoulder for mincing.

DH worked on the loin, cutting half a dozen enormous loin chops. (I can't stand pork chops personally. Can't stand the smell of them cooking, or the texture of them when cooked.) . I then took the rest of the loin and cut it into the usual lean dice, lean mince, sausage meat.

When all four primary cuts were finished, we started prepping for the freezer. The three belly joints and the and were scored, then bagged, sealed and put in the freezer.   The shoulder was weighed into portions - 1kg for luncheon meat, 1kg for Nuremberg,  whatever was required for pork pie.   Any leftovers were added into the other bowls.

The lean dice was bagged in 250g portions,  I had about 10 of those.

I made 4 large jars of lard.

DH tunnel boned the leg, ready to make a ham.     All the bones and the trotters went to make trotter stock (for the luncheon meat and the pork pie).

All the allocated stuff went into the fridge overnight, for prepping today.

Today we minced the mince, and put it in the freezer.  The meat for sausages was minced, and the seasoning and rusk added, it's in the fridge chilling before we stuff sausages. . The shoulder for the luncheon meat was minced.  The meat for the Nuremberger was minced, and the seasoning added; it's in the fridge chilling.

Freezer space is at a premium, so I need to do some vacuum sealing.....

Cheesed off

On Saturday, before real life interrupted,  DH and I attended a cheese making course, run by Louise Barton of Cutting the Curd.

DH already makes soft cheese, but the results are variable - usually good, rarely repeatable.  I saw this course advertised and decided to sign up for it.  DH was,understandably, less keen. However, the cheeses being made were ones he hadn't made before so he decided to go.

Halloumi,  Mozzarella and Marscapone, (and butter making).   We'll definitely be making them again. Well, we'll definitely be making the Mozzarella and Marscapone again.  The Halloumi,  known as "squeaky cheese", was better than shop bought but was still too squeaky for my liking.

Louise travels the country teaching people how to make cheese.  She might have a class near you?
Here's Louise's website http://cuttingthecurd.co.uk/

Interim

So these are the photos from between Thursday and Saturday

Two layers of cabin, wuth insulation in between

 Roof partially on

Hiatus

The summerhouse was going well. The weather was dry and perfect, and DH was getting on fantastically.

Then we had a family disaster. Not here, luckily for us, but at my in-laws.   DH had to drop everything and rush to Wales to help.

He came back on Friday.  Saturday he was pyrotechnicking at a local fireworks display,   and yesterday was spent  trying to do things which could be done in the rain.

Hopefully normal service will be resumed soon.

i do have some interim pics, and I'll post those shortly.