Packing

The other night, I had a couple of friends round for cake and a bit of sewing. As it happened, barely any sewing got done that night, but there was plenty of chat. And cake.

The subject of our house move came up. End of next week, hopefully, I said. Really? So how is the packing going, they asked. I thought I would start next week, I said.

Sharp intake of breath from the pair of them.

I have been de-cluttering, I said. I don't think we have that much stuff. I don't think it's that big a deal, really.

They remained unconvinced. And their faces looked slightly worried for me and my naive approach to moving house.

So, the following day, I set about filling some of the nice big boxes that I had ordered a couple of months back, and that, had been propped up just inside the front door. My thinking had been it would prompt me to move them and get on and pack. It hadn't. Until now, that is.

Here is the progress so far. I got into it and started enjoying it. A bit like buying stationary for a new term at school, I quite liked the order and lists and general neatness of how the boxes look. But I have to admit, although I have filled four big boxes with stuff, I cannot say I am noticing an emptiness about the house. I cannot tell the difference.

Lemon and Raspberry Cake from The Hummingbird Bakery Home Sweet Home

Time to stop for tea and cake. In order to avoid turning into the size of a small house during pregnancy and the lack of running it allows, in the last fortnight I have been trying to limit myself to one slice of cake a day. This seemed like a good time for my daily treat.

And, during that time, I pondered the sewing possibilities that were opening up as a result of packing (in my mind, anyway - anyone else would say this was no better than a student stopping to tidy their room and going out to buy more stationary before embarking on any more revision).

But here's my logic. A few weeks back, I had bought a metre of white towelling, thinking I would make some nice new hooded baby towels for the new arrival, the old ones being horrendously stained and sad looking from having been used on three other babies.

I don't want to be packing that metre of towelling, I thought. It would be much more pleasing and neat for my front of box contents lists to have finished baby towels to put into the box marked `Baby's Stuff'.

I wasn't really into sewing at the time my first was born, and so I didn't make anything in the run up to her birth.

I cannot deny it has given me a lot of pleasure to make these fluffy towels that have pretty home made bias binding round the edges. The idea for bunny ears came to me as I was making them. Hardly original, but cute. And then, having made two hooded baby towels, I realised I had scraps left over that could be used.

And so, I made a couple of square flannels, one of each type of edging to match the towels (because that sort of thing really matters in the scheme of trying not to drop a slippery newborn who is screaming their little lungs out as you try and get them clean and dry).

And then, three little bunny hand mitt flannels for the big sisters.

This all pleases me. One metre (costing about £10) of towelling has gone a long way. Bonus extras that I hadn't bargained for. And no bulky leftovers to find an appropriate box to pack them into.

Although all that towelling did create a heck of a lot of teeny tiny bits of fluff that managed to get just about everywhere in the house (I blame needing to pop to the loo every ten minutes during sewing). The hoovering had to be done (and long overdue, so just as well).

I must resist the urge to work my way through other such similar fabrics from my stash instead of just packing them all into a box only to be opened the other side of the move. Or else my friends will be right. We will not be packed on time. Or ever, for that matter.

Just as well I didn't share with them my intention of making my polka dot dress before the move. I think realistically, that will have to wait. The next box I pack must be one for sewing things. But I can't quite make myself do it yet.

The blinds are done.

I have one more project (for my middle girl's birthday) that must be done before the sewing things get packed away.

Inspired by the Great British Sewing Bee (what will I do with my Tuesday evenings, now?), can you guess what it is going to be?

Flamingo skirts, fairy cakes and Jaffa Cake Cupcakes

This morning, I cheekily finished off the last two flamingo skirts whilst the littlest girl sat next to me with her play dough. 

You see, I'd made the error of unveiling one finished skirt without having the other ones ready. Given the first skirt was an instant hit with its owner, the unfinished nature of the other skirts quickly became a problem when the school girls returned home.

Gathered skirts are not exactly the rocket science of sewing, I know. But they are very satisfying all the same, especially if you have a fabulous flamingo print to show off, and, you need to make three.

Please indulge me and coo suitably over how clever (I feel) it was of me to think ahead and make labels for the skirts. This will make life easier when it comes to sorting out the washing, trust me. (Don't even get me started over the trauma of pairing up all the necessary socks and sorting pants for three little girls so similar in age. Let's just say I am training up the biggest girl, heaping on praise - and house points - each time she helps me with it.)

Ta - da!

 Next, some footage of mine and the littlest girl's baking adventures this afternoon.

Does anyone know or care what the difference is between fairy cakes and cupcakes? We made both this afternoon, so prepare for me to bore you with a quick run down.

Fairy cake (complete with fairy dust)

If you are interested, the fairy cakes of my childhood are a simple equal amounts (4 oz) mixture of butter, flour and sugar, with a couple of eggs, and whizzed up and dolloped into a dozen cases before going in the oven. Simple water based icing with sprinkles is the orthodox way ahead with decorating. Cupcakes are a more recently popular thing here, thanks to our cousins across the pond - and, if you're being cynical about it - an excuse for charging handsomely if on sale. The have more sugar than flour, less egg (instead more milk to make up for that), and, usually have tons of butter icing on (I use half what the recipe says, as have never managed to pile all the recommended butter icing on top of the cake and eat it without feeling slightly sick). In my humble cake eating opinion, both are lovely. Just in case you live in Bedford and were thinking of making a batch of either and leaving some on my doorstep.. he, he.

