A new frontier....in craft fairs

My new venture, organising and partaking in craft shows in Blackpool and surrounding Lancashire areas, for too long I have attended craft fairs where the venue hasn't been right or the other stall holders didn't make much of an effort, they wasn't advertised properly or something else where it became a shambles, it rely frustrated me that all the time and effort I put it had been wasted so chatting to my friend we came up with the idea of doing it ourselves, we are handpicking stallholders to make it a wonderful fair, there will be a mix of retro, vintage and handmade, from patchwork quilts to lovely owl cushions, we are also having a vintage teashop area, complete with fine china and embroidered tablecloths, please could you pop over to my blog for it and see what you think, I'm hoping to share stall holders web pages and blogs, have guest posts and mini interviews, thanks for taking the time to look x

http://craftyvintage.blogspot.com/

MMMMmmmmm pie, owls and knitting!

Since going gluten free, I have tried out a few new recipes which I wouldn't of dared before -silly eh!, my triumph of the week had to be this gluten/dairy free egg flan, the flan dish came from the car boot for 20p and I made the pastry base, this was pretty tricky as gluten free flour is quite powdery, I managed by pushing it out with my fingers rather than rolling it out in one piece, I then whipped up 5 free range eggs, some oregano out of the garden, bit of salt and pepper and into the oven it went,

 meanwhile I made some harrissa roast potatoes, basically I mix oil, balsamic, chilli powder, cumin, S & P, chopped mint into a roasting dish and then boil potatoes, sweet or ordinary spuds will do, until just done then whack them in the roasting dish for around 25 mins, gas mark 5 until crispy, I'm telling you they are the most delicious thing ever

 I served the flan and potatoes with rocket from the garden and Abel and Cole carrot and toms, yummy! I was so lovely, Ive since made a flan with red onions and sage added to the eggs, that was blummin' great as well. I love food and cooking and eating but most of the time I forget to take pictures.

Ive been making owls this week too, I adore owls, and make all different varieties to sell at craft fairs, they are my best seller, everyone else must love owls too, in fact if you do check out this site, owl heaven!

 This week also saw the launch of a craft community shop being set up in our town, Aunty Social has been set up by friends who knew there is nowhere to meet except pubs/clubs etc for the younger crafters, so they have managed to transform a dusty empty shop into a warm welcoming bright venue, we all helped by either cleaning, painting or decorating and it was launch night on Friday, that's me next to my painting and standing in front of the zingy cupboards I painted. Its a great location, has lots of areas for different zones like sewing etc. The unfortunate and in fact bloody terrible thing is now the council have said we have to vacate by this Friday as the is some legal issue with the old tenants ( who have been gone 9 months), what bollocks, before it was stood empty and unloved and now its lovely and it can't be ours. We are having a knit in on Wednesday in protest, wish us luck!

Some yarn bombing opp our shop x

How does your garden grow.....

We have a reasonable sized garden for a house in Blackpool and even though in the past have grown veg, we didn't make the best use of the space we have, so a couple of months ago we gutted the garden, moved the pond, cleared out all the junk that had accumulated and saved the things we would use like tyres.
the only plants we left in were the bluebells that were just peeking through and the blackcurrant bush, there wasn't much else growing or worth saving. I got 20 willow plants off ebay from Scotland and planted them along the back fence in the hope that when they grow tall the neighbours will be blocked out a bit. We also got some pallet's and spent a long time, days in fact taking them apart and sawing them to size to make some raised bedsIt also took ages trying to fill them with compost, 2 of my compost bins spread between the 4 of them did nothing at all, we collected horse manure for free from a farm and my friend donated bags of cow manure each time she came round, we also managed to get some big bags of organic compost from Lidl (supermarket in UK) for cheap. They are still not full but they will do, thinking the raised beds was going to be a cheap way of gardening kinda went out the window by the time I had finished.

I have reused tyres to plant green beans, courgettes and potatoes, moved the chicken arc next to the big chicken house to make more room,

 My friend took me to the industrial site and we collected some windows from a skip, these have served well as pop up cold frames for rhubarb and lettuce, I did plan on making a mini greenhouse like Alys Fowler's one of her TV show but never got round to it. Along the back fence we have willow, mint, strawberries in tubs and hanging bags, bluebells and delphiniums.

In our beds we have lettuce, peas, carrots, potatoes, pak choi, mooli radish, sweetcorn, rocket, butternut squash, runner beans, french beans, red onions and lots f marigolds to deter the beasties that love to munch on my salad! I have planted foxgloves for the bees and have honeysuckle growing up the fence, this is for bees and for in medicine too.

