home again...

Back home, back commuting, back in work and mountains of laundry done!
I made the mistake of heaping all luggage, laundry for drying and shoes into the guest room, out of sight I thought!
Unfortunately I forgot about my friend from Switzerland being in the country, and that before the wedding I'd invited them to stay over when they'd be around. So yesterday I got the phone call to say they'd be here this evening and we quickly had to do lots of tidying up, move all that laundry to the study, set up the 2nd guest bed, hoover and hide lots of bric-a-brac under the beds... and generally give the house a dusting...
The garden will just look the way it looks, after 4 weeks of not mowing the lawn and rain every day it's quite wild, and it's still too wet to mow!
So much for impressing friends from college...

While in Portugal I noticed there are still many women doing crochet and embroidery of every day items, like tea towels, towels, tablecloths and napkins, the shops sell fine cotton thread that is used to make lacey edges around these towels, they used the tiniest crochet hooks. Of course i couldn't resist and bought a few balls in great colours and the teensy crochet hooks, unfortunately they didn't sell any patterns. One shop had a folder of photocopies of actual lace edges, but no diagrams or instructions, my phrase book Portuguese was just about enough to figure out that these photocopies are all the average Portuguese crocheter needs as a pattern...
I also saw some cute crochet flowers, so on one of the occasions when i was soaking up the evening sun (can't do it before 4pm, am to fair!) i decided to give it a go and came up with this little flower! I was extremely pleased with myself, no pattern, and it's the 1st flower I've made, ever!



We were in Coimbra and there was a Folklore Festival on, with craft on sale and (the most delicious!) sardines on the BBQ, rice pudding for desert, and elderly ladies dancing in the street in broad daylight, while waiting for the main event to start on stage. We just came across it in a Square and decided to linger!




And this little gem was bought there for me by my husband, it's a love poem (or so we've been told) in Portuguese and had a crochet edge. We're going to frame it! What background shoud i use?


When we got home I felt like doing something crafty in the evening, and so repaired my favourite PJs with this little hear patch, (I also had to a split seam in the hip area! what's that telling me!?) while watching 'the illusionist'.


And finally, 2 photographs from the Bucaco Forest

greetings from portugal!

hello from our honeymoon, we're having a great time, we'll be back mid july, and after the initial rush to get everything back on track and settled back into work i hope there will posts again! i saw some lovely embroidery over here, really colourful and pretty. my husband bought me a small piece with a portuguese love poem on it, all hand embroidered. i'm so tempted to buy other stuff as well but... no idea how we will get back all the stuff we already have, wine and the likes... must dash, the cents are rattling through the timer thingy here in the internet cafe!

early wedding presents

the first few presents have started to arrive and it's amazing how generous and thoughtful everybody is! i just have to post pictures of this present, it's so cute! it's a picnic basket for two. made from willow (i think)



the two flaps open out and hold the cutlery and plates,





and the most gorgeous wooden mushroom salt and pepper shakers!



the mugs and plates are printed with these mushrooms, and the whole basket is lined with bright red and white polka dot cotton



it also came with a picnic blanket (water repellent on one side, woolly on the other)

as far as i can see it's from the avoca shop, and the little tag says it's actually made in muenster, germany! where i'm from! i wonder did she know this or is it a coincidence?

apron for p's granny

i made this wrap around apron today! i know, it's not flattering at all! it's for p's granny who's turning 90 this week. i posted before about planning to make this, i checked again with p's mum and she thinks granny wouldn't fancy velcro (i thought it might be easier for her arthritic hands to have velcro fastenings, but she's still managing fine with the strings) so i went for the classic strings.



i'm modeling it here (excuse the blurry pics, p took them and he's not used to taking pictures) and it's too wide around the shoulders and too tight around the hips, which should make it a perfect size 12... to make the pattern i put granny's old apron on a sheet of newspaper and traced around the back and the front, good job there weren't any darts... i noted where there would be bias tape and where seams and hems, and i measured the length and noted that as well (it's about a meter long, although this one is only about 93 cm because i didn't have enough fabric). i still managed to forget to add the side seam allowance when i cut the fabrics, so it's smaller than her old apron, hope it'll fit!)



the fabric is cotton 'yarn dyed' westfalenstoff, bought in germany. the bias tape and the pocket are made from a pale green cotton. i made the tape with a clover bias tape maker, the 18mm one. i used one fat quarter and got over 6m bias tape! that was a bit much but i'm sure i'll find a use for it. (i'm thinking of getting some plain tea towels and put some applique on them, in the same fabrics, or maybe i'll make pot holders). i did the 'continuous bias tape' method and i was nearly sure i was getting it all right without looking at the instructions when i discovered i sewed it together the wrong way and was going to get 8 circles of bias tape instead of one continuous length of bias tape, but i realised just before i was going to cut.

