January snowfall

It was a lovely surprise to wake up to snow this morning - we don't often have it in this part of the country. The weather forecast was for rain this afternoon so I took an early morning stroll with the dog and my camera. 

There is a wonderful peacefulness that seems to come with a snowfall, sounds are muffled and for a moment it feels as if I have stepped into a christmas card. I love that first step onto a pristine white path - the sound as the snow compresses under my feet -  the footprint patterns and the dog bounding around enjoying the new scents. 

The gold fish pond is frozen over, the brown skeleton weeping willows stand like silent sentinels waiting for the thaw of spring. I feel as if I am the only one awake in this silent world,  a lovely way to start the day. 

Simply the best

It is all well and good trying new recipes but my success rate has taken a bit of a bashing recently, after all the festivities and rich food, what  I wanted at the weekend was a touch of simplicity, -  I thought I would go back to an old favourite of mine, Victoria Sponge. Named as I am sure you know, after Queen Victoria. 

This is a foolproof recipe - this cake is made from 6 eggs, simply weigh your eggs, add the same weight of sugar, self raising flour, and softened butter, (not straight from the fridge it won't work!) a good teaspoon of vanilla essence and a teaspoon of baking powder ( for every three eggs - 6 eggs =2 teaspoons). Mix together to form a soft dropping consistency - using two lined round cake tins - place in a moderate oven for around 20 - 30 minutes. You will know it is cooked because it will shrink slightly around the rim, have a golden colour and will not leave any cake mixture on a cocktail stick that you can push through the centre to check. 

It is important to let the cake cool completely before icing. 

Victoria Sanwich relies on the combination of butter and vanilla, so I always use butter and not margarine, however Stork can be a good alternative for the cake, but I always recommend butter for icing. While I am a great fan of the cupcakes, I prefer my victoria sandwich with just a little Raspberry jam, but you can ice yours with buttercream if you wish. 

What I love about this recipe is that it works for me every time, there is nothing more disappointing than using good ingredients and spending time in the kitchen only to have a soggy or disastrous cake, but this really has stood the test of time even my daughter uses the recipe. 

I love to get out my china tea service and really push the boat out, I feel very Duchess of Bedford! (She invented the concept of Afternoon Tea so I am told!) China tea cups really do make the best cup of tea, not to mention a good full bellied pot! 

Homespun Vintage - Book Review

I love books and there is nothing I enjoy more than sitting in Waterstones with a pile of books to browse through, a cooling latte at my elbow and time to relax!

My family know me so well that they give me book vouchers for Christmas - to me they are a ticket to adventure - book shops are just like travel shops each one offers an experience to travel from your armchair! This morning I spent a very happy hour, (always best alone so I am not dragged out! I can browse for a long time without feeling guilty!) in Waterstones Chichester.

I found this delightful book by Jane Crowfoot, the photography is delightful - giving crochet and knitting projects that charm. She has caught the vintage trend very well, but has broadened it out with folksy projects (Folk Tales) alongside Art Deco (Two tone Chic), and modern vibrant retro vintage (Time for Tea) to create a timeless collection of patterns and designs that are inspiring and will have knitters and hookers reaching for their wool.

Saucery in the soup Kitchen

All packaged ready to go

My vegetable delivery comes on a Friday from Able and Cole and the fridge was still full of vegetables, two large butternut squashes, three large red peppers, tomatoes, carrots, 1kg of onions, 1kg of shallots, mushrooms and sweet red potatoes! We were only just finishing up the Christmas food so I decided the best solution was to make soup and some roasted pasta sauce.  

It is more than likely the easiest method for making soup - I chopped the butternut squash, onions,  a clove or two of garlic and sweet potatoes into a large roasting dish, covered them with some olive oil and slowly roasted them for about an hour in a low oven, (gas mark 4). 

I also chopped up the red peppers, tomatoes and some more onions in another pan, smeared basil and olive oil over putting them to slowly cook. Making use of the whole oven, I filled smaller oven bowls with mushrooms & garlic and simply shallots in oil. The only attention it needs is a mix now and then, just to even out the cooking. 

In an hour or so, the vegetables have gone beautifully soft and dense with flavour and the aroma fills the house with a lovely home cooking smell. You can leave them with the oven switched off to slowly cool - for me it intensifies the flavour as I imagine the oils being absorbed into the vegetables as they cool.  

To make soup;

Use your largest pan - sweat off some onions in olive oil, moving them slowly but not over mixing

until they are soft and translucent. 

Add your roasted vegetables ensuring you scrape every last bit of oil from your roasting dish with a spatula - every drop of oil is infused with flavour it is a shame to waste any of it. You can also pour  some of your hot stock  into the roasting tray, this will make sure every last bit of flavour goes into the soup. 

The amount of stock you might need is dependent on how many vegetables you have - you want to aim for one third vegetables two parts stock. I use Kallo organic stock cubes, they don't contain monosodium glutamate, and they give a lovely flavour. 

Allow your soup to slowly simmer, you want to aim for the odd bubble to surface not a rolling boil, leave the lid off and let the soup condense. 

