Making me Smile Today: Colourful Card & Bunting

Playing with bright, colourful, cheerful card is making me smile today turning this:



into this:



I'll confress that if you were to browse through my blog it would become obvious pretty quickly that I have a thing for bunting.  You also wouldn't be blamed for thinking that I'm a little short on creativity right now - because how many times can you reinvent the same idea?  Truth is I'm so short on creativity time right now so sticking with an idea that works is all that I have.  I can't wait to have more time to dream up ideas for cards, gifts, sewing time....  but until then I'm going to keep reinventing what I know works.  Maybe I'm perfecting it?

Thinking about Christmas...

I'm thinking about Christmas actually I'm not just thinking I'm reliving the projects of Christmas past looking for inspiration for this year.

These were sewn maybe four or five years ago they were destine for an advent calander but like many projects didn't... (get finished). I finally stuck some to the front of Christmas cards last year and filled the fabric parcels with little packets of Christmas haribo.

I also experimented with some buttons and a little wadding and turned out these little fabric parcels.

Last year whilst living in Berlin I made myself an advent calendar from felt and some sparkly silver thread, filled it with wee haribo packets and tasty German chocolates as my own Christmas countdown.

I love advent calendars we have two in the family which have been reused year on year for years I can't wait to dig them out closer to Christmas. I think I'm going to make some as house warming seasonal presnts for some friends who have just moved in with their other halfs.  I'd better plan some sewing time into my weekend then.

A Celebration Countdown Card

The celebration that I'm counting down to is my friends wedding which is or was in 42 days. This was my take on an wedding acceptance. I'm confident that it won't plunge fear into the bride to be when she sees the numbers ticking away rather excitement - she's very organised and I'm sure she won't be rushing around at the last minute unlike me. I'll be a touch late for the rsvp by date but hopefully I'll be forgiven.

It's another bunting card with tear of numbers counting down the days until their big day and little washi tape bunting. I think it's quite fun and I hope they love it or at least enjoy it for next 42 days.

I've been so crazy busy - I started a new job - I'm completing training in Edinburgh which is an hour drive each way. My weekends have been full of hen partys, friends, dinners out, evenings out, walking, exploring and a little shopping leaving insufficient time for all of my other favourite things that I had lots of time for when I wasn't working sewing, baking, sleeping!

This weekend however was a catch up weekend. Catching up on some sewing. My sewing projects haven't been helped by my ordering the wrong fabric for hexagon sewing - it wasn't Kona Ash it was Kona Medium Grey that I was using - oops. So there will be more of that hopefully next week.

Cupcakes

I've never made cupcakes.  I have made fairycakes and other cupcake-like cakes before but have never followed a proper cupcake recipe.  But I love cakes and individual portion size cakes are simple, convenient when you're out and about so I wanted to try them because I think they'd be perfect to take along next weekend when I'm off to Edinburgh for a hen weekend.  As I've two friends with birthdays this week this was the perfect time to trial a few recipes and experiment with icing and frosting recipes.

This was my first batch of Hummingbird Bakery Vanilla Cupcakes. No fancy icing - I was a little late in ordering an icing piping kit - fingers crossed it arrives before Thursday. In the oven at the moment I have red velvet cupcakes again following the Hummingbird Bakery recipe and I'm very much looking forward to trying them later and putting one in my bag for lunch tomorrow.

Making Me Smile Today: Rainbows

One of the lovely things about the rain is when it takes a breath, pauses and the sun comes out or when rainbows, beacons of hope and hope break the sky.  When I finally made it home I went on a rainbow search and here are some of my favourites:

Image Credit: shewatchedthesky

Image Credit: xiwang.love

Image Credit: DCMaster

Image Credit: stevendepolo

Its lovely to have something brighten an otherwise grey day and I have got to try to bake a rainbow cake it looks delicious.  I hope something's making you smile today too.

Hexagons

So I'm taking part in a quiltalong a hexalong actually. I certainly wouldn't have thought I'd be taking part in anything as complicated in a quiltalong let a alone one which involves hexagons and paper piecing. I'm full of surprises me. I'm enjoying it though and I love the pretty colours I'm working with. I didn't however know what I'd be doing with all the hexagons that I was sewing but I was enjoying making lots of pretty three hexagon stars.



I didn't want the quilt - maybe a little ambitious - to solely be based on the three hexagon stars so I've supersized my hexagons so that I can experiment.



This decision was encouraged when I spent a little time looking at some of the lovely hexagons that have made it into Lilly's Flickr Group. So this next week I'm going to get a little more creative and experiment with a few other designs.



But for today I'm enjoying finishing a few of these off and looking forward to experimenting next week.

Happy weekend to everyone, enjoy sewing, shopping, baking, dining whatever you're up to.

