Bubbly Scrubbly

Try as I might, I seem unable to focus very well at the moment. The curse of the crafter I guess ~ a million and one ideas bubbling around in my head like champagne bubbles and just as hard to pin down. But necessity being the mother of creation means I get to share this little beauty with you, a crochet scrubcloth.

 

I wanted a little in-front-of-the-tv project, and I've wanted to make a sturdy cleaning cloth for a while now, though this would make a great washcloth, or even a pot-stand for the kitchen! And it's a great way to use up little odds and ends of wool. The pattern is so quick and easy, alternating trebles and dc's to produce a bubbly textured cloth in around an hour.

To make your own Bubbly Scrubbly, you will need:

2 small balls of DK cotton yarn (approx. 15g of each)
6mm crochet hook

Chain 20
Turn
Chain 2, 1tr into top of 3rd stitch from hook (20th cast on stitch), 1dc into top of next stitch, continue alternating trebles and dc's to end.

*Turn
Chain 2, 1tr into top of 3rd stitch from hook, 1dc into top of next stitch, continue alternating trebles and dc's to end*
Repeat the last row from * to * approx. 14 times more (16 rows in total) or until your cloth is square.
Fasten off and weave in ends.

 

 I'm so pleased with the way this turned out, I almost don't want to use it for cleaning!

Birthday Croissants

Today is my birthday so I thought I would treat myself to a bit of a naughty breakfast  ~ Cinnamon Apple and Chocolate Banana Croissants.

These are incredibly easy to make and oh so delicious! And apart from the actual croissant dough, the ingredients are things most of us have in the house all the time.

You will need:

1 can of croissant dough (6 croissants)
1 banana
1 apple
1 tsp Cinnamon
4 desertspoons Demerara Sugar
Chocolate spread (a last minute idea that isn't in the photo)

(this will make 4 Cinnamon Apple croissants and 2 Chocolate Banana)

Preheat your oven to 200C / 400F / Gas 6.


The first thing to do is pop your can of dough open, and it really does pop!

Gently unroll and separate out the triangles. The dough feels foamy and is very delicate, mine ended up with several little crescent fingernail marks!
Peel, core and quarter your apple, then cut each quarter in half. Mix the cinnamon and sugar together in a little bowl then sprinkle about a dessertspoonful of this mixture over your dough triangle. Add 2 of the apple pieces and roll up as tightly as you can.

 

 

Gently spread the chocolate spread generously over the remaining 2 triangles. Peel the banana, cut in half and add half to each triangle before rolling tightly as with the apple version. 

 

Place these a good distance apart on a greased baking sheet and bake for 10-15 mins. I sprinkled a little more of the sugar mixture on top of the apple croissants for good measure.

Transfer to a cooling rack for 5 minutes while you make yourself a cuppa, then enjoy!

The Cinnamon Apple croissants had a lovely bite, and the Chocolate Banana ones were dreamy ~ the banana simply melted in the mouth, though the chocolate had a tendency to drip out everywhere (napkins ahoy!)

I think this idea would work well with all sorts of fillings. Bacon & Brie? Cinnamon Sultana? Hmmm, what other fillings can you suggest?



Lazy Days

It's Sunday, and all I want to do today is curl upon the couch and have a nice nap. I did, however, manage to browse Etsy and curate a super sleepy treasury.



Red & Gold Jacquard Sleep Masks from Blum Art



Jasper on Red Couch from Acey Thompson Art



Vintage Crochet Pattern from Touch of Nostalgia

You can see the whole treasury here.

Well I think I've done enough for today. Time for forty winks.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

A Sneaky Peek

I may not have blogged for a while, but I have been busy working on new designs for the shop. For some reason I always seem to get ideas for things that take aaaaaaages to make!

 

 

I've also been fiddling around with some photo editing, can you tell? 

As you can see, it's all about yarn at the moment ~ you could say I'm hooked! (cue groans!)

I just love the 70's look of this shot.

Starting with Smiles

Hello Everybody!
I'm so glad to be back, I can't believe how much I missed posting for the past few weeks!

I'm going to start the New Year off with a simple little idea that's been doing the rounds on Facebook, Pinterest, etc ~ a Memories Jar. The idea is to write down all the little things that make you smile and pop them into a jar, then on New Year's Eve you open the jar and enjoy reliving all the wonderful memories. This is something that I could really have used in 2012, as all the amazing fun we had at the start of the year (my 40th in Oslo, the Jubilee, the Olympics, to name but a few) was eclipsed by Mum's illness and subsequent passing.

All you need is an empty jar. I sprayed the lid of mine a cheery pink and used an old gift tag as a label, but you can make your jar as plain or as fancy as you like. I received a lovely peacock memo block for Christmas which is perfect for noting down my memories. They needn't be big fancy occasions like the Jubilee; a movie night cuddling under a blanket with a loved one sounds like a perfect entry to me, or how about when you reach a particular goal such as weight loss? Whatever makes you happy.
For now I'm going to see about starting my jar off with that movie night.
Now, where did I hide that tin of Roses . . . ?

In Loving Memory

It's been quite a while since I blogged. 

In late September my Mum was diagnosed with cancer. After being hospitalised for the second time with severe anaemia they kept her in and ran several tests, eventually giving her 6 - 8 months to live.

She died on 2nd November.



My Mum taught me to knit. She taught me to bake. She turned her hand to many creative endeavours I've never had the patience for, including cake decorating and quilting. 



 

 

I will be taking a break from my blog for a little while to focus on my family. When death comes so close it always makes you re-evaluate your life, and I'm also going to use this time out to take stock and decide on the direction of my blog and shop for the coming year.

