Photo Thursday VI

I went to the Safari Park last Thursday and here is a close up of a Lemur mum and her baby:

Very cute and amazing that we got to have them walking around with us. Look at their toes!

Cupcakes :D The best gift

So, Beth and I had dinner and a Big Bang Theory marathon today and she came armed with cupcakes! She has made the most gorgeously chocolate cakes (something that I sometimes struggle with), apparently flavoured with Bournville Cocoa, which is a great tip. They are topped with Vanilla, Stawberry and Mint butter creams and all taste amazing. I have to say though, the mint choc combo is the best in my opinion- those two flavours always just go together really well.

Here is a picture of the beautiful cakes :)

The buttercream was mixed by hand as well, which I thought was really impressive. I really do rely on the mixer too much for baking I think.

I will definitely be demanding more of these when she is back from uni! I bet these will be gone within days though as everyone is already eyeing them up- I may be naughty and hide them just for me :D

Preview- Quilt back

I thought for today's post I would just share a few preview shots I took of the back of the quilt. There are two sides to it, so there are a couple of shots of each. It should be all finished for good tomorrow!

When I spent hours working on the front and it was finally done I was in love with it. When I see this side now though, for some reason I am starting to prefer it. I think too long staring at something must do that to you :P It will all be over soon though and I will miss it!

Photo Frame Wall

I had a spare wall in the spare room/ my study and wanted to do something with it for a while. Originally I was going to do a simple 3 big photo frames, 2 with blue fabric and one with a gorgeous blue and pink bird print fabric I got off eBay. However, I have always wanted to do a photo frame collage, and since it is my space I thought why not- I can have a wall full of the people and things I love and not have it look quite so teenager-y as just blu tacking a load of photos and postcards up as I used to do/ have elsewhere in the house.

I already had some black, silver and beechwood coloured frames from Klick agees ago (they used to be in my old flat), so I reutilised them, as well as a leatherette Wilkinsons frame I had, and stocked up on some gorgeous teal ones, a big blue one and a few more black and silver ones, from Ikea. The 'step' frame and blue frame with 6 photos in it, as well as the big white frame, are from B&M and kind of inspired me to go ahead with the project when I saw them, as I thought they would be perfect.

When in Ikea I also saw the magnetic board that forms the centrepiece. I loved the idea of having something the frames could surround, as I could stick anything on it and have it as a mood board or just put other things I love, that don't necessarily fit in frames well, on it. I also used some letter magnets, as I love them :D

It took a while to drill the board in and hammer in all the nails for the photos, but it is definitely worth it. If you are going to drill, make sure you check if it is a stud wall or not before you start, to avoid DIY disaster. I did not really plan the location of my frames, just put one up then held the next in place, so it would not touch the other one, and put a nail in there too. There was a little reshuffling, but it was so easy to do. The hardest part was deciding which photos made the cut.

Here is how it turned out for me:

I did not want to go too OTT and fill the whole wall, although may do at some point. For now I like it as it is :) the bulb and fitting you see on the wall is a Ikea nightlight (the blue star one)- I just did not have the cover on when I took the picture.

I may still do some work on this, or try it again somewhere else as well in the future, but I like it for now and think it is certainly a nice enough first photo frame collage.

Bookish

I have just discovered Bookish, which is a lovely literary themed gift website. There is not a massive amount of stock in each category (not the ones I have viewed anyway), what they have is lovely and I have already made a purchase.

What I really want is the paper roses, but I have decided that my budget definitely can't stretch to £7 for one little decoration, however fabulous it may be. I may well attempt to make some myself in the meantime. Their scrabble brooches are lovely too though, and reasonable at the same price as the roses, since you can actually wear them and use them to liven up outfits. I have bought the 'Love' brooch for my best friend, as I think she may like it :D (fingers crossed!) and it links in with the 'J' scrbble tile ring she got me, which is amazing and which I have mentioned on here before. Unfortunately, after buying it I spotted the 'Tea' version (it wasn't under related products or the brooches when I looked), which would suit her, and me actually, right down to the ground. The sentiment of the love one is nice, and more meaningful, anyway though, so I am sure it is just as good a choice.

This is definitely a site I shall revisit, perhaps for future presents for book loving friends and family, and which offers nice, fairly unique, stock. The shipping costs are quite low as well for first and second class, so that is always good. I will update this if it turns out to be a bad experience with them, but I am pretty sure that it won't be and am greatly looking forward to receiving the brooch and browsing lustfully on there again in the near future.

Homemade Chicken Pie- Attempt 1

It was requested that I make a homemade chicken pie- something I have never done before. I chose a recipe out of a 'comfort food' cookery book and adapted it slightly. For one things it had nuts in the original recipe, and this was for someone who is severly allergic to nuts. Vegetables were also changed and the stock used was different. It turned out well though, according to the hungry tummies that tried it (I don't like pie).

The recipe, as modified, is below:
250g plain flour
Pinch of salt
100g butter
75g solid cooking fat
Roughly 6 tbsp cold water

250ml chicken stock
700g bitesize chicken pieces
100g potato, chopped
1 beaten egg
75g cheddar cheese, grated
2 spring onions, chopped

Mix up the pastry by rubbing together the fat/ butter, salt and flour until it is breadcrumbs, then add the water in slowly, adding more or less as needed until you have a good texture. Wrap it in cling film or a sandwich bag and leave it to cool in the fridge for an hour. The chicken, veg and stock should be prepared while you wait. Heat the stock on the hob until boiling and add the chicken and potato- when it comes to the boil again, simmer for 30 minutes. Then remove from heat and cool for 25 minutes.

Grease your pie tin. Get the pastry out when ready and roll it out to cover the base of the dish, trimming the excess edges with a knife. Drain off the liquid from your filling and add the grated cheese, spring onion and egg, mixing it all together well. Put this inside the pie base.

Roll out the lid of the pie. Brush around the edge of the pie base (as in picture), with water and seal the lid in place by pressing down firmly. If you wish to, you can brush the pastry over with a small amount of milk at this point, to help get an even cover, and add any decorations you may wish to cut with the excess pastry you have left over. Make sure you add two X shaped vent holes at this point (see on finished picture below, one is on far side and opened slightly during baking, and one is to the right of the leaf decoration).

Preheat your oven to 190 degrees celcius (170 fan) or gas mark 5 and bake for 45 minutes.

 Remove it from the oven, plate it up with whatever you like and serve :) Voila!

I was a little reluctant to make a chicken pie without gravy, but the cheese in this gave it a different little twist. It was the only recipe I had to hand at short notice and turned out pretty well. It was agreed that it could benefit from gravy for next time though (you can just serve it with it though, if you prefer), but other than that the actual result got a resounding positive- the. My test subject ( :P ) is a big fan of the pastry on pies in particular and said that this pie definitely lived up to those expectations, so I think the cooking time on the recipe is perfect. A good first effort I think.

Catterday V

A rare moment of peace- sleeping with his toy Zebra- Zebedee :) We still find the little guy all around the house sometimes, although he is sadly missing 2 limbs now as the cats aren't always known for being the most gentle of creatures.

Photo Thursday V

A nice shot from our holiday :) I loved the fact he landed on some fruit and managed to get a fairly nice close up. There will probably be a few more animal/ butterfly pictures pop up on here over the next few weeks.

Finally Experiencing Nirvana

As a child of the 90s, I am somewhat asahamed to say that I am pretty much a Nirvana virgin. Apart from 'Heart Shaped Box' being included on a mix CD made for me, and hearing Lithium on Marley and Me (yes, that is completely shameful I know...) I had been pretty much unaware of the band for most of my life. Of course I had heard Lithium, Come As You Are and Smells Like Teen Spirit amongst others, but I never attributed them to anyone, or knew anything about them at all. The odd story about Kurt Cobain cropping up in the newspapers was probably the most in depth I had ever gotten.

On April 7th I saw the Foo Fighters film though (which is amazing for any fans out there!), and through Dave Grohl learned a little more. I still had little interest in the band though,or should I say, no real motivation to look up more. When I watched Pearl Jam Twenty they cropped up yet again though, plus it is the anniversary of Nevermind this week, so maybe it is time to delve further into them? I am starting with Kerrang's free CD this week. 'Nirvana Nevermind Forever' features covers of all of the original Nevermind tracks. I am listening to it right now and am enjoying it quite a lot actually.

I am not sure why I have never really pursued an interest in Nirvana before- I guess nothing ever really spurred me on to and they weren't anything current that I could read stories about as they happened (if that makes sense?). I am interested though, not so much in the full story even, but just in listening to their music and hearing more about the development of that new music scene from Nirvana and Pearl Jam, to name a couple I know about, emerging from Seattle in those couple of seemingly influencial years. They say Nirvana are an influence on, and somewhat paved the way, for some modern artists, and the floods of messages and comments in the Nevemind anniversary articles seem to back this, so it is worth hearing where it can be traced back to if nothing more. Hopefully I will remember to actually pursue this. The album is just coming to an end and I loved a couple of (new to me) tracks especially, so that is a good start :) I am going to do the same with Pearl Jam too, as I know too few of their songs, and loved a couple that featured in the film. I may update this at some point in the future to share my possible new love of their music.

It's Been a While...

I haven't posted for a few weeks and have actually really missed it. My internet has been messing around loads (I write a post and then it goes and cuts off and won't connect for the rest of the night) and I also had an issue with spilling tea on my laptop (oops!) and then heading off on my roadtrip! It has been a pretty busy couple of weeks really.

I was back to work today though and life is getting back to normal and not the post holiday high so much, so I thought it would be a good time (whilst my net it being alright again as well, touch wood!) to start posting again.

I wasn't sure what to post on this one: I have made lots of progress with my quilt; I have done a few little projects; I have lots of holiday pictures; I saw a good film yesterday (Pearl Jam Twenty) and I have stuff to generally chit chat about I suppose. I decided in the end though that this had to be about one thing: Glee- Season 3.

The new episode has been aired and I sat and watched it in a pretty excited state. I loved the inclusion of 'It's Not Unusual' and had a little bop along (I seem to like the older ones- 'River Deep, Mountain High' is one that stands out in my memory from last season. The episode wasn't one of the best, but it looks like there are some potentially good new strands that will come together to form the main issues of the series. One being Quinn and that great new look she is rocking. So yeah, I am turning into a Gleek. I started watching the later episodes of last series online because I just could not wait for it on E4, and it seems this time I couldn't even bare to go a day without seeing what is new at McKinley high. Oh well. I just have series 1 to watch now then and I guess I can officially join the universal Gleek ranks :D

Catterday IV

This week I wanted to show both brothers together again, so here is a cute snap of them interacting with each other:

Galaxy is in the collar (which he took off about a week later, and has never been found since) and Styx is the one without.

It is the little gesture/ paw out, that gets me smiling everytime at this.

The 10 Minute Cushion

I thought another tutorial might as well be posted since I have made this today. I know my blog seems very sewing orientated at the moment, with the quilt on the go and my random little projects, however, there will probably be a massive gap where I do none at all- I am quite prone to fads in my projects really.

Anyway, this is such a simple way to make a cushion that it can be done in 10 minutes. I bought a cushion insert and some fabric when I was in Ikea, uni shopping with my friend (I just picked up a fabric she said she liked) and it will be a cushion for her, to accompany her quilt.

Start by measuring your cushion. You want the length of the fabric to be 2 and a half times the length of your cushion. For example, for a 50cm cushion, you will need 125cm of fabric. Then mark off the width and allow about 3cm extra when drawing the 'cutting line' on your fabric.Then cut the fabric to this long rectangular shape.

Next up, neaten the two shorter ends, by hemming them. Fold over about 1cm of fabric and sewing (with a sewing machine is best, as it will be stronger, but it can easily be done by hand), along it.

The next part is folding your cushion. You need to make 2 folds.
1) Start with your fabric design side up, measure 25cm (using the 50cm cushion example again, so half the length of your cushion) from one end and 50cm from the other end.
2)You now want to, fold in the ‘flap’ of 25cm (or whatever the ‘half’ length of your cushion is), the back of the fabric should now be facing you.
3)Then fold the other end of the fabric over itself, so the end will now sit on the fold at the other end. This should mean the fabric in front of you is 50cm in length now.
The image below shows the 3 steps, so click it to enlarge if you need to.

Your fabric should now look like this (this is the back of the fabric, it is just a bright one that the design shows through). As you can see, the flap is folded over inside.

Now, simply pin up the edges of the fabric and sew along them. You should now have your complete cushion, just inside out.

As you can see, here is the fold over flap, before we turn the case the right way around:

Now, turn the case the right way around:

Put your cushion insert in:

Next, tuck the flap over the top (like on the inside of a pillowcase), and you should have something that looks like this:

 

As you can see, the flap just sits there. You can secure it with a button or suchlike if you wish, but it is fine just left as seen above. This one piece design with the external flap means that it is easy to remove the cover to wash whenever you wish, as well as being an extra quick way to make your cushions.

There we go :)

Photo Thursday IV

I find it weird that I am already 4 weeks into my blog and am pretty proud to have posted everyday. I won't keep it up for too long I am sure, but this is the most dedicated I have been to anything in a while :)

This week's photo will be a nice one from my last holiday (years ago now :( ), as I wanted to get all my summery ones out of the way whilst it is still technically summer. It could be argued that September brought it to Autumn though, so this is my last chance for quite a while. We will be on snow scenes before we know it!

Here is a beautiful shot of a view down into a harbour in Halkidiki, Greece:

There are a few nice shots of scenery from the holiday, but this is my favourite as it combines the Mediterranean feel white walls, with nature/ greenery and the sea :) It makes me feel warm and transported to that holidaying mood, which I can hopefully capture ready for my roadtripping adventure this September. I definitely need more recent holiday memories, judging by fact this was over 2 years ago now!