Making Me Smile Today: An Upcoming Wedding

This is what I got in the post today.  A pretty wedding invitation from my friend Linsey and her soon to be husband Ross.  It's always nice to receive something which isn't a bank statement or a credit card bill but this was extra special because Linsey made the invitations herself.  The pretty origami heart on the front  made from security envelope is lovely.  I always keep security envelopes and have never found the time to turn them into something pretty that can be enjoyed.  I'm inspired now though so I may be putting down my needle and thread and enjoying some paper play soon.  Maybe I'll think of something to rsvp with....

Weekend Wishlist

I love to buy hand crafted items and I have a very long Etsy wishlist full of lovely things waiting for the right person, time to be bought and given.  I find it hard to believe that last year I hadn't heard of Etsy.  Anyway I thought I'd share some of my favourite items, wishlist or lovely finds and give some local businesses, artists, crafters and artisans a little more online space by sharing a few items that I love.

Screen Printed Abstract Fabric Panel

This screen printed fabric from AstridWeigel on Etsy is lovely and perfect for sewing and stitching I'm on a self imposed fabric shopping ban at the moment since I caved and bought some last week - more on that when I have a chance to take some photos.  I'm imagining using this for simple project and letting the bold colours of the print speak for themselves.  You can find the fabric and lots of other lovely sewn items and textiles here.

I'm also loving these printed cushions from FunMakesGood.  I love turquoise and I love geometric pritns and you can never have too many cushions right?  FunMakesGood also have fabulous patchwork pouffes - and I love partchwork.

 

 Pha Pha Turquoise and Yellow Cushion from Fun Makes Good 

 
Tea Towels always find their way into my favourites they're a great way to bring some fun, art or colour into the kitchen and what's even better is they're functional.  Fun tea towels make the washing up fun right?

 Nom Nom Nom Tea Towel from The Doghouse

The Nom Nom Nom tea towel is from TheDoghouse a must visit for dog lovers with lots of Tshirts, cushions, treats bags and cushions.

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend and their weeks get off to a great start on Monday.  I'm still job hunting but will be doing some temporary work next week which will keep me busy and I'm quite looking forward to it.

Vintage Pocket Watches: Making me Smile Today

Look what I found.  They were never lost admittedly but what a find they were when going through boxes and tidying.



These pocketwatches belonged to my Opa - my German Grandfather maybe they all did - I can't wait to examine more closely.  First look they're not all in great shape ones lost the glass to the front, another has somehome lost its cogs and inner workings.  I'm excited and looking forward to thinking about what I'm going to do with them and I'm wondering what other treasures will be found  when clearing out.

Plum Cake, Plums and Plum Jam

Today was spent in the kitchen with the plums I picked yesterday.  There was  Pflaumen Kuchen (Plum Cake) and Pflaumenmus (Plum Jam) on the go made from the 5kg of plums I picked yesterday.  The plums are actually Zwetschgen that I understand are traditionally used for Pflaumen Kuchen. 













There's still lots and lots of plums out there on the tree so I'll be searching for more plum recipes unless there are any recommendations? 

Luckily I love this cake it's a yeast dough base covered with plums then topped with a crumble mix it's not the family recipe - that's in German and translating the Pflaumentmus recipe was enough for me today and so I followed Nigella Lawson's German Plum Cake recipe from Domestic Goddess.  I actually prefer my plum cake with more plum in relation to the dough base so I'll be modifying the recipe next time.

I was in Berlin at this time last year and I ate lots of Pflaumen Kuchen - actually I spent an awful lot of time enjoying Kaffee und Kuchen and I can't wait till my next visit.  The Plum Cake is lovely served with a big dollop of cream and a coffee I'm sure I'll be snacking on it tomorrow.

Lovely Weekend, Shoes, Sewing and Cake

It's Monday again so I hope everyone had a lovely weekend.  I thought I'd share some of my favourite things from my weekend with you.



Okay not the most sensible being so white - but they are so pretty with their cut out floral feature.  These lovelies were from Topshop and they always make me smile.  They've been tied away today - seeing as Summer seems to be leaving us into a box full of Summer clothes.  I do love a bit of organising.



A little sewing time was had whilst watching The Visitor.  A good film about a lonely, somewhat jaded professor who returns to his long empty apartment in New York to find that it has been let - without his knowing - to a couple.  The film is about immigration, about the development of relationships but what I took from it was the impact that one person can have on others with the simplest act of kindness.  The acting is also really good.  A perfect film to sew to and I was sewing hexagons for a hexalong I spontaneously decided to take part in last week.  My hexagons even have their own box - organisation!



