Patchwork Teddy Bear

This teddy is made from an old American quilt and he spent many years in a cupboard, away from tiny, chocolatey hands.  He was liberated a few years ago when I remembered him and wondered where I had put him.  I think he is truly beautiful and he has pride of place on the bed in the guest room.
Ted was made for me by my good friend who does lots of crafty things. I blogged about her bags in the autumn. She constantly surprises me with her new ideas.
At one time, old, raggedy quilts were available at jumble sales, etc.   If you look closely, she salvaged what she could of the quilt.  There are some small tears and very worn parts. If she had not done this, this quilt would have become cleaning rags. My friend made several of these and mine is a treasured possession.
Some years ago, I was invited to a local quilting group. I didn't last long.  I am not really very good at delicate hand sewing, but I think the thing that finished me was Ted. I proudly brought him in to show the others.  There was a collective gasp of horror at the 'vandalism' of an old quilt, and that was that.  I never showed my face there again. Do I mind?  No, I am a modern sort of woman.  I like machines. I also like the fact that something that was once used can be used again in another way.

Pumpkin and Carrot Soup - The Monday Recipe

Thick pumpkin soup with a dollop of creme fraiche

Pumpkin soup is a perfect winter soup as it is thick and satisfying.  This year I grew my own pumpkins, with a little help, and they make excellent pies, cakes and soups and are even delicious as a vegetable to accompany meats. Just use them like squash, mashing a little butter into the flesh and adding salt and pepper.

Numerous recipes say to peel and chop the pumpkin.  I think this is a waste of time and energy as pumpkins are very tough.  I get hubby to quarter them with a Ken Hom type chopper, similar to a small hatchet.  Then I put them in the oven for 45 minutes at 350 F/ !80 C.  After that, it is easy to scoop the flesh out of the shell and use it for any recipe you want. For this recipe, you can substitute squash (butternut/acorn or Kabocha). Butternut squash will give a sweeter flavour, but this is very nice too.  You will find squashes in supermarkets most of the year.  Pumpkins can be found in Asian shops all year round too.

Home grown pumpkins

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked pumpkin
3 carrots
1 onion
water
stock cube
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Salt and papper

Method:
Cut the pumpkins in quarters, remove some of the seeds and bake them in the oven at 180 C (350 F) for 45 minutes.
At the same time, you can bake the carrots and onion in a little olive oil.
Remove the pumpkins from the oven, take out the seeds and scoop out the flesh.
Put the vegetables in a saucepan and cover them with water.
Add the stock cube and seasoning.
Simmer for 20 minutes.
Allow to cool a little and use use a blender or mouli to puree the soup.
Reheat and serve with a spoonful of creme fraiche on top of each serving.

You will see at the side various stages in preparation.  Every time I add a caption, the photos move to the top of the blog, so I have given up.  They are: quartered pumpkins, vegetables cut and oven ready, pumpkins in the oven, cooked pumpkins.

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Making Marmalade

Home made Marmalade

 Last week when I saw Seville oranges in the supermarket, I grabbed a bag.  They make wonderful marmalade and we love it for breakfast.  The difference between homemade marmalade and shop-bought is that homemade has a sharper taste. The recipe I use includes the whole orange and is fairly quick to make, although I managed to spread the making of it over three days. Many recipes require that you separate the peel from the pith and this one doesn't.  Hence the sharper taste.  Anyway, life if too short to skin an orange.
The recipe is from my old and trusty 'Super Cook' book and is made like this:

Ingredients:
2 lb Seville oranges
4 lb sugar ( I used half jam-making sugar)
4/5 pints water
3 - 4 lemons (I save lemon halves in the freezer after using the juice for cakes and I used those.)

Bringing everything to the boil in a large pan.M

Method:
Wash the oranges and put them in a large pan with the water.
Cover and bring to boil, then simmer for 2 hours.
Let cool.
Remove the fruit and chop it finely, saving the pips.
Put the pips in a small piece of muslin and tie tightly with thread.
Put the oranges and the bag of pips back in the water and add the sugar.
Bring to boil.
Boil rapidly, uncovered, for about 30 minutes.
Take out the bag of pips and squeeze out any juice.
Test for setting.  (This never works for me. I just boil for 30 minutes and hope for the best. It usually works.)

Let the mixture cool a little and then put in hot, dry, sterilised jars.  

(I wash mine in very hot water, then put them in the oven until I am read to pot the marmalade.)

Cover the top of the marmalade with a little circle of waxed (greaseproof) paper and then put lids on tightly.

N.B. Seville oranges can be frozen and used any time in the year.  I have done it and it works well.

Five lovely jars of Marmalade

Freshly toasted English muffins, oozing with butter
Ready to serve with marmalade and tea

My lovely old muffin dish,
much loved and a bit battered

Ice Cream Coloured Night Shirts

Two soft and pretty nightshirts for my sister.

It will be my sister's birthday on Saturday.  A while ago she asked me to make her some nightshirts that would not irritate her skin.  I had an unsuccessful attempt when I tried to adapt a pattern.  I took it to the States to show her and it was gigantic and completely the wrong shape.  I just had to scrap the material and try again.  This time I chose ice cream colours, soft and pretty for bedtime.  To ensure that the seams do not rub, I used my 'even feed' foot, so that I did not have to worry about the top fabric pushing and I also did not have to use a zig zag stitch on the seams. This can look bulky and peculiar.  I just used a medium sized straight stitch and top stitched the sleeve seams.  Because they are dropped sleeves, this was easy as it is almost a straight line. I used a zig zag stitch to finish off the raw edges as that seemed a better option than turning them under and edge stitching.  Funnily enough, a piece of pink cotton print fell out of my sewing box when I was getting ready to sew and it completely matched the fabric, so I appliquéd a heart onto the left side. I think the result is quite pleasing and I hope she likes it. Unfortunately, I could not find a piece of yellow in my stash to match the yellow nightshirt, so that one went unadorned. When I have some time, I may even make one for myself. 

