Time for a long overdue Granny Blanket update.

Well, it's still not finished, but I am only one step away now. Just the mammoth task of sewing my squares together!

After finishing my 180 squares (180 different squares, all made with just 6 colours), I did one final round in cream on them all. This took... longer than anticipated. Part of it was that I just haven't had time - see previous posts on the 2 month long Hallowe'en costume, or making things for my Christmas craft fayre etc. plus hosting birthday parties, the general day to day, and sleeping now and again! Part of it was also motivation. After looking at these little squares for so long now, I'm becoming a little disallusioned with them now. I'm not so sure I love the colour combination anymore, but I'm hoping that will change because a whole lot of man hours have gone into this thing so far.

So, here are my squares!

Each little pile here contains 12 squares, and each square has the 4 inner colours in a different combination. Each of the 15 piles has a different combination of 4 out of 6 colours, so in total, that's 180 completely different squares. No two are alike! I'm amazed this can be done with just 6 colours!

I wanted to have a rough idea of size, and how it might look once finished, so I laid them out on the bed for a rough idea - this also took longer than expected!

Part of me is looking forward to it being finished - of course, I love to see my projects finalise into a finished product, but at the same time, I still have that lingering feeling of not loving it, and knowing I just don't have the time or will power to make another 180 squares in other colours!!

I guess we'll have to wait and see! Christmas is going to busy, so more than likely, I'll post pics of the finished blanket some time in the New Year. I think I'll be doing plenty of other things before then though!

Recipe: Sweet Potato & Broccoli Vegetarian Lasagne

Another recipe!

A month ago, I decided I would eat a vegetarian main meal once a week. We don't eat huge amounts of meat anyway, but it does usually feature in our evening meals. In a bid to eat slightly healthier, and up our veggie intake, I've decided to go for some meat-free meals. Nine times out of ten, I won't follow a recipe. I might get an idea from one, and change it to suit what I like/what's in the cupboards, or I might make something up entirely. This is one of the latter!

It turned out to be very tasty indeed, and if Adam can't eat it and not moan that there's no chicken in it, it's a winner!

Sweet Potato & Broccoli Lasagne

Ingredients:

1 Large Sweet Potato
1/2 a Medium head of Broccoli
1 Large Leek
1 Medium Onion
A Handful of Frozen Peas
5 Sheets of Lasagne Pasta

400ml Semi Skimmed Milk
35g Butter
35g Plain Flour
45g Cheddar Cheese, grated
Extra Cheese to top (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to gas mark 4.

Thinly slice the onion and leek, and gently cook in a large saucepan with a dash of olive oil.
Seperate broccoli into very small florets. Add to pan. I also thinly sliced a chunk of the stalk and added this too.
Peel and dice the sweet potato in approx. 1.5cm cubes. Add to the pan.
Cook on a gentle heat for 5 minutes.
Add approx. 150ml of boiling water to the pan, cover and allow to cook for a further 10 minutes.
Check your vegetables at this point, and add the frozen peas.
Do not allow the pan to go completely dry. If your vegetables are still uncooked, add a little more water if needed. If they are cooked, remove the saucepan lid to allow any liquid to evaporate if still present. You're aiming for softly cooked vegetables with minimum liquid left in your pan. It took a further 5 minutes of cooking with the lid of for me to acheive this.

Meanwhile, make your white sauce. In a small pan, melt the butter over a low heat, and add the flour. Stir until you have a thick paste. Slowly add the milk, bit by bit, and stir continuously until the sauce thickens. Add the grated cheese, remove from the heat, and stir until the cheese is melted.

In a small, oven proof dish (I have a 10" square Pyrex dish) spread half your vegetable mixture over the bottom. Top with a layer of the lasagne pasta sheets. My dish uses two and a half sheets per layer. Add have your cheese sauce mixutre, and another layer of vegetables. Top with the second layer of pasta, and finally the rest of the cheese sauce. If you wish, top with extra grated cheese.

Bake for 45 minutes at Gas Mark 4.

Allow to cool slightly before serving with garlic bread.

Yum yum!

Etsy Shop Update - Properly Up & Running

Yay!

Here we go - I've added a bunch of things onto etsy now and will hopefully get it up and running over Christmas. For now, lots of Christmassy things on there.

Hope you enjoy!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/LittleFeltHouse?ref=seller_info

Ooh ooh ooh NEW ETSY SHOP!!

I have literally just made my new etsy shop, and only listed one item, but I thought I would share straight away and link it here! Woop!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/87779018/felt-christmas-ponsietta-napkin-rings

I will be adding more things over the remainder of the weekend!

My Christmas Craft Fayre!

Today was a fun day. The pub where my boyfriend works (Salt @ The George, Mumbles) had it's first craft fayre today and I was really happy to have a stand there.

It was such a lovely atmosphere, the huuuge Christmas tree looks amazing, and the mulled wine was scrummy! Very festive, and I got to meet some lovely new people which is always a pleasure. I didn't take many photos, and actually spent much of the afternoon crocheting more cushion panels. I did take a couple of my stall though, and I'll try and do better next time!

I had a few sales too, so all in all, can't complain. I really should think of planning some more!

That's all for now! I'm finally in the festive mood - even my early Christmas shopping hadn't gotten me there, but that fruity and spicy mulled wine has finally done the trick! Will blog again soon though, I know it's definitely time for a granny square blanket update!

Felt Napkin Rings : Poinsettias and Roses

Well, the craft fayre is in the morning! Woop. I've been busy today labelling things up and helping Adam make my twigs-in-a-pot stand for my Christmas Tree decorations, yay!

I did say, however, I was going to post about my Napkin Rings, and so here it is. I finally got around to taking photos this morning, and first up, Poinsettias.

You'll have already seen this design on the wreath I posted about, but I actually made the pattern for the napkin rings first, and voila!

This was a set of six, and I wanted to make a smaller set too, but something a bit different. I settled for roses, and decided on neon pink. Huzzah! A very different set to the ponsiettas, but still very bold and bright!

And combined from the previous wreath, and these cutesy roses, I've made up my mind what to make as the wedding gift I need for later this month - a white, embroidered and rose decorated wreath. Just settling on colours to use and then there'll be a blog about that too in a couple of weeks.

Hope you're all smiling, and if you're crafting too, let me know what you're making!

Wish me luck for tomorrow!