A day for PFAFF ing about.

At the end of last year my lovely hubby bought me a new sewing machine, my old one was about 25 years old and although its still going strong it didnt handle quilting very well and I wasnt sure if I would be able to buy a walking foot to fit.  After lots of research and humming and harring I decided on a PFAFF machine with IDT, its own easy to use equivalent to a walking foot.  We bought it from the main stockists in Sheffield, Direct Knit and Sew, the ladies in there were very helpful and after a couple of demos I came home with this little beauty :-)

                                                  PFAFF Ambition 1.5

OMG! Fully computerised how scary is that!  The ladies told me not to worry as every machine comes with a days free tuition....thank goodness..:-) i duly booked myself onto the course and with Christmas, my holidays and snow, it was scheduled for Tuesday 24th.  Up early and packed the machine into the car and off for the day.  It was brilliant! There were 4 of us on the course and we started with the basics, we mastered these very quickly as none of us were novices at sewing, we practised setting up the machine for different uses and got used to handling  the different control buttons.  The stop start button was hardest for me, I m so used to a foot pedal, I kept pressing the floor with my foot instead of touching the stop button lol. After a break for lunch we did programming, it seemed to be easier to do when shown rather than try to understand a very sketchy instruction book.

These were my bits of fabric....scrappy aren't they!  Our tutor demonstrated each 'foot' and listed its uses and then we had a practice on our own machines.  

This was my attempt at Heirloom Stitching using my Winged Needle, something I would never have know how to do in a month of Sundays! I hadn't even heard of a winged needle before! I also asked for a demo to be done on my machine for Free Motion Quilting, we all had a go and its much harder than I thought, its going to take a lot of practice but at least I know how to set up the machine now.

The time went so quickly, we all said we could do with another day but at least we all left feeling much more confident about using our new machines and also knowing its capabilities. 

The ladies at the shop were fab, nothing was too much trouble, as we left they said anytime we needed help we just had to pick up the phone and sit at the machine and they would guide us through the problem, failing that, just call into the shop with the machine and as long as you dont mind them getting up to serve customers they will sit with you until you fully understand how to do things, you can't be fairer than that can you?

I can fully recommend Direct Knit and Sew if you are looking to buy a new machine, they are stockists for PFAFF  and Husquvana and have machines at all different prices, they also have hundreds of fabrics and notions. I have not been asked or been paid to promote these companies, my opinions are based on my own experiences.

Now all I need is plenty time for playing :-)

Until next time

Take care

Karen xxx

Signs of Spring

A huge Chelmarsh welcome to my new follower Gill, That British Woman, thank you for joining my happy band of followers and thank you for commenting already xx

Is Spring on it's way?   There are plenty sure signs in the garden....

                                        Nice fat flower buds on the daffodils :-).  

             Primulas bursting with new growth and beautiful cerise flowers.

                         Gorgeous Heathers

Purple and White Heathers in a trough ready to plant in the garden in the summer

Even the greenery is starting to look bright and cheerful.

My beautiful Green Lady surrounded by new growth and fat buds on the climbing Hydranger. I hope she does her job again this year and makes my garden a lovely fertile haven for all the plants and shrubs.

Like a lot of you I'm so looking forward to those balmy summer days when we can stroll down the garden to the veg plot and the greenhouse and pick something crisp and delicious for dinner. 

Ahhh ....I can just about smell the wonderful fragrance of the honeysuckle in front of the greenhouse and taste those sweet, juicy, sun kissed cherry tomatoes........dream on........

Back to earth :-). Hubbys car passed its MOT with flying colours, its only done 3,000miles since the last one, and its had a full service, not be too long before we can hitch up the caravan and have a nice long weekend away before the season gets into full swing.

I think its been a long winter don't you? 

Until next time

Take care

Karen xxx

Spanish Pork and a finished Quilt.

Its been a bitterly cold day here in Yorkshire, this morning started off with a frost then this afternoon we had sleety rain and tonight icy cold winds, just the kind of day when you need something slow cooked and spicy.

400g cubed Pork from Aldi £2:49 i got mine on special at £1:99

1 large onion from a huge sack 10p

1tablespoon Olive Oil Aldi 5p

1 tin Tomatoes. Aldi 35p ? 

