I love new fabrics

I got lovely comments on my post “Delicious cake for a rainy day”, so before I show you the little pile of new fabrics that I acquired during our holiday in Northern Germany, I would like to share the recipe for the cake – it is fool proof, seriously tasty and easier that I ever thought! Try it!

From the book “Frame by frame – baking” purchased at Marks and Spencer’s and given to me as a Christmas gift by Lovely Mum two years ago…

Blueberry and Passionfruit Drizzle Squares (makes 9 squares)

Ingredients

150g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

2 eggs

175g golden caster sugar

175g slef raising flour

90ml milk

finely grated zest of one lemon

225g blueberries

Syrup:

4 ripe passionfruits

115g icing sugar, plus extra, sifted for dusting

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 190C and grease and base-line a 23cm cake tin.

Whisk the butter, eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy. Fold in the flour lightly and evenly.

Stir in the milk, lemon zest and 175g blueberries. Spread into the cake tin.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30min until firm and golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave in the tin.

Meanwhile make the syrup. Scoop the pulp from the passionfruit and rub through a sieve. Discard the pips.

Place the icing sugar and the passion fruit juice in a saucepan and heat gently, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.

Prick the warm cake with a fork and spoon the syrup evenly over the surface.

Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin and cut into 9 squares. Enjoy!

And now back to sewing and fabrics…I picked up a few fabrics at the Dutch Fabric Market, a bought some in a shop called Charlotta’s in Hamburg and I discovered some lovely prints on sale at the Alster House in the centre of Hamburg.



Below are some simple combinations and I am still wondering what to do, but I really love the cars fabric and maybe I will cover some little buttons to sew onto a jumper or to use for some other decoration…

Off to make mini banana muffins...
 
Enjoy your Sunday!
 
Love,
Irina xx

Wall frames

That’s it; I am finally converted into using glue with fabric. It took a very long time as I always tried to avoid gluing fabric, but I tried it for some wall frames I made for Lovely Little Daughter and her little friends.

I picked up this set of stamps at the local Idee shop in Hamburg and they are just so cool. The right font I always wanted with a little bit of vintage twist (just a shame there are no numbers included).

I had to try them and I decided to make a room sign for Lovely Little Daughter’s room. She thought it was very nice but I wish I had made the bunting out of fabric and not out of paper. The little fabric rosette is very easy to make although I had to do it a few times but here is the tutorial I followed – it is very well explained and includes colour photos. But beware – the rosettes are highly addictive!

A few weeks ago when asked who her best friend is, our daughter quite cleverly got away by saying that she had a Girl Best Friend and a Boy Best Friend - how sweet!. So at her request I made some wall frames for her friends!

I loved making the frames, it made a nice change from sewing!

Love
Irina xx



Delicious cake for a rainy day




Hello everybody, we are back in Frankfurt after a lovely, although a bit rainy holiday at the Baltic Sea! It was the first proper holiday for Lovely Little Daughter and she was absolutely amazed by everything - she did a lot of sand digging, wave splashing, shell collecting, beach running, getting spoiled by Oma and Opa and generally exploring and expanding her little world. For us it was a pure pleasure to watch our little girl in her innocent quest of discovering!
Unfortunately the weather in Frankfurt is quite rainy, which is actually a very good excuse of staying at home and reading favourite blogs or making things - boy I missed sewing!

As you probably know Germany is the country of the gateau and there are hundreds of delicious sweet creations. It is not very easy to impress a German with a new cake but my Blueberry and Passion Fruit Drizzle Square is a sure winner, or so says Lovely Husband! Maybe he's just being kind...

Well the cake was deeelicious and I will post the recipe in the next few days.

And now off to crafting and making...

Love

Irina xx



Mail Organiser

It will be a bit quiet on my blog for a couple of weeks as we are going away on holiday tomorrow. But before we leave I will be popping into a fabric market. It happens once or twice a year in different parts of Germany and tomorrow will be in Frankfurt. I hope to buy some nice fabrics and make some photos to show you.

