Friday 25 October 2013

Mull

We managed to get a very long awaited and overdue couple of days away this week.

The boyfriend had a week between jobs and I figured no time is good to take time off so I might as well grab the opportunity when I could.  We got a good spa deal break on 5pm for a 2 night stay on the Isle of Mull.  It was a pretty decent deal, tho I did have huge concerns before we got there as the hotel staff were just so rude to me on the phone!  Sometimes with these deals you get treated like second class citizens, so I rang the central group and spoke to them about it and everything was fine when we got there.  It annoys me slightly as I used to manage front of house for hilton amongst others - years ago - so I know how things should be and when they're not like that, I'm not too happy.  And at the end of the day a hotel only ever has a deal on because they need the business!  

The hotel was a bit dated.  It was like stepping back maybe 15 years, but as I say it was nice enough.  Anyway we went for the peace and quiet and the relaxation and opportunity to spend time together.

Mull is beautiful - much like any part of the highlands and islands really.  We did tonnes of exploring and walking with the dog.  She LOVED it.  The beach is her new favourite place to be.

Here we are at the bottom of the island.  That's Iona in the background.


We came across some magnificent views.  I just love the peace and quiet.



We did some off roading and did a long walk through the woods.....


Which turned into a coastal route and lead out to some cavesWhich was pretty cool

We kept going and around the next corner was a really cool waterfall!  Behind Pippa in this picture.  Note how mucky she is!

On the last day we found this lovely beach at the top of the island.  We had the whole place to ourselves.  I love the cut cottages here - just like the house I grew up in.... I'd love to wake up to this view every morning.  Pippa loves running in the sand - look at her wee happy face!


To be honest we were pretty happy there too




And of course when on Mull you have to pose for the obligatory 'Tobermorey/Balamory' shot.



Feels like weeks ago already!!!

Oh Deer!

I went through my fabric stash the other night there and don't you just love it when you find fabric you forgot you had!  It's like finding a tenner in a coat you've not worn for a while... but better if I'm honest!

I found this gorgeous momo 'oh deer!' charm pack that I had and some plain moda fabrics.... so I thought I'd do something quick n easy.  So I picked out the pink/blue/purple tones (i've saved the oranges/greens/yellows for another project) and laid them all out until I found a pattern I liked.


Then I sewed them up into a 4 patch square


Using a 1/4 inch seam of course!


So my idea was to have two patterned against 2 plain....

Then I had a jelly roll left over from my last quilt top...so figured I could do a quick and easy lattice border!

I just love the deer print!  So into stags right now.  So once I'd sewn all the above pieces together in rows... it's a good idea to square your squares up before sewing them together!
The next step is to join your vertical rows together and to do this you need to make sure you line up your squares.... I mark the edges of the lattice then pin, pin, pin so that it stays in place through the machine.



Then voila!  A quick n easy quilt project!


What do you think?

I wanted to then turn it into a lap quilt... so I ordered another oh deer pack... as I didn't have enough of these tones left in the charm pack.  I'm hoping to finish it off tomorrow and have a quilting Saturday.

I have the quilt for my Mam to finish for Christmas... the christmas table runners and also another top secret project I'm working on!  My wadding arrived tonight.  I'd like to get these done this year so I can actually wrap them and have them under the tree!!



Monday 14 October 2013

Foodie Stuff

we've been busy in the kitchen of late too.

I made my strawberry and cream cake for the mcmillan coffee morning.  I just love this.  A simple vanilla cake with fresh strawberries and cream. What could be better?




I made fish and chips for tea on Friday night!  So yummy.  Fresh cod, with some flour, spiced up with fresh chilli.... shallow fried, served up with home made oven chips!  mmmmm.  Heaven.  Probably one of my favourite dinners.

We made homemade pizzas for tea on Saturday night.  Here's the boyfriend with his man size pizza!


I love just simple mozzarella, tomato and basil on mine.



And for pure indugence... some chocolate brownies with salted caramel sauce!  yum yum yum!!!



Walks

We have been some pretty super walks over the last few weeks.

I just love the autumn sunshine.  The colours, the sun.  I really do love this time of year.


























We went for a walk in the woods on Sunday.  Check out these mushrooms.  They were in a bed of clovers - we looked for a 4 leafer but didn't find one.  When I see sites like this I'm convinced fairies live on the forrest bed.




And when I see things like THIS.... I know they do!  Look at this - it's like it came right out of a fairy book


























There's still some berries on the branch to be picked!




And to finish off here's an absolute stunner of the dog at Loch Lomond!  This needs to go in a frame!



What's on the Sewing Machine

The sewing machine has been busy recently. 

I've finished the top for the pinwheel quilt I was making.  I was pretty unhappy with it halfway through, but then it came together OK in the end and I'm pretty happy with the way it's turned out.  I figure I'm going to give it to my Mam for Christmas.  I have to quilt it yet but the top's done and that always feels like an achievement.

I've also been finishing off some christmas pinwheel table runners that I started last year!  I'm pretty happy with how these turned out too.  Festive, no?  Again, still to quilt them.



This Santa fabric is super cute!  I think I'd like some cuter designs, but I had the fabric lying around so I figured I'd go use it.



So now I have a bunch of other pretty fabric, mostly charm squares or fat quarters so I need to decide what to make next.  There's one in the layer cake, jelly roll and charm quilts book that I like but I need a triangle ruler - just waiting for it to arrive!

Course Update


It's been a really busy few weeks in my life so sorry for the lack of posting.
I started the patisserie course and it's going really well and is really fun!  So far we made marmalade pudding..  I am not really a fan of steamed puddings but this one was pretty de-lish!

Then we had a go at the eclairs.  These are pictured without the chocolate and the cream!  They vanished so quick after I made them I didn't have a chance to take proper pictures.  They were the yummiest thing we've made so far.



We also made a savoury tart.  Mine didn't turn out so well.  I don't really like creamy savoury things so this was a bit rich for me.  I'd make some adjustments next time.



The following week we made a marbled chocolate tart.  Again, I wasn't super impressed with mine.  I used tesco finest chocolate and I'd probably upgrade to green & blacks or similar the next time.
The sweet pastry was really yummy tho!



And it certainly went down well with a cup of tea and some cream for dinner the following night...