Birthday Boy ...

Yesterday was my little boy's birthday. He's just turned nine. Nine! His last year in single digits. Where has the time gone to? It seems as though it were only yesterday when he arrived in this world, and at the same time it seems like a lifetime ago since I became a mum.

Yesterday nine years' ago, on the morning of his birth, the good folk of Ealing were woken from their sleep by a huge explosion at the Buncefield oil storage depot down the road in Hemel Hempstead. They say that the explosion was heard clearly by people in Belgium and France. It made a phenomenal noise. I remember it very clearly: I was in the maternity ward in Ealing hospital, feeling the onset of my labour pains. I was with a group of other expectant mums and we were all curious to know what had happened, but none of us had too much emotional energy to spare on fretting about who might have been affected, or what might have happened. Sirens wailed, and a nice nurse told us there had been an explosion. I remember lying there thinking that my baby and I should at least be safe in the hospital. Even in the darkest days of the Troubles in Northern Ireland the people with bombs hadn't blown up the hospitals.

Then twelve hours' later my little bundle of joy arrived, and I knew immediately that my world had just become a better place. I have never done drugs, but I don't think any chemical stimulant could ever compete with the high, that feeling of complete and utter elation that followed the birth of my first and only child. All the pain of the delivery ward was forgotten in an instant, and the only thing that I could think about was this precious new life that I held in my arms. 

Yesterday was also Emi's last day of school. They ended at midday with a final assembly at which everyone sang Christmas carols and cheered like crazy kids about the House Cup (an unprecedented three-way draw).

After a birthday lunch we went for a walk in Walpole Park, our local park here in Ealing. It was freezing, and I do mean proper Siberian wind-chilled freezing. A weak sun hung at an awkward angle in the sky blinding everyone who walked into it.

It was bleak. There weren't many people there who didn't need to be there. Lots of folk cut through the park to get from one part of Ealing to another. It's a bit of a thoroughfare. I often walk through it with the Wonder Dog when I'm picking Emi up from school.  A bit of green space is always a welcome change from the bustling streets.

We saw this lady (photo below) struggling home with her dog, her bike and her newly-purchased Christmas tree. I hope she had a lovely time decorating it at home in the warm embrace of a blazing fire.

In the evening Emi had an invitation to another party, and today he's been invited out to lunch by his Tiá Jenny. Jenny is one of my dearest and closest friends, who's an honorary auntie. She's taking him into town for a proper grown-up lunch, and then they're going to see the Christmas lights. He's loving the importance of having a lunch-date!

All the best for a lovely weekend,

Bonny x

As shared on Friday Finds

A Christmas tree Christmas tree ball ... and not writing Christmas cards ...

Phew it's been a busy weekend. We had twenty little chums over to celebrate Emi's 9th birthday with a Scalextric Grand Prix party. It was brilliant! If you're in the London area and looking for a boy's birthday party idea this one's a winner.

We went to PitStop Promotions in the Northwood Hills, where the lovely Sam, hosted a joint party for Emi and his best friend, B. He did a great job of keeping everyone busy all the time, which was easier said than done given that only eight out of the twenty boys could race at any given time. A dozen pairs of idle nine year-old hands could do disastrous things to his very expensive racing kit unless they were kept out of mischief. Happily Sam rose to the challenge and the chaps who weren't racing were usefully employed as track marshals. And, boy, did they like their grown-up titles. Track marshal sounded almost as good as racing driver. If a car came off its designated track they had the all-important task of picking it up and putting it back on again so that it could continue in the race. Spread out around the (very long) track the marshals were each responsible for keeping the cars going over a metre or two of the race. And by the second race every last one of them was an expert in marshalling.

If you're interested in using Sam and his company, you can find their website here: Pitstop Promotions.

I'm still struggling with my Christmas cards. I seem to be very behind. Other years I've managed to do some photo cards to send to close friends and family, but this year I've totally missed the boat on getting my own cards printed.

Today I raced up to Bicester to buy presents for some fashion conscious friends. Bicester rocks, but it gets so busy at this time of year. I arrived at half past nine, and, whilst I didn't have the place to myself, there weren't that many people around until about half past eleven. Then it really filled up. I decided to go home when I was asked to wait outside one shop because there were too many people inside. It didn't seem to be crazy busy to me, and I had a strong suspicion that the doorman was just being a bit of a jobsworth, but, as I refuse to queue, I gave up and called it a day. To be honest a couple of hours looking at clothes shops is pretty close to my upper tolerance limit anyway. I don't understand those people who go to the shops for a day/ afternoon out. Unless I want to buy something I'd really rather not be there at all, and when it gets busy with everyone pushing along with their elbows out: I'm so outta there!

As it happens I got a lovely present for each of the people that I set out to buy something for, so my outing was a great success. Maxi the Wonder Dog waited patiently for me in the car, because the kill joys who run the place have an anti-dog policy. I did think of telling a little white lie (OK, a great big whopper of a black lie) about him being my assistance dog, but, as he usually travels through crowded areas in my tote bag to avoid being trampled I thought we may not look totally convincing in our assisting/ being assisted roles. 

Yes, I can assist by barking at cats, or barking at people wearing hats <really doesn't like hats> or ... well, just barking...

And in between baking birthday party brownies (much more practical than cake), not writing Christmas cards and doing some Christmas shopping I have managed to knock out another Christmas tree ball. 

Ta-dah! My Christmas tree Christmas tree ball:

If you fancy making it here's the chart for how it knits up:

The method is the same as for my Union Jack Christmas tree ball, so check out the link if you need any more instructions. 

Anyway, happy knitting, and all the best for now,

Bonny x

As shared on Creative Mondays

Advent count-down ...

I've been really busy this week ... knitting balls for my Christmas tree, shopping for pressies and waiting for the delivery man to arrive with on-line purchases.

The Christmas tree is up and looking very twinkly. We all love hanging out in our cosy little den, where it holds pride of place, as we snuggle up to the fire. The weather has finally woken up the fact that it's winter, which has helped get us all into the festive spirit. Emi's got another week of school, but he's already de-mob happy as they've done all the end-of-term assessments this week and he feels as though he's just cruising for the holidays.

He's going to be nine on 11th December, and this Saturday he's having his birthday party with one of his best friends, who also has a December birthday. We've got twenty of their chums pitching up for a Scalextric Grand Prix party. Everyone is very excited, especially Mr B, who is really enjoying this second opportunity to play with boy's toys. 

Lego-made model of the Queen Mary

They (Emi and Mr B) went to the Brick 2014 exhibition last weekend and came home so enthused about all the projects that they were going to make. Indeed Mr B spent much of his Sunday afternoon googling the best type of glue - yes, glue! - to stick their masterpieces together with, so that they would never have to be dismantled. Eeek! This is beginning to sound a little bit scary. I'd hoped we would all grow out of the Lego phase so that I could smarten the place up a bit: big boxes of Lego and half-built projects littered about don't always hit the high design notes that I might otherwise aspire to. 

Lego-made model of the space shuttle

One of the things that they talked about for ages and ages was the Cube Stormer 3, a made-entirely-out-of-Lego computer that can solve a Rubiks cube in under three and a half seconds. It all sounded a bit unlikely to me, but they had made a video of the machine in action, which they showed me to prove that it really could do what they claimed. I've actually found a better video on YouTube: Cube Stormer 3 Video, which includes an interview with the engineer who designed it and a demonstration of what it can do. It's kind of incredible that someone should spend their free time building something as complicated and eccentric as this.  Whilst my heart goes out to his wife, who appears to have lost the use of her dining room for quite some time, there's a little part of me that thinks it's really cool for someone to be so passionate about such an odd thing. It kind of epitomises the best of British eccentricity. And I can say that because I'm Irish, not British, and therefore not patting myself on the back when I make the statement ... . 

Cube Stormer 3

St. Pancras Station - in Lego

Lego City - in Lego

Whilst my boys have been busy following their Lego dreams, I've been busy doing my own thing. I've made a load of Christmas mincemeat, which will be useful for knocking out some mince pies when friends pop in over the holidays. With a bit of ready-rolled puff pastry in the fridge I'm all set for those impromptu visitors who drop in over the holidays. I can knock out sausage rolls and mince pies in a flash.

And how do you like my trio of retro-chic knitted Christmas tree balls?

The first one is a Christmas Cockerel. You can find instructions on how to make him here: Rudolf, the Christmas .... cockerel (!) He was originally supposed to have been a reindeer, but somehow the nose looked much more like a beak, so I did a bit of jiggery-pokery (technical term in knitting) and turned him into a Christmas cockerel. At a stretch we could even pretend he was the main course for the Big Day ... .

Number two was a little homage to the Union Jack. OK, maybe some imagination is called for ..., but if you'd like to make it the pattern is here: Union Jack Christmas Ball.

And, finally, number three is my Christmas Diamonds pattern.

Emi is getting so enthusiastic about all this drawing on squared paper and knitting up the picture business that he's designed a Christmas Ball of his own. It features a Churchill tank with a great big gun mounted on a turret. As a festive motif if may be limited appeal save in the case of an esoteric audience of eight, soon-to-be-nine year-old boys who play World of Tanks on line.

