Cake Night with Winter Pimms (and my mosaic blogger avatar)

On Saturday evening I had some friends round to eat cake. Just before my cake party guests arrived I took some photos of the living room. I've been trying to tidy the house for about three weeks in preparation for the evening and it was the tidiest it's been since N was born, It hasn't lasted long though and is already back to its usual slightly shambolic (but homely!) state.

So here's what the living room is like dressed up for a November evening's entertainment...

No, it's not going to make it into Ideal Home or whatever, but we like it!

Taking a closer look at the little picture above our big old telly...

... you can see the mosaic I use for my blog avatar.

I made it just after A was born (I seemed to have more time back then) and took some photos of it's progress. It's made using the indirect method so the image is first drawn in reverse on brown paper.

The tiles are cut and glued down with wallpaper paste (or some other water soluble glue).

The photo above shows the mosaic after the cutting has been completed but the tiles are still attached to the brown paper. I think it looked best at this stage - this is the actual photo I cropped for my avatar, hence why it's the opposite way round to the finished mosaic.

It's then placed on a plywood base (I'd framed mine) on a bed of adhesive (I also pre-grouted it and did a little buttering where I'd used some rather thin tiles) then the brown paper is soaked off and the mosaic is grouted and cleaned once the grout is set.

Ta da! Next time I'd make the tiles more closely spaced as I think the grout lines are too wide and have the effect of fracturing the design.

Anyway, back to the cake night...

I made Winter Pimms as described on the bottle (1 part Pimms #3 to 3 parts apple juice, add slices of apple & orange, heat for about 10 mines, serve) and it was delicious - much nicer than mulled wine for a warm alcoholic winter drink. I'll be buying another bottle for Christmas.

The cakes weren't bad either. There were 10 of us, so fortunately not much was left. I have such a sweet tooth I find it hard to stop eating cakes!

The next morning we went on a restorative family cycle to Castle Semple Loch.

The weather wasn't too bad on the way there...

... but as this view from the cafe window shows, it started raining and we got a little wet on the way home. Fortunately there was a little bit of cake left to look forward to!