My first fabric purchase for the new house

A few weeks ago I went wandering in Evesham. We had only moved in a couple of weeks previously and I was still exploring the town and finding my bearings.

I came across a "curtain and other odds and ends" shop on a backstreet (a couple of people had mentioned it before) and decided to go and have a look inside.

As I said it had loads of upholstery fabric and a curtain making service, and it also sold loads of off the shelf bedding and curtains with really old fashioned designs (mostly aimed at old people I suppose ;-) ).

But tucked away in the back corner they had a little section of Fabrics on the roll and for the most part they weren't all bad.

The minute I saw the two designs below I fell in love, and instantly bough A LOT of it. Asked me what I was going to make with it and my reply would have been "I haven't got a clue!!", but now I have an idea.

Watch this space as I will show you soon, but in the meantime...

Who agrees with me that this is absolutely lovely?



(Jenn - I know this is pink, but you know me I always gravitate towards pink ;-) )

Owl biscuits just because we now live in a Barn

A few weeks ago I wanted to make some biscuits for the kids, but I was stuck for ideas. With no inspiration and not wanting to do the usual plain shortbready type biscuits, I went trawling on the web to see if I could find anything interesting.

Since moving into the barn the kids (I mean me REALLY!!) have gone a little owl crazy. Ryan loves the wooden owls that we've got sitting on the roof beams, and has to say night-night to the Hoo-Hoos every night. So when I came across instructions in a library book I took out 2 weeks previously (and hadn't opened yet), I knew that this was what I was going to make.

So without further ado, here are some owl biscuits that the kids were absolutely delighted about and the next door neighbours now think I am some kind of baking god!

Well maybe I am, who knows? ;-)

Chocolate and Ginger nut treats

I recently made these Chocolate and Ginger Nut Treats which I found somewhere on someones blog, but in true Liezl stylie, I now don't know where.

Anyway, I have been getting so many raves and nice compliments about them that I just had to share them with you. And the best thing of all is that they DON'T have to go in the oven.



** I just have to say that this is not the recipy I followed, as I can't find it again. But I do remember the ingredients, and the recipy below is everything that I put in ;-) **

Ingredients:

100 g unsalted butter
185 g chocolate
2 tablespoons golden syrup
225 g ginger nut biscuits (crushed)

Directions:

Lighty oil a 18cm/7inch sandwich tin.

In a saucepan heat the butter 100g/4oz of chocolate and golden syrup, stir until melted.

Remove from heat and stir in the biscuit crumbs.

Press warm mixture into tin.

Melt remaining chocolate, then spoon on top.

Chill at least an hour before serving.

Suggestion:

You could always use white chocolate for step 5 (like I did) and sprinkle over some crushed toasted nuts on top (I didn't).


But most of all, sit back and enjoy!!
(Both the treats and the praises from other people ;-) )

Bead Flowers for my Sister's wedding

As you might recall my sister Lara got married back in April and I made her this blanket as a wedding present.

She and Iwan decided to get married in Mauritius and unfortunately I couldn't attend the wedding, so I decided to send her a little something for the day itself.

When she was still planning to have the "Big Traditional Wedding" in Riversdale, she had her heart set on a blue theme, but that then got canned when Mauritius came along. This gave me a starting point for the colour of the flowers that I wanted to make for her.

Being a beach wedding I knew it wasn't going to be very formal and she would probably not do the whole "something old, something new" thing, but I wanted her to have something blue nonetheless.

I made 3 long stemmed blue bead flowers to get incorporated into Lara's bouquet, 2 blue hairclips for her beautiful hair. And for Iwan I made a little bunch of 4 flowers as a button hole thingie.

I sent it to my other sister, Melissa, because she and her partner was going to be the only other guests at the wedding and I wanted her to give it to Lara on the day.

As it happens, the package never made it before they flew out to the wedding, but at least I knew that the idea was there and she knows that I was thinking of her on her Big Day! (That the South African postal service for you :( )

Have a look and let me know what you think.

Rocky roads - Yummy

I've been very quiet on this blog for the last couple of weeks, and I can only blame the fact that I'm trying to sort out, declutter and pack up my house (as we are moving soon). This being said, I have not been idle, and I will be catching up with showing off everything I've been busy with on here soon...

A few weeks ago I read about Nigella's rocky road recipe on one of the blogs I follow (which I can't remember right now), and she was saying what an excellent dependable fall back recipy this is for when you need to knock up a treat in a hurry. In most cases you won't even need to go shopping for the ingredients, as they are the types of things you tend to have in the cupboard anyway.

Needless to say my 4YO loved making this recipy, and although they don't look as neat as Nigella's, they tasted yummy! So much so, that as I am writing this blog, I know the jar is empty again already, and we'll have to make some more soon ;-).

Fat quarters - a danger to the bank balance!

Last week I read on one of the blogs I've signed up to, about the Fabric Rehab. Now with a name like that who wouldn't be intrigued to go and have a look?

This move proved to be a very good/bad discovery as far as I'm concerned... depending on which way you look at it. Good - in as far as I loved most of the fabric they've got on this site, and Bad for most of the same reason as above. ;-)

Now just a couple of days before I was having a conversation with my friend, and I was saying that I was going to try to not buy fabric just purely because I like it, but only if I had something specific in mind (she did laugh at this notion, although not out loud). So true to form 2 days later I ordered a fat quarter bundle "Just because I liked it". No self control obviously.

So here is an image of what I bought... any ideas?

Hand made cards - what a laugh!

A couple of weeks ago my friend Jennifer put together a card making evening at her house, and of course I signed up straight away!

The fact that it was a night out with a couple of other mums, sitting around a table making cards, seemed an excellent opportunity to have a decent natter... and of course I was going to come away with a couple of handmade cards to show for it. ;-)

Jennifer dug out all her card making stuff, and I am not exaggerating when I say she's got A LOT OF STUFF!! From glittery thingies to beads and vintage paper. Shrinky paper that totally transforms in the oven to clay stuffies that get baked after you've designed (and "play-doh'ed" it) yourself. Needless to say I had loads of fun, and would be signing up for the next one as soon as she decides to schedule another.

I made a card to go with my sister's wedding