I love popping out early morning after letting the chickens out of their house and looking around the garden to see what has grown overnight, the chillies, peppers and tomatoes are growing in the greenhouse very slowly this year because of the lack of sun in Blackpool, I'm hoping that will change soon.

Under the blackcurrant bush I have sacks of potatoes growing which I think should be ready soon, hey were the first things I planted out. I use the re-usable bags from Marks and Spencer which cost about 50p, you just snip off the bottom corners for drainage and then when your spuds are ready slice the side open and voila easy access and much cheaper than the potato sacks from the garden centre.

 In the right hand top corner of the picture is our herb patch, we are growing lavender, oregano, horseradish, 2 types of sage, lemon thyme, lemon balm, marjoram, chamomile and lupins - I know not a herb but just for the bees. I love getting herbs from the garden when I'm cooking, it makes me feel proper!

Lots of lovely rocket in this bed, I adore rocket, it's peppery flavour goes so well with tomatoes on ciabatta

one of the sweetcorn plots growing very well this year, not had much success with the other times I have tried to grow it, so fingers crossed we will get some cobs this time. I have copious amounts of nasturtiums growing all over the garden to feed the caterpillars then they wont eat my lettuce, the chickens love the leaves and the bright orange and yellow flowers are a joy, I haven't managed to get anyone to eat them yet, even me, which is weird because I eat all the other garden things, the thought of eating flowers though hasn't quite got me yet.

another little patch of herbs right by our back door so if its pouring down I won't get soaked!, here we have rosemary, thyme, parsley and elephant garlic, which I can't wait to grow because it's meant to be massive and we love to cook with garlic.

Growing cucumbers this year for the first time, didn't realise how spiky the stems are!

foxgloves are so pretty, I think it's quite magical when the bees pop inside to collect the pollen

the pond is right in the corner but everything has grown so much you can't quite see it, we have watercress growing in the pond and froggy was last spotted a few weeks ago so I don't know if he is still around or hopped of to the birdbath for a splash

 Look here our first cucumber, I was so excited when I saw it, I ran in and told the boys to come see, they did say well done but I think I was most enthusiastic and I don't even eat cucumber!  love to grow things and am so happy when my hands are in the soil, I'm still learning and each time I do the growing thing I learn more. I got a great book called grow something to eat everyday, it's like having a grandad giving you tips, I would recommend it to anyone who wants to grow and I'm proof you don't have to have a big garden to grow lots, its all about the position of things, I'm always trying to squeeze more in. The thing I can't seem to get right is the continuous growing, we always have gaps where there is nothing to eat except lettuce. What are you growing this year?

just call me dotty doolittle

My friend went on a trip to London so we house sat and whilst there made some friends in the cows, they are so beautiful if a bit snotty, I loved talking to them and named them all according to their facial expressions

 my youngest loved them as much as me but his big brother was scared in case they jumped the wall, I'm not sure how high cows can jump but I'm sure we would of been able to run away fast enough!!, It was funny though, I was dared with much glee by smallest boy to touch the cows nose, imagine dripping snot albeit clear snot, with a big tongue lapping it up and I had to touch it EWWWWW, I think not, they laughed at me them for being a chicken!

 I love the markings and eyelashes, I think this one is called Molly speckled nose, a rather pretty lady if you ask me. As well as gardening, baking ( god my waistband is ever increasing), having some kind of flu thing that rubbish I went to a new knitting group. Knittaz with attitude is Blackpool's answer to molly makes in real life haha. We had a right old laugh taking about all sorts of things only a group of women would talk about!!

 I looked spaced out but I was probably just thinking, I get that gormless expression you know when I think!

One of the ladies who was running it went out of her way to make me some vegan/gluten/dairy free cakes but I'm sure they was made with just sugar, I couldn't finish one of them, since I have been more purer in my eating if I eat something too sugary I get a terrible headache now. Come to think of it my not flu started the day after......
Got a busy week with home school sports day which should be fun and a birthday party in the countryside, I have volunteered to be bouncy castle monitor - good or bad idea?! Hope you all have a fab week, ohh did you see Lily Allen's wedding dress, it was gorgeous, so lovely x

oh funny chickens

We have 3 rhode island red chickens that are 2 years and 2 araucana chickens that are now about 7 weeks, we also have a 7 week old rooster - who was meant to be a chicken!! We live in a built up area so can't really keep him, I have asked everyone I know and put notices in local pet shops, I have had plenty of calls, unfortunately these all turned out to be idiots, seriously I didn't know there are so many thick people around. One man asked how many eggs does he lay?!, another girl rang up saying she could come and collect it now as a surprise present for her mum, I asked "does your mum have chickens then"?,

"what, NO" (said in a voice like I was stupid), I asked why she thought her mum would want him then, she didn't know!

