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Thursday, May 24, 2012

Pretty in pink - homemade skirt and traybake

I love a splash of pink in summer - it makes me think of pink hydrangeas, falling blossom and pink lemonade! Wearing and baking flashes of pink today, my home-spun ways were exposed this afternoon when colleagues found out that not only did I make a strawberry traybake last night but my full circle skirt was home sewn. #Twee #dork.



The pattern used for the skirt was Vogue's V8602. It was as the name suggests, it was very easy. The only tricky bit was inserting the zip, I also adjusted the pattern and shortened the length for mine. The fabric was found on Ebay from the same seller who sold the paisley cotton I used for my robe. 

The traybake was adapted from two recipes on bbcgoodfood.com - here's how I did it:

Heat oven to 180 degrees c. Butter a medium sized tray.

Put the following in your food blender and mix until it forms a rough crumble.
150g self-raising flour
100g porridge oats
200g butter, diced
280g golden granulated sugar
50g ground almonds

Put 85 grams of this aside before you add 2 medium eggs and pulse until roughly mixed. Remove blade and finish mixing with a wooden spoon, don't worry about making it smooth. Line the baking tray with the mixture.

Clean the blender and load with a punnet of strawberries. Once blended pour over mix in tray.

Take the 85g mix that was put to one side earlier and add 100g porridge. Melt butter with 1 tablespoon of runny honey in a saucepan and add the dry mixture to the pan. Mix together over a gentle heat, then remove and spread over the traybake.

Put in the oven for 45 minutes. And voila! Delicious with a cup of English Breakfast tea.

M xo

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Wednesday, May 23, 2012

RAM - the deluxe edition

The beautiful, warm sun is finally shining over London town and all this heat has put me in a particularly happy and wholesome mood. This generally amounts to dancing in my kitchen while I cook up a feast for me and R and tonight the soundtrack was Paul and Linda McCartney's 1971 album RAM.


It was the first album released following the break up of the Beatles, written at the couple's farm in Scotland on the Mull of Kintyre, and has just been reissued in a particularly luxe guise.

I've never been one for limited editions, but this has totally won me over. Partly, because of my soppy nature and ability to find romance in almost anything with two halves, and partly because of the silliness and fun the couple clearly had recording these tracks. 



Sigh. A photo album of sheep, a scrapbook, the uncut story of RAM, photo prints from the album's recording, a documentary, t-shirt. And more. Unfortunately at £100, this one will have to stay in my dreams. If you're reading Sir Paul, how about some limited edition prints?


Megan xo

Sunday, May 20, 2012

The future

It's amusing to watch people react to our decision to move out of London. As if leaving London means disconnecting from the epicentre of all life. Yesterday, the bubble finally burst and my intentions and motivations connected.

Most people assume we want to slow down, grow up. Actually people, that's not it at all. If anything we want to keep life moving. Personally, I've always struggled with settling. Between leaving my family home and moving into our one-bed apartment I've lived in 9 different houses. And as my mother kindly highlighted recently, have clocked up an impressive 5 different jobs since graduating. 

Moving from London is just the next adventure - a chance to try something new. And more importantly it's a chance for us to buy our first home.

Perhaps I should let the master (my all time favourite) D.H. Lawrence explain:
"I got the blues thinking of the future, so I left off and made some marmalade. It's amazing how it cheers one up to shred orange and scrub the floor."

M xo

P.S. Check out R's latest homemade loaf. Yum.

Nesting

In excitement of what's to come, I'm suddenly obsessed by interiors and already nesting. I finally got around to fixing up the terrible sewing job I did in a rush for our cushion covers 6 months ago. After unpicking and re-measuring, using vintage fabric I picked up in the Bexhill British Heart Foundation shop, I remade the removable cushion covers with this easy pattern from The Guardian

I also bought these gorgeous hand block printed napkins from Lulu & Nat and these retro placemats from ebay.

And finally, here is the dress I am halfway through making. It's a Cynthia Rowley pattern by Simplicity (2215) and seems to be going ok, apart from the missing invisible sewing foot needed to finish. I'm hoping to complete once I'm paid and can buy said zipper foot next week.

Hope you're all having a great weekend!
M xo

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Sunshine and sewing

There have been moments over the past 3 weeks where I thought it might never stop raining, thankfully this weekend we finally saw the sunshine in London. It's been a peaceful, music-filled weekend at home having spent the last few weeks travelling up and down to Sussex organising the collection of our new car.


After countless hours searching for my perfect bathrobe (yes I am that fussy), I decided I'd put my GSCE textiles skills to the test and attempted to make my own. Using some paisley printed organic cotton I dissected my old robe to create a new pattern. While the finished result isn't a complete disaster, it wasn't the best. The issue was the fitting around the neck, which on hindsight was something which could have been easily rectified - the old robe had a hood, the new one didn't. Oh well. To help with future projects I have decided to invest in a dress-makers dummy.


As always, I'm on a budget but after a bit of searching I found I Love Vintage Mannequins who have created dress making forms for a range of clients including Madame Tussauds and the Victoria and Albert Museum. They are currently selling on Ebay with auctions starting from a £1 (they're normally £79). I've got my eye on the Bohemian Rose and Shabby Rose busts, I'm just trying to decide between the cast iron or wooden base. And also where the heck I would put it in our bijou home. 


Happy weekend!
xo

Listening to: HelloGiggles Mix Tape on Spotify
Watched: The Bridge on BBC4
Ate: Kohlrabi remoulade, fresh organic beetroot, parmesan chicken and R's home-made bread

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Traditional craft revival - Solva Wool Mill, Wales

My friends often tease me for my folky ways, but thanks to my father's hippy roots I've grown up to love traditional crafts. On our recent trip to Wales, we stopped by a working woolen mill in Solva. Not only did I fall in love with the woven rugs, blankets and knitted accessories but also found the most adorbs cat clambering atop of a bin of cardboard and offcuts.

Solva is the oldest working mill in Pembrokeshire and the only one in Wales specialising in flat-weave rugs, carpets and runners. Over the past 30 years, the domestic trade has declined greatly. With us importing wool and brands choosing to manufacture abroad, it's likely the majority of our wool products promote air freight and are potentially sourced from countries where animal welfare is not a priority.

When we move next year, I'm hoping we can upcycle and reuse where possible, but if we're buying new, be supportive of traditional crafts and promote more thoughtfully resourced products. I fell in love with the geometric traditional tapestry rugs. If you're interested in visiting a working Welsh mill, there are more details here: welshmills.org.uk/millsopen

Here are some of our snaps from Solva and check out the links at the bottom for stockists of traditional welsh products.









Solva Woolen Mill
Blodwen - Modern welsh traditional products


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