Scotch Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 x Egg

Self Raising Flour

Milk

Sugar

Pour 3 little piles onto the simmering plate of the Aga

Once they've started to form air bubbles on the top

Flip them over

Cook for another 30 seconds or so on the other side

Pile up on a plate and serve warm with your choice of topping

The perfect Sunday breakfast !!

YUM !!!

xx

I'm so lucky !!

Woo Hoo !! At the risk of blowing my own trumpet .... I've been featured in Sew Hip AGAIN !! This time, I've been extremely lucky to be featured in their monthly "Sew on the Net" feature.

I'm starting to feel like royalty !

Thanks Sew Hip !!

xx

The builders are back

Why is nothing ever simple in our house ?

We decided to treat ourselves and put a woodburner into our living room. We currently have an open fire (it's a rather large fireplace!!)

and decided that open fires are far too messy and a bit dangerous, so a woodburner would be much more preferable. However, after doing lots of research and finally settling on the one we wanted, we went to a very reputable, local fireplace shop and got the guy to come round and check the chimney etc. He condemned it !!!

It turns out the previous owners had used cowboy builders to remove the old chimney stack (which used to be right in the middle of the room) and rebuild it, using a metal thing which runs from the top of the fireplace, up through the spare bedroom and the loft and then out through the roof.

Unfortunately, the cowboy builders had completely ignored all the regulations surrounding installing such a chimney. They had cut through the rafters of the house (and not put adequate replacement supports in place), along with not encasing the metal pipe thingy in a fireproof cage, and letting it rest against both the roof, the floorboards and the plasterboard chimney they constructed in the spare room. This was, of course, a complete fire hazard and it's a wonder the whole house didn't catch fire !!

So now, instead of just having a woodburner installed, which should be a simple job really, we have now had to have the entire metal chimney exposed (here it is in the spare room - please ignore horrible pine wardrobe with frou frou lampshade on top - this is not indicative of our house !!)

so that it can be fully encased in fire proof stuff (don't know the technical term!) and be actually moved away from all of the wooden joists etc. This has resulted in the sealant around the top of the chimney being dislodged which now means that the builders have to get onto our 250 year old roof to repair it all !!!

Why is nothing ever simple ??!!!

But at least my new camera arrived - YAY !! The above photos were taken with it, without me having read the instruction manual so I'm sure they can be improved on, but I'm very impressed so far. It's very clever because it just automatically adjusts itself to the lighting situation and subject !

Here is the original photo of my green spotty star buttons (as seen on the website)

and the new (trial) photo that I took just now. What a difference !!

I can't wait for the daylight tomorrow so that I can take pictures of all the lovely NEW STOCK that arrived today (and it looks like I'll have to take new photos of EVERYTHING now as the old photos are SO BAD !)

Watch this space

xx

Cooking with Mama ..

and her new AGA saucepans !

PS. This photo was NOT taken with my new camera because it didn't arrive yet ... grrrr

xx

Be careful what you wish for

The funniest thing happened on Monday. There I was, beavering away in the studio, listening to Absolute 80s on the radio and thinking how lovely it was to be doing something simple like picking and packing orders (rather than running around like a headless chicken), when the phone rang.

I answered it, in my best posh voice, as I always do, and heard the lady say "Hello, I'm calling from Create and Craft. We saw you at the Knitting & Stitching Show and loved your kits. We were wondering if you could possibly come in to do a screen test on Friday this week, with a view to presenting a 1 hour TV slot on our Create & Craft channel on Sky TV". This was met with stunned silence, before I replied (in my very best Essex accent) "is this a joke ?" !!!!

Obviously, this wasn't the reaction the lady was expecting as she burst out laughing (she probably thought "NUTTER") ! And then went on to explain exactly what it was that they were looking for, basic T&C's etc. It was REAL !! They wanted ME to take part in a one hour TV slot demonstrating MY KITS !!!

However, after my initial reaction of "Hurrah ... Fame at last", the reality of it all hit me and after lots of discussions with my trusty assistant Alison and hubby, we decided that we're just not ready (for various reasons which I won't bore you with) to take such a leap, at the current time.

So, like I say, be careful what you wish you .... it might just come true !!!!

xx

PS. Look out for fab new pics (hopefully) on the next post. I'm treating myself to a new camera !!

BLOOMING KITS !!!

AT LAST !

I can finally reveal our fantabulous new Blooming Felt kits that we launched at Ally Pally last week.

These were extremely popular (thankfully) at the Show and will also be featured in the January 2011 issue of Sew Hip (out in the shops in November), so just in time for Christmas !!

First up is our lovely KITE kit. This isn't a real kite of course, because felt would never fly - but it makes a really lovely wall hanging for a girly bedroom.

As with all of our new kits, they contain all of the components to make the item - in this case, the pre-cut triangles, wool to sew them together, felt string for the tail and a mixture of felt balls, buttons and felt shapes to decorate the tail. Each kit is presented with basic instructions / ideas in a lovely printed cotton Blooming Felt drawstring bag.

All of our kits can either be sewn together or glued - we know this because we glued our samples (and they're all still intact, despite being transported to and from Ally Pally and poked and prodded at the show !) We used Superglue, but fabric glue works just as well.

The KITE kits can be found here on the website.

Next up is a ROCKET wall hanging kit - perfect for the little men in your lives. Buy it here.

And last, but by no means least, our Rainbow BUNTING kit. This kit contains enough components to make 3 metres of felt bunting - all of the flags are pre cut, you'll get 3 metres of felt string / cord and a bag full of felt balls, buttons, felt shapes and ribbons to decorate your bunting. Buy your FELT BUNTING KITS here.

The photos above are all for illustration purposes (the kits are pretty similar, but do contain some different felt shapes). Just a little word of warning - as with most things these days, our kits are unsuitable for children under the age 3 due to small parts which may present a choking hazard.

Now .... GO BUY !!!

xx

Phew !

It's official. I am EXHAUSTED !! I'm not sure if it's just that everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) has been manic over the last month, or if it's the fact that I'm a year older than I was this time last year, but boy, do I need a rest !

The Knitting & Stitching Show was fantastic. Once again, the response we had from everyone at the show was really lovely and that alone makes it all worthwhile.

I just want to say a very quick thank-you to my trusty assistant Alison who slaved away with me at the show. She's as exhausted as I am and I think she's starting to wonder what she's let herself in for ! Also, to my very good friend Amanda who once again, gave up her Saturday to help us at the show. Also my Mum & Dad for being fantastic and Paul for becoming Mummy for the best part of a week (and coping admirably !) Thank you all - I couldn't have done it without you xx

I also wanted to say a very special "Hello" to Maureen (you know who you are !) Maureen is a lovely lovely lady who started out life as a customer of mine. She now makes up all of the wonderful tutorials that you find on the website and we met for the very first time at the show. Sadly, a cup of coffee was nowhere near long enough to chat and get to know one another, but hopefully we can get together again very soon and have a proper catch up ! Thank you so much for coming Maureen - it was lovely to meet you at last xx

But, being away at the show meant that the orders piled up on the website and we are now manically trying to clear the backlog. If you are waiting for an order to be dispatched, please bear with us - we're working as fast as we can.

Sarah xx