Sunday 29 September 2013

More hedgehogs!


Happily not in the context of us finding them underweight this time.

This hog has spent a lovely summer in the care of City Wildlife and is ready to go back into the wild. She weighs about 1.4kg! 
We made her comfortable in the hedgehog box after picking her up last night.


I think I saw her a bit later, snuffling around the bird feeder, but the boxes were both empty this afternoon so she obviously sought out more interesting accommodation. We did have a big hog visit tonight... but one hedgehog looks very much like another ;) 




Saturday 28 September 2013

Moshi Friday


Had a lovely time yesterday afternoon: left the cats and the long-suffering boyfriend to fend for themselves and went to meet up with the utterly lovely Hilary of the rather famous Moshi Moshi Blythe clothing range.

We went to Tredegar House, which is one of those places that I've lived rather close to for the last 5 years but I've never actually visited! It's a rather pretty place and does a very good National Trust cup of tea... It's also got a good collection of craft shops in the old stables so we had to go and have a look in Busy Bees, which sells a good range of patchwork cottons and other exciting trinkets. 

Of course, some of our small models came along too: 

I think Melchie felt rather underdressed! 

I managed to come home with some little bits of lovely fabric and a lot of tips on how to sew tiny clothing neatly. Given today is looking thoroughly rainy (although Fitbit dictates I *shall* go for a run at some point), I think I'll see what I can come up with... after a bit of Alpha Centauri, perhaps :) 

Friday 27 September 2013

Wingnut

Finally got around to giving the 'nut a bit of colour.

Wingnut

Wingnut

Not entirely sure yet what I'm going to do with her body. I might decide to blue it up, in which case I'm going to give her Melchie's corpse (horribly stained in a sharpie-related incident). Decisions, decisions. 


Tuesday 24 September 2013

Crumble!

I love Autumn. You can keep your cold frosty winters, gradually unfolding springs and steamy summers, I'll take crackling leaves and golden evening light and morning dews any day. 

Today I had a bit of a wander and managed to come back with about a kilo of these beauties: 

After a bit of a bath and some time for the resident fauna to wander off... 

Mmmmm. I froze 3/4 of them, and the rest I turned into a glorious crumble. Which is completely against the diet, but meh and blah, I don't care :) 

Here's the recipe! 

Blackberry and Apple Crumble
Serves 4, approx 350 calories or one 2.5k run per portion (eeks)
Ingredients: 
250g blackberries
450g Bramley apples
50ml water
2tbsp granulated sugar
180g plain flour
90g golden caster sugar
90g unsalted butter, cold

1. Heat your oven up to 180 deg C/160 deg C fan
2. Core and slice the apples. No need to bother peeling them. 
3. Cook the apples in a pan with the water and granulated sugar over a medium heat for about 5 minutes. Bung in the blackberries and let simmer over a low heat whilst you make the crumble. 
4. Mix flour and golden caster sugar in a bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces and rub into the flour and sugar using the tips of your fingers. Don't worry about lumps! All the better in crumble. 
5. Spread the fruit over the base of an ovenproof dish, then sprinkle the crumble mix evenly over the top. 
6. Bung in the oven for 45-50 minutes until the top is golden brown and the fruit bubbling up through. 

7. Add a dollop of your favourite naughty creamy adjunct and devour (low fat creme fraiche in this case, which works beautifully), whilst feeling very smug. 

Don't forget to tell the fitbit how bad you've been ;) 






Monday 23 September 2013

Sunday 22 September 2013

Wedding!

It's come and gone, and despite trials and tribulations, Lord and Lady Hedgehog were fully costumed and had a terrific time. Haven't found any photos specifically of us just yet, nor have I extracted my own shots from my camera, but here's one nicked from the book of face of the happy couple. 


Of course, I now have to clear the decks and tidy up the various bits of sewing detritus that have spread themselves most unaccountably all over the house.

The complicating factor is, as is natural for me, as soon as I clean down one project I can't help but start thinking of the next. Just so happens this year's Hogswatch is going to rather neatly fishtail with the 50th anniversary of Dr Who, I think it's safe to suggest that I might have a cunning plan... 

Tuesday 17 September 2013

Progress?

I've got half an overdress. Now I just need the other half and the underdress... but at least there are hedgehogs :) 



Sunday 15 September 2013

Aaaandbreathe...

...Pfoof.

Dad is out of the hospital.

I've managed to have a couple of productive evenings and have only got a small percentage of the necessary sewing for next weekend's wedding left to go.

The Long-Suffering Boyfriend continues to be amazing.

I've got 12 consecutive days off coming up as of Thursday.


:)

Tuesday 10 September 2013

A bit of a bloggiday.

We've had a frantic time of it here recently with both of us having new jobs, taking various postgraduate courses, trying not to murder the neighbours, looking after demanding catdudes etc. and just as I was about to start to relax about the sewing for this wedding wot we is going to and take a big breath, my Dad got admitted to hospital rather unwell (and the disadvantage of being in my RealJob as Dr Duckie is that you know what all those big and scary-sounding words actually mean) last weekend. He's alright for a given value of alright, lots of tests on the go and a bit of improvement today, but it's still not ranking as one of the all-time best 48 hours ever!

So not a lot of time for Makies! Plink, Melchie and Wingnut are behaving themselves impeccably and looking after the Beastlies. We'll all be back on the blog as soon as this latest hair-tearing experience is over and I'm not having to spend weekends diving back and forwards to Wiltshire. In the meantime, feel free to make with the kitten photos to cheer us all up! 

Here's a cat photo for inspiration. 

We'll call it an indeterminate length bloggiday at the moment. I honestly don't know when I'll be back providing regular content for you all, but the focus has definitely shifted in the last few days and something had to go, albeit temporarily. 

Keep smiling, stay happy and give your family members the biggest hugs you can manage! 

Wednesday 4 September 2013

Cutting out...

Making a start on Lord Hedgehog's coat. 


Supervised by Sir Bagpuss, of course.