Anyway, wishing you all a great weekend,

Bonny x

As shared on Friday Finds

How to knit another retro-chic Rudolf, the red-nosed ... cockerel ... Christmas ball ...

OK. I'll be honest this one was originally intended to be that famous old red-nosed reindeer who saved Christmas with his luminescent nose.

But you know how things don't always finish up how you'd envisaged? Well, by the time I got past Rudolf's nose it looked more like a beak, so I did a quick change around; four legs became two, and I managed to persuade myself that what had started out as a set of antlers could pass for a rather splendid cockerel's comb.

So what do you think?

Anyway if you'd like to make it, here's the chart: 

The method is the same as for my first Union Jack Christmas Tree ball. 

If you're looking for inspiration you might also like my Diamond Christmas tree ball, Cinnamon stick tree decorations or my Dried Orange Slice Christmas tree decorations.

All the best for now,

Bonny x

As shared on Creative Mondays

How to make another knitted ball Christmas tree decoration ...

Another day ... another ball for the Christmas tree ...

These could get seriously addictive. They're straightforward to make, pretty quick to knock out and I've got loads of that wool left ... so I could be going on this theme for quite some time. 

If you liked my first Christmas ball (link here: Retro-chic Christmas tree ball pattern) you might also like to make a second one to keep it company.

The method is exactly the same as last time, just substitute this chart pattern in place of the previous one: 

For more detailed instructions please refer back to my Retro-chic Christmas tree ball pattern.

It's looking lovely hanging beside my orange slices. You can find a link on how to make them here: Dried Orange Slice Christmas Tree Decorations. They look like little orange church windows.

And look who's in charge of Christmas tree ball quality control: 

All the best for now,

Bonny x

How to knit retro-chic Christmas Tree Balls ...

It's beginning to feel a bit like Christmas ... over here at Talk-a-Lot Towers. We've got all our Christmas decorations down from the attic, and we're busy putting them up. 

Yesterday as I was waiting for my Christmas mincemeat to cook I had a go at knitting my first Christmas ball to go on the tree. It's kind of cute and retro, don't you think? 

I'd had a vague idea of what I was going to make, and I'd gone down to Bunty's, my lovely local wool shop, and asked for some wool that would match the Christmas ribbon that I'd used to trim the dried orange slice decorations and the cinnamon stick decorations that I'd made for the tree last week. I don't want it to look too matchy matchy but I think that the ribbon will tie everything together without hitting a jarring note. 

Anyway, I found some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino in colour number 340037 (which is the dark red/ burgundy) and some Peter Pan Merino Baby in colour number 3031 (which is the lovely cream colour). They both knitted up on size 3 needles. I thought they ought to work pretty well together, so I brought them home for the project. 

The ball is knitted on five needles: four active ones to carry stitches and a spare to knit each row onto. I've drawn a diagram of how it knits on each one of the four active needles: 

Each square represents a stitch. The squares that are white are knit in the cream wool and the ones that I've coloured in with pencil are knit in the red wool. You can see a line of ticks down one side where I've ticked each row off as I've knit it. 

The first thing you need to do is cast on 12 stitches, and divide them between the four active needles.

Knit the first round, joining the circle, and being careful to keep the joining stitches on each corner reasonably tight so that you have even tension. The second row is just plain knit stitches as well. On the third round you need to add one stitch at the end of each needle, by knitting into the connection loop from the previous stitch. Remember that the pattern above applies to each of your four needles. The left hand side (looking at the paper) is the start of the row on the needle, and the right hand side is the end.

Now just keep going, following the pattern above. 

When you're finished cut the wool, leaving enough to crochet a chain to fix it to the tree. Draw the wool through the remaining 12 stitches on your needles, but don't pull it tight. 

Darn the small aperture shut at the opposite end of the ball, where you started.

Turn the ball inside out, and secure and darn in any loose ends. 

Gently, using a little stuffing at a time, stuff the ball with filling. I used a soft toy filling.

When you've got enough filling in the ball to make it plump, but not too stretched, draw the wool tight through those last 12 stitches to close the opening and secure it with a few darning stitches. 

Crochet a simple chain with the wool that remains and fix it with a darning needle to make a loop that you can hang over the branch of your Christmas tree. 

I finished mine off with a bow that I thought would match the Dried Orange Slice Decorations and the Cinnamon Stick Decorations that I've already made for my tree.

And that's it! Ta-dah! You've made a Christmas ball for your tree.

All the best and happy knitting, 

Bonny x

How to make Christmas mincemeat ...

Today my kitchen smells so good I don't want to go out ... .

