Your comments please

At the chapel, we have to do quite some fundraising, but we are running out of interesting ideas!  We do the same things, year in and year out, and frankly, we need a change.....I thought it worth flinging the idea out there and asking the collective brain power of you dear readers - what could we do for fundraising?

Bear in mind that we are talking about an 80 year old woman and me doing the bulk of the organising, we can seat about 75 people comfortably, we have a very small kitchen, and we are in a rural village.

We already do coffee mornings, the annual overnight sponsored knitathon in August, a Strawberry Tea, Harvest Supper, etc.  I am desperately casting around for some different ideas.........

Anyone out there got any brainwaves for me?  What do the organisations you support do to raise cash?

Down time

Having come down with the lurgy through the generosity of the girls, I struggled through a church meeting yesterday morning and then came home to sit and snooze in the chair for much of the afternoon, after I had typed up the minutes of the meeting.  The girls came home from school, and the YFG was good enough to cook our tea - she had fish pie and made me some risotto, which was lovely.  I am not sure what the EFG had, but I think she cooked her own.   The FH and UJ had had a hot lunch so they just had a sandwich.

This morning I had a lie in until 8am and then got up to sort out the chooks and the FH's pills.  He got up and made his own breakfast today instead of waiting for me to do it for him.  Once I had come in again from the chook chores, I set up camp in a comfy chair in the sitting room with the EFG's laptop and some knitting and books.  

The FH made some leek and potato soup which was going very well until he had a poke around in the fridge and found a tupperware of something he thought was leftover soup, so he chucked that in as well.  At that point he caught a whiff of almond and realised that it wasn't soup at all - it was actually the almond mixture we use for filling Bakewell tarts!  That load of soup had to go to the chooks, and then we had to fish some frozen soup out of the freezer.

I've had a productive day in that I have cast on a knitted hat, and done several rows.  I've caught up with some programmes on I-player and youtube, and I have had a flick around on the blogs, and even found some new ones to enjoy.  I've taken a call from a friend whose MOT had run out on her car and recommended a garage which may have been able to do the MOT today - she has rung back to say that yes, they did slot her in and it failed!  

The only thing I have had to do outside the house today was to take the EFG to town to pick up her new glasses this afternoon - her glasses are a very striking style and not entirely to my liking, but she loves them and I will get used to them!!  Now the FH is cooking the tea and we are looking forward to seeing whether we still like George Gently on the tv later.  I'm not planning to do much this evening, and I shall delegate the hanging of the washing on the airers after tea.

I'm getting over the lurgy, and I shall be back to normal very soon, but I am enjoying a little down time, I have to admit!

Spring too soon

The chooks had a very happy time in their revamped house and enclosure in the sun yesterday, and are thoroughly enjoying having solid ground under their feet again instead of mud!  They have christened the house by laying us a couple of eggs already too.  

This wee primula is coming up and showing us what it is made of, but I hope it isn't a bit too soon.  With all the rough weather still coming, I am keeping my fingers crossed it doesn't get drowned or blown away.

These flowers are from seeds that the EFG set last summer and they have managed to keep growing through the mild winter we have had so far, and now seem to think that spring has sprung.

Thank you for all your kind words about the YFG's sewing and the EFG's baking skills - I am already a v proud mummy indeed!

Seamstress in the family

The YFG seems to be really inspired by her Textiles GCSE work, and has produced this gorgeous bag over several hours in the last two evenings.  I have been very impressed with her knowledge and understanding of the techniques, even if her finishing needs a bit of polishing.  She used some fabric from Dunelm Mill, and the pattern was from a CathKidston book.  Not bad, I thought:

It is not a basic bag, either, in that there is a front pocket on this side, fastened with a button, and there is a further pocket on the inside, and the whole thing is completely lined with the same fabric.  I think she may have a hobby developing here. I'm going to send her over to have a look at Ilona's bags too.

Cooking show pictures

The chocolate medallions that the home economist team [EFG & I] made in advance.  Very simple: melted chocolate swirled onto greaseproof paper and then dotted with cherries, dried apricots, and crushed Smarties.  They only need to be chilled for about 20 minutes and then they can be peeled off the paper.  It is loosely based on a Woman's Weekly recipe.

These are goat's cheese tarts: the recipe called for all sorts of other ingredients which we didn't use in our modifications!  It was bought puff pastry, tomatoes and cheese, sprinkled with mixed herbs.  Once cooked, they were adorned with a mixture of watercress and rocket, and really looked very good.

These gorgeous jammy dodgers which the EFG made were just for the refreshment table but they were popular and the YFG was lucky to get just a couple when we got home!

And the mini bakewell bites - I think that these were what swung it for the winner!  They were made in a Pampered Chef mini muffin pan, and the EFG completely modified this recipe from one she found on the internet for a single large pie, so she did well.  

It was a great afternoon's entertainment and the total raised ended  up at £230 so the funds have had a good boost this last weekend.  I am sure that some of the other chapels in the circuit will be having a go at this as a fundraiser before too long!

Creative thinking

What with all the baking going on here these past few days, we have been feeling quite creative.  The hen house has been revamped and re-created, and so the hens have been moved into it tonight after some effort by the whole family this afternoon in the lovely sunshine to put the blessed thing back together.  The air turned ever so slightly blue at one stage when the things weren't going the FH's way and I do believe that chicken pie was even mentioned......The hens will be very happy to get outside again in the morning, though, so it will have been worth it.  Hopefully they will be inspired to get creative and lay some more eggs.  Valentine's Day traditionally [according to UJ] marks the time at which they get going again!

The YFG has had her sewing machine going this evening and is beginning to make a bag which she has found the pattern for in a CathKidston book I bought some years ago.  Glad someone is making use of it at last, I suppose!  It is quite weird to be sitting downstairs by the fire and be made to jump by the sudden noise of her sewing maching revving up in her bedroom right overhead.  I'll get used to it, I dare say - this Textiles GCSE is only just begun.  She has scored an A* for her first project, so she is encouraged and keen to do more.

I have been looking at sock patterns again on Pinterest.  Some people seem to move on to socks pretty quickly when they learn to knit, but I am still on my faithful hats and scarves.  I have been thinking that it may be time to progress......I can't get the image of my grandmother knitting on dpns and making UJ's work socks out of my head and it looked really complicated, and she always muttered on so much at the heels that I am burdened with the thought that it must be really difficult.  I know that the solution is just to try a pair and all will be revealed - and I am sure that some of you will comment and just tell me that it isn't that hard - but it is like the dreaded tax return, probably, in that the thought is much worse than the actual deed!

And I have been thinking about photography more too.  I would love to take more photographs, and since the EFG got her new camera with her renewed phone contract last month, she has been taking some fantastic shots.  I can't believe that such stonkingly clear pictures come from a phone camera these days, but they do.  She took some lovely pictures at the cooking show yesterday that I will get her to email to me so that I can share with you.

We only have 26 days left in February, so maybe it can be my aim to be more creative in February.  The girls will be working with me after school tomorrow on the menu plan for the month so that they can have more input into the month's eating.  Will get that up as soon as it is ready.

Saturday edit

One child nearly back to normal - thank goodness.  Unfortunately, the other one going down with the flu-bug.

Two hundred pounds raised at the cooking show this afternoon - wow!

Three boxes of cooking paraphenalia to sort out in the morning....

Four hours of sleep last night just was not enough.

Five eggs laid today - looking positive.

Six-ty people at the cooking show - fantastic turn out from the village and church friends across the circuit.

Lots of ideas for a fab February - but they will have to wait until morning.  

Night, all xx