“Ta...” oh wait, no “dah”, yet...

I am so close to being finished with Miss Mouse. I was all ready to unveil her for the ‘Ta-dah’ moment today, but alas, life gets in the way, and I wasn’t able to finish her last night. Soon...

So how ‘bout a spot of baking, then? Chocolate chip shortbread, anyone?

I love love love to bake. I learned it loooong before I started crafting, with the World’s Greatest Baker, my Grandma, as my guide and inspiration.

When the world is too much, I hide in the kitchen and mix up something scrumptious. Baking calms and centres me, helps me to focus on the task at hand and forget whatever else is complicating life – and best of all, we all get yummy treats as a result! You won’t find that in any yoga class... ;-)

My baby-pink Kitchenaid mixer is my favourite thing in the whole wide world. If the house was burning down, I’d leave the photos and grab this. The children can find their own way out.

The best thing about my mixer is that it allows me to multi-task. While it’s whipping away a buttercream frosting, I’m tidying the ingredients away and washing up (the longer you whip the frosting, the fluffier it gets. I’m talkin’ a good 8-10 minutes). And because it makes it all so easy, I use it *a lot*. Best investment. There’s always some homemade goodies around, and I also keep a stash of cookies in the freezer for lunchboxes and drop-in guests.

Here she is at work on the shortbread. Oops, I forgot to give the recipe! This is a good standby when you need something in a hurry, as the ingredients should all be readily available. I created this recipe after testing out a few others (in UK/US measurements):

225g/8oz butter, room temperature

100g/4oz golden caster sugar (US: granulated sugar), plus extra for dusting

225g/8oz plain flour

75g/3oz cornflour (cornstarch)

100g/4oz chocolate chips

Cream the butter and sugar until mixed, but do not whip it pale and fluffy (see photo above).

Combine the plain flour and cornflour, then gradually add to the butter and sugar, mixing until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Hey! Get out of there! (This is Little Flower, my 3-year-old baking assistant, obviously checking my technique.)

Press the mixture into a 23cm/9in square pan. At this point, most recipes say to smooth with a spatula or knife, but this can be a bit fiddly. Try dipping a spoon in a small cup of water, then smoothing the surface with the back of the spoon

Make sure the spoon isn’t dripping wet – just wet enough so the dough doesn’t stick to the spoon. See the difference? Then prick all over with a fork and pop in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 170◦C/325◦F. Bake for 35-45 minutes until pale gold. Put the tin on a cooling rack, score with a knife into squares or bars, then sprinkle all over with sugar. Try to wait until they cool...but I can testify that they are very tasty when I impatiently nibble one while still warm, they are delicious when cool, and they provide just the right amount of sweet and carbs to satisfy a mid-afternoon slump, with a hot cup of tea of course!

Here’s a tip that seems obvious but for some reason I never figured out until I saw it: to make evenly sized bars or squares, don’t start scoring at the left side and work your way over, like I used to do, ending up with some even rows and then a narrow one at the end. Cut the whole thing in half, then cut each half in half, and hey-ho, you have even rows!

Have a lovely weekend, and happy crafting!

Chrissie x

The Wall...

...two floors’ worth of white. A blank canvas if ever I saw one.

We have lived in this house for nine years. Nothing has ever hung on that wall. Not back when we moved in, when it was a bright yellow wall above a royal blue sponge-effect wallpaper below the dado rail (complete with royal blue border with bright yellow fleur-de-lis, very early ‘90s), not since we painted it the creamy white neutral shade (oh-so-calming new-century style). See the edge of a big framed print sitting on the landing? That has sat there for at least one year, if not longer. I lose track.

So, since no one can get around to hanging the print on The Wall, then I claim The Wall as my own creative space. I declare a Gallery of Craft & Creativity! Hoorah!

I have decided that The Wall would be the perfect place to display my progress with various crafts. Perhaps even an ever-changing or seasonal display...mini quilts, needlework, freestyle machine embroidery...hmmm, the possibilities...

But do I wait until I have enough to fill the wall? That might take a long while. Maybe piece by piece, so it grows with my experience (and hopefully gets better with experience, too!). I think I will start with this

This jaunty little number is called Tree of Joy, a lovely pattern I purchased here, from Carina of Carina’s Craftblog. Carina has designed so many bright and beautiful patterns! This is one of my first pieces of intricate embroidery, and I’m sure some of you are thinking, ‘yes, I can see that’! But I really loved doing this piece – working on it made me realise that I truly enjoy needlework and that I want to commit to learning more (have you ever felt that, with a new craft? It’s a make-or-break moment.).