Another man wanted him to train him for the circus to ride on dogs - honestly I'm not making this up, he wanted me to feed him cheese and worms to train him - he was 5 weeks at the time, not old enough for worms and we are dairy free so cheese (do they even eat cheese?) is out of the question. He also wanted me to keep him in a tiny box, one small enough so he can't move to train him not to crow ( his words), so guess what folks, yep we still have him here with us. He is getting lovely colours, all greens and reds, I would love to see him when he has all his mature feathers, at this rate I will get my wish!

Our bigger girl who is boss of the coop has been poorly, she has lost weight and is rather down, we have been spoiling her with lots of love and natural remedies, she has been sleeping in my basket with a little patchwork blanket on her to keep her cosy. she is really good and stands up and makes a noise when she needs a poo! so we take her to the garden, it's funny really, a toilet trained chicken.

 Even the boys have been extra kind to her, Adam is normally scared of the chickens, but he has taken to being second in command carer when I have things to do, she nods off for him within seconds.

I finally bought Mollie makes magazine, I had to wait to have some money to get it after drooling over the gorgeous pages last week in WH Smith when I was broke. It was worth the wait, I love it, it's like a paperback blog book, too cool! If you can get a copy it is worth it, you can also subscribe to the next 3 issues for £5.00, which is a great saving. Hope you all have a lovely week x

crafty old me...

I did another craft fair last weekend in aid of this charity

it was a lovely early morning start and I had my flask and made cakes to share, so was all prepared for the day, we set up and had a noisy round the other stalls before the doors opened, unfortunately it started to pour down and didn't stop for the rest of the day so it was a bit of a let down. Anyway I got to meet some nice people and enjoyed the Morris dancers, the charity made over £600 so that was really good, anyway I took some photo's of some stalls I liked!

 Mine of course, Dotty delightful!.......

 Sunshine Kazza's vintage finds....

 Mrs marmalade, who was very lovely and if your reading this please get in touch as I can't find you on facebook!

 A cake stall by Angela, the cakes looked great and I heard they tasted great too, being dairy free meant I couldn't sample any which is probably just as well seen as though my backside is growing from my own baking...

The singleton Morris dancers, the lady in this pic did an amazing clog dance at the end too, I loved the bells on their shoes and may have to sew some on my shoes so I jingle when I walk, much to the disgust of my children no doubt. 

this week we have mostly......

been visiting friends who live near a farm, the calves and their mummies came right up to the farm gate to see us, I adore their eyelashes, they are so long and pretty

watching the next great baker programme and reading Pam Corbin's cake book (river cottage), the recipes are delicious, I highly recommend the grasmere gingerbread recipe, they were so scrummy I didn't have time for photos! These lemon, victoria sponge/butterfly cakes went down a treat, I love cake so much ;)

 been busy sewing for craft fairs, rabbits.....

 Russian doll cushions.......

 more rabbits filled with lavender and pearl barley......

loving our chicks, this one is called Gretchen, she is the most lovely silver colour and is getting a rather fetching tuft of feathers on her head. We got 3, they are 5 weeks old now and one has turned out to be a rooster, we need to find him a nice home because he can't stay with us as we live in a built up area.

 I also did a craft fair on Saturday, it was to be honest rubbish, around 6 people came, the venue was down a side street so it was pretty naff, I made enough to pay for the table and not much more so even though I didn't lose any money I still felt rotten because of my time and effort spent on it. Anyway my very talented friend who had some of her felt creations on my stall as she is on holiday, sold a fair amount, the pictures I took are naff as I'm not quite sure how to use my phone camera to it's full potential. Not a very clear picture but can you make out the tea sets at the front? well they are my friends, hand stitched and made of felt.

I have another fair coming up this weekend but it is in a much better location so hopefully I should have a good day, hope you all had a lovely easter, the boys were very happy we managed to get some dairy free easter eggs in the sale at holland and barratt. Did you see the wedding?, I vowed not to watch it, why would I want to see some royals get married I kept saying, but on the day I couldn't help myself, ooh how gorgeous was her dress?, I loved it, the Cartier tiara was delightful too, and when William told her she looked beautiful my eyes filled up, what a big softy! Thought the kiss could of been a little more passionate though. I asked the boys if they wanted to watch it with me, the laughed and ran off, marvellous eh?!.