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!

Time to get some sun, sea, sand & mojitos!

That time has come around again...I'm off to see my youngest in the lovely hot UAE & I can't say I'll miss the grey, miserable & cold of the North East of England. Two weeks of glorious, uninterrupted blue sky & heat....can't wait!
It seems to have been a very chaotic time for me over the last few months & I have been really struggling to keep up with commission work at the same time as keeping eBay going....I really just don't have enough hours in the day & if anyone can give me a day with at least 48hrs in it, I'd gladly pay!!

I have managed, by the skin of my teeth to get some pieces that will eventually be scheduled (probably just before I board the flight to UAE if things carry on like this!) to make an appearance on eBay while I'm away & here are some!

I'm looking forward to sitting in the early morning heat, while everyone else is in bed, with a cup of coffee & weaving a few baskets!

Such a lot of fruit!

I seem to have been making so much fruit recently....I think I've actually got it out of my system now & might get round to making something else.....just to make a change!
Christmas is on the way, just a little too quickly for me, so I suppose it's time to start thinking about festive minis...

I'm not a good blogger!

I can't believe it's been so very long since I made a blog entry...one of the perils of having a relatively good summer.....too much good weather to waste as we don't get enough of the sun in this part of the UK!
As a result of the good weather, the garden is looking good but mini making has all but ground to a halt....too many commissions have built up & I'm desperately trying to catch up by working until the small hours in my workshop. I even find myself praying for a day of rain so that I can stay in the workshop without feeling guilty about not being outside!
In all these weeks of summer, between gardening & having family to stay I've managed to work on several commissioned pieces.
There was the squirrel nutcracker & walnuts for a lady who is recreating a scene out of "The Picture of Dorian Gray"

and then as I was making nuts for hours I put together this little bowl of walnuts & hazelnuts!

Then there was the challenging & unusual birthday cake.......

A cake to mark the birth of HRH Prince George of Cambridge..........

not forgetting some fun Royal baby cupcakes........

So I have managed to get some mini making done! Despite being so far behind, I just don't want the summer to end!

The "Chanel Collection"!

I haven't had too much time in the workshop since I came back from the desert......there has been such a lot of gardening to do & the weather has been reasonable, so my time has been spent in my veg garden, general grass & hedge cutting & tidying up after such a long, long winter!
When I have been working on my minis at night, I've had a fixation with Chanel cakes...for some reason, I just kept wanting to make them & when I feel like making a certain piece, I have no option but to "go with the flow"!
So here is the result of several nights in the workshop & my simple homage to Chanel!