Busy As A Bee And The art Of Procrastination.

I have yet to make great progress on Daddy Troll’s coat.  The pieces are all cut out but I have not sewed a stitch of it yet.  I am procrastinating! This is bad, very very bad!
 There is nothing like a job you don’t really want to tackle to make you come up with a million and one excuses to do loads of other stuff that you really don’t need to do right now.  Anything but finish the one thing you should be doing.
Here are some of the things that I have done so far this month in the name of procrastination!.

First off we tried some Fimo decorations.  These are not the best thing I have ever done, but it kept us busy(procrastinating) for a whole morning.

The kids made candy canes.

Then then Middling Troll asked for a Christmassy head dress for brownies.  Sadly the LED lights no longer work, but they were green from the 99p shop and served the purpose very well.  She looked great, but I had no battery life in the camera so it’s a very slightly dull, after the event shot I’m afraid.

Then I interrupted Middling Troll in the making of some sample decorations. When the decorations had been made I then filled 30ish bags with Christmas crafting ingredients for an evening of Woodcraft Folk Christmas crafting.  The activity went down very well though, and all the kids seemed to really enjoy making lollipop stick Rudolphs, Santas, Elves, Angels or whatever their imaginations came up with.

Then I decided to make 5 Morsbags to be given as gifts.  Middling Troll will be leaving brownies in January and coming to the Woodcraft Folk with Eldest, Youngest and myself.  Gifts for her leaders were needed and this seemed like the right thing to do rather than buy something from a shop whcih would be forgotten quickly. Information on what a Morsbag is for those of you who may not know can be found here Morsbags

So, still not having touched Daddy Troll’s coat I decided that I needed a sewing/knitting basket that I could take out and about with me, having seen and coveted a friend’s woven bag which she had carried some projects in to a homeschool outing.

Here is my version - I actually made two of these, one for me and one for a swap.

Then came an egg crisis, lots of eggs all despearte to be used at once, so some Lemon Curd was made, as was Lemon cake, but that did hang round long enough to have it’s photo taken.

Then just as I thought about spending some time on Daddy Troll’s coat, a call for help came to save me.  I could just say delay, but you know I’d be lying, right? 

Some stock was needed for a fundraising sale  - so a quick stash rummage found two fat quarters of Christmas fabric, a jar of Lavender grown in the summer and some toy stuffing and ribbon saw me whipping up these in no time, well I wasn’t rushing too much, ahem.

And just when you thought I couldn’t procrastinate a moment longer, - 10 days to go! I hear you say, pull you finger out and finish your man’s pressie.  Loads of time, I say, - heaps - an eternity.  I can fit some more stuff in can’t I? 

Well good progress has been made on my cardigan.  The back and both front pieces are now done, I just need two arms and I’m good to sew and block.  That can be tomorrows job ;)

The Yule Journey Begins

It’s lovely to begin the journey to Yule with a bang don’t you think.  The nights may still be drawing in and the weather is getting colder, but in just a few weeks on December 21st the wheel will turn once again.  We will reach the winter solstice and the days will grow ever longer once more.

So in celebration of the beginning of December me and three baby Trolls made a very festive tray bake.

Mincemeat Marmalade Tray Bake Cake

So this needs three separate layers.  The first of which is a basic shortbread mixture.  The second is a layer of mincemeat and the final layer is marmalade sponge cake.


To make the shortbread -

4oz butter
2oz caster sugar
6oz plain flour

1. Rub the flour into the butter to form fine breadcrumbs - add the sugar and mix.  
2. Press down into a well greased tray ( we used a circular pyrex dish that was 10 inches wide). 
3. Make a few pricks in the mixture with a fork.
4. Then spread a whole jar of mincemeat onto the shortbread - ours was ready made, but homemade would be even better.

To make the Marmalade cake layer -

• 225g self-raising flour
• 1 pinch salt
• 115g margarine
• 85g caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon orange essence
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 4 good tablespoons thick cut orange marmalade
• 2 tablespoons milk

1. Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl, rub in the margarine until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.
2. Stir in the sugar and orange essence, then add the eggs, marmalade and milk.
3. Mix well to achieve the consistency of a thick batter.  Pour over the mincemeat mixture.
4. Bake in the center of the preheated oven until golden brown and a knife comes out clean, about 1 hour. 

Then enjoy.