Some stuff I painted...

I painted this owl this year - and this hippo all the way back in 2010.

I'm rather proud of both.







But I'm incredibly proud of this - a simple plate, made on a spinner, but it's beyond what I thought my skill level was.

Extreme Crochet

So. I decided I wanted to do some Extreme crochet.

Mainly because I wanted one of these, which I saw on a ripped out page from an Observer magazine from June 2006.

So I bought a load of yarn in the Ice Yarn garage sale (40 balls for £40 inc delivery, and omg how awesome was the delivery... they TEXT me to tell me it was about to arrive!)

And then I was like... hmmmm. Need a hook. So I checked with my friends, in case one of them had one they'd gone off. No luck.

So I made one. Out of Fimo.

 I basically made it black. With a cut-off Yo Sushi chopstick inside to give it some rigidity (thanks mum).



Then I got a bit over excited with some bits of crazy ass sample stuff my sister gave me that she'd made with some silver stuff and bright fimo and a pasta machine, which had kinda broken into bits cos I've had it over a year now...

....and so now I have a crochet hook that looks like a pink snake exploded all over it. But in a good way.


Also. I photographed it next to the sellotape to give it some scale. Professionals use rulers, but I couldn't find one. Just get hold of a roll of sellotape and kinda... squint.

Banana Fudge Muffins

So.... My depression has been pretty bad recently, so I've not been blogging so much, however... today I did an epic amount of baking, and made up my first recipe for muffins :)

This is what I made today - Banana Fudge muffins, Blueberry muffins (smoooooth ones) and choc chip peanut butter cookies.

There are currently 12 muffins and 12 cookies in the freezer, waiting for my lovely friend Slop to come and claim some as a barracks warming gift ;) plus allllllll these waiting for me to eat them.

This is the recipe for Banana Fudge Muffins.

Combine in a big bowl with a whisk:
12oz plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 bag (roughly 4oz) of Mini Fudge Chunks

In a different bowl:
2 eggs
240ml warm milk
6oz sugar
4oz melted butter
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 mashed banananas

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones, don't over mix. Spoon into muffin cases and bake at gas 5 for about 20 mins, or until slightly golden and springy to the touch.

Chicken Milk Jug

Tah dah!

My first finished piece of ceramics that isn't basically a button!

It even pours! (If you put in too much milk, it dribbles all over, hence spillage, but enough for a cup of tea is fine)

I'm too excited to blog properly!

Eeeeeeeeeee!

Photo also shows my awesome doggie pawprint mug, which no one else is allowed to use...

Building a Cheapo Rabbit Paradise

First thing I did was bugger up Unconsidered Trifles I.
It's in the kiln now, being bisque fired, along with various other pieces I've made... but now it is missing the top.

Lesson learnt... do not wait to sand and final finish piece till it is bone dry.

So... moving swiftly on, I cheered myself up with gnocchi and cheese, and then started work on bunny house improvements (Neil cleaned the little buggers out earlier, so I only had to do the exciting bits, woop!)
Monsoon, the black bunny on the left is threeish. We had to get Khamsin (on the right, she's the lop bunny, less than a year old) to replace Zephyr, Monsoon's sister, who died last year, because Twinkle, the black cat was getting confused about what species she was... she's coming up to a year old now, but at 6 months, she was pretty convinced she was a rabbit, and Monsoon was trying to bond with her. Cue new bunny.

They all seem to get on pretty well... as you can see, the bunny zone is so cool, the cat likes to play in there. Today I've had a rearrange of the stuff in their enclosure, moved the shelf round and built on another two levels with fruit boxes.

Twinkle is sat on the new levels - two banana boxes, taped together, filled with straw and newspaper with a hole cut underneath and on-top so they can get in and out. It's balanced on top of the big plastic base of the 'indoor rabbit cage', which is where they do most of their pooping, and all of their peeing - they have a litter tray in there for peeing in, and another in the corner (bottom of a hamster cage) for lying in and digging and generally chilling out. Un-neutered girl rabbits are supposed to be near impossible to a) introduce as adults and b) litter train. Either everybody is lying, or, like every other animal in this house, they're a bit odd, because Monsoon litter trained herself, then taught Khamsin!

The big pine box is a small reptile viv with the electrics and the glass removed (the lizard has a bigger one, now located in the kitchen, because he was bored) where they like to hide out, since we can't see in, or get into it easily. There is also an expensive blue bunny cave (rarely used) and a red kiddy step... which is their favourite thing. They've also got treat balls, where we sometimes put their dried food - or in the bamboo pipe, which can hold all kinds of stuff - it used to be a hamster bed.

The shelf Khamsin is sitting on is freestanding - it was originally part of a computer desk. They mostly use it to slide along (Khamsin), hide underneath (Monsoon), hop on and off, sneak up on the cat and chase one another round.
They're kept in their zone by imaginative use of plastic wire fencing and the wire cage bit of the indoor bunny cage, which is on the edge of the spare room bed to prevent escapees.
Mostly they eat hay, a couple of handfuls of dry food scattered all over (today I put it into the new boxes to get them excited about going in) and a cabbage, broccoli or carrots. Sliced veg was only 35p a bag when I went shopping tonight so they got extra - most of it dropped into the smaller cardboard boxes, which I bring home from work. They're pretty sturdy bisque boxes... but they get chomped into oblivion pretty quick!
We try to move the shelf and plastic shelters around and give them new stuff to explore every couple of weeks - they seem to be brainier than the dog (they can use a treat ball, he can't) and the more interesting we make their environment, the more fun they are to watch...