I am so pleased with how this bag turned out! The waste canvas was incredibly easy to use. To remove it from the bag all you had to do was dampen the canvas then, using tweezers, remove it. I am going to use it as a gift bag for a friend’s Christmas present.
This is the first thing I made from my Knitting and Stitching Fair haul. When I saw the beads I instantly knew that I wanted to make a necklace to wear to my graduation to jazz up an otherwise boring outfit. I am not the most confident of jewellery makers and haven’t had much experience of doing so hence why I stuck to such a simple design; a simple string of chilli pepper beads interspersed with haematite chips and a clasp at one end. I think it worked very well on the day and suited its purpose well and it only cost me around £4!
My aunty said I could include a picture of the necklace she made; she used groups of 5 chilli pepper beads interspersed with haematite chips and I think it looks great!
I had been looking forward to the 2013 Knitting and Stitching Fair in Harrogate since last year. For the 2012 show I bought whatever I fancied and didn’t go with anything in mind. This time around, however, I made a list of things I needed for specific projects so I wouldn’t end up with lots of things I may never use. I bought most of the things on my list (and ended up with a few extras too). I went with my aunt and uncle as my aunty is really into crafts herself and is very creative. We had such a great time looking at all the stalls and the seemingly endless number of crafts we could try out. I cam away with a lot of inspiration for projects to try out in the future such as embroidered tote bags and beaded Christmas baubles. Some of the projects I have in mind to make with my Knitting and Stitching Fair haul will have to go on the back-burner, however, as I have a lot of Christmas things still to make.
All my Knitting Stitching Fair goodies!
Here is a quick run down of everything I bought and the projects I have in mind for them.
Glass Chilli Pepper Beads
These were one of the first things my aunt and I came across at the show. At first we were going to come back to them but we soon decided to snap them up in case they were gone when we came back. I also bought some clasps and some grey-silver beads to make a necklace from them. I couldn’t resist as they are so unique probably because they are handmade, they were also a bargain at £5 for the whole string! Although not on my list I am glad I picked them up as we saw some beads at 75p a pop so it was a good deal.
Flower and Pom-Pom Trim
Although not on my list I am glad I bought these two very different pieces of trim. I plan on using the flowery trim to edge a plain black t-shirt. The pom-pom trim I may use for a cushion. These two trims were bought from an amazing stall where I could have spent a fortune; there was so much choice and so many different designs.
Brown Thread
I bought the brown thread for one of the projects I chose before I went to the show; an owl cushion from Storyland Cross Stitch. By mistake I bought two skeins of the same colour!
Off-White Egyptian Cotton, Cross Stitch Material and Plain White Cards
At the top of my list of things to buy was material to cross stitch on and I found a HUGE piece of it for only £4.50. Also on my list was some plain material for cushions so I picked up some off-white Egyptian cotton for £4, another great bargain! A bit of a boring but necessary purchase was some plain white cards.
Wool!
This definitely was not on my list as I cannot knit but when I saw these two balls of wool for only £2 and £1 a piece I thought why not as they would come in handy for something. I actually have two projects in mind one of which I will share in another post. For the pink wool I am going to make a scarf/neck piece using 10mm needles which the woman on the stall assured me would be an easy project to complete.
Tea Cosy Supplies
A project I have been keen to embark on since my friend gave me Stitch! by Cath Kidston is a tea cosy so I jotted down the required bits and pieces on my ‘to-buy’ list. They were: red wool for a pom-pom, red trim, embroidery thread in various colours (I bought purple, yellow, green, blue and pink for only 50p a skein!), heavy wadding, cross stitch material and plain cotton. I managed to find everything at the show and can’t wait to start making a tea cosy!
Every two years for the past six years Durham has played host to Lumiere; a festival of light. The previous two events I have been unfortunate enough to miss but this year I eagerly anticipated its arrival. For four days, well nights, the streets of Durham became lit up by the magical lights of the Lumiere. Although I didn’t get to see all of the exhibitions it was still a great event. My favourite by far was Durham cathedral onto which the Lindisfarne gospels were projected to music.
There was also a lifesize elephant walking down Elvet Bridge…
Four cars full of fake flowers demonstrating the effects of global warming…
A telephone box full of fish…
Stick figures dancing on the old Miner’s Dance Hall on North Road…
A cardboard brass band playing at County Hall…
A clock telling the time in the vaguest of ways…
And a HUGE music system projected onto the side of the passport office. Spectators could tweet their song choice to the lumiere dj and it would get played. As it played the lights would move in time to the music.
Whilst staying at my boyfriends house we came across some vanilla pods in his parent’s spice rack. I was intrigued as I had cooked with vanilla pods before and had always wanted to. I searched for a delicious recipe in which this ingredient was key and settled on a vanilla cheesecake topped with caramelised pineapple. The recipe was from Thomasina Miers’s Mexican Food Made Simple. The cheesecake tasted amazing especially the pineapple. The recipe can be found below along with some handy hints about baked cheesecakes.
