A Hectic Summer!

I just cannot believe that my last blog entry was in March & here we are at the end of August....where does the time go?
I know exactly where it's gone this year! 6 weeks was spent in Al Ain, UAE, part good fun playing with my 2 year old granddaughter Esmée & part not such fun, looking after her Mum who, being pregnant with twins, was suffering severe Hyperemesis Gravidarum. The poor soul couldn't move out of bed without vomitting & was hospitalised for some time for meds & rehydration. Thankfully she has improved dramatically & although still nauseous, can at least function now!
That took care of June & after a couple of weeks desperately trying to catch up on commission work that had awaited my return, in between working in the garden as the weather has been so good, the whole family arrived for the summer!
At one time there were 12 of us in the house...can you imagine the chaos! Sadly, now, Brie & her baby, Rosa, have returned to London, Kim, Tom & Esmée back to the desert & tomorrow the final 5 leave for home. Things are going to be very quiet round here (once I've "mucked out" & changed all the beds!) & all I need is for the weather to be bad so that instead of working in the garden, I can do some serious mini work!
To my amazement, I have managed to complete a few pieces in amongst all this chaos & even completed a commission for a lady who has been waiting since December...
Thank you everyone who is patiently waiting for work to be finished, I promise, very soon I'll be able to get it done....assuming, that is, that the twins in the desert don't decide to make an early appearance, because, if they do, guess who'll be on the next flight to help out!!

Here are some of the few pieces I have managed to complete over all these weeks!

Remember those Portuguese dishes....

Remember the Portuguese dishes I made for a commission some time ago? At long last I have actually had the time to fill some of them & here they are.....I don't think that the fillings have detracted too much from the decoration of the bowls.....do you?!

Escaping the relentless rain!

This time tomorrow I'll be in the air heading out to the heat of the desert! At least I hope it's going to be hot, the forecast for Wednesday in Al Ain is a mere 19C & guess what...yes...RAIN! At least that rain is going to be a whole lot warmer than the rain here in good old NE England!

I still have quite a long list of commissioned works to get done (not to mention filling the Portuguese dishes!) but as my middle daughter is due to give birth in March & will need my services as nurse, nanny, cleaner & chef, I thought I'd better fit in a visit to the youngest now! That's my excuse anyway & I'm sticking to it!

I have actually been organised enough this time to get several pieces ready & scheduled to pop up on eBay to finish when I get home! Amazingly unlike me! Here they are & I hope you like them!

 Someone has been making spaghetti bolognese & left the pans in a dirty heap!

 Italian breads!

 Fruit bowl

Tomato & basil bread

Portuguese dishes!

I love nothing better than a challenge....I face one every day living with my hubby! :-)

This, though, was a challenge I really enjoyed...I needed some typical Portuguese dishes for a commission for a good mini friend, so decided to have a go myself!

I'm really quite pleased with the way they have turned out, it seems a shame to fill them with food!

A Bread Shortage?

There's certainly no shortage of bread in my mini workshop right now! It seemed that, once I started making a few breads, they multiplied & kept on multiplying.....I couldn't seem to stop making them. They are all hand sculpted too as I am absolutely hopeless with moulds of any kind & have been known to waste a whole tub of silicon mould trying to get a useable mould from my original piece! In the time I wasted trying, I could've made a dozen freehand!

These are just half of the loaves I've been making over the last couple of days.....it all started because I wanted to make an "overfilled baker's rack" for my good friend Marlene to auction in the next fundraising auction in Feb (she has been diagnosed with lung cancer that has metastasized to her brain & has no medical insurance - living in Texas, that is an awful situation to be in - here in the UK we are so lucky not to have to need health insurance, although over the years we do pay for our health service through our taxes!)
Here are the results of all those hours of bread making! With quite a few left over too.....

A Fishy Time!

Happy New Year!

Although Christmas is lovely, having all the family here, it's also lovely to see the end of it & a return to normality! I have actually managed to get back into the workshop & start on a long list of commission work that has had to take a backseat over the long holiday!

Although making all those tiny tentacles for the prawns nearly drove me mad, I think the end result is worth all those hours!

Christmas is coming!

I just can't believe how quickly this year has gone! It's so true that the older you get, the faster the time goes, it doesn't seem a year ago that I was setting out my table at Kensington Christmas Show!
This year's show was the best I can remember, it was steady, with a constant flow of people & this year it seemed that everyone bought several pieces at a time. It was really good to meet a few of my internet friends too......Jackie, Janice, http://onbeingaminimum.blogspot.co.uk/, Andy, Chantal & Nadja's lovely Mum too...a really, really nice day!
As Christmas is going to be here & gone so quickly no, I thought I'd post a few of my Christmas pieces for 2013!

 Making a Christmas Cake!

 Christmas cookie & chocolate hamper.

 Christmas cookie box.

& finally, a cornucopia filled with sweet Christmas treats!

HAVE A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS!