Crochet cactus

It's been a busy week. I passed the exam I was sitting at the weekend Phew ! Thanks for the Good Luck wishes. On Monday I started a new job. I'm really enjoying it and the extra responsibility but I think first weeks are always tiring. So much new admin to learn etc. Working as a Team Midwife has been a goal since training and sometimes it's hard to believe that I'm actually here doing it !


Because of the exam and the new job the crafting has been a little sparse but I have managed to fit in a few little projects. I'm mostly crocheting at the moment as it is easier to fit in around other stuff. It also "grows" quickly if you know what I mean. Usually I can complete a little crochet project in a short period of time. I've just finished this -




The pattern for the cactus and pot are available here at Nadia's Flickr. She has posted a fabulous picture tutorial and pattern. I'm not the best at crochet but I found it easy to follow and the pictures helped a lot. The kids thought it was hilarious. I'm thinking of putting it on our office window as we never have time to look after real plants. I also managed to crochet some new cotton wash cloths.

I thought some bright colours were called for after receiving my order of 3 balls of "Fiesta" by Peaches and Cream. Cotton yarn is difficult to find here and expensive even when you can find it, so I usually order from ebay. The star in Fiesta is made using this lovely free pattern from Janelle Schlossman. There are some other great patterns on her site.


The flower cloth with the yellow centre is from this free pattern at Marlo's Crochet corner.
The flower cloth with the orange centre is a mistake ! (remember when I said I could sometimes be easily distracted), well I did a little to many stitches on the last few rows. I kind of like how it turned out though.



The garden is looking rather bare already but we still have some carrots left to harvest and boy are they sweet and delicious. There really is no comparison between the fresh from your garden kind and shop bought. I'm planning to make carrot and coriander soup tomorrow for lunch.

Beans ?

I posted last month about how the wet and humid weather had been good for the Beans that we had planted. OOPS!

The beans actually turned out to be Peas !!

I was beginning to wonder as the pods formed that perhaps they wouldn't be the biggest of broad beans. The colour also seemed to be too " Pea green "shall we say.

A taster last week revealed my suspicions. Yep ! They are definitely peas.

Oh well I suppose life is full of surprises. I'm not sure what happened. I must admit to being easily distracted at times and I was very busy the week of planting. Perhaps we planted different seeds than we thought! Anyway, nice surprise and delicious.

We also harvested the last of our spring onions this week. Otherwise known as "scallions" here and one of the main ingredients for a traditional Irish potato dish called "Champ." So guess what we had for tea last night ?

The recipe can be found here. I was attempting to write the recipe myself and then realised that I don't use one. Instructions like a colander of potatoes and chunk of butter may not be that useful for anyone making Champ for the first time. So I played it safe with the recipe on the link.


This dish is warming, filling and tasty, perfect for when the weather starts to turn colder and best of all ,virtually no culinary skill required.


I'm off to finish some revision as I have an important course and exam this weekend in Fermanagh.


Wish me Luck !

Grandpa's railway

Recently we had a mini holiday to the seaside at Llandudno with Granny and Grandpa. The highlight of the weekend were Grandpa's trains.

This amazing garden railway has been made totally by Grandpa !
Including the signal box and suspension bridge.

Grandpa spent time training his new apprentice controller in the signal box.

The weather was good so we were able to be out about. While Grandpa went to teach sailing we went to a Country Fair were we saw sheepdogs herding geese, birds of prey and dog agility demonstrations. I loved watching the skill of the chainsaw sculpture.

I can't believe we fitted so much into one weekend. Even after the tabogan run on the Great Orme there was still time for swimming , shopping and lots of crocheting with Granny in the evening. A lovely way to end the Summer holidays before the return to School and work.

Pinky toasting marshmallows

The weather was nice enough last night for us to spend the evening in the garden. M had been at circus school all day and has the new nick name of "Pinky". I think it suits her. We decided to go with the hair bun inspiration of the last post, but with a little pinch of pink.

Nothing like a relaxing swing in the hammock after a feast of toasted marshmallows.

Woodland living

Last week I took the children to see The Fox and The Child. What a treat it turned out to be. The kids loved the combination of story telling and wildlife documentary. Perfect for a little boy who loves to find out facts and information but still hasn't lost the childhood enjoyment of a good story. It was a mix between reality and fairytale. The film opened up a world were children can be free to have true adventures and the freedom to explore nature. A rare luxury compared with today's cautious and the risk assessed life of the regular city kid.