And of course it almost goes without saying there was cake.  Another lemon cake but this time it was Nigella's 'Damp Lemon and Almond Cake'.  I'm not sure about the word damp but it really is moist - I think it's the almonds that give it's moist, denser texture.  You may be able to make that out from the photo.  As I'm not a fan of bitter almond - I don't like marzipan - I didn't add the almond essence and the cake turned out just fine and not too almondy which had been a small concern for me.  Yum.



This is more of a dessert cake than an 'afternoon cup of tea and cake' cake - if you follow what I mean...  We did have it for dessert and followed the serving suggestion of raspberries and creme fraiche and it was delicous sadly no photos.  So here's what I snacked on yesterday afternoon:

Hope everyones weeks are getting off to a great start.  I'm off to pick some plums and enjoy some sunshine - and I thought Summer was leaving us!

Sewing Inspiration and a Hexalong

Didn't think I'd find myself attempting hexagons anytime soon but after browsing around Lilysquilts I was feeling a little inspired and also a little determined that I could do this... we'll soon see.  I have a jam jar full of sweetpeas on my windowsill making me smile and brightening up my day.  These pretty pinks, soft blues and purples are perfect and with these in mind I openened my box full of fabric and started pulling some out.  This was the result.

 All Kona Solids from the bottom up Violet, Woodrose, Delft, Dusty Blue and Pond.  There's also a few prints which i think will look lovely and may well find there way worked into this new project

 

The next question though is what to make - I think I should probably start small so cushion... or shoulder bag... think I need a little more inspiration or does anyone have any suggestions for a good small project involving hexagons?

Bunting Card: Hip Hip Hooray

Today I said goodbye to the baby quilt that I'd been working on when I dropped it off at the post office.  There was of course the last minute hurry trying to finish a card to include with it - yes for some reason although I had the card planned out in my head for weeks I had not gotten arond to making it.  One craft knife, some colourful card, some little foamy stickers later, some string and mini pegs later I had this to show for myself.

Who doesn't love a little bunting.  The mini baby grows were added at the last minute the hanging bunting just looked too much like a washing line and of course new babies also mean more washing.  I also didn't fix the bunting on with glue so that it can easily be removed and strung up if wanted.

Yellow and Grey Quilt for those Duvet Days

Here's what I'm having fun working with just now

I was tempted, so, so tempted to buy some more fabric but I was good and resisted the temptation.  I'm still not certain on what design I'm going to follow but it will be based around half square triangles.

Half square triangles because I stumbled upon this isn't the world wide web fabulous!  The quilt along is finished and some of the series might have been a bit ambitious for me although one thing I am - is determined.  I did though very much like the mosaic block and I attempted some half square triangles following the tutorial at Freshly Pieced.

I'm not certain what I'm going to do next.  -  I realise that this probably isn't the best way to go about a quilt, planning and design should probably come first but well it's fun to play aound with a few different ideas.  I'd probably have changed my mind half way through anyway...

or maybe less zig zaggy and more:

I could and probably have already spent hours moving around the little triangles moving them into different formations, patterns and then rearranging them again.  Luckily I love it.

Hooray, Hurrah, Project Make is Complete

Project make baby quilt, my very first quilt is done and complete Hooray.  Hooray because now a brand new baby can enjoy it and I can move on to my next project Hooray.  Here's a few pictures of it all taken on a very grey day.  I fear summer has left us for another year.

Welcome to the World Danny Baby

There's quite a few different fabrics in there the main focus being Alexander Henry 2D Zoo in Pool, the backing Robert Kaufman Metro Circles in grey (or Pewter).

Zoo Baby Quilt / Carpet Protector / Play Mat

I also have a confession although I hadn't finished this I had started cutting and slicing for my duvet day quilt more on that soon... 

Bake Day: Hummingbird Bakery Lemon Bars

After a very long make day where I sewed my heart out listening to BBC Radio 6, drank cup, upon cup, upon cup of tea, was stuck by so many pins that I started to feel more pin cushion and less human, stepped on one pin so hard that I shrieked and upset the cat I am almost finished my current make project.  Horray!  Of course with the end in sight I had time for a little baking.  Hooray and happy dance!

 

It is official: I am a citrus addict as it was another lemon recipe.  Lemon desserts are my favourite, the Sicilian Orange Cake was delicious and the next cake I'm planning on making is a chocolate orange cake.

So today the Hummingbird Bakery recipe book was out again and this time it was the turn of the modestly titled Lemon Bar.  If you like shortbred or are a fan of buttery, lemony treats then you'll love this.  It's tasty I would prefer more equal quantities of shortbread base to lemon topping so next time I make this, and there will be a next time I'm going to experiment a little.  When I do I'll be sure to share the outcome (hopefully good).

But in the meantime I'll enjoy the lemon bars... it shouldn' be too hard.