The Gnome.

Ahh, that's better!

I couldn't help myself, I had to do it. I think this photo mosaic of my Mum's April garden is a big improvement. I'm going to get it printed for her.

And while I'm at it I'll get this one printed too, it's from last October.

I like the wee gnome who features in the centre panel of both mosaics. I gave him to my Dad many years ago as a jokey birthday present and was very touched to find he'd taken him with him when they moved house. By the way, I've still not forgiven my parents for moving! For nearly 40 years they lived in Angus which is where I grew up and where I liked being able to go home to every so often, not just to see my parents, but to catch up with my old school friends and my old haunts too (it's great cycling country!), then seven years ago my folks decided to up sticks and move 170 miles to the southwest. Where they are now is still a nice part of the country but it's a bit busy traffic-wise in my opinion. Anyway, they like it there which is the main thing (I suppose!)

I don't mind November...

I am aware that November is not a popular month with many. However, though I wouldn't wish for a year full of Novembers I don't think it is the most unbearable of months (I award that accolade to January & February!).

I never have any high expectations of November and therefore am never disappointed. I expect it to be cold, wet and dark, but Christmas is on it's way! I do like Christmas, and perhaps enjoy the preparations more than the actual day itself. In November Christmas is sufficiently distant that I can delude myself into thinking that this is the year I will be organised, thus it remains something to look forward to.

November is still a colourful month, the grass still looks green and some feisty flowers remain, even in our sodden, waterlogged garden...

... daisies, fuschias, geraniums, roses and amongst them all a last little ladybird.

I must admit that the November light is not good for indoor photography as the shockingly bad photos to follow show. It's rather a random collection, we've not really been up to much. For example, a recent highlight is the purchase (finally!) of a vinyl tablecloth. I've been humming and hawing over which design to buy and in the meantime the table has been getting more and more scratched and worn.

Before...

After...I think I was probably influenced by this post in my tablecloth choice though I've gone for the matt version. Hmmm, must work on improving my photograph styling!

Here is a photo of the gingerbread from the recent cake night, just to prove it did indeed exist. The recipe is from Nigella's How To Be A Domestic Goddess. It uses fresh ginger and produces a deliciously moist, rich cake. I make 2 x 2lb loaves from the recipe - I did previously make the one huge tray as recommended (to be cut into squares) but have found that the two loaves suit better - one for icing & eating and one for freezing for later.

While on the subject of the cake night, the following is the recipe I used for the chocolate fudge cake.

Overall, I would say I prefer it to the Nigella recipe I used to use (so Nigella doesn't come out tops all the time!) It is very rich and I think it is best served with cream. We also heated our slices in the microwave for 10 seconds. As it's from a Nestle promotional leaflet I think it's acceptable to post the recipe, it's all geared towards getting you to buy Nestle Caramel after all.

I have been making more charity shop dashes with N (my impatient shopping companion). Still no vintage finds, but some excellent book bargains for A:-

I didn't realise till I got home that the Dear Mermaid book is illustrated by Vanessa Cabban, well known in blogging circles for asking "Do You Mind If I Knit?" The illustrations are beautiful and the book is in excellent condition so a great find.

And at this stage I've run out of photographs, there are dishes waiting, and I must get on with some Christmas decorations I'm making to sell at A's Nursery Christmas Fair, not to mention the frozen things referred to in this post. More photos to follow...

October Garden Mosaics and Finally...

... I have finished making these three personalised mirrors. I had committed to making them for the end of October not realising at the time just how busy October was going to be. They were commissioned by a lady for her friend who has just adopted three children.

It's been such a dull, grey day here that the photos are not very good at all, the mirrors are much more colourful and sparkly in real life!

Despite the weather, I did find colour in the garden and today took the photos for the photo mosaic below. The Vibirnum bodnantense (top right) is smelling lovely too!

Earlier in October I took the photos for the following mosaic...

... so October is still a very colourful month. Not sure what I'll manage to find in November, won't be long now!

A Granny Garden Mosaic

Just back from a few days visiting Granny & Grandpa. Granny still has lots of colourful nooks brightening up her garden...
While there I made a little tour of the local charity shops. When Granny (she's actually A & N's granny not mine!) found out I'd been rescuing embroidered linens from charity shops she was delighted as she had two drawers full of the stuff which she was keen to offload, so I now have some beautiful linens embroidered by my own grandmothers. I haven't had a chance to photograph them yet but will do so.

We visited various play parks, the weather was lovely, many leaves and conkers were collected. We enjoyed lots of lovely home cooking, so nice when someone else does it! I've also come away with a new biscuit recipe, delicious! A didn't want to leave, but much as I like visiting, it's always nice to get back home.

Red and Blue Mosaic

Ahhh, it may indeed become addictive!

Here's another mosaic, the common theme for this one is supposed to be red and blue.

I'll need to upload more photos to flickr for yet more selections... but not tonight!

Now I'm going to switch off the computer so I can concentrate on my granny squares. I've done eight of them so far so I'm half way through my cushion cover.

Hmmm, granny square photos will make a nice photo mosaic...

Cow Mosaic

Yay - my first photo mosaic!

It's courtesy of Big HugeLabs and it's free! I'd seen BigHugeLabs mentioned on a couple of blogs, namely Garden Bell and Everyday Life and I'd like to recommend it too. Using photo mosaics mean that you can upload more images to Blogger without using up as much file space, which for me is a good thing (I like pictures!)

Seeing as I seem to be forever photographing cows when I'm out on my bike (there are rather a lot of them round here!) I thought I'd make them the subject of my first mosaic. I didn't actually have as many cow photos as I thought, but there were enough for a 3x3 mosaic.

Contrary to yesterday's post, the weather doesn't look as if it'll be great so I expect I'll be taking yet more photos of cows in the rain on my bike ride tomorrow morning! Hopefully there'll be some lovely autumn colours too...

Enjoy your weekend!