Summer Dreams

The summer holidays are finally here - huzzah!!! This means I'm fortunate enough to have lots of time to spend on various crafty projects.

The first thing I did was to buy an ice cream maker. For this, I partly blame my friend Katie for getting me into ice cream making - but the ice cream is delicious! I've bought a Magimix 1.1L from John Lewis for only £40 and Katie gave me a basic recipe which I can adapt and experiment with.
The first ice cream flavour I tried was Vanilla Fudge; the first attempt wasn't all that successful, but the second attempt was much better!

This is pretty simple to make. First, take some milk and caster sugar and heat over a hob until the sugar dissolves (takes less than 30 seconds!). Then, add double cream and vanilla essence - stir it all together and then put into the ice cream maker. After that, it's just a case of letting the ice cream maker freeze churn your mixture, and then adding the vanilla fudge chunks when the mixture is almost done (when it looks more like ice cream) Finally, put it into a freezer safe container and put it in the freezer until you're ready to eat! Needless to say, it tastes pretty darn good! Next, I want to try making cherry ice cream - watch this space for that one!!

I also tried a new biscuit recipe: Vanilla and Chocolate Pinwheel biscuits - which taste pretty good, but were actually quite hard to make, which was surprising because the recipe was in the children's section!

First you make the vanilla dough and then you make the chocolate dough and chill them both in the fridge. Then, you roll them both out to the same size rectangle, put one on top of the other and then roll them like a Swiss roll and chill in the fridge again. Finally, you'd slice it into about 20 biscuits and put on baking trays. However, I found that the dough was really sticky - especially the chocolate one - which was solved by longer time in the fridge and a bit of extra flour. Took me a little while longer than it should have done to fix it, but I think it worked out well in the end!

A new thing that I'm also going to try is chocolate making. Yes, I know I tried that before but it was a bit of a disaster - there's an earlier blog post on it if you don't remember! A few weeks ago, I went with the Brownies to Stanley's Store in Bovingdon for a cupcake decorating course which was amazing! I learned lots about using sugar paste to make decorations and how to use a piping bag, and I was only watching! This Sunday, Katie and I are going to go there on one of their chocolate making courses - I'm really looking forward to it! As well as having a huge amount of fun with chocolate (enough said!) - the store is also an old fashioned sweet shops and sells unique handmade gifts. For more details, you can find their website on the right hand side of your screen, and I'll keep you posted on our progress on Sunday!

I'm also working on a cross stitch, but as it's a gift for someone I'm afraid I'll have to keep that under wraps for a little bit longer ...sorry!!

In the dressmaking department, I've booked onto a course at The Fabric Warehouse in Cowley. It's spread over 2 Thursdays and by the end of it we'll have made a skater dress. I know I can follow patterns to make a wearable product, but it's always good to pick up tips from an expert and I am a little bit rusty on my pattern reading. Also, I might learn how to fit a garment properly, which would be useful given that I'm not exactly a conventional shape! I've got lots of fabric and patterns waiting for me in my sewing room which shall keep me busy over the summer I'm sure! I've also got those cushions to finish - just need to get up to my mum's overlocker to finish off the edges!

That's all for now - stay tuned!

" You're fired !! "

I've been ill with a stomach bug all week so haven't really done much crafting except a bit of cross stitching in bed for as long as I had energy. But I just had to share pictures of my Bojangles dragon now that he's been fired - I love him =D 

Wonder what I'll come back with next time?? Need to put that BoJangles loyalty card to good use!!

Splodge and the Dragon

Today, Rachel and I went back to Bojangles. My main goal today was to finish the dragon that I started last time - achieved! He's now waiting to go in the kiln but he should be ready to pick up next weekend! I'm very happy with him, but I haven't thought of a suitable name - answers on a postcard please!!

Dragon front view - painted by me

Dragon back view - painted by me

Splodge after firing - painted by Rachel

Rachel's Decopatch Dragon (unfinished)

Rachel and I also got a Bojangles loyalty card today - get £10 off on your 5th visit! Don't mind if we do!

My current WIPs

I've had a few projects on the go at once - none of which are finished, which is why the blog hasn't been updated in a while!!

The first one is that I managed to con Bren into helping me sort out the spare bedroom. It took a while - and we're still not finished - but it is now useable ... as my craft room =D So to celebrate, I started by making my owl cushions for the sofas.

