A New Year and a new project

Happy New Year!  I really hope that 2013 brings you everything you wish for.

Well I started the new year with a new project.  I've been a fan of  Helen Dickson of Bustle and Sew for a while now and have been itching to try some of the gorgeous projects from her website and magazine.   She produces so many fabulous ideas and designs, the list of things I wanted to make was growing ridiculously long.  So, with a couple of spare days over the New Year, I hid myself a way in my studio and am now the proud owner of a lovely wall panel for the kitchen (as featured in the January Bustle & Sew Magazine) and I also used the cup applique to make a matching teacosy.

A winter bunny?

Having spent a bit more time in my studio recently it needed a bit of a sort out and tidy up - it always amazes me how I seem to be unable to put things back where they belong when I'm working on something.  It's never going to be immaculate but it is now a bit more organised I have table space.  I also have a very large pile of UFO's - unfinished objects.  Quilts at varying stages and a lot of half finished cross stitch and embroidery projects.  Whoops!  I know realistically I won't be finishing them all before I start something new but I have promised myself that I will make a determined effort to get some of them finished.

The first one up and is probably one of the newer members of the UFO pile is an appliqued quilt that I want to hang in the hallway.

OK, so I admit, I started this project last winter and it was supposed to be finished by the spring.  Still, better late than never!  It's an adaption of a design from Kim Diehl's book "Simple Seasons - Stunning Quilts and Savory Recipes".  It's a beautiful book, a great collection of quilts to make and some fabulous recipes, what could be crunchier?!

The "spring" quilt I started last winter was my first attempt at using yo-yo's.  I loved them (although not enough to add the 40 or so smaller ones that Kim's quilt has between the larger ones!).  I couldn't get them to close quite enough, maybe my fabric was a bit thick, but they were quite quick to create and give the quilt more depth.  The pattern is designed as a table runner, to be viewed on all sides, but I wanted mine to hang on the wall so I tweaked the design a bit more.

All I need to do now is add the hanging loops and put it on the wall in the hallway.

Under the Apple Tree

It's been a while since I last posted something.  Young Rolf has kept us very busy with his puppy shenanigans and we've also been on a bit of a road trip.  We headed south to the Minervois, where we used to live.  It's a beautiful area, full of vineyards which are all changing colour, from green to wonderful reds and golds.  We had a lovely time catching up with lots of old friends.  We drove back via more friends who had kindly invited us to stay in their own corner of Paradise in the Cevennes National Park.  They have a beautiful house and are surrounded by chestnut trees, wild herbs and mushrooms!

The leaves across the whole of France are telling us that Autumn is here.  Since we've been back the cooler days are making me want to get back into my studio for some "makes".

After my usual procrastinating of tidying (or shuffling and re-arranging) I came up with this cute little picture made with appliqued felt shapes.

Meet Rolf

We'd been thinking for a while of getting a second dog.  We've had Daisy, our brown hound that smells like biscuits, for just over 5 years and even though she's 6 she still acts like a puppy most of the time.  A friend for her would stop her getting too bored, especially when we're busy working.

Joe, never one to do things by half, favoured a Great Dane, while I, who likes things cute, liked the idea of a Dachshund.  Some how, after a couple of weeks of debate and looking at all the local refuges who are sadly packed out with dogs, we ended up making a 1700km round trip in a day to collect Rolf, a Labrador/Border Collie cross - how did that happen??

He's as cute as anything, as naughty as anything and will eat anything.

Daisy loves him, and has the puppy teeth bite marks to prove it.

Boot tolerates him but can't believe we've brought another dog into the house.  Boot can also control him with a Paddington Bear style hard stare - a look we both need to learn.

He's been with us three weeks now, has tried to destroy most things (Joe still hasn't learnt to leave his slippers out of puppy reach) and we still have a mop on standby, although this isn't used too much.

Ta-dah! I give you... the door!

So finally, after much sanding, painting, rendering, painting of windows plus the distraction of a 1800km round trip to rescue a puppy and eight days of guests we have a new look to the front of the house.

All we need now is some new door furniture, some draft excluders and to finish the hallway on the inside.  But for now, we think the outside is looking much better.

