Food

Cupcake Doorstop

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I will always be astonished by how popular my Campervan doorstop pattern is – it surprises me all the time. I love how making a doorstop can bring humour and delight into a room and is hugely practical. Lots of people love to make doorstops as a gift. In fact if you can find an appropriate pattern they make a perfect house warming gift.

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A good friend of mine told me recently that her daughter really wanted to have cupcake doorstop for her bedroom. Over the years I have made quite a few cupcakes. Do you know my first ever design was a little girl’s cupcake jumper?

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There is even on my blog header (I should really get round to change it!) It seemed like unfinished business not to create a cupcake doorstop. I wanted to use a ridge stitch which would represent the fluting of the cupcake case. I also loved the idea of having a cheeky cherry on top. Double Knit cotton is perfect for this pattern. It is both hardwearing and the colours are vibrant.

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This was a delightful pattern to create. It made me smile and I am happy with the result. The pattern is currently available in the current issue of Inside Crochet and if you don’t live in Britain you can download a digital version from here.

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I wonder if I will make another cupcake pattern? Never say never my friends.

 

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Going a bit retro and slow

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When I first started writing the blog I seemed to have more time to chat about recipes Little B and I were making at the weekend. If you have tuned in for yarn related news or stories I apologise for the change in programming. Recently we have been baking less – perhaps what I have been trying to do is eat less cake! The busyness of life also has meant that I have de-skilled in the cooking department. Rushing home in the evening I can stare quite blankly at the fridge and I think that no Cordon Bleu training would enable me to rustle up something scrummy from what festers at the bottom of our salad drawers.

Supper in our house can be a bit instant – from the bad to the downright sinful. This lack of imagination or indeed nutrition has begun to gnaw away at me. Firstly I would quite like to live economically – the instant is obviously more costly than a planned menu. I would quite like to raise a healthy and unfussy son……Mmm we might succeed with the first, time will tell with the second. Finally I would quite like to regain my confidence in cooking. I used to be okay, a dinner party for eight was no sweat, now it makes me come out in a cold sweat. It has got ridiculous.

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I know that for me, habit change requires some research, wide reading, a little bit of inspiration and a serious nudge. Well the change (fad?) had begun this weekend with the purchasing of a rather reasonably priced slow-cooker. It has taken me longer than it should have done to try this solution because I have had to swallow a very large piece of humble pie. A couple of years ago, my Granny, a successful career woman, quite generously suggested that I might like a slow cooker for a Christmas. ‘No Thanks’, I said ‘I would rather have this retro black phone instead!’. Of course with the increased use of mobile phones the slow cooker has already seen more action than my stylish phone.

I should have listened to Granny. A couple of months ago I heard a really interesting programme on slow cooking and retro gadgets on the Food Programme on Radio 4. It got me thinking. The explanation of the process really did make sense for our lifestyle. Then I met two friends at a ‘bring and share’ lunch who had quite effortlessly made some delicious curries while they were ‘out’. No desperate rushing around for them. They just popped the lid back on and drove their crock-pot round to the party. Cool!

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So after a bit of research I am going to give this new way of cooking a try for our family meals. I don’t like adding more gadgets to the kitchen worktops – but really that is a vanity – no-one is photographing our kitchen for Homes and Gardens. So here is our first chicken casserole made in the slow cooker yesterday, which Little B really enjoyed. The filter on the photo gives the meal a brilliant tinge of ’70’s cookbook. I remember those Sainsbury’s hard backed books which so many people had. But hey, isn’t retro ‘in’ ?

It goes without saying if you have a great ‘slow’ recipe please do share – would love to get your inspiration!

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Crafty Magazine ~ I’m loving it!

Issue 9 cover project Sarah Fordham(1)

There is a new craft magazine on the block – Crafty Magazine is now on issue 9 and I have to say it has turned my head in the supermarket aisle.

I really do like the ideas they have and I must say I do enjoy following their Pinterest site. There is also an added bonus for me because the publisher is local and it makes me very happy to support a local company.

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I will really thrilled that the editor of the magazine  wanted me to produce a tutorial for their current issue. Making cheeky wee tattoo inspired gloves. I had lots of fun with this project and it enables you to have all that attitude with none of the permanent ink. There is something incredibly fun and inventive about the new craft resurgence. Think of any words you might want to embroider on some gloves and you can have lots of fun with a personalised gift. Crafty Magazine are currently showing my photo tutorial on how to do chain stitch, so if you fancy brushing up on your sewing skills, there is a little reminder there – I realise now, I should have got a manicure.

