Phew!

Well it's all over now....all that remains is to get the house back to some sort of normal state! The final family members left at lunchtime today, all the sheets have been washed, ironed & beds remade......with a bit of luck I'll be able to make a start on the huge backlog of commission work tomorrow. I can't see me getting out of my mini sweatshop for a full week!
It was a great day, despite having been the victims of a seriously convincing con woman who purported to be a caterer...even down to employing a Masterchef finalist as her "chef".....any English people reading this who happen to live in the North East of England...if you ever need caterers for goodness sake DO NOT even glance the way of Northumbrian Caterers...they'd be lucky to manage to cater for a soup kitchen!
The alcohol flowed freely though & the party didn't wind up until 6.35am when the DJ finally packed his gear & left......A great party!
This is a photo taken of my beautiful daughter Kim, by my nephew James in one of our fields......not many brides would muck about in a field of thistles on their wedding day!  www.jamescummingsphotography.com

Probably the last post before "The Wedding"!!!

Very quickly, as I have my oldest daughter & her family here & it's bath & storytime now, here is the most beautiful, red oak, handturned, fruit ring filled with a selection of my handmade fruits!  The ring was turned by Bertie Pittman (you can find his fab turnings in his Etsy store - BertiesMiniatures) & measures 25mm in diameter & I filled it with raspberries, pears, peaches, cherries & apples. Only a week to go now & hopefully the weather here will improve for the wedding right now it feels like winter, is p*****g down & blowing a gale...lovely!

Something sweet!

Less than 2 weeks to go before the wedding is all over.......maybe it was to console myself that I decided to make this sweet little confection! I wish I had someone who could make the real thing for me to eat with my coffee ( & that's all day long!!), although it would probably be so very much quicker to make the real thing than it is to make the miniature...this took me 3 nights to make!! Close your eyes & pretend they are real!!
These macarons are not the ones that almost everybody raves about, the Laduree variety...as far as I'm concerned these are 100% better than those & they come from La Maison Du Chocolat...as the name suggests the filling is a dream of a chocolate ganache......eat your heart out Laduree!!! .....Before there are any complaints...I'm sorry about the lack of accents...I DO know they should be there but just don't have the time to write this in word & copy & paste!!!! Sorry!

Fruit filled baskets!

I still haven't recovered from the basket making addiction...whenever I have a spare minute, which isn't often now as 2 weeks today & "the wedding" will be in full swing, there I am picking up my wires & threads & weaving away! Seriously addictive!!
These two I've actually managed to find the time to fill & there are another 3 waiting patiently on my workbench for me to get around to filling them!

Freshly picked rhubarb...I still have loads of it in my garden  & there's nothing quite like eating a fresh stalk dipped in sugar...I'm still a kid at heart!!

The pears weighing down my pear tree inspired the filling for this basket.  I have no idea what variety they are, but I do know that they are delicious eaten straight off the tree!