Shirts and a new book

A very quick blog to show you my postal delivery that arrived this morning.

A new craft book called "The Shirt off his back" by Juliet Bawden.

The reason I bought this book was that I have been given a huge pile of huge shirts and it seems such a waste to let such a big pile of freshly laundered material go to waste.

I really fancy trying the chair covers on the front as my dining chairs have seen better days (Faux suede never keeps clean!!).

And here is another sneaky peak, how cute is this?  Nightshirts for Teddy Bears made from shirt sleeves  :)

I might review this book for this months BOOK REVIEW.


ps: The Amazon links are affiliated  if you click and buy I might get a few pennies.  Just so you know :)

My Lea Stein Collection

For a little while I have been collecting Lea Stein brooches.  I can't remember how I got into them, but I have to be very careful when I am browsing eBay as it can end up costing me a small fortune.

Have a read about her HERE.

I did recognise pieces of hers on the odd occasion that they appeared, but it wasn't until I saw a lady wearing a magnificent one that I decided I might collect them.

I told the lady that I loved her Lea Stein brooch, she looked at me oddly and said "My what dear?"  - "Your Lea Stein brooch" I repeated pointing to it.  "Oh, this old thing, my husband picked it up on a car boot sale a few years ago for a couple of pounds"

I told her to take care of it then as I was pretty sure it was worth around the £100 mark now, in fact that particular one sells for around £150, so I hope she does look after it.

In July 2012 I bought myself the collectors book and drooled my way through it - such gorgeous work.




My first piece soon followed in the same month, I got this little fellow.  Isn't he cute?  I paid £43.04 for this chap.

The following month I treated myself to this cat brooch.  They are quite large pieces, this one measures about  6cm across and cost me £36.97.

The following month I bought this butterfly, this has been my cheapest Lea Stein piece at £26.79 and I have to say, my least favourite so far.

My beautiful ballerina was £37.99 and this is my favourite to date, that might change if I get a fox, I do like the foxes  :)

The latest purchase is this cute key at £31.50.

Have a look on eBay, there are some beautiful designs.  You can tell a Lea Stein brooch by the 'wing' shaped clasp on the back, although some of her earlier pieces are just regular clasps.

I never wear the brooches, I just like to look at them.  Knowing me I would probably leave them pinned to a jumper and end up putting them through a wash and tumble dry!!

Does anyone else collect brooches?

ps: The Amazon links are affiliated  if you click and buy I might get a few pennies.  Just so you know :)

Introducing Madarts

For Christmas I got a lovely piece of artwork from my sister, Julie.  Her friend Maddie had created it and she thought it was right up my street.  It certainly was!

Here it is.....

I love the way the background variates down through the pictures.

I had met Maddie before so I added her on Facebook and liked her MADARTS page.

While browsing through her images I found another that I totally loved, this one reminded me so much of one of my favourite places, Marrakesh, I just simply had to have it.

Makes me long to be back there every time I look at it.

As I have been sorting out and getting rid, I gave Maddie a few bags full of stuff to sell on her eBay site, in return I got given another piece of her art, this one....

It works so well on the wall with the other two.

I have my eye on another as we speak, I love this, the colours just totally work for me.

Go have a look yourself, there may be something you like  :)

www.facebook.com/MadArts68

Perfect cheese sauce

I often hear people moaning about how their sauces are lumpy so they revert to buying jars or tubs in the supermarkets for their lasagne, pies etc...

I have to say I have never had a lumpy sauce.  I learnt this technique from my Mum, Vera, who in turn got it from her Mum, Bertha.  Shona, my daughter, uses it now when she cooks so it must be pretty fail-safe!

The beauty of this sauce is NOTHING is measured, you taste as you go, when it looks good and tastes good it is ready.  This quantity will make three decent sized lasagnes (everyone likes different lasagne in our house!) so adapt to suit your needs.

What you need:

• Strong cheddar cheese, grated
• Plain flour
• Milk
• Mustard Powder (optional, but gives a nice bite)
• Butter (or margarine you can cook with)

What you do:

• Put a blob of butter in a good non stick saucepan (I use Olive Oil spread, but always check you can cook with your chosen margarine or it will split)

• Add half a teaspoon of mustard powder.

• Heat gently until the butter melts

• Add a tablespoon or two of flour, you will become more adept at how much flour you need the more you make it. 

• Stir it in well and add more flour until your mixture turns into a lump and cleans the sides of the pan when your stir it.

• Add a good splosh of milk and stir until it turns back into a lump.  (Don't add too much milk as we will keep repeating this stage to make the sauce nice and smooth)

• Don't be alarmed if it looks like a stodgy pudding gone wrong, keep stirring, it will come back.

• Keep adding milk and stirring until you end up with a nice smooth, if slightly thick, sauce.

• Now add grated cheese and another splosh of milk.  Stir until melted.  Taste - is it cheesy enough?  

