Happy Valentine's Day!

We celebrated Valentine's Day a little early this year as my other half is away this week. It was a bit subdued this year as my husband has been away a lot, the weather continues to be miserable and now we have to start re-packing for the next move. I even had to buy my own flowers! I normally cook up a fancy dinner for the occasion (honey roasted duck last year), but this year he requested steak and chips and my daughter requested ice cream for dessert. I couldn't be bothered to argue.

As it's been too wet to go outside my daughter and I have had plenty of time to work on our Valentine's Day cards.

I love stitching on paper, so I stitched up card stock and brown paper to create this valentine card holder. There is an opening at the top to slip cards into. I embellished with a paper doily and vintage buttons. Check out Cathe Holden's Just Something I made for a tutorial on mini bunting. I continued the vintage-y feel with the vintage button wreath. Find the tutorial on Hobby Craft.

For my daughter, I stitched up this from Kidston's Stitch. See my last post for a book review. I am currently on my third project from the book. As a finishing touch, I printed a sweet little graphic onto card stock and glued it onto a jewelry bag.



Things are moving on the house purchase now, so if my posts are a bit erratic that's why! Have a very happy Valentine's Day!

A new home, a few old projects, and a couple of book reviews

Keep your fingers crossed for us! Our offer was accepted on a house. Let's just hope the sale goes smoothly and quickly. The house is everything we were looking for in a house. We were hoping to find something a bit more in the countryside, but it seems wishful thinking to expect a rural setting, a short-commute to work, and good schools and shopping could be affordable. Anyway, I'm trying not to get too excited as nothing is certain until you have a key in your hand.

Here are a few pictures from the countryside here:

As my husband is now back to work and my daughter has started school, guess who is job hunting? Now that we're in an English-speaking country I have no excuse for not working. Ugh. It isn't that I don't want to work, I just hate the interview process and I'm worried about finding a job I like in this current era of unemployment. The prospect of self-employment is very appealing, but as what? If you could start over and begin a new career now, what would you do?

As far as the crafting goes, the progress is v. slow. It doesn't help that I can't access some of my stash and I don't have any space here to work in. I have been embroidering. My cottage triptych is on hold, mostly out of frustration. For some reason my transfer pencil marks on my muslin have disappeared mid-way through and now I have to re-transfer the remaining image. Has this happened to anyone else? So out of childish spite, I've started a new project.

I mentioned that over Christmas I picked up a few new books, one of them being Cath Kidston's Stitch. As I haven't tried cross-stitch before, I immediately started working on the cover project (materials are included with the book). I already own Make and Sew. I liked Make. This and The Kitchen Linens Book by EllynAnne Geisel got me stitching in the first place. Although some of the projects and designs are too basic, there was enough to propel me on. I still refer to the book as it contains a few of Kidston's more iconic designs. Word of warning though, the instructions on some projects are vague or just plain wrong.

Enamoured with Make, I bought Sew. Being fairly adept with embroidering, I wanted to expand my sewing skills. Overall Sew was a disappointment. I think there are better sewing books on the market, especially for relative beginners like myself.

Luckily Stitch was a return to what I loved about Make -- easy to follow projects that put a fresh and unique spin on an old craft. Sure, I know there's a limit to how many pillows one can make, but this book has actually made me want to try cross-stitch for a change. A few of the patterns are questionable, but I can't wait to stitch up her cowboy!

When I was backing up my photos from 2010, I realised there were two projects from December that I didn't share with you. (Word of advice -- take time to back up your photos! I learned this lesson the hard way when my last computer crashed.) As we were leaving Germany I gave a few handmade thank you presents to friends and teachers. Both projects were quick and easy. The images for these came from Flickr and The Graphics Fairy.

I couldn't resist these little purple flowers. I'm not sure if they're really violets or not, but I glued a perfume label on to the pot and used the same image to make the butterflies. These were given to my daughter's Kindergarten teachers.

This little pocket was inspired by Lori Lundy's jean pockets featured in the volume 4 issue of "Somerset Holidays & Celebrations". I quickly glued on vintage images, scrap lace, velvet leaves and my favourite vintage button. I tucked a thank you letter and my favourite recipes inside and presented it to a friend who gave my daughter riding lessons. In exchange for her lessons, I taught her children some English and sent her a regular supply of English and American bakery.

 I hope they know how much I appreciated their hard work and friendship!

