Christmas Tree, Lights and The Wizard of Oz

Feeling very Christmassy in the H household this week - our 4  year old has been making decorations for 3 weeks so under pressure we skipped off to our favourite Christmas tree nursery and chose our 7 foot blue spruce.

I cannot deny that I get as excited as Libby (4 year old) about decorating and Christmas and we went all out pulling out our vintage glass and knitted decorations (trying to stop Mr Finlay smashing them in excitment).   Our camp poodle always has pride of place amoungst the pink, feathers and glass madness that is our tree.

But as proud as we were we got even more excited when we saw the Harrods decorations this year - with their Wizard of Oz theme - we thought the 'Wicked Witch of the West' squashed feet were inspired!  Too late in the queue to buy the limited edition ruby slippers :(  we had to be content with our mini pair on the tree.

May your days be merry and bright! xxx

Granny Knits is alive and well

Well what a week last week turned out to be...  our web sales went mad and we were in the midst of launching our new sister brand Granny Knits...

As we twittered about the launch and had sent a mailer out to press enticing them to write about us, I received a call from my mum (head sampler) who had called the ladies round to view the new site and choose their samples to test.   She seemed somewhat distressed to note that the site had crashed and was being re-routed to 2 sites - Granny Porn and MILF-dating!!!

As I continued to tweet and others continued to chuckle, we have slaved over the weekend to re-launch the site - with tasters of our new contemporary crafting needlepoint kits which are ready to ship from January.

Compiled with quality UK yarns from Appleton Brothers (favoured by William Morris), the designs are based on some of our current best selling artworks, as well as some new designs.  The brand is built around my love of old school crafts, and as always they have a modern twist creating a new style of crafty chic!  More kits and bits will be added over the coming months which we will of course preview on the blog first!

Have a look at www.GrannyKnits.com and let us know what you think..   ..and no we don't have any links to the Milf's!

 

Signed Posters and Affordable Art

We have been busy bees with our art department over the last 2 days...

We have had lots of requests to do our poems as art prints and add to our wealth of slogans - so have launched a collection of art prints for Christmas (from £25) which are all signed by Jacqui and can be personalised with your own message, and even framed by our local framers.
This is in addition to the bespoke London sign style framed pics launched yesterday.....

Plus Jacqui has added to her collection of Nostalgic Ditties with a new wedding poem - which makes a cracking gift for newly weds.

All the posters are rolled and wrapped for safe carriage.
No excuse for that blank wall anymore ...

Personalised London Transport Inspired Art

Another day - another new product...

We are working like Santa's elves at Pearl and Earl HQ to keep one step ahead in the NOSTALGIC CHIC stakes to offer our lovely customers something new and lovely.

Today sees the launch of some new pieces in our art department.  Our canvases have long been a popular choice... but it was time for something new, bright and beautiful.

So here we are introducing our Nostalgic  slogan artworks...  available in a range of slogans and colours we have lots more up our very long sleeves, as they are limited edition prints which are hand framed by our good selves in our dining room / art studio!

We are also really chuffed to be launching our PERSONALISED transport style print - where you can choose your colour and saying and we will do the rest...  they make the perfect gift for any special occassion and all in time for Christmas too if you hurry!

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Yarns and Nostalgic Crafts

A week back from the shows and having got back on top of our orders and admin (well nearly troops!) our heads have turned to new products for Spring 2010.

Those who know me will know that I love all crafts and dabble in all sorts of creative lovely things, with previous incarnations as a knitwear designer.

So at the moment I am surrounded by exciting new software, fabrics, buttons lots and lots of yarns..  and am playing like a kitten creating some exciting new stuff in time for our trade shows in January.

Our new crafty kits will be under the label Granny Knits and sold via Pearl and Earl and follow us on twitter for the latest updates.

I am one happy bunny x

Arundel Holidays live

Those who follow us will know how much we love where we live in Arundel ..  so we have just launched our first holiday home TURF COTTAGE in the heart of Arundel so you can enjoy it too!
This grade II listed cottage has just been refurbished to a high standard and it's 3 bedrooms, 2 receptions and 3 bathrooms comfortably accomodate 6 people.
Why not visit our website www.arundelholidays.com to find out more for yourself.

Hope to see you soon x

 

Arun Ale Hotpot Recipe of the Week

Gosh it is stormy in Sussex this week - and as we are show weary we fancied something wholesome.  Raiding the larder I came up with a version of a Lancashire Hotpot, which had to have a few Sussex flourishes of course!  We used local ale Arundel ASB but you can use any bitter 330ml bottle (no lager please!)