I'm making my Christmas mincemeat, and the smell of fruit and spices is truly wonderful. It's the very aroma of Christmas itself, and totally guaranteed to restore your Christmas mojo if you're struggling to get excited about the festive season.

If you'd like to give it a go, it's really easy, and you can keep it in preserving jars to give as gifts or to use as and when people pop around for a catch-up over the holidays. At this time of the year I keep a few packets of pre-rolled puff pastry in the fridge so that I'm all ready to go if I need to scramble and knock out some mince pies and/ or sausage rolls at short notice.

Anyway here's what you'll need if you'd like to give my mincemeat a go:

Ingredients

1 large navel orange
1 large lemon
1 large Bramley apple, cored and chopped into smallish cubes. There's no need to peel it.
400 g mixed dried fruit - you can chose your favourite combination. I used: 125 g of dried barberries; 200 g mixed peel; 75 g of golden jumbo raisins and 100 g of black sultanas]
175 g of soft dark brown sugar
50 g almond slivers
150g shredded suet. I like to use Trex, a low-fat vegetarian alternative.
Grated nutmeg to taste
2 heaped teaspoonfuls of mixed spice
3 tablespoonfuls of brandy

And here's what you'll need to do:

1. Mix all of the ingredients except the brandy in an oven-proof saucepan. Grate the orange zest and lemon zest and add to the mixture. Juice the lemon and the orange and add the juice to the mixture as well. It is important to have everything mixed really well.

2. Place the lid on the saucepan and cook in an oven, pre-heated to 150º C, for 3 hours. Take it out halfway through and stir well. Then return to the oven for the remainder of the cooking time.

3. When it's cooked remove from the oven and allow to cool down, stirring it regularly as it cools to ensure that the fat coats everything evenly. Don't worry if it looks like it's drowning in fat: that's normal! Add the brandy, and stir again to mix it through.

4. Bottle in sterilised jam jars sealed with wax seals.

You should sterilise your jam jars by washing them thoroughly in warm water, drying them on the outside only and placing them open end up, in an oven that's been pre-heated to 150º C for at least 20 minutes. Wash the screw top lids and place them inside side up in the oven for 20 minutes also. I explained how to do it here: Clementine and Cardamon Marmalade.

All the best for now,

Bonny x

The last week of November ... a recap on the week that was

I can't believe that we're almost ready to start opening doors on the Advent Calendar. November has flown by.

It's taken an enormous effort of will, but I haven't officially put up any Christmas decorations yet. I've been itching to ... but, so, far I've more or less held the line. There have been a few purchases made with the holidays in mind, and I have been busy making decorations for our Christmas tree.

The weather here has been grey and miserable - so, the Wonder Dog and I have reined in our wanderings and stayed close to home. One day we oven-dried some orange slices to make these decorations, which glow warm and orangey with a twinkling fairy light behind them. You can read my post on how to make them here: Dried Orange Slice Decorations. 

And then we made a few cinnamon parcels, using the same rustic-looking hemp string and ribbon, to compliment the orange slices on the tree.

You can read my post about the cinnamon here: Cinnamon Stick Decorations. 

Together they create a timeless old world look. Using the same ribbon for both helps to tie the overall design together. 

I like to keep things simple and not too commercial. I hate acres and acres of plastic and tinsel, so there'll be lots of homemade alternatives, and paper chains. I've bought some lovely, ready-cut papers and not-so-messy glue dots so that Emi can get busy and have a go at engineering some decorations too. I chose my words carefully these days. With judicious use of a verb like engineer, which sounds nice and heavy and grown-up and masculine it's amazing what I can talk the little chap into doing.

Christmas came a little bit early on Monday as I took delivery of my new handbag camera, a Canon SX60 HS. I'm really pleased with it. If you're interested, you can read my review here: SX 60 HS Review. 

The Wonder Dog and I took it out and about during the sunny interludes, which were few and far between, but it did a lovely job of capturing the autumn tints in all their colourful glory. 

With all the mild weather, autumn seems to be holding onto her foliage well past the normal threshold for winter - not that I'm complaining. 

The Wonder Dog had his photograph taken more times than he would have liked to. In the end he went and hid under the kitchen table, where I'm sure he knew the light was terrible. He's smart like that, the Wonder Dog. 

I tried some still-life compositions of the chaos that is my desk. It's amazing: I have a huge desk, but somehow it's always a struggle to find space on there to do anything. It's kind of like Dr Who's TARDIS, only it operates in reverse. 