The living dead and a few Halloween projects

Dripping, drooling, moaning evil zombies have nothing on us this week. My husband and I are just getting over the flu and between the two of us coughing and wheezing, I don't know how we sleep. I normally make this chicken noodle soup with ginger (sunshine in a bowl), but today I'm going to make this chicken curry soup with coconut and lime as it is easy and flavourful. Hopefully normal breathing with resume tomorrow.

The flu may have slowed me down, but I've managed to have a bit of a clear out. Summer clothes are packed away, wardrobes have had a once over and now I've just finished off a few projects that have been lingering around. Remember this one?

Yes, I've finally found a decent frame for my "39 Squares" project. I mounted the fabric onto a canvas and then hung the canvas in a great shadow box from IKEA. I should have bought a bunch of these while I was there!

I also finished this off for my husband's birthday:

This was my husband's favourite t-shirt. He bought it while we were dating and last year I finally forced him to retire it. Rather than tossing it into the rag pile, I turned it into this banner for his office using directions for a placemat.

Then I came across this left unfinished from last year and went right into Halloween mode.

Not entirely sure what I'm going to do with it now, but it may end up on a felt trick or treat bag next week.

Now in the full Halloween spirit, I did this:

I've always wanted to try my hand at decoupage, so here's my first effort. This candy tin is decorated with images from The Graphics Fairy. I pestered my other half to punch two holes, strung it with a black velvet ribbon and stitched up the orange flower ribbon. Not too bad for a first effort, if I do say so myself. What am I going to do with it? Fill it with my favourite Halloween treats and hang it near my sewing seat.

This sunny, dry morning I started these soon to be Halloween lanterns, found here at Martha Stewart.

I also have plans for these, but I'm not telling yet. Maybe they'll be done for my next posting!

Plum crazy!

The local plum season is here again! I love the German plums here – they’re about the size of goose eggs and are wonderfully sweet with just a hint of tart. They’re great for snacking, but they’re even better to cook with.

Now last year I went a bit crazy and ended up with three buckets full of plums. I made plum jam, spiced plum cheese (something akin to overcooked jelly) and plum and apple chutney. As you can imagine, we are still eating these preserves off. Therefore this year I will to be more controlled. At the moment, I only plan to make a few cakes.

As the neighbourhood children have stripped the wild plum trees of their fruit already, we headed off to the nearest pick-your-own orchard, Obsthof Schneekloth on Sunday. This is one of our favourite local haunts during the summer fruit season – we ramble around the orchards, stop in the café for a dreamy cake, then my daughter runs around the playground or the small animal petting area (guinea pigs, rabbits, and goats galore).

We gorged ourselves on these:

We hauled home just over a kilo of these:

Of which I made this, a plum, almond and ricotta cake:

Hmmmm, I don’t think I can just stop there. Maybe a bottle or two of plum cordial is in order. Or maybe a pan of plum leather. Or maybe a jar or two of pickled plums…..

In other news, I did finish my project for the DOW Wednesday Stitch Along. I chose Floresita’s “Bear in Mind” pattern. Sorry, couldn’t find a maker or pattern number. As I admitted, I did start this a bit early – I was too eager to wait. The phrase “a nice stitchy indulgence” got my brain going. I’ve been sitting on these fabrics for awhile waiting for a useful project, so what better use than a cover for my book of stitches? The poor book does get bashed about a bit in my embroidery bag, as I take my embroidery with me when I can.

The stitching turned out all right, although I learned that I need to practice my blanket and satin stitches. I had to redo the eye and spool a few times. As you can see, I gave up and used good old backstitch. I am practising satin stitch on my current project and am slowly improving.

In all, I enjoyed this stitch along and can’t wait for the next one!

The Summer is winding down...

Clay Pipe Museum 3, originally uploaded by Tea Potty.

Whew! What a summer. The weather may not have been great -- either cool and wet or scorching hot -- but it has been jam packed. After three weeks in America, nearly a week in England, and another week of entertaining guests here, life is starting to resume regularly scheduled programming. My other half is back to work, my daughter is back in school, and I am finally able to sit down and write.

On Saturday, I realised that the blackberries have just come into season here when most of the neighbourhood children appeared with sticky, red stains all over themselves. I got up extra early yesterday fearing I missed out and armed myself with a bucket and step stool. After a few hours, several bramble scratches and a bad nettle rash, I returned home triumphant with my booty. Sadly the resulting jam only filled two jars. But two very lovely jars they are!

