Sewing My New Found Love!!!!

All the best laid plans and all that, I had intended to crack on and get my Japanese flower scarf finished off and blocked by now but no, my mind started to skit about to other projects that I could do, so off I went into the local market town and into Bibelot to buy some fat quarters from their lovely haberdashery department.

Whilst I was in there I took a quick snap shot of some of my things that they have displayed for sale, don't they just look splendid!

As I have mentioned previously I was the lucky recipient of a beautiful sewing machine and I again I have said before sewing is really just not my thing but I am desperate to learn. So I thought a good first project would be to make some bunting, not a lot just a few flags to test out my skills.

Material, check!, pinking shears, check!, bias binding, check!, tape measure, check! nerves, check!

and we're off!

Ta-dah!!!!!!! hanging on some of my railings don't they look soooo cute and how they match the pots, they will look even better when the Geraniums are in full flower. I was so pleased with myself.

After discovering that the sewing machine wasn't quite the dreaded beast I had at first thought I decided that I would now tackle a little bag project that I had in my Cath Kidston 'Sew' book. Now this book came with all the pieces already cut out and ready to sew! I did however think that the instructions that come with the book are a little vague, especially for someone who's only project unto now has been bunting!

The picture below is me getting a little more confident and deciding to do a lining for the bag, which wasn't in the book, so I got out a piece of greaseproof paper, copied the pattern for the bag and made it slightly smaller at the top so I could hem it in, ohhhh listen at me :)

Part way finished and looking good, not a wobbly hem anywhere to be seen, this sewing machine is a dream! there are so many little markings on it to follow that it is really easy to sew a straight line and even round corners, which I had to do when making the handle.

Here it is all finished, and please please take note of the button holes!!! yes it was a challenge to set up the buttonhole foot on the machine but I did it.

 I cannot tell you how proud of myself I am at making this devine little bag. I has been photographed and I have stood in front of the mirror holding it and swinging it about and I love it!!!!!

I took it to the school when I collected my little boy and straight away someone said how nice it was and where had I bought it from!!!!! They actually didn't believe me when I said I had made it myself.

I have purchased a couple of books from Amazon and the Free and Easy Stitch Style is going to be one of my next projects. I just love the work of Poppy Treffry and I have already got a new darning foot and some linen to try my hand at a little freestyle machine embroidery. I am hoping that it is as fun as Kirstie Allsopp described it to be in her TV program 'Kirsties Homemade Homes' she said it was the cocaine of the crafting world! well we shall see.

One of the other things I have on the go, along with my scarf is a little embroidery that I saw and loved on Etsy. It is designed by a lady called Charlotte Lyons and I really delight at looking at her work it is such fun, if you fancy taking a look here is the link 

Other things this week to mention are the weather, what has happened it feels like we have up sticks and moved country!

The flowers have all started to blossom in the baskets

It is so hot and still that even my flag has stopped having a little flap around, my that blue sky is so good to see

everything in the garden is starting to look beautiful. I just love this little gate to my front courtyard!

and of course a summers hot day wouldn't be the same without a cold pint in the pub!

and ice creams with the children :)

My cake of the week this week is an almond and apricot cake which is full of calories but stays moist and stays fresh for a good time.

250g of butter

300g golden caster sugar

a few drops of almond essence

3 large eggs

50g ground almonds

200g self raising flour

a handful of flaked almonds

1/4tsp of salt

apricots

Set your oven to 180c/160c for a fan oven
line a 20x30 tin

Melt the butter in a large saucepan and allow to cool for 5 minutes, add the sugar and eggs along with the almond essence into the saucepan and beat until smooth with a wooden spoon.
Stir in the flour, ground almonds and salt and then tip it all into the prepared tin, give it a smooth over and then arrange on top the apricots. I used 6 fresh apricots which I cut into quarters but I am sure that tinned ones would be just as good. In fact if you substituted the almond essence for vanilla it would be good with any fruit on the top.
Sprinkle with flaked almonds and bake for 1 hour 10 mins but cover with a piece of foil after 40 minutes to stop it burning. Test with a skewer, the middle should be slightly squiggly but this firms up when it is cold. Leave in the tin for a few minutes to cool slightly and then cut up into squares.
This is a lovely cake to have just with coffee or as a desert.

On a final note, take a look at these little tea towels I got from Aldi, they are made from a thick cotton duck and I have plans to make myself a new shopping bag, so watch this space.

Have a lovely week and enjoy the fine weather

Claire xx

Stripy Granny Finished At Last and a New Addition

At last my lovely colourful Stripy blanket has been finished, I spent all of Friday afternoon hooking like mad to get the border finished. I had been feeling rather guilty that my blanket had been sitting in its basket all forgotten about and with really so little to do on it to finish I thought 'get on with it girl' and so I can get on with other projects without any guilt.

