Saturday 29 December 2012

A New Year & A New Direction!

Does anyone else feel like me...that they just don't know where the time goes (a great Dylan/Judy Collins song!)? I can't believe that the last time I actually had the time to blog was over a month ago, not that I really have time right now either, with a houseful of family (11 of us, I think!), a joint cooking in the oven & the veggies to get preparing, while the men are in the local rugby club discussing the important things in life that will no doubt get sillier & sillier as the pints are consumed!

A girl needs a little bit of peace & quiet though & before I start the marathon of feeding them all, here I am with my laptop, some nuts & a LARGE gin & tonic, making a very quick blog post...if nothing else, just to let you know that I am still alive & kicking......just!

I have had absolutely NO time to get my clays out to make food as the making of the real thing is almost all consuming with so many hungry people in the house  BUT since my visit to the desert in March I've had a couple of schleich kitties sitting on my workbench waiting to get a nice wooly coat. They started life as conjoined twins, but after a few operations with my scalpel to separate them & a little bit of clay to give them new tails & the odd new paw, they were ready to "get dressed"!

Scraps has been a little naughty & raided the wool basket, getting himself wrapped up in wool in the process!


While Tiger has been even naughtier & has pulled over the goldfish bowl when no-one was looking but is sitting next to it trying to pretend that the overturned bowl, with fish flapping in the water has absolutely nothing to do with him at all!





I can see that there will be more little animals getting new coats in 2013!

Wednesday 14 November 2012

A Christmas Commission!


At Last! A finished Christmas cart...there were times when I didn't think I'd actually ever get it finished! I seemed to be making & icing cookies for weeks & was at risk of severe eye strain in the process :-). I do hope my mini friend who commissioned it loves it as much as I do....but then, if she doesn't then I get to keep it myself because I don't think I'll be making another of these in a hurry!

Ta Da..complete, but difficult to photograph!

Cookies, cookies & more cookies!

A choccie Santa, gingerbread men & gingerbread house!





Tuesday 2 October 2012

Sun, Sea & Sand....(& plenty of Mojitos!)...here I come!

It's that time again, thank goodness, when I'm off to the desert to stay with my youngest & the new baby....not so new anymore, but 6 mths old now & becoming her own little person. So I thought that before I go ( a week today & too much to get done before then...help!) I'd leave you with the last few things that I have been working on!
Recently, apart from a slight diversion into toffee apples, or caramel apples as they are known Stateside, I've been in a really fruity mood!

                                                           An overload of fruits!

                                                        A bowl of pears with a branch.

 

 A bowl of plums & a branch!

                                                 A bowl of cherries & a branch......this is getting monotonous so, finally, "Making Toffee Apples" featuring a magically "floating" apple in the process of being covered in yummy toffee!



These will be appearing on eBay in the near future, after all, I need to be able to pay for my holiday in the desert! LOL

Monday 24 September 2012

It's been ages........

Where on earth does the time go? I can't believe that it's so long since I blogged...it seems like only yesterday that I was making fruit trifle, not over 2 months ago! It'll be Christmas before I know it!

I've been making some Halloween "bits" recently, even though Halloween isn't big over here in the UK, it's still fun to put some pieces together!
 Indispensible for any self respecting witch.....some severed fingers preserved in formaldehyde!
 Some moist Graveyard brownies!
& some good old cupcakes decorated for Halloween with a fondant witch's hat!

Saturday 14 July 2012

Fresh fruit trifle!

I've had the resin out again & this time there were no heart attacks or any other distractions to bother me...apart from the fact that I swear I'm beginning to go rusty!  It has not stopped raining for over 2 weeks now & when I say "raining", try thinking monsoon-like rain.....but without the heat! It actually stayed dry yesterday so I managed to get the grass cut in most places...there were other parts of the garden though that were no-go areas...unless I wanted myself & the grass cutter to sink, never to be seen again!
I began to get excited today.....grey skies, but no rain....how silly can I be.....guess what...yep.... it's absolutely chucking it down again

Anyway, even though it is a dessert that I wouldn't thank you for.....I can't stand anything "cakey" in desserts & the thought of soggy sponge fingers drenched in alcohol, lurking in underneath the lovely fruit filled jelly & whipped cream, is enough to make me run a mile!

I much prefer the miniature version of it......it's not edible & therefore safe!




Monday 9 July 2012

Hundreds of clams, setting resin & heart attacks!

