Down The Rabbit Hole!

This year marks the 150th Anniversary of the publication of Alice in Wonderland. Macmillan have a fabulous celebration website here. There have been events going on all over the UK [and quite a lot in the USA too, where they seem quite obsessed with AIW]

I should like to get to the exhibition at the British Library – it opened on November 20th and runs through till April 17th 2016. It is FREE!

I was really pleased this week to pick up the book “Everything Alice” from our local library. By Hannah Read-Baldrey and Christine Leech [who developed the Hobbycraft magazine] this book has more than 50 projects related to the book – clothes, toys, teaparty accessories, recipes, gifts – using lots of different crafts and skills.

For the most part the instructions are very clear, the templates at the back are useful, and there are wonderfully intricate papercut illustrations on the pages between the projects. An altogether delightful and inspiring read.

I think the projects I would most like to make from the book are the sugar and spice comfits, the Red King’s Slippers, and the Cheshire Cat Handwarmers.

My own copy of Alice is over 80 years old- it was won by my father just after his 9th birthday, in 1933, as a prize for getting 98% in a Sunday School Scripture exam, as it says on the flyleaf…

It is published by Ward Lock, rather than Macmillan – and the illustrations are not by Tenniel, but by that other great children’s artist, Margaret W Tarrant. I love its heavy pages and pictures.

Just twenty miles from here, in Lyndhurst, you can find the grave of Alice Liddell – the girl for whom Carroll wrote the story. I remember taking our girls to see it, more than 20 years ago, when we had a holiday in the New Forest. The grave has been restored during this  anniversary year. I must get back and have another look.

I made costumes for two school productions of Alice – it remains one of my favourite children’s books [along with Through The Looking Glass] I enjoy the word-play, and the arcane mathematical puzzles – it is so much more than a book for 9 year olds. Here are the stamps the Royal Mail brought out last January to mark the anniversary.

Did you read Alice as a child? Did you enjoy it?

Throwing In The Towel

This morning Bob declared that the towel in the bathroom really ought to go – it had begun to rip as he was using it after his shower.

“But that’s my towel!” I protested “Honor Yaxley gave me that when I went to University in 1973. That towel has been a presence in my life longer than you have!” I reluctantly had to admit that it is probably past its best. Bob tried to get me to discard it about 15 years ago, when the hems were all frayed- but I just cut them off and overlocked the edges. That stitching is still in place, but the fabric round it is disintegrating.

“Most people do not expect their bath towels to last forty years” said Bob. I muttered that I am not ‘most people’. But he is right – it really is beyond the point where it is ‘fit for purpose’. I would point out that it has lasted a lot longer than a number of the towels I have acquired since then. The last lot of M&S ones I had as a gift have gone very thin in a very short time, which is frustrating. This one may turn into rags, or dusters, or if there are a few decent patches, into facecloths [more overlocking]. I am very fond of the retro orange and brown 70’s pattern.

On a brighter note, I suddenly realised that our shower curtain contains pink and blue stripes not a million shades different from Pantones Colours of 2016. There we are, I am ahead of the trend [I got the curtain from IKEA in 2008 – who knew it would come back into fashion again?]

UPDATE – I just read PomPom’s latest post, and seen her sunrise picture. I have decided that GOD does blue and pink far better than Pantone any day. Thanks PP!

 

Don’t Try This At Home!

This is the time of the year when people seem to be rushing to share their ‘top tips’. Some of them I have not heard before – others seem to come round every year. Here’s a few I have picked up recently – but I doubt I shall be using many of them.

This appears regularly – if you have  large piece of salmon to cook, wrap it carefully in tinfoil, and bake it in the dishwasher. Why? the oven is quicker, and you can check the fish as it cooks. This one seems definitely dodgy to me

If you have green coffee beans, you can roast them in your popcorn maker.

I have no idea where to source unroasted beans, and they are probably more expensive than the ones I get in Sainsburys [and possibly not Fairtrade either] However, Bob thinks one is worth trying out sometime!

Deal with under-eye wrinkles before the Christmas Party by applying haemorrhoid ointment. [to the eye area, that is] Eeww!

Milk of Magnesia is a much cheaper alternative to ‘primer’ before you apply make-up. Apparently “This can smooth your skin and make it ready for the application of makeup. This has oil-blotting properties that can reduce oil production.It will cure oily skin issues. Milk of Magnesia is also applied to the bride’s skin to keep the makeup looking fresh all day, looking flawless in photos without the need for touch-ups.”  It also makes you look deathly white, as if coated in calamine lotion.

Slightly more useful – if you are shaving [presumably this is for ladies’ legs, not mens’ beards] then you can use up hair conditioner or out-of-date sunscreen as a preshave moisturiser. I never seem to use up the whole bottle of sunscreen, this one makes sense.

Still finding things in the bathroom cabinet – how about repurposing dental floss, as an excellent way of stringing popcorn garlands to festoon the Christmas tree. Do remember to take the coffee beans out of the popcorn maker first though! Dental floss is also useful for restringing necklaces.

