Products Used:
Challenges Entered:
Downham Circular Walk
A nice little walk through and around the village of Downham.
It was chilly so we wrapped up warm.
Daddy carried Little Miss for a change.
The views of Pendle Hill were spectacular.
And obviously the Pupster enjoyed himself.
The destructions come as a free handy pdf which you can download to your phone or print out for old fashioned navigating.
Here's the link to download it:
http://forestofbowland.com/files/uploads/pdfs/walks/DownhamCirc2.pdf
And some more walks in the area:
http://forestofbowland.com/walking_routes
Kat's Hen Do Layout in Floral Muse
Hum, ribbon or lace? Surely it needn't be a choice? Do I really have to choose a favourite?
If I was really pushed to it I'd choose lace. I find ribbon more versatile but lace seems more special.
Products Used:
Challenges Entered:
Indian Butter Chicken Recipe
This was absolutely scrummy. A little more pre work than some of the other curry dishes I do but oh so worth it!!
- Chicken
- Onions
- Peppers
- Garlic
- Chillies
- Tomato Puree
- Passata
- Yoghurt
- Cream
- Cornflour
- Lemon Juice
- Pepper
- Cumin - I'm substituting Gram Masala
- Cayenne Pepper
- Ground Ginger
- Ground Cinnamon
- Butter
- Paprika
The dish is made in three parts, the marinade, veggies and sauce.
For the marinade chop the chicken add the spices, lemon juice and yoghurt. Pop it in a tub and leave it overnight in the fridge.
Chop the veggies up nice and small. I've done this at the same time as prepping the chicken so it's ready to sling in the slow cooker first thing in the morning, leaving me free to get on with the rest of my day.
The sauce is made from the cream, paprika, cumin and tomatoes,
In the morning the chicken goes in the slow cooker followed by the veggies then the sauce.
Cooked on low for the day and here's the result.
I can see this becoming one of our favourites. Although I'll be skipping the cream and the passata next time. It didn't really add anything to the recipe, except for an excess of sauce. It pulled focus from the deliciously marinated chicken.
Cherry Kisses Warm Christmas Card
PollyCraft were the first digis I ever worked with. I love these cute, simple designs that are a delight to colour. It's such a shame they aren't availible anymore. Having failed to successfully juggle motherhood and self employment myself I totally understand her decision to put her family first.
It is nice to be able to design cards without being restricted to using products I can sell. I had to put my PollyCraft digis in a separate folder because it was too disappointing not being able to use them. I think they'll be enjoying a revival in my cards in the future.
Products Used: Digi by PollyCraft
Challenges Entered:
Here's the sketch from Sketch Saturday:
Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester
A friend and I took a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. I wasn't actually expecting Little Miss to get anything more from it than a nice day out somewhere new. I was really surprised that she found loads of stuff that she could explore.
The first thing that really caught her eye were these awesome Golems. There wasn't any information with them, they seemed a bit out of place to be honest, like part of an exhibit that belonged in another section. But aren't they fabulous - Little Miss certainly thought so, we had to drag her away for them.
The first thing that really caught her eye were these awesome Golems. There wasn't any information with them, they seemed a bit out of place to be honest, like part of an exhibit that belonged in another section. But aren't they fabulous - Little Miss certainly thought so, we had to drag her away for them.
Amongst the displays with information about the textile trade in the area were some bales of raw cotton. It was great to be able to show Little Miss this up close and personal. A new texture and smell for her to explore. She actually gave the bale a hug and kept going back to it.
Adjacent to the textile area there were several of these interactive displays designed to demonstrate the different properties of the different fabrics and fibres. This one was showing how much air could pass through different fabrics. Of course Little Miss had no concept of this but these displays were sturdy enough for her to explore and she certainly had fun investigating all the knobs.
There was a whole section especially aimed at children. All too old for Little Miss but it was great to let her have a little more free rein to run about and explore knowing she could touch anything.