This time last week I was totally oblivious to the chaos that was going to engulf me the next day & was happily making loads of tiny clams.....a long, drawn out process where each shell is made separately, baked, a tiny clam added, baked again & then finally the 2 shells put together &baked once more.  On the Monday night, I heaved a sigh of relief...all was ready for mixing the resin the following morning & FINALLY putting the "Making Clam Chowder" together!
Tuesday morning dawned with still no inkling of things to come...the hubby seemed his usual self & went off to cut his elderly parents' grass (taking advantage of a very rare dry day!) & I happily mixed up the resin for the chowder.  BIG mistake!

I had just filled the pans & sour dough bread bowls & was just about to add the prepared clams when he came home.....now anyone who works with resin knows that there is a "perfect time" to add things to it to stop them sinking to the bottom & out of sight.....my resin was just at that stage when my hubby decided that he would suffer an MI (heart attack)...pretty inconsiderate timing I would say! :-)  You can imagine the organised chaos that followed....a call to the ambulance service...2 of which duly arrived, which was just as well as the ECG monitor in the 1st one kept saying "No Battery", 20 mins later we were off with blues & twos blaring to our nearest cardio hospital 45mins away.  I've always wanted to be an ambulance driver as in no way could I be described as a slow driver & am in love with the idea of peeps getting out of my way when I want to get somewhere! LOL......getting to ride in one was the next best thing I suppose!

4 hours later the hubby was out of emergency surgery having had a 12" clot removed from his coronary artery, a stent fitted & saying that he felt better than he had done for a long time! You'll be relieved to know that he came home 2 days later & almost a week later seems to be making a very good recovery! Just as well as you might have guessed that I'm not the best nurse to be had!

Meanwhile back in my workshop, my resin had set beyond the point of being able to add anything to it & I was about to despair....all that work wasted...see why I call the timing inconsiderate! LOL.....the good news, however, is that with a bit of effort, I managed to save all my work of the few days before & against all the odds, my clam chowder was completed....& I had enough clams left to put together a pan of simple steamed clams.  So all is well (at the minute).........both hubby & clam chowder are well!



Friday 29 June 2012

A little bit of game!

I've been feathering pheasants over the last week, I sold out of all but a mallard drake on my website months ago & have just never found the time to sit down & replace them. When I tell you that each & every feather is scaled down & added one x one to a polymer base, you might understand why I sometimes "drag my feet" when it comes to making them! I have to be in the mood!

 A Brace of Pheasant hanging traditionally!

 A hen pheasant on her own!

 A lying cock pheasant

& finally, a cock pheasant on a log.

So I finish them & am all ready to sort out my website, only to find that the damned website server appears to be down...grrrr....not only can I not work on the site but can't even access it.....they'd better get it sorted soon otherwise there will be smoke pouring out of my ears!

Thursday 21 June 2012

Lots of little jars!

I seem to have been filling lots of little jars over the last few months so I decided that a little shelf full of jars would be cute & I knew that somewhere in my stash I had just the little shelves.  It took me longer to find the shelves & then paint them than it did to make the jars! One of these days, I'll surprise myself & be so organised that I know exactly where to find things!



Eventually though, they were worth all the effort...I love them! :-))

Saturday 2 June 2012

Hundreds of tiny peaches!

I have been making peaches.....by the hundreds it seems! Whole peaches, half peaches, peaches with stones, peach slices......I think I mixed just a little too much clay & there was no way I was going to waste it! Here a few of the pieces I put together will all those peaches! :-))






I think it'll be a while before I make any more peaches!

Saturday 26 May 2012

Jain Squires' drunken old lady!

As promised & if it hadn't been for you Patty...I'd never have remembered!....here is my special KDF purchase.A fabulous drunken old lady by the talented Jain Squires of Giddy Kipper Dolls

http://giddykipperdolls.com/Welcome.html

I have great plans for her....all I need now is the time to actually put them together...so don't hold your breath on seeing anything in the near future....it could take me years! :-))





I just love her wrinkled old face & the fact that she has no teeth in & has passed out clutching her bottle of brandy...my kids say that she reminds them of me...charming!!!

Tuesday 22 May 2012

Limeade for a mini friend!

I've got the refreshing homemade limeade now all I need is some sun & hot weather to go with it!

The wonderful Phil at glassscraft made the little carafes & glasses for me & all I did was make the rustic wooden tables with the limes & lemon on & fill the carafes & glasses! Makes me want to have the real thing!




