Travel Wallet and Luggage Tag

It was my friend Lucy's 21st last week and so I made her a little something I've had pinned for a while. I want to make one for myself because they are awesome and it was fairly easy and quick. The tutorial can be found here.

I did two holders instead of the three in the tutorial as I think that I would only use one for a passport and one for a ticket - I didn't think what else could be put in there as most things would be in a wallet.

  

I would have liked to put on a different colour button but this was all I had.

For the luggage tag I just used some plastic cut from a plastic folder, simple!

Jubilee Shirt

I realise this is a little late but I did start on this shirt on the Jubilee weekend - better late than never! I used Simplicity Pattern 2599 (C). 

It was much harder than anticipated and I have since decided I think I prefer creating from online tutorials than patterns, although I will try again. The Jubilee theme is obviously reflected in the colour scheme. Initally this was going to be a mock up before I made a shirt with my good fabric but I do quite like the colour scheme and the way it turned out so will probably wear it after all. I did of course make a few mistakes, mainly due to my haste to get it finished, the biggest of which is that the flounces are not very straight and a little off centre. You can't tell so much but it has to be quite strictly ironed for them to stay in place as a consequence so I may stitch them down. Other than that, (apart from the various "help me" emails and skype chats with Wendy - thank you!), I managed fine. I did have to undo a few things and redo them but nothing major. I did shortcut a step in that instead of hemming the flounces, something incredibly difficult on a curve, I just left it as the material wasn't particularly fray-ey and it was only really a mock up. It worked fine as you can see below.

First unassisted dress!

I apologise for the lack of posting. Exams are now over and I did think I'd have a few things up by now but all the other things I'd been putting off until after exams got in the way. I did spend a lot of time circling fabric shops and looking at patterns and ended up buying my first pattern - a summer shirt with flounces from Simplicity. I picked it because it looked easy. What did I know.. I started it last week and am still working hard on it, having emailed and skyped Faron's mum Wendy may times about things I don't understand. I was quite eager to get something up on the blog as it has been too long now so I gave the shirt a rest for now and started a dress I have been saving for a while now on Pinterest. It's a super easy tutorial for "the most flattering shirt dress" from Prudent Baby. If you have never made clothes before this is a great place to start (as I did!). A lot of the dresses I have and love are this shape so I wanted to make it in this lovely fabric I got in Spain last summer.

I did have a few problems, which were to be expected. I cut the neck far too low and obviously couldn't go back so ended up sewing the V neck together at the bottom. It was also very puffy under the arms and above the waistline and not really flattering so like in the tutorial I sewed a diagonal line from the waistband to the bottom of the armhole.. many lines.. to fit! I think my armholes also were too big but I know for next time. I really liked using the bias tape for the armhole and neckhole finishing, something new for me.

It's very light material so great for summer. I am looking forward to wearing it.

Hopefully my shirt will be up soon and another dress I have been working on/finished, but did wrong and have to unpick.. a lot!

Terry's Chocolate Orange Cake

I have not been nearly as creative as I would like to be recently as it is exam period. Luckily (or unluckily as there is less time to stuff information into my head) I finish June 1st so I am looking forward to a long month of creating then. Until that date, I thought I'd show off my birthday cake that Faron made for me. It's my 21st tomorrow and I had a party last Friday where I was surprised with a Terry's Chocolate Orange birthday cake! If it wasn't obvious I LOVE Terry's chocolate orange..

He made the cake his usual way - weighing the eggs then adding that weight of sugar, flour and butter, and a tablespoon of cocoa. (At this point I would have added orange zest in the mix - he didn't want it to be too orangey but after tasting that would have worked well). Between the layers of cake he made a delicious filling: 

100g dark chocolate

Knob of butter 

2 tablespoons marmalade

He made a bain-marie with the chocolate and butter then stirred in 2 tablespoons of orange marmalade. He topped the cake with Terry's chocolate orange slices and chocolate orange buttons. It was beautiful and delicious, and went within 10 minutes!

Next post will be in June when my exams are finally over :)

Cherry Tomato and Sweet Chilli Jam (with cheese sables!)