 I made up a simple square pattern to cut the fabric. Then, I put the zip in at the bottom. To make the ribbon pleats at the sides I overlocked the ends of the ribbon to stop it from fraying, pinned the first end 15mm from the top and then made the pleats. I measured carefully - remembering what the Sewing Bee judges kept saying about making everything evenly spaced! - and measured to 10cm and then pleated back 5cm and pinned. After the pleats were done, I pinned them into the seam and then sewed the last 3 sides together from one side of the zip to the other.

 As you probably noticed, I've gone for a bit of a mix and match theme with the cream and blue! Unfortunately, I didn't have enough owl fabric to make a third cushion for the armchair so I'm using special fabric for that, but you'll have to tune in later for that!! I also need to finish making the last cream cushion (the overlocker's at my mum's!!)

Today, I went to BoJangles with my friend Rachel. For those of you who don't know BoJangles is a creative cafe where you can go to paint ceramic pots or do decopatch. Rachel and I both chose a ceramic piece today. For the best results, you have to paint over each area in 3 layers to build up the colour - looks really effective once it's been fired in the kiln. I must have been talking too much because while Rachel finished hers in the time limit I just about managed to get my 3 layers of green on! Still, we've booked another slot in a few weeks so I can go back and finish my dragon and so that Rachel can start another one!

I've also had the Stitch and Bitch Society tonight. Katie's finished her big zoo train piece and it looks amazing! Isla's making good progress with her "Dictionary of Technology" which has inspired Katie and I to work on our next "dictionaries" together - she's got Coffee and I've got Tea! Jenny's baby sampler for her unborn niece or nephew is lovely too! As for me, a few weeks ago I started the little girl collecting shells on the beach, but the fabric is too big to work on without a frame, and since I lent that to Katie I decided to wait. Tonight, I started on the Humphrey cross stitch that was part of my leaving present from Chesham Bois. Katie gave me my frame back tonight, but I think I'll finish Humphrey first and then go back to the shells.

Puddleducks & bunnies

Just wanted to share two mini cross stitches I did last night / this morning while Bren was playing on the Playstation. Very Easter themed! 

"Duck in the Rain" by Hobbycraft - this was very quick, simple & enjoyable. I love puddleducks!! 

"Cuddly Bunny" by Mouseloft. The backstitching really made this work! 

And now to start on my next project...sorting out the spare room!! 

Je t'aime Boofle

On Monday, I hosted the April meeting of the Stitch & Bitch Society for Jenny, Isla & Katie (our newest member!) I was sewing the Boofle kit that Isla gave me for my birthday after I went to Paris. After getting into it, I've just finished! The backstitching was tricky but looks good now!

 

Haven't picked my next project yet, but I do really want to sort my sewing room out soon. The Great British Seeing Bee has inspired me to get back behind the sewing machine! 

Welcome Each New Day

I finished this last weekend. I'm really happy with it & think it'll look great in the bathroom! 

I also made this coaster to give to my lovely Mum on Mother's Day. I chose the red dragon because it reminds me of my infant school emblem, St George's. I think she liked it! 

I've introduced another friend to the wonderful world of cross stitch! Katie's done a few mini kits & they came out do well - just by following the instructions alone! She's now decided to do a big Bothy Threads design - good luck Katie!!

As for my next project...I haven't decided yet!!

A Crafty Update!

I've been working on a few little things since I finished "A Dictionary of Cakes".

First of all, I made the needle case that Kelly gave me for Christmas - thank you again!

I've started working on my next "big" project, but as I'm almost finished that I'll wait until it's finished before I post a picture of it!

This week, I did a few mini projects to keep myself busy:

"Welcome to Your New Home" by Mouseloft

My Grandad's birthday card - design taken from issue 204 of The World of Cross Stitch

I also seem to have collected a rather large collection of "Future Projects" - the only issue is which one do I do next?? What do you think? Tell me in a comment, please, I can't decide!!

Cute "Popcorn" design

I can see this hanging in the bathroom

Another kitchen picture!

Isla bought me this for my birthday to remember my holiday to Paris

A Latch Hook cuddly Tigger kit, which was a birthday present from my Dad and his girlfriend.

Something I need to remember!

I also wanted to show off my lovely handmade birthday present from my friend Isla - thoughtfully crafted to remind me of my recent trip to Paris - thank you again! It's hanging on my wardrobe handle =D


Finally, I've been reorganising and tidying my lounge up a bit. I've decided to keep the big table I've got in the corner of my lounge so I can keep the sewing machine on it - look out for some dressmaking projects in the future!