Work in progress onboard... with essential antique shopping!

Those of you who keep up with LFCC on Facebook will know that we were recently craned out of the water and dry docked for two weeks for our regular maintenance work... Every few years a narrow boat has to come out and have her bottom checked for pitting and stuff to be sure that her sacrificial anodes are doing what they should.  For those not in the know, there is a lot of electricity floating around the water in marinas as the boats are all hooked up to 240v shore power and there are loads of scaffold poles dug in to support jettys or walkways. For steel hulls this can be disastrous unless you have these sacrifial anodes to kind of suck up this surplus electricity and get eaten away instead of your hull.  That little whitish block you can see on the bottom front edge of the hull is what's left of the anode on that side. As you can see, its all worn away so it's been doing it's job!

In addition to this important update, we have to scrape back all the crud that sticks to the hull, industrial jet wash it, and then reblack it with a bitumin type paint to protect it from all those bumps and scratches that would leave it prone to rust and decay.  This is normally done every two to three years - it's an expensive job and very hard work so that's plenty often enough, trust me!



Of course, there was still a Joseph Poopy (full grown German Shepherd) and Kevn and N'Eville (the kitties) onboard throughout the works... All of whom decided to help with the fresh paint.... sigh...

In addition to this vital maintenance work we scheduled some extra chores this year; a new bathroom!  We originally built our bathroom with just a basic porta potti as this was the easiest and cheapest solution. With fitting out the entire boat from scratch ourselves whilst working full time there was a limit to what we could achieve both in terms of time and energy and of money...
But emptying a toilet every few days is a tough job. You'd be amazed how heavy that little tank gets and poor Mr LFCC had to do it as I physically couldn't lift it! He was very gracious about such a crappy job (if you'll pardon the poor pun!) but enough was enough...

As I'd been in hospital for two weeks and only home for one week when we were scheduled to be craned out I was working more in a supervisory role which I hated but I did make a lot of tea and sandwhiches for Mr LFCC while he worked!
He gutted the existing bathroom, bit by bit - taking it back to the original studwalls I built myself.

You can see the battoning and sprayfoam insulation which keeps us toasty warm when it's cold out! You might notice that there are two radiators too! Slightly odd, but in a boat one thing that is an issue is humidity, and things can easily get damp if you're not careful. If you have one source of heat in your bathroom but it's covered in two adult sized bath towels it's not going to allow much warmth to penetrate the room and neither towel is going to get dry, so we have one gorgeous towel rail and one radiator. Cunning eh?

The next thing to do was to cut a dirty great hole through the steel to put in the one way vent for the waste for our sea toilet. If you're in flowing water you can use these without any chemicals and it's a much greener way of living.  I wouldn't want to eat fish out of the water here though I must admit!

The plumbing work was then installed with the new macerator which is essential for this kind of loo.

We rearranged the layout of the bathroom as it was the one room we weren't 100% happy with from the original fit out.  I wanted to give it a bit of real vintage hotel luxury chic style too so on days when I'm not feeling too good I can go in there and have a bit of a pampering session...  With this in mind Mr LFCC picked the most gorgeous black marble walling and I hunted the antique shop for vintage finds to dress it.  I've given some gorgeous old pieces a new lease of life with a new purpose so  look out for the pictures of the installation work and the end result for our beautiful new old bathroom!  It's rather a mixure but I love it.  Have you embraced some vintage pieces in your home? Do you love hunting the antique shop for things to give a bit of soul to a new world?? I'm really lucky to have a huge antique shop just a few miles down the road with a massive range of goodies to choose from including things that are priced to shop guilt free! I always thought that antique shopping was for the rich but it turns out that that's not necessarily the case.  The only problem is the chaps in the antique shop know Mr LFCC too as one of them lives on a boat in our "old" marina so there's no sneaking anything really naughty out as I'll get discovered! What's really lovely is they know the kind of things I look for now and will actually direct me to pieces they think will suit my work!

I'd love to see photos of your vintage finds if you'd like to share them or how you've incorporated them into your favourite place to be? You can post them on the wall on our FB page or drop me an email! thelittlefloatingcraftco@gmail.com is the place to send them!

So my next bathroom installation will be the finished room - hopefully - just the new wooden counter tops to install now!

xxx

I miss my buns!