While at Faron's house over the holiday I had a lot of this amazing cherry tomato and sweet chilli jam his mum Wendy made with EVERYTHING. When I got home I was delighted to find my mum had also made it! Before I left I made a batch for myself to take back to uni as it was so delicious and my chef of a mum whipped up some amazing cheesy biscuits to go with it. It's a match made in heaven. 

Check out the recipe for the jam here (from the delicious magazine that both mums and my nan subscribe to). The recipe for the "cheese sables"/biscuits is also from the magazine! They are almost like savoury shortbread. I hugely recommend both of these recipes! Together they would be a great gift.

Italian Travels

Faron and I had a wonderful road trip from Luxembourg to Rimini, with Basel, Como, Lake Garda and Verona in between. We ate in abundance of all the good Italian things and drank in abundance of coffee and a drink that's really grown on me; aperol spritz.

As promised here is a showcase of my best pictures from Italy. Like Helter Skelter, all can be purchased on my etsy shop (as well as two from Italy a year or so back).

Flowers in Bellagio, Bellagio, Lake Como

Bellagio Alley, Bellagio, Lake Como

Shoreline, Lake Garda

Garda Sunset, Lake Garda

Locks of love, Juliet's House, Verona

River View, Verona

New Fabric and First Dress!

Faron's mum Wendy is an experienced and highly talented knitter and seamstress (and I'm just waiting for her to start her own blog!) This year she has a resolution to make all her clothes (apart from the obvious like sports wear). While I was in Luxembourg we went to a huge fabric fair and I learnt/was taught how to use patterns, and made my first dress!

The fabric fair was amazing. In the past I have bought fabric online or in a shop in Brighton and compared to the fair there really isn't much choice. As I am not very experienced I don't know where to look or what to look for. I really recommend going to a fabric fair if you are an amateur (or even if you're not) as you can touch and feel all you want and really browse around until you find something perfect. 

In the end I bought 6 different fabrics, most with an intended use, which is more than I can say for my other fabrics!

The plain grey linen will hopefully in time become a summer shirt. The colourful patterned cotton is destined for some sort of bag or craft. The red doll fabric is actually oilcloth which I am quite excited about using in a bag or cosmetic bag, although I am regretting not getting another matching oilcloth as they had some really nice green and pink ones in polka dot/same pattern that matched perfectly. I hope to turn the light grey striped fabric in the middle into pyjama pants, and the orange/white circled fabric is intended for this shirt. Finally the beautiful grey fabric with the flowers is intended for a simple skirt with an elasticated waistband - I just have to find the perfect pattern!

The four rolled up fabrics at the bottom were kindly given to me by Wendy as she has no more use for them. I have no intended use for them at the moment but they are lovely!

The beautiful silk below that was half price (!!) will hopefully be a maxi-dress, but I don't trust myself to make it alone so I am waiting until I am back in Luxembourg with some knowledgeable eyes to oversee.

The dress I made was from a pattern given to me by Wendy. We made it with some of her leftover fabric for a practice dress but it's it's quite nice in this fabric with a belt, almost farmer-esque :) I do plan to make the dress again in a different fabric. 

Pictures from the Italy trip will follow shortly!

Sweet and Salty Roasted Chickpeas

I have really failed on my New Year's resolution now. With all the work before the end of term then a four week break in which I was away the whole time.. I haven't posted anything for.. weeks! During the break I was in Luxembourg, Switzerland and Italy. Pictures will be coming soon from Italy as it was my first holiday with my new camera and I was very snap-happy.

I made this snack last term and it was very nice. Unfortunately I didn't have cinnamon and instead used ginger, but t worked too. I definitely want to try it with cinnamon too though as that's one my favourite flavours.

Gryffindor Scarf

One of my new year's resolutions was to post every week and I was managing well until two weeks ago. I'm now in the last two weeks at term and it's super busy so I just haven't had the time to post. Now though, this evening between spending 9-5 at uni and before my weekend away in Stoke for Women's Ultimate Frisbee Nationals (wish us luck!) I can write my next post.

