Frogging and Heaven in Muffin Form

Welcome to Saturday at the TB house. How's your week been?I have had a positive week. Mr TB and I have been sticking to our New Year Resoloution of spending more quality time together when the chance comes along and I am already feeling much more positive about life because of it. It has helped because he hasn't been away so much this week.

Now for the wooly bit!

Do you remember the beautiful yarn I got in my Ravelry swap?

It's so beautiful and I was impatient and had to make something immediately with it, so I tried a scarf ...................................

However I ran out of yarn and it has been sat in my WIP bag ever since. So I frogged it this week and decided to rework it and make another Queen Anne Scarf with it

And I am sooooo happy with it!!!!! I love the colour change through the motifs and it will go with anything now.

I have been on the socks again!

 

They are coming on a treat but I am now at a grinding halt!

It's heel time and I haven't got a scooby. I did my last pair cuff down and a short row heel but these are toe up and I need to do a heel flap which I have never done before and can't work it out. I have told you before I am a bear of very little brain. I have looked at patterns online but they confuse me with some kind of code that I am not privy to.

Put the left flange over the right dubryferkin and wiggle the waggle til it decreases the subplumb sort of thing! Crochet Club on Wednesday can't come quick enough, to speak to Lucy the wonder brain that owns the LYS. She has far too much wooly knowlege than is good for one person who is also a lovely lady. I bet when she shows me it will all fall into place and not be such a big deal but the frustration until I can get on with then is shocking. I keep leaving them at night with the instructions I downloaded in the hope the teach themselves how it works over. Maybe I liked The Elves and The Shoemaker story a little too much as a child ;o) ??

My other major discovery of the week was bananas in the bottom of the fruit bowl that the kids were avoiding as if they were poisonous! I hate waste and can't stand to throw out perfectly good food. I went to the Nigella Lawson website and searched banana and found

 happiness in muffin form!

Banana Muffins.

• 3 very ripe bananas
• 125ml vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 250g flour
• 100g caster sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 150g butterscotch (or chocolate) morsels

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6 and line a 12-bun muffin tin with muffin papers.
2. Mash the bananas and set aside for a moment.
3. Pour the oil into a jug and beat in the eggs.
4. Put the flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder into a large bowl and mix in the beaten-egg-and-oil mixture, followed by the mashed bananas.
5. Fold in the butterscotch morsels, then place equal quantities in the prepared muffin tin - I use an ice cream scoop and a spatula - and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

This recipe is lovely but I am not in the habit of having butterscotch to hand so I went for white chocolate cut in to chunks and they were DELISH! Oh and if you sprinkle a little demerara sugar on the top before you pop them in the oven they have a gorgeous caramel crispy top.

I will never throw away old bananas again!
I am so going to make these to take to Crochet Club on Wednesday. It's my Birthday next Friday and one of the other lovely ladies Birthday soon after so we deserve a treat me thinks.

Have a great week all of you!Hope the sun shines on you all. Bye for now. xxxxxxxxx

The Morning After The Night Before!

::Happy Saturday friends in blogland. ::

Wow 15th January already! This month is charging by which means it will soon be mine and smallest littlies birthdays. I will run the gauntlet later today and ask him what kind of birthday cake he wants. The last time I did that I had been out to buy Mario figures for his cake then he said "I want one shaped like a whale, with air coming out the blow hole and a diver swimming beside him. Oh and can it be an Orca and not a flat one!"

That'll teach me to ask. But I did make a 3d Orca and he was really pleased and I sounded like I had tourrettes syndrome!! I so hope it's something easier this year. At least this year I can put eggs in the cake mix . Middle littlie had a big day on Tuesday and went to the hospital to be food challenged for cake and if she passed that the challenge would move on to egg. She has many food allergies and carries Epi-pens where ever she goes so anything that can be added to her diet is a bonus. So after a successful cake challenge (YAY!!!!) they moved on to egg. She had a smallest ammount put on her lips (it was egg powder mixed in yoghurt) but her tongue and throat began to swell so the test had to be stopped. It's fantastic that she can have a cakes though so I must'nt grummble!

So what else have I been up to? Well Mr TB and I went out last night!

 I know, I know, I know It's 15th Jan and we've had a night out already. That'll be half our annual quota gone then ;o) My friend who has the glass studio invited us and some other friends for dinner.

 Which sent me into the " OMG What will I wear!" trauma. We have no shops nearby and I am on a typical January budget. I happened to pass the charity shop when I was on my way home from work and I popped in. Look what I got!!!

A gorgeous vintagey 1940's esq tea dress! So me and in my size and for the bargain price of £3.50. Oh what a happy TB I was. It is the perfect thing to go with my vintage shoes. Do you remember THE shoes from way back in my post

 Problem Solved 

With seemed stockings, red lipstick and black eyeliner I felt fab. I haven't felt like that in a long time.

