Tuesday 22 January 2008

Muffinlicious!

First of all I would like to thank Lesley for passing on two awards to me which was so kind - especially as Lesley more than anyone else makes me laugh and therefore cheers me up on an almost daily basis with her blog.

I'm not sure how the rules work with these awards but I'm quite sure I should be passing these on to other bloggers who "cheer me up" and "spread the love" But there is the problem...

Because so many of you do just that. So I know it's opting out but if I comment on your blog - whether regularly or only occasionally then you do deserve both these awards. So consider them yours and pass them on if you wish. And thank you for brightening up my days - each and every day.

There hasn't been very much creative activity going on here the past couple of days. Mostly just finishing off the loft clearout and getting all the last bits of paperwork together for my tax return (how exciting is that!) but I have started making something for Lucy's Valentine swap. I can't post pictures or it would spoil the surprise but it does involve a little bit of this fabric.



I've also been preparing for our first Zigzag meeting of 2008 which is tomorrow. The ladies are mostly going to be working on their own projects but we are also going to be looking at the history of machine embroidery and the work of embroiderers like Dorothy Benson. When she was doing machine embroidery in the 1920s she was producing the most exquisite cutwork on machines that did not have a swing arm, so to produce the beautiful satin stitch edges she had to move the fabric side to side - I can't even imagine having that sort of control! This is my attempt at a piece of cutwork - made with the benefit of zigzag stitch. It only measures about 10cm across but it took me about six hours to complete. It was stitched on linen with a fine cotton thread - the centre is hand stitched with perle cotton. It was a copy of a piece of Hungarian embroidery that one of our Embroiderer's Guild members brought back from holiday - unbelievably it only cost her about £1. She also had a table runner about 1m long but I decided to stop with the coaster.


Finally - todays cake offering. Ginger muffins with a lemon drizzle icing. I know ginger is one of those things you either love or hate but we love it in our house. Ben declared them "Muffinlicious" and Sam said "Those muffins win the muffin race"... is your mouth watering? Or do you hate ginger?


10 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your awards - very well deserved.

    The fabric and the cake both make my mouth water. x

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  2. Congrats on the awards - that's quite a collection now!

    More cakes? Blimey, you're as bad as me; I made cakes last night too - purely to use up some buttermilk, you understand. We're trying to throw away less/no food this year.

    PS I have been planning something for our unofficial swap today; I was joining in a discussion at work at the same time (no, I really was!) - talk about multitasking ;-)

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  3. Mum and I love ginger. We find that bought cakes and biscuits never have enough in for our taste. I always bought Mum crystallised ginger for Christmas but unfortunately she can't have it now she's Diabetic :(

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  4. Oooh I love ginger and those muffins would be perfect with a cup of tea!
    I can't believe you did that cutwork on a machine - it's amazing!
    I'm glad you like the awards by the way - totally deserved :)

    Lesley xx

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  5. Congratulations on your awards Gina! Well deserved!
    Your cutwork is awesome! Beautiful! (So many exclaimation marks!!!!) lol
    Your muffins look delicious - yes, I do like ginger.

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  6. Well I was going to say "congratulations on the awards, you definitely deserve them" but then I read the comments and realised pretty much everyone else had already said it. But I don't care! That's what I thought and what I mean!

    Lucy x

    P.S. still love that china!

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  7. Hi Gina, just popped in to say Hello, well done on your awards and yes I do like ginger, yum yum

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  8. I wish I was coming to Zigzag with you tomorrow, for one thing I could have a proper chat with Pat. I'd enjoy that tell her.

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  9. Cogratulations on the awards.The cut work coaster looks lovely,the sort of thing you would find on a cake stand (but too pretty to be covered up) baking and sewing really do go together.
    I like ginger but i'm the only one.

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  10. What a winner you are!! Congrats!

    The muffins look and sound yummy. I'd love to give them a try. I'll have to reread your post to see if there was a recipe. Crossing my fingers.

    Love the hearts!
    Joni

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