This was on Chris Evans’ programme on Monday – use your ironing board as a workstation when wrapping presents. Adjust the height and it helps prevent backache. I have done this for years – this is definitely a good one!

What is the best tip you have picked up this season?

And what is the silliest?

Order And Peace

Pantone has just released its Colour of the Year for 2016 – but for the first time ever, is offering TWO shades – Rose Quartz, and Serenity – [pink and blue]

As consumers seek mindfulness and well-being as an antidote to modern day stresses, welcoming colours that psychologically fulfil our yearning for reassurance and security are becoming more prominent.

“The soft pink and pale blue hues were chosen for their tranquil and welcoming qualities—just what many of us are searching for in our modern, stress-filled lives” says Leatrice Eiseman

“Inducing feelings of stability, constancy, comfort and relaxation, the seamless union of Rose Quartz and Serenity creates balance in a chaotic world by providing the perfect counterpoint to the fast-paced, fractured and hurried lives we live”

I am not sure I would be able to relax with a cup of coffee in a Pantone mug which costs £25, whatever colour it was. I suspect there may be pastel colours around here next year when the new baby arrives – but personally I don’t really go in for soft pink as a furnishing colour. The blue is just a little darker than the walls in our lounge and dining room. I do find that a calming shade, I admit.

In case you have forgotten, in 2014 they chose Radiant Orchid [purple] and in 2015, Marsala [reddish brown]

Are you feeling a little blue? or are you ‘in the pink’?

 

Fantastic Festival

Bob and I popped over to West Moors to look at the Tree Festival. It was fairly quiet when we arrived – but teeming with visitors when we left! The church chairs were stacked down the middle, with the all trees round the edge [and tea and coffee in the adjoining room]

So many trees, from lots of different groups – no two alike

Peace was a popular theme, and many trees had decorations on which people could write their Christmas Hopes and Dreams.

Others were covered with decorations hand made by the children [the Scouts were marking their boxing Day Duck Race]

I love the handprint reindeer with goggle eyes, pompom nose and pipecleaner antlers – and the angels with their paper doyley wings.

This Christmas Pudding under the Bowls Club Tree is a decorated bowling ball.

How hard everyone has worked. I suspect this may become an annual event. [and I shall have to start looking for ideas for next year’s UCF arboreal contribution]

Our own tree will go up at home this week I hope…

Pause In Advent 2015 #2

There’s a building site just round the corner. Soon after we moved in, they knocked down the used car dealership, and now they are building an M&S Food place. Watching the demolition, and the digging of the foundations is fascinating. And it is good to see that they take safety very seriously

But what struck me this week was the name of the company who are doing the building – it is on their Hi-Viz vests, and on their vehicles

“Hope and Clay” – it is a family firm, and the boss is, genuinely, called Bob Hope – I don’t know about the Clay part. But what a fabulous name for a construction company – building out of clay, with great hope! I go past this site every time I travel to the church premises, and it struck me that building God’s Kingdom is all about Hope and Clay too.

Christians are just ordinary human beings – not superheroes – but we do have Jesus’ power and love within us – like treasure in clay jars. And He has given us that amazing Hope to share with others. Wow!

Santa Napkin Tutorial

We are doing make-and-take craft tables at the Fayre, so I am going to teach people to make Santa Napkins. An old idea, but dead easy [and if you can’t sew, then you can always stick them together with PVA glue] The instruction sheet is below.

You need white fleece, and red napkins [I got these cheaply from IKEA] some Hama beads, pink felt, and some leaves, [mine are foil sequins, you could use green felt holly leaves, or even mini cake decorations]

The pink felt should be cut into a rectangle 3cm x 6cm. Attach the top circle with loose stitches so it can be removed before the napkin is unfolded and put to use. I found I got the best result sewing the red nose flat, but standing the black eyes on end before I sewed them down. If you are doing this with children and using glue not thread, then goggle eyes work well instead.

A pack of half a dozen of these would make a good gift for someone – or you might sell some at your own Christmas Fayres . They’re a good activity to keep the children busy once term ends.

This is a view of the back, showing how the strips fold down at an angle, in order to give the sloping sides to Santa’s beard.

Do have a go at this one – it is surprisingly effective and not difficult to do!

How To Recycle Airbags!

Not these safety devices

But the sort of packaging that comes wrapped round parcels

Bob’s been installing the new PA at UCF, and we seem to have a lots of parcels which include packaging arriving at the Manse lately. Bubble wrap is fine, brown paper is fine [see here] but until now, these rolls of inflated pillows have defeated all my efforts at recycling. I stand in the kitchen, with a skewer, puncturing each pillow, and then roll them up tightly and throw the plastic in the bin. Then this week I had a brainwave, and did some experimenting.