the armholes and the neck and crossover parts are done with bias tape, i wonder did i stretch the fabric a bit while i was sewing because i think it's a little wavy.

anyhow, i like the result, not sure if it is because it reminds me of my own granny who died when i was 14 or because it's actually nice. it's not figure enhancing or anything, but that's not high on p's granny's agenda, she just wanted a new wrap around apron and couldn't find one in the shops. her last one is navy with white daisies printed on it, and some of the daisies have worn off completely at this point, it didn't wear very well. this one hopefully will!

p's granny lives on a farm, she had 10 children (so did his other (maternal) granny by the way) and she used to cook over an open fire when she was younger. last year we were a bit worried about her, but since she got her new hip this year she's very chipper again and up to date on politics and everything. she still bakes her own soda bread, she likes to keep doing everything she can and says that's what kept her fit for so long. i've tried many times to get her soda bread recipe off her but she does it without any measurements, a good amount of flour, some soda and salt, buttermilk and also normal milk...

hmmm a bowl of greek-yoghurt-and-honey ice cream appeared in front of me... must stop writing, must eat!

not many posts lately...

...having our civil wedding, planning our church wedding, work, lots of things getting in the way! not much energy left for other projects. oh, and i just finished watching the season finale of six feet under, loved it! all of the seasons! although it probably really would have run its course if they hadn't stopped at 5, maybe they could have condensed the last two into one) a friend of ours lent me one season after the other over the past year and a half. i never really got into tv shows because i'd always miss to many episodes to really enjoy it, but i actually really enjoy watching episodes on DVD.

in the meantime, i didn't get much crafting done, but i bought some lovely fabrics of reprodepot, got to make a pattern from p's granny's favorite apron (a wrap dress type apron)(a blue and green westfalien check fabric is waiting for this, lots of bias tape to be made, i hope i have a matching colour fabric, making it in the checked fabric might all get a bit too busy), a pattern for chair cushions (or rather chair seat covers) and a sample cover (using a charity shop pillow case) I'm planning to make the covers from heather bailey fresh cut bubble paisley cotton fabric (green), I think we won't be painting the kitchen in lime green as planned, but in a more avocado-ey green, that might go with the covers. it'll be difficult enough to find a green that's not too dark for the small room, not sickly, goes with the fresh cut colours and isn't too pale to be interesting...

presents for my nephew and easy projects

my nephew will be one on thursday, i hope i'll get the trousers and t-shirt to him on time in the post... they are supposed to be combat type trousers but i think i might have placed the pocket a little too low, i didn't think of the hem.
the pattern is burda 9716 it's got a nifty fake fly and the instructions of pulling one leg into the other before sewing the seat and front seam were very handy, i don't think i've done that before but it's been at least 10 years since i sewed anything as complicated as trousers. i'm going to make a simpler pattern, with just one pattern piece for quick to make trousers, i might put a 'fake fly' into that, too.
the t-shirt is appliqueed with matching fabric, using bondaweb and a satin stitch

and here some photos of my new matching sewing machine cover, pin cushion and ironing board... making the ironing board cover was a simple matter of piecing the plain and printed fabric, putting it on the ironing board and going around it at about 10cm distance. then i went around it twice with the sewing machine, creating a casing for the tie that i took out of the old cover.
the sewing machine cover is made from two rectangles (one pieced) and one strip, i measured off the plasticky cover that came with the machine, and i'm actually using both, the plasticky one for sturdyness and the fabric one 'cos it's pretty...
and the pin cusion as you can see is just two squares of fabric sewn together.

not very impressive projects, but quick and fun and instant gratification! and they'll stay in my house, unlike all the presents i made lately. pity it's so much harder to make grown up clothes...

more gifts

i finally bought some bondaweb and tried the appliqué, with westfalen fabric, it's really much easier. i handstitched around the edges as i didn't fancy getting sewing machine oil on this one (like i did on the apple babygrow). the bondaweb makes the appliquéd fabric quite stiff but i hope it'll get softer when it's being washed repeatedly. in the background you see my 'grannysquare' i stuck to making just the one and it's nearly big enough to be a baby blanket, i have nearly 250 of 'supersoft baby aran' crocheted into the one square. it's very relaxing work!


