Eat, Crochet and Laugh!

I met the girls for knitting yesterday... except we didn't knit... we played hookey instead. A little while ago I made myself this crochet heart having seen Lucy's pretty version on her blog. The instructions for the heart (not actually Lucy's) were a little tricky to follow, so I wrote them out again making a few tweaks here and there. (Lucy's pattern for the rose and leaves were spot on!) When Gill saw my heart hanging on my dresser she asked if I could show her how to make it... so that is how our knitting group turned into a crochet group for the morning!

 

 

Armed with hooks, yarn and mugs of coffee we had a fun morning, chatting, laughing, hooking... and eating... except Gill that is, who was concentrating so hard that we didn't hear a peep out of her all morning! Most unusual... it was bliss! (It meant she couldn't be rude to me which she usually is)

 

And I finished another heart, so there are now two hanging on my dresser.

 

Afterwards we had a wander down to The Creative Sanctuary where I bought more yarn for a new knitting project, despite the fact that in January I vowed that there would be no more new yarn or new projects until I'd finished all the others I've got on the go... so much for resolutions. And Gill encouraged me to make another unecessary purchase (if you follow the link don't believe what she tells you it was definitely her fault)... but you'll have to wait for another day until I show you that!

 

It was a perfect morning really... good friends, lots and lots of laughter, brunch, crochet and a little bit of unecessary shopping thrown in at the end. It doesn't get much better.

Pamplemousse

Well I'm not sure where that past week went... but "went" it certainly did and the end of January went with it. I've been to a couple of Pilates classes, I've done a little teaching of machine embroidery, some baking and quite a lot of knitting. I've also taken photographs most days, intending to do blog posts and then somehow haven't found the time and the moment passed.

 

 

At the beginning of the week I bought some beautiful pink grapefruit and for some reason remembered that in France they are called Pamplemousse... which sounds so much more exotic. Especially pamplemousse rose.

 

I used them to make more marmalade. Don't ask why... I just did. I now have about sixteen jars of marmalade in my cupboard which at current rates of consumption should last me the next sixteen years.

 

But it does look rather beautiful. Rich and golden, it is slightly darker than the orange marmalade I made the previous week and it has just a hint of pink about it. And today I used it to make a rather delicious good old fashioned marmalade cake, topped with a glace icing made from icing sugar and pink grapefruit juice. The bitterness of the grapefruit cuts through the sweetness of the icing giving a wonderful flavour. I can definitely recommend it.

 

Gateaux de pamplemousse rose!

Stitch 'n Bake

I decided it was about time I combined my love of baking with my love of free machine embroidery and so came up with this little image...

 

 

designed to grace the front of an apron. It was meant to be a prototype for some aprons to go into my Etsy shop.

 

And although I love the end result there will have to be a serious re-think of the design because all those ruffles use up an awful lot of fabric and took me far too long.

 

After all... what would you be prepared to pay for an apron...

 

especially one too pretty to wipe your floury hands on?

A Healthy Lunch

Another recipe ticked off from my baking challenge... this time it was Pitta Bread.

Very easy and satisfying to make... although I probably did get a tad overexciting when they puffed up like little soft pillows in the oven.



And they made a very healthy lunch stuffed with home made hummus, falafel and salad... although I probably didn't need to eat two of them.

And if you fancy making my very quick and easy hummus you just need to whizz up a tin of drained chickpeas with 1 crushed garlic clove, juice of half a lemon and about 1/2 teaspoon salt and black pepper in the food processor until it's the consistency you want. (I like mine quite chunky). Then drizzle 2 tablespoons olive oil down the funnel of the processor while the motor is running until everything is mixed. Taste... and add more lemon and seasoning if required. Sometimes I add a tablespoon of tahini or peanut butter if I have it but I didn't yesterday and it tasted just fine.

That's five recipes done now... only another hundred or so more to go (113 actually!)

Sweet Tooth

After my brief foray into stitch yesterday I'm back with the baking!
 



A few months ago, Cathy posted about a rather splendid looking book by Lily Vanilli called "Sweet Tooth". Not only did she give an excellent review, she also very generously had a copy to give away. I didn't win the giveaway but I knew I had to have a copy... if only for the fabulous colour on the edge of the pages!
 





 

But the book is not just an aesthetically pleasing object but packed full of the most amazing looking recipes...

 

Fabulous photography... (I so want to make those little cherry bakewells)

 

and plenty of really useful baking advice, including some of the science behind baking.

 

I tend to agree with Cathy that many of the recipes seem to be "special occasion" baking rather than everyday pies and cakes, but it is certainly a must have book for any keen baker.

 

And there are dozens of things I want to bake. I thought I would start with something simple and opted for these Biscuit Brownies.

 

Mine didn't come out as shiny as Lily's, nor did they crack... in fact they didn't look anything like the picture in the book at all. But to be fair, my oven tends to be a bit unpredictable and I had added white chocolate chips which weren't in the original recipe because I always mess about with recipes (such a rebel!)...but they still tasted pretty good. (Although I think it is time to follow Lily's advice and invest in an oven thermometer)

 

Given the choice I would probably just bake Brownies  rather than Biscuit Brownies as we are big Brownie fans in our family...

 

But they were declared a success and they are being gobbled up pretty quickly. I'm looking forward to trying an awful lot more a lot more from this book... Lemon and pistachio shortbread is next on my list. I would also like to thank the lovely Lily Jones (aka Lily Vanilli) who replied very promptly to my request to feature pictures from her book on my blog. A beautiful book full of wonderful recipes... and I really wasn't paid to say that!

Bringing Colour to my Cheeks!

The group of friends that I am meeting once a month for a bit of stitch and support (the same group that I made my "snow" piece for) have more than just a weather challenge on the go. We also have to produce something on the theme of self portrait.

When I was doing my degree I did quite a bit of work on portraits, including this very rough brush and ink drawing of yours truely.

"Green Stripe" A portrait of Matisse's wife

Then taking inspiration from the work of Matisse and his vibrant use of cool and warm colours, I translated the portrait into a little colour sketch.

"Woman in a Hat" 1905, Matisse

 A very quick little sketch (done on a train journey)... that makes me look rather jaundiced!

 However... not one to be put off easily, I took further inspiration from the fabulous work of Sue Dove...

"Facing It" Sue Dove

And ended up with this hand stitched "sketch", which I actually think is a great improvement on my original colour drawing.

So roll forward a few years...and given the challenge of working on the theme of self portrait I thought I would resurrect this brightly coloured version of me and see if I could produce a machine stitched version.

I started by laying down some coloured wool tops onto a felt backing, using the embellisher and this is the result at that stage. I have clearly not mastered the art of using the embellisher as a painting tool!

But never fear... I can add a bit of textural machine stitch... and completely mess it it up!

Although the reverse might still work for the project I've got in mind... as long as I don't mind "the bearded lady" look

I would say watch this space but there is a good chance I will bin this... and possibly not start again. Not my best effort... must try harder!

Tessellating Rolls

 I'm back with my baking challenge...

 This time page 62 and the "Ale Bread Rolls"

Which I declare a success (although I wouldn't leave them in the oven quite so long next time)

It could just be the mathematician in me, but I rather like the idea of tessellating rolls!

And they did go very well with the celeriac and mustard soup.

Okay... that is three posts in a row about food. I promise I will not show any more food until I've done some stitching to share... or maybe some knitting?