The fabric is from Tia Knight, Inspired Fabrics.  You can find her on: http:/www.tissufabrics.co.uk.

The pink nightshirt with a heart-shaped appliqué.

 Here is the pattern I used for the second (and successful) attempt.  I cut out the tunic, adding 4 inches to the length and stitched up the slits.  They are nice and long and cosy, but not too long to trip over. Butterick patterns are, on the whole, quick and easy to use and I like them for things like this.  I am really a Vogue pattern fan, but they can be complicated and unnecessarily tricky for things like nightwear.

A simple and easy to use pattern which I will definitely use again.

Watercress and Spinach - The Monday Soup

 Watercress and spinach are a very good source of vitamins A,B,C and D.  During the winter we need them more than ever and this soup just fills the bill.  If you hate spinach, you can leave it out and you will still have a good, tasty soup.  At the moment, many supermarkets are selling watercress and baby leaf spinach in one package, which would be perfect for this recipe.  It's quick, easy and warming and another vegetarian option.


Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
1 small leek (optional)
2 sticks celery, chopped
1 large or two med potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 small package watercress
2 handfuls of spinach
1 stock cube

water
Salt and pepper
A dash of nutmeg (optional)
Creme fraiche

Method:
In a large saucepan, heat the oil and sweat the onion, leek and celery with the lid on. (5 minutes).
Add the potato, watercress, stock cube and enough water to cover the vegetables.
Season with salt and pepper and nutmeg, if desired.
Bring to a boil and turn down the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
Use a mouli or a potato masher to puree the vegetables.
Toss in the spinach and bring back to heat.
Serve with a dollop of creme fraiche in each bowl.

Happy Birthday to My Blog

Original Drawing by Sue West

It is one year since I started this blog.  It's been a wonderful experience and an uphill learning curve.  The wonderful experience comes from making a lot of virtual friends and a few real ones, learning about their interests and discovering new ideas.  The learning curve has come from the frustrations of getting the posts to look as I envisage them and to make the photos stay where I put them! (Not to mention, trying to develop skill as a photographer.) Below is a reposting of my very first blog.  It explains why I started this and why I persevere.  Thank you to everyone who has a look this.

I love fabrics. I have always loved fabrics.  If there were a heaven, it would be a large space filled with fabrics, something like The Cotton House in Berwick Street in London, or Boroviks, stuffed with beautiful things and where the fashion students and costume designers go. Or Liberty’s in its hey day, when fabrics occupied a whole floor, exotic silks and satins and tiny Tana lawn prints.  Or Hudsons in downtown Detroit in the 1950’s, where my mother used to take me and I once got separated from her among the tall fabric bales, taller than I was. In this heaven, I could browse forever, breathing in the smell of fabrics, touching them, imagining what I could make with them. 

 Like my mother’s closets, my house is overflowing with fabrics.  A few years ago, a friend turned an old pine wardrobe into a fabric cupboard for me by adding shelves.  My daughter and I covered them with Cath Kidson wallpaper, then stacked my fabrics according to colour and type.  I bought pretty tins for buttons, zips, trims and threads.  It looks lovely.  Of course it is not big enough to contain all my fabrics. They lurk in the loft, in black bin bags, blue Ikea bags, re-usable supermarket bags. Current sewing projects are in plastic boxes under the bed in the spare room.  They ooze and creep into other places, on chairs, beds, tables.

If there were a fire, I would not try to save my fabrics.  I would save my family.  But I would mourn the loss of my fabrics.  It would take some time to get over it. Eventually, I would try to put a positive spin on it.  I would see it as an opportunity to buy more fabrics, but I would mourn the old ones because I know where I acquired each one of them.   They all have memories and associations.

A few weeks ago, I visited Berwick Street in London and to my delight I noticed that many new fabric shops have opened.  People are beginning to see the advantages of the old home crafts during this time of ‘economic gloom’.  It’s something to make the heart glad.  Newspapers and fashion magazines make reference to ‘make do and mend’ and ‘make your own individual dress, headscarf, belt, bag…”  New sewing and crafting magazines are being published too.

All of these things have inspired me to create this blog, to exchange ideas with others who also love making things.  Most of my ideas are not original. I take them from magazines, shops, friends and galleries.  Still, I would like to share some of them with you.

A Cheerful Trio for the Kitchen

 The three objects in the photo are a tea cosy, a cosy for a cafetierre and a bag for bags.  I had this cheerful yellow fabric for years before making it up.  Originally, it was for an apron.  However, I saw a bag holder in a magazine and realised it was a perfect solution to the plastic bag problem. (I used to just stuff them under the stairs.)
Even though these days we do not have as many plastic bags as we used to, we still have some.  They are useful for lining bins and I like to separate meat, bleach and dairy products from my other shopping. I don't want lingering smells in my cloth bags.
The tea and coffee cosies are lined with wadding and some white fabric.  They keep the pots lovely and warm and ready for a second cup.
The bag of bags hangs on the back of the kitchen door and we just stuff plastic bags in whenever we have them.  It is simply a long tube, hemmed at the top and with a handle.  It has a casing at the bottom edge and elastic threaded through it.  This keeps the bags in place and and allows easy access to them.

The top of the bag has a handle for  hanging. 

You just stuff bags in the top and pull them out at the bottom.

The bottom of the bag is elasticated.
Bags stay in but are easy to pull out when needed.