The pillows have a definite seam along one edge, and they are separated by perforations. If you snip just below that seam with your kitchen scissors, and grasp firmly, you can pull off a whole strip along the top. Then separate along the perforations – and you have a whole stack of small plastic bags. Now all I have to throw away is that strip – and the bags will be ideal for the small items I’m selling at the Craft Fayre.

[Apologies for bad pictures- photographing transparent bags is hard]

Another Project All Sewn Up

Valerie came with me to St Martins URC Church in West Moors this morning – and we decorated our UCF tree as part of their tree Festival.  Click on the collage below for a closer look.

There were a few other groups decorating their trees this morning [we were there quite early] and it was interesting to see the different interpretations. The PreSchool Tree next to ours had super handprints and peg angels made by the children, and on the other side, a Flower Arrangers’ Club had used silk poinsettias and silk butterflies. Ladies from the host church had covered theirs with conical handmade angels. [that is conical not comical!]

There was a lovely little crib scene at the front of the chapel.

I hope to go back and look at all the trees later in the week. The event runs till Sunday afternoon, at which point our tree will be put up in our church. I confess to a great sense of relief that it has all gone so smoothly, and looks so good – and cannot express my gratitude enough to all those who have worked so hard at this.

Scrappy Stockings

I was given a load of little bottles of shower gel and body lotion, with the hope I could make something for the Christmas Fayre. Having done my diamond decorations, I had lots of scraps of Christmas fabric left. So I used a combination of two techniques- Victorian Crazy Patchwork and machined nine little stockings. Speed was of the essence, so I didn’t do all the embellishments – and they are only patched on the fronts, the backs are plain felt – but I am happy with the result. Even the ribbons I used to bind the edges were scraps and short lengths. The IKEA display trees continue to prove useful!

It has been an up-and-down week thus far;

Up – I have managed to prepare lots of stuff for Saturday’s Fayre

Down – the house is a tip, bits of thread and wool everywhere

Up – I won 2 free tickets to Motorcycle Live at the NEC

Down – We were very tired & decided it would cost too much to go

Up – we were able to pass the tickets on to somebody else

Down – I had yet another rejection to one of my job applications

Up – a friend contacted me about a child needing Maths Tuition

Down – I smashed a pretty glass dish

Up – Bob had a tax refund

But I think the ‘ups’ are winning!

The Solitary Teabag

I am an old fashioned girl, and I do prefer my tea poured from a pot. That’s fine when there are two or more of us – but when I am home alone [frequently now Bob works from his office at Church] I have been pushing a tea bag around in a mug of boiling water. It just isn’t the same! So I have treated myself to a little teapot [I did have a ‘Brown Betty’ but it has gone missing in the move]

It’s a gorgeous retro Portmeirion pot, in the Fifi design. It cost me £1.80 in a charity shop.

According to the Sanderson  website “An original 50s Sanderson wallpaper Fifi was recently discovered in a customers loft where it had been hidden away for the last 50 years. The design depicts the typical hourglass silhouette described as ‘The New Look’  a trend pioneered in 1947 by one of the most iconic fashion designers Christian Dior who was very influential throughout the post-war period.” It has been revived on fabric and wallpaper, and Portmeirion produced some china. My teapot really should have a cup underneath – on a cute triangular saucer

I don’t really mind, the teapot on its own is quite lovely . It pours beautifully – a prime requirement of any pot.  You will notice in the collage at the top there is also a photo of a small square of cake. This is my Cornish Hevva Cake, baked at the weekend.

Fat Dormouse alerted me to the Cornish Hewa/Hevva/Heavy Cake after I posted about my trip to St Ives. Here’s mine in the tin

It was a really easy recipe, useful if you are short of eggs.It is a surprisingly dry mix, and you do need to push it down into the tin. I sprinkled mine with demerara sugar.

It goes beautifully with a cuppa, but it is quite crumbly. Thanks FD for this one!

Prep: 15 minutes, Cook: 30 minutes

250g Self raising flour

125g Butter

175g Mixed dried fruit

90g Sugar

50ml Milk

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C fan 170°C

Line a 8” square cake tin.

2. Rub the butter into the flour until it's the texture of fine breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and fruit and mix well. Add the milk and mix to a soft, stiff dough.

3. Press into the cake tin, pushing down firmly in the corners. Score the top of the cake with a sharp knife, making crisscross diagonal lines.

4. Place in the middle of the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

5. Remove from the oven and while still warm, brush with milk and give a generous sprinkling of  sugar. Allow to cool and cut into squares [16 small, or 9 generous portions]

To be really retro, I should probably sing the song ‘Tea for Two’ from the 1950 musical of that name [film starring Doris Day] – I wonder if my Cornish Bake counts as a ‘sugar cake’?

Oh, honey, picture me upon your knee
With tea for two and two for tea
Just me for you and you for me alone
Nobody near us to see us or hear us
No friends or relations on weekend vacations
We won't have it known, dear
That we own a telephone, dear
Day will break and I'll awake
And start to bake a sugar cake
For you to take, for all the boys to see

Tea for two and two for tea
Me for you and you for me alone