here a close up, aren't those ducks cute? this one's for noah, a friend of ours' new baby,


and tonight i embroidered this one, the design is ogham writing, in irish (gaelic). this one's for my colleague, who announced her news today. this baby is also due in october, like my friend b.'s who i haven't made a present for yet... i'm finding it hard to keep up with presents for all these babies, there must be something in the water!


and finally, i got this set of i don't know what it is in the charity shop, the square ones seem to be hankies, but the rectangular ones, no idea! they are all hand embroidered with these cute stars (flowers?) does anybody know if there are rectangular hankies? or if there is a tradition of table linen made from thin hankie type cotton?

time for bed now...

last minute gifts

yesterday afternoon i got a short notice invite to my neighbour's baby shower the same day! good job i had some babygrows that i bought to embellish for my friend bridget, so i could make some last minute gifts. i attempted some freehand mashine appliquee, and wasn't too happy with the result, so i also did two freehand running stitch embroidered ones. the appliquee also got some oil from the sewing mashine on it so i had to wash it and iron it dry! in the end i decided to hand over all three, two apples and a pear.

garden on a cloudy day

i saw lots of great photos of clotheslines lately, so i gave it a go as well, and while my composition and angle aren't very arty, the T shirts on the line are doing their best, dancing in sync!


it's actually quite windy today and i got slapped in the face by wet tea towels while hanging them out... but it wasn't raining so there was no excuse for using the dryer today, i still feel very bold for buying it in the first place!


mexican orange blossom


wisteria?


gooseberry


red currant

the garden is slowly starting to look like a garden again, it looked quite desolate after the winter, the quite compacted clay soil had started to look like concrete, after a wet winter and then 2 weeks without rain! but p has performed miracles by simply digging it all over and now it looks more like what we had in mind. the concrete block wall will be painted soon, that should make it all look friendlier again! aargh, almost everything seems to need painting! i'm really impatient and can't wait to have a mature garden where you don't see walls and fences much. we only bought the august before last and have a very ad hoc approach to gardening, which isn't always the shortest (or cheapest) way to success but it's a lot of fun, and it doesn't feel too much like hard work.
and here a photo of skerries, where we went for some mid week tapas because the weather was so nice and it just felt right to go out for a walk by the sea and dinner, instead of home and cooking!


i'm only just slowly realising that yes, winter really is over and there's lots of daylight and the feather and down jacket can be put away until october! it surprises me how fast time went, being engaged and planning a wedding have that effect i suppose!

did i forget to mention the great easter bonfire?

We have one every year at my parents' farm, it's always a great fun, with neighbours and relatives coming over, we sit around the fire, everybody brings something, beer, lemonade, dyed eggs, sweets, sometimes bread or cake. there are bonfires all over the place on easter sunday in Germany

easter holidays

my first day off for my easter break was good friday, and i made some muensterlaender good friday pancakes, they are called 'Struwen' and are sometimes made with curd, but my mum's recipe called for flour, milk, eggs, raisins, sugar, salt and yeast, the batter is more like cake batter and is prepared an hour in advance, to give it a chance to rise. when you then drop spoonfuls of it into a pan with hot oil they rise like mad! im not so good at turning them, i burned myself with splatters of hot oil :-( but they were delicious and very filling none the less! i believe they used to be the only dinner you got on good friday, but we were never very strict on that one.


on saturday we flew to germany, for a few days with my parents and siblings, the airport was mental, we arrived at 5.05am and queued non stop till 6.45, when it was time to board! the crowds were like something from a desaster film.


I brought this little bag for my nephew, who can use it for his swimming gear or toys, not that he cares much as he has his mammy to carry it all around for him of course, he's not even 1!
and my mum got this one which i made earlier, for her knitting (socks) that she brings to her monthly knitting circle meetings


my mum had lots of easter decorations up, some very tasteful (aren't those chickens cute!?) , and others more sentimental, like this basket filled with eggs my siblings and i decorated when we were younger! i recognised some that i made, like one, done in felt tip, of the easter bunny, a chick in an egg shell, a flower and jesus complete with beard and white robes and coloured eggs, all on the same egg... you can really only see his beard in the picture, i still don't know why the camera doesn't focus on what i want it to focus at...