We had such a lovely evening. Good conversation, great food and LOTS of wine. My head is a little fuzzy this morning but I don't mind. It was worth it!

As for all things yarny the TB hook has been very busy this week. It was fantastic to get back to crochet club this week and see the lovely ladies there. It got me back in the mood to make make make make.

    Making these ..................

How cute are these???????

They are for the twins that I made the prem baby hats so long ago for.

I got the pattern from Ravelry and this is the link to it Owl earflap beanie. I hope they like them. They were so much quicker to make than I expected. Nothing more satisfying than starting and finishing a project on the same evening.

There has been a bit of a baby boom over the last six weeks and they are all girls! So I made these fantastic little hats ..........

I used this pattern from Dainty Daisy I challenge you not to go "aaaahhhhhh!"

at the most gorgeous baby you have ever seen when you look at the photo that goes with the pattern. They are soooo quick and easy to make.

I have also been working on the socks. Remember THE socks? I never got round to finishing them so now all the present making is out the way it's time to be selfish and knit and crochet somethings just for ME!!!!  I started a hat for me but I ran out of yarn with 4 rows to go. Grrrrrrrrr. So I am off to my LYS today to pick up some more and I will pop it on next weeks post.

Have a great weekend you lovely people. xxxxx

Lazy Bones!

Hello my friends out there in blogland! How has the first week of January been treating you? I hope you feel all renewed, refreshed and positive about the year ahead.

Well it's Saturday and I intend to be a lazy bones today!

I know the jam says Wednesday and it's Saturday but hey is there a wrong day to eat Blackcurrant and Sloe Gin Jam?

I am sat here in my p.j.'s drinking tea while biggest littlie is out riding and the two other littlies are watching t.v. in the other room. I will have to get dressed at some point because I have to pick up smallest littlies birthday pressies today which are waiting for me in Stroud. Conveniently not far from my LYS!!!! What a coincidence! (NOT)

I have been a very busy Mrs TB this week. Mr TB has been away all week and the littlies are back to school. They soooooo needed the routine back (so did I)! Although I did try to send Biggest littlie back a bit prematurely. Ooops! The smaller littlies went back Tuesday so I just assumed (incorrectly) that the secondary school would be the same. Thank goodness we checked her homework diary on Monday because she went to school on Wednesday.

I have had my hook working overtime this week to finish off Christmas pressies that I should have done before Christmas but life was a bit overwhelming and thank goodness I have such amazingly understanding friends. So what have I been making????? Take a look.........

The lovely Sara over at Tangled Happy Blog posted a link (link posted below)



I am soooo in love with this I will have to make some for myself!



The pattern and tutorial can be found Carina's Craft Blog for the Granny Triangles and I believe she does a bunting one too which I didn't read. If you haven't visited

 Tangled Happy's Blog I would urge you to she has links to fantastic patterns especially for making gifts.

Then I turned my hook to this...............

How sweet are these????? I used the pattern from

The Royal Sisters Grandma Hearts and also the The Royal Sisters Grandma Twinkle

I am going to string them together to make bunting but I haven't decided what to join then with. I think I may try to get some pom-poms ala Clever Lucy at Attic 24

 I am not sure about blogging etiquette so I haven't posted a photo of her lovely snowflake and pom-pom garland. I wouldn't want to do the wrong thing.

So last night my TB tootsies were cold! So I tucked them under a blanket and started these ........

The pattern for these was another Post of a link from Sara Tangled Happy. The pattern itself comes from Goodknits but I had to change yarn several times and hooks and they were still coming out MASSIVE!  I know I have a size 3 feet but seriously I think even Mr TB would have looked like he was wearing clown shoes if he was wearing them. I tried for the fourth time with Stylecraft Aran on a 5mm but I stopped at round 12

 (which is photographed on the pattern as the halfway point???!!!) and they fit perfectly. They do look VERY odd when they aren't on my feet though. It is a really enjoyable make and works up so very quickly. I will have another go today and try and tweek the pattern to suit myself but a I would love to hear from anyone who has made them how they get on, even if it is to reassure myself I am not a tiny footed freak!

So hope you all have a fantastic weekend and a lovely week ahead I may post again today and share any purchases I make at my LYS!

Toodles for now. xxxxxxxx



Hogmany!

::Hello everyone::

I hope Christmas was fantastic for you all! The TB's Christmas was not our usual celebratory afair this year but I will not allow that kind of stuff on my blog!! This is my cheerful happy place :o)

The Littlies had a ball and got pressies they were not expecting and my lovely Mr TB is just the best and a total trooper.

this view was clear when I started taking photos! Where did the kids go????

