I finally spent and hour or two this morning cleaning out and sorting my office and sewing room – something I’m not at all wild about doing, but it’s lovely when it’s done. I’ve decided that what I really want and need is a pretty cover for my sewing machine. We seem to get a lot of dust round here and I don’t think even the tiniest speck would do my lovely Bernina any good. The machine did come with a cover, but it is deeply hideous and bulky and I can’t bear it.

So I’ve decided that what I really need is Camille Roskelley’s Just Swell sewing machine cover made using up my Bliss scraps.

What do you think? Won’t that be a delight? I think so….and the pattern is easy to extend, so it should fit the Bernina perfectly.

I do love the fact nowadays that it’s possible sometimes to see a pattern online, order it, download it and hey presto!, no shipping costs and you have what you want right away.

So as soon as the weather cools down a little – which should be on the cards tomorrow, then that’s what I’m going to be doing. Can’t wait! Aren’t those zigzags fun!

I also had a lovely delivery this week – Bonnie and Camille’s new fabric line, Ruby. Needless to say, it’s gorgeous – and it meshes really well with Bliss……my new favourite fabric I think!!! (I haven’t unwrapped the packet yet because the pieces aren’t all tied together and I want to keep them clean and together till I work out what to do with them!)

My fingers are itching….I can’t wait!

Helen

Unfortunately due to my total inability to cope with the heatwave we’re currently suffering enjoying, levels of creativity here have dropped to an all-time low. My sewing room / office is in the roofspace of our home and right now its a million degrees up there. So sewing is on a break for a day or two until the temperatures come down again.

I feel a little lost when I can’t sew. Somehow a few minutes at the machine ever day has become my little treat when I’ve finished editing a paper or when I’ve completed a chore I hate. It strikes me as a better reward than eating chocolate…although I confess I do that too sometimes.

People (non-sewing people) are always a little startled when I say I sew every day. It seems like nobody else round here does anything half so outlandish. I think I must be part of a dying breed. Well then, I admit, I’m just a little odd. But that’s OK. I don’t mind being that eccentric Englishwoman!

So it’s back to the knitting for me – although that’s a pretty warm occupation too at the moment!

What a wild life I lead!

Helen

I have two teenage daughters. I’ve probably told you that before, but maybe not that the pair of them are like chalk and cheese. They are less than two years apart in age and when they were small they were inseparable. The younger one always wanted to wear what her sister wore and do what her sister did and they really liked each other.

For several years now the opposite has been the case. They are SO different and I think even if they end up on the same train home from school they would never dream of sitting together. They don’t do anything together and they fight a lot. I always thought it was really rather a shame – I would have given my right arm to have had a sister.

Next week, the younger sister will turn 15. She decided that what she really wanted for her birthday was what I would call (in old fashioned parlance) a dressing table – somewhere to put her copious make-up and perfume supplies, with a mirror and a chair where she can sit and make herself beautiful.

So this morning she and I trekked off to Ikea to see what was on offer at a reasonable price. It was quite an extraordinary morning – no arguments, complete harmony and agreement on all points and said dressing table and chair obtained without bankrupting us.

This afternoon I’ve been sitting in the living room trying to keep cool (it’s about a million degrees here!), gently knitting Soay and listening to Radio 4 and enjoying the sounds of my two daughters singing together, laughing and hammering as IN TOTAL HARMONY they build the furniture. I can’t tell you how unexpected this is. I had half expected World War Three and hammer attacks within ten minutes.

I will remember this afternoon. It’s been a delight for me!

Helen

School goes back this week – my son today and my daughters on Wednesday. Life will slowly get back into the old routine of early mornings, appointments, dance classes after school, keeping the show on the road…

My son attends a church school in Zürich. He just started the first year of Secondary school this morning. One of the things I really like about the school is their focus on values. This morning started with a service in the Grossmünster in Zurich. The Grossmünster would be a cathedral if it was anywhere else – it’s a beautiful double-towered church right in the middle of the city – one of the best-known landmarks. The theme of the service was balance and movement. In a nutshell, the need for us to have balance in our lives before movement can take place…and of course stressing for the kids that sitting infront of the computer playing games for hours and hours does not give you a balanced life.

It got me thinking. All the more so because for once – and it really probably is the first time – I am not starting the new school year with a long list of resolutions and ways I’m going to change my life.

Balance has a lot to do with peace and happiness in my book. Somehow over the past couple of years I have slowly got my ordinary little life into a state of balance. I work enough, but not too much, my household pretty much functions most of the time, my health is back on track after a blip a couple of years ago, I get out and do the sport I want to do and I can usually find an hour now and then to sew or knit. My children have their ups and downs at school, but then who doesn’t have the odd down?, and I think I’m getting to the point where I can deal with whatever comes with a measure of equanimity.

I think the fact that I don’t have a burning desire to change anything much is a clue that I’m more or less in a state of balance. I’m not setting the world on fire, but then I don’t really have any desire to do that anymore. My novel is in a state of hiatus and has been for a while. I guess if it’s meant to ever get finished then it will, but who knows…

I think I’ve finally learned the hard lesson of saying no to things that I don’t want to do and which I know are going to take a lot of time I don’t have and ultimately be a burden. That’s been a difficult one for me, but I’ve finally got it and for those of you who haven’t yet – it’s made a massive difference!

More to the point, I’m content with what I have and how my life is. I actually feel very lucky to be able to say that. I know it won’t always be the case, but for now I’m very thankful.

Helen

It’s very, very hot here and that means that my kitchen – thanks to the ever-warm AGA – has turned into a sauna and is to be avoided at all costs. We’re living on cold meats, cheeses and salads, together with very good Swiss bread….and leftovers of this…

Paella leftovers are the best leftovers ever. The flavours seem to mesh together even better after a day or two in the fridge.

My recipe doesn’t really exist…if ever I have a slapdash dish, then this is it. It has a bit of a basis from the paella in Delia Smith’s wonderful little book ‘One is Fun!‘ that I’ve been using for about the last 30 years, together with tips picked up from the Spanish mother of a boyfriend I had in my early 20s. It’s very much a moveable feast and as such is immensely satisfying and has never been known to go wrong. If you hate seafood, then omit it. This week I added some leftover trout that we had in the fridge and that seemed to fit in quite nicely!

Paella.

• 1 onion, chopped
• several cloves of garlic
• 1 red pepper sliced lengthwise
• chicken stock or even better fish or seafood stock – at least a litre (2 pints)
• saffron
• sliced chorizo sausage
• chicken thighs or breasts
• frozen mussels on the shell
• large prawns
• frozen peas
• tin of tomatoes
• carolina rice – a cup or two depending on the size of your pan

1. Fry the onion lightly in olive oil in a large frying pan together with the garlic and red pepper

2. In a separate pan fry the chicken, cutting it into chunky pieces if you are using chicken breasts

3. Add the rice and swirl it around in the oil to coat

4. Add the tomatoes and some stock so that all the rice and veg are lightly covered

5. Sprinkle over some saffron

6. Bring everything to a boil and then reduce heat so that it simmers

7. From this point forwards, don’t stir the pan, just shake it slightly to make sure nothing sticks on the bottom. If it does sick a little it isn’t the end of the world.

8. Gently push the chicken, prawns, mussels and chorizo into the mixture and continue to add stock as necessary, so that the mixture doesn’t dry out and the rice has plenty of liquid to absorb.

9. Sprinkle the frozen peas over the top, season and continue to shake and add stock until the rice is cooked

Enjoy with a nice glass of cold Spanish wine!

Helen