The colours and design make me happy. I used it to practice a range of stitches, colour combinations, stitch lengths, etc. I find that as a newbie to embroidery, one of the basic challenges is consistent stitch length. This is more difficult than I thought it would be, and it only seems to improve with practice, practice, practice. With every craft you can find so many tips and hints, a YouTube video to demonstrate practically anything, but I think that for most, the basic, beginning techniques can only be mastered with repetition.

I worked this piece with my embroidery seat frame. I first used one at a ribbon embroidery class (I can’t wait to tell you about that one, sooo pretty!) This handy gadget allows me to have both hands free while I stitch – helpful when learning certain stitches where I need to hold a thread in place, or when I’m tired of holding a hoop. The flat wooden bit at the bottom goes under my leg when I sit down, and the stand is adjustable so I can raise or lower it. You can find one here.

So the Tree of Joy will bring happiness and colour to that empty white wall, soon to be joined by other creations. I will take a photo of it when it’s up. And perhaps a photo of dear hubby’s puzzled face when he sees a small hoop of pretty needlework hanging on the big wall, eh?

Happy crafting!

Chrissie x

Come in and stay a while...

While I’m WIPping together Miss Mouse, let me invite you in for a visit

Here’s the entry hall. How very neutral, yes? Must keep it tasteful for the general public. But you, my dear new friends, you are a creative lot, full of life and imagination, so please, let me welcome you to other rooms

Now that’s more like it, isn’t it? Well, except that I’ve invited you straight into my girls’ bathroom. Not as cosy as the sitting room, but hey, this is where I’ve been most creative, so I just had to show it off first! We’ll go downstairs later and be grown up.

With my children, I feel I can be free and silly and creative with abandon. I would never paint a sitting room bright turquoise (well, not unless I lived in Miami), but here it just was fun and happy. Anyway, I kept the suite and tiles white so we can paint it more neutral shades later if we want.

The crochet bunting was the first project I completed. This was from Nicki Trench’s lovely ‘Cute & Easy Crochet’ book, which is a must-have if you’re relatively new to crochet and love pretty projects!

The bunting colours led me to the cabinets

These were white and oak Ikea cabinets from my early married days, back when my dear hubby and I had a teeny flat in London and no children. So simple Scandinavian chic, but so *boring* on the bathroom walls of my girls’ loo! So a few sample pots of Dulux paint, a spray of varnish and voila! Matching towel rail and loo roll holder, cheap and simple.

What else in these pics? I started to learn to sew with the basket liner, in gorgeous Tilda fabric, but I’ve only done one basket so far (I remembered the other basket when taking this photo – add it to my WIP list!).

I know what you’re thinking. The rug. Ah, the crocheted rug. The meadow with flowers. I think I went off the deep end on this one, but I use the little ones as my excuse. It was just so funny, I found it in an old crochet mag and thought it would give the perfect kitsch note to the room. It worked, don’t you think? Mad! I think I’ll be doing a patchwork bathmat in the near future to bring my feet back down to earth...

Here are my very first embroideries. I was inspired by Aimee Ray’s ‘Doodle Stitching’ book, which made an ancient craft so very accessible and fun. I matched some of her designs with some songs I sing with my girls. This was a fun way to learn basic stitches (though French knots with gold and silver thread, ack!).

Oh, I do tend to ramble on a bit, please beg my pardon, I will let you go back to your day. We’ll get to other rooms soon enough, and they won’t take nearly as long to see.

Before I go, I want to say an enormous, heartfelt ‘thank you’ to everyone who viewed and commented on my first post. I wasn’t sure how or if my blog would be interesting to anyone – I felt like I was arriving late to a big party. But I was so very happy to see that so many at this party have welcomed me so immediately and warmly! I do think I will stay a while...

It’s always easier to arrive at a party with a friend already waiting to greet you, and my biggest thanks goes to the super-creative and talented Jooles, who led so many of you here. Thank you, my friend, we’re going to have so much fun!

Thank you all so very much for stopping by!

Happy crafting,

Chrissie x