I have been in admiration of Louise Walker's faux taxidermy knits for some time now, and I finally plucked (no pun intended!) up the courage to get myself one of her Forest Friend Fox kits. Great value for money at only £30 and you get everything you need, including knitting needles!

I finished making Mr Fox in just two days I was so excited to get him made and hung up in my craft room, although I had a few obstacles to overcome on the way. I had never done a slip stitch before (not quite sure how!) so a quick YouTube video tutorial later and I was on my way. The next challenge was getting my head around the intarsia technique, basically put it's when you knit with more than one colour yarn attached to your knitting needles. I had a grand total of four different bundles of yarn attached to my knitting needles to do each of the fronts of ears, it took a little time but I got there in the end. I'm so pleased with the end result, I'm itching to try my hand at more adventurous knits now . . .

The beautiful hessian packaging that the bits and pieces come in.

Mr Fox finished, even though he's got a bit of a wonky nose and eyes!

For the past 10 weeks I have been attending a Photography short course at the Arts University in Bournemouth, it's been strange going back a few years after completing my degree, its almost like I've never been away, even though there have been a few changes.

As part of the course we had to produce a set of photos with the central theme of either abstract or after dark. I chose to focus on the abstract theme, I had two sets of images that I couldn't quite decide on so ended up taking them both with me to get some feedback on.

 

Flower Power

For these images I focused on close up macro shots (or as close as I could get with the lens I had!) of flowers, I love the hot pinks against the lush green foliage in these photos.

Taken in Bournemouth gardens

Taken in Bournemouth gardens

Taken at Compton Acres

Taken at Compton Acres

Beside the Seaside

In these images I focused on the light within the images and how it highlights certain parts of the object, again I deicded to go quite close in with these shots . . .

Taken on Bournemouth Pier

Taken at Poole Quay

Taken at Poole Quay

Taken on Bournemouth Pier

We (I) couldn't take not having animals anymore, (it doesn't look like we'll be getting a dog anytime soon!), so we decided to get on the RSPCA website and had a look for a pair of bunnies that might be in need of a new loving home.

We always had rabbits when I was growing up, and out last rabbit Barley was such a character (plus it's the only animal other than Rosie that Jason has actually liked!), I thought it might be a good idea for rabbits to be our first pets together.

We came across the cutest mini lops called Goldie and Copper on the Ashley Heath RSPCA site. They are mother (Goldie) and son (Copper) who had been at the rescue centre since Christmas waiting for their forever home together. Goldie had been found along with her bunny rabbit husband at the bottom of a lady's garden, Goldie then had babies. The lady decided to keep two of the babies and hand in Copper along with Goldie and her bunny husband to the RSPCA.

My parents where down for the weekend, and we were out at the local farmer's market picking up some supplies when I got the call that we could go and collect them, they need a bit of tender loving care as they're not used to being handled, but I'm sure they're going to make great additions to the Cluitt/Green household, plus we can let them run around the garden so we won't have to mow it quite so much!

I've left them to it for their first night in their new home (a beach hut inspired pastel mint green and white hutch) but they seem to be settling in well, stay tuned for bunny updates . . .

A very fluffy Goldie

And a very shy Copper

Recipe 

I adapted a Delia Smith recipe I came across online, here's a link to the original recipe, however I have included my adapted recipe below.

For the sponges -
265g Self raising flour 
265g Margarine 
265g Golden caster sugar
Zest of 2 lemons
2 tbsp Lemon juice
1.5 tsp Baking powder 
4 Duck eggs, lightly beaten

1. Grease and line three 18cm circular tins.
2. Preheat your oven to 160ºC.
3. Cream the margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy.
4. Add in the eggs until combined.
5. Add in the flour, baking powder, lemon juice and zest. The mixture may start to split, if this happens keep stirring the mixture, if it does not come together add a touch more flour.
6. Divide the mixture evenly between the three tins and then place in the oven for 25-30 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

For the frosting -
As this is something that I had never attempted before and none of my recipe books had anything close to what I was after I scoured the internet for an easy-ish recipe, and I found this recipe. It's a great easy to follow recipe if it's your first time making meringue frosting.

As I made the frosting the night before and iced the cake in the morning I did as the recipe suggested and put the frosting the fridge over night. However, it did need re-whisking in the morning.