Christmas prezzies!

Hello all you lovely people!

Good tidings and festive blessings. Christmas has come and gone and - to steal a turn of phrase - we are now in the non-time until the merriment of New Year's Eve. So, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to write a sneaky little blog post (as the OH entertains himself mis-singing Call Me Maybe while watching the Big Fat Quiz of the Year).

Plus, I was truly spoilt this Christmas, with crafty goodies from my own family and the future in-laws (big thank yous all round), so I couldn't wait to get in the kitchen and play with my new toys. As it was a test-run with my new food processor (thanks Mum), I kept things simple with an ordinary sponge. It took three minutes! Three! Everything in the pot, quick whizz and ready to go. The oven hadn't even warmed up.

Anyways, I spooned the mixture into my new plant pot muffin cases (thanks Erin and Craig), let them cook and then let them cool. Made a minor boob with the icing mix - not enough butter - so my flowers went a bit squishy. But I think you get the picture...

I have also finished another of my crafty projects so I will have to write about that later in the week. Until then, I hope you had a merry Christmas and have a fabulous New Year.

Much Love

My own British Bake Off

A short while ago my beloved bought me a book providing all the hints and tips you need to create show-stopping cakes. Some would take offence. Baking? Moi? Ardent feminist that I am? Get out. But not I. While - to borrow a phrase from Caitlin Moran - I am a strident feminist, I also like crafting and baking and traditional housewifely pastimes. So I took it as a hint that he would appreciate a show-stopping cake for his birthday.

I started with standard victoria sponge mix - putting a generous amount of blue food dye in one cake tin, and a good glug of orange in the other - then popped them in the oven for about 15-20 mins. Once cooked, cooled and sandwiched together with butter icing and jam, I got to work crafting the icing.

Ready to roll regal icing is really easy. It does exactly what it says on the box. I covered the whole cake in a thin layer of butter icing, piling a bit more on top (I hate marzipan) then gently layered on the icing rolled to around 5mm thickness. You use your palms to smooth it out, not your fingertips, as this will make sure it's dimple free.

Then the tricky stuff happens. Creating the 'ribbon' was a matter of dying the icing orange and then cutting out thin strips. The bow was a little challenging but also not as tough as it looks. You cut out five strips the same thickness, but two about double the length. Slice a triangle out of the bottom of these longer strips and they become your 'trailing ribbons'. For the bow, wrap the two next strips around a bit of rolled up kitchen roll to give them their shape. Carefully slide them off, pinch the ends and then place them together, wrapping the last strip around the middle. Et Voila, your bow. Now it's just a case of carefully transferring it onto the cake.

Finally I made the dots by dying the remaining white icing blue, using a small shape cutter and then attaching them to the cake with a tiny dab of water. Then I presented it to the birthday boy. He was thrilled, but a little alarmed that the dye job hadn't worked out quite as planned...

Perhaps a little more dye was needed? Oh well. Happy baking!

Creepy Cake

A few weeks ago our office went all out for Halloween this year. Everyone dressed up, we had cakes and creepy music. It was amazing.
OK, so not everyone dressed up.
Well, a few people dressed up.
Alright! Five people dressed up and it was pretty mediocre. But the thought was there! And to mark the occassion I embraced my inner Nigella and hit the kitchen.

My vision involved a beautiful bright orange cake with a ghoulish ghost and scary black spiders. I hit only two stumbling blocks in my efforts. Number one - enough food dye to make ready to roll regal icing turn that perfect shade of orange will also make it incredibly sticky and soft. Number two - I neglected to buy any black food dye, so had to make do with gallons of blue in the hopes it would be close enough. It wasn't.

The cake went down well at work and I think made up for my lacklustre costume. On an unrelated aside, it is very difficult to have serious meeting with your manager about resourcing when dressed as a skeleton.

Oh and by the way, those are spiders. Not crabs. Obviously.

Shamefaced apology...