My main sewing project at the moment is a piece for the Flickr "New Embroidery with Vintage Patterns Group" vintage pattern stitch along. I had it in my head that the piece needed to be done by 1st September, so I'm nearly finished with it. Stupidly, I've just realised that the deadline is actually the end of September. I'm rather geeked about my project and can't wait to share it!

This project has inspired my next one -- a fabric book featuring vintage embroidery from different generations of my family. The last issue of Sew Somerset featured beautiful fabric books that I can't wait to try my hand at.

The top picture is from my trip to England. Broseley, in the middle of England, is home to a clay pipe museum. This factory was the last of its kind in England. As it was pretty much abandoned in 1960, it acted as a time capsule, preserving so much information about this industry. Today it is home to an interesting little museum that gives us a glimpse into early industrial life. On an interesting side note, my husband's great grandfather owned it!

My summer schedule

Bus skirt detail, originally uploaded by Tea Potty.

As you can tell from my lack of blogging, I am now in full summer mode. For the last few months we seem to be either getting ready for visitors or getting ready to visit someone. Things have been hectic and it looks like nothing will change until mid-August. This is not to say I haven't been working on projects. I've managed to finish a few things in my free evenings. So, to keep things short and sweet I will summerize:

Geeked about:

• Flying home for a three-week holiday: I don't get homesick very often -- except around the holidays and just before a flight!
• My latest book order: The Complete Book of Sewing, Sewing in No Time, Sew!, and Preserves.
• Decorative trim: I am in love with pom-pom trim, crochet lace borders and velvet ribbons!

Projects on the go:

• An Alice in Wonderland pillow for my sister.
• My 39 squares piece is essentially finished. I just need to decide what I'm going to do with it now.

Projects I've somehow managed to actually finish:

•  A crinkle scarf from a terrific Ruffles and Stuff tutorial.

• A baby shirt for my cousin's daughter. The wonderful Wild Olive pattern can be found here at DMC.

• A recycled jeans skirt embroidered with a VW camper van. I took an old pair of jeans, turned them into a skirt and embroidered them with a camper van. You can find the image by Googling "VW camper van coloring pages".

Spilled all over the kitchen:

• My annual strawberry jam
• Homemade salad dressings -- homemade green goddess salad dressing beats a bottle of ranch any day.
• Salads with beans and/or couscous
• Elderflower and lemon cordials
• Cooked fruit desserts -- crisps, cobblers and tarts galore!

Whew! I think that just about covers it for the moment!

Back at square one..

Back at square one.., originally uploaded by Tea Potty.

I was going to wait until I had a few more squares done, but I'm too geeked about this to wait. I recently discovered 39 Squares. This project is so me! It is exactly what I was looking for when I started embroidering last summer -- something that I could learn on and practice on, but is still creative, meaningful and quick.

As I'm not terribly confident at freehand embroidery, I put some planning into my squares before starting. I've decided that I'm going to use this on a pillow and that the squares will be a bit bigger than an inch by an inch. I also decided that the squares should be about my family, so I made a list of symbols using the 39 Squares flickr group as inspiration.

Then I used the table function in Word to create a table of 5x5 squares at, or close to, full size. I sketched out my ideas on this table using coloured pencils (keeping in mind my chosen colours). I rearranged the squares a few times to balance out the colours, patterns and shapes as I wanted to avoid repitition. I know I won't stick exactly to the layout, especially as I'm sure to run into problems with my more difficult images. I do have a few back-up images in case.

So now I've sat down with my floss, buttons, beads, and trim and am busily stitching away!

I've also finally finished Mariana by Monica Dickens. It really shouldn't have taken me so long, but at the moment most of my evenings are dedicated to embroidery. The book was OK. It would've been a much better book with some harsh editing. The second half is much better than the first. My next book is Nightingale Wood by Stella Gibbons, who wrote Cold Comfort Farm.

March hares, scones and chocolate eggs

March Hares, originally uploaded by Tea Potty.

At last the snow has given way to mud and my spring flowers are coming up. Spring is here for sure now. The robins have returned and the fields are alive with rabbits, deer and pheasants.

