Does this make you happy?

... This makes me very happy:


A wonderful morning outing yesterday, to Amitie with Bellgirl and her lovely littley, and a morning of bagels and chit-chat. Just perfect! Fabric delights at Amitie were everywhere (er, as usual), and I came home happy and full of quilting inspiration and Christmas-present ideas. Oh, and clutching a large parcel of fabric....

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go and get sewing!

ScheDUEL

Stumbled across this and confused? Ask Kootoyoo...

COPY FROM HERE:

Still feeling totally inspired by the handmade issue of mankind mag from my favourite design blog.
Q What is the blog author's first name? ANSWER: Erin
use the first letter - LETTER: E

We like to keep lunch casual, I've found some fabulous BBQ recipes for the big day.
Q What type of meat is pictured on the rotisserie? ANSWER: Lamb
use the first letter - LETTER: L

Getting some great ideas for upcycling (my favourite craft) & enjoying the revamp over at this fabulous craft website.
Q They list everyone's favourite Portland based author mama as one of their inspirational sites. Which Portland based author mama is she? ANSWER: SouleMama
use the second letter of her last name - LETTER: O

Looking forward to being able to buy handmade at the shopping shindig with the craft book Queen.
Q What type of car is pictured? ANSWER: VW Beetle! (Beep! Beep!)
use the first letter - LETTER: V

All these letters unscramble to reveal:
WHAT? is all you need.

LOVE

STOP COPYING

Beautiful, easy bread

Apart from reading a lot of recipes, one of the things I've been doing recently is teaching myself how to make bread. I always thought that bread making was a mystery best left to earth mothers and retired people, but I'm learning that it doesn't have to be that way. Bread dough is pretty forgiving and will wait while you go to work, sleep, or get on with your life.

And my goodness, fresh bread tastes amazing.

Here's the recipe I used for the bread that I whipped up in my early-morning insanity. Making the initial dough took approximately as long as it took the stove-top coffee to boil: ie less than two minutes. Then I kneaded it and left it while I went to do some sewing.

But before I give you the recipe I want to explain where this bread-making thing came from. It wasn't a bolt from the blue: the urge to make bread arrived in a package in the post, neatly wrapped up inside a cookbook sent to us by one of Mr. Tacc's oldest friends, Xanthe Clay.

She wrote the book herself -- this clever woman has published several cookbooks over the years, and can be found writing a weekly gig at the Telegraph or cooking up a storm in quick ten-minute videos online or for your ipod. Isn't it nice to have clever friends who give you inspiration?


Here's a variation on 'Quick-fix Bread' from Xanthe Clay's 'Recipes to Know by Heart'

(note: the directions below are my interpretation, not a quote from the book! But credit for the recipe goes to Xanthe for her wonderful idea and morale-raising, inspired suggestions)

Wholewheat and honey bread

1 lb flour, which I made up of roughly 4/5ths white flour and 1/5th wholemeal flour
1 tsp salt
1 sachet instant yeast (7g)
1/2 pint warm water
1 large spoon of honey

• Weigh out the flour until you have 1 lb (or use a 1lb bag). Tip it into a large bowl with the yeast and salt. Measure the water and pour it into the centre. Drop in your spoonful of honey. Stir until a doughy ball forms.

• On a clean surface, sprinkle a handful of flour, plonk your dough in the centre and start kneading. DON'T skimp on this step! I count to 300 kneads before I consider stopping. Yes, 300.

• Pop it in another large bowl (a clean one, I oil mine with a drop of olive oil), cover with clingfilm and go about your day. (*Busy folks:* at this point you could put it in the fridge to rise very slowly all day while you are at work, or all night if you do this the night before you want the bread. Take it out and let it warm up to room temperature , 20 mins or so, before you do this next step:)

• When the dough has doubled in size from your original ball (1-2 hours or 8-9 hours in the fridge) knead it again for 30 seconds or so. Turn on the oven when you do this: 200 degrees.

• Lightly oil a loaf pan, or a flat baking sheet. Dust with polenta or flour to prevent your loaf from sticking. Drop your loaf into the tin or make a nice round blob in the middle of your baking tray. Cover it with a clean tea towel and wander off again. Half an hour or so should do it, but again, cooler temperatures make slower rising.

• When your bread has doubled again and your oven is good and hot, pop it in. You can brush the top with egg wash (but I don't usually bother). I get a lovely golden crispy crust on it anyway, and I don't need it to be shiny.
  

• Cook for about 25-30 minutes (closer to 30 in my oven).

When your bread is ready, it will sound hollow when you tap it (flip it out of the pan, balance it on your mittened hand, tap and listen). Does it go 'tock-tock' when you tap, like an empty cardboard box? If yes, it's done. If you hear bubbling and steam, it's not.

Now just try not to eat four slices with butter. Go on. Makes amazing toast the second and third day, and I'm planning to make some summer pudding based on my MasterClass recipe tomorrow, when it will be at the perfect two-day-old stage. Sandwiches from this bread are truly divine.