This picture was taken as she made a bee-line for the Wonder Materials section, where she had a nap. Thankfully I'd taken a Ring Sling along so it was easy to pop her in so she could have a kip while we read about Graphene which was fascinating.
She slept through the steam engines, which was a shame, she'd have enjoyed that.
And of course we stopped for coffee. Yes, that is a coffee cup, yes I had finished it before filling it with water and letting Little Miss pinch it.
The Air and Space Hall was a huge hit with Little Miss. She was pointing at everything shouting "Good" which is her current method of showing approval.
This wheelchair accessible motorbike was of particular interest to her.
As was the donation box at the entrance.
Entry to the museum is free, donations can be made online or at the museum. We'll be going back at some point and I think we'll take Daddy and Grandad so they can oggle the engines.
Double Irish Chain Quilt - Part 1 Quilt Top
I've been working on this for a couple of months now and I'm delighted to have finally finished the quilt top.
This is one of my favourite quilt patterns, mostly because it's actually very easy but looks very impressive. The whole thing can be strip pieced on a machine quickly (comparatively speaking!) and easily (also comparatively speaking!). It is a quilt that could at a push be completed in a weekend - that is of course a hypothetical weekend with no interruptions, no mistakes and pre-prepared meals - so a holiday basically!
This is a very old irish pattern traditionally used as a wedding gift, the two chains representing the happy couple and their life together. Apparently it's the oldest known quilt pattern.
I recently took a trip to Ireland and visited the awesome Ulster Folk & Transport Museum. I happened to take a picture of this exact design which is on display inside one of the historic buildings at the museum. It was amazing not just to see these quilts but to actually touch them. Most of the one's I examined were hand pieced and hand quilted! I find it fascinating to think of the lives these ladies had, the hardships they suffered and the work they invested into pieces like this.
During the Irish Potato Famine a huge percentage of the Irish population emigrated to America, taking their patchwork designs and techniques with them. Initially all cloth had to be imported to America so it was very expensive. Necessity being the mother of invention, patchwork became hugely popular amongst the immigrants and it still is to this day.
It is in America that strip piecing became popular, especially after sewing machines became commonly availible. It is much, much faster than traditional English Paper Piecing.
As with any quilt I started with the colour scheme. I totally cheat and wait for the wedding invitation to arrive. I just take the colours the couple have chosen and use those. This way I can garuntee they like the colour choice and it also makes a nice reminder of their day.
So for this quilt it was white and navy. They're a practical couple so a mostly white quilt wouldn't be the best idea, besides I had oodles of this rather fine woven navy in just the right shade. Originally I was going to use plain white for the accent colour but I didn't have enough so a trip to my local fabric shop was needed.
This rather stunning Poplin Mini Leaves Fabric caught my eye. It looks plain white at first glance but when you look closely there is a subtle vine pattern over the fabric. It looks really classy, just a little bit of a pattern without being remotely fussy or girly.
Gorgeous isn't it.
With any big project I start my planning on paper, here's my scribbled notes from my Bullet Journal.
Instead of cutting a gazillion 8cm squares I cut long strips of fabric 8cm wide.
The large rectangle is 18cm wide (6cm x 3 squares) plus 2cm seam allowance makes 20cm wide. So there's also a strip of navy 20cm wide on the left of the picture above.
I guess-timated quantities and made sure I had enough fabric to cut more if needed. In fact I deliberately underestimated so as to avoid wasting fabric.
Then I sewed a white strip onto each side of the wide navy strips.
Pressed.
And cut them to the right width which is 8 cm, the width of one block including seam allowance.
So here it is, definitely my best quilt top yet.
The sandwich and quilting is a whole other story so I'm saving that for another blog post.
This is one of my favourite quilt patterns, mostly because it's actually very easy but looks very impressive. The whole thing can be strip pieced on a machine quickly (comparatively speaking!) and easily (also comparatively speaking!). It is a quilt that could at a push be completed in a weekend - that is of course a hypothetical weekend with no interruptions, no mistakes and pre-prepared meals - so a holiday basically!
