The edible bouquet

I see plenty of beautiful flowers in the florist’s window. Supermarkets now stock an abundance of bouquets, and even petrol stations stock enough blooms to cover an emergency hostess gift. But my favourite posy to give is an edible one, picked straight from my herb garden.

 

All you see here is can be eaten! I love picking an array of pretty blooms and leaves and arranging them in a wildflower-style bunch tied with twine.

These posies make me happy, even happier when the recipient discovers that they can snip various leaves and blooms throughout the week to flavour dinners!

The variety of herbs varies week to week – the little purple orbs of chive flowers always look pretty (be careful, though, or the bouquet will smell entirely of onion!) but they died out last week. The soft green sage leaves haven’t grown high enough yet. So what culinary treats are in this particular bouquet? Let’s see...

Start with one perfect rose...

 

Add some more floral colour with bronze fennel flower, lavender and marsh mallow

 

 

The liquid resulting from boiling the marsh mallow plant can be used like egg whites.

Then we need some background greenery. The ferny fronds of sweet cicely and the bold bay leaf work well...

 

 

Need some architectural interest - some arching, frothy bronze fennel leaves

And the dainty white-dotted stems of oregano and savoury

Just caught the oregano flowers before they completely fade

The savoury stems curve up nicely...

I usually give a posy to a fellow foodie friend. To make the offering even more of a ‘proper’ gift, add a little recipe card featuring one or more of the plants in the herbal bouquet – a soup, a salad dressing, even sugared rose petals for cake decorating...

Happy crafting and bon appétit!

Chrissie x

Learning my ABCs...

I’m about to start work on not one, but two alphabet samplers, both very different in style but each with its own challenges and techniques for me to learn.

The first is the S is for Stitch quilt from the book by Kristyne Czepuryk.

I’ve roped in two friends in the village to make quilts with me, so we’ll all learn the quilting together and keep each other going.


The girl's ABC quilt

We met up to rotary cut the white background squares for the embroidery blocks – oh how fun it is to zip that pizza wheel along layers of fabric! *Zoom* and you’ve done a nice stack of squares! (Ah yes, you accomplished quilters, I’m easily impressed!)

I cut tissue squares to trace the alphabet designs from the book, then I popped them on the lightbox to trace onto the fabric with my super-fine marker pen.

This sweet book is divided into two alphabets – one for girls and one for boys. But all the blocks and letters are the same size, so you can mix and match – some of the ‘boy’ letters would suit my girls! I love the simplicity of the stitch designs, and they aren’t your typical ‘A is for Apple’ letters, either...

I’m adapting certain letters to personalise the alphabet for my girls – B is for Bunny, obviously! The book is American, so we’re brainstorming substitutions; for the ‘B is for Baseball’ we’ll doodle a simple play ball, and we’ve decided ‘Q is for Quarter’ (the US 25-cent coin) could be changed to Quack, with a little drawing of a duck (or perhaps a cartoon Freud?).

I’ll keep you posted as I trace and stitch all the letters...and then when I take the plunge and start sewing the quilt. I’ve ordered the fabric (I’ll keep that secret for now), so I am well and truly committed!

As if I wasn’t challenging myself enough with quilting, let me unveil my second sampler, the Flowered Alphabet:

Stunning, isn’t it? I was instantly enchanted by this sampler and had to have it. Of course mine won’t look like this, but hey, I aim high. This lovely gift came with a pre-printed linen square, so all I have to do is work the 16 different stitches onto the flora and fauna scattered about this beautiful fabric...I will learn a lot of new techniques, and if this doesn’t help me master the French knot, then there is no hope for me!

I might have to work on both alphabets simultaneously – when I feel overwhelmed by the Palestrina stitch or the pistil knot of the Flowered Alphabet, I’ll just backstitch a rainbow for the quilt and regain my confidence! I do love a challenge!

Chrissie x
P.S. We have a busy schedule now that we're into summer holidays, lots of fun planned with the kiddos, so if I don't reply to your comments or post anything for a few days, please understand! Happy crafting!

Crack the WIP!

The Blossom Bag was pushed aside and stitching was left in the hoop as I frantically put the finishing touches to the baby blanket I’d been sort-of-secretly working on for a while.

Can you guess why? Yes, my friend’s baby boy couldn’t take this summer heat anymore and arrived early! (Which puts to rest any fancy ideas that I was, maybe, just maybe, making the blanket for a certain royal ‘friend’...c’mon, didn’t you think it for a brief moment when I first showed the WIP? Nah, I didn’t think so...)

I really like the picot edge, this little detail gives the blanket a baby sweetness.

All that’s left now is gift wrapping. I don’t know why I’m rushing, with this heat it’s not like mummy will be using it anytime soon!

I used a soft green shade – Sirdar Snuggly 0403 – and the size is perfect for a pram or a buggy. I enjoyed making the raised shell pattern, where every odd row was worked Back Loops Only.

But wait, there are more babies about!

Here is the second baby robin this year; I guess the fine weather has stimulated a baby boom in the bird world! This fledgling hopped up along the feeder...

Then made himself comfortable sitting squarely on a seed ball! He pecked away for a long while – imagine sitting on a giant chocolate chip cookie you have all to yourself? *Mmmm*

These are the latest brood from the Blackbird Clan, who arrived during our first summer in this house, nearly 10 years ago. I love the friendliness of blackbirds, like robins. They all know me, and most mornings one or two will stand outside the French doors in the kitchen, looking sideways at me as if to say, “Breakfast, please!” Then they sit on a branch, hanging around while I put out the seed.

For a special treat, the girls and I put out handfuls of sultanas or raisins, then sit and watch them scoff the ‘candy’

Steady on, piggy!

 

Little Flower is fascinated by how close they allow us to be. Our back garden has a little area that you can see here – about 15 patio tiles just plonked down by the previous owners, probably for their barbecue, but for us it’s a spacious bird feeding station!

Here is daddy bird, with distinguished patches of grey feathers...

 

I’m afraid there are no more photos of The Woodpecker Family, at least not this summer. The last time I saw Baby Woody, he looked well into his teens, all slimmed down feathers, sassy look in his eye – even the red tuft of feathers on his head looked gel-styled! I grabbed the camera as quick as I could but, alas, he was gone. I’m not sure he even ate that much – perhaps he was just coming to say goodbye. Best of luck to the fella! 

I will end this post with a big swathe of jasmine flowers for my new friends and followers, welcome and thank you for visiting!

Happy crafting!

Chrissie x