Hello Monday.....

.....please be kind to me.

(Love this 70's cup commemorating the Silver Jubilee. Royal retro chic for a Monday morning)

Coconut mini cakes

Coconut cakes (aka power food for learning to ride a bicycle without stabilisers) 

Saturday fun

Over the winter and early spring the kids have done quite a lot of colouring. In fact I think we may have almost exhausted all the types of colouring and sticker books. So whilst looking for something different in the local bookshop this week I came across these great French paper toy making books .

The books have 12 different robots or animals inside and we made 4 in about an hour. The kids seem to really enjoy making them.

Meet Prince Charming and Fiona. An unlikely couple.

Oh and not forgetting essential tractor fun that has to be had on a Saturday too.

Naughty french cakes

The naughty cakes title would lead you to believe a post on calories and temptation is coming up.....well, no, I'm actually going to introduce you to these special Easter cakes made by all the boulangeries at this time of year and are supposed to be to do with fertility. Stuffed with cream and willy shaped they have been the subject of many jokes at my all girl french class but it appears tres francais. In fact, the little old lady in front of me in the boulangerie queue ordered 2 without even a snigger.....love it.

Anyway, back to the knitting. Here's how my blanket is coming. Slow going but the moss stich is beautiful.

Conker coloured egg

We went to Spain to visit the Cider Houses at the weekend. It was wonderful.

 Back at home one of the Maran chickens has started laying and we have furniture and books in the new sitting room. Joy. Photos to follow shortly.

Ginger Love

We love these Stem Ginger Star Cakes. They seem to vanish as soon as they come out of the oven.

My parents are staying for the week as it was my birthday on Monday. Mum (who is a potter) has had her wheel out to teach the girls how to throw a pot. They have loved it and are desperate to do it again at the weekend. I think we may have a new potter in the family......

30

Yesterday was my 30th birthday. We celebrated with champagne and a strawberry cake. 

(Turns out 30 isn't so bad afterall.)

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful Mum. 

Everyone knows family is a lottery but I won the jackpot with my Mum.

She's simply the best.

Kindling and a bit of bedtime reading

Its lovely and sunny here in the Charente Maritime today and a balmy 18c. My parents are here to stay for the week so my mother took the children for a walk down the old driveway to collect kindling. A whole wheel barrow was collected so I used some rags to tie them into handy bundles ready to chuck into the woodburners.

On another note a rather nice parcel of books that I won on eBay arrived. I was looking for books on Soap Making when I came across these for just over £1 each. The beekeeping book will be a useful refresher as my new hive of bees arrive in May and you can never have enough books on growing and preserving!

Muesli Cereal Bars

The kids love these cereal bars and the great news is they are really easy to make (and healthy too!) 

Empty a packet of muesli into a bowl. The secret is choose a nice one with not too much sugar - we have a locally made organic one here in France but to give you an example Dorset Cereals are a good choice. Anyway, empty into the bowl. Melt 200g of butter in a pan and combine. Spoon out into flattened cupcake cases and leave to cool in the fridge. Tie with a little piece of raffia to hold it all together. Beautiful and delicious. Yum! Happy Wednesday.

Hyacinths & Crocuses

I'm really rather chuffed with the lovely bowl of hyacinths and crocuses I've grown. 

You may remember I picked up the enamel bowl at a brocante in Cognac at the end of last year and knew straight away this was what I wanted to do with it. I was however slightly unsure whether the colour combination would work as the bulbs were in the bargain bucket at the garden centre but luckily its coordinating rather well with my cushion. Love it when a plan comes together.....

Mini Strawberry Pin Cushions

I appear to have grown a small strawberry patch on my work table this week.

 Not only do they look great but it also solves one of my making problems. 

I'm forever trying to find somewhere to put the odd pin whilst making (in my mouth, stuck in my jumper....) because with space limited on my table my big pin cushion lives on the shelf. Now that I've made these mini pin cushions I can attach them to my scissors and then I always have somewhere to put my pins for a moment or two.  

Good idea, huh?

That was February.......

Thanks February. We had fun. 

Hurrah! for March though. Lets get spring started. 

(Plus I have a certain birthday looming.......the big 3-0)