So here if the first of my Tah Dah's of todays blog

It just looked soooooo gorgeous all folded up and waiting to be taken to my little grandson

The colours are just so right with each other, they make you feel happy just looking at them. I was unsure about using an acrylic yarn as I much prefer natural fibres but this Stylecraft yarn was a dream to crochet with, soft, no rubbing on my fingers and it drapes really nicely 

I haven't made a huge blanket as it is for a childs bed so I do have a little bit of yarn left to go back into my stash, so keep your eyes open for more projects

And here it is on the beanie bed sitting and waiting for a little boy to come and snuggle up in, I couldn't wait to get it on his bed and see how lovely it looked, it has bought a ray of sunshine into the room, my heart skipped a little beat as it went on, and I had a lovely feeling again that giving something that is homemade and has had love and thought put into it shows how much you care and makes others see that your child is loved and well cared for.

My second Tah Dah is my finished Cath Kidston tapestry purse, it really took only a few days to make and finish so I am very pleased.

As it is a Diamond Jubilee year I thought that it would be a nice touch to stitch my initials and the year on the back of the purse so that if it survives a few years my children may look back and think of me.

My hand needlecraft has a lot to be desired so I first maked it all out with pencil on the back on my cut up Sainsburys tea towel and then just did little back stitches in red and blue

Here are all the bits just waiting to be put together

and here it is all lined in a lovely red and white polka dot cotton and with a zip!!!

 Now to be honest the zip has let the final project down a little, I really really struggled to get it in and with it pinned into place and pins sticking into me and after much cursing I did get it in but its not quite how I would have wished it to be

The finished purse is lovely I so enjoyed doing this it was really quick to do and gave a sense of virtually instant gratification. I don't know what I am going to use it for yet but no doubt I will soon find a useful purpose.

This weeks cake was a devine Carrot and Pineapple cake and it has stayed moist all week and I am glad that I tried something a little different, I topped it with a lovely sweet cream cheese topping.

So here is the recipe:-

300g plain flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1tsp baking powder

2tsp cinnamon

4 eggs

250ml oil (I used sunflower oil)

200g soft brown sugar

the zest of an orange and a lemon

200g of grated carrot

150g chopped walnuts

227g of chopped tinned pineapple pieces

Pre heat the oven to 140c that is in my fan oven so a little hotter if yours is not a fan and line a 20cm cake tin, make sure that it is quite a deep tin as you don't want your mixture escaping the top!

Right first sift the flour baking powder, bicarb and cinnamon together and then add in the sugar.

Whisk together the eggs, zests and oil and add this to the flour and sugar. 

Stir in the grated carrots and then fold in the walnut (I actually didn't have any walnut so I used pecans) and then fold the pineapple pieces in, if you don't like pineapples then you could actually leave them out.

Put all this mixture into your tin, give it quick smooth over and pop into the oven for about 1 hour 20 minutes, give it a little test with a skewer and if it comes out clean with not mixture sticking to it then its ready.

While the cake is cooking, you can get on with the frosting, which is:-

125g of soft butter

250g cream cheese

50g icing sugar

The topping is so easy to make all you do is mix all the ingredients together, it is a good idea to make sure that the butter is soft and that the cream cheese is a room temperature so that is comes out lovely and silky smooth. Don't be tempted to put this frosting onto the cake before it is completely cold or it will just melt it and make it run off.

I make my cake look a little prettier by adding some little threads of orange zest just to give it a little colour. I will definitely be making this again, as you can see it was cut into and tested before I could even get my camera out!!

On a different note we now have a new addition to our family :) Her name is Tiddles, chosen by my youngest son Caleb. She is 7 weeks old and here she is with her little brother, isn't she just adorable!!!!!!

After the initial shock of discovering that we have a dog and a few hisses later I think that she has settled into our home quite nicely. Well she looks contented enough wouldn't you say?

I will soon be giving you an update on my next project which I am quite excited about!

Claire xx

My Latest Projects and Yummy Cake

I have been inspired yet again by my lovely Cath Kidston book 'Stitch' there are just so many projects that I would love to do.

To make a change from my usual crochet I thought that I may tart up an old khaki coloured bag that I have and make some of the little embroidered badges that just leaped out of the page at me! There are 3 in total and I have already embroidered two of them, I hadn't got the exact colours that Cath suggests but from my stash of embroidery silks, I picked what I think is quite a good match, so I just have the Stanley Dog badge to do

And so on to the next Cath Kidston project, which is a gorgeous Union Jack purse, I started this and it is coming on so quickly, I can hardly believe it, well in fact I can, my finger and thumb are feeling rather bruised from pulling tapestry wool through my canvas, my eyes have gone squiffy from counting little squares and after a couple of glasses of wine last night I had to give it a rest.

My dread is actually when I have finished it, as I then have to line it, back it and put in a zip, a zip!!! I will have no idea where to start with this! and as I have only just learnt how to thread a sewing machine, the may prove difficult, in fact I have a very, very basic machine just to do seams with but it is proving to be my nemesis!

I have also finished the last few stitches on my Electric Flower cushion and this now needs a back and piping! OHHH heck, I just hope that my machine skills won't let down all the hard work I have put into the tapestries!

I have a beautiful pink wool cardigan that no longer fits me and I have thought of cutting this up to back the flower cushion, but I am still undecided as to what I should pipe it in, Bibelot have some lovely little bobble edging but I'm not sure.