Although some reviewers haven't been that enthusiastic about this film, criticizing the dubbing and Kate Winslet's narration. I found the over all composition of the story beautiful . The scenery spectacular, the cinematography just perfect. Were some have described the film as twee I felt it was delightful, nostalgic and refreshing. It is rare that a visit to the cinema leaves my children wanting to find out more about the subject of the film . We certainly found it a welcome change from the usual animated and over hyped riot of images that are assumed to be the appropriate for children and their families. You can see an interview with the director and creator Luc Jaquet here.

The actress playing the child is Bertille Noel Bruneau ,

Isn't she pretty ? I love this still from the film. It illustrates the natural colour palette that is used throughout the film. Her hair style reminded me of something and at first I thought it was Princess Leia but then I remembered these.

From Hilary Lang of Wee Wonderfuls. Hilary posted the dolls on the left sometime ago and felt that they were not quite right. I personally love the hair on these dolls. Her creations are always so cute and her creativity seems unending. I've been a fan of Hilary's work some time and am feeling inspired by her to try my hand at some doll making. So far I have only attempted to make her Elf Stitchettes. I was delighted with the free pattern and the results.

Thinking ahead to Christmas I think I might try to make a few dolls myself, using the bun hair as inspiration.

My Autumn copy of Marie Claire Idees arrived at the beginning of this week and to my surprise continued on the theme of nature and had a similar colour palette to the film.

Clouds, Rain and Trees

I thought it was about time that I stopped complaining about the amount of rain we have been having this Summer and decided to celebrate it.

So I bought this necklace -

Made by the talented Jen of Fable Handmade goods on Etsy. Its called April Showers but I've renamed it Irish Summer 2008 ! Thanks Jen, its even more delightful than I thought it would be.

Jen's blog The Fabled Needle is so pretty. Her crochet patterns are delicate and have a antique feel to them. I have already ordered her pattern for The Mighty Oak Scarflette.

I have a passion for Acorns and couldn't resist this when I saw it. I have the yarn gathered and my crochet hook at the ready. Hopefully will have it finished in time for Autumn.

Whilst on the topic of weather and trees check out our new Weather Tree.

My pal and sister-in-law Gentlytiptoe and I saw this poster 5 years ago in a National Trust shop. But at the time they were out of stock. I remembered that they were designed by Dorothy Thelwall . Occasionally over the last while I have been looking out for one and I suppose with the weather being on my mind I found them for sale here. I was so excited I ordered 3 to send to my nieces and nephews.

The idea is that you choose a colour for each type of weather and colour one leaf a day to represent the weather. Each branch of the tree represents one month. The kids and I decided on our colours today and coloured in our first leaf !

A Special Day

Yesterday was a Special day in our house. My birthday started with breakfast in bed made by O. Another surprise was that Duke Special was appearing on Sesame Tree !

Sesame tree is a project developed to encourage respect,understanding and reconciliation in Northern Ireland and is partly funded by The American Fund for Ireland and The Northern Ireland Fund for Reconciliation. It is our very own version of Sesame street and can be seen on BBC 2 at 07.45 am or viewed here.

My Kids and I enjoy both so it made for a nice start to the day. Here's a little taster of Duke Special live.

If that leaves you craving some more Duke Special tunes, his album "Songs from the Deep Forest" is highly recommended and is available here.

Thought I'd also add a link to the wonderfully talented Paul a friend and colleague of Dave and the puppeteer for Potto the purple fluffy monster. Paul can be found at Sirkus on foot.

After a great start to the day we had the treat of seeing our little budding ballerina M in the 27th Northern Ireland Ballet School performance.

The day finished well with homemade veggie chilli men using Wagamama sauce. We have'nt got a Wagamama restrant in N.Ireland but home made is the next best thing. Friends and family sent lots of lovely presents and cards. More about the those later as I think there is a small break in the clouds and posssibly a glimse of some Sun !!!
Oh ! forgot to say about the cupcakes, Chocolate with peanut butter chips (own recipe) and magnolia bakery chocolate buttercream topping from this book.