Well it's the last day of 2010 and it got me thinking about the year that has passed. Unfortunately the main things that came to mind were so negative I just want 2010 to end BUT then I started to try and change my mindset and think of all the positives of 2010 to balance this out!!!!

So 2010 ........................

The year I learned to crochet!!! I taught myself and this is my first project



Crochet has opened an amazing and exciting new chapter in my life. I have met so many fantastic people through it. Which takes me to my next thing.

::Attic 24 :: Lucy's Blog is the first blog I had ever read and it has brought such joy to my life!! Thank you Lucy. I spread the word to my LYS which I found hunting for Lucy colours. This intoduced me to the lovely lovely LYS owner Lucy who cheers me up sooooo much every time I see her, because of that conversation she now stocks the Stylecraft Attic 24colour pack!

Crochet Club! I started going to crochet club at my LYS and it has introduced me to lots of lovely new friends especially Lucy and Issy and gives me 2hours of mind wandering bliss in a very busy life.

::RAVELRY:: Oh the joy the joy Ravelry has brought me. So many amazingly talented people and they are so friendly and helpful. JOY!!! Deep JOY!!!! Sharing all your amazing projects and all those patterns at your finger tips. Like this one

The Fantasy Flower Bag the super talented Morrewen

 (and changed slightly by me!)

 

I taught my friends to crochet. It's been a great experience to share and brought us all even closer together. I feel truly blessed to have them in my life. I hope they know how much they mean to me.

My darling biggest Littlie started secondary school and is doing amazingly well! She has met so many lovely friends and it has brought her out her shell so much.

I started Blogging! It has been such a positive step to write and your comments make it all worth while. Thank you all my followers for continuing to read my blog. I hope it's interesting on some level. I take it that's the case because you continue to follow me.

I have so many reasons to be thankful for the last year it would be A MASSIVE post if I carried on so I will stop there but a HUGE HUGE Thank you to you all! I had no idea there were so many lovely people out there and you really are amazing. So here's to getting to know you all better in

2011.

HAPPY HOGMANY.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!  Nollaig Chridheil agus Bliadhna Mhath Ur!!!!

An lang mae yir lum reek. xxxxxx

Snowy Saturday.

It's Saturday, that means it's new blog post day and not to metion that it is 18th December which is International answer the phone like Buddy The Elf day!!!! So today when the phone rings the person on the other end will hear "Buddy The Elf What's your favourite colour?" It also means if some unsuspecting tele-sales person rings the littlies will fight to answer the phone and I suspect the person making the call won't stay on the line!

I finished work on Thursday for Christmas. Yay! No work until 4 January 2011. Lots of lovely time with my babies. Mr TB and I went out for his works Christmas lunch yesterday to the most beautiful place. It was at one of the stunning luxury hotels his boss owns (it is a bit if a hobby of his. oh to have that kinda money). We had a beautiful meal while the littlies were entertained by my friend N who came up to babysit and I will return the favour next week with her littlie while she goes to work. During that time she made this with them!

It is amazingly beautiful and made out of the humble A4 drawing paper. Increadible! This is the instructions I found when I googled the image. The photo is a little bright because today the TB cottage looks like this..............

and the view from the window

I was going to go to my LYS today and drop off a little pressie for Lucy and the lovely Issy but my lane looked like this at 9.00am..................

While that is ok I can't be bothered to defrost my Landy

And with more snow forecast today it can change very quickly! So I am closing the cottage door ......................

and I am going to wrap pressies, bake, and decorate the house a little more and maybe a bit of sledging with the littlies while we hope Mr TB gets up North safely today and safely home tomorrow.

Stay warm out there and have a lovely weekend from all of us in the cosy TB cottage. xxxxx

Oh and P.S. I have edited previous post Feeling Festive to include photos of the finished living room decs and Biggest Littlies jewellery from her party. x

Feeling Festive. Edited to add more pictures

How are you all? Thank you so very very much for all the lovely comments on my last post. You have no idea how much they helped me through what has turned out to be a particularly horrendous week. In fact I don't ever remember things feeling quite so bad. BUT hey life goes on and(that's not what I want my blog to be about) we have had cause to be cheerful too! Middle Littlie and Smallest Littlie had to go into hospital on Tuesday for food challenges. Smallest Littlie is now been given the all clear to eat nuts!!!! That includes peanuts but strangely not cashews?! Middle Littlie couldn't have hers done unfortunately because her oxygen sats were too low because of her asthma but she got another appointment for January so that's not too bad. 

I had enough of feeling sorry for myself so we went to collect our tree and the Littlies set to work their Christmas magic! It was a little bottom heavy so I did a little redistribution after bedtime and this is the result...........