Together with the washing and packing today, I managed to find an hour to make something for Lovely Husband. The idea came to me last month as I dutifully “filed” a couple of bills under a big pile of Country Living magazines and somehow managed to forget all about it. So the unopened letters were finally discovered by Lovely Husband who suspected I had mislaid them, and I decided to make a mail organiser. It is strategically hanging in the corridor so theoretically letters should be placed in each pouch straight away.

I took photos while making it and it and it took just over an hour.

So here is what you need – 4 square pieces of outside fabric, 4 square pieces of inside fabric and 4 big and 4 small rectangular pieces for the straps. You can choose any shape for the pouches; I made squares simply because I did not have more space to hang it. Oh, and don’t forget a nice twig carefully chosen by your little one (preferably on a dry day) to hang the mail organiser.

I appliquéd each pouch with our initials.

I used the simple method of sewing the inside and the outside pouch face together, leaving a big bit open on the back side to turn it around and so to be able to insert the straps.

When both pouches were ready and attached to each other, I added the top straps before finishing it off. Don’t forget the twig!

I hope there won’t be any more lost letters in our house!

Wishing you all a nice summer break! Northern Germany here we come!

Love
Irina xx

German Handmade Culture

It’s been a while, but I haven’t deserted you, I’ve just been busy … I wish I could say I was busy crafting and making but unfortunately, that would be a lie.

A surprising meeting a few weeks ago resulted in a most unusual acquaintance as I bumped into one of our old neighbours. We didn’t have a lot of time to talk, or the means to exchange numbers, so as we parted I handed over one of my “business cards” as it contains all of my contact details. Little did I know that I was going to get a lovely comment on my blog as I had no idea that my former neighbour is a fellow sewer and maker, passionate about fabrics, colours and making things – from girl’s clothes, to stuffed horses, to cute tea cosies, to name a few. We have since seen each other a few times and it seems the time is never enough to discuss fabrics and designs, pattern making and bias tape tips, English sewing books and German handmade sites. I have had my first taste of clothes making – only theoretically so far, as clothes making is something which I have always avoided as it is so hard to make clothes, isn’t it?

So Lovely Former Neighbour has since opened up another world of fabrics and ideas. As my German is so poor, I hardly ever attempt to browse German sites, and although I suspected it, I was quite stunned to see all the creativity to be had among German fellow crafters, a truly inspirational community!

I would love to share a couple of sites which I hope you'll find interesting even if you don't speak German:

• A new craft community website has been launched recently called Handmade Kultur, it is full of projects and information, ideas and photos. It even prints its own magazine! Oh, how I wish I spoke better German, must learn!!!
• Farbenmix – translated Colourmix, is a shop crammed with tutorials and photos of items made using their fabrics and trimmings. By the way it is especially famous for its very beautiful colourful trimmings
• Sewing Cloths Kids Love - simply the cutest kids clothes book I have come across- lovely Dutch inspired fabrics combined together to create the happiest and colourful kids clothes

I hope you enjoy a bit of German inspiration! I know I do!

Love,
Irina xx

Free Motion Embroidery

Anyone who has ever attempted free motion embroidery on their sewing machine would know that it is quite tricky! Yes, believe me…quite tricky! In my case the bottom thread often gets chewed and creates lumps which stop me from moving the fabric. And since the stitch size has to be set to zero, it is all in the hands of the sewer, and despite the fact that my knuckles go white from gripping the embroidery hoop I always fail to follow the line I have pre drawn. What can I say, it is annoying…and what makes it even more annoying is that a man (OK, I am being a bit feminist here) has managed to master this not-so-easy-to-master technique and without any drawing or the use of a embroidery hoop is able to create the neatest free motion sewing!

I was pretty speechless the first time I saw this video. The man in question, Paul Nosa, is an American artist who creates his own label and with the help of his solar powered sewing machine tours the world to show his skill – if only I could do it too! The sewing not the touring, although having said that, sewing touring is actually not a bad idea!!!




Love,
Irina xx

Love letter

Just wanted to share with you a photo which Lovely Mum sent me of the letter shaped cushion I made for her last week. It's the letter D, and mum requested that it was made in soft shades. She quite likes light browns, creams and pale greens. So I made it in beige gingham and chose linen fabric for the side. I also choose the dark brown piping to compliment the light colours and make the shape stand out! My mum loves it!

I love you mum!

Irina xx