For many years I was known as the one who made the cakes... I carried on baking after I got sick and even got into doing cake commissions for special occassions which was something I loved so much even though I found it incredibly nerve wracking.  To be entrusted with the focal point of someone's celebration is a really big deal and like with any commission, you can never be one hundred percent sure that the image in your head that you're looking to create is really anything like the one in the head of the person paying the bill!
These days as it's too risky for me to commit to doing a special occassion cake in case I end up in hospital and ruin the party so I just take the time to look back at the buns from history, and the few I still get to make for family celebrations.  What really makes me laugh is that of all the beauties I've created over the years, the cake that gets looked at from all over the internerd is a kiddie one based on Mr Tumble. I wasn't happy with the finished result as the head wouldn't go on the figure right, but I was told by the lovely lady who ordered it (my friend, and once-upon-a-time boss!) that her little man absolutely loved it and THAT'S what counts, no matter what I think!  Anyways, thought I'd share some of my buns while I dream... enjoy! XXX

First ever fondant roses!

Garden themed cornet cuppies for 5th birthday!

Pirate Cat King birthday cake topper!

The march of the penguins, made with a broken wrist!

Our friend,Gus, and his Harley for the bike club party

Vintage floral cuppies for Mamma LFCC

The infamous Mr Tumble cake (don't look at his neck!)

Golden wedding anniversary for garden/book fans!

Welcome onboard cake for the teenager!

This also had piped shag pile carpet when it was done!

Simple but effective!

Just so pretty - love the florals!

Lemon drizzle - my fave flavour!

Another "mum" cake - but not mine!

A real chocolate chocolate brown labradoodle!

VDub rules!

BIG bike club birthday - painted free hand!

Mamma LFCC's vintage tea party cake

18th birthday buns - ladybirds were a MUST!

Share the love and win!!

Hey lovely floaty people! As it transpires that even sharing  picture on FB will be likely to get our page deleted by the governers, instead to enter our giveaway just please leave me a comment on this blog as to what you fancy winning and why and you'll be entered into the draw when we hit 2600 likers.
If you choose to tell your friends about the blog and the LFCC facebook page at www.facebook.com/littlefloatingcraftco that's fab but not necessary for your entry to count and should be considered completely your choice and unrelated to this giveaway! Ok... sorted....

So what's up for grabs?  Well, you can take your pic of any LFCC creations up to a value of £15. That could be a piece of jewellery, a textile creation, or perhaps something created just for you. And if the thing you choose is priced at less than £15 then keep choosing til you hit that figure! As per the voucher above though, this does include P&P!

I really appreciate all the support of my floaty crew so please do get involved in this opportunity for me to give something back!

xxx

Folksy Friday - dreaming of Spring!

Sharing some love for my fellow folksters this week and embracing the turn (hopefully!) of the new season!

http://folksy.com/items/2935402-Butterfly-Handbag

http://folksy.com/items/3012550-Spring-bunting

http://folksy.com/items/3016022-Branch-in-Spring

http://folksy.com/items/2322761-Spring-Bear-and-Button-Necklace

http://folksy.com/items/2722246-In-A-Spring-Garden-art-print

http://folksy.com/items/2895246-lovebirds-and-spring-chickens

These are just a few of the gorgeous things I found so take a look around, and keep an eye out for the sunshine! ;o) xxx

It's pie weather

There are many of us working towards running our homes more economically in these tough times and part of that means using up ingrediants in the fridge and having what my mum used to call "iffits" (iffits in the fridge you can have it, iffits not you can't).

With a basic suet pie crust you can transform the most basic things into something hearty, warming and incredibly filling! With 200g of suet and 200g lightly sifted flour combined with a little water and thrown back in the fridge for ten minutes before rolling the pastry is beyond easy and I've never known it come out as anything other than delicious. Keep it around 5mm thick and it's crispy and a little stodgy all at once.

Tonights filling was leftover cooked chicken (equivalent of two large chicken breasts) which I chopped into bite sized pieces and added to a couple of rashers of smoked bacon after frying off in their own fat for about two minutes. I let it heat through for five minutes on a moderate heat and then added about a teaspoon of dried sage, a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard, a couple of handfuls of grated cheddar cheese and a small pot of double cream. Slightly decadent but all leftovers in our fridge. Let the filling come to the bubble and simmer for a moment while you roll out the pastry and grease and line a 6" metal pie tin. Pile up the filling and add a lid. Get fancy and add leaves and a rolled pastry rose if you like and milk wash the lot.
Cook at gas 7 for 35 mins, checking after 25 mins to see if you need to lower your heat a little for the last little while.