It always makes you feel more Christmasy once the tree is in situ, doesn't it? My favourite bit maybe more than even the tree is the fireplace

It isn't quite finished yet but I love doing this bit and do it over a few days adding bit and bobs in so it is so full and glowing (well it will be when I get the damn fairylights working!) and excuse the oven tray under the woodburner but we scoffed some chestnuts while we worked and they were gooood!!!
 Myself and the Littlies will go cut the holly and ivy for the banister on the stairs tomorrow after school and I can put up the gorgeous holly berry lights and then decorate the dinning room.

I had only a little bit of time to work on it today as it was Biggest Littlies 12th Birthday. I can't believe she is 12! She is such a lovely young lady. She had a lovely jewellery party with her friends. They made a gorgeous necklace each and a spiral bracelet too which I will edit this post tomorrow and add some photos of the creations.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend and you are all feeling a little festive too and for those of you who don't celebrate Christmas I hope you are not too sick of everyone going on about it yet!

Sending you all happy thoughts for the week ahead. xxxxxxxxx
Ok so as I promised this is what Biggest Littlie made at her party....

 I think they look fantastic! I wish I could do that when I was 12!!!!!!

And at last the living room decs are done! I have stopped tweeking at the fire place and it now looks festive

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! :o)

Santa's Little Elf

Hello everyone. How are you all? Anyone still snowed in? We have been in a tiny pocket of the country that didn't get much snow at all. We got about 2cm but LOTS of ice which has made my journeys to work interesting, traveling sideways down our country lane when you started out pointing forwards!

 I am sorry I haven't written a proper post for a while but I have been a busy girl working an enormous amount of hours producing my new brochure for work and organising our big Christmas events which this year included, visit from Santa, Children's pottery painting day, buffet for 90 people, a Swing Band and so on, but also trying to get some Christmas presents ready for family and friends.

So you lovely people, shall I show you what I have been up to?

I went to my friends studio to do some glass fusing and made some decorations for the Christmas tree.

I love how different they are when they come out of the kiln, all smooth and tactile.

Don't they like boiled sweeties?

I also did some copper foiling to make some more stars for the window............

..................and some mirrored tea-light holders for presents. They twinkle so nicely when you light the candles, it shows the jewel like colours so beautifully.

Candle light and stained glass is an amazing combination.

And so to the softer side of my life.......... I have been crocheting my socks off over the last couple of weeks (I should be knitting those scrummy socks for my niece really, but I needed some instant wooly gratification.) Crochet is sooooo much quicker than knitting. I get such a kick out of making something in an evening rather than it taking weeks. I have mostly been making presents but I have had to make some other bits and bobs for myself too as it has been flippin brass monkeys outside!

A Queen Anne scarf for my Mum using the yarn I bought ages ago. I used this pattern from Ravelry it was written by a very clever guy and is available for free. It took one and half evenings to make and really shows the beauty of the colours in the yarn. I liked it so much I made this one for me ......

It's such a therapeutic pattern to do and is one of the most enjoyable patterns I have every used.

I felt I was neglecting my niece's socks (which made me feel like a bad Auntie) but I wasn't ready to start up on them again, so I made her another Martha Cowl for Christmas. This is another freebie Ravelry pattern that is so quick and easy to do.

 This is the pattern I used for her birthday in this post and according to my sister she has been wearing it ever since. I think she may appreciate a different colour and texture. I wish I had taken a photo of the yarn before I made it. I was very tweedie hence the name Sidar Tweedie!!! Clue is in the title. It has a gorgeous texture and a really cosy feel. The do a really lush blue one

 which I think I may have to treat myself to. I am such a pain when I start making gifts, they really bring out a selfish side I didn't know I had! I just don't want to give things away I want to keep them for me ....... mine I tell you ...... mine ....... mine. I come over all Gollam. My precious! Theives and Bagginses. I may have just taken that a little too far but you get the idea. 

To satisfy the Smeegle side of my personality I made myself a hat last night.

Oh boy oh boy it's cosy! I LOVE IT. It's Stylecraft Aran in Blue Haze which is navy but has a lovely fushia tone to it. Yes you guessed it, it was another Ravelry freebie pattern. I had to alter the pattern slightly by putting in another 3 rows one puff stitch row and one double crochet row and one more decrease row to get the right amount of slouch to the back. The puff stitches are great and give a lovely effect.

 I'll show you in a Wayne's World type extreme close up.......

Aren't the pufftastic???? Sorry about all the shadows in the photos today the light is so wrong for photos indoors.

This afternoon Mr TB is working and the littlies want to play on the Wii so I think I am going to try making a Lacey Infinity Scarf by Beth Attwood this pattern isn't a freebie but it cost $2.00 so hey I call that a bargain! I am making it to match my new hat. I will show you the result in my next post.

Whatever you are all doing I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend. xxxxxx