OneChurchillsGreen

Subtle shades of early summer.....

My first posy of flowers! The garden is springing beautifully into life; the roses are in bud, the peonies are unfurling their leaves and the herbs are filling out by the day. I felt inspired to bring in my first little bunch of flowers - aquilegia, sweet cicely and budding sage. All so delicate, as if the garden is teasing me in anticipation of the striking hydrangea blossoms and sculptural alium balls yet to come. My seedlings are nearly ready for planting out, the cosmos is frothy and light, the scabious a little more robust, my only hope being that the hens don't trample and nibble them to the ground. Maybe I'll get The Sicilian to construct a low willow fence before I chance it xxx

Me & my girl........

It's Mothering Sunday here in the UK today. The sun is shining beautifully in our little corner of Dorset. The chickens are clucking and crowing, the birds tweeting (my kind of tweeting!), in fact there is only one thing missing from this idyllic picture - my children!!! The Sicilian and I were both working yesterday evening, so Pipi and Dante had a sleepover with their Nana and Grandad. A lovely relaxing morning then, but no mother's day hug for me just yet. They are on their way home, so I thought I would snatch this moment of calm to update you on the week's goings on. In amongst stitching 18 duck egg blue linen napkins, ordering flowers and generally planning one of last nights two events, I managed to win myself a £5 gift voucher at our fabulous local secondhand store 'Re-loved'. All I had to do was guess the mystery object on their Facebook page - an easy one for me, it was a gorgeous 1930's bakelite yarn holder (needless to say I spent my £5 and some on buying the mystery object for myself!). And whilst I was claiming my prize, a delivery of the most beautiful old crochet arrived. Alongside my yarn addiction, is my ever-growing fascination for antique crochet. And with the sun shining, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to take a couple of snaps.

I tell myself I am building a reference library of old patterns, finding inspiration for new projects and listening to whispers from crafters past. I do feel it is a privilege to own such carefully crafted work that has been created with such love.

And the children are home! I am now the proud owner of a dark purple hellebore and the prettiest little primula auricula (another fascination of mine, but we won't go into that right now). The hellebore will go straight into the garden, but the primula will grace the kitchen table sat upon one of the above-pictured doilies.

With Pipi and Dante home and ready to play, I'll keep it brief. Just to show you one more thing - I had Pipi home at the beginning of this week. She had a temperature and a sore throat. And whilst I wouldn't wish her ill, it was very lovely to have my girl all to myself for a couple of days. As soon as she was feeling up to it, we whipped out our sewing machines and set about creating. Here are the recycled scraps we found - mine a brooch to match my newly finished dress, Pipi's a glamorous Liberty print fascinator to grace her beautiful dark curls.

 I know I'll be proud whatever path they choose to follow, but when they get creative my heart skips a little beat, it is wonderful to be able to pass on the skills my mother and grandmother shared with me. Happy Mothers day everyone xxx

Sunny days, hazy memories ...........

The Sicilian and I were treated to the most delicious feast yesterday evening by our friends and neighbours Emma and Harry. Emma is half Italian, so intense green fresh pesto and crisp bread were followed by an array of wonderful antipasti and salads, finished off with the lightest gluten-free hazelnut cake. The highlight for me though (apart from the wonderful company of other neighbours, Claire, Andrew, Mhairi and Phil), was the most heavenly sgroppino - the combination of sorbet, limoncello and prosecco both refreshing and indulgent all at the same time! With every sip came a flood of memories, wave after wave of ricordi, the little campo where I lived (Santa Maria Mater Domini), the morning cornetto I'd buy on my way to college, the evening spent on the roof of the Palazzo Ducale watching the stars above and the tourists below, being sneaked in the back door of La Fenice before it was destroyed by fire ........ My brief encounter with Venice pre-dates The Sicilian and if he hadn't captured my heart I might still be there today. It was my first real love affair and one that has endured. I can feel it calling me, and every time I wear my beautiful antique Venetian glass beads made by the astonishingly talented Attombri brothers, I know that I will be back there one day sipping sgroppino with my beautiful friend Margherita.

And by chance, it was those very beads I wore last night along with my newly finished dress. I promised a quick snap, so here it is, collar and all. No Venetian beads today, the sun is out and so are my homemade hand-dyed wooden beads. 

And with such a sunny day here at the cottage in the woods, I've been planting bulbs, seeds and tubors - poppies, sunflowers, echinacea, dahlias and aquilegia - who knows what will come up this year! And with the book finished and the yarn stash significantly reduced, I had a quick glance at my fabric stash from last summer.

With so many pretty cottons and tana lawns I only wish I could join Eirlys Penn on her forthcoming course, making summer necklaces from wooden beads and fabric scraps at Crockadoodledo, Larkhall, 10.30-1.30pm, Thursday 29th March. Another time, I hope, but in the meantime I'm already working on a few ideas of how to put these to good use - happy days xxx

Loving a little Spring and a lot of green .....

There's something about Springs' green shoots that gets me all excited! I do suffer a little through the long English winter. It's just all a bit the same - grey, muddy, damp and cold - nothing extreme or dramatic. I almost long for deep crisp snow. No doubt it comes at a price and I should be thankful for our mild climate here on the South coast. But as soon as I see the green shoots of Spring, I can see an end to the dreary days and my spirits lift.

     

Thoughts turn to planting (just a few of last years blooms above) - I'm still waiting for my Sarah Raven seed catalogue, no doubt she has been inundated with requests in response to her brilliant series on re-introducing insects to our green and pleasant land. I have to say our garden was buzzing last year with insects and butterflies, thankfully my slightly haphazard gardening and preference for traditional English cottage garden varieties seems to be doing the trick for our local winged companions.

And cooking, of course. I had a request from my friend Joanne at Positive PR to join her in a sort of recipe 'round robin'. The prospect of receiving 36 new recipes spurred me on and despite a little nervousness about having to submit my recipe to the lovely Giles Henschel, genius behind Olives et al, I finally penned my trusty risotto recipe. I introduced you to The Sicilian's rather fabulous pancetta in my last post, so here it is put to delicious use:

Such a simple recipe, one I learnt from Dottore Vidotti (an eminent Venetian cardiologist whom I taught English to whilst studying in Venice many moons ago). He taught me to make this risotto with my all time favourite, radicchio di Treviso. Unfortunately, short of growing it ourselves, it's virtually impossible to get here in Dorset. We did grow some last year, and it was a great success, but we need good hard frosts, so The Sicilian opted out this season. 

Risotto with Peas & Home-cured Pancetta 

Ingredients:85g pancetta, cubed (The Sicilians is quite salty, hence only 1/2 a stock cube);160g frozen peas; 1/2 onion or whole shallot, finely chopped; 200g Arborio rice; 1/2 chicken stock cube; glug of extra virgin olive oil; knob of butter; splash of double cream; a splash or two of white wine; handful of grated parmesan

Method

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan on a medium heat. Add the pancetta and onion and let it take on some colour and soften. Add the rice to the pan and toss until lightly toasted. At this point pour over the wine and allow to evaporate. Whilst this is all happening, bring 800ml of water to the boil in a separate pan, add the peas and chicken stock cube. Once the wine has pretty much evaporated, add half of the stock and whatever peas go with it (You can add the peas later, but I quite like them soft on this occasion). Turn the heat down to low. Stir occasionally, be careful not to let too much of the liquid evaporate before adding more - I add mine in two batches, which means I don't have to stand constantly and stir. 

Once the rice is al dente (or as you like it cooked - takes approximately 20 minutes from adding the stock), take it off the heat and add the butter and cream. Stir vigorously to release the starch and allow the butter to melt through the risotto and thicken it. Serve sprinkled with parmesan and a big glass of chilled white wine!

And a Spring post wouldn't be complete without a Spring spurt of crochet - yes, I've finished my green scarf, just in time for some Spring daffodils to grace the photo!

Two balls of beautiful Rowan 'kidsilk' Haze (shade, appropriately called 'Garden', 645) and a size 4mm crochet hook. Many hundreds of long double crochets later (I think they call them Solomons knots, but will have to look in to that?!) and voila, just gorgeous and bright on a beautiful Spring morning xxx 

New year, new projects..........

