How To's

Tuesday, 30 October 2012

Pumpkin Season


Evening All!! Do you like my pumpkin? I went to four different supermarkets to find him! He was the most orange one I could find, never used a green one before. Evilly I scooped out his insides to make pumpkin soup from!

 

 
It was a recipe that I got from the Internet and modified slightly (adding parsley and cream for a creamier texture). Spicy pumpkin soup recipes are really easy to find on the web so just google it and find the one that suits you! My recipe was from here and was totally DELISH!
 
Of course, you can't buy a pumpkin and scoop out the insides without making the leftover shell look scary. So I gave it my best shot!
 
 
He was feeling a bit peckish, so my housemate shared her chocolate eclair with him. Very generous I thought. Not very scary though.
 
 
 
 Ahhhh, that's better! Much scarier.

 
HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!

Sunday, 28 October 2012

Sudbury Hall & The Museum of Childhood


Evening All!!! I have had a lovely day, being whisked off by my aunt and uncle (plus cousins) to Sudbury Hall and Museum of Childhood.
Absolutely miserable day today though, brightened only by the bright leaves on the trees and grass.





It is a lovely place, although quite a lot of it is being renovated so the front is covered in scaffolding and a few of the rooms have been 'taken down' for restoration.





There was this interestin object in the grounds too, can you guess what it is?


 
Still no idea?
 
 
It's a Diamond!! Designed and built for the Jubilee.
 

The family also brought with them some post from home which was nice. One of the ladies from MixedMediaATC_UK accidentally sent some Sewing Box ATCs to my home address so I finally got those today as well. Look how good they are! From Wendy, of course.



 All in all, a really nice day!

Autumn ATCs






Wasn't Saturday a glorious day? Bitterly cold of course but the sun was shining brightly in a frosty blue sky. I nipped out to the shops for some lunch and was kicking and crunching in the leaves all the way home!


We are creeping into another ATC season as well, and naturally I have left mine until the last minute. Maybe I subconsciously like to work under pressure? One of the themes is Trees so I have taken inspiration from the trees outside with their changing leaves...



I am also playing host once more, with the theme Sewing Box...



I do love mini patchwork, and the scissor charms are so cute!!

I have only had one set from the MixedMedia ladies so far, they are very nice although I'm not sure if I've photographed them the right way up.... They are made by the lovely Carol!


Friday, 26 October 2012

London Sourcing Trip


There are so many gorgeous fabrics out there!! And on Wednesday I got a chance to go and buy some from some seriously famous London shops!
Velvets, satins, silk dupion, duo coloured polyester lining, coated linens, muslin, woven cottons, shiny fabrics, sparkly fabrics, dull fabrics, soft fabrics, stiff fabrics.....argh!! So much to choose from!


In the above photo we have a golden satin, a yellow silk dupion, a sparkly yellow fabric from Borovick Fabrics, and a pom pom ribbon from Liberty.


In this photo we have a velvet, blue muslin, sparkly coated linen and duo coloured (pink and blue) polyester lining from Cloth House.


 
Don't tell everyone but you can get small free fabric samples from Cloth House. I thought these fabrics might be interesting to consider for my project but didn't want to buy a substantial amount so the samples are great!
 
A small non-textile related item crept quietly into my bag as well from Liberty's Christmas range. Look how cute he is!! He might have to stay out all year round rather than just for Christmas!
 
 


Thursday, 25 October 2012

General Update


Evening All!!! Thought you would like an update on my daily life. Milo is starting to come out of his shell and lets me pick him up from his bin cage more. He's even grown a little!! We have discovered that he doesn't like green beans or sweetcorn but loves carrots! Always good to know.


I went on a fabric sourcing trip to London yesterday which was fabulous!! (Don't ask me how much was spent, even I don't know!!) I will show you the photos of the fabrics I bought tomorrow when I get a chance to photograph them. We visited Liberty, Anthropologie and several Cloth shops. Liberty is AMAZING!! My favourite bit wasn't even the fabric section (sacrilege!), it was the Christmas section!! Nearly an entire floor dedicated to pretty decorations and lights and glitter!
One shop I visited was a silk shop and most of their fabrics were over £100 a metre!! Instead of getting samples we were allowed to photograph...look how cool these fabrics are!!



All sparkly and pretty- I shudder to think of their price!

I got the funniest parcel in the post the other day. October is my family's main birthday season and we have five birthdays all very close together- lots of cake and presents!! I suggested in a letter to my Grandad (chief jelly chef) that he should make me some jelly and post it to me- and he almost did just that!


I didn't know anything about it of course until the mysterious package arrived, double wrapped in two labelled envelopes. Inside was this handmade box, and inside the box....


JELLY!!!!!! With hand written instructions on how to make said jelly.

Bless him, so cute! He said that he had sent me un-jellified jelly because ready made stuff might get a bit messy in the post!
I haven't made it yet, will let you know how that one goes!