Day out at Dover Castle

If you're ever in the south east of England I would highly recommend a trip to Dover Castle. We used our Tesco vouchers to get a joint adult membership to English Heritage. To be honest, even though you can exchange your vouchers for many different rewards, I haven't been drawn to anything in particular which is why we decided on the English Heritage membership. My thought was that even if we didn't manage to visit any properties, at least the charity would get something from our membership. I've always wanted to take the family to Dover Castle. I went for the first time over 10 years ago accompanying school children in my first job. I loved it then and it was even more special this time.

This was the view from below the castle.

We went into the secret tunnels exhibition which was amazing.

It was well worth the wait. I love interactive talks and this really brought the history alive. We also went into the underground hospital which was fascinating and showed what it would have been like to work in that environment. I am forever thankful to those men and women who fought for us to have the freedom that we experience today.

We also spent some time in the castle itself - the inside furniture has been recreated by modern day craftspeople.

The sun even managed to come out at various points during the day. It was a lovely day and definitely a great day out for all ages.

Curry Night

The thing I love about holidays is not having to get up early in the morning. My dd arranged a day out today (lunch and skating) so I thought it would be great if I could organise a night in. I'm always looking for ways to save money and cooking for a night in is certainly cheaper than us all going to a restaurant. The only negative is the washing up. I think we are probably the only household in the country that doesn't have a dishwasher, as a result I am starting to have dishpan hands. There aren't many things I like about washing up but I do like the fact that it's immediate and I don't have to wait for the dishwasher cycle to finish. It's also quite sociable when you have friends over.

Luckily, I have friends who were available at the last minute so I've spent the day cooking a vegetarian Indian feast for tonight. My cooking world has really opened up since I bought the Prashad cookbook. I love the look of the book and the stories behind the recipes. I'm the kind of person who reads cookbooks as a way of relaxing. Even last night, I was reading Jerusalem by Yotam Ottalenghi and Sami Tamimi and deciding if I was going to make their Krantz cake. Their version is full of butter and sugar. My friend brought an equivalent sweet bread the other day to feed us after a walk and I've asked her for the recipe as it isn't full of so many bad things. The plan is to make it tomorrow so look out for the recipe.

I've spent the afternoon cooking vegetarian curries. I've always been quite scared of recipes with lots of ingredients, particularly all the spices, but I've realised there was nothing to be scared of.

As long as you have all the spices to hand, it's much easier than it looks. Thank you Prashad restaurant for making me see the light. Here are the curries that I've made - I'll reheat them nearer the time.

Paneer Masala (spicy tomato and Indian cheese) and Vegetable Handi (tomato and chunky vegetable)

Mushroom Palak (Spinach and mushroom curry)

Wattana and Flower (pea and cauliflower curry)

Just got the rice and samosas to make and I'll be ready. Indian banquet here we come. 

Tidy up, brooches and Foyles War

So, my dd and I decided to spend the day sorting out my crafting room (which is really an extra TV room downstairs which I have taken over with all my fabric, felt, buttons and ribbons) and her bedroom. As a result of all the sorting and rearranging, I've realised that I have much more ribbon than I thought (mostly my favourite grosgrain ribbons) which is always a nice thing. I won't have to go shopping for quite a while (note to self to read this blog entry the next time a fancy taking a trip to any craft shops).  In between, I found some time to make some flower corsages (or brooches) which I'm hoping will look nice on my jackets for work. Here is a selection of them. Some are flat with a combination of colours. Others are ruffled and made from the scraps left over when I made the reversible bags.

I've now packed away the sewing machines and cleared up the table in the lounge as a girl can only make so much. It really is time to start selling. Tomorrow I'm planning on spending time cooking (maybe curry from the Prashad cookbook) and baking. As the weather is due to make a turn for the worst tomorrow I'm looking forward to a cosy day in the kitchen with nothing to distract me except hungry kids. With the extra rain forecast, maybe they can stop talking about a summer drought.

I'm now going to watch Foyles War on ITV player. I've really enjoyed the first two episodes so I'm really looking forward to this one. I know I'm really lucky to have the holiday time that I do so I can spend it pottering about the house, although this morning was spent marking. Here's to the rest of the holiday week.