2 basics Stock cubes 5p

Squirt tomato puree 15p

2 heaped teaspoons Paprika 10p. I remembered to bring a tin back from Spain :-)

1 homegrown frozen chilli

Pinch mixed herbs

Salt n pepper

In my fridge I had a tired looking parsnip and a small piece of celeriac plus 6 small salad potatoes so they also went in to use them up.  At the end of cooking I chucked in a handful of frozen peas, they cooked in the residual heat while the veg was cooking.

Sweat the onions in the oil, add the meat to seal, add the rest of the ingredients, just cover with hot water and bring to a simmer, tip the whole lot into a pre heated slow cooker and cook on low for about 6 hours. You can thicken it slightly with a little cornflour and a dribble of water.  Plenty for 4 servings. Serve with veggies of your choice

On Saturday morning I managed to finish and press my Lap Quilt.

Its lovely and snuggly with the soft fleece backing.  I'm really pleased how well its turned out.

We have a busy day again tomorrow, hubby's landrover needs its MOT and full service! Mega bucks needed  I should think lol.

Until next time

Take care

Karen xxx

Willows Sweet Treats.

Our Grandaughter Willow has been staying with us for a couple of days and one of the things she likes to do is get into the kitchen and bake, its something we can do together, although its usually me left with the clearing up and washing the dishes!   While we were on holiday in Spain we bought some Coconut Macaroons, I hadn't had any of those for years and I know I haven't made any since I was a child, probably Willows age (11). They are so easy to do, just 2 ingredients :-) here they are..

We actually  used  300gm of coconut to the full tin of condensed milk.

Just tip it all into a big bowl and stir

The mixture needs to be stiff enough to hold its own shape while cooking.

Using a wet egg cup press enough mixture in then tip onto a baking sheet.

Bake at 160c for about 20/25 minutes until cooked and golden brown.

Cool on a wire rack.

Simple, sweet and satisfying.

Next were these amazing Chocolate chip cookies. I came across this recipe while blog hopping its from Kev Alviti  at The English Homestead .  

125g Butter

50g  granulated sugar 

125g soft brown sugar

159g Plain Flour

1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

Pinch of salt

1 small Egg

2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

100g Chocolate Chips

Mix it all together into a soft sticky dough, Willow used my Foodmixer to do this.

Place blobs of mixture on lined baking trays giving plenty of room for spreading, you will get 12 generous cookies out of the mixture

Bake 180 for 8-10 minutes, cool on the tray then transfer to a wire rack.

They are absolutely delicious. Crunchy on the edge and chewy in the middle.  Thanks Kev, they really are Amazing Cookies

Then last but not least....Grandads favourite....Scones..

To make 8 plain sweet scones you will need

300g Self Raising Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Powder 

100g Butter

100g Sugar

1 Egg

Enough milk to mix.

Rub butter into flour and baking powder until resembles breadcrumbs, stir in sugar

Add the egg and enough milk to make a soft dough.

Gently press the dough out to 1 inch thick and using a 2" cutter, stamp out 8 scones

Brush the tops with milk and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake in a hot oven 200c until golden brown, about 15 minutes, sorry I forgot to note the timings for these.

Perfect for splitting and spreading with butter and jam or for a special treat, jam and clotted cream.

We are all sugered out tonight, well you have to try them all don't you and everything was delicious.  Well Done Willow! 

We took her home tonight with 80% of her baking, my daughter in law had made us all a gorgeous roast chicken dinner. A perfect end to the day. :-)

Until next time

Take care

Karen & Willow xxx

Sew and sew

First of all a big Chelmarsh welcome to my new follower Chris, its great to have you on board Chris, I hope you will leave a comment or smiley face sometime :-)

Today I had a day to myself, not very often this happens nowadays, hubby had gone down to the flying club to meet his mates and I was left home alone :-). Now then, what should I do?  Clean up, clean the filthy windows or do some sewing.....you guessed...SEWING :-). First thing to do was get a Bolognaise sauce in the slow cooker then at least we would have a meal ready for tea if I got carried away with the  time

I had sorted through my scrappy bits and found enough to make a lap quilt, so I set about cutting out 36 x 6 1/2 inch squares, 4 x 3 inch wide lengths for a border and then 180inches of mixed scraps for the binding.

Sorry I forgot to take progress pictures.  I didn't think about it until I had got to this stage.  This is the quilt top laid onto a nice piece of blue fleece for the backing, it takes a while to pin it together and trim off the surplus.  Dont look to close it might be a bit wonky :-)

I have started to hand quilt " in the ditch" it will take me a while but I like hand stitching, its quite therapeutic.  The binding is made and ironed ready to attach, hopefully I will have this finished by the weekend.