There has been a severe lack of blogging in the last two months - alas myself and Bethany have been very busy bees and have let things slide. Big style. But that's all going to stop from now on (hopefully. Unless I get really busy... y'know...).
Despite the lack of posts, we have not had a lack of creating beautiful homemade goods - well I have been making beautiful homemade goods, Bethany has been working about 15 jobs and seemingly only appearing long enough to email me stories about cats and Helen Flanagan. Sometimes both. So, staying on that theme, here is a picture of a kitten to illustrate how heartfelt our apologies are.

In the last couple of months I have been spending most weekends planning my upcoming nuptials. So much to do from venues to flowers. I am also making all of the invitations which I am in two minds about whether to blog about.
On the one hand, it is a large project and is taking up a lot of my time and skill. However, I want them to be a wonderful handmade surprise for those lucky enough to get one (you lucky, lucky people, you). I will probably do a step by step once they have all been sent but for now I will cryptically tell you it involves card, fabric, wool, thread, wax and double-sided sticky tape (obv).
To tide all you keenos over until then, I'll do a couple of blogs about my recent cake creations. I was given the Great British Bake Off Showstoppers cookbook for my birthday which inspired me to try my hand at creativity in the kitchen for once.

Work in progress #2 - Chiffon Dress

Oh we don't do half measures here, oh no. When I decided I wanted to make a dress, did I look for a simple pattern and a pretty floral cotton? Did I heck! A chiffon dress, with underskirt, yep that'll do.

Described on the website as 'average' difficulty I thought my previous sewing machine experience, with plenty of time and patience, would make it possible. My thinking being that if I can plumb in a sink and construct an Ikea double wardrobe, a girly dress should be a walk in the park. Until I pulled out the instructions...

 Looking at the pattern, I still think it's do-able and I am going to give it a bloody good shot. If it goes wrong, I'll chalk it up to experience and try again! I think it will be a case of actually reading the instructions and going step by step instead of getting carried away.

So after ordering five metres of chiffon and three metres of lining off the internet (and being a tad surprised at how minty-fresh the colour was when it came) I spent the whole of Sunday cutting out and drawing. It was like being back at school, only with more pressure to stay in the lines!

I used a really pale pink fabric pencil and pinned the cut-out template the fabric, drew around and then cut out. Not sure if that's how you're supposed to do it but it worked. There was quite a lot of wastage as there were arrows on the templates to follow the grain of the fabric. Still, more scraps for the patchwork quilt eh?! I think I will need a different approach for the chiffon though as I doubt the pencil will work without causing some damage.

So, 12 paper templates and ten beautifully shaped bits of underlining later, I think feel a lot more confident about the finished article. The hard part is over surely *ahem*. I only have six pieces of chiffon to cut out but I think I might give myself a break so I don't get repetitive strain injury in my cutting hand. But I am rather proud of my handiwork and I can see the 'dress shape' already. You don't get the instant gratification of a patchwork quilt square, but definitely more of a sense of achievement than knitting a scarf. A sliding scale if you will.

So until the next instalment - wish me luck!

Phili
xxx

Yummy cupcake tea cosy

Calling all beginner knitters: I challenge you to make this as your next project.

Once you've mastered scarves (gotta love those straight lines) it's time to put your new found skills to use and try making something a little more challenging. Plus scarves aren't all that useful in August...

This tea cosy helps you pratice decreasing and shaping and sets you up really well to attempt your first hat.

I decided to make this cupcake design for a friend's birthday as she's got a bit of a thing for tea and cake and it also allowed me to get a bit creative.

There are lots of patterns available online but I adapted a couple to make sure it fit her teapot. Try and have one at hand when it comes to shaping so you know when to switch colours.

The pattern

Use 4mm needles with a 4ply DK wool in two colours, as well as a small section for the cherry and a few beads for decoration.

Cast on 53 stitches in your beige cake base colour
Row 1: *K1, P1 repeat from * to last stitch, K1
Row 2: *K2, P1, repeat from * to last two stitches, K2
Row 3-36: repeat rows 1 and 2 alternately
Change to your icing colour
Row 37: Knit inc every 4 sts evenly along (57 sts)
Row 38-40: Knit
Now begin shaping
Row 41: (K6, K2tog) to end. Row 42: (K5, K2tog). Row 43: Purl. Row: 44 (K4, K2tog) to end. Row 45: Purl. Row 46: (K3, K2tog) to end. Row 47: Purl. Row 48: (K2, K2tog) to end. Row 49: Purl. Row 50: (K1,  K2tog) to end. Row 51: Purl. Row 52: (K2tog) to end. Row 53: Purl (7sts remaining).
Thread the yarn through the remaining stitches and pull tightly
Make an identical piece for the other side
Sew the two pieces together leaving gaps for the spout and handle, allowing it to slide on easily.

