Curtains and knitting!

Scarf for my little man for his first day of school - knit 5 pearl 5 - as for the letter, don't ask, it was trial and error!!!

The wool is from a cool shop in Naas called Treasure;
tel 045 843527, just beside AIB - and for those of you like me that can only do Plain and Pearl, there are knitting classes and groups you can join - give it a go! 

My Mothers recipe for Brown Bread - it can't be beaten!!

It's so easy to make, takes ten minutes to prepare.
Total cost for 2 loaves approx €0.95cent, dep on brand of product you buy!
Cooking Time: 45mins

No appliances needed, only a bowl and a fork!
P.S. Just double the amounts for two loafs - easier cos 1 is never enough! (can be frozen).
P.P.S. Use bun tins to make scones if you prefer!

1. 1 1/2 average coffe cup of wholemeal flour
2. 1/2 cup self raising flour
3. 1/2 cup wheatgerm
4. 3/4 cup whole bran - you can get this in Eurospar or Superquinn ( try not to use really fine stuff)
5. 1/2 lite of buttermilk - just buy Tescos own brand
6. 1/2 teaspoon of bread soda
7. Olive, Sunflower or Vegetable Oil (don't buy especially - use what you have)

Chuck 1,2,3,4 & 6 in a bowl! Stir together. Add buttermilk and stir again!
Use loaf tins - Tescos are €5 each. Put a little oil in tin and rub around edges with your fingers, pour in the mixture to 2/3 of the tin. One tip I would suggest is the deeper the tin the better the bread! It Rises!

Cook at 180deg for first 15mins and then reduce to 160deg for last 30mins. If you have a fan assisted oven put a bowl with water on the top shelf (oven safe) to stop the bread from drying out.

Wait til cool and remove - Voila!!!!!!
Homemade Brown Bread you will love, and alot cheaper than buying it!

Out with Old and in with the New.....FOR FREE!!

Just a quick little tip I wanted to share. If ur like me and always changing ur mind about ur household furniture or even better just getting bored with it and love buying new stuff but cant afford it, then ur gonna love this!!
Just upload any furniture u dont want anymore on http://www.donedeal.ie/ sell it off and with the money u make....go shopping for new stuff!! Its only e3.00 to upload up to 10 pictures and stays on their website for 2 months!!
I sold my sitting room suite on it for e400 and bought a whole new one for e395! Then I sold my kitchen table and chairs for e350 and bought a  new one on sale for e300...result, obviously I bought myself something nice with the change!!

Great website for selling anything from baby stuff to old tvs!! No more throwing away make yourself some easy dosh instead!!

Enjoy shopping!!

http://www.donedeal.ie/

Yummy Wild Mushroom Soup!

The best mushroom soup ever. I made this while I was away in Canada for Christmas Day and it was the nicest reminder of home ever! It's so easy to make and tastes yummy, plus, any leftovers just freeze and reheat when u want it.
P.S make a big batch, I guarantee ur gonna want more!!

Click here for recipe!  Yummy Wild Mushroom Soup!

Make a REALLY easy Roman Blind - honestly!!

Roman Blind - Not difficult - with a little patience and  a glass of wine to the ready once your done - or half way through if you're feeling really confident!!

My kitchen window needed to have a blind mainly to hide the fact that I still don't have a proper garden! Before you say - 'no way I could make that' - read this - 

1. Measure 1 large bit of fabric for the outside (the fabric you will see when its finished) 10 cm wider and longer than the window frame
2. Do the exact same thing with a piece of lining, or just put your coloured fabric on top and cut around!
3. Put the two pieces right side facing each other and sew on both sides and at the bottom, 10cm in from the edge.
4. Turn inside out and iron! while you have the iron fold 5cm neatly under like a hem on the top part you haven't stitched and stitch in matching thread 1 cm in.
5. Then divide your finished piece (depending on the size of your window - more for longer) into 4 or 5 equal lengths like steps on a ladder and mark each line across from one side of the blind to the other with pins or a pencil! this is where the wooden strips go, like tiny curtain poles. Fold the fabric over on the line and iron, you'll need to do this for each line, i.e. 4 of them dep on how many you want! See fig 1! The cm gaps will dep on the length of your blind/window so ignore the actual figures on the diagram.
6. Stitch each line from lining side 1cm in : see fig 2,
7. Buy stick on Velcro, its so strong you don't need to sew it!

   

   fig 2

   

   fig 1

8. Stick Velcro across the width of the top of the blind.
9. Get your hubby to measure a piece of wood the width of the window and screw to the top of the outer edge - or you can do it yourself if you have a drill!!!!!!
10. Stick the opposite side of the Velcro to the wood - it doesn't matter which side you used on the blind.
11. for the rest of the instructions follow this really easy to follow link! 

Roman blind instructions in case mine are crap!

I started and finished mine in 2 days! And I only started to sew a few months ago!

PLEASE NOTE: this is my first time trying to explain work that I'm only learning to do myself, feel free to let me know if there is an easier way to make them, or better way of explaining things - I promise you won't insult, that's what this site is about!!!!!

Covering my Sofas!

This is one of the sofas in my kitchen area that had cream covers. 3 dogs and a small boy later it resembled a mucky brown and needed to be covered. I got a ridiculous quote to have it covered and to get upholstery fabric (which is what I was told I would need) would have cost just as much. So, I headed to IKEA (my fav store as anyone who knows me can confirm) and got lovely heavyweight fabric for €80, enough to cover both sofas and can go in the machine. I had a Brother sewing machine (2 years old, very cheap and a dust gatherer) a book from the library about making curtains (which was no bloody use) thread, scissors, and no clue where to start. Took off the old covers, cut out some fabric with my fingers crossed and sewed 4 big 3D squares, and I swear thats how easy it was. the back that sits against the couch is open but you cant see it, I'm not brave enough to do large zips yet so they have ties on them! My only advice would be to try it once with cheap fabric or lining before you cut into the good stuff! Try an old cushion or somthing small first, I would love if we started trying this out ourselves instead of paying someone else ridiculous amounts to do it!

Below is the finished product after about 3 days of sewing on and off - the sofa was too shallow so I removed the large back cushions, tore them up and used the filling to make smaller ones with some fabric from a designer I love called AMY BUTLER, a link to her fabric is in my links section!

Ta Dah!!

Baby Stuff

For any of you that have, will have or some day hope to have a little addition to your family then I think this is the best and cosiest invention ever!! Its called the Lodger Baby Sling that works from birth to approx 15 months and they are made of fleece.  It works as a sling from newborn which is great for your back and then a really handy carrier that sits under their bottom for when they get bigger! Comes in fab colours and I just bought one for my new niece or nephew!!! Cant wait!! They're hard to get in Ireland and the best stockist of them is Baby Biz in the Naas Shopping Centre near Marks and Spencers! THey can order a colour for you and are super helpful! The link below is from the Lodger site, you can't buy from there but you can see the collection of colours!! Enjoy Mum's and Mum's to be!!

Link Lodger Baby Sling

Fireside Knit

If you have seen the film 'The Holiday' then like me you would all want the cardi that Cameron Diaz wore, it was made by TSE Cashmere and this is a replica pattern for it, haven't dared to try it yet, think it would look better in cream though!! On my - when I learn to knit - would love it LIST!!!

Cardi Pattern