I like to buy the odd craft magazine, although not half as many as I used to do since Borders closed in York, it had a great choice of American craft & food mags. The problem I find with a lot of the magazines is that most of the projects are regurgitated from books I already have or from internet sites. However in the last fortnight I've bought 2 magazines which have been well worth the money, with new and interesting ideas to try.
The first is Mollie Makes and I was first drawn to it with the apple cosies on the front. I'd seen some on a blog but I haven't stumbled across the pattern yet so I thought I might invest. There are lots of lovely things to make and I've already tried the apple cosy but I used the wrong size hook! so my apple cosy is more like a grapefruit size as you can see.
The other thing I've tried are the linen eggs and I've filled them with lavender as I wanted them to have some use rather than just dust gatherers.
The second good read is Making magazine. The good thing about this magazine is they theme each months issue so you can be selective and this issue was the paper issue. I love folding, tearing and mixing things up so there are interesting things like paper bangles, folk art paper cuts, and mixed media frames.
I've got a very busy work week but I must make time to get my stuff together as I'm doing art in the garden on Sunday. It seems to have come around quickly but I think I did it later in June last year.
This time I'm attending a garden near Malton, I know very little about it other than what I've seen on their website but it looks lovely and joy of joys they have a small tea room!
Hope the weather is nice. I'm thinking I'll take sketch pad, fabric and sewing kit this year and try and create a textile piece. If the weathers not so good or too windy it might just be camera and sketch pad.
http://www.jacksonswoldgarden.com/index.htm
Inspired by that lovely cake I had at Bean and Bud I made a plum and almond cake. I couldn't be bothered searching through all my cookery books so I found this recipe online and it worked a treat.
I substituted the teaspoon of vanilla for a teaspoon of almond essence as I like my plum cake almondy.
Because the oven is not as hot as it should be, (needing a service again) my cake was a little moist in the middle, however it still makes good eating and is nice on it's own or as I found last night... good with custard too!
http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/Plum-and-Almond-Cake-L11318.html
Had a most enjoyable morning in Harrogate and this time didn't even have to worry about car parking as a bit of research on the internet last night showed up some free parking streets. It was just a 10-15 minute walk back into town and into Bean & Bud for refreshments.
I know this is only my second visit to Bean & Bud but they seem to have something new to tempt you with each time you walk in. I plumped for tea today and had the special China Oolong which had a lovely smoky taste to it. To eat I had the most delicious plum cake with a hint of almond, this is one of my favourite combinations, just lovely. Stocked up with some bags of coffee and teas.
The other thing I like about Bean & Bud, just a few doors along is that amazing fabric shop and I treated myself to a few fat quarters.
This week I've entered the Spoonflower contest which blasts off tonight with voting. The theme was to design a fat quarter with Ice Cream as your subject.
As usual I was very last minute and I'd had the idea I wanted to do some sort of landscape with a vintage ice cream van and kids chasing after it (although I can't draw people so that put a stop to that), fluffy clouds, seaside, happy days etc.
Basically there wasn't time so I did one of my quick digital drawings of an ice cream van and then I separated the vans with little ice cream cones in between. You can't quite see the detail but the ice creams are stitched scraps of fabric making this is a mixed media fabric design.
I did a few colour backgrounds, couldn't decide which to enter but in the end opted for the pistachio background.
This week some long awaited samples arrived from Spoonflower. Delivery had been estimated at 3 weeks but they've been so busy that I've been waiting over a month for these.
I have a fat quarter of my butterfly design which I'm quite pleased with although next time I order some I will enlarge the overall design a bit because the names were just a little too small to read.
I also have 2 small swatches (8 inch sq) of my breakfast fabrics. The colours on the pink one have come out spot on so pleased with that. The 'orange' one is not supposed to be orange, it was created as a very dark red so don't know if the problem was my file or something at the production end.
Anyway both the butterfly and the pink breakfast fabric are now for sale in the Spoonflower Marketplace.
It's 9.30am and I've just heard cuckoo for the first time this year. This is 15 days later than when I recorded the event last year. It feels like summer is on the way now I can hear the cuckooing in the distance!
Wonder if I'll get to see the mysterious bird this year.
I received some belated Easter chocolate from a friend yesterday and the packaging was so groovy I thought I would share it (not the chocolate...!) on the blog.
Not only did the outside make me smile but the inner wrapper is very stylish. I don't like to open it but no doubt in a weak moment later I will be tucking in!
I've been rumaging in my collections of old cards and postcards over the weekend with an idea for fabric. I've used a selection of family greeting cards I've had for donkeys years and some cards I've bought at antique shops and I have created this collage which I'm just refining as a new fabric design.
Still no sound of cuckoo but the swallows have returned over the weekend which I'm sure is earlier than last year.
Tragedy has struck the rabbit family over the weekend, the 2 baby bunnies have ventured from the burrow in the back garden to join the other rabbits on the grassy area at the front and yesterday I saw a crow pecking over a tiny rabbit carcass. As I've only seen one small bunny since I am assuming it was the brother or sister who has bitten the dust.
I suppose that's nature for you.