• No?, then repeat this step until it is.
• You should end up with something that looks like this  (great action shot huh?)

**This was of course a cheese sauce, but to make a fish pie (not in the slightest bit vegetarian of course) all you do is poach your fish in milk first, then use the milk along side some nice herbs (Dill is good with fish) instead of the milk and cheese above (watch out for bones)

***This sauce is perfect for cauliflower cheese too.

Learning to weave

Accidentally stumbling across the Carlisle yarn shop, Truly Twisted Yarns, after joining Ravely, of course I went to visit and found out there was to be a Weaving class on that very weekend.

Should I, shouldn't I?  Well, of course I should, so I did  :)

The class was held in the work area next to the shop by the lovely Jan Beadle.  The looms were all set up (or  'dressed' as I believe is the correct terminology) and ready to go.  We were working on an Ashford 4 shaft table loom and I now want one of my own!

After a little demo on how to thread our bobbins, how to insert a bobbin into a boat shaft and of course how to use the loom, we were set to play.

Off we went to Truly Twisted Yarns next door with one of those massive supermarket reusable shopping bags to fill them up with our chosen yarn colours.

I picked these, but I did add a few more colours throughout the day.

I did an inch or so under Jan's watchful eye to check I wasn't totally messing up then I was off!

This class has been running for a little while and the aim today was to learn a new stitch/technique - as I was a newbie I chose just to do a little of this and concentrate on the weaving itself.

The technique was "Leno Weaving" which is basically twisting the warp threads with your fingers.  It looks something like this.
 

I used it on my borders.

Lunch was included at the marvellous Bobbins Café which is part of the mill shop. You could choose from the vast menu, I had a yummy Brié and Cranberry granary roll.

Then back to it.  I cannot believe how quickly the time flew by, all too soon it was time to take my scarf off the loom.

 When you are weaving you only actually see about 5" of the work as it gets rolled up, so it's a lovely surprise when it all gets unrolled and you get to see it for the first time.

I have to say I was quite impressed with the way my pattern had turned out considering it was so random.

I trimmed off the stray bits - this was difficult for me, being a knitter/crocheter, I wanted to darn in the ends, but apparently they are fine just trimmed.  I think I will be forever expecting it to fall apart!

Now time to remove a little edge thread, put in place to stop it all fraying, and tie the fringing.  I decided I wanted it just knotted, although you can rope the ends or plait them.  So I did a loose knot first, then tightened them all up nice and neat.

All that is left to do is to trim the fringe and wash the scarf.  You need to give it a good hand wash to allow the yarn to "bloom". I was told that yarns on cones often have oils on them due to machinery and other things that I cannot quite remember, but when these are washed out the yarns puff up and become fluffy and full.  Looking forward to that bit!  There was quite a different in feeling our newly made scarves and ones that had been made and washed.

I thoroughly enjoyed this class, so much so that I have booked to attend the next one which is 18th May (if anyone is interested in having a go, contact Sue on sue@trulytwistedyarns.co.uk 

Off to look on eBay now for a loom.......:)

Mixed Veg & Edam Pie

I always have a bag of mixed veg in my freezer, it is so versatile.  Brilliant when the kids were young as I could make all sorts of different things with it on the cheap.

Fresh vegetables can be really expensive, and do not keep well.  Have you noticed that?  I few years ago carrots used to keep for ages, if you don't use them within a couple of days now you are throwing them out (or feeding them to the guinea pigs as in my case)

Frozen vegetables are generally quite horrible, in my opinion anyway, chewy, soggy, black bits, carrot tops - bleurgh!  But you can use them in a way that they end up being very tasty.

I have quite a few recipes that I use with the same bag of mixed veg, this particular one was from a good few years ago when I was 17 and went to stay on the Isles Of Scilly with a friends family.  As Islanders they only did a food shop once a month, so this was an easy "freezer" meal they could bash up from very little.

Mixed Veg and Edam Pie.

You will need:

• Bag of mixed veg  (mine is the supermarkets own brand for £1.00 a bag)
• A wedge of Edam cheese
• Packet of pastry (shortcrust, puff - or make your own)
• Egg or milk to glaze

What you do:

• Roll out the pastry and line a suitable pie dish with it.   (Please ignore my horrible baking tin, I have some lovely pie-dishes but they are family sized, and with 2 out of 3 of my children having flown the nest, I no longer need to make huge family sized pies!)

• Slice the cheese thinly, one average size wedge will do a family sized pie.

• Lay some cheese slices on the pastry.

• Add a few handfuls of mixed veg (no need to thaw)

• Add another layer of cheese
• Add another layer of veg, then finish with cheese.

• Dampen the edges of the pastry with a little water, then pop a pastry lid on and glaze with beaten egg (or milk)

• Cook at Gas 7 for around 30 mins or until a nice golden brown colour.

• Serve.