New Project................

I decided to embark on my next project and as my boys are in Italy visiting my in law's I have a bit of time to myself in the evenings.  I'm still learning but thought I would make a small quilt either for Sophie's pushchair or for her to play with.  It's not perfect and next time I will do things slightly differently, but all in all I am very pleased with the result.

 It was made with a kit I bought from Ebay made up of various Cath Kidston fabrics.  I hope that Kelly and Sophie like it.  As a first attempt I don't think it's too bad.

Until next time ....

A Weekend with Cath !!!!

It all started 30 something years ago when I got my first sewing machine a Novum 5000...

She was a lovely machine and I did use her quite a bit.  I'm not that great at sewing and would certainly never attempt to make anything whatsoever for anyone to wear, but I'm ok at making curtains and that sort of thing.  Well sometime ago after a couple of repairs the old girl gave up the ghost, (I do still have her in the garage as buying her was one of the last things I did with my Dad before he died and I will never throw her away).  I decided to buy just a cheap sewing machine to replace her, but the old saying 'you get what you pay for' was most definitely the case here, and as a result I haven't made very much since.

Three or four years ago I bought the Cath Kidston SEW book with the little bag to make, yes you've guessed it, I never had the courage to attempt it so the fabric has been sitting in my cupboard all this time.

 I was most fortunate in January to get a bit of a bonus from work so I decided to buy myself a new sewing machine, and after much research I purchased this little poppet .................

My husband and son thought a Toyota sewing machine was quite amusing !  I have to say I am really pleased with it, it's quiet, smooth, easy to control and a joy to use, and very much like using my old Novum.

As I didn't have any plans this weekend and my son's rugby was cancelled I thought it was about time I had a go at making something with the new machine and here are the results...........

I even decided to add lining to the bag too.......brave eh!

I am very proud of my efforts, and do actually feel that I will be able to use the bag without being embarrassed.

I decided not to do the buttonholes but to attach the strap to the bag and make it the length I wanted it.



Turned out it was much easier than I though it would be, although there are a couple of little things that I would do differently next time overall I'm very pleased, what do you think ?

Until next time......

Home Made Gifts......................................

It's been so long since my last post and things have been very hectic one way and another. However, when it's coming up to Christmas I like to try to make something that I can give as gifts, so being a lover of all things Italian I decided this year to try Limoncello.

 I like to bring back bottles of pure alcohol from my summer holiday to make Liquirizia a liquorice flavour liqueur, a particular favourite of my hubby, but decided to try making Limoncello for a change, this also is a favourite of his, I decided to adapt my recipe for Liquirizia.

I substituted the liquorice for the zest of 6 lemons plus the juice of two, this I put into a a demijohn and covered with a litre of alcohol, the top was sealed tightly and the jar put in a dark cupboard for two weeks, I did periodically take it out and agitate.  After a couple of weeks put 3kg of water into a pan and add 2 kg of sugar, heat on low until all the sugar has dissolved and the liquid is slightly syrupy, allow to cool, while waiting drain the alcohol from the lemon zest into a jug, mix this into the sugar syrup and stir, the Limoncello can now be poured onto bottles, I like to use muslin in my funnel so that no little bits get into the bottles.

There is no need to store, the Limoncello can be consumed immediately. All the recipients seem very pleased with their gifts.
Until next time .........................

Strawberry Jam......................

This week Kelly has had the lovely Michela staying with her and today we had a trip to the Jam Factory at Tiptree.

Obviously where shopping is concerned you need to make sure that you have enough energy for the actual shopping so our first stop was the tea room, a lovely cup of tea and slice of cake...............which was absolutely delicious.

We purchased quite a bit of Jam and some chutney to give to friends for Christmas.  After arriving home it was time for Sophie to get ready for her friends fancy dress birthday party, in keeping with the Jam theme, Sophie went as a Strawberry.......................how cute does she look ?

Good enough for Nanny and Auntie to eat, that's for sure.

Until next time ......................

Important Day for Sophie...............

Sunday saw a very important day for my Great Niece Sophie, her baptism.  What a wonderful day we had,  we are extremely lucky to have a good friend Trevor who is also a Reverend, yes we do call him Trev the Rev,  he performed the ceremony which made it very personal,  Trevor addressed Sophie quite a lot, who I have to say seemed very much to be paying attention, not bad for a nine month old.
Trevor is a great person and makes any service he does enjoyable.

The ceremony was held at The Abbey, Waltham Abbey a very special place. Sophie behaved impeccably, she didn't make a sound. Below is a picture of Sohpie being welcomed into the church.

I love the following picture as Sophie looks like a little Armish girl, needless to say the bonnet didn't stay on for long.

Marcus was very proud to be Sophie's Godfather, looks very smart in his suit, doesn't he ?

Kelly and James had a bit of a do after at a local Golf Club, very enjoyable.

Until next time............

A Day of Baking......................

Having watched Jo Wheatley win the Great British Bake Off I decided that I needed to start baking again, something I really enjoy but don't do nearly enough of, so after a trip to the supermarket to buy some supplies I set out to make some Cupcakes and a Bakewell Tart.

One of my favourite flavours along with Rose is Violet.............I know not to everyones taste but a flavour I adore, so I made vanilla cupcakes with a Violet buttercream, topped off with some edible glitter, I would have liked to put a little flower on the top but couldn't get any but as they were only for a bit of fun I wasn't too worried, also I need to practice using a piping bag.

Once these came out of the oven and were cooling I made a Bakewell Tart,  I did cheat a bit as I used a
prepared pie crust but I did make the Frangipane,  much easier than I expected so next time I have friends round for dinner I will be making this again from scratch, it tasted so much better than a bought tart.

 

 Next week I think I'll do a Lemon Drizzle Cake as this is one of Marcus's favourites along with some Coconut Macaroons.

Until then.................

Wimbledon.....................

Master M is a member of our local tennis club, he plays there at least 3 times a week.  The club are allocated a certain number of tickets, to give everyone a chance they put all members names into a draw and Master M was one of the lucky winners of a pair of tickets. 

We had a choice of days but so as not to have to take Master M out of school I chose Saturday the 2nd July which turned out to be Ladies Singles Finals day and what a great match that was. Master M and the husband had a fantastic day, they saw Nadal doing a bit of training too !

Master M and the husband before the match started.

Such a wonderful experience for Master M, you never know the next time you see him there he may be playing ................................wouldn't that be exciting.

Until next time................