Here are some of the t shirt designs we came up with together over the school holidays. I've only managed to go the the vast effort of switching the iron on and finishing one. That is now covered in porridge and strawberry juice (above). But you get the idea.

The girl loves washing up after our cooking sessions. Still working on the getting stuff clean without soaking the kitchen floor part of the process.

Onto the next part of the baking adventure. Whilst the littlest girl was busily occupied with her fairy cake decorating and washing up duties, I was free to bake the Jaffa Cake cupcakes unassisted.

This was the very first recipe my friend Sang and I cooed over when we opened up the Hummingbird Bakery Home Sweet Home book just after she gave it to me.

I vowed to make some before too long.

Not least because I a) love Jaffa Cakes and b) had this jar of posh marmalade in the cupboard. I am a Marmite on toast girl, and would choose plain butter on toast before allowing marmalade anywhere near my breakfast. But in a cake? I am open minded.

The verdict?

These were fun to make, and good to look at. Easy enough that I could have made them even if the littlest girl was `helping'.

The taste?

Good. No, very good. Very, very good (even if, like me, you don't normally like marmalade).

And, exciting news just in for those living in Bedford - a new fabric shop has just opened by the bus station in town. They are the same people who run the shop in Bletchley, where the fabulous flamingo fabric came from. Apparently, it is still early days as far as levels of stock go, but definitely worth popping in regularly to see what new goodies they are getting in...

Getting hooked

Tuesday evening saw the second episode of The Great British Sewing Bee. Have you been watching?

Chocolate Malt Cake, from The Hummingbird Bakery Home Sweet Home

As my hubby already had a night out planned, I used it as the perfect excuse to make an indulgent cake (for no reason other than to find out if it tasted as good as it looked in the picture of the book), get a couple of friends round to share some with, and, possibly (depending on how distracted we got with TV) do some sewing.

First things first. The cake. Oh my. All I can say is that my kitchen suffered for this cake. Just about every mixing bowl was used to make the different concoctions that went to putting this thing together -  topped off with an icing involving almost a kilo of icing sugar among other things, creating great clouds of dust that left no surface untouched as it settled. As the icing stage was a bit hurried by the fact the programme was about to start, this scene was still there and didn't go unnoticed by the man of the house at breakfast the following morning.

Was it worth it? Oh yes. Just look at that chocolate fudge sauce oozing out from each layer of the cake. Even my self-confessed chocoholic friend needed to take a tactical pause midway through eating what is possibly the mother of all chocolate cakes. And, judging by the return of fridge mice (this time, concentrating mainly on the Maltesers, rather than pastry crust), the hubby likes it enough to forgive the mess.

I enjoyed the second episode of The Great British Sewing Bee even more than the first. I think the judges are warming up a bit more now, and I really like the individuals who are competing. My favourite? Hard to choose - I was sad to see Tilly go out this week, as I've popped in on her blog a bit in the past and really admire her gorgeous hand made wardrobe. I still think she was possibly the most creative one of the bunch, but suffered from the pressures of making things under time pressure. And, let's face it, who wouldn't? I sat through the first episode thinking "I could do that", but really? Under time pressure, uh oh. I doubt it. And this week's trouser challenge was just that. Hats off to all the contestants. But if I had to pick a current favourite - I think Ann is a complete gem, and Sandra wins my vote too, as she quite reminds me of my own mum. The scenes of her fitting one of her daughters for a dress in the first episode took me straight back to my own childhood. That said, I loved Stuart's tulip skirt - and would have chosen it as my own favourite item from this week's show. I have no idea who will win!

We did a tiny bit of crafty stuff whilst watching. My friend Pamela was kind enough to teach me how to make these cute flowers I had spotted in Mollie Makes.

I last tried crocheting about two decades ago when my Nan showed me how to make granny squares. She used to make fantastic granny square blankets in the most clashing bright colours imaginable!

Having tried miserably to make the basic flower using YouTube (I watched it along with my friend Imogen, both of us needing to repeatedly stop and start the video more times than we could count and with no doubt amusing looks of concentration/bafflement on our faces), I can vouch that a real life teacher makes it much easier.

I managed to make a couple of flowers with Pamela at my side to help, and then kind of got hooked, and make several more the next couple of days. I have been using the scraps leftover from the baby blanket, and I'm planning to make them into a garland to hang up in the baby's room.
In fact, I'm booked to go on a beginner workshop with Sam of Betsy Makes in a couple of weeks. She holds her workshops in the evenings at Fancy (the gorgeous local cake shop I'm always going on about). An evening of learning something new and cake? I cannot wait!

Chocolate Cake, Bag Ladies, and the WI

Last night was the final bag making session.

Devil's Food Cake - with extra sparkles

Did I manage to finish my bag in time for the end of the course? No. Although it is now done - thanks to the visit of a friend and her little boy this morning, coupled with an out of character afternoon nap from the little one this afternoon. I'll post some pictures here soon.

