jam and cupcakes

the secret of happiness?

one warm sunny afternoon, 2 willing helpers, one trip to the "pick your own", for2 large punnets of raspberries.

what didn't get eaten by the next morning turned into this



following the easiest ever recipe ever (must be if I can manage it.)

take equal measures raspberries and sugar ( we had about 1 1/2 pounds left after we stopped nibbling on them.)

warm raspberries in large bowl in the microwave for 4 or 5 minutes, then warm sugar in a separate bowl for 3 minutes. combine together, stirring to dissolve the sugar, and then cook for 10-12 minutes stirring occasionally, until set (testing on a little saucer that's been in the freezer)

cool a bit and put in jars, or on freshly baked bread.

we might need to go and pick more..........

I manged to send my parcel for Rachael Rabbits cupcake swap just before the deadline to Lily at Blockaday, and this week I received the most delightful parcel from Sarah and Lisa at A spoonful of sugar. There are no photos of the beautiful packing as I was much too impatient to wait, and inside I found a delightful cupcake themed purse,



tea bag purse and keyring,





as well as some great looking teas,



and some extra cupcake goodies



- the sweetest little cases, and a fantastic stencil for decorating cupcakes/coffee - expect to see some very stylish baking going on round here.



thank you so much for your really lovely and generous swaps. xx

tags, awards, and the summer holidays

I've been very lucky recently to nominated twice for this award by Lisa and Anna - thank you to you both! I am truly grateful and couldn't have done it without all you lovely people who visit - there how's that for a naff acceptance speech.

Here are the rules for this award:1. The winner can put the logo on their blog.2. Link to the person you received your award from.3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.4. Put links of those blogs on yours.5. Leave a message on the blogs you've nominated.6. Write an acceptance speech in the style of the Academy Awards, thanking every body's mother, father, sister, brother, aunties and uncles and the kitchen staff at your favorite restaurant



Pink Purl and Attic 24 were also handing out awards, so I've collected these two pretty ones, I love the way I can decorate my blog with them..... (how sad is that!)








I'd like to pass them on to


Sheila at Tea and Toast for her lovely thoughtful Fridays


Val at dottycookie, who has such fun projects for the little ones


Phillippa at driftwoodshack for inspirational photos


and also to all of you, I know that's not the rules, but ...............

weeks and weeks ago I was tagged for the "Five Things" tag by attic 24.


These are the rules.


1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names, linking to them.
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blog.


I've done some of these before so I'm going to change it a bit to 5 things we're going to do this summer.


1. play with lego - lots of lego, I love it, and so does E
2. have a pretend art school, with help from here
3. go and play on the beach
4. try and speak lots of french with the help of the fridge magnets Miss K got from her teacher
5. reading and baking, with help from this book, we're planning a whole summer of fun we're going to call "Story Food Summer"






instead of tagging 5 people I'd like you all to leave me a comment, and tell me what you're going to do this summer!

books, and more

we started our quiet weekend with a trip to the library, where we signed up for this summers reading challenge called Team Read. One of the books Miss K chose to read was The Railway Children, which is funny, as I've just booked us tickets to see this performed at the National Railway museum.

During a bit of blog browsing I found this quilt giveaway, it looks gorgeous. and now it must be time for a bit of tea and cake I think, anyone want some....

looking forward to the weekend

it's been a crazy week, and I'm really looking forward to the weekend..

these photos are from last weekend, when we went to J's parents for his mum's 60th birthday.




we watched cricket on the local green



we splashed through the river



stalked our prey



and if you have all the right gear



then you're sure to catch a whopper



ps. thanks for all the lovely comments about the aprons.

finally

finished!

98 aprons:

294m of twill tape

70m of pink gingham

10m pink fabric for pockets

30m of pink ribbon

2500 yds cotton thread

endless cups of tea, quite a lot of chocolate, lots of late nights, too much unpicking to mention, 4 trips to buy supplies, 2 internet orders (would have helped if I'd added up right so I could order enough the 1st time....) some star helpers - my mum who did some ironing so K and E had clean school uniform, my sister in law who cut out and ironed some aprons, and my hubby who kept me sane - (well almost) throughout, and now a fat cheque for breast cancer care.

oh and lots of pink scraps left over,

bunting anyone......

available over at my new blog shop driftwood and daisies

swap goodies and more pinkness

I joined a kitchen swap, and got this gorgeous appliqued tea towel and hand towel from Jill at Miaou crafts, along with local biscuits which were much approved of by 2 small children....... Thanks Jill!



I was going to show a photo of my living room carpet totally covered in fabric, but I couldn't quite show you that much mess! so instead here are some neat(ish) piles..

finished



nearly finished



nowhere near finished



there are also piles of ribbon, pockets, twill tape, and uncut fabric, but that just seemed to much to impose on you all. Hope to get round to visit some blogs soon, probably with a large glass of wine later when my head is spinning too much to do anymore sewing. I know this seemed like a good idea at the time, but............

a sea of pink

one of my friends works for a cookware company that do a special breast cancer promotion where they do lots of Pink promotions.
she asked me to make her a few aprons, no problem I said.
a few has turned into a lot! oh and can she have them all by the 14th.....
I may be some time, right now I'm drowning in a sea of pink gingham, and I need to go and buy more.......



wish me luck.