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.