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

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??!

National pudding day so the cake's NOT my fault!

I was reliably informed that it's national pudding day so I felt morally obliged to provide something nice for Mr LFCC - it would have been for the teenager too but she went out so missed out and I baked something she wouldn't like! How mean?! She'll sulk about that later!!

So I set to work in the kitchen... want the low down on my gorgeous fruity cake?

Ingrediants:

• 150g unsalted butter
• 3 free range eggs
• 100g caster sugar
• 50g soft brown sugar
• 150g sifted self raising flour
• 1 level teaspoon baking powder
• 400g sultanas (you can soak these in booze first if you want!)
• 50g glace cherries (the natural coloured ones, not the nasty articifical ones!)
• half a teaspoon gravy browning (yes, really!)
• half a teaspoon mixed spice (if you fancy it!)

Method:

1. Grease and line a round 6" deep baking tin and preheat the oven to gas mark 5.
2. Cream the butter and sugars together well in a large bow. Beat them until they get paler in colour and are really soft and smooth. Add the gravey browning and mix in.
3. Add the eggs (crack from the shells into a separate bowl in case there's an iffy one!) and beat them really well until everything is all light and gorgeous and if you trail the beaters over the liquid you can see a ribbon of mix slowly melting into the surface.
4. Gently sieve the flour and baking powder into the bowl having dusted your dried fruit in it first.
5. Fold the flour and fruit in gently.
6. Turn out into the tin and place in the oven for approximately one hour but keep an eye on it for the last fifteen minutes or so... Prod with a piece of dry spaghetti and if it comes out clean your cakes good to be omnommed!

Enjoy national pudding day! xxx

Folksy Friday - Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree!

Well it's Friday - at last and I'm feeling a bit Christmassy (yes, I know, it's only October!) so this weeks Friday blog is dedicated to the Christmas tree! I absolutely adore decorating our tree and there are some beautiful decorations to be found from the fabulous creators lurking on Folksy and that way you get something unique that your neighbour won't have, and probably get it at a far better price than the much duplicated goodies on the high street! Go share some love with these creative souls - or have a go at making your own if you're feeling inspired?

http://www.folksy.com/items/2213897



http://www.folksy.com/items/2322173

http://www.folksy.com/items/2364361

http://www.folksy.com/items/2324401

http://www.folksy.com/items/2164333



http://www.folksy.com/items/2212125


Happy Friday! xxx



Um... what season is it please??

I'd given up lamenting summer and started rejoicing in the change in colours that Autumn brings as the trees are already changing and shedding, and the sky seems moodier. But today I wake up and the sun's shining brightly, the grass seems greener again, and that dastardly wind has dropped that has brought down so many trees in our neck of the woods and just generally wreaked havoc!

I'm not SORRY it's a nice day but it's interupted my flow of autumnal (and Christmas!) inspiration and made me think all light and airy again!  For those fellow crafty types reading, does this kind of thing affect your work too?  I'm curious to see if those who aren't in such an "outside-ie" environment as as constantly affected by the environment? Would love to know your thoughts?

xxx

Custard. And I don't care!

Hello my lovelies!! It's been the usual kind of week onboard Zulu - I've been ill (as usual) but at work every day, Mr LFCC has been up to his eyeballs (as usual) and the teenager has been making a mess (as usual) so there's been very little creativity actually physically happening which makes me sad.

I have however decided on the name for the new jewellery collection - not that I'm going to tell you what it is yet! lol! I will start making the designs up this weekend, plucking the images at random from my head where they've been fermenting and spreading their little tentacles for the last month or so.  I feel confident that they will be beautiful and can't wait to share them but I have ideas for the backing cards too and am determined to block my usual "squeal!! I have to share!!!" mentality until I can present them a fait a complit (no French people tell me off about missing accents, please!) as I feel that my little backing cards make a real difference to the feel of my jewellery.  I think they give you more of a clue of how they were conceived and the train of thought behind them almost.
I really hope that once I show you you think they're worth the wait!
There's been quite a few "when are you having your Christmas cards" emails over the last couple of weeks so I've also been thinking about them.  To cover all budgets and all levels of love (we don't all want to send lush crafted cards to someone we're obliged to send a card to, but we'll gladly send a gorgeous printed card if the price is right) I will be doing individual cards - crafted, and printed from my original artwork, and packs of both kinds too.  Watch this space. 
I can also custom make any item you see on the page to your colour/pattern requirements so if you're thinking of an LFCC textile goodies for someone special this Christmas let me know and I can personalise it to your hearts content! As I tranfser my own photographic and text images to fabric I really can make something exactly as you want it so have a ponder! ;o)
Right - enough - time for my instant custard. I don't care that it's not a proper lunch. I want it. It's Friday. I'm having it. Ner. (not sharing either!! mwah!!)
Lots of floaty love!
xxx

Distressed? I hope so!!

I really love my distressed vintage style cardcrafts and wanted to transfer that kind of imagery on to the fabric I am working with.  I like to look around my local waterfront antique shop and find things that still work perfectly for their intended use, but you KNOW that they've had a life, that they've been loved. So, to give my handstitched work that kind of feel I had a bit of a play, and I am so pleased with the finished product.



This gorgeous little needlebook is very simple at first glance but contains different layers, handprinted fabric both inside and out, with gentle distressing on the edges, and gorgeous hand printed pages to store the needles, and a handmade crystal tag on the spine.



There will definately be more to follow in this style - some darker, some romantic and whimsical like this one. I will also be including my own photographic images transfered to fabric as I have with other pieces so watch out for those!

You can find this little gem in my folksy shop here: http://www.folksy.com/items/2018957-Needle-Book?shop=yes

Hope you like my little creation!

xxx