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Other great things to make in this issue are some beautiful scrap cushions by Elizabeth Healey. I adore these textures.

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Finally if you are a baker rather than a maker find inspiration from the glorious colourful meringues by the Meringue girls. So pretty, almost too pretty to eat….on second thoughts!

 

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Taking a break – for a little rest and inspiration

mallorca13.11 You might have noticed a little silence on my part – a wee break of a week. Ah the peace and the quiet….

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Well we have just returned from a week away on the beautiful Spanish island of Mallorca. No technology, no surfing the web, just fun in the sun and a little bit of reading with some restful needle time. Lovely. If you read this blog often, you know that I am a big fan of the British staycation. I think you can go the length and breath of these isles and find a different landscape, a unique experience and not even get on a plane.

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But there is something about being outside of your culture, listening to the ‘different music’ of a language not of your own, which is so refreshing. Each year I am drawn to colour, the flowers, the markets and the sky.

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Look at that colour!

mallorca13.14 mallorca13.8 mallorca13.9 mallorca13.12 This year I found myself looking at the architecture, interior and exterior. So beautiful. I actually took fewer photos this year, wanting perhaps to be in the moment rather than recording it. Just a little bit of rest, great memories and a smidgeon of inspiration.

 

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Daddy Day…it’s all in the detail

Last weekend Little B had a plan for Father’s Day – it involved relay baking…that or buying two more cake tins. So last Saturday we set about the huge baking task. There was also a bit of banner making planned and decoration. We might have to conclude that most of the fun is in the planning. Little B was very enthusiastic about the cake mixing. He did enjoy the ‘slurping’ of the buttercream icing on top of the cake. If I am honest, quite a lot of icing went missing…Quite a few chocolate buttons also went missing… Eventually  we got to the nitty gritty of making some sandwiches for Daddy’s surprise tea and laying the table. Apparently these are ‘details’ and I am more of a details person….

Anyway I am not sure who benefits more from such planned activities. Daddy – who gets his huge cake (we are still eating it!) or me being the sous chef to my son…he makes me laugh.

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Summer Daisies

Last week I had my regular ‘Dinner Ladies’ round and I felt that since January I had been seeking out spring flowers – now it was time for a change. Summer daisies were the thing to brighten up the dinner table. Quite inexpensive, I bought a couple of branches from my local florist and combined with the white table cloth – they looked fresh. The whole look was one of ‘summer meadow’. As the sunshine comes out today I am hopeful that we will indeed have a summer – Bring it on!

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Sweet talent and companion planting

A sweet friend of mine recently told me that our closest friendships should really be a version of the garden wisdom of companion planting: By combining plants carefully, they can help each other in terms of providing nutrients in the soil, offering protection from wind or sun and also, by attracting beneficial pests or acting as a decoy for harmful ones.

This really appealed to me. You sit alongside each other, you are not the same, but your difference encourages growth in each other, stimulates productivity and pollination and you can protect each other from the pests that get you down.

I often feel the pressure to try and be good at lots of things, but decidedly I am not. Whilst I love listening to music, I am in no way musical. Sport is not and never will be my strength and whilst I enjoy cooking and baking, I do not relax doing it.

I was beginning to feel guilty that I couldn’t find the time to make Little B’s birthday cake. I have yet to wow him with my culinary skills in this area. I felt quite bad about this. Then out of the blue my ‘companion planted’ friend offered to make him a cake decorated with his first love, penguins. What joy!

He was thrilled and so happy with the result, utterly delighted. I avoided a little bit of stress and was able to truthfully glory in the talent and skill of my friend. As so many spectators at the Olympics can testify, being able to cheer someone on from the sidelines is as satisfying as doing it yourself. Aren’t these penguins sweet? Very very clever.

If you are inspired to make a cake yourself do also visit my friend Sandra’s blog – she is a genius with Lego inspired cakes, check out her tutorial here

 

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The Simple Things ~ The gift that keeps on giving

What do you give a magazine addict for Christmas? Her favourite kind of pressie, a magazine subscription. Not only does it appear in the post, (I love post!), the magazine tends to come quite a bit before issues appear in the shops.

