Fabulous embroidery

You have to see this. Don't you just love this emroidery? It's fabulous, I love the colours. My hands are already itching for a new embroidery project. I am more familiar with cross-stitching, but this technique has definitely its charm.

All the picture s are from dona-anita blog.

Are you into some stitching projects? I have seen a couple of interesting ideas in the last edition of Anna. Maybe I will have some time during my vacation in September to make a couple of them. We shall see...

Thursday bread

This time it's wholegrain rye mix. The taste is a bit heavier than a normal wheat bread. But I am Russian, and our traditional bread is rye bread, so I really enjoy the taste of it.

The napkin is, by the way, the result of the previous weekend in the Netherlands. The napkin itself comes from Dille en Kamille, I only had to add a crochet edging.

Rye bread is the most difficult to bake I think. It's structure is too thick and wet, and you have always a risk that it will ot rise properly. Luckily for me, this time it's turned out quite well.

I also managed to bake a plum crumble cake. It was delicious! It didn't last long though. We managed to eat it in 2 days. And now all I have left are the memories...

Well, let's add a little bit of colour.

I love baking! And as you hae noticed, I am quite proud with my napkin.

Buttons

I've bought the last edition of Anna magazine today. Yes, I am really happy with it. There are a couple of interesting ideas and a lot of inspiration in it. I also read about this website, where you can order all kind of wounderfull buttons for your patchwork or other creative projects. It's really worth taking a look at it!

Just to give you an idea:

Or for those among us who is already preparing for the Christmas Holidays Giftmaking:

They are so cute! I would buy all of them if not the price. Let's be honest - they are not cheap. But I must agree, they have a huge choice and ,anyway, I won't find these kind of things here in Belgium in a regular shop.

This is also a useful way to reduce your scrap stash:

I bought two pillow cases which were too big for my pillows but also too cheap to let them go. So I had to make them smaller, which left me with two pieces of fabric I could you use for another pair of pillow cases. I also had some white cotton fabric stashed at home. One hour of measuring, cutting and sewing (yes, I know, I am a slow one ;-) - and voila, I have two extras! I believe this kind of things are always useful and welcome in every housekeeping.

It's pumpkin time!

I have found today a wounderful blog/website which tells you all about bread baking!
Just look at all these tasty things - don't you feel urged to rush into the supermarket for the ingredients?
I have picked a couple of recipes for myself to try out this autumn. I want to start using pumpkin a bit more in my cooking and baking. It's such a terrific vegetable and it suits autumn cuisine so well!

And what do you think about these marvelous butternut muffins from J. Oliver? I am definitely going to try this! And here you see the result of it:

Right, do you recognise the granny blocks?

Nice colour matching, don't you think?..

Little garden

What you do if you don't have a garden?

You try to make the best of what you do have:

And enjoy the result!

Wednesday bread

This time a blend of white and buckwheat flour.

I must say that on the photo it looks much lighter than it is...

It turned out quite nicely, the rising process went well. Buckwheat flour is much more difficult to work with than plain white wheat flour, it's heavier (like rye flour). But the taste is unforgettable. You should really try it, just mind your blend proportions!

No time to waste

This afternoon I was on my way to a grocery store cmlose to my work and saw my former fitness studio. Through the window I could see a VERY thin woman jogging her last butt off.
When did I do some sport the last time??? I just honestly do not have time for it. Really, it's not one of those lazy excuses, it's really true!
I work 5 days a week, during the summer months we are away every weekend (normally we leave on Friday evening when I am back from work) to enjoy good weather. Three evenings are occupied: Tuesday and Thursday evening I go to the puppy school with my dog (to learn him some manners), Wednesday I have a student, who is following Russian language by me.
So there is Monday evening left, when I try to do some sewing, cooking, baking, washing, ironing...And the rest of the week I also have to cook in the evenings to do some domestic stuff and a bit of knitting/sewing/crocheting.
In the mornings I need about 20 min for my routine: cold quick shower and then my oil treatment stuff. I try to use natural cosmetics lately: I have a blend of natural oils with a mix of EO for my face and body, and I use vinegar-water-hydrolats-EO blend as tonic:
Soothing face tonicum
- 20 ml distilled water;
- 1 tea spoon vinegar
- 3 drops of EO lavender + 2 drops EO camomille
Dissolve EO first in 1 teaspoon of vinegar and let this blend stay for a couple of days in a dark cool place. Shke well twice a day.
Then add the EO+vinegar blend to the water, shake well and use as tonicum for your face. Please shake well every time before use.

After my cold shower I rush to let Felix out, as he is still to young to be able to wait long for a walk. It takes me another 15 minutes.

Then it's breakfast time. I eat a lot in the mornings, as I am really hungry at that time of the day. I start with some fruit and a cup of tea, and then move to sandwiches with homemade bread. This takes me about 1/2 hour.
Then doing the dishes, cleaning a bit up, dressing, feeding the dog and then again a short walk with Felix. Another 30 minutes are over.

I used to practice yoga in the mornings, but if I still want to do it, i have to get up at 5.30 which I just can't. It's too early for me. I never manage to get in bed before 24.00, so 5 1/2 hours of sleep simply won't do.
And the crafting - I LOVE it, but I don't have enough time to realise all the projects. How do you guys manage it all?

Well, anyway, enough complaining. My knitting project is going quite well, I enjoy the colour and the rough structure of the yarn. I think I'll buy more of this yarn when I go to Russia in september. It even smells like sheep a bit... or is it just my imagination?

I wish you all a very creative Monday!

Wednesday bread

Here we go again. This time it's casual light-brown one. I am quite happy with the result. Btw I still think that adding a bit of milk makes the structure of the bread much softer... The best way is to use water-milk mix for almost every sort of bread, imho...

Yesterday I started this project. I am using 100% sheep wool in natural colour from Russian TroitskWorsted factory.

It is VERY warm, but has rather rough weaving structure.

A couple of months ago I managed to buy 2 pieces of pleated fabric to make 2 skirts. I think they will look nice and a bit folklore with this cape.

Felix and cow -ow - wow!

Such a brave little one! Sometimes I think he has no fear at all, which is not all that useful from time to time... And he never shows that he has pain - a tough one!

Hey, you have a wet nose!

After such an experience he managed to eat a couple of fresh raw oysters and then fell in a deep sleep. Cute !

Have a nice day!

Wednesday bread

Today we are eating rye bread with thyme and kumin seeds. My problem with rye bread is that it never wants to rise the proper way. I've tried all possible solutions - fresh yeast instead of instant one, longer rising process, more water, more flour - it just doesn't want to rise the way it should... Anybody ideas?

Meanwhile, we are enjoying it the way it is!

Have a nice day.

Rainy Sunday

No luck for us this time. It's raining every 5 minutes, and it looks all so grey and sad. The only good thing is that it's not so cold. Rain, rain, rain...

Well, we knew better days here in the Ardennes.

Look how fast I can run!

The water is so cold!

How long do I have to wit for you?

I like my ball! It's big..........!