Sunshiny Day

The glorious sun has been shining merrily on our island for the last two days and it is even warm enough to go without a coat, providing you brace yourself a bit against the still-fresh breeze.  Still, after the misery of a months long winter, we can put up with that for a little longer.  And now it is May!  A beautiful month where things really start to happen all around us; the hedges are bursting with greenery and tiny flowers and the birds and bees are doing their thing.  Love it!

Crafting of the fabric sort has been a bit thin on the ground in this house lately.  In fact, I haven't done any since before Christmas, due to trying to make candles and soap for my little (tiny) business and look after a growing family and a messy cottage and two dogs etc, etc, so the other day I had a few hours in which to fiddle about with a bit of fabric and some thread and I came up with this.

I love vintage style lavender bags.  I remember having them about when I was a child.  I think mum placed them in drawers and hung one or two in the wardrobe too.  This one has a little inner sachet that I filled with grated peach scented candle wax and some dried citrus peel.  I hang it on the bathroom door, more to look pretty than anything else, and it doesn't disappoint.  Well, not me anyway.  H1 asked what the bag thing was doing on the door handle.  Huh, that is my creation, vile boy!  Once explained he seemed content enough though.  Men!

Anyway, while I was hand sewing the aforementioned item and getting in a pickle with it and wishing I'd never started, it dawned on me that while I love fabric and hand sewn items, I am not all that keen on making them.  I mean, I love them when the making is over, if I've got that far, but I don't enjoy sewing for sewing's sake; it's the end result I want.  Probably why I make candles and soap, I can be creative without too much pain!  Ah well, to each his own.

One thing I am fairly good at and it doesn't matter too much if something goes a teeny bit wrong, is baking.  I wanted to make a simnel cake for Easter, but I didn't get round to it, so even though Easter is long gone I made a simnel cake today.  It is a little bit squidgy in the middle, due probably to an extra thick slab of marzipan I put in, but otherwise all seems well.  I don't suppose I will have any complaints from the children when they come home and ask what is for tea!

I was then in the mood for making something else, so to go along with the extra thick bread I bought for our new toaster, I made lemon curd.  Yummy!

There was a slight moment of panic when I must have had the gas too high as the eggs were starting to scramble, but I managed to rescue it and strained it through a sieve before putting it into the jar.  There is a bit left over for supper toast too!  Lemon curd doesn't last long and 3 lemons only make 1 jar, so it's the kind of thing to make and eat straight away.

It will soon be time to walk to school with MAL to fetch H2 but as the sun is still shining happily, I will take a cup of tea in the garden and enjoy the peace before it is broken for another day.  Hopefully it will stay fine so we can all play in the field after tea.  We stayed out last night until eight; the first time we've done that this year.  Pea and H1 want to watch the School of Hard Sums tonight at eight, so we will have to be in for that. Not that I care, I couldn't cope with the School of Easy Peasey Lemon Squeezey Sums.

Enjoy your day and thank you for reading. xxx