Making the world a prettier place

 At DD's pre school they are having lots and lots of building work done. Everywhere you look are the same dull wooden fences they have erected to separate the kiddies from the bulldozers (Very wise!). However one of the Pre school helpers decided they were fed up with all the grey dull fences and sent a note round asking parents to dress their small people in painting clothes.

  DD was a very enthusiastic artist and painted not one but three fences with gusto. What you can't see is that the backside of her is covered and I mean covered in paint!! She was so proud of her work though and insisted I take lots of pictures of her "work" for mummy's website.

 While she is there today I will be starting work on a new commission. A fabulous Christmas jumper for a friend of mine. I will keep you posted on my progress to keep me on task.

What have you crafted lately?

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Chive Icecube Preserving

  As the title suggests I have Chives that need storing. The delightful people at Waitrose reduced their Chive pots down to 15p yesterday. I only managed to grab one so it's important to make the most of it.
 Now the idea with these pots is that they live in your kitchen and you cut off and use what you need fresh. In reality your plant will be dead within 48 hours usually and useless. After several attempts of keeping them alive I have given up and just try to process them as soon as i can.

 First I cut them up into sprinkles with a pair of sharp clean kitchen scissors. 

Then half fill each section of an ice-cube tray with water and top up with chives. This part is pretty messy but it so much easier to add the chives to the water and not the other way around. Trust me on that one :)
 Pop in the freezer for a few hours until frozen and then tip them out into another container. Reuse the tray for the next batch and continue on until the whole plant has been processed.

 I like to add a cube to my wok while it's warming up for scrambled eggs. Chives are also fantastic with tomatoes, cheese and pasta.

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Getting ready for Xmas

 It's time to start stocking up and crafting for Christmas this month. I'm putting my best foot forward by stocking up on bargain mincemeat for mince pies and other scrummy things. I have also added this pretty blue and purple knitted scarf to the present cupboard. The grey/black and purple/pink will be added soon.
 A lady saw me knitting at the shop one afternoon and popped in the next day with the three wools above. She said she couldn't get on with them and they were destined for the charity shop unless I wanted to try them. I snapped them up as I love a challenge.

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Busy Days

Goodness me. I think September must be the busiest month of the year if you're a preserver.
Tonight we bottled our newest experiment.  Rhubarb champagne. It's proving to be very lively already and we will be  checking them twice a day for bulging. Exploding champagne would be a pain to clear up and an awful waste of tasty booze.
We are hoping to get them till Christmas but lets see how it goes

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The Busy Good Life

 It's been rainy and gloomy here at The Frugal Handmade Home. We ventured out this morning as quick as possible to get some sugar and milk before the heavens opened. We made it home with seconds to spare.
 So what to do? Both the girls seem to want a quiet sleepy day with blankets on the sofa and Disney movies on the TV. Hubby is pottering about doing odd jobs to distract himself from tomorrows big event, the funeral.
 So that leaves me with some novel spare time to do something. I decided to have a kitchen day.
So we now have 10 liters of Rhubarb fizz infusing, I will bottle it on Friday and hopefully we will have some delicious to drink nearer Christmas.

 I tried Elaine's recipe from here as our lunchbox pudding for the week. I have a feeling its going to be a little bit to crumbly though for easy transportation so may be hot pudding with custard instead. Either way it was a lovely quick and frugal recipe.

Another loaf of bread from the bread maker. We had a few slices warm with jam for lunch, it tasted heavenly.

 And yes I know it looks like pond slime but this is actually a huge jar of Rhubarb jam. It's tastes wonderful and is a welcome addition to the preserves cupboard jam stash.

 How have you spent your day?

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Today I have mostly.....

 Small Kilner bottle - 50p   2x Old books - Free,  2 Hand-knitted cardigans (1 in picture)

 ... been mooching the charity shops and freebie bookshop.

 .... modelling this knitting disaster! I makes me look like I'm several months pregnant again.

 ... adding my new books to my old book collection on the dresser.

 .... unravelling the monstrous cardigan for its gorgeous chunky wool.

... missing my baby girl as she heads back to pre school again. I didn't know what to do with myself.

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P.S - Our first lot of pennies has been banked today with the leftover from last months budget. A whopping £47.  Today I have added a £1 to the pot to get it off and running again.

Apples of my eye

  Isn't Freegle wonderful? If you've never tried it I really can't recommend it enough. Last night someone offered bags of apples to all who wanted some and today we picked up our share. I took my own bag as requested as they were all in buckets on the freeglers drive way. I should have taken two as we were promised a bucketful each and it was overflowing!

 Once home we chopped one up for a taste of our bounty. They turn out to be a very sweet desert apple, wonderful to eat fresh. 2 ended up being sliced and both DD and Baby D tucked in happily.

 But once I sorted the eaters from the "users" (bruised, dented, suspicious holes) I noticed my piles were getting suspiciously smaller and smaller.  I check under the table in case they were making a bid for freedom but no.... they weren't there. Hmmmmmm.

 What's this? Someone has been in my baking cupboard and getting out my muffin cases. Suspect one is asleep. Suspect two is in her bedroom.

 Suspect two has created a secret Apple cupcake cafe! Not only are they all lovingly washed in her toy sink and placed in cases. They are also being carefully baked in her toy microwave!

I must say her customers are all looking very satisfied with their apple cupcakes. DD has been careful to warn them that they are "very very hot so let them cool down first!". Did you know heffalumps liked apples? Me neither!

 I think these apples are going to take me a little while to process. I have to go hunting for them first! Everywhere I go there is a stuffed toy that's been served an apple cake from the DD cafe. I think I have a tiny entrepreneur on my hands.

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P.S - Added another 50p to the house fund today. Tomorrow we will pop it all into the bank.