Glass painted cards etc

Here are a few of the most recent creations that I've been working on. I do like my glass painting though I find the need for a steady hand when using the relief outliner interesting but I'm mastering it gradually.



I have a few orders for these so will need to decide what "donation" I should be suggesting in return for my work.

Hope you like these. :)

Babies lilac bolero

Another little knitting project complete, this is a little lilac bolero to fit a baby of approx six months old. I love this pattern which I obtained from a magazine and it looks incredibly sweet on, unfortunately no baby is currently available to model this little bolero so have had to improvise to show it off.



I've got another project on the go which I should have completed shortly.

Jumper for the pup

We have a 4 month old whippet named Pip. She is a fair weather doggy who feels the cold. The number of times I've given up my coat/cardigan for the sake of my puppy I've lost count, so I decided it was about time I knitted her her very own jumper.

So here is my latest creation, modelled by Pip the puppy.



The beauty of this is that when she's outgrown it I can either unravel it and use the wool again when making her a bigger one or give her old jumper to an animal shelter to use.

Blessed Samhain

This is just a sort note to say: Blessed Samhain.

The last in the garden series for now *probably*

Well, I think the season is coming to a close for me, I've harvested my carrots now and there is no produce left in the garden other than some mustard plants. I think its a bit late for any more salad stuff, so its time to have a tidy up.

Here are some pics of the weird shaped carrots that I got out of the pots.



As bugs bunny would say "Tha...thats all folks".

Garden update

Well, a little update.



The potatoes, well the dry period seemed to kill off the leaves and as such I worried about the potatoes so much I dug them up. I probably got about 4lbs of potatoes in total for planting 3. So not too bad for my first effort. After reading the instructions again, they were about ready. They are quite nice too. I will do some again next year, will try a different method and see if I get better results.



The tomatoes had a severe attack of aphids and not amount of spending the evening squishing them, squirting them with soapy water seems to help the plants. They have survived but I think its a bit late for them to produce flowers to give me some little tomatoes. Maybe next year.



As for the carrots, they are currently being eaten by slugs. Its seems to have been a fantastic year for our dear slimy garden pest. I keep going out and challenging them with vinegar which they really don't like but there are just too many of them. Will buy some slug beer traps next year.



The lettuce on the other hand was another story, I had tons of its, enough for me and the slugs.

Plum Jam

Well its that time of year when I remove what seems to be 3 ton of plums from the tree. This year my darling hubby has been helping me gather the fruit in whilst dodging those pesky little waspies. I do hate those creatures, they are just a menace. I wish they'd go hang around someone elses garden. Or maybe I should be honoured that my fruit is so attractive? Hmmm I think not.

Anyway, I've slogged my way through making a lot of Plum jam, more jam and a bit more.

I've also been experimenting with fruit leather, which is basically dried fruit puree (a bit like beef jerky only with fruit). After the first batch which took a week to dry and I ended up putting it in the oven for a while to stop it from going mouldy, the second attempt was a bit quicker to dry as I stuck it the oven for a few days. I don't think I did too bad for my first effort and it did use up some of the glut of plums along with my glut of apples which are rapidly falling from the tree.

I know its a bit early for Apples but they are refusing to stay on the tree for the duration, so they are being picked and cooked, but my priority has been the plums.

I've made a fabulous batch of Plum chutney which will be ready around December, it makes the house smell of boiled vinegar for a few days but the end product (after maturing) is lovely.

I recently came to the conclusion that I was never going to manage to get all the fruit processed. I contacted a friendly farm shop and asked if they would be able to sell some of them before they start going off. So 10kg were bagged up and delivered. I do hope that they will be able to sell them, as I hate to see food going to waste.

Well I now have plenty of preserved food for the coming year and the family may get some of it as pressies. ;-)