I just had time to chop some salad and boil some pasta twists ready for tea for when hubby came back from having his hair cut.

Tomorrow I will be back at Mum and Dads to do some jobs and at the Drs again with mum.

Until next time

Take care

Karen xxx

Lazy Sunday Afternoon.

Thank you all for your lovely comments on my last post and welcome to all my new followers, sorry I keep forgetting to check on Bloglovin to see who has joined my happy band of followers, forgive me for being rude xx

After a very hectic week we were having a weekend off, Saturday was spent catching up with our cleaning and doing Mum and Dads washing and ironing and then very little else :-). I was shattered at bedtime and crawled into bed thinking I would drop off straight away.....wrong....5 am and still awake! I had just started nodding off when my legs decided they wanted to catch up with my effort of doing 10,000 steps a day!  Dont you just hate it when you have restless legs....grrr....  Off I toddled into the single bed so as not to disturb hubby to go and read my kindle, low and behold he came wandering through about an hour later saying he couldn't sleep either!  What a night...  Needless to say we slept in until 9:30 this morning.

It was a lovely day and far too nice to stay indoors so we put on out coats and went for a walk round the lake at Lakeside. We also called at Morrisons for milk and another 2 packs of half price Soap Powder, I have enough to last 6 months now :-)

By 2pm I was nodding off so I went to lay on the bed and have a nap, I felt so much better when I woke up. The rest of the afternoon has just been very lazy, feet up and doing zilch!  Hubby cooked the tea, just a simple meal but very nice.

Mexican Chicken and Savoury Rice.... Hot, Hot, Hot!

It was chopped chicken and one of those jars with the spices ontop from Aldi.  You cook the chicken in the spices add sauted onions and peppers then the jar of Fajhita sauce and cook for a further 10 minutes, you should have it in wraps but we had a packet of Basics Savoury Rice instead, cooked in the microwave for 20 minutes, easy peasy....well it was for me :-)

Plenty for tomorrow too!

Looks nice and colourful, as an afterthought he could have added the remains of a bag of spinach thats lurking in the fridge.

It was very hot and spicy and would have been nice with some soured cream or greek yogurt just to cool it down but we had neither so had it plain.  Dessert was fruit salad.

Thank you darling, it was lovely xxx

Its Call the Midwife tonight I think, then an early night and hope I can sleep! Another busy week ahead next week too.

Until next time

Take care

Karen xxx

Hello again, Thursday Chunterings!

Just popping by to let you know I'm still here and haven't fallen off the planet :-) Life is very busy just now and will be for a while, I'm not doing anything wildly exciting, but I am looking after my Mum, she is quite unwell at the moment but with the right meds everything should be ok :-)

Roll on spring, I am getting a bit fed up of the winter now, I cant wait for the growing season to start, I'm already thinking about what I want to grow this year in the garden and in the greenhouse, luckily my daughter in law will do some watering up for us while we are away in the caravan.

Speaking of the caravan, we're both looking forward to getting it cleaned, packed and ready to go, its a bit too cold and damp for us just yet, but hopefully after Easter the better weather will be here and we can start to plan some nice frugal breaks :-)

I am struggling to keep up with the many fab blogs I follow, I might be reading and not commenting due to a lack of me time.  Do you think it would be a nice idea to leave a smiley face to show you that I have visited but didnt have time for tea :-)

Ok, its 10pm and bedtime for me I have to be on the go early in the morning, lots to fit in tomorrow!

Until next time

Take care

Love Karen xxx

Try something new

Today I tried a new to me product

Frozen cook and serve Mushy Peas

Its not very often we eat mushy peas as Phil isnt that bothered so when we do its usually a tin from the supermarket. My Mum had tried these a few weeks ago and gave me a bag to try, today was the ideal day as we were having the Chicken Pie I made on Sunday.

They are so easy to do

Tip the whole bag of frozen peas into a big pan and cover with boiling water, cook for 30 minutes on a gentle heat, I added a pinch of bicarb of soda and when nearly cooked added a level teaspoon of salt and a heaped one of sugar, this was just right for us but you can season to your own taste.  You do have to keep an eye on them so they dont get dry and stick, I did add a little more water during cooking.

Once cooked and cooled I portioned them up for the freezer, I got 8 portions in total.

They kept the nice bright but natural colour and tasted lovely, they were even a winner with hubby! We both thought they were far superior to the tinned variety and I will definitely buy them again.

