Kat Battles - Where to find cute!!

First of July I started to play with Air Dry Clay. I was aiming for Kat's to be Cute but Cartoon Like and where has it got me ??

Zilch I have managed strangely frightening.

So in the past um er hang on a Tick............12 weeks where have I got to??

Well I have discovered it cracks!
I have found out how to make Armatures badly
I have discovered the benefits of Super Glue
I have discovered I like being messy.

So.... haveing worked out how to make an armature that gives me what I want I suppose it is back to modelling again and I need to discover how to model either Very Funny indeed or Cute..... I think I will have to go for funny as I cant work out cute.

So for anyone who cares here is the results of 12 weeks messing with ADC.

A Great Day Out and a Completed Mare

Today was Frampton Country Fair and as its just two miles down the road Bill and I put on our boots and hiked across the fields. Well I know thats not far but a lot of it was rough ploughed fields so it was like walking over lumpy bumpy things in high heels!

I had a brilliant day a massive Ice Cream a Panini and a Stowford Press!

There were Gloucester Cattle, a large cow with her calf, and I stood next to a small person who did the classic "Its a Bull its got horns!"

Then there were sheep goats falcons owls terriers hounds horses alpacas llamas ferrets and otters chickens geese pullets fly-fishing shooting fair ground rides.


 I loved it and I think my favourite had to be the Gloucester Old Spot Piglets and the Mummy I heard say dont touch the hounds they are dirty dont touch the piglets they are dirty dont dont dont! and yes there was handwash there.

Finally what I really logged on to say is here is what I believe is my finished painting!!

Star Trek Pie - the Voyage

As ever Star Trek Pie did not cook in anything like the recipe time so I looked up every fruit pie recipe I could find average out the Gas Mark and used their cooking time. It tastes much better than it looks.

It was too sweet though Bill and I like Sharp Fruit so next time it will be less Sugar,Lemon Juice and a bit of Ginger instead of Cinnamon but the important thing is it ate well. You can see my beautiful Patchwork around the edges and yes I used a tape measure to check 9 inches and the 1/2 inch strips.

Also it said to sprinkle with Caster Sugar while it was baking I think Demerara would have been better. The dent was when the idiot chef held it up to make sure it didnt look soggy underneath and stuck the grill pan handle in it!

Star Trek Pie

Well I have boldly gone where I have never been before! Following on from the resounding Jam Tart success ,the Lemon Curd Tarts were to die for, I have made what I shall call Star Trek Pie.

Its really a Rhubardb and Strawberry Pie but has been quite a startling adventure.

Firstly the Rhubarb 1.5 lbs cut into 1/2 inch slices! (Sorry if you are metric). I knew that the slices had to be accurate otherwise it wouldnt cook but when I had finish I had a Mount Everest of Rhubarb and Strawberries (12 oz but I only had 8oz) it looked like enough to Sink a small dinghy (notably Bills Dinghy Podgy).

The pie dish is the recommended 9 inches and I realised that this was a sort of Tardis Challenge.

Next the Pastry - make pastry divide in two roll out a 9 inch Circle. I had more of a wobbly Milky Way so I made it fit!! With a knife and some alien science.

I performed the Tardis operation piling 200 tons of Rhubarb into a 9" dish and most of it fitted.

Next the Recipe Comedian said Roll out a 2nd  9 inch circle (Fat Chance) cut a half inch circle off the outer perimiter and then cut the rest into 1/2 inch strips and put as a Lattice work across the pie. Then stuff the circle around the edges.

So I made the 1/2 inch strips and then massacred the scraps into another flat pastry cloud and bodged it around the edges.

So here it is watching me take a picture of it!!

My Tomato Hell!!

Last year my tomato crop was cr@p so this year I had more plants and I am now drowning in them.

I have left them on neghbours doorsteps and I  have made my partner eat them at every meal. Today I decided I would freeze some and then I decided to be very clever.

I skinned what felt like two tons of the them and hacked them up into a huge saucepan.
The plan is to reduce them down and freeze for winter bolognaise.

Stupid plan it took absolutely forever. No wonder Tomatoes need so much watering when you simmer them in a saucepan thats what you get literally tons of water.

Now for all that effort I have 3 small containers of tomatoes in the freezer. With Tinned Chopped Tomatoes about 15p a tin I just hope it was worth it!!

Pastry has arrived!!

Well September was supposed to be Pastry and its only the first week and I have started the pastry campaign.

Today is Jam Tart day made some superb shortcrust and was so carried away about how brilliant I am and how easy it was I used too small a cutter. I only made a few tarts and I cant show a photo because:

THEY HAVE ALL BEEN EATEN!! Some raspberry tarts and some lemon curd but they didnt last long.

So impressed by this I took the spare pastry back out of the fridge and made some little apple pies with some left over stewed Apple. I dont hold out much hope as they look to have exploded in the over.

By exploded I mean  that apple is oozing  out of the sides not a problem except that its also oozing out of the bottom!

What I find really interesting is that its only when I am cooking that I throw caution to the wind and say anything goes in fact for the worlds best worrier I am quite blase with a wooden spoon!

Pedalling Ironing Boards and Cracking up

No Art today I gave myself a day off. My OH suggested we went for a Bike Ride and would you believe he has been practising pedalling SLOWLY!! He has about a zillion more gears than me and I really enjoyed the ride it was a lovely day but I had to keep freewheeling as I didnt know which way we were going so he had to be in front.

On the way home he and his front wheel and saddle and suspension chose to cycle back along the canal path. I chose to skid as I avoided a pothole and he didnt even notice that I had fallen off.

I spent the afternoon with my ironing board. I have heard it strongly rumoured that some people use an Ironing Board to Iron Clothes I am suspicious of this because the only time I have found it necessary to get a crease out of anything it was a collar and I used my hair straighteners for that.

So what would I use an Ironing Board for well its a sort of multi level workbench.

• I have wrapped presents on it in the conservatory.
• I have set up a desk easel and painted on it.
• I have put it up in the shed and potted up plants on it
• I have built clay models on it

Today I put it up on the garden covered it with an old sheet and used paint stripper to remove old varnish from a garden seat I had taken apart.

Finally I am sad to say my latest clay cat has hairline cracks all over the place - blast it!!

Oh and Hello September!