ARUN ALE HOT POT

500g Diced lamb
100g diced smoked bacon
2 carrots - diced
1 onion - diced
2 large potatoes finely sliced
1 large sweet potato 
Tbsp Plain Flour
Bottle of Arun Ale
Bay Leaf
Rosemary - sprig chopped
Salt and Pepper
tbsp oil
25g butter
Heavy bottom cast iron casserole pan
Set oven to 170c

• Flour the lamb in seasoned flour
• Heat the oil and half the butter in the pan
• Brown off and toss in the onion and bacon and stir continuously until onion clear
• Stir in the Carrots
• Pour in the bottle of Arun Ale until just to top of meat and veg - top up with a little water.
• Layer the sliced potatoes altering the sweet potato and plain potato to make a pattern
• Dot on the remaining butter to the top layer
• Cover and place in oven for 1.5 hours
• Take off lid and leave in oven for 30-40 minutes to brown off the potatoes

Cannot tell you how scrummy this is!  Enjoy x

Feeling like a Show Girl

We are still in the midst of our round up of Christmas Fairs for 2009 - and it is a slog of 3 weeks of packing and unpacking vans, herding the kiddies around and smiling at and meeting all our lovely customers.

Start up Spirit of Christmas - in the stunning Olympia which has had a lick of paint and had mammouth baubles hung in the centre (see chaos of hall pre wine bar set up!)

Finally we painted, moved rogue electrical boxes, ate pies and drank wine and weary eyed were there to greet our shoppers at 9am....  and we had a cracking stand in the centre despite a few set up dramas - all our customers turned up  to shop...

Crazy 5 days later and we packed our van to head to Country Living across town in Islington, only 1 lift working so it was chaos!!!  But once again somehow we made it and had some time out to also run round and browse all the other lovely stands there, including the STAMP company,  and a variety of crafters selling their wares.

Packing up and Mr G had a 'prang' which put a little dent in the profits - but nontheless we were pooped and filled with a little more Christmas cheer as we headed back to Sussex to catch up on all that we left behind.

One more to go tomorrow - The RARE BRAND MARKET local to us just north of Chichester, it has a selection of premium retailers and crafters set in a renovated Sussex Barn called Farbridge.  Why not pop along and say 'hi' and quote RARE20 to get 20% off your purchases.  All is in aid of a good cause - The Sussex Snowdrop Trust.
Thank you to all those who came along  - always appreciated x

Grandma Dora's Bonfire Toffee

Recipe of the week is Grandma Dora's bonfire toffee...  this is a recipe I was hesitant to share!

My wonderful, colourful Grandma Dora has been a huge inspiration for me and she sadly passed away over 10 years ago.  But her legacy of colour, pattern and hit family recipes live on and her influence on Pearl and Earl's style is obvious to anyone who knew her.

So if you count calories, or don't like things stuck to your teeth - this is not the recipe for you!  But every year we made this without fail and it was without a doubt the best thing about firework night...  I believe the best recipes are those with memories attached, as they somehow envoke an extra taste sensation! There are tons of variations of treacle toffee - which if you manage to keep your mitts off, makes a great home made gift at Christmas...  ours is cloudy and can be a little chewy (attempt to chew at your own risk!)

Approach with caution; toffee gets very, very hot (up to 140 °C/ 270°) as it is boils. Treacle Toffee keeps very well stored in an airtight tin so make enough for Bonfire night and extra toffee for Christmas.

So here it is:

Grandma Dora's Bonfire Toffee

Ingredients
300g / 12oz Demerara sugar
100g / 4oz butter
2 level tablespoons of golden syrup
1 level tablespoon black treacle
4 tablespoons of water
Buttered 7 inch square tin (or 12x4 inch)

 

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Method
Combine ingredients in a heavy bottomed pan
Heat slowly, stirring until the butter melts and sugar dissolves
Bring to boil, cover and simmer for 5 minutes
Uncover and continue to simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occassionally to avoid sticking
Test by dropping mixture in a cup of cold water, it should set
Pour into the tin and leave to set
Turn out and break up with the end of a rolling pin!

Makes 1lb/500g cloudy treacle toffee

The Rusty Poo and Firework Night

The title of this posting may seem somewhat rude to non locals of West Sussex...  but the Rusty Poo is the name adopted by the locals for the architecturally acclaimed (??) East Beach cafe - at the East Beach in Littlehampton, Sussex.  It was launched last year as part of the millions being ploughed into the South Coast to entice folk back to some of these old school seaside towns.

Serving up some cracking local fish dishes - it is the perfect family pitstop! For us - there is a long flat promenade - perfect for toddler scooter practise, and the local fish served at this simple cafe is divine.  Whilst we avoid it like the plague on Summer Days, Sunny Autmn/Winter/Spring days often bring us down to scavenge the beach and eat local chow. Today was Moules Mariner with Linguine and Bacon!

Today also saw some of the biggest Autumn swells so far - so some mad friends of ours longing for the swells of some more well know surfing heads, went out into the cold to 'catch some waves'

Finished a smashing day with a cracking firework display by Arundel Rotary Club, watched in awe on the bridge, which is now tradition.  Thank you gang - sterling job as ever and the rain held off too!

PS - for those of you who know we are at Christmas shows this week (and next and next!) I managed to escape duty today!  Thank you Mr G x