Day out in London

It's been a stay at home week as both children have been revising all week but yesterday we had a day out with friends in London. The weather was lovely (which was a welcome change as it's been freezing for so long) and we spent the day just wandering the streets and taking buses everywhere. The aim was to visit the V&A museum to see the clothes through the ages (there were much less than I thought there would be) so everything else was a bonus. We walked along the south bank in the sunshine with all the other people who had come put to enjoy the weather. We visited Borough Market which is by Southwark cathedral. I've been a couple of times before and it was lovely wandering around and tasting all the produce but yesterday it was full of so many people that you couldn't really get near any of the stalls. I certainly wouldn't recommend a visit on a sunny Saturday if you don't like crowds.

We then spent the rest of the day just walking and bussing - to the V&A,

to a fabric shop on the Old Brompton  Road  which sells Liberty fabric for cheaper than the Liberty store (but the shop assistants were certainly not friendly and I wouldn't go back there again), to the Picadilly Waterstones which is five floors of book wonderland and Fortnum and Mason. It was a day that lifted the spirits - great company and wonderful views at every turn. The only drawback is I'm absolutely shattered this morning.

We decided to go to the V&A to see all the textiles but they only had a small display of clothing. However, they had an amazing glass sculpture hanging from the ceiling in the entrance

and some intricate metal work in one of the galleries

We went to a really cheap fish and chip shop in Covent Garden and saw this egg on the way

It was part of a whole group of eggs that had all been painted in different styles. If you get a chance to get up to London, it's worth a look. Oh, and I managed to finish off another bag in the morning

A crazily busy day but well worthwhile.

Reversible Bag

So, this is what I've been making all day - a reversible bag made from my grandparents material. It has been a long day of sewing, unpicking, sewing again, unpicking again because I still got it wrong and then sewing it in the right way. Here it is...

This is with the plain fabric and then this is with the stripy fabric...

I based it on the pattern from Very Purple Person I didn't print out the pattern so just drew it freehand. As a result, the handles are a bit short. Never mind, I'll have another go tomorrow and this time I'm hoping they're will be less unpicking.

I even managed to have a family and friends walk this afternoon. It was so cold and the wind made it even colder. I can't believe that it's April and this time last year we were experiencing a heat wave. Instead, I'm dealing with rising heating bills as we still need the central heating on. I have turned the thermostat down by a degree as the most recent bill was astronomic. I'm not sure that it will make much difference but at least it might save a few pennies.

Update - I've also added a flower corsage to the bag. Role on tomorrow for more crafting (now that my dh fixed my sewing machine - I was in the middle of sewing the bag when a screw just popped off. All sorted now).

New make

I've spent the day making another batch of matryoshka dolls - they're all packaged up now. I've been planning a new make for a while and this is the material I'll be using - it's part of the huge stash I inherited from my grandparents. I've done the cutting out and this time it will involve the sewing machine so that's my plan for tomorrow.

Matryoshka Dolls

It's been a very busy week here. Fourteen people to cater for the Seder meal on Monday night then work, work, work. School broke up for the holidays on Thursday and we've been spending time with family since. We watched Watford play in Friday - we drew in extra time and some choice words were said about the referee. Then off to Birmingham for the day yesterday and Easter lunch with the in-laws today. I did manage to sneak in a bit of crafting though which was then shared with all the family.

I drew this picture a while ago and it's been sitting on my bedside table waiting to be made into pattern pieces and then a new felt keyring.

I don't know about you but sometimes everyday life just seems to get in the way and pictures like this can hang around for quite a while before I do anything with it. Before the football, I had Friday morning free so I turned the picture into this..

And then this....

I made seven of them but four have been given as presents. I really like the way that they have turned out. They're filled with stuffing and lavender and I have a red one hanging from my backpack. What do you think? If you would like me to make one for you in the colours of your choice I'll be selling them for £3 each plus post and packaging. Just message me and let me know. For those in the UK have a lovely rest of the bank holiday weekend. Now off to make some more Matryoshka dolls.