My other half returned yesterday bringing back a small hoard of British goodies, most notably Cadbury eggs and clotted cream. Both are luxuries that we don't indulge in very often, but we haven't had either in a long time. I'm sure we'll make messy pigs of ourselves. My daughter hasn't had a Cadbury egg before, so I'll be forced to share one with her. I honestly prefer some of the other Easter candy a bit more, but beggers can't be choosers.

While I type, I have a batch of scones in the oven -- an incentive to keep me from staying on the computer too long. For traditional British scones, try here. Standard scones don't have fancy flavours. Plain is best, though the odd raisin or currant is acceptable. Eat them hot if you can, but you must eat them fresh. Go on, force yourself, there aren't many in a batch anyway. They're a good excuse to break out the teapot and have a tea party.

As for toppings, expect to find clotted cream and strawberry preserves at a good tea room. Real whipped cream and strawberry jam do nicely too. All this being said, I have seen my husband scoff down dry, stale scones smeared with butter and apricot jam.

I do have a recipe for clotted cream, but I have never made it. It is so bad for you that we don't eat it very often and I didn' think it was worth the trouble. If I find it, I will post it.

While my husband has been away I've been crazy about rabbits, or is that, "mad as a March hare"? I've finished a rabbit hand towel made of recycled linen, a softie and an egg cosie. There are great rabbit shapes on LollyChops and a good rabbit egg cosie template at The Yvestown Blog. The softie began life as an egg cosie, but I quickly realised he was the wrong shape and his had was too big.

As for current projects, I'm in the middle of embroidering another t-shirt for Rose and a nautical terry cloth towel (an experiment to see how it works). I've stared a cameo project for Rose's grandmothers -- check out a great tutorial on Petit Debutant. I have yet to start Rose's felt Easter basket and a set of tea towels for a friend's wedding present.

That's my timer. I think I'll have to pry my husband and daughter from the oven door. First, I'll wipe the drool off my keyboard --- mmmmm, hot scones dripping with cool melting clotted cream and jam...

Free Rose and Vase pattern

Rose and Vase pattern, originally uploaded by Tea Potty.

I hoped to have this available before Valentine's Day, but I was side-tracked with other projects and a bad cold that won't go away. Despite the cough and stuffed nose, I had an industrious (if not romantic) Valentine's Day. See my Flickr stuff on the right.

Now that V day is behind me, I've moved swiftly into a springy frame of mind. I'm ignoring the foot of snow outside and am thinking lovely, sunny thoughts -- or at least that is my mantra for the week. So I've dug up some wonderful embroidery patterns with rabbits and cupcakes and a few vintage egg graphics and am itching to get crafting! I do have three serious tasks to tackle first -- practice my satin stitch for a wedding present; create alphabet flash cards for my daughter (which I will post if they are any good); and spring clean.

It is carneval time here. Although my husband and I haven't attended any celebrations, my daughter has, as a pink princess of course. Try as she might, she couldn't convince me that pink princesses don't wear turtlenecks, cardigans and leggings with their ballgowns. I told her they do when the weather is below freezing!

Spring is out there, somewhere...

Valentine envelope, originally uploaded by Tea Potty.

This is how I have been surviving the January blahs -- with lots of sewing projects! With the hope of Valentine's Day and Easter on their way I feel more springy (as long as I don't look outside). I am just putting the finishing touches on my Valentines for my husband (see above) and my daughter. My other half now eyes me nervously as I sit in my sewing chair every evening, rocking back and forth, stitching frantically. Maybe he believes if he sits still long enough, I might start embroidering him! Or maybe he'll finally pick up that I've got cabin fever and need to be sent somewhere sunny and warm.

I should mention that the envelope was made using Lucykate Craft's terrific tutorial.

Perhaps I don't really have cabin fever. It could be just chocolate withdrawl. I finished off the last of my Christmas truffles on Sunday. My husband better have a box of chocs ready on Valentine's Day, that is all I have to say. I'll survive 'til then by staring at the bouquet of tulips that I purchased in a fit of self-pity!

The count down begins...

I know, I know. Good intentions and all that. Between settling in here, entertaining visitors, and taking care of a little one and the house, I haven't had much energy to sit down to blog. This excuse will soon evaporate! (I'll have to find a new one now). My daughter is off to kindergarten in September! Five morning a week all to myself. Where do I begin...

Oh, new hobby alert-- embroidery. EllynAnne Geisel's book The Kitchen Linens Book got me hooked. Oh and did manage to make two successful batches of jam, strawberry and plum. (I'm on a roll!)