Knitted cactus

This makes me smile......................LOL

Needlefelting

I unearthed my needlefelting bits last night - whilst looking for something else LOL - and want to have a go now! Did a quick Google, and came up with this lovely, lovely youtube on needlefelting - take a look. Made me smile, she's great!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkdGCiu7Tzk

Little woven purse

I made this little purse to keep my bank card in. Up until now, I've only had a big purse with card sections in the back to keep it in. It was the only thing in the whole pruse, so seemed daft to keep it just for that - not particularly nice to use or look at, big and bulky, so I made this. It's the first project where I've done all three of the spinning, dyeing and weaving. I spun the pink and dyed it with cochineal, then plied it with some spare sage green, then woven on a small table loom. Very pleased with it, and it's a pleasure to use.







It's the most beautiful day here - I hope everyone else's weather is as nice. What a difference it makes - people are more cheerful, and I really feel more like getting onw ith things, insde and out. Drawback - shows up the dirty windows LOL

We had these for supper last night. The recipe is a slightly modified version of Elisabeth Luard's one in the April issue of Country Living magazine.

It's a good way of using up eggs - I'm getting nine or ten a day between the chickens and ducks, so that's quite a few! It's also an excellent way of using up stale bread/stale-ish bread and scraps of cheese and that odd bit of onion in the fridge :)

8 hard boiled eggs
about 150g breadcrumbs
2 large eggs
herbs of choice - I used herbes de Provence this time
teaspoon of made mustard - wholegrain,Dijon, English
1/2 small onion, grated
250 g of grated cheese
black pepper
good pinch of nutmeg

Serves 4

Shell the eggs and set aside. Set aside 2 handfuls of breadcrumbs to use for coating. Separate the eggs and put the yolks into a bowl with the rest of the ingredients, mix throughly to a softish paste type consistency; I had to use a bit of extra egg, but it just depends. Take a portion of the paste, use your thumb to make a depression in the middle and set the egg in, mould the rest of the paste around the egg until covered. Repeat for rest of eggs. When they all have their jackets on, whip up the egg white until frothy, coat each egg in egg white, then in crumbs, one ata time. Heat some sunflower oil or similr until hot, and gently fry until golden brown all over.
We had ours warm with potato salad and carrot, apple and pine nut salad, but I think they'd be lovely cold too. Very popular here, so will be making them again.

I think it's a nice adaptable recipe too - different mustard, different bread and cheese to ring the changes. It also made a version of the traditional Scoth Egg that Bean could eat, being vegetarian.

Weekend treasures............

We had a short trip around the charity shops in Gillingham on Saturday,and these two bits came home with me.

The little vase is from the 1930s; I love the bold bright colour and simple design of it, slightly reminiscent of some of Clarice Cliff's work. I used to be a fan of her work, but have moved on now, but still like the style and colours of the era.
The plate is a limited edition Amish plate, from America. It's no 162 of 2,500, "from the landmark series of watercolours painted by artist Harlan King for the AAA Morot Club of Iowa", 1974. It's actually made by Royal Grafton, in England, so has come back to its roots! Strange to think it's crossed the Atlantic twice.