Now for the finishing touches!

Cherry
Cast on 12 sts, knit 8 rows in stocking stitch.
Cast off and pull tight then sew a running stitch around the outer edges to create the shape.

Sew it on to the top and then sew beads around the top randomly to look like icing. You could go a lot wilder than me using different sizes and knitted bobbles remember, go on - experiment!

Next thing to do is boil the kettle and enjoy a good cuppa!

Love Bethany

x x x x

Easy-Peasy Peg Bag!

I have been fairly lax with the blogging recently even though I have a couple of exciting projects in the planning stages. I am in the process of knitting a cardigan although I'll admit I'm only around 10 inches into that, so a long way to go yet! However it has gone on the back-burner a bit because of a few more exciting projects on the horizon - more posts on all of that later!

Now, however, I'm going to share with you a little project I did a few weeks ago. It's easy-peasy and I did it in around 20 mins but saved me hours of trawling around town for exactly what I wanted. Yeh that's right, its a peg bag! *cue cheers from the crowds*

Ok, so not the most exciting of projects but genuinely useful, which is what homemade crafting is all about at the end of the day.

So to start with I dug a child's coat hanger out of the wardrobe (why we had one I do not know) and then trimmed off the corners so it was about the same width as a piece of A4. Then I cut out some fabric slightly wider than the trimmed-down coat hanger (to allow for a seam) and roughly double the length that I wanted it to be when complete. It's all very ad hoc, hence the lack of measurements!

First I hemmed the short edges of the fabric as these will be exposed.

Next I created the 'shoulders' of the bag. To do this fold the fabric twice so that it creates an envelope, with the bottom flap overlapping the top by around an inch (making sure the hem is on the outside). Along the top fold, cut a small slit and insert the hook of the coat hanger. Now simply sew along the top of the arms of the coat hanger. 

Remove the coat hanger and now sew the edges up so that you create a fully sealed bag. Turn it inside out (or right-side out) and you're nearly finished. All you need to do now is re-insert the coat hanger, and stitch neatly  in a line following the underside of it. This will keep it in place.

Fill with pegs and wait for a sunny day! (Warning: this could be several months).

Enjoy! Until next time, happy stitching!

Love

Phili

xxx

Work in progress #1 - Patchwork Quilt

Like a lot of crafty people (I assume) I have a couple of projects that are ongoing. Big ones that I can put down when I get a bit bored but then pick up again with renewed enthusiasm a couple of months later. One that I expect to take me the best part of a year (or three) is my patchwork quilt.

I've always wanted to have a handmade patchwork quilt and since I was given a sewing machine for Christmas last year I thought I'd better get on with it! I had some leftover scraps of material and so started in traditional thrifty quilting fashion.

Projects like this seem intimating but if you boil them down to the step by step they're actually really easy and - in my opinion - quite therapeutic. Having never quilted before I bought this bargain template book from Amazon for the princely sum of £1 and some shrapnel. It comes with patterns and plastic templates which is perfect for my with my stop-start approach 'cause it means I won't forget measurements.

Picking a pattern that doesn't look even vaguely goose-like

Cut out all the pieces taking care not to cut your own clothes in the process (lesson learned)

Once you cut out all the pieces you need, you need to sew them all together. You can do this by hand or with a sewing machine. I think if I did it by hand each patchwork square would take me a year! With a little electrically help however it only takes about an hour so I can squeeze making a new section whenever I'm a bit bored.

The finished patchwork. Still not looking much like a brown goose

It's so satisfying making each patchwork square that I immediately want to start another one, which is lucky as I have loads to plough through before I will have a finished quilt. So far I have done eight but the book says I need 42 for a full-size quilt. 42!! This is based on a quilt that's seven squares long by six wide, but I may shave that down to six by five for a nice round 30 squares.

