HOME SWEET HOME - Well ......... manic work and madness

This is why I came home

My beautiful girls - Aimee and Lola May.............

Home is really Portugal (in my heart these days).  Anyway, we did it, flew there in our wonderful little Europa and it was totally fantastic!  I will be posting the photos soon and got some really good soap leads for Naturally Made Soaps while I was there.

Glad to be home, selling and working hard, got Exmouth Food Fest for the Bank Holiday weekend so will be putting in a full blog appearance after that.  But while Im here Im so enjoying being with these two nutters!!!  Can't you just see why?

FLY ME TO THE MOON - WELL PORTUGAL ACTUALLY!

Yes everyone the time has come, we are going to fly the newly completed Europa to Portugal and stay at our Quinta for 3 - 4 days, weather dependant, then fly back next week YESSS!!
This is what we have been waiting for, the build took Rik almost 5 years and a lot of stress but we now have a beautiful little plane to be proud of and we are so close to realising our dream of flying ourselves to Portugal.

G-CEIW passed all is flight testing with flying colours, we have already done quite a lot of time in her, we flew up to Suffolk a couple of weeks ago to have lunch with Riks Mum which was lovely.  A car journey would have taken us over 6 hours but we did it in an hour and forty minutes!

Above with Riks Mum in Suffolk ready for take off back to Devon

This trip is the biggie.  We will take off from Dunkeswell in East Devon and fly over the channel to the Cherbourg peninsula.  We then make for the west coast of France and fly down to Le Touquet where we will land, stretch our legs an clear customs.  Then on to Spain touching down again at San Sebastian to re-fuel.  The last leg is the longest from Spain to Viseu in Portugal, a high and often windy airfield 2000 ft above sea level.  Our lovely friends will come and pick us up and we should be home in our Quinta in an hour!  How great is that?  I will be reporting back with a couple of photos I promise.  This is all dependent on weather however, so please pray for good clear skies on Thursday.................Thanks

More New Cupcakes on the curing rack

The curing rack is groaning under the weight of soaps waiting for that special moment when they are ready for sale.  A lot of prodding, poking and close inspection goes on before that, the soaps are stacked on their ends with a small amount of space between them to allow the air to pass round every surface aiding the drying/curing process.  As its still cold and damp here in Devon the rack is up in Ryans room and it makes the house smell so good!
 

Those of you with eagle eyes may be able to tell what my rack was in its former life......... 
An old GPO, or post office for those of you a lot younger than me, set of sorting shelves!  It works a treat, I line the shelved with greaseproof paper and stack, the whole thing is made up of strong steel mesh covered in black plastic so the ventilation is fantastic and soaps cure nice and evenly.  Each shelf even has its own plastic label for me to add dates etc with a white board marker.  Ive just to find more though - these ones are full!

New cupcakes include my sweet butterfly cakes, sample mini lovespell cakes and some really gorgeous pink roses on white and white roses on pink (see the trays below the racks).  I cant wait to get them out on the stall.  They will be ready soon, watch this space.  Ive also got a lovely new gardening soap bar with Portuguese coffee, I used to make this a lot last year and a whole load of people have asked for it back so Ive made more!

Fab new cupcake slippers to make

Thanks to ohmygoodknits!  (I love this blog site)  http://goodknits.com/blog/ Ive found this lovely pattern for very simple little toddler slippers.  I feel another cupcake idea coming on guys!

NOTE: to complete each round, slst into top of the beginning ch3.

Using worsted weight yarn and a 5.00mm hook (H)–
CH 4, slst to make a circle
CH 3, 10 DC into circle (11 dc),
CH 3, DC into same st, 2 DC into each st around (22 dc)
next three rows (even rounds): CH 3, 1 DC into each st
CH 3, DC into next 18 st, leaving 4 unworked. CH 3, turn and work 18 DC back and forth until the sole is as long as the baby’s foot (~5 rows).

seam up the back, then work about 2 rounds of single crochet around the edge, decreasing at the corners.


That’s it! Easy peasy! You can make a complete pair in under and hour. The fun part is thinking of ways to decorate them using felt and thread. Lisa has even turned some into different slippers by crocheting up a little strap on the borders, see below.

Lisa has one suggestion to parents: watch your babies in these! They’re like socks, so if you have slippery floors, be extra vigilant. She used some puffy fabric paint to make them slightly more slip-resistant. You could also sew a sole to the bottom or at least some slip-resistant spots near the toe and heel.   Enjoy!  Let me see some pics if you do make some, I intend to.




WHY I AM NOT USING PALM OIL ANY MORE

Follow this link to a new page on my website where I try to explain.....

https://www.naturallymadesoaps.co.uk/SearchResults.asp?Cat=63

Im very pleased to be able to tell you that All my soaps are now palm oil free.

Let me know what you think, do you have any more facts that I can add to the page?

Pretty Posh Fair, Exmouth

Well the stall looked fine, not as good as normal as I was so rushed I just did not have time to get my normal overhead supports so I could cover it with spring greenery and flowers, but I managed to get time to stop off on the way in with gloves and secateurs and cut some new beech, oak and Hawthorn.  I then put this into two jugs on either side and it looked nice, not quite the same but people liked it.

A funny old day really.  Lots of people, a steady flow all morning, lots of interest and questions but just not buying much.  Why?  Could it be the recession, could it be the election looming?  I know people are still very worried about finances, and why not, and it was not just me, lots of other stall holders were slow too.  Oh well, cupcakes flew off the stall and sold lots of the new palm oil free range....
On the other hand I made lots of good contacts.  Two more shops wanting to stock Naturally Made Soaps, two more fairs to attend and a chance to buy into a very cheap supply of pomace olive oil - basically enough for potentially a years supply for £1.95 a litre.  So pretty pleased really.  Anyway, Debbie (the organiser) did a fantastic job of getting a really great selection of products today, it always amazes me how many talented makers there are in Devon, some really lovely stuff.  I will be booking my stall for the October Fair anyway, thanks for organising it Debbie and thanks to all my loyal customers who came and bought as always.

A few of my fellow stall holders who really caught my eye:
KATYCAKES - http://www.katycakes.biz
Wow!  fantastically beautiful cupcakes that you can eat!!  much more filling than mine

ATHENIAN OLIVE - http://athenianolive.co.uk
Lovely Greek olive oil products including soap (which I bought and cant wait to try!)

THE CAKE LADY - http://www.the-cake-lady.org
HMMM yummy, yummy, yummy her chocolate cake I sampled was so sticky and lovely.  What is it with me and cake at the moment?  I'm already at least 2 stone overweight, am I on a roll? I hope not.  Anyway, her cakes are really good and look fantastic.

LEAFSTREET - http://www.leafstreet.co.uk
One of the shops in Exeter wanting to supply my soaps, thanks guys!

By the way, the other shop is opening soon in Exmouth, details to follow.

Finally a link to Pretty Posh to find out more about future events and how you can get involved - http://www.prettyposhlocal.co.uk/

Dirty Dog soap back from testing in Thailand

and it looks like it went down well, less annoying insects and a lovely scent.
Check out the Girls Travel Club Blog  http://girlstravelclub.co.uk/blog/2010/04/keep-bugs-away-with-ahem-pet-care.html

Dog soap is the best!!