Before

After

Random Recipes #20 combined with a Tea Time Treat

This month Dom at Belleau Kitchen has teamed up with Karen from Lavender and Lovage and Kate from What Kate Baked to create the fantastic idea of a "tea time random recipe".  As Dom says, tea can mean different things to different people.  To me, a girl from Devon, tea is most definitely something you have mid afternoon - cup of tea and maybe some cake or biscuits or something grander, high tea, lots of tiny cakes and sandwiches.  But certainly not your evening meal. that, to me, is dinner.  The usual rules apply, randomly select a book from your collection, this time only select from books which are tea time based, then from that book randomly select a recipe.

So I stacked up all my cake/biscuit/teatime recipe books (there were over 30 of the lovely things) and used a random number generator which gave me... Fat Witch Brownies by Patricia Helding (with Bryna Levin).   I know Brownies aren't necessarily what you would associate as a British tea time treat, I think they're far to good to miss out on, plus this is one of my favourite "treat" books.  I've cooked quite a few of the recipes already, the basic Fat Witch Brownie is fantastic, as are the PB & J Bars, oh, and the White Chocolate Bars and Banana Bread Brownies...  To pick a recipe I hadn't tried before was going to take a bit of luck but the first page number I picked gave me Hazelnut Cream Cheese Brownies which was new to me.

Hazelnut Cream Cheese Brownies

Filling
3oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup finely chopped hazelnuts

Brownie Batter
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
5tbsp unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup unbleached flour
1/4tsp salt
3/4 cup coarsely chopped hazelnuts

Grease a 9x9inch pan with butter and dust with flour.
Preheat the oven to 350F

To make the filling, beat the cream cheese and sugar together in a medium bowl until smooth.  Add the egg, lemon juice and vanilla.  Beat until well combined.  Stir in the hazelnuts by hand.  Cover the bowl and place in the fridge.

To make the brownie batter, melt the chocolate and butter in a small saucepan over a low heat.  Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Beat the sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth.  Add the cooled chocolate mixture and continue beating until well combined.

Sift the flour and salt directly into the brownie batter, mixing gently until well combined and no trace of the dry ingredients remains.  Stir in the hazelnuts.

Spread half the brownie batter evenly into the baking tin.  Spread the chilled filling over the batter, then refrigerate for 10 minutes.  Gently spread the rest of the brownie batter on top of the filling.

Dip a butter knife into the pan and lift straight up, creating a marbled effect in the batter.  Repeat to create a pattern. (I didn't really need to do this as spreading of the batter gave mixed it slightly with the filling to give it a marbled look)

Bake for 33 minutes.  Let it cool for 1hr on a rack.  Cut just before serving.  Uneaten brownies (as if!) should be covered and stored in the refrigerator.

Another yummy recipe from this book!

A winter tipple

Behind our garage we have a couple of elder trees, last year I made some fabulous elder-flower syrup but this year I was doubled over with a pesky dose of sciatica when they were flowering so I didn't get a chance to make any.  To make up for it I'm trying some elderberry liqueur this year.  I haven't tried this before but I've read that elderberries are full of antioxidants and very high in vitamin C.  So much so that it can be used medicinally to deter colds and flu so, if nothing else, that's a good enough excuse to make some.

I read several recipes online and elsewhere which all differed but appeared to follow a similar theme so when it came to actually putting it all in a bottle I made it up as I went along... We shall have to wait to see what it turns out like!

The berries are sweeter after the first frost so I popped them into the freezer for a week before using them.  I then took an old litre bottle, roughly quarter filled with the berries, added 750ml of vodka (cheap stuff from the supermarket) and then topped up with sugar.  The bottle is now tucked away in a dark cupboard where, when I remember, I take it out for a shake around.  In a couple of months I'm planning on straining the liquid, checking the taste and adding more sugar if necessary before bottling it up again ready for drinking.  I'm also going to try a similar thing with blackberries but will use gin for that rather than vodka as I've read it gives a better taste.

Unlike the plum wine we have bubbling away in the hall, it looks really pretty!