I just love a new year, time to clear the decks and get on with some exciting new projects. I even surprise myself sometimes at the time I give to planning the coming twelve months. Admittedly I've never achieved my yearly goal of 'making' everyone's Christmas present for the following year by Easter, but I have let that one go now. It's all about little steps and a sense of achievement, it helps to keep the momentum going. I relaxed into the Christmas holidays along with the Sicilian, Pipi and Dante. It was wonderful to reclaim some of my head space so absorbed by work in November and December. I put down my weary crochet hook and picked up a project I'd started the previous year.

An Icelandic vest - I'd managed to knit the 'body' in one colour and then, terrified by the thought of following a 'pattern', I'd shoved it to the bottom of my projects bag and almost forgotten about it. In an attempt to keep the grey cells functioning through the holiday, I saw it as my next challenge and surprisingly managed to complete it by the New Year. The traditional Icelandic wool, Lett Lopi, was a delight to knit with and the pattern was surprisingly easy to follow (free patterns available on their website) - fairisle knitting here I come! And the beauty of it being just how warm and cosy it is to wear. I was so inspired I offered to knit Pipi one, so I will scale down the pattern and give it a go.

And then, refreshed by my knitting efforts, I picked up my trusty hook and crocheted this little hat for Dante's friend Milya. She is a heavenly mix of Essex and Austrian (currently living in the snow covered hinterland of her mother's native Austria), and on her last visit to England I promised her a cosy hat for skiing. She likes a bit of sparkle, so I added just a few sequins and crystals, it will be winging it's way to her any day now. First time crocheting with Rowan 'kid classic', absolutely beautiful and really gorgeous shades to choose from (Dante chose the pink, hope Milya likes it!).

And, as always, I've been using up some yarns as I go along. A set of crocheted Ikea cushion covers finally gave up the ghost this winter, so I set about creating a little afghan: crocheted in left over Debbie Bliss 'Fairtrade Eco Aran'; a touch of the pink Rowan 'Kid Classic', left over from Milya's hat; brown Debbie Bliss 'Cashmerino', from a cardigan my mother knitted me eight years ago!; a finishing touch of grey Sirdar 'Balmoral' - all combined on top of a piece of tobacco linen I've been holding on to for just such a cushion project and ta dah!

So, new projects for the new year......well, I'm definitely up for working more with the fabulous Lett Lopi Icelandic yarn and I'm hoping to join the girls at Daisy May's sewing group, they've been making gorgeous wash bags and I've got an idea of how to combine this with my crochet......and then my garden, I was so inspired last year by all of the beautiful blooms, I'm hoping to sign up for one of Sarah Raven's 'cutting garden' courses with my wonderful friend Liz......and....and, hold on I planned to have a quiet year, it might be time to just see where the year takes me.....here's hoping it's a good one and the same for you too! x
 

Fading blooms & ghostly yarn.....

I am quite literally up to my eyes in crochet projects at the moment. And just when I'm flagging, a parcel lands on my doorstep; a parcel capable of firing up my creative juices and propelling me on. This week it came from the super clever girls at Dye for Yarn in Nuremberg. Nicole and Cordula are amongst my favourite Etsy sellers, their shop is awash with extraordinary Tussah silk lace yarn in the most breathtaking hues. And with romantic names like 'Autumn falling'and 'Freshly squeezed lemons', not to mention the goulish 'Kingfisher pushing up daisies' and 'Chocolate cosmos ceasing to be', the hardest part is chosing just one. This time I plumped for 'Dyeing rose'(pictured above), last time it was 'Ageing Olive', a wonderful silvery, grey, green shade. Both of which seem appropriate as the seasons change and the colours outside my kitchen window soften and fade.

Remember the bright green hydrangea, 'limelight', that lit up my view earlier in the year? It's now ghostly bloom is a pure delight, gradually turning, skeletal blossoms slowly creeping across the pink tinged petals - here seen bathed in the warm Autumn sun.

And just when you thought I was getting carried away by the romanticism of it all, another parcel - yippee, I've spoilt myself this week! A sugary, sherbet delight from Willow Fabrics arrived today - I love my Anchor cottons, a whole rainbow to choose from, this little colour combo are heading for a starring role in my new collection of patterns! But they will have to wait a day or two, tomorrow I'm teaching at Daisy May's; looking forward to getting some more girls hooked on crochet ;) x

Autumn apples.............