I hope to see you all again soon.

A, B, C . . . is for cake!

September appears to be recipe month! I don't know if it's the wonderful blustery dark storms sweeping in, drawing the nights in earlier, or if it's just being on a diet (8lbs gone so far!), but lately I'm even more obsessed with food than usual.  So a little later on I'm going to share another recipe with you, Good Housekeeping's Pear and Almond cake. Can you say lush?

But before we have cake I thought I would share a little blogging feature that's going around at the moment ~ the ABC of me. It's a neat thing I've seen on a few of the crafty / foodie blogs I visit and I think it's a great way to share a little about myself with you: 

A} Age: 40

B} Bed Size: Double, with a King-size feather duvet on top. I ♥ my bed!

C} Chore you dislike: Oh dear, all of them! I guess I least despise ironing, because at least I can set the ironing board up in front of the tv and do two things at once! Possibly dusting / polishing is my biggest yurk ~ my house is composed of layers of clutter upon stuff surmounting bits and bobs, so dusting really means tidying too. Sadface.

D} Dogs: Nellie-egg, our rescued Podenco cross from Spain. She is sweet, timid, and when she’s been asleep in her bed for a little while she smells somewhat like a biscuit!?!

E} Essential start to your day: Coffee. No idea why as I drink decaf anyway, but the day doesn’t feel right if I haven’t had a small cup of coffee laced with hazlenut syrup.

F} Favorite Colors: Hmmm, I love all colours, all shades, depending on the where when and why, but I think perhaps emerald green tips the scales for me.

G} Gold or Silver: Gold. I do like silver’s clarity and clean look in some situations but generally I like the soft warmth of gold.

H} Height: Five foot nine.

I} Instruments you play (past/present): Remember at school they used to make you play recorder? Well, that’s my limit I’m afraid. I can’t remember how to read music but if you give me a few minutes practice I can play the themes from Star Wars and Harry Potter. What more do you need ;)

J} Job Title: Part-time office admin, full-time mother, crafter in the gaps between.

K} Kids: One son, aged eleven going on fourteen! He alternates between an angel and a nightmare, and puts the smile in my heart.

L} Live: In Portsmouth, an historic naval port on the south coast of England 

M} Mum’s name: Anne

N} Nicknames: I don’t think I have any, not that people use to my face anyway! Sometimes people call me “Fi” but not often. One guy at work calls me “Madame Fi-Fi” but I do wish he wouldn’t. I am not a poodle.

O} Overnight hospital stays: None so far, touch wood!

P} Pet Peeves: There are sooooo many! It would be quicker to list the things that don’t hack me off! But I guess most of them can be boiled down to arrogance, and a lack of consideration for others.

Q} Quote from a Movie: Oooh, again, how to pick only one! I am a big movie buff, and part of me wants to choose something obscure and/or artsy but in the end all that kept popping into my head was this Python quote: “Lord, I am affected by a bald patch”. The timing and delivery are just brilliant. Can you name the film it’s from?

R} Righty or Lefty: Right-handed for everything except cutlery, weird huh?

S} Siblings: My little baby sister is 38 now, how did that happen?!

T} Time you wake up: Just lately it seems to be around 5 – 5.30am. I’ve always been an early bird rather than a night owl, but this is getting a little early even for me!

U} URL favorite these days: The usual suspects: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, but I'm Loving My Fitness Pal lately, and IMDb is always extremely useful

V} Vegetables you don’t like: Tomatoes. They are the devil’s fruit.

W} What makes you run late: I’m usually pretty punctual, but “I’ll just quickly check my emails / facebook / twitter” pushes me close to the limit.

X} X-Rays: Only dental x-rays.

Y} Yesterday memory: Chopping apples!

Z} Zoo Animal Favorite: Not really keen on zoos, but I do love animals. Maybe a giraffe? Or a tapir? Tigers are awesome but whenever I’ve seen one in a zoo I’ve just felt sad for them. They should be prowling the jungle, not lying in a cage.


Ok, enough about me. Cake time. 

Pear and Almond Cake

225g (8oz) butter
250g (9oz) caster sugar
3 medium eggs
125g (4oz) SR flour, sifted
1/2 tsp almond essence
75g (3oz) ground almonds

For the Topping:
2 medium pears
2 tbsp demerara sugar
15g (1/2 oz) flaked almonds

Preheat oven to 180C / 350F / Gas 4

Line base and sides of a 8" (20cm) round tin with baking parchment.
Beat butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Gradually add the eggs one at a time, add 1tbsp if the mixture looks like curdling. Beat in almond essence.
Using a large metal spoon, fold in the flour and ground almonds. Scrape the mixture into the prepared tin and level the surface. Bake for 20mins.
Meanwhile, peel and core the pears then slice into approx 5mm slices. When the cake has baked for approx 20 mins, carefully take it out of the oven and arrange the pear slices prettily on top (they should sink slightly. Mine didn't, so I gave them a helping prod) Sprinkle over the demerara sugar and flaked almonds. Return the cake to the oven for a further 55 mins, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the tin for 10 mins then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Serve still slightly warm or at room temperature.

I really like this cake, and it's a perfect autumnal treat. The edges had a fabulous crunch, while the centre was soft and moist. I thought the pears could have had more impact, and might try an extra pear next time I make it, but it was delicious nonetheless.
Despite the fruity element, this is not a healthy option! But I have added the nutritional info provided by the Good Housekeeping recipe to My Fitness Pal for those of you interested in calorie-counting.