This kind of pie always going down well with my floaty family but we change it around... sometimes I pop a raw egg in a small well in the filling before I pop the lid on and it's like a hidden treasure lurking under the lid when you cut in to dish it up!

Are you pie fans??!

Suck it up and get on with it!

Sheesh! I'm an embarassement to bloggers everywhere - it's been months since I wrote anything here and I'm deeply ashamed of myself.
I could say that I've been busy being ill, then busy doing Christmas, then busy being ill again but a lot more people deal with a whole lot more than that and still get blogging!

So this is just a quick hello but I've got some exciting new goodies to show you later on today (when Mr LFCC gets back with some new batteries for my camera!) and some new themes which are to be LFCC standards! Watch this space floaty types!! xxx

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas!

Yers, I know it's still November but the Christmas shopping is in full swing, not just onboard Zulu but the floaty folks over on facebook are definately hard at it! It's been really exciting to be part of that and know that you gorgeous floaty people love what I'm doing enough to want to watch someone open a parcel containing something I made on Christmas morning. Wow. That just takes my breath away!  My new "liquor cabinet" charm bracelets have been a hit, and I know some my handprinted textiles and other jewellery are being wrapped and sent off to the North pole to go in the Christmas delivery!

You see, for me, Christmas isn't about what I want, what I might get, and about spending loads of money. It's about being able to show someone that I really really thought about them, that I know them, that I care, and that I could find or make something that would let them know all of that without a shadow of a doubt when they tear back the paper.  Watching the family open their presents is my absolute favourite bit!

Maybe that sounds really hard but if you think about the things that make your loved one chuckle, or the stuff they share with you throughout the year there should be a glimmer of something there for you to work from.  Even something silly could mean a lot! It shouldn't be about the money. Some things might take time but cost virtually nothing so try and think outside of the box.

Example: my first real present for Mr LFCC was a framed autographed photo of his favourite rugby player.  I looked up the person who looked after marketing at the club, and wrote her a letter telling her how wonderful Mr LFCC is and how he was always the one looking after people, and how much he loves his team, and she was kind enough to get the player in question to autograph a picture and she popped it right in the post! It cost very little to get it put in a nice frame! All these years on he still keeps it on his office desk!
I got one from his fave footballer before our wedding too!

I did something similar when my daddy was very sick; he had a huge seriously old tatty poster of Kate Bush in a frame in his office and when it became apparant that he wasn't going to get back in his office I didn't want to draw attention to it and bring his poster home but I found the photographer who did all Kate's recent publicity shots and sent him an email explaining that I loved his photos and would dearly like to buy one (I did explain the circumstances) and he immediately emailed back saying he'd see what he could do. Two days later I received a letter from Kate Bush for my dad and a beautiful photo with an enscription just for him. It was amazing.  His favourite group, The Moody Blues, were kind enough to do somethingn similar thanks to another PR person over at their agency who sorted it out even though they were currently touring the US.
People like to help if you give them a chance.

So anyways I digress rather... What I love about handmade is that you can give a person something completely unique. It's gutting to spend ages picking something gorgeous out that you really consider carefully, know the recipient will love, and then see that someone else thought exactly the same thing so the lucky person gets two! I get kind of jealous too when I see someone else with the thing I bought for my friend as well! lol!

There's the other side of the coin though - not everyone is into handmade, and I know this.  I also worry about "inflicting" my creations on to people who might actually prefer something bought from a recognised label... I hate to presume they would want MY creations over those. I love to give my creations to people I really believe genuinly want them though! If you know the person you'll know which way to go! So this years pressies are a mix but I haven't gone to the high street for any of them! I've imported from small overseas shops via their websites, I've had things made by other people, and I've searched small local independant shops.  Everyone will be getting something different that I doubt they'll get duplicates of but that I really believe they'll love!  I wish I could share with you what I've chosen for who but I've passed everything on to Father Christmas for delivery around midnight on December 24th! ;o)