most secluded beach

oh can you believe this is in scotland. Don`t think I would like to go for a paddle brrrrrrrrr

in reference to: Sandwood Bay, north-west Scotland - Where to find the world's most secluded beaches (view on Google Sidewiki)

Whoohoo its the weekend, done the cleaning up and the washing. Its now me time. My plans involve a movie, plenty of tea and maybe a wee bit of chocolate.........

A wee something for you lovely people. These brownies are so moist and keep for about a week in a sealed container. Hope you enjoy mmmmmmmm


CHOCOLATE BROWNIES



Preheat oven to 180 c/ 350 f/ Gas 4

Grease a 8in-8in square tin.


6oz Butter
9oz soft brown sugar
5oz dark chocolate

Melt above ingredients. I do this in the microwave for just over a minute. Might need 1 more minute.

3 eggs beaten
2-3 ripe bananas (mashed)


Stir the eggs and mashed bananas into chocolate mixture.


4oz Self Raising flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder

Sift above ingredients into chocolate mix. Fold in well. Spoon into prepared tin.
Bake for 30 mins. Cool on a wire rack.

Topping

150gm milk chocolate
1 tbsp Margarine
1 tbsp icing sugar (sifted)
1 tsp golden syrup

Put all ingredients in microwave proof bowl. Melt for 1 minute, stir and put in micro for 1 minute more. If mixture has split put in the juice of 1 orange.

I cut the brownie in half and put some of the topping in the middle, very yummy but so rich.

flower bed throw

Finished at last.......been working on this throw for ages. Only 297 flowers crocheted and then joined together what took me so long......... I made the flowers from a pattern in Jan Eatons 200 blocks. Works lovely as a throw at the bottom of my bed.

Have so many ideas on what I want to do next.

charity shop bargains

I was lucky enough to find these great books. Lots of great inspiration for just £5.
Oldies but goodies. My British Heart Foundation has loads of fab books, the great thing is they always sort them into different categories.

Perfect Scones

I love to bake and have spent a long time looking for the perfect scone.......I have found this recipe. It works out everytime and they taste delicious.

12oz Self Raising flour
3oz butter

Rub butter into flour until you have fine crumbs.

3oz caster sugar
3oz sultanas


Add sugar and sultanas into flour mix.


Now this might seem a bit weird but please trust me on this it is the reason these scones work, not sure how but it is something to do with the lemon juice and the milk reacting together. Was never very good at science...........

1 tsp lemon juice

I add this straight into the flour and mix well


100ml milk (heat in microwave for 30 seconds

Make a well in the middle of flour.
Add milk to flour mixture and mix with a metal knife until well combined.

Press mixture out with your hands till it is about 2cm (approx I use my cutter as a guide the same height). Mixture should not be too dry or too wet. You will get 5 big scones or 8 medium scones out of this mixture.

Cook for 10-12 mins at 200 degrees

enjoy straight from the oven slathered (don`t know if this is a word) with loads of butter. Or let them cool and serve with cream and jam.

TIPS FOR PERFECT SCONES

1 Be gentle with the mixture (Do not over work the mixture this makes scones heavy)
2. When cutting mixture press cutter into dough and pull dough away from cutter. This will make them rise level.
3. Too much liquid will make them spread , too little liquid will make them very dry and crumbly. A wee bit of practice will let you find the perfect amount.

finished baby cover

I love Granny squares so made a cushion to go with my decor. Think it worked out well, teddy looks comfy...............


This has turned out more the size of a pram cover love it though. This was very quick and easy to do. The stitch came from Jan Eaton`s Compendium of Crochet Techniques. The stitch is called Treble Crochet Stitch.

crochet 018

crochet 018,
originally uploaded by bbabs1.

This is a cross-stitch cushion I designed a while ago. Very simple design with lovely colours.

cozy day

As the weather is horrible here, grey, rainy and windy. It is my day off, looking forward to finishing of my baby blanket, drinking tea and planning further blankets. Should really work on my unfinished stuff, can`t seem to settle my mind at the moment. Seem to have loads of ideas flying around in my mind. Stay warm and dry xxxxx

Mrs twins been trying to send you an e-mail about blankets for the elderly, would love to make some squares for you xxx

Back to crochet

Been itching to get back to crochet so decided to start with a quick and easy project. This is going to be a baby blanket, I bought the yarn from Lidl ages ago and been trying to find the perfect blanket, think this one will be cute. Going to finished it off with a lovely edging.

finished cushions

Finally finished my cushions, I can`t remember where I got the kits from but they are by a company called Vervaco. They do a lot of stunning designs.

yeaaaaaaah postie has been

Postie has just delivered me more presents. Love Nigella Lawson and have quite a few of her books, Her recipes are so easy to follow and taste delish. Also got treated to all the twilight books, saw the first movie and thought it was fab. Don`t they all look pretty, looking forward to starting them. Oh my just watching the weather it is going to be -8 tonight brrrrrrrrr and apparently getting colder later on in the week oh goody.

A wee sneaky peak at a few WIP. Don`t know what I am going to do with the hexagon one (inspired by attic 24) done in dmc cross-stitch threads. The other one is going to be a blanket for my bed. It is done with a pattern from Jan Eatons 200 squares.

Just need to finish my current cushion and can get back to crochet. Got loads of inspiration from my christmas presents, a few more crochet books to add to my growing collection.

Back to work today in the snow and ice and we are meant to be getting more of the white stuff...... looking forward to spring a wee bit to go yet though.....

As promised these are a few cushions that I crocheted a couple of months ago. Love the colours, made them with with dmc cross stitch threads.

Loving doing the cushion so fast to cross stitch

for the love of crochet

for the love of crochet

Thought I would share with you my current WIP. I love cushion in all forms especially needlepoint. I have a few crochet ones that I will share with you soon. Hope the New Year is treating you all well

Enjoying my second last day before I have to go back to work. Have had 10 days of and having left the house just 3 of those days mainly because of the snow but also because I have done loads of crafty things and finally finished a few projects.

First message for my new blog

Been following loads of blogs over the last year and decided with the new year now is the time for me to start my own blog. I love to crochet, needle point, cook, bake and read.