The kitchen smells delicious from the smell of cupcakes, lemon cake and pastry 😋
No good for my diet! But it would be rude not to have some after all that effort 😉
Hope you have a lovely restful Sunday!
XxP&TxX
#patterjackandtweed #home #countrystyle #cottage #cottagestyle #mycountryhome #cornerofmyhome #baking #cupcakes #smellsdelicious #mummyscooking #sunday #sundayfunday #sundayvibes
It's finally the weekend! It's been a busy week but very productive!
The children have been out all morning flying their aeroplanes in the garden - only had to jump over the fence twice to retrieve from the woods so that's pretty good going!
I have been photographing my beautiful macrame designs and started the drying process for my red cabbage dyed cord ready for knotting up later!
It's only 10.18!! Best put the kettle on!
What are you doing today?
XxP&TxX
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Today I did a bit of experimenting in the kitchen. This time, not to do with baking or recipes, but dyeing cord!
The macrame cord I have is 100% cotton so an absolutely excellent candidate for dyeing.
Cord can be bought in different colours but many of these are made using nasty chemicals. Not my scene!
Raiding my cupboards, I found the perfect components to try out some gorgeous colours. *Red cabbage juice *Turmeric *Worcester sauce
*Red chilli powder
I mixed these individually in a small tin of boiling water and placed in my offcuts of cord.
Leaving these alone for 5 hrs was hard! I wanted to keep lifting them out and seeing how they were doing but I was very good!
The colours are beautiful and have created some beautifully soft natural colours, just look at that pink from the cabbage.
I shall wash them in a salt water mix to 'fix' the colour permenantly.
Getting creative with every day ingredients! I will be raiding the cupboards for more!! Which is your favourite?
XxP&TxX
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One of my new years goals, is to master Macrame. A lovely craft that I've been wanting to master for a while.
Following a few tutorials and books, I've managed to learn 3 knots.
On social media, we are always desperate to show the 'perfect us' and never anything that is less than perfect.
My first macrame hanging isnt perfect, I need to space the knots out a bit better an practise my tension, but for a first go.. I'm pleased :-) You can follow my craft and home journey on the Patterjack and Tweed Blog (link in the bio), Instagram and Facebook.
You are sure of a warm welcome!
XxP&TxX
#patterjackandtweed #home #countrystyle #cottage #cottagestyle #mycountryhome #cornerofmyhome #ruralbloggers #macrame #firstattempt #learningprocess #teaching #craft #bloggers #handicraft
A stunning frosty morning here in Dorset. Revealing some of my spring bulbs making an appearance!
Frost tipped daffodils, hyacinths and bluebells spotted this morning as I scrape the ice off my car!
New beginnings on the way!
XxP&TxX
#patterjackandtweed #home #countrystyle #cottage #cottagestyle #cottagegarden #garden #bulbs #flowers #jackfrost #cold #cottageGardendiary
School day mornings are manic to say the least.
Getting the children dressed, fed and ready for school can be quite a challenge. Breakfast is one of those things that can either add to the chaos or provide a moment of calm amongst quiet munchings.
An easy peasy breakfast for a chilly early morning is Slow Cooker Porridge.
A good friend introduced this to me a while a go and its utter genius!! No need to stand at the hob thinking about a million other things that need to be done next. It's ready to go as soon as you are awake.
Ingredients:
Porridge oats
Milk (almond or soy also works if dairy free)
Sugar, salt (whatever your taste is)
Dried fruit or chopped apple
Spices to taste (apple and cinnamon, sultana and cinnamon is good too)
Method :
The best ratio I have found is one cup of porridge oats to three cups of milk.
For my three children and I, I put in two cups of oats and six cups of milk (you can replace two cups with water if you are low on milk or prefer a less creamy porridge)
I stirred in some cinnamon sugar and chopped apple.
This is simply put into the slow cooker and flicked on to the lowest setting over night (8hrs)
When you wake up there is not only a hearty healthy breakfast ready, but the amazing smell of warm porridge. Heavenly!
If your are working to a budget, I have roughly worked this out at £0.56p for all 3 of us ( 2 cups oats, 2 cups of milk, the apples were from my tree frozen in the freezer so free, and I already had the cinnamon sugar in my baking cupboard) this would obviously be lower if you substitute the milk for water. I don't know the price for almond or soya milk I'm afraid!
Let me know if you give it a try! The empty bowls here speak for them selves!
XxP&TxX
~Make do and mend~
~Rationing~
~Frugal~
All terms that are derived predominantly from War time living. But, theirs is not the only generation that have had to cut back to get by. Many families know these hardships now, almost 79 years to the date of the first rationing (8th January 1940) when bacon, butter and sugar were rationed.
I was brought up in a very traditional rural household. We didn't have buckets of money, but we didn't need it .We made everything from scratch for our meals. We were lucky enough to have an orchard and several vegetable patches over the years. The summer months were an exciting time - how many strawberries would appear on the enormous strawberry patch? What colour would the beans be inside the broad bean pods. Would the cucumber plant actually break out of the greenhouse this week?
I am proud to say, that although by no means an expert, I have succeeded in providing my children with not too dissimilar memories. The excitement of the first courgette, runner bean picking and checking for tomatoes is an exciting shared pastime in our home come summer time.
I refuse to pay extortionate prices for something I am more than capable of growing. We are lucky enough that we do have the disposable income that generations before did not have, and some do not now. It feels extraordinarily wasteful to spend so frivolously.
Jack Monroe is a fabulous blogger and cookbook author who knows the financial struggles all too well. She has budgeted and cooked from scratch for herself and her little boy. Growing herbs on her windowsills and creating delicious meals, on just £10 a week.
As you know, I am hugely inspired by the frugality of war time living, cooking and homemaking. Jacks book is quite literally a Frugal homemakers dream. Healthy nutritious meals on a shoe string.
I highly recommend adding this book to your collection. It is a purchase you will not regret.
XxP&TxX