Depending on your preference, you can blend the soup or simply leave it chunky, it is just a case of waiting until you have the consistency you enjoy. Be aware that if you have used salt, the saltiness will increase as the water evaporates - I tend to leave salt out as the stock cubes often have salt in them. 

You can add some fresh chopped ginger, or turmeric, both of which have ant-bacterial qualities which are believed to help immunity.  To give it a really lovely flavour add two or three tablespoons of creme fraiche or yoghurt. 

For the pasta sauce add;

Add a tin of chopped tomatoes to the red peppers and tomato mix, a couple of tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar, a dash of worcestershire sauce, two teaspoons of brown sugar and then finally the whole mushrooms and shallots. You then slowly re-heat in a saucepan when you want it. Like all good sauces allow the flavours to develop over a day or so, but don't leave it more than three and always ensure you warm it up properly.

You can freeze these in batches, but this must be done as soon as it has cooled.  I decided to take a couple of jars of soup to some friends, they are a great pick me up, full of organic goodness, just what we need during the winter months. 

Dog Delight!

This is Fred, he rather likes his new bed it is a very simple idea and cheaper than the dog beds you have to buy in the pet shops. 

It is made from a fleece blanket, which you can purchase for as little as £5, fold the blanket in half and stitch round the bottom and side edge. 

Using an old duvet cut the duvet to shape and fill the blanket, catch the corners with a small hand stitch, and then sew the top closed. 

As you can see it is a very easy make and Fred really does enjoy his little bed. It is easily to wash. 

Saturday Shopping

It was my birthday on Friday and lovely A gave me a voucher to spend at the Eternal maker, so I spent Saturday afternoon browsing round the delights of the shop, I adore the table laden with china cups filled with  a wide variety of buttons, or the cosy corner of ribbons of every tone and shade which makes me feel like a hunter gatherer if only for fabric, ribbon and felt.  Saturday was such a dull overcast day, typical of January that it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon, T came along too and we followed the visit with tea and cake in a nearby cafe to thaw our fingers and toes. (If you intend a visit it is well worth investing in several layers, the shop is not very warm and I had to give up once the cold had seeped into my bones!) 

The biggest difficulty I have is can be a struggle to find fabric and notions that match my ideas, I have lost count of the number of times I have desperately searched the shelves of fabric stores only to have to give up my project simply because the fabric to bring it to life is elusive. Ideas often perplex shop keepers, I have often heard them exclaim "no-one has ever asked me that in all my years owning this shop" or "why on earth would you want to do that?" so EM is a welcome relief, the staff are so helpful and when I told them what I had in mind, their expert knowledge of the wide range of fabric for sale, some of which journeys from as far away as Japan; soon had me smiling with pleasure. Not only that, but suggestions and exchange of ideas flowed easily, I always feel I leave the shop with a friend behind me. 

I gathered these lovely cotton ribbons together, I was particularly delighted with the red and blue ribbon at the bottom because it was exactly what my project needed. 

This fabric is called the vintage workshop, I love the combination of pattern pieces alongside vintage sewing instructions. It is an Amy Barakman design from Red Rooster fabrics. 

I simply could not resist this Trefle crazy sewing pattern by kokka, my inner compulsiveness struggles with the upside-down design, but I love the retro colouring and style. It reminds me of the french schoolbook I had back in the seventies!  I love this pattern because it offers so many colour combinations to pick out from the lovely bright reds to the pale blues and lime green. 

These lovely notions are so beautiful that I will struggle to cut this design up! I love the little buttons and the keys, it is simply delightful. It is a Charlotte lyons design from Blend, called walnut farm. 

So that is most of my supplies in order, now with a little sketching and research, I am almost ready to begin, but I can't tell you what it is just yet, you shall have to wait and see. 

Patch Pillows

I love Clarke and Clarke fabric this range called 'the bird trail' is one of my favourites, the birds and flowers are so pretty, I bought them at Falcon Fabrics they have a huge range of these lovely heavy weight cottons. I find them so pleasing to work with.

I want to use up every scrap which is where these cushions come in. Patchwork is perfect for making the most of every small remnant of fabric however I often struggle to cut up beautiful designs. The large pattern repeat needed large squares otherwise the design would have been completely lost, so I used 8 inch squares.

The duck egg blue background is one of my favourite colours; one of the challenges of duck egg is that it is so difficult to match, greens look odd, blues look odd, it is really only a similar combination of blue green that seems to work well. To have used the same in the edging would have resulted in a rather dull cushion, but by picking up the traces of vibrant green in the design itself has lifted the pattern really well.

Colour matching is one of the hardest elements of design I do understand the basics of colour theory, complimentary colours, tones, accents, but most of the time the 'theory' eludes me, I just look at a colour and it seems to sing together. Colour theory would suggest that the green does not go well with the duck egg, and most probably on a sheet of paper it doesn't, but by picking out the green from the stem the fringing has lifted the design. If I am still short of ideas, then I look to the colour block on the selvage for clues as you can see on the left the green is the third colour.

This project was satisfyingly easy, once the accuracy of the cutting and seaming had been done, it came together nicely. The backs of the cushions are one piece of the duck egg so I can change the look depending on how I feel.