Three's a good crowd

I did some good sewing tonight - three of my squares - looking good. 

I'm enjoying doing more of a pattern, albeit a loose one, rather than just regular square patches. Learning more about my sewing machine as I'm doing it - including how I ought to change the tension for different-weight fabrics (the left square has a much thicker, suede-type material).

Warm kitty, soft kitty

Saw these on the 'My Patchwork' blog and love them - but they do make me think of the song in 'The Big Bang Theory' on E4 about warm kitty, soft kitty, little ball of fur...

Folkin' jewellery

Look at the lovely jewellery I found on folksy.com thanks to PurpleSmurple 

I got my winter electricity bill today, and it didn't make me fall off my chair as much as I feared - so maybe I'll have a few spare pennies to spend on natty necklaces and such!!

Gone potty

A couple of wonderful new casserole pots I've found on the John Lewis website - I like!

Frazzled

Not much quilting doing at the moment, although I have three projects in progress. Boyf and I have just signed for a house to rent together - scream! So excited, but also feeling somewhat overwhelmed. Have spent the day nervous and on the verge of tears, which is so unlike me that everyone at work has been quite shocked. I bought chocachino cakes from M&S to cheer me up, which helped a tad.

The personal trainer at the gym admitting he'd told me the wrong day, and that our session was actually tomorrow, didn't help matters. I tried to stay and do a workout, but all my motivation disappeared and I slunk off home (slunk, that's a good underused word).

So, three baby quilts, a tonne of packing, and a moving date are all looming over my shoulders. EEK.

One of the quilts has a white/red/orange/mint green theme - check out the Next stuff the mother-to-be has decked the nursery out in, and wants the quilt to match: http://www.next.co.uk/shopping/baby-boutique/nursery/9/

In the meantime, Nestle After Eight mints count as a viable food source, right?

Italian and quilts

Went out for Italian tonight with two great friends. A good chat about life, love, and everything in between - and they advised me that I ought to buy Cosmo tomorrow for some light entertainment. Eek... Dinner was lovely - sweet chilli chicken, spinach, and mascapone pizza followed by a trio of delicious desserts, and a double espresso (hmm maybe that's why I can't think about going to bed yet...)

Someone at work has commissioned me to make two baby quilts! So the sewing machine will be coming out this week and I'll be hard at work. At the moment the only brief is 'squares' and 'colourful' - we don't know the sex of either of the babies, so no particular pink/blue colour theme.

I made her daughter a quilt a while ago, but one of my first, so no actual quilting or binding. So tomorrow I'll show her my newest quilt, all done properly, to see whether she wants the old style or the new, improved, how-it's-supposed-to-look version.

From one extreme to the other - from Cosmo and its advice on sex, to making patchwork quilts...

Tea like camping

IMG_5365, originally uploaded by Missy Cookie Monster.

Today I am mostly drinking tea made with a filter and a bit of stick. It reminds me of camping equipment, somehow.

It's a relaxing tea made with cardamom pods, cinnamon, licquorice, and other leafy things. Pretty, and good for you.

Practice cake

I'm going to be godmother to little baby George at the end of the month, and his mum's asked me to bake the cake too. The pressure! I got Mary Berry's 'Baking Bible' for Christmas....

 

...and in it there is a recipe for a Christening cake...

Rather than just making a normal sponge, I thought it would be worth a try to make this, so it would be extra-special. I thought it best to practice now, before the big day. The method was very different to any I've done before - it's always just been creaming the sugar and butter, add egg, add flour, type of recipe. But this one required me to whisk the sugar and egg over hot water for about 10 minutes, then away from the hot water for a further 5 minutes, then fold in half the flour, half the melted butter poured round the edge of the bowl, then more flour and more butter. It was quite complicated, and I was so nervous before letting my friend try it. Luckily it worked, despite smelling somewhat of scrambled eggs while I was making it. It was incredibly light while still very stable and firm (which it needs to be, for the icing).

It was filled with whipped cream mixed with lemon curd - devine.

I was so pleased with it - it scored thumbs up from everyone, so the Christening cake has been chosen :)

Verticle cake layers!

Look at this wonderful cake! I desperately want to know how to do these verticle layers.

See more here: http://iammommy.typepad.com/i_am_baker/