When I was browsing around Sainsburys the other day I saw some fabulous tea towels they are in a lovely thick cotton and my first thought was that I could use them as pillow shams and crochet on to one end some fancy type of edging,I have never done this before, but I am sure with a quick scoot around Google I will find a tutorial somewhere. 

Looking at them again, I think that the middle blue one would be great cut up and used as a back for my little union jack purse!!!???

In between all of this crafting I have been doing, there was a call from the boys "We have no cake!!" So if cake was asked for, cake will be provided!

 

I decided to do a Chocca Mocca Caramel cake that I had seen in one of my 'Good Food' magazines, the recipe can be found here it is really yummy, the receipt says caramel bars, so my interpretation of this is a good old Mars Bar, they also said put on some little chocolate eggs which I didn't have so I replaced it with little fudge pieces and here it is in all its glory tadah!!

I would love to learn how to cook little colourful macaroons, I have looked at how to do it and it looks really time consuming, but plan to make some in the very near future. For now I have done something that I never really do, I bought cake just to satisfy my craving don't they just look scrummy sitting there in the box, I may just keep them at the back of the fridge as my own little secret stash away from little ones fingers!

Bye bye for now

Claire xx

Happiness and Decisions

The week started with more baking in anticipation of people calling around for tea and cakes, so I made some Chocolate and Almond biscuits, homemade biscuits are just so much better than shop bought and at least you know what is going into them, although sometimes this isn't such a good thing as you know exactly how much sugar you are eating!! :-

2oz dark chocolate cut into chunks
4oz butter
1 good dessertspoon of golden syrup
1 1/2 oz whole unblanched almonds
3oz demerara sugar
4oz self raising flour
pinch of salt
4oz porridge oats

Preheat the oven to 170c.
Chop into 1/4" (5mm) pieces the chocolate and the almonds, I use the unblanched almonds as I think they are much sweeter, put them to one side, then in a saucepan melt gently melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup.
Sift the flour and salt into a big mixing bowl, add the porridge oats and just over half of the chocolate and almonds, when all the ingredients in your saucepan have melted pour into the bowl and give a good mixing until thoroughly combined.
You will need two good sized baking sheets and onto them you take large walnut sized balls of the mixture and press on to your baking sheet to become flattened rounds measuring about 2" rounds, make sure you give enough space between then to spread.
The remaining nuts and chocolate your press onto the top and then pop the baking sheets into the pre heated oven for 15 minutes, take out of the oven and leave to cool on the baking sheets, if you try to remove them at this stage they will just break up into a little crumbly mess. When cool use a pallet knife to remove.

These little beauties didn't last long in the biscuit tin and I have to confess it was me that ate the majority, and I wonder why I have put on half a stone since Christmas???!!!

Next was a very quick apple scone which is great with cream or custard as a pudding as well as just a simple slice of cake :-

1 medium cooking apple chopped
pinch of salt
8oz self raising flour
2oz sugar
1tsp baking powder
2oz butter
1/4 pint milk

Pre heat oven to 200c.

Sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl, add the sugar and rub in the butter until it looks like a crumbly mixture, drop in the apple and mix then add the milk and then get your hands in and knead until you get a dough, then I just put it straight onto a baking sheet to form a kind of rough circle about 1/4" thick, brush with milk, sprinkle with sugar and mark into 8 then into the oven for 20-25 minutes.

Finally my usual Victoria cream sponge

Friday night we went to a lovely newly opened Bistro with friends and I decided to wear my lovely Dorothy shoes :)

What a lovely evening we had, its so good sometimes to go out  and leave the children behind so we can play at being a couple and and not just a mum and dad. The evening ended with me being asked to knit or crochet a dishcloth for our friend who is an MP so along with also knitting dishcloths for my barrister friend this we thought would also look good on my C.V.
When my husband is asked what I do for a living he always says she is a Magistrate and knits dishcloths
for barristers!!!!!

Saturday morning was lovely so I did my ritual roam around the collectors market and this week came away with a lovely little leather collar stud case which had a lovely selection of old studs in it, this will look lovely in my display cupboard and even better if I can beg my dads old leather collar box which has my grandfathers initials on.

When I was wandering around I was stopped by a lady who asked my where I had bought my brooch I could feel myself flushing as I told her that I had made it myself, I couldn't believe that someone would be kind enough to comment on it

I then went into my favourite shop Bibelot to buy some of there lovely buttons, they must think I am very fussy as I had all of there jars out sorting though and picking out just the little ones

The lovely girls in the shop also commented on my brooch and asked if I had ever thought of making things to sell, as they sell locally produced items in their shop, so theres an idea I have been giving a lot of thought to.

With the weather going from this

My new Staffordshire Flag in the sunshine

to this!!! and all within the space of a few days

and with the power cut from 6am to 7.30pm I have been sitting in front of the fire doing more crocheting and thinking

crafting on the table with my lovely Cath Kidston craft bag

Some little brooches inspired by Attic24 and some key rings

A little cover to put my iPhone in, which was inspired by Attic24's herb pot cover

some lovely little Sunflower brooches which were my own design

and finally my lovely Debbie Bliss Andes wool which arrived in the post for my next project

Have a good week,

Claire xx