Today I'm off with a chum to the Black Friday sales. I can't say that I've noticed Black Friday before. I know it's a huge thing in the States, where people get through Thanksgiving and then turn their minds to how few shopping days remain until Christmas. As we don't celebrate Thanksgiving it's never really featured, but I guess with these hard economic times the retailers are having to try every trick in the book to shift their merchandise. 

I'm not the world's most enthusiastic shopper, so I know that I'm going to come home feeling exhausted. I've made a big pot of roasted winter vegetable soup, which I'll serve up to the troops with some nice fresh bread. Hopefully it will get everyone fed without too much further effort on my part. You can find my recipe here: the very best roast vegetable soup. It's a real corker of a soup!

Anyway I'd better push off and put my best foot forward as those bargains won't buy themselves. 

All the best for a splendid weekend,

Bonny x

As shared on Friday Finds and image-in-ing

Cinnamon Stick Christmas Tree Decorations ...

I know. I know. It's much too early to put up the Christmas decorations. It's still November for crying out loud. I mean, you've got to at least wait until St. Nicholas Day on the 6th, haven't you? Otherwise it all just seems a bit too ... enthusiastic and unrestrained.

But the thing is. Yikes! I love Christmas. It's a time when all Irish people who possibly, physically can, go home to the Old Country - Mother Ireland, and all that. And by jeepers it's a wonder she doesn't sink under the weight of all us wild geese as we disembark from our various ferries and aeroplanes. It's a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful celebration of life. We all go home, party, catch up with everyone and it's just brilliant. You can't blame me for looking forward to it.

Anyway this morning I was out doing the weekly shop when I saw the cutest little potted Christmas tree. Just a little one, you understand.  I knew it would look absolutely perfect on a strange wall that leads into my kitchen. As it was technically just a pot plant, and not a fully paid-up Christmas tree, I reckoned that it would be fine to bring it home in November.

Then when it arrived in the kitchen it looked so bare that I had to thread it up with a few fairy lights that I just happened to have lying around. And then I got a few of the smaller dried orange slice decorations that I made the other day, and tried them out for size. (You can find the link for making them: here. Suddenly it was starting to look rather splendid, but I thought it needed a little something else.

I rooted around and found a bag of cinnamon sticks, and set about tying them into little bundles with my hemp string. I didn't do anything fancy: just a double knot around the sticks, tied at the ends to make a loop to go around the branches and prettied up with a little bit of ribbon to match the oranges.

So that's it: they're pretty, really easy to make, cost next to nothing and they even smell nice into the bargain. What's not to like? You can even chose your ribbon to make them co-ordinate with all your other Christmas tree decorations.

Oh, and I'm definitely, positively not putting any Christmas decorations up until it's at least December ... .

All the best,


Bonny x

How to make dried orange slice Christmas decorations

Down here in London it just keeps raining and raining and raining. We're getting really fed up with wet feet and muddy paws. So to keep our spirits up we're looking forward to December when we can get going and deck the halls with boughs of holly ... . 

Yesterday we had a go at making these little beauties:

In fact we made a whole big bunch of them. Here they are hanging on the stem of my desk lamp: 

They look great: simple, traditional and understated, with their little ribbons and rustic hemp string ties; all very shabby chic. 

If you'd like to make some for the Big Day, they're really easy to cobble together.

You'll need:

2 big oranges (should produce about 12 to 14 slices)
baking paper
hemp string
parcel ribbon

You really need to start the day before by slicing your oranges into straight slices that are about 1 cm thick.

Place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Heat the oven to 50º C, and place the tray of orange slices in the oven for several hours. The longer you can leave them in there for, the better will be the result. Mine spent the better part of the day drying out in the gentle heat, and then I switched the oven off left them in it to cool down gently overnight.

This was how they looked the following morning:

When I held them up the light they were lovely, and I thought happy thoughts about how pretty they'd look on my Chrimbo tree illuminated with sparkling fairy lights.

Now all you have to do is string a little bit of hemp string through each slice and you'll be half-way home. I threaded the hemp string through a darning needle. 

And then pierced a hole in the orange and drew the string through with the needle before cutting it to the length that I wanted.

Then I joined the two ends of the hemp string with a knot, and prettied it up with a piece of ribbon tied in a bow. And that's all there was to it.

In my photos I've shown them hanging from various knobs and knockers around the house, but the big plan is to put them on the Christmas tree once I get it installed ... which is going to be one day very, very soon. 

I've got a few slices left over that I could use in some festive pot pourri. They'd look great with some pine cones and a few pot pourri roses. 

All the best for now,

Bonny x

And if you liked the orange slice decorations, take a look at my cinnamon stick decorations too: Cinnamon Stick Christmas Tree Decorations

As shared on Creative Mondays