Options: Leave out the whole wheat and just use a pound of plain or strong flour (both work). Leave out the honey if you want. Add raisins or currants if you like. Dust with cornflour or press seeds into the top. It's entirely up to you! You can make a double batch, but I did that in two bowls because I wasn't sure I had one that was big enough!

Animals come out in the early morning

So, this morning at 5:15, I was lying awake, listening to the birds beginning to twitter, and thinking of my farm quilt-in-progress.

Now, don't think I do this all the time, but by 5:30 I was up, surprising the dog (who cracked some mighty yawns) and thinking of two lovely hours in which to sew and play. I started some bread dough while making coffee, and hit the machine:


If you get up really early, you can see the rabbits running around...


It was fiddlier than I thought, and I had to stitch very slowly, only a few stitches at a time before lifting the foot and adjusting the pieces. But the applique aren't that big, and there are only five of them, so that's fine. I've done the swallow and the rabbit. And now there's fresh, warm bread out of the oven for breakfast.

Let's just hope that I don't fall asleep over my desk at work today!

Cooking with Tobie

I find that heading rather amusing: you would too, if you knew that my small home companion is a food-obsessed kelpie cross called Toby.

Actually, I'm talking about Tobie Puttock, and the cooking Master Class that I went to last night with friends Nicky and Cathy, and Cathy's friend Gary. Did we have fun? Just check out the menu, and make your own mind up:

We had lots of fun!

Here we were expecting some tiny tastings and a glass of aussie bubbly, a hall packed full of women (come on, it was going to be all women, wasn't it?) - by which we betted on city girls with HandBags (the capital HB signifying the Large Price Tag it came with). In other words, not our thing.

The words, 'It's gonna be a bun fight' were uttered. But we were delighted to discover that we were wrong.

Maybe it was the buy three tickets get one free offer through Delicious magazine, but the atmosphere was fun, with groups of friends out for a nice evening. We all embarrassed ourselves by scoffing thick chips in the bar before the event and then walking in to see white linen; cutlery; multiple wine glasses at each place. We thought there would be three canapes shared between 100 people, but what we got was a three-course meal, with wines. (Though sadly the Marsanne ran out before they got to us, and the service was not great, nor were they gracious about the wine disasters). But the chips were a good idea: Tobie turned out to be a talky-talker, and so was the coffee-making guy that the sponsors wheeled out first. So we sat happy, drank wine, watched and enjoyed. And there were prizes, but despite my announcement that I was going to win the magnum, I didn't. Phooey for predictions.

So -
Did you know that gnocchi doesn't have to glue your mouth shut? I didn't. And that vanilla, in moderation, tastes amazing with morels.

What's a morel? Here's a picture, in situ, of a morel:


(What, did you think in situ meant in the ground? Sorry.)

You'll be glad to see that it was not all note-taking and tasting, and the doodle-girl in me broke through after the second sip (read: glass) of wine. (The Pod-person above the morel is a result of a rant about someone's workplace; nothing to do with the food). And those who know Tobie will be delighted to hear that his hair registered a '6' on the bouffant scale (this photo, for comparison, is about a 2.5).

Morels remind me of a spectacular summer at my parents' cottage in Canada, when Dad found a wealth - nay - a fortune! - of morels in the woods. I seem to recall very earnest inspection of mushroom identification books, careful par-boiling and a tentative taste, followed by an all-out, no-holds-barred frenzy of morel eating, including morel omelettes and morels on toast. (Remember, Dad?) One bite of the gnocchi and I was whisked back to that summer. Even at $XXX per kilo, that's cheaper than airfare..... Mmm.

I've never been to a cooking class before, and I'm pleased to say that I would go again any time. For techniques and in-depth learning, I'd go for a day or weekend, hands-on course, but for an evening of entertainment and mild learning, in a great atmosphere, and with fantastic company, this was excellent. Next time these classes come to town, I'll be there.

B

A better picture

Of the farm quilt - last night's photos were taken in the last of the light.

I'd like to work on it tonight, but I'm off to a cooking class! (my first ever, exciting...)

The WIP with a wabbit and...

...a purple cow!

After my casual mention of a couple of Works in Progress on my last post, some of you demanded to see what was being plotted. Well, there are two projects that are constantly to hand at the moment, and here's one of them.

I drew the cow first, traced her on to double-sided fusible interfacing, and started cutting out her shape very carefully. Then I dove into my large scrap bag, searching for a scrap of fabric that would be just perfect.

And tell me folks, could she be anything other than purple? And covered in daisies?


This new quilt started taking shape this weekend as I stitched my way through a pouring rainy Saturday afternoon.


It's pieced from my favourite fat quarters and large scraps. So far, it's in three large pieces, and there is still a lot of embroidery to be done (some by machine, and some by hand) - such as the beak of the bird, the eyes and whiskers for the rabbit, and maybe a collar and bell for Daisy Dairy herself.


I'm already pretty happy with the results, the retro farm animals and the fresh colours. This is a gift for my sister - I'm soon to be an auntie! - very exciting. (Hello geek, I know you're peeking - I can tell!)

I'm tempted to make more like this. What do you think? Which animals should I try?
Do I dare attempt a cottage/farmhouse, too?

B