It's time to think of pumpkins

I sleep with my window wide open even in the depths of winter and when I woke the other morning there was a very distinctive change to the air - that 'Seasons of Mist and Mellow Fruitfulness' feel.  A quick trip to High Street Quilting at Birtley was in order. (A girl can never have enough pumpkin coloured fabric).

I have a couple of ideas for this which I had planned to work on today but the Grand Move is not going as well as hoped so the pumpkins will have to wait for another day.

The tenancy on John and Steph's flat is up on Thursday and they had hoped to get everything moved yesterday (Saturday) and spend their first night in the house.  John and I were there until nearly ten last night still trying to fit the work surfaces in the kitchen.  Most of the furniture is in now.  They came round to my house at 6am yesterday to collect the mattress. It won't fit in any of our cars because you can't bend it so they decided to carry it round to the house.  If I could have got the camera out in time I would have taken a picture of them  trotting down the road killing themselves laughing with a king-sized mattress wibbling about.

Ben came down and helped with a load of washing,

But of course housework is very tiring.

John is absolutely exhausted and all he wants to do is come in from work and sit down to a nice meal and an evening relaxing.  One day soon John, one day very soon.

I have finished the quilt I have been working on and made the pattern which is now for sale at High Street Quilting.  It's called 'A Glowing Star'  

This quilt is destined for Quilts for Comfort and will go to Sandra together with the Square in a Square Quilt which is in the final stages of quilting.  If I could be in my Dream World I would be making things like this all the time.  What could be more satisfying than doing something you love knowing that you are giving that love to someone you've never met?

I've had a little fun with cooking this week. My leeks needed thinning so I made these little beauties into a pasta dish.  I think it's a Jamie Oliver recipe.

There's always a lot of debris left for the compost heap!

In a saucepan, gently fry some leeks in a little butter and oil until soft, cover with stock and a glass of white wine if you have it (I always try to keep some in the freezer). Add a little salt, pepper and some thyme. Drape some parma ham over the top and put a circle of greaseproof paper over the top and cook gently for about 15 mins. Then add some cooked, well drained tagliatelle to the pan.  The original recipe calls for a topping of dried mushrooms which have been blitzed in a food processor, mixed with breadcrumbs and fried and finally mixed with grated parmesan.  That is delicious and adds another layer of flavour but for simplicity we just put parmesan on top.  Mmmm.

Everyone is staying here tonight and hopefully all will be ready for tomorrow. Steph and John had some tea and put Ben to bed - how cute is he in his little dressing gown?  

I'm babysitting while they get the final touches put to the house. Well final enough to move into!  I'm sorting out stuff ready for tomorrow when I start work with a bang.  Guess what I'll be doing - moving!  Hey ho. I'll have to remember to set my alarm although I'll probably wake up ten times before it goes off!

I was watching an Italian programme (on Channel 4 I think) on the top ten Italian foods we like. The presenter made an ice cream that only had a can of condensed milk, 500ml of whipped double cream and some vanilla.  She added different flavourings to the base.  This is my version:

Mango, lime juice  and honey whizzed to a puree and swirled into the vanilla base.

I poured this into some containers and put them in to freeze.  Gorgeous.  Oh and then there was the chocolate cake....

Oh well, back to work and back to eating the rainbow next week.  Have a good one.