All-sorts and an Apology

Hello Lovelies,
here I go with a rather odd mixture of a post. I'm starting with a crochet ta-dah but this one also comes with added guilt....I promised you lovelies a tutorial to go with this ta-dah but after uploading tons of pics and gradually adding written instructions something went wrong with the post and it would not save due to "form errors".
I lost the whole darn thing ...arggggh!! I'm afraid I just cannot face re doing it at the moment, it had taken me ages and was nearly finished...I felt like crying when it disappeared !! Instead I will endevour to do a written pattern soon , I hope you lovelies understand.

I thought you would like to see my "Sail Away" crochet decoration any way, so here we are

Ta-dah.........

I LOVE the way it looks so at home with all my previous makes and my Mums colourful painting. It's a favourite corner of my home this area above the tumble dryer :0)

This simple  decoration with it's cute little boats , a shiney sun at the top and a fishy at the bottom really makes me smile when I enter the room.......

I love how the sun turned out , with its spikey rays . Cute buttons in the centre add interest ........

Next subject....baking......

The wet ,cold weather is still with us at the moment and yesterday seemed like a good day to spend some time in a warm kitchen.As does today !
I've had some sad looking,dried up raisins in my cupboard for a while now and on Friday I had a brain wave about what to do with them....make a tea loaf. You need to soak the fruit overnight in tea so that remedies the  dryness . Here are my gathered ingredients , including raisins which have already been soaked and plumped up beautifully.........

I followed this simple recipe , I love this sort of baking....not too many ingredients and a simple technique...bung everything in a bowl and mix :0) My version  was very economical with just raisins, i used ordinary tea too. Next time I might use a mixture of dried fruit like apricots, dates and cranberries.Chopped nuts would also be good I think.

Sadly I'm not an enthusiastic cook but there is something about baking that I love ...probably that it is not a daily task but an optional activity....and I do love having nice baking paraphanalia. My latest modest purchase is this blue melamine bowl, it's the perfect size for loads of uses and I just love the colour ( mine came from T.K. Maxx )......

Once I put my cake in the oven , I had to leave the warm kitchen to the younger generation , who equally seem to enjoy the baking experience :0) these were decorated without any input from me..........

The slightly odd looking butterfly cakes on the right have lemon curd in them ....very nice !!

Here's how my tea loaf turned out....it's yummy , there is no fat in the recipie but I'm sure it would taste great spread with butter :0).......

do you like my cute owl tea towel, it's flown half way around the world and is from the very talented  Claire. 

Lastly a bit of running for those of you who are interested. I was surprised and delighted with all your fabulous encouraging comments on my last running post.
This week I have been running in the rain , it's been hard to avoid ! but actually I really don't mind it . Once you get warmed up it's quite refreshing especially when the weather is mild. I just have to psych myself up to get out there to begin with.........

O.K. I don't actually go out in a downpour but light rain is not a problem .This picture was taken a couple of months ago and I remember being really elated at the end of this run ,I'd much rather run in the cold than heat...makes me feel ill.

As I've said before I'm not a fast runner , but distance running  is not a sprint, it's about pacing yourself and slowly building up your fitness so you can cover greater distances without feeling shattered.
This running thing is certainly addictive once you see some progress in your ability :0)

I've recently found some excellent advice for those who want to start running here. There are lots of links to follow on this page and I need to heed some of this wisdom myself :0)
And do check with your G.P. before starting any running programme.

I wish there were more running blogs I found interesting . I've been insipred to add a bit of running to my craft blog by the lovely Fleur, who combines the two very successfully I feel.
Here's hoping there will be no rainy pictures in my next post :0)
Jacquie x