This one says happy easter in german, the flowers are supposed to be daffodils and it's scratched into a naturally brown egg shell, possibly using a stanley knife.



and these are very clever, some leaves from the garden are held in place by old tights while the egg soaks in the dye.


it was a great trip, it was so good to see everybody, and we got lots of wedding stuff sorted which puts my conscience at ease, and i brought back some corduroy for trousers for my nephew, and some checked fabrics, and some double point knitting needles and some merino wool, i haven't taken any pictures yet.

i spent friday treating our garden furniture, 4 foldable chairs (hell!) and a bench and a table, lookin' good now, the weather was brilliant, we could have had a barbequeue but P. was working from 6pm till 7am, so it didn't work out that way, but i went for dinner with friends in town, delicious french food and wine! i didn't make my bus and two of my friends stayed on till the first night bus, town is quite mental on a saturday night!


and lastly, a picture of one of my westfalien prints, i took it when i recently decided to prewash and iron all my fabrics, so that they won't shrink after i use them, i read it's a wise thing to do...

No Knead Bread

this weekend i made the no knead bread! many food blogs and craft blogs mentioned it lately, and initially the recipe appeared in the new york times i think.

this is it here, yesterday morning


I used 3 cups of flour, 1.5 tsp salt, 0.25 tsp dry yeast and 1.5 cups of water. i now think that i probably should have used a little more water.

this is what it looked like this morning, about 22 hours later (this is probably a little too long, i read that if you want to let it rise for more than 18 hours you have to knock it down, i.e. stir it at some point in between, i suppose between 12 and 18 hours before you want to bake it. the aresrocket poster makes the dough the evening before, knocks it down in the morning and then bakes it in the evening.)

you then turn it out on the the floured surface


after you shape the dough into a ball it is to be covered loosely with cling film and left to rest for 15 min


i 'generously dusted' a tea towel (or you could use baking paper) with weat germ and flour



and placed the dough ball on top, then covered it with more flour and weat germ. i may have been a little too generous with the flour here! but apparently the dough is supposed to be more sticky, so in that case you'd need lots of flour so it doesn't stick to the towel.


about 3 hours later...

it's supposed to double in size in about 2-3 hours, mine didn't quite do that, but its only my first attempt...

you drop it into a hot dish (you pop the dish into the oven while it preheats to about 220C


the bread bakes with the lid on for 30 minutes, then you CAREFULLY remove the lid and bake it for another 20 minutes, and: ta-daa!

doesn't it look lovely!

this is the bread cut, you have to wait for an hour before doing this, pure agony!


other peoples breads had much bigger bubbles, but i think it has to be more liquid dough for that, and maybe you have to stick to the rising times?

we tried it with mirabell jam, and alternatively with olive oil and salt, and it's just delicious! yes, it could be airier, and maybe i'd use less salt the next time, but the crust is perfect! it's very much like the bread you get in some italian restaurants.

the website has everything step by step, with photos and scientific facts! i love scientific explanations about cooking, i find it so much easier to 'obey' and remember instructions if i know WHY i am supposed to do it that way. i'm not so good with instructions but reasoning works for me.

bias tape

there we go... bias tape, properly stretchy, on the left, and the straight tape, accidentally produced with the same continuous method, on the right. See there was this hint in the instructions, that when you line up your lines and sew the tube, it'll seem like it's definetely going wrong, and that that is normal and that really you're doing it right. hm. i managed to do it wrong at that point! what does that say about me? i suppose i should have printed the instructions instead of just glancing at them and going "yeah, got it, makes perfect sense, won't need these at all"

anyhow, i have to say i think the bias tape maker is a brilliant gadget! the tape was so quick to make (especially the 2nd batch). the last time i used bias tape, i pieced it together from the leftover bits of fabric, and then ironed it with no help from fancy contraptions, i was swearing quite a bit!

as for 'continuous bias tape', what genius had enough spatial awareness to come up with this method! it's brilliant! it's a bit like these mobius bands that you learn about in maths.

for anybody else out there who hasn't tried that method: try this tutorial! http://www.fiber-images.com/Free_Things/How_Tos/how-to_make_bias_tape.htm by carol carvalho (fiberimages)

non-bias tape?

hm, i just spent ages trying out my new bias tape maker, and i looked up some different tutorials for continuous bias tape, but somehow i managed to end up with non-bias tape! It's not stretchy! i must have cut it the wrong way :-( i'll be grand for the draw strings in draw string bags, and for apron ties, and for anything straight edged, i suppose.

i think i will have to go back to the "drawing board" and start again with another fat quarter. good job i have a few that i don't mind cutting up, impulse ebay buys that werent quite what i had hoped for! in fact, i will cut up this one's twin (i remember getting all excited reading the ebay delivery notice that announced "as one of the fat quarters turned out too small i sent you two" and then it was the ugliest fabric in the package)