Catching Up

Well ! I can't believe I have been home from my holiday nearly a month now and still not found time to blog it properly!
We had such a great time despite the heat (the Mediterranean was having a heatwave at the time) and wished we could have stayed longer in many of the places. Doing both Pisa and Florence in just one day was nowhere near enough time. Greece was also fantastic and a place i would like to go back to.
For anyone still interested, the photos (some of them anyway -- we took hundreds!) are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Lyn.Helps/CarnivalFreedomMediterraneanCruiseJune2007


Since getting home and getting over the cold/fluey thing we brought back with us, life has reverted to its usual humdrum state. We have a couple of weeks gaps between markets so i am trying to use the time well --both to get the house tidy & clean and also to get stocked up on preserves.

I have also listed a few more craft things over on Etsy. I have now been on there 4 months -- the first things I listed are due to expire now ! I need to take better pictures of them before re-listing. The talk in the forums (fora?) is about getting ready for the "up-coming holiday season" meaning Christmas! It seems way too soon to me to start thinking about listing Christmas items ! Maybe I will get started on crocheting snowflakes so I am ready for the "Christmas rush" when it does feel a bit closer.

I'm Back !

I haven't posted here in so long -- not because I have lost interest but because of a number of reasons limiting my time on-line!
Firstly was a very busy baking week leading upto the main reason for my absence :

My cruise !! - 12 days of cruising around the Mediterranean and visiting lots of interesting places --I will write a more detailed post about this later!

I came home with the most horrendous cold/ fluey thing that meant i spent 2 days in bed dosed up with paracetamol & cough mixture before getting back into the kitchen ! I don't think I have had a cold in over 2 years so this was a real shock to the system!
My lovely etsy friends could barely contain their impatience for me to be well enough to bake flapjacks for them and I have had several orders since my return !

What a Weekend !

Having booked ourselves into 3 markets in 4 days, my friend Sandra & I knew we were going to be busy, but we have exceeded all expectations!
The first was Buxton Farmers Market on Thursday. We have done this market before as part of Buxton Country Market (which has now ceased trading) but it was our first time selling as independant traders. We were a bit disappointed with the spot we were given but in the end had a good days sale.
Saturday was Whaley Bridge Farmers Market and Anniversary of the opening of Whaley Bridge Railway Station. This meant an all-day event instead of the usual morning market. It was a gorgeous hot n sunny day so we were very glad of the gazebo to shade us & the cakes! There were crowds of people all day and our produce was very popular. We had baked what we thought was enough to see us through the weekend, with maybe doing a few extra bits on Saturday evening for Sunday, but by the time we packed up at 4 oclock we had less than a dozen cakes left! So Saturday evening was then a frantic time baking late into the night so that we had something to put on our stall on Sunday!
Sunday saw us at Edale Fun Day --an event Buxton Country Market has attended for many years. It is always a good day with lots of things happening through the day. The weather started off a bit cool but soon warmed up when the sun had burnt off the early morning mist. Once again we sold out of cakes and also sold a lot more marmalade & jam than we expected!

All in all it was a very good weekend -- exhausting, but well worth the effort !

Flapjacks blogged again !

Charlotte (www.charlottenarunsky.etsy.com) has been kind enough to blog about my flapjacks ! thanks charlotte xx
http://www.charlotte-narunsky.blogspot.com/

Marmalade Making

I have just found this wonderfull witty blog article about making marmalade ! It manages to combine bugs bunny, french "adult toys" , and marmalade !
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2007/02/seville_orange.html
I would have loved to have left a comment but couldn't find a link to do it, so i've sent the author an email instead !
I have been making Rhubarb & Ginger Jam the last few days -- but my writing skills are not good enough to make it sound as good as David's marmalade! Just walking to the bottom of the garden to pick rhubarb does not match upto wandering through french markets! I am hoping there is still enough rhubarb left to make up a batch of chutney, but i think i might have to wait a little while for that.

UK Etsy May Flower Challenge

The UK Etsy challenge for May was a flower item. There's loads of beautiful entries -- I managed to do 4 flowery things this month! Now its time to vote to see whose is the best !

My favourite is this gorgeous necklace from Sakura :



If you want to see all the entries have a look on our Flickr page :
http://www.flickr.com/groups/uketsychallenge/pool/
and it you want to vote go to this thread in the Etsy Forum:
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5116967&page=1

Next month's challenge is for fairies --haven't decided yet what to do for that one !

Cards, bookmarks

I have finally got the cards finshed that i painted last week. Most will get listed on Etsy over the next day or so.

I have also listed 3 bookmarks -- this floral one is my favourite and is my entry to the UK Etsy challenge for May: