adventure number sixteen: easter makes

adventure: felt eggy people and easter bunting

ingredients: felt in various colours, rick rack, duck trim, wooden egg cups, lots of fabric glue, embroidery thread, stuffing, fabric scraps, calico, string, mini pegs

inspiration: springtime, even though it snowed yesterday! The eggy people are easter gifts for my family – i just wanted an excuse to buy the wooden egg cups which were only £2 for 4 in Woolies! Meeper and I made the Easter bunting from scraps of fabric and felt. I am now really excited about bunting and have all sorts of plans including mini bunting! Happy Easter!

adventure number fifteen: steamania!

adventure: mushroom and chestnut buns and parcels of snake beans with spiced peanuts

ingredients: flour, baking powder, peanut oil, sugar, garlic, ginger, mushrooms, chestnuts, soy sauce, spring onions, coriander, green beans, roasted peanuts, lime juice, red onion

inspiration: this is another recipe from Steam it. It was fairly time consuming because of all the preparation needed but the end result was worth it!

adventure number fourteen: we all want some figgy pudding!

adventure: sticky fig and hazelnut puddings

ingredients: toasted hazelnuts, orange juice, dried figs, ginger, cinnamon, orange zest, bicarb, butter, soft brown sugar, self raising flour, honey, marscapone to serve

inspiration: the recipe is from a book called Steam it which i got out of the library. They are assembled by putting a blob of honey (the recipe called for maple syrup but i didn’t have any) and a piece of dried fig into a ramekin and then adding the pudding mixture. I don’t have ramekins but i do have silicone cupcake cases, so i divided the mixture between 12 of these instead of 6 ramekins. I wasn’t sure how different a steamed pudding would taste from a baked one but it makes a really moist and sticky texture that you don’t necessarily get with baking. They were absolutely delicious, but they were very rich and one is enough even though they look small!

adventure number thirteen: minimalist cushion

adventure: envelope back cushion cover

ingredients: calico, white thread, cushion

inspiration: when this chair gets sat on, it gets sat on for a long time and thus, the minimalist cushion was born to soften the experience. It’s made from scraps of calico from a leftover project and i think it wins the award for most used craft!

adventure number twelve: dressing up and hanging out

adventure: paper doll dress

ingredients: lilac and cream felt, scraps of vintage pillowcase, embroidery floss, buttons, rickrack, miniature pegs, string, card

inspiration: the pattern for the dress is by Alicia Paulson in the book Softies: 25 instructions for plush pals and i made it for mummer for mother’s day. I designed the washing line scene for it to hang on. I sewed a pinked rectangle of felt onto some cardboard using my machine, added buttons and made holes for the string washing line. Luckily i had just the right pegs for the job!

adventure number eleven: i just had fruit for breakfast…

adventure: raspberry breakfast muffins

ingredients: self raising flour, butter, milk, sugar, frozen raspberries, eggs

inspiration: another recipe from The Big Book of Bread. Very muffiny!

adventure number ten: refashion

adventure: lopping the sleeves of a polka dot dress

ingredients: scissors, bias binding

inspiration: the dress was handmade by mummer quite a few years ago but the sleeves had always been a bit restrictive. I chopped them off and sewed white bias binding round the raw edges. Not the most exciting adventure but i was really proud of how neatly i sewed the binding on, it’s the first time i’ve got it looking that good!

adventure number nine: anyone for tea?

adventure: chai bath tea bags

ingredients: green tea, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, white cotton, string, vintage wallpaper, calico, tracing paper

inspiration: the idea comes from Making Stuff: an alternative craft book (one of my projects was published in this book, ‘brazen barbie bling’ on p.53), the project is by Susan Beal. I made the teabags as instructed in the book and then got busy packaging them! Each teabag is individually wrapped in an origami envelope made from tracing paper or vintage wallpaper and tied into bundles with string. I then made a drawstring bag from calico, and made a tag for the bag by sewing a pinked square of wallpaper onto a square of card. As a finishing touch, i cut out a flower from the wallpaper and threaded the drawstring through the centre. Phew!

adventure number eight: fun with pesto

adventure: pesto whirls

ingredients: flour, yeast, water, salt, oil, pesto

inspiration: the recipe is from The Big Book of Bread and is basically just some risen dough rolled out into a rectangle, spread with pesto, rolled up, risen again, and baked. Delicious! 

adventure number seven: a treat for the travelodge

adventure: the royal slippers

ingredients: rowan cotton dk (lilac) and rowan cashmerino 4ply (pink)

inspiration: if you have ever stayed in a travelodge for more than one night at a time you will know that it can be a bit of a dreary experience, so the next time i have the pleasure of staying i will have these extravagant slippers to brighten things up! They are worked in moss stitch and are just a rectangle with a few decreases at the end. The pink edging is crocheted in picot stitch and the pom pom i made with a device from my pom pom animal kit. All i need now is a little bag to keep them in…