Better get cracking on the next squares then if I want to ever have the joy of using my lovingly homemade quilt. Stay tuned for more updates....

Phili xxx

Mini-skirt to makeup bag

I'm something of a hoarder when it comes to unusual items of clothing.

Whether it looks like the best fancy dress costume I've ever seen or simply some amazing fabric, I can't resist.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a free clothes drive where I came across a bag full of oddities, including a traditional Jamaican woman's outfit, complete with head scarf and matching orange and black jacket! Among my 'finds' was a green silk mini skirt circa 1968, and while its size and shape meant it was unlikely to be a fashion hit, the silky, ruffled fabric had definite upcycling potential!

I've just finished making it into a handy makeup bag, using the textured green material on the outside and a blue and white polka dot cotton fabric as the lining.

The clashing fabrics go surprisingly well together, and paired with a matching blue zip I think it makes quite a pretty bag for holding makeup or hair accessories in. Leaving the blue peeking out next to the zip makes the bag a little more unusual, and is quite a nice homemade touch even if I do say so myself!

I've got plenty of scraps left over so I might make a couple of matching purses.But it just shows that you might have all the ingredients to make a quick homemade bag or other items from your wardrobe. Anyone guilty of harbouring silk mini-skirts needn't make a dash to the charity shop just yet!

Bethany

x x x

Boycie the Knitted Bunny

The nephew and dog in question

I wanted to create something that my young nephew could keep, but would hold up to being dribbled on, chewed (occasionally by the dog) and thrown around. I settled on a cuddly bunny.


As I have been honing my knitting skills recently - producing delights such as a cardigan, some booties and the obligatory scarf - I decided to 'off-plan' and create a design entirely out of my head. I used a cornflower blue Baby DK, a cream DK and 3.75mm needles.

Boycie Bunny 

My first attempt was, by all accounts, a disaster. It was like a squashed bowling pin. After five minutes or so trying to convince myself it was fine (I didn't want to waste three day's worth of effort) my boyfriend's barely disguised amusement convinced me to go back to the drawing board. I kept the body to use as my head and then created a body and arms by knitting a big cross.

The legs were, essentially, long hats. I used the blue wool to knit tubes and started to decrease to create the rounded look, then swapped to a chunky cream to finish decreasing and sew up the edges. I used the same wool to add 'paws' to my arms (the rabbit's, not my own). Now my bunny was starting to come together and had a nice 'homemade' quality to it (read: uneven with wonky legs).

Ears and a fluffy tail were the finishing touches. I made the bunny ears by double layering oblongs of cream on blue and the tail was - obviously - a pom-pom. Stitched eyes and nose made a lovely baby-friendly face. Luckily after by week-long effort my nephew loved his bunny and my sister named him Boycie. Now for the next project!

Philippa

xxx

Candles

Candles make awesome presents and they're pretty easy to make with a tiny bit of practice and all the right ingredients.

What you'll need:

Wax beads

Candle wick

Candle wick holders

Colouring

Scent (optional)

Saucepan

Glass bowl

Vintage teacups and saucers (these can be found cheaply in charity shops)

- I bought most of the candle-making bits and pieces from http://www.4candles.co.uk/ which has a great selection of gorgeous smells and vibrant colours. I chose a light pink colour and a jasmine smell and I'd highly recommend them both as the results were fantastic!

- First off melt the wax beads in a glass bowl over a pan of boiling water.

-Stir slowly and wait until the wax is liquid and completely clear.

- Now break up a tiny bit of your coloured block, the more you use the darker and more intense the shade will be.

- Drop in a little scent and get ready to pour.

- Thread the wicks through the wick holders and rest them on the bottom of your cups (to keep them in the centre you could try tying the top to a pencil and balancing it across the rim).

- Pour the liquid wax in slowly till they're three-quarters full.

- Leave the wax at room temperature to cool overnight and snip the wick so that there's a couple of centimetres poking through.

- And that's it you're all finished!

Enjoy!

Bethany

x x x