This is a very old irish pattern traditionally used as a wedding gift, the two chains representing the happy couple and their life together. Apparently it's the oldest known quilt pattern.
I recently took a trip to Ireland and visited the awesome Ulster Folk & Transport Museum. I happened to take a picture of this exact design which is on display inside one of the historic buildings at the museum. It was amazing not just to see these quilts but to actually touch them. Most of the one's I examined were hand pieced and hand quilted! I find it fascinating to think of the lives these ladies had, the hardships they suffered and the work they invested into pieces like this.
During the Irish Potato Famine a huge percentage of the Irish population emigrated to America, taking their patchwork designs and techniques with them. Initially all cloth had to be imported to America so it was very expensive. Necessity being the mother of invention, patchwork became hugely popular amongst the immigrants and it still is to this day.
It is in America that strip piecing became popular, especially after sewing machines became commonly availible. It is much, much faster than traditional English Paper Piecing.
As with any quilt I started with the colour scheme. I totally cheat and wait for the wedding invitation to arrive. I just take the colours the couple have chosen and use those. This way I can garuntee they like the colour choice and it also makes a nice reminder of their day.
So for this quilt it was white and navy. They're a practical couple so a mostly white quilt wouldn't be the best idea, besides I had oodles of this rather fine woven navy in just the right shade. Originally I was going to use plain white for the accent colour but I didn't have enough so a trip to my local fabric shop was needed.
This rather stunning Poplin Mini Leaves Fabric caught my eye. It looks plain white at first glance but when you look closely there is a subtle vine pattern over the fabric. It looks really classy, just a little bit of a pattern without being remotely fussy or girly.
Gorgeous isn't it.
With any big project I start my planning on paper, here's my scribbled notes from my Bullet Journal.
In the top left you can just about make out I've sketched the two block patterns. One is made up of 5 rows of 5 squares alternating navy and white (in this case - I could have used different colour combinations). The other panel is a large rectangle in the centre and a strip of navy with a white square at either end on each side.
I decided I wanted the squares to be 6cm square with a 1cm seam allowance. So each square should be cut to 8cm square.
Instead of cutting a gazillion 8cm squares I cut long strips of fabric 8cm wide.
The large rectangle is 18cm wide (6cm x 3 squares) plus 2cm seam allowance makes 20cm wide. So there's also a strip of navy 20cm wide on the left of the picture above.
I guess-timated quantities and made sure I had enough fabric to cut more if needed. In fact I deliberately underestimated so as to avoid wasting fabric.
Then I sewed a white strip onto each side of the wide navy strips.
Pressed.
And cut them to the right width which is 8 cm, the width of one block including seam allowance.
Here's my pile of strips.
Then I took my 20 cm wide length of navy fabric and stitched the strips onto each side of the wider strip.
Press again and cut them to width. These are the full size blocks which are 32cm wide (5 blocks x 6cm plus 2cm seam allowance).
Now this is where strip piecing really comes into it's own!
Those 5 x 5 blocks are made up of simple strips sewn speedily in bulk. The one pictured here is white - navy - white - navy - white. There was also navy - white - navy - white - navy.
After pressing each of these strips was cut to width - 8cm.
It looks like I neglected to take pictures the next part was so simple.
I sewed all the little blocks together in sets of 5 rows ensuring that the white and navy squares alternated.
More pressing.
I stitched each 5 x5 black onto the other block with the large rectangle.
Then stitched those together.
Then stitched those together.
Then stitched those together.
I kept laying out the quilt blocks as I went along checking everything was in the right place.
It came together amazingly quickly after I'd sewn and cut all those little blocks.
I'm so impressed with the stark contrast of the navy and white. It's not often I crafters can say this, but it looks just like it did in my mind.
I had originally planned to do the border in white with a much wider navy border around that but I'd ran out of fabric. I was "in the zone" and a snow storm prevented me from getting back to Minerva for more white. So I just improvised with what I had and went with a navy border instead.
So here it is, definitely my best quilt top yet.
The sandwich and quilting is a whole other story so I'm saving that for another blog post.
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