Getting My Bake On

I've gone through a fit of baking. Olive and Mushroom Bread.You can get jars of antipasta mushrooms from the supermarket. They are really tasty and in olive oil which the recipe also calls for so two ingredients for the price of one.

Then slow cooked onion soup. A mix of spanish, red and shallots then just butter, flour, stock and seasoning. Delicious. Then tonight I am on Sticky Date Cake. The recipe I used to use has been taken down so I've used this one which seems to be more or less identical. I would strongly recommend it. The hardest part is not burning your tongue on the fruit syrup you make in the first stage while waiting for it to cool down.

In amongst all this I have been knitting and sewing. The knitting has been entirely on the 4-ply Camber Cardi I've been slogging away on since SkipNorth.

It's slow going but I do like how it is turning out. I've also been using something I purchased at SkipNorth. The recycled sari silk - but this sari silk was in strips instead of just threads and you can see two small balls of it left over from the 100g skein (it was about £4.50) to the left of the rotary cutter.

I saw this bag in Winghams (where I got the yarn).

I don't have quite as many fancy stitches on my sewing machine but...

My colours aren't as harmonious as the sample one but I rather like the arrangement.

I shall have to find some suitable lining for it. I'm also wondering about a button closure like a paper lunchbag type thing. Not sure...maybe.

To finish I just wanted to share a couple of things I've seen recently. You're going to wonder how I could resist this one. Especially with Halloween practically on the doorstep.

I should have looked more closely - but don't you get the impression each of those 'feathers' will be hemmed and nicely finished? So. Much. Time.

Then something to brighten any living room wall. Perhaps just to the right of the flying ducks.

I know - again you're thinking "£2.99? Tell me she didn't leave that behind in the shop?". But yes, I did. The dome protecting the furry cats was just a little too protuberant to meet my aesthetic requirements. I did consider getting it as a present for someone but I've just missed Mother's Day although....just imagining my Mother's face if I presented that to her as a present. Ha. Hahaha. Hahahahahahahahahahahahhaha. Ooo, oooo, stitch.

Not Easy Being Me

There I was, peacefully trying to take a picture of the WWE men, and a colleague started throwing things.

Then later - in the pub - hard at work - I was mocked.

Poor me.

These were all for my next illustrated story, following on from the one in my previous post, which will be entitled "WWE vs the Dinosaurs".

I've been tidying a bit at home with the idea in mind that I'll be doing some sewing again soon. I want to get back to my sister's wedding quilt and finish one of the ones I was making myself before I start anything new. I've also been more recently inspired by a chance visit to a shop called "Lovely and British" on Bermondsey Street which stocked jewellery by an artist called Tors Duce. Her website is here and her Flickr here and I borrow a photo from her flickr account merely to illustrate how beautiful her work is.

Isn't that divine? She had some simpler bracelets with buttons on too that were just beautiful.