Friday 17 August 2012

Tortilla Love


My Baby Boy doesn't really like bread.  This is a nightmare in a house where the rest of us would happily live on bread, brie and red wine - the latter obviously for the adults ;-).  He will eat toast occasionally but his not-fussed-on-bread habit provides me with a lunchtime challenge.

I've been making my own bread for ages now - it is infinitely tastier the shop bought variety - and now I'm in a bread making routine, it's no hassle at all.  I ditched my bread maker a long time ago (not a fan of the texture or sweetness) in favour of a largely hand baked variety - ok I do cheat a leeeeetle by doing some of the kneading in my kitchenaid.  The River Cottage bread book has provided a wealth of recipes and advice and my friend Natalie, who is a Bakery student, has been great with troubleshooting.  I've even tried sourdough - an absolute must.

This week I came across a section in the book that I had largely ignored - it contained recipes for some things I had baked in the past, like scones and soda bread, and other recipes I had never even considered baking for myself.  Here I found the  recipe for tortillas.  My first reaction was that life is too short to be baking homemade tortillas.  My opinion after baking them is that I will never, ever buy a shop bought flour tortilla again.

So easy to make, and so tasty and fresh.  The recipe calls for 250g plain flour, 5g salt and 150ml of water which are mixed together and then kneaded - in the kitchenaid in my case.  The dough is then rested for half an hour in a bowl covered with clingfilm.  After this time the dough is divided into eight balls and then rolled out thinly into circular shapes.  Mine weren't that circular to be honest.  To cook them you simply heat a dry frying pan and cook on both sides for 30 seconds or so (I did mine for a bit longer).  The tortillas can be kept warm in a clean dry tea towel while you cook all eight. 

We've had tortillas with various fillings probably every day this week - the Baby Boy in particular is a big fan :-D

Thursday 16 August 2012

Complete


I completed my Rainbow Bright Blanket!  It only took me two days - must be the quickest thing I've ever knitted from start to finish.  Recovery from illness brought productivity! I snapped this Instagram photo in the midday sun today - two hours later and it is hosing down.

I love knitting, but making this blanket made me realise how much I LOVE knitting.  Even though it is August, I've started thinking about - ahem - Christmas.  I've dug out a load of sock yarn I've been hoarding and I'm wondering how many pairs of socks I might make as festive gifts.  Always better to plan these things early!

Thursday 9 August 2012

Rainbow Bright Recovery Blanket

I loved Rainbow Brite when I was growing up, hence the inspiration behind the blog post title!
This project is a brightly coloured rainbow blanket I'm making for a friend's baby:


I saw an amazing baby blanket while browsing on Pinterest earlier in the week and decided I had to make it or something similar.  I'm using my leftover stash of Rico Creative Cotton for it.
The word 'recovery' in the blog title is a reference to why I'm sitting around knitting during the school holidays when I should be rushed off my feet.  I alluded in a previous blog post to a challenging time in my life.  Three weeks ago I had my fourth miscarriage and it has been a devastating and difficult time.  Given the school holidays and my husband starting a new job I opted for a 'watch and wait' policy rather than any medical intervention.  Despite the events of this week, I still maintain this was the right choice for my family and myself.   On Monday afternoon I started bleeding heavily and this persisted into the evening.  After three near faints at home I was admitted to hospital.  They thankfully managed to deal with the cause of the bleeding but after fainting twice due to the blood loss, I ended up staying two nights in hospital and having a blood transfusion.

I am now home and on the mend, albeit very tired and a bit weak!  My parents and my amazing church family have been great in helping with my children and words can't even begin to describe how fabulous my husband has been.  I am resting up, hence plenty of  knitting time and the project is progressing well.  Bizarrely my friend had her baby while we were both in the same hospital at the same time but obviously in very different circumstances.   It seems appropriate that what has been a bit of an outing to say the least, a  is channelled into something positive!

Monday 23 July 2012

Feeling Groovy

The groove is back!  I have actually managed to channel my restlessness into some creative energy.  This is a completed quilt top that I've made for a friend's baby:



It is very simply made with 5" squares framed with 2.5" strips.  I'm not entirely sure I was concentrating when I did the colour placement, but with only three main colours there wasn't much to play with!  I think it works and I'm sure the binding and quilting will make a difference.

I'm also working on a project for another friend - this time a birthday gift:


A nice pile of 9 patch squares - 18 in total!  There's a way to go with this one and I'm yet to decide on the final design of the quilt top :-/  I know it will be based on an Irish Quit design but there ends my decision making thus far.  Two weeks to decide and finish - it will be fine, it will be fine...!

Monday 16 July 2012

Restless

I'm experiencing a bit of a challenging time in my life currently.  Consequently I seem to be extremely restless - I'm finding it very hard to maintain interest in any of my usual enjoyable, crafty pursuits.  My work room is covered in fabric - I've started three projects in as many days - but I have no inclination to finish anything.  I hope this unnatural phase will pass soon!

I snapped a few pics of my snowball quilt last week - just to show the detail.



Tuesday 26 June 2012

Grey Day

It's a grey day here today.  The weather is definitely not summery - it's raining and the heating is on.  What's worse is the fact that it's that horrible penetrating drizzle which makes everything and everyone miserable!  As a result I'm having a cwtchy sort of afternoon as I've nowhere to be til this evening - not even a school run.  While the Baby Boy sleeps I am crafting - cutting fabric for a quilt for my friend's new baby.  I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with the design yet though!


In contrast to today, the weekend was lovely - the odd shower but plenty of sunshine.  We had a relaxing weekend in Warwickshire at the in-laws, where I managed to finish the snowball quilt!


It was sunny and dry enough to photograph the quilt on grass!  I must try and get some pics of the detail this week but I just wanted to share the overall effect. 

Wednesday 20 June 2012

Wild West

My son's bedroom is decorated with a Cath Kidston cowboy theme.  You can never have too much cowboy print in a boy's bedroom in my opinion!  I've completed the quilt I started for the Baby Boy just before we went on our family holiday.

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It is a simple charm quilt - I never tire of this sort of quilt.  The cowboy print is obviously Cath Kidston while the majority of the checks, stripes and plaids are from a barginous fabric bundle which I got from Fabric Rehab as a mother's day pressie (I chose it myself).    The starry prints are from an old Moda range called 'Bar Harbour' which I had in my stash.  I loved this range which is now discontinued, although you occasionally come across the odd few meters online.


The backing and binding are two different colourways of the same print from the  Moda 'Reunion' line - another range I absolutely love.  I just seem to be drawn towards nautical and red, white and blue prints!


The pattern reminds me of cowboy scarves!

The quilting is practically invisible in the photos - I did actually use invisible quilting thread!  The quilting is a free motion hoopy loopy design which I love experimenting with.

The long drawn out snowball quilt is nearly bound so should be shared very shortly.

Have a Happy Wednesday!