I have checked on mySupermarket and you can buy them from Iceland £1. Sainsburys £1:20 or Tesco for £1:25.

I have not been sponsored for this post, the above opinions are my own and the product was purchased by my Mum. :-)

Have you tried anything new lately and been pleasantly surprised, I would love to know :-)

Until next time

Take care

Karen xxx

Not a lot...

Happenning here at the moment, today has been a mooching round the house day for me, Phil (the hubby) has been doing a few odd jobs for our oldest son and over the last few days has repaired DiL s bike which he took back this morning.  Its been inset day at Willows school and she was at home doing homework, once grandad had done his jobs he sat and helped her with Maths...Algebra!  I think that was my worst subject at school, luckily Willow enjoys it, but I think it was more a case of her helping grandad remember how to do it :-)

Dinner tonight was simple, Chicken Ding from last night.  The pie I made yesterday was cut in half and 1 lot frozen for next week and 1 lot for tea tomorrow, it looks lovely inside and nothing like the mushy gravy filled ones  where you have to hunt for the meat that you buy in supermarkets.  We dont have pie very often but we do enjoy a good meaty homemade one with lashings of gravy.

No photographs today, but I have one I took of a couple of cards I made before I went on holiday.

My good friend gave me some sheets of card and toppers from a pack she had so all 

I needed was a couple of blank cards a few sticky pads and a few embellishments, quick and easy! I will use these to go with 2 bargain presents I bought in the sale for 2 March birthdays.

According to the weather forecast we should have wintery showers followed by snow tomorrow so that might be another mooching day, good job I like being at home.

Until next time

Take care

Karen xxx

Sunday Walk a Roast and a Pie.

1st day of February and its freezing cold and blowing a gale, so what do we do...get dressed up warm and go for a walk round the lake at Lakeside.  You can see from the choppy water how windy it was.  I know I look ridiculous but I was toasty warm, mind you I nearly lost my hat a couple of times so I pulled the brim down hard to anchor it to my head :-)

Lakeside Shopping Outlet on the left and the flood lights for the Keepmoat Stadium on the right.

We walked over the bridge onto the little grassy island. There are a couple of bridges but they dont go right across the lake, they are purely for interest.

Hubby dressed up warm too, we must have looked a right pair with our silly fleece hats on! :-)

There is a small monument on the island in honour of all who flew from this site, it was the original site for the old Doncaster Airport before the developers stepped in and built the shopping complex and the many call centres.  There's also a Travel Lodge over looking the lake and a Premier Inn.

On the top of the monument is a plan of the old Airfield.

Back on the lakeside and the swans were grouped together with the ducks, I think they were hoping we were going to feed them.  We were fortunate to see 3 swans taking off and flying low level over the lake but as usual my phone/camera was in my pocket..sorry :-). We had a lovely walk and it certainly blew the cobwebs off both of us, time to go home for a homemade latte and a biscuit.

3:30pm Time to get the roast cooking for tea, only a small chicken (3for £10) but it had to 

s t r e t c h to 4 dinners 2 tonight and 2 tomorrow plus a 4 portion pie.

Pastry was made in the food processor in rolled out to fit this enamel pie dish, I like to make pies in a metal dish, it cooks the bottom better.

250gm Plain Flour

25 gm Lard.

100 gm Butter.  I would normally do half and half but this is what I had.

Salt

and ice cold water to mix.

For my filling I needed a Leek so I popped down the garden to see if there were any, hubby was supposed to have emptied this veg bed a while ago as the leeks were rubbish this year, but luckily he hadnt got round to it so this is what I pulled up.

Sometimes  there are advantages to hubby not getting jobs done :-) Not the best of leeks but adequate for the pie.  I chopped it up and softened it in the microwave.

I added half the chopped chicken some carrots the leeks and some gravy.  Baked in the oven 180c for about 40 minutes.  When its cold I will freeze it for another time and we will have it 2 days, when its reheated I will do half each day just to be safe, we will probably have it with some peas and extra gravy.

So my little chicken made us a very nice dinner tonight and 3 x2 more for other days.  Hubby likes a sweet and I  had this swiss roll lurking in the freezer from Christmas so it got zapped in the microwave and covered in custard....one happy hubby... We ate the other 2 dinners before the photo was taken :-) the homemade stuffing balls were yum!

I think thats a good start to the month.  I hate February, its the shortest month but its always dark and dismal and quite depressing but Im going to keep positive and hope it passes quickly.

Until next time

Take care

Karen xxx