Caramelising the pineapple
Vanilla Cheesecake with Pineapple Caramel
For the caramel
Preheat the oven to 150C. Lightly grease a 26cm springform cake tin and line the base and sides with baking paper. To make the base melt the butter and whiz the biscuits in a food processor. Mix together and gently flatten on to the base of the tin. Put in the fridge to chill.
Meanwhile, mix the sugar and cornflour together. Beat in the cream cheese, egg yolks and vanilla extract with an electric whisk. Gradually add the crams, whisking as you do so. Finally add the salt and lime zest.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks, then fold them carefully into the cheese mixture with a large metal spoon. Pour on to the chilled base and bake in the oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the cheesecake is golden on top. Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake to completely cool in the oven and only then remove the baking powder.
For the caramel, first melt the butter in a hot pan and fry the pineapple until is is caramelised and golden, seasoning with the salt and 1 tsp of the sugar. Remove from the pan and add the rest of the sugar in its place together with 100ml water. When the sugar has dissolved, turn the heat right up until the sugar has turned a deep, dark golden colour.
Turn the heat down, add another 140ml water, watching for the caramel’s spitting and let it bubble for a few minutes so that the sugar dissolves again and the syrup thickens. Add the pineapple and serve drizzled over the cheesecake.
Top tips for this recipe:
…and I have finally decided on which Christmas chutney I will be making this year, after lots of umming and aahing. The recipe this year is a mixture between a recipe I found in Jams and Chutneys book and the magazine Woman and Home. I decided to make the chutney about a month in advance to allow the flavours to develop. The Woman and Home recipe had a great idea for making the jars look special too by using festive material and ribbon to cover the jar lids which I definitely will be experimenting with. I will post a picture of the chutney jars with their fancy lids when I have made them.
Decorated with festive fabric and ribbon!
Here is the recipe in a nutshell…
Spiced Cranberry, Fig and Date Chutney
Sterilised jars
Put the dried fruit, apples, onions, garlic, ginger, chillies, cinnamon, sugar and salt in a large heavy pan. Add the vinegar and stir so that all the ingredients are well combined.
Bring the mixture to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has reached the desired consistency.
Pour into hot sterilised jars, cover with vinegar-proof seas, and label. Store in a cool, dark place.
I had been longing for this design for months so I finally bought it after I was paid. As per usual I raided my, now diminishing, stock of thread for the colours I needed for the pattern. I don’t have any one in mind to give this to or any idea what I will do with the finished project I am just happy enough stitching it up at the moment. I had to make myself a key because of the number of colours required for this pattern (which you can see in the picture below).
I have been obsessed with the idea of using waste canvas ever since I read about it in the first issue of Cross Stitcher I ever bought last July and I finally bought some on the weekend. I ended up buying some because my mum got a free make-up bag when she bought something from Boots and gave it to me. Its completely plain and was just screaming out for something to be sewn onto the front of it so I thought what better way than to cross stitch on it by using waste canvas. I chose pattern from issue 271 of Cross Stitcher which they designed for a coaster. It is a geometric-Aztec inspired pattern which I thought would look great in the middle of the make-up bag.
In order to use waste canvas you pin it onto the material you want to cross stitch. I cut my piece to size and then pinned it onto the front of the bag. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be to stitch onto the bag mainly because of the waste canvas.
…and today’s post features three Christmas tree baubles. The patterns are from ‘Scandi Style’ pattern book free with a Christmas edition of Cross Stitcher last year. The designs caught my eye when I first saw them last year and marked the pages as something to consider one Christmas. I decided to stitch three of the patterns up for my Christmas baskets I am making for family. Unfortunately there is an error in the pattern book as it does not contain one of the patterns but after googling I found it here on the Cross Stitcher website (I think there was an error during printing!). I love Scandi-inspired cross stitch patterns as the colour schemes and designs are very simple; each of the designs I worked with only used two colours and took a few hours to make.
I thought I would include how to make the baubles too.
First of all I trimmed the finished pieces. I marked an inch from the edge of each design to make sure I had a good amount of seam allowance. I then pinned each piece to white material then red gingham and cut the material to size.
Next I sandwiched the stitched piece in the middle of the white fabric and the gingham right sides together and pinned a loop of red ribbon inside so it could hang on a tree. Then, using a sewing machine I sewed the three materials together leaving about a 2 inch gap at the bottom. Afterwards I turned the piece the right way out, stuffed with polyester stuffing and pinned close the gap. Using white thread I then sewed closed the gap adding a little gold bell to the bottom as I went.
As a massive fan of Larry David my boyfriend has been after this cross stitch for a while. I bought it from bombastitch a couple of days ago so I could stitch it up in time to give him for Christmas.
crossstitchandkeepsakes 