Some weeks have passed since I crocheted an apple cosy - in fact the Vintage Fair at Southbank back in July was probably the last time. An order for two bright red ones arrived in my inbox this weekend and yesterday evening I sat down to do them. I'd forgotten just what a lovely project the apple cosy one is - nestling my apple in and out of the cosy, checking the shape and size. And when I asked Mum if she had any apples for the photos, she looked at me incredulously! As if I couldn't see the little orchard at the top of her garden - so nestled on a bramley here is one...

And keeping two coxes cosy, here is the pair...

And, in spite of some late summer sun this week, Autumn is definitely on our doorstep. The 'Autumn Bliss' raspberries are quickly filling the freezer (we just can't eat them fast enough!), the Sicilian is out foraging with a class of 'Mad About Mushrooms' students, the leaves are turning and the apples are falling - if only the windfalls had been wrapped up in little cosies!

Pebbles, plums & pulcini.....

It's been a busy month; the children have been enjoying their summer holiday, not least because of the arrival of chicks 'Lentil' and 'Olive'. The hens have been hopping on and off the eggs, swapping over, giving up and starting again. So, much to our surprise, one afternoon a little 'cheep cheep' signalled the arrival of 'Lentil', mother hen by default being 'Chick Pea' (she'd simply hopped on whilst a very patient 'Thyme' hopped off for some sustenance). Five days later and mother hen supreme, 'Pat', was happy to show off 'Olive' and here they both are......

 
And then we've been harvesting our fruit and vegetables, lovingly nurtured by the Sicilian.......these beautiful golden plums are best eaten straight from the tree, they've also taken a starring role in several delicious plum crumbles.

For a really crunchy, golden crumble, combine 200g semolina flour, 200g golden granulated sugar, 150g cold butter, 2 handfuls of oats, a pinch of ground cinnamon and a teaspoon of vanilla essence.

And then, a whole ream of crochet projects, including one I've been itching to try for a while now - pebble paperweights. After a gentle stroll down to Worbarrow Bay, we gathered some smooth, warm stones.....

These are some of Pipi's pebbles (above) and here are mine (below)...

There is a great tutorial for crocheted stones given my Margaret Oomen on The Purl Bee site - or just do your own thing, let the pebble inspire you! xxx

My little petal....

 
I'm just so excited, my first home grown bouquet! I've been haphazardly gardening since we moved to the cottage six years ago (when Dante, photographed above, was just six months old!). Each year I add something, every winter I loose something - so to finally have enough blooms to rustle up a bunch, and still have plenty to gaze at from the kitchen window, is a real achievement. You need to understand, the Sicilian has commandeered most of the garden for 'edibles', the chickens and children run free everywhere else; the modest corner that I've nurtured for my flowers has had to contend with all of the aforementioned challenges. It was my friend Claire's birthday earlier in the week, and not feeling too well myself, I was delighted when Dante agreed to take my floral gift up the road to her farm - it was a proud moment to see my little man and my beautiful flowers head off up the track with the Sicilian. Agapanthus, hydrangea 'limelight', cosmos, sweet peas and anenomes wrapped in white tissue and tied with ribbon. Oh, and one more horticultural triumph - well, in my book at least! - the sweet peas have started to flower and yes, I've got pink, white and purple, as planned. Totally astonished that one planting scheme has come together! It's at this point I need to give some of the credit to Owl's Acre Sweet Peas for their gorgeous heritage seeds (Black Knight, Dorothy Eckford & Wretham Pink), they really are just as it said on the packet! Thank you.

Calm at the cottage...

The Sicilian's at the cookery school prepping supper for a client, the children are playing on Mum's campsite and I'm here creating with my hook and yarn. In fact the only distraction to the calm here at OneChurchillsGreen are the chickens! Sunbathing, digging dust baths in my borders, just doing what chickens do best. Thought I'd share a glimpse of them from my kitchen window....

Only thing missing is Violet pouncing on them and then the picture would be complete!