snap happy skirt

This camera print fabric has been sitting patiently in my stash for over a year. It's funny how you can be desperate to buy something and have a clear vision of what you want to make but only get around to it a year later. Amanda's camera print skirt earlier this month reminded me that I still hadn't used my fabric so I quickly set to work on my skirt. Thanks Amanda for the inadvertent boot up the backside!

I originally found the fabric through Char as she made an awesome dress with this fabric in the brown/taupe colourway. I was absolutely smitten with the print because I'm a Diana camera fan so I immediately tried to track down the fabric. Sadly I could get my hands on 1.25m but thankfully that was enough for the skirt I had in mind.

The skirt pattern is the same as my Santa skirt from last Christmas, a self drafted yoke/curved waistband with a gathered skirt, although I reshaped the side seams to improve the fit. The top of the waistband seams were tapered in by about an inch on each side to hug my shape better (perhaps I've changed shape?) I also kept a bit more skirt length by only turning up the hem by an inch in total before topstitching in place. Fun fact: I ran out of coordinating thread 3/4 way around the hem so the last quarter is finished in a slightly different shade. Not that anybody would notice!

There wasn't enough camera fabric to make the waistband facing without piecing it together so I used plain black cotton from my stash. The black acetate-type lining was also from my stash.

As the white selvedge was well within a 5/8inch seam allowance I decided to use it for my skirt seams. I love the cute colour charts and designer information on selvedges so it's fun to use it as a hidden garment detail. It also meant I didn't need to finish my side seams. Hurray!

I'll finish this post with a dorky photo of myself pretending to take a photograph with my Diana mini in my new skirt. It had to be done, didn't it?

Say cheese!

blueberry and pecan crumble loaf

This cake was so close to not getting photographed. Each time I came back to the cake tin another slice was missing so I thought I'd better take a few snaps before it disappeared completely.

Admittedly I have baked and documented this cake before, but that was surprisingly a long time ago in my first year of blogging so I thought it was worth sharing again. The cake has a lovely soft crumb, bursts of bright purple blueberries and a satisfyingly spiced, crunchy crust. The blueberries all sink to the bottom, regardless of a light flour coating, but it doesn't spoil the cake.

I was having an absent minded moment when I was measuring out the ingredients so I have a feeling I added 25g/1oz too much butter. I was rushing to get the cake in the oven before last week's episode of the Great British Bake Off so I was probably thinking about how much I loved Matt the fireman. It's a good job I had a freshly baked cake after that episode as I was very sad about the outcome.

The cake took far longer to bake than the 50-60 minutes stated in the recipe but I see I had exactly the same experience the last time I baked this cake.  It easily needed another 20 minutes.

Not much else to add, other than that it's a relatively quick, easy cake to bake and the addition of cinnamon and crumble gives it a comforting autumnal quality. I bet it would be good with custard. Mmmm, custard. Custard on everything.

Recipe from Hummingbird Bakery "Cake Days" book, first blogged here.

fabric, sparkly shoes and knitting

Now isn't that a great title for a blog post? As mentioned in my last post, I'm currently celebrating the end of a long period of anxiety and stress. Last week it was baking a cake, this week it's retail therapy in the form of pretty fabric and sparkly shoes from Tesco. Every girl/woman needs a pair glittery pink shoes.

The fabric on the left is a deliciously soft, retro patterned needlecord destined to become a cute Tilly and the Button's Delphine skirt. On the right is a cheery Scandinavian folk style floral print in lots of very "me" colours. I bought plenty for a dress but I'm not sure which style to go for, other than I definitely want big patch pockets.

And lastly, I've started a new knitting project: an Agatha cardigan by Andi Satterlund. I have admired so many beautiful versions online over the last couple of years, but always thought the lace work was way beyond my knitting capabilities. However I have successfully knitted a few smaller items this year, learning something new with each piece, so I decided now was the time to take the plunge.

I'm not going to lie, the first 8 rows were brutal! I genuinely thought my brain was going to melt as I really struggled to decipher the pattern and get to grips with yarn overs. My mum was away when I started this so *gasp* I had nobody to consult when I inevitably made mistakes or needed to learn a new stitch. All I can say is thank goodness for YouTube knitting tutorials! And awesome knitting/sewing blogger Jo from Making It Well who took the time to reply to my daft questions when I misunderstood the instructions. Oh, and stitch markers. I'm definitely thankful for stitch markers.

It's a steep learning curve but I'm loving the challenge so far. I'm also delighted that circular needles don't make my hands ache unlike straight needles. The pretty lace patterns are really coming to life now which is fun to see. I can't help but go "wow, I made that!" Knitting is magical, mind-bending, compulsive stuff.

I am taking a bit of a risk with the project though in that I fall between two sizes and I'm using a DK weight wool (Jamiesons of Shetland - love their stuff!) instead of an aran. I did a test swatch and my theory is that if I knit the larger size with smaller needles appropriate for my lighter weight yarn then I should end up with an inbetween size for me. I've stretched what I've knitted so far across my shoulders (it's knitted top down) and the fit looks hopeful.

Please excuse the dodgy night time light in the following photograph, but this made me laugh...

...can you tell I love ochre/mustard yellow?

mini raspberry bakewell cake

Last week I had cause for celebration -  an issue which has been causing me immense stress and anxiety throughout the whole of this year has finally been resolved. I feel like a massive weight has finally been lifted off me. Hopefully I'll start sleeping better and stop feeling like such an emotional wreck.

Anyway, that was a bit deep and vague. Let's talk about cake. Basically the first thing I wanted to do to celebrate was bake a cake. A little raspberry and almond cake.... all for me!

The recipe is from BBC Good Food and I halved the quantities to fit the mixture in a 6 inch cake tin.  I also added a few dollops of raspberry jam in the middle of the cake as I only had a handful of raspberries and I subbed the vanilla extract for almond essence for an extra almond kick as it's something I mentioned doing the last two times I used this recipe - first time here and a blackberry version here.

The cake was every bit as good as I remembered, possibly better since I oomphed up the almond flavour. I had a piece fresh from the oven and it was just the most comforting thing ever - warm almond sponge, squidgy raspberries and crunchy flaked almonds. Perfect.

Last night I warmed up a slice, made a big mug of tea and sat down to do some knitting whilst watching Ghosts of Mars on tv. A pretty fantastic Sunday evening, I'm sure you'll agree!

Mini raspberry bakewell cake

75g ground almonds

75g margarine/softened butter

75g golden caster sugar

75g self raising flour

1 large egg

1/4 tsp almond essence 

100g (ish) of raspberries. I only had about 50g so added a couple of teaspoonfuls of jam for flavour

handful of flaked almonds

icing sugar, for serving

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/ Gas 4 and grease and line a 6 inch cake tin. Put the ground almonds, butter, sugar, self raising flour, egg and almond essence in a large bowl and mix everything together for about a minute until well blended. 

Spread half of the mixture into the base of the cake tin and scatter half your raspberries on top. If you're short of raspberries like me, just put a few small dollops of raspberry jam on top to make up the difference. Spread the rest of the cake mixture on top. Arrange the remaining raspberries on top and scatter with a handful of flaked almonds. 

Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 40-45 minutes until risen, light golden and firm to touch. A skewer inserted into the centre of the cake should come out clean. Leave to cool for 5 minutes or so before taking it out of the tin. Cool on a wire rack or serve warm with a dusting of icing sugar on top.