cake and make

the only thing better than a Sunday spent crafting, is when you take a bit of time on Saturday to whip up some treats to get you through the following day.

Why stop for lunch when you have an array of cakes to help you push through an afternoon well spent making things?

Recently I have become more and more obsessed with Jamie Oliver's magazine. I pretty much devour every issue I buy and then meticulously pour over the pages matching recipes I want to make to various appropriate occasions. Mostly the recipes seem to be savoury dishes, but every now and then a dessert slips into the mix - and these incredibly simple, but amazing cupcakes, had crafternoon written all over them!



These little lemon cakes are topped with a delicious icing made with fresh pressed raspberries, and I improvised a bit and added mint leaves I candied to enhance the light and airy flavour of the cakes.


Last year, when working at a restaurant I discovered the amazing combination of berries and mint, and I can't miss out on an opportunity to marry the flavours.

Candying mint leaves is dead easy... you just whip up some egg whites with a bit of lemon juice (or dried egg whites if you want to be a little safer), and then dip each leaf in and lay them all out of a wire rack... sprinkle caster sugar over them lightly as they dry so that the sugar melts into the foamy egg coating... by the next morning you'll have an amazing collection of candied leaves that you can use to decorate or top any number of desserts!

Just a warning - these cakes are dangerously good - they are just sugary enough to satisfy your sweet tooth, but not so saccharine sweet that you'll ever reach dessert capacity while eating them... In other words, you can eat them steadily all day without realising that you missed lunch, or even dinner for that matter!

3-D knitting continues to loom...

I have mentioned before on this blog that I have dreams of learning 3D knitting... its something I carry with me in the back of my mind, and something I plan to tackle one day.

Although I don't feel too pushed to get going on my 3-D skylines, every now and then I stumble upon something amazing, which reminds me that I still have much to learn.

Over the weekend I went for a country walk in Hebden Bridge, and spotted the most amazing window display in a closed shop/community centre. It was an entire tea and cake said make completely out of wool.

If only it had been open, I could have gone inside and questioned the maker, or failing that at least admired it with a close eye... unfortunately it was too early on that sunday morning, and instead I had to admire the treats from the behind a glass window.


I only hope that one day I can knit goodies like these!

a present unveiled

I am so excited to finally be posting photos of this quilt... Although Lazy Crafternoons often produce things you want to show off and be proud of, you have to keep mum about the things you make which are going to be gifts.

I've been sitting on this work for a while now, waiting until my friend's wedding day when I can let the secret out.

I took this photo a few years ago during Autumn, and was inspired by the way the leaves looked scattered across the patchwork-like tiles.



I actually took this photo, to show off how enormous the leaves were, but when I stood back and looked at the image, it reminded me of a quilt.

With the help of some quilting skills once imparted to me when I was a child, by my great aunt and a heapload of internet tutorials, I have up with a way to interpret the tiles into a patchwork, and then came up with a leaf design which I could patchwork together and them applique to the quilt.

Since it was my first endeavour and I was a bit unsure of doing the acutal quilting, I enlisted the help of a long arm quilting service to finsh off and bind the patchwork. I just wanted it to be perfect, and didn't trust myself to not to ruin it in the quilting process after all my hard work on the front and back.




The back is done with a single wide stripe and a few leaf cut outs so there was an alternative to the busy top... and in one of the leaves I wrote my friends name and their marriage date with fabric pen.



Working on this quilt obviously took more than just one lazy crafternoon, and although my work was inspired by the original photo, it was also fuelled by a wide range of inspirations, much of which came from the quilting forums on craftster.com ... hopefully this quilt can be one little addition to the vast array of works out there, and add to the collective pool of textile creativity!

tea towels...

lately it seems that tea towels are coming back into fashion... at every craft and art shop I go to, there seems to be a range of tea towels for sale. From classic book titles to retro patterns, it seems that tea towels are the new kitsch way to bring art and craft into your home, while making a statement in your kitchen.

While living in a place like London, it seems that in addition to being London-proud everyone has a soft spot for their favourite locality within the city. For me, its of couse Battersea, but my attachements also extend to my favourite places to spend time. Anyone who has spent more than a few hours in London will tell you that Shoreditch is perpetually on the up and up, and that its certainly the place to be right now. Whether you are shopping or browsing markets, heading out for dinner, or having a night out on the town, shoreditch is quickly becoming home (and home-away-from-home) for many.

I figured - why not combine the retro kitsch of statement tea towels and the importance of local pride?

thus is born, the Shoreditch Tea Towel; a stencilled tea towel featuring the Shoreditch's best sights... from tube stations, bridges, pubs and churches all tied together with the 'Shoreditch' lettering as it appears alongside the Regent's Canal.