The one on the left is a special brush for varnish but sheds a lot of hair.

I'm in the midst of restoring an old wooden bed of my mother's and needed paint brushes. I had new brushes at home but they shed worse than my dog and I wasn't game to use them. I needed some wood filler as well, so when I stopped by the hardware store, I asked the woman who was serving me for brushes for varnishing wood.

Sure enough she pulls out the ones that shed like crazy. So I told her what my experience with them had been like. She looked at me a little pityingly. Before she went to show me some other brushes, she told me that I had to pull the bristles to remove any loose hairs before using them. I hadn't done that. So I learnt something new today.

Still not game enough to try it again. I bought a brush with a thinned edge instead. I think it will work nicely with varnish.

This recipe is so quick to make and taste delicous too. It uses white chocolate and cream cheese. The addition of dried pineapple and brazil nuts gives it a lovely flavour and texture. I love brazil nuts in fudge. The recipe is below. Make and enjoy.

Ingredients
250g white chocolate broken into small pieces
220g cream cheese
2 1/3 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
a pinch of salt
3/4 cup brazil nuts chopped
1/4 cup chopped dried pineapple pieces
Rectangular baking tin

Method
Line the baking tin with greaseproof paper. Sieve icing sugar into a large mixing bowl. Add a pinch of salt, vanilla and the cream cheese to the sugar. Beat these ingredients with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy. Melt the white chocolate in the microwave using a low setting and heating at 20 second intervals. The chocolate should be soft enough to work into the cream cheese mixture. Take care not to burn the chocolate. Beat the melted chocolate into the cream cheese mixture. Stir in the fruit and nuts. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan.  Freeze for an hour and then transfer to the fridge for another 2 hours before eating. Store fudge in the fridge.

I've had tapestry on my mind after seeing some repurposed tennis rackets.  I was playing around with the photo editor software to see if I could convert a photo to an outline.

I wasn't impressed with their outline but found the emboss effect quite fascinating. The photo was one I took while I was in Venice, two years ago. It was taken on the island of Burano which is famous for its colourful houses. Now just imagine this embossed on a metal sheet and enameled with colour.

Definitely a project to try when I have some time. Check out the repurposed tennis rackets by Danielle Clough, to see where my circuitous inspiration came from.

This is how I feel today. I want to crawl into a corner and tell the world to leave me alone until the weekend.