Monday 14 May 2012

Freshly foraged mushrooms....

I'm still away in London after a flying visit to see 2 of my kids.....managing to fit in a quick, but expensive visit to KDF on saturday as a buyer & not a seller this time! It was good to take a look at all the fabulous works of art displayed there & to meet up with some mini making friends! I came away with a fabulously different little character from Jain at Giddy Kipper dols & when I get home & sorted out I'll be showing her off...I have great plans for her...now all I need is the time to put the plan together.... In the meantime, before I left for London I managed to finish a little barrel of foraged 'shrooms & here they are!

Thursday 3 May 2012

Who can't help but love fresh rhubarb?

About the only good thing about this cold, grey & miserable weather we are suffering in UK for the past couple of months is that my rhubarb has never looked (or tasted) better than it does this year! It seems to be thriving in this miserable weather!.....are we ever going to have some warmth...I'm seriously beginning to think that we will never get summer here this year!

You know by now that I like to make a mini of my food faves of the moment so here's one of the little baskets that I made in the quiet moments of "new baby" duties filled with freshly picked rhubarb..although I have to say that the leaves on my real rhubarb are 3 times the size of the mini variety!


At the same time, I'm still going through a craving for cheese...any cheese, at any time! Last night's offering to my craving was a delicious baked Camembert &....yes, you guessed it...I made one in mini too....:-)


Saturday 28 April 2012

A wedding cake for a cheese lover!

Sometimes it's really good to make something that isn't a sweet or pretty cake & as I am a fanatical cheese lover.....although sadly, due to a severe allergic reaction to blue cheese, I can no longer eat it, even though I'd love to, I decided to make a cheese tower. Now I have done these before, but this time I decided that the end result would be a cheese tower wedding cake, lavishly decorated with grapes, apple slices & tomatoes.....



I managed to get it finished & photographed before I headed out to get the grass cut, as for one day it has actually stopped raining....the weather here is enough to make me want to shoot myself...the forecast for tomorrow is yet more heavy rain & gale force NE winds..worse than mid winter & it's late April...where on earth is the sun! I blame our wonderful government...they declare "drought" & place a hosepipe ban on the South of England & since then it's never stopped raining! Maybe I should shoot them instead.......

Monday 23 April 2012

I'm thinking about summer arriving!

I am so sick of the constant cold & rain that we are experiencing here in the North East of England that I've been trying to cheer myself up by pretending that the soft fruit will be ripening soon.....at the minute what blossom there is is in grave danger of being frozen!
So here's my little bit of summer in case we don't actually get a summer at all!


Wednesday 18 April 2012

Tomatoes!

It's been a while since I got to my blog.....I'm not a good blogger at all, but in my defense, since I got back from "the desert" I've had my oldest daughter & her family here for the Easter break!
Now that they've gone home & the house is mucked out & back to normal..(it's too quiet now!)I'm slowly getting back down to some "work"!

Today it's been tomatoes!


Hopefully it won't be as long before the next post.......

Friday 6 April 2012

"New Baby Duty" baskets!!

It just shows what you can do in between cooking, stocking freezers & helping a new mum with her new baby! There is nothing nicer than sitting in the lovely hot sun early in the morning while everyone is still in bed & weaving a few baskets!
I can't believe that in the 3 weeks I was there I actually managed to weave 15!

Hopefully I'll get back to work soon as I have a few outstanding orders to finish that had to be put to one side to fly out to the "desert" but that's more of a struggle than I had first thought as I'm still shackled to the cooker as of course it's the Easter holidays & my oldest daughter, her husband & 3 kids are here for 10 days!

Thursday 15 March 2012

Real Life Miniature!

One day old & isn't she cute! If only they stayed like this all the time!

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Smoked fish anyone.....

I spoke too soon about being finished with the "fishy" things! It's actually so nice to be working on savoury pieces rather than the always popular sweet things.
This is a 5.5cm x 5cm board of all kinds of smoked fish, one of 2 that I've been asked to make..the 2nd one is in on my workbench in progress now & hopefully may be finished tonight!



I hope my customer likes it!

Sunday 4 March 2012

The real & not real!

I just love it when I can take a photo of the real thing with one of my minis on top & luckily the good old Hubby had got himself some hot cross buns (I hate the smell of the things so rarely buy them!) just as I finished making this little basket...so he had to wait to eat this one until I'd got a decent photo.....he wasn't happy!




Now all that's left is the mini variety that he can't eat! :-))