Sticky Stem Ginger Cake

Me Made May 2012 day 4, and I'm wearing my Liberty Tunic

I have been going to Fancy ever since it opened about a year ago. And, until today (thanks to my Mum for allowing me to share some of hers), I had never sampled the sticky stem ginger cake.

Apologies to any readers who are not within easy reach of Bedford, but those of you who are, my top tip for something to do this weekend is to get yourself to Fancy and treat yourselves to a slice of the ginger cake. It is divine. And, if you are not a fan of ginger, and don't want to go for the obvious (but firm favourite) option of chocolate brownies, then see if they have any chocolate, fig and almond cake in. 

Anyhow, there is (sort of) a sewing related reason I am going on and on about cake. Whilst having an after school `Hooray, it's Friday, and the grandparents are up for the weekend!' treat, I arranged a date with the owner, Saffron, for another charity sock monkey night - I can't wait, I can't wait! 

Here are the details:

Sock Monkey Night @ Fancy

Thursday 14th June 2012, 7 pm onwards

£10 donation here to St. John's Hospice

Bring your own socks and scissors! 

Please help spread the word locally if you can - every penny goes straight to the hospice and we are teasingly close to our target of £1000 - clicking on the Facebook button at the end of this really gets people talking about it and turning up.

Onto other things, Me Made May is proving to be a lot of fun. Boy, the other ladies (I think it's just ladies, but sorry to any men I've missed) taking part are a talented bunch, and seem to be a lovely lot with it - just further confirming my view that the world of craft is an overwhelmingly friendly and supportive one. The wish list of patterns I'd like to try continues - oh, if only there were more hours in the day...

Here I am seemingly enjoying a delightful `Yummy Mummy' moment yesterday. (Ha, ha - those who know me in real life and not just the bits of me I choose to project on my little blog, and have therefore seen me wearing sweaty running kit about the town know I am anything but a Yummy Mummy)

What you can't see in this picture is my (then) extremely grumpy toddler, sulking in the corner just in front of me. Not even the kind bribe of a lollipop from my lovely hairdresser Maria could crack a smile out of the girl. Needless to say, she was positively perky and all smiles the moment it became clear we were about to leave the torture chamber she had been so cruelly subjected to for half an hour.

I really enjoyed wearing this dress as a casual number. Wish I'd done it more often, rather than categorising it in my mind as dressy and only for special occasions.

Oh, and the rain continues.

A Fancy Sock Monkey

I'd imagined my write up about Sock Monkey Night at Fancy to be very different from this. It was a group effort held to raise money for St. John's Hospice in Moggerhanger, where our friend Caroline had been staying. She passed away peacefully last Tuesday morning.

Life is bitterly unfair at times. All those who knew Caroline will remember her fondly, and miss her dearly.

Here's a verse sent to me by another friend - I can imagine Caroline saying the words herself:

If I should go before the rest of you
Break not a flower nor inscribe a stone
Nor, when I am gone, speak in a Sunday voice
But be the usual selves that I have known
Weep if you must, parting is hell
But life still goes on, so sing as well

(Joyce Grenfell)

Echoing that sentiment, here are some photos of some fabulous sock monkeys. Sock Monkey Night was good fun - thanks to everyone who came and supported and helped raise money for a valuable cause. I know it's the kind of night Caroline herself would have loved - not least because of the consumption of plenty of excellent cake involved, as people chatted and had a nice time together.

We'll almost certainly be holding another Sock Monkey Night soon, so watch this space for dates. In the meantime, enjoy these lovely little creations...

By Siobhan, Sara and Tracey

By Amy

By Jo

By Jo

By Lucy

By Shelley

By Marissa

By Sarah

The gorgeous baby Anthony keeping a watchful eye on things

By Pamela

Towards the end of the evening, as the need to sew up other people's sock monkey limbs subsided, my friends who'd been volunteer machinists for the night felt inspired to make a pink monkey with some added bling for Caroline - she thought it was utterly fabulous, and it made us all laugh when we gave it to her.

For Caroline, with love. X

Monkey Business

Today I had a lot of fun at a charity sewing workshop. A BIG thank you must go to my wonderful sewing friends who came and helped, and my friends Carole and Khaled, for letting me use their lovely restaurant for free, meaning all the money raised could go straight to the charity.

Thanks to everyone who came and supported - you all worked your socks off (ha ha ha), whilst eating cake, drinking cappuccinos and lattes. It was a lot of fun. You can see the latest total you helped raise here. (The sock monkey gallery will be up next week - please email your pictures to me if you'd like your monkey to star in it.)

The lovely Gemma, Imogen and Pamela worked solidly at the sewing machines for the entire morning - sewing up everyone's monkey limbs in lightening fast time. (Imogen very kindly took all the pictures, so sadly not captured in any herself.)

Mum even came up for the occasion!

I can't take creative credit for this gorgeous monkey - but now that my girls have spotted it, the comments of "Oooo, I like that monkey's tutu, Mummy", have already started. Thanks for that, Gem!

My friend Carole provided us with some scrumptious home made cakes. Yum, yum, yum.

Thanks again, everyone. It was a lot of fun this morning, and felt good doing something to help a brilliant local charity. I'd love to organise more charity workshops like this one, so please get in touch if you missed out this time but would be interested in coming along to one in the future.