Oh for aromavision!

If only you could smell the aromas in my kitchen!

My parents bought me a tangine for Christmas and I am enjoying cooking North African dishes in it. The fragrance of the spices are mouth watering. Tonight I have decided to experiment and just follow my instincts with the ingredients. Cubed beef coated in cumin, ginger, tumeric, and paprika, onions, garlic, chopped tomatoes and a cinnamon stick left for 1 hour, cubed sweet potato, aubergine and dried prunes added and cooked for another hour. Served with Couscous, I'll let you know what it was like later when DH is home for dinner!

Yes, It was delicious,

I had hoped to show you a picture of it on the plate, but remembered too late!

Just when you thought...

the thaw was upon us, the Snow Queen arrives back again!

Son has gone into school - at this rate he may be snowed in!

Schoolcomms just informed me that Son will be leaving school at 1.25pm

so that everyone can return home safely!

I cancelled the Toddler Group I usually run on a Wednesday as I couldn't get to the hall. The roads are back to trecherous. My neighbour - from Eastern Europe and used to weather like this - advised me to stay at home just as I pulled out of the drive so I reversed back in and will be tackling the groups admin and accounts while I have the chance.

Daughter continues her recovery from her preChristmas op.

Awaiting Consultant's decision as to when she can return to school.

PaD Round Up

All the photos from 6th Jan - 10th Jan

They have a snowy theme I'm afraid.

Pad 6

PaD 7

PaD 8

PaD 9

PaD 10

I wondered what large bird had been in the garden and then I realised

- the snow was thawing!!!

It's back!

Yes, the Creative Juices are flowing, hurrah!!!!!!

I decided last Friday that I would reintroduce Fabricate Friday, brought down to the dining room all the stuff associated with Module 4 and went through everything, rereading all the notes in my module note book/diary. It helped and made me decide all the more that I would keep to my original plan of the fan.

Saturday was busy with the family, so today with homework to be done and DH at work - thanks to the weather - I was able to move on with some time to myself. I have been finding it demoralising seeing all my Distant Stitchers posting their work and having nothing to show. It was the kick up the bum I needed.

I may have posted this before as the drawing was made in July. The fan will be in the style of a "Jenny Lind" brise fan

These two photos show a drawing to scale of the frame which will hold the handmade paper with embedded embroidery and a practise square seen again below

This is a practise piece to see if two pieces of frame can be blanket stitched together and a grid suspended from the frame. The grid is made from the linear shapes of the lettering.

A card fan to see if the size is practical. Unfortunately you have no idea if it is as I haven't put anything next to it to show you the difference, but be assured it suits me fine!!!

I shall be updating the Module 4 coursework gallery blog asap so Sian can have an offical look at what has been done!

If you are wondering where the Photo a Day as gone and whether I only made it to Day 5, I thought it best not to bore you ridged with the photos and just post a grouping of five or six as I go along. Then again I might create a new blog just for PaD. Oh and yes I have been remembering to take one each day - trust me!

PaD5

As the snow slowly creeps nearer my doorstep this picture reminds me of a stylised snow map of the UK. The top half Scotland, Wales and the North of England, and the bottom half, the South of England. My Parents and In-Laws live in the same village in the NorthWest of England and now have inches upon inches of snow on the compacted ice from last week.

Wellies and spade have been taken from the shed in preparation of digging us all out tomorrow

- sure fire way of it not sticking!!!

PaD4

Never underestimate the creativity of Mother Nature

PaD3

I don't know what excited me more - the stamps on the large envelope or the calendar inside?

Yes, the stamps win hands down, I really like the colour grouping

Carrots - PaD 2

Even if you decide to just use one colour in a piece of art or textile art, you can not. As even in this photo of the chopped carrots other colours can be seen!

Begin how I mean to continue, ( and PaD 1)

Having read Pencombe's blog, her suggestion of a" photo a day" has ignited a spark!

I read the blog after returning from my New Year Day walk and remembering to take the camera I already had my first photo!

And to begin my library review here is the first candidate.

As usual I can't remember the real reason for purchasing it from Amazon.

It seemed a good idea at the time and I think I was going to use the doodle aspect in a project.

Anyway I shall read it and make something this week and see if it still will be useful

Some times something grabs your attention when you least expect it!

and thanks to Sky live pause I was able to get a "hard" copy! This particular backdrop was in a "Not the Nine O'Clock News" sketch which was on tv the other evening. It looked painted or printed, but what an interesting quilt it would make. The thing is I can't for the life of me remember what Rowan Atkinson was going on about I was too distracted!

A clean sheet

It's early into a brand new year and the possibilities seem endless

- what can be achieved this year?

If I had to make a New Years' Resolution it would be:

To go through my small library of craft books and either make something from them and keep as they are useful

OR get rid of them to make room for books that will be useful

Wow, it's earth shattering stuff, maybe I can fit in World Peace whilst between books!

Happy New Year!