My housemate Sarah is a Harry Potter fanatic. She's from California but studies here and I secretly think it's because she wanted to be closer to the wizarding world. It was her birthday in January and I had mused over getting her various HP themed items like this or this but I really wanted to do something homemade. She had a burgundy/yellow Gryffindor hat that she wore all the time until she lost it so I decided (before she lost it) to knit her a matching scarf. Unfortunately it took a lot longer than expected so wasn't ready for her birthday but I showed it to her and took a long time to finish it.. finally it is done!

I am not a very experienced knitter, this is only my second post about knitting and I have only really successfully knitted hats and scarfs but I do like it. I need to do more.. trouble is I don't have a whole lot of time and I feel like knitting is really good if you're sat in front of the TV or on a bus - I do not have a TV and I ride my bike.. so I struggle for time. But I will try better from now!

She's happy with it and so is Hedwig the travelling owl.  

Crossin Rolls

My secret santa at Christmas turned out to be my friend Eva, who lives in Rhode Island and I don't get to see very often :( (much like many of my other friends who live in the US). She clearly knows me and I got a  beautiful handmade sewing box, with some goodies inside like bobbins, tape measure and a seam ripper. As well as this she made me a whole batch of Crossin Rolls. These delicious pastry treats and Eva and I go way back to eleventh grade, when our English teacher brought them in for us; Ms Crossin! We were instantly hooked and got the recipe immeadiately, and made them numerous times throughout the next couple of years. I had shockingly forgotten about them and so Eva's present, wrapped up beautifully as seen below, was a blast from the past as well as EXTREMELY DELICIOUS.
 

I emailed Ms Crossin asking if I could share her recipe and she has kindly agreed! It is such a simple recipe but has great results.

Crossin Rolls

Puff pastry - I use store bought and it's great.

Ham

Grated cheese (gruyere works well)

Mustard

Mayonnaise

S&P

It is such a simple recipe but has great results. 

- Take a sheet of pre-rolled puff pastry, and roll it out a little more. Brush the pastry with mustard, then with mayonnaise, covering the whole pastry, apart from a small strip on the shorter end (about 1cm wide).
- Lay slices of ham, covering the whole of the pastry, aside from the small strip on the shorter end. Sprinkle grated cheese over the top.
- Beginning from the opposite end to the strip you left clear, roll the pastry into a log. When you reach the end, smooth the small clear strip into the pastry under it to hold the log together. Place this join face down on the table and slice the log into rounds (approx. 2cm thick).
- Cook on trays in the oven at 180 degress for 10 mins, or until pastry is cooked.

Toad in the Hole

Toad in the Hole is a classic British dish. I only had it for the first time this year however when my housemate made it and it was delicious. 

Since then I have made it twice and kind of want to have it again tonight now I am thinking about it..

Toad in the Hole
Serves 4
300ml milk
225g plain flour
4 eggs
8 sausages
Oil
S&P

- Set the oven to about 180 degrees (fan).
- Blend the milk, eggs and S&P together until frothy. Leave for at least twenty minutes.
- Heat the oil until hot in a roasting tray. Add the sausages and cook until they are how you like them - around 15 mins for me.
- Add the flour slowly to the egg/milk mixture and blend until totally combined.
- Pour the mixture over the sausages in the tray (get rid of excess fat if there is a lot of it first) and put in the oven until risen and golden brown. This should take about half an hour.

I think it's best served drowned in gravy but it's also popular with peas and/or mashed potato.
Pictured is half this recipe for two people.

Enjoy! :)

Travel Jewelry Pouch

This year for Secret Santa I had baileyb. This was a very good thing as she was my secret santa last year and made me literally my most treasured thing I own in life, this quilt:

It's so beautiful!

You can't top a quilt. But I wanted to do her something good. Initally decided to make her 3 different cases - one for her laptop, one for her kindle and one for her phone, but then my mum mentioned that she had made her mum a really nice laptop case and so probably had one already. So I continued with the kindle and iphone pouches but then for the third thing made her this travel jewelry pouch. It was the most complicated thing I have made yet and took the longest but I am very pleased with the result.
It was the first time I had to make a button hole. I used this video which was extremely helpful.


Kindle case (how to - see laptop case post)

Travel Jewelry pouch

I actually changed the ribbon when I acquired one that suited the pouch better - shown below.

She messaged me saying she loved it! Success!