This year I put in a little request for Simple Things Magazine, a brand new favourite for 2012. Now there are magazine which I flip through, those I scour whilst standing in the supermarket and there are those I read cover to cover. I think only two magazines fall into this category and Simple Things is one of them.

Ok, so why all the fuss? Well there is a good mix of interior, foody, city break, literature articles, without the endless cosmetic adverts. The styling is simple and appealing and the overall mood leaves you upbeat and positive.There are plenty of articles which I have pursued. For instance in one issue it suggested some great family cycling routes. One was not far from where we live, so not that long after we took the magazine’s advice and went out to discover it on a family bike ride. This month there is a great article on London High Tea venues. I am keeping those pages and they might inform my annual girly trip to ‘town’ of which high tea is a tradition.

There is always a report on a city venue by someone who lives there (I have a secret yearning to review my home city).

I simply love the Miscellany section at the back of the magazine, and almost always head straight for the knot of the month – it’s like having a magazine version of QI – ‘Oh I didn’t know that…’

I love the pattern which is always a feature of the inside cover. No high rolling adverts here.

Finally the thing which we enjoy doing together is reading the Simple Things of Life suggestions on the back cover and discussing how many we agree with. Often it is more than half. So in a world that can seem a bit down, cynical and slightly at odds with the reality of normal life, my monthly Christmas gift is a real treat which I always look forward to and frankly is a Simple Thing which I am so very grateful for.

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Enforced slow-down and don’t try this at home…

Last week was a BIG week in our house! Lots of exciting things kicking off and almost as we reached the peak of activity, Little B got the lurgy. Nasty, nasty, nasty. Then poor Big B was poorly and then lastly I succumbed. Yuckity Yuck. We were not happy bunnies, but it did mean we had to slow down quite a bit. On one day, of what appeared to a week-long marathon I was the chief nurse. But all was required was to sit with poorly souls and stroke heads.

So I took the time to make a ‘hinted-at’ teacosy for one of my friends. I wasn’t in the mood to invent something so I turned to the ever reliable Debbie Bliss and Knits to Give. Those who know this book, will notice I strayed slightly from the pattern, done in reckless abandon. Don’t do that….it is silly and complicated and makes for working out headaches. Anyway I am sure my friends will be happy to cosy their teapot with their cable stitch number.

At the end of the weekend, Little B was quite sprightly and I was descending into feverish self-pity. He announced with the zeal of the recovered, ‘Let’s bake a cake Mummy!’, ‘Oh…yes…let’s…must we?’ I replied.  Undaunted he began to gather equipment about him. I believe that the power of the maternal instinct is based on the principle of ‘health and safety’ so I decided to supervise from a distance. Actually with my control-freakery suppressed the whole procedure went very smoothly…so I am thinking I might start delegating the whole cake baking activity to Little B very soon. As they say on our favourite TV programme – Horrible Histories‘Easy Peasy, squeeze the lemon!

 

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Festive Table

Is it too early to dress a festive table? Maybe but let’s go wild as it is 1st December. I don’t feel the festivities have started too early, do you? It feels about right this year and I am not entirely sure why. In fact I am slightly stressing a little about whether I am prepared enough this year. Never mind.

Over the past year I have shared with you my little dinner ritual of decorating the kitchen table for a group of ladies who meet every other month at my house for food, discussion and a little bit of study. Many of them I have known for over a decade, and they are all very dear to me. In the week running up to this engagement I think of what might be fun and festive to dress the dinner table, to honour them as the gorgeous women.

This month I have been particularly taken my the Star Crochet coasters which I spotted on Coco Rose’s blog. So pretty. The pattern is available on Ravelry and is free. Wonderful. I am afraid I have been going a bit star coaster mad, and so based my Festive table on their creation.

I grabbed a few berries from the garden and whacked them into beakers with the some supermarket white roses. I picked up this white candelabra from my local super-market (it was reduced, bargain!). I think I am going to love it more and more.

Finally I tied the napkins with twine and tied on a little straw decoration from Ikea. Not too Christmassy but just a hint of getting ready for the holidays. Out of interest I looked at the photos I took over the past year. It was such a lovely reminder of all the giggles we had and the chats across the table.

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