I thoroughly enjoyed helping two lovely groups of ladies make their clutches and bags. And, yes, there was smug cake at the ready for their graduation last night. He, he. What is sociable sewing without cake, huh?

Here it is.

Devil's Food Cake - made using my sister-in-law's recipe - with added sparkly bits. Just because. Well, even grown ups like to play with edible glitter, no?

I only have a couple more courses lined up now before a little break for you know what. Actually, it turns out there is quite a lot going on here in the next few weeks and months. Boxes to be packed, and removal vans to be booked if all goes well. Fingers crossed. And a baby blanket to be knitted. All very exciting stuff...

But, for those (local to Bedford) who have been asking about courses, how about getting your crafty fix at the Scone Roses?

If you haven't heard of the group, it is the new(ish) WI that meets in Bedford. Once a month for talks, and also once a month for Stitch n Bitch in a local pub. It is full of stuff I love - and I try and get along to as many sessions as I can (not least because it gives me a nice chance to catch up with my friends over the tea and home made cake they give you at the end of each talk).

The next session is a workshop on how to make a `50s style birdcage fascinator. Thursday 17th March, 7.30 pm at the Jubilation Centre (next to Jubilee Park). £3 to non-members, and that gets you the materials and your tea and cake fix, too. What is not to like?!

Regular updates of all that's going on with Scone Roses can be found by liking their Facebook page here. Go on, go on, go on... take a peek.

And finally, a bit more fridge art for your viewing pleasure. This week's theme for the middle daughter's scribblings has been all things bakery related. No idea where the girl gets her inspiration from...

Is that a cake eating cat or mouse? I am not sure...

Smug Cake

Okay, so nothing remotely to do with sewing - unless you consider that I will need to sew more (bigger) clothes soon if I don't start exercising again, that is. 

Baking with my girls is definitely one of my favourite things.

For it is no secret that I love cake. 

In order for the love affair to continue and my clothes to fit, this week was the week for me to come good on my new term resolutions to start finding an alternative form of exercise to running (just whilst my back gets strong again).

The very fact I am writing about this publicly is an indicator that I am feeling somewhat pleased with myself at this point in time. Here's how the first week has gone:

Monday - signed up for my gym and swim pass at my local leisure centre. Took younger girls swimming - included in the monthly fee, so this will no doubt become a regular thing. The youngest doesn't like swimming, but doesn't mind being cuddled in what is essentially a giant bath with plenty of brightly coloured toys provided for her by the pool. She currently has a complete tantrum if there is any hint of arm bands being put on her (this would, after all imply Mummy not needing to hold her the entire flipping time she was in the water). I am hoping this will improve if I take her swimming every week - we'll see who cracks first...

Tuesday - 6 am swim. Yes, am, not pm. Got there to find a queue of people outside the complex. There was a slight delay in opening due to the electrics being fixed. Didn't mind one bit though, because a) I stood there feeling incredibly pleased with myself for being out of bed and, b) was enjoying a great spot of people watching (was amused by the fact the person at the front was wearing an Ironman top, and looking decidedly bothered about missing a few minutes of gym time).  I think I swam 20 lengths. To be honest, I lost count, partly because I almost swam into the side a couple of times. Not sure whether that was down to poor sight without glasses on, or just general wonky swimming style. A nice thing about doing something for the first time is you have nothing to live up to and can just be pleased with whatever you manage to do. That said, if I am to make swimming a regular thing, I need to get help improving my stroke. It is very poor. I'd like to at least be able to pretend I am Rebecca Adlington whilst I swim, and even I cannot fool myself into thinking this all the time I am incapable of putting my head under water for crawl, without spluttering and reverting back to mum style hair out of water swimming.

Especially if I can think of an excuse to make things out of marzipan.

Wednesday - Ouch! Perhaps swimming is not such a soft sport (only to be attempted when too heavily pregnant of injured to run) after all. Arms and neck aching quite a lot after yesterday's efforts.

Thursday - 6.15 am appointment with gym instructor for my first induction. There will be THREE of these. (How hard can it be to use gym equipment, you may wonder? I did. But actually, there was quite a lot to it, all rather high tech... and I will have probably forgotten half of it by the time I go back on my own) She was very friendly, and I was a bit taken aback by how many people there were in the gym at such an early time. All seemed nice, though.

Friday - 6 am. Swam 24 lengths, and was very pleased with myself for beating Tuesday morning's efforts. Competitive? Yes. Must not set myself impossible targets of doing this every session, because I will surely need to spend the whole morning swimming by the time Christmas comes.

Saturday - afternoon saw my second induction session at the gym. A different instructor this time - and for some silly reason unknown even to myself, I felt the need to impress her by trying hard, without looking like I was trying really hard. Bizarre and silly competitive behaviour. Perhaps daftly spurred on by fact this instructor was considerably younger than me. I expect there to be many muscles I didn't know I had aching a lot in the morning. Oh well. May eat a smug cake or two now to make up for that.

And, of course, we ended up with too many carrots for the cakes we had.