Sew sew

Am feeling rather pleased with myself today - as well as actually making pie for tea (bacon, leek, cheese and potato, since you ask), I have finally finished a cushion! Yes, I know it's a small achievement in the grand scheme of things, but trust me, when the other highlight of your week has been a trip to the rather dull and smelly Pets' Corner in Jesmond Dene, then a fully finished cushion is not to be sniffed at. Anyway, here it is in all its glory.





I had to get my great-great-great aunt's Singer sewing machine out of retirement for this project, which was entertaining in itself, as it weighs about as much as a small elephant. But it does have very comprehensive instructions (printed 1930), which with many "shewns" and "theretos" allowed me to actually thread the damn thing up and sew a straight(ish) line. Not sure I could manage anything a great deal more complicated (the last time I did a proper bit of sewing was probably age 12 at school, when I made a rather pink, floral-sprigged nightdress), and usually I head straight for the wonderweb stuff that you iron on if I have to hem anything. But I found this fabric in the charity shop (its previous existence was as a tablecloth, apparently), and couldn't resist. One down, another one to go...whereupon the cat will probably throw up all over them, and I'll have to start again.

There but for the grace of God...

Remind me to always always look out for tigers... Thankfully the potty training hasn't started yet, so I'm spared the endless mantra of "do you need a wee?", but I'm sure it's only a matter of time...

Lego of it

This made me laugh a lot. Although, I reckon it must be a boy thing, this lego stuff. M forced me to play with the duplo today, and I was really bored after about five minutes. Mind, once you've stacked the dinosaurs on the top of a lorry 600 times in a row, it rather loses its appeal. We have a rather bizarre collection of duplo (hence the dinosaur) - a mixture of European farm stuff (my cousins live in the Netherlands), a set of cavemen, some dinosaurs, and a search and rescue boat/helicopter/aeroplane set up. Makes for some interesting scenarios...

Lady Marmalade

Or 'six-jars' Rach, as they will shortly be calling me. Yes, it's that time of year again, where those of us of the marmalade persuasion go in search of Seville oranges, preserving sugar and huge oven gloves to avoid being splashed when pouring the liquid inferno (can infernos be liquid, or technically should they be gaseous? Some kind scientist please reply) into ridiculously small-necked jam jars.

Anyway, I did it, and emerged unscathed. Although the oven gloves took a severe beating. Thanks go to the lovely Nigella for a tip top recipe (check out the photo on her homepage, and tell me that success isn't going to her head...).

Taxing

And so I return from the outer reaches of hell, otherwise known as the Inland Revenue Self-Assessment website. Whose navigation is only known to a few hardy souls who braved the concentric circles of help and faq pages, and reached the prize of Bill Payment.

Call it intuition, but I think I know which side their developers would be on in the three-click debate.