Funny how just a little thing can change how you view the day…Getting out in the garden in dressing gown and slippers with the puppy BEFORE the rain starts is always a good start. Higgins hasn’t got the hang of the fact that the more times you make a run for the door without doing what you came out for just prolongs the agony. He is struggling with country life really, too much weather, he should have gone to live with Paris Hilton.
Todays mail was very exciting… firstly, red polka dot cake tins…
So good, I had to do styling…
…and my Spoonflower fabric…
When I first discovered Spoonflower I was too intrigued to go away and come up with a new design, I went for the nearest jpg file, my faithful pink sheep, and like it so much I ordered a fat quarter as a test run. My pink sheep started life on an invitation designed by my son Thomas Taylor for my Graduation party four years ago and was originally wearing a mortar board. I loved her too much to send her off to oblivion, so with the help of Photoshop she hung up her mortar board and joined me here on Planet Penny. I’ve offered to make Thomas a pink sheep bow tie, but strangely, he’s declined…
I was so excited by all this I initially overlooked the fact that my latest copy of ‘Selvedge’ had arrived…Oh. Joy!..
…with this beautiful image on a card inside.
After a wet morning, a band of blue started to spread from the west, and the wind became a breeze, just right for a spot of exercise. I’ve tried to get round the short dog = cold wet tummy problem with a rather smart fleece jumper for Higgins. Apart from the fact that I could have bought myself two fleeces for the cost of a tailor-made miniature dachshund one, getting it on is a bit like putting skin on a sausage. Then you have the problem of persuading him to get out of bed…
We got out there eventually though…
Even the sugar beet looks good in the sunshine, and you can just see home across the field…
All that was left was to make a cake to justify the fact I had bought not just one, but three tins to put cake in. I had some windfall apples, so a quick flip around Google and…Easy Apple Cake? …yes, we like easy. Well, it was easy enough to put together, but who has a 20cm x 30cm tin to hand? And how would the capacity of a tin you haven’t got compare with the one you have got? So, a round cake instead. Fine. But…how does that affect the cooking time? Answer – a lot. After the allotted 40 minutes a gorgeous crispy crust trembled above a completely liquid interior, another twenty minutes, then ten and then another twenty five minutes before the ‘sod it’ moment when I got it out and decided that was IT.
And it was.
Delicious…
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Your posts make me so homesick!
The sheep print fabric looks great. Perhaps I’ll change my mind about that bow tie. Perhaps…
Maybe the whole pink and white thing could be a bit much, but put it on a dark background, deep blue perhaps? and it would lose it’s Barbie’s boudoir look…
Oh what a lot of loveliness!!!!
Higgins is adorable! How kind of you to buy him a fleece jacket to keep his tummy warm, but I can see the attraction of that snuggly bed over walking along muddy footpaths!
Now I must check out that link for the printed fabric – maybe later, as I have a Bazaar to go to!
Celia (the one from Suffolk)
can’t think why anyone would turn down a pink sheep bow tie! my sons would love one and they’re both red heads!!
gill xx
Obviously chaps with style and discernment!
I can vouch for the apple cake too…had a piece when I called to see Penny (and Higgins too of course) this am. I know the right time to drop in!! Any more good recipes you need to try?? Love Kit
I dunno about Thomas being homesick…mmmmmcake, autumn leaves and British countryside…oh well, my daughter’s swimming in the sea today – she couldn’t do thaat in Novemer in England!
Those cake tins would go great in her room….
Oh, and as for Higgins, it’s obvious that all he’s missing are platform hiking boots to raise him away from the cold mud!
Higgins looks fine, particularly walking through the leaves. Though I too would resist getting out in this weather!
Hi. As hinted at on the phone, I have just awarded you no less then TWO blogging awards! Follow the link to find out more, but don’t feel obliged to accept either of them:)
T
http://thatelusiveline.blogspot.com/2009/11/blogging-awards.html
I am overwhelmed, and confused, but thank you very much! I’m afraid I’m not one of those high minded people who turn down knighthoods and MBEs and I’m not going to turn down these blogging awards, even though I’ve now got to do thinking about who to pass the baton to, so…!
I love the wall paper behind your trophy, where did you find it?
It’s lifted from a printed pattern on some china and then repeated. I can give you a digital sample if you like.
Oh Higgins! He does look smart in his fleece jumper! I must admit, the tummy close to the ground problem is something I’ve not properly resolved yet, with our Miniatures. Is the fleece waterproof? If so, it could be the answer to our dilemma. And Higgins, I can see you’re shaping up nicely in the typical Dachshund personality stakes, if ours are anything to go by, they are very partial to their beds! When ellie is in bed, and we’re trying to get her out to go for a walk, that’s when she uses her ‘special language’ on us.
Those spotty tins are fab, by-the-way, they from Cath K’s?
And thank you so much for your concern about me being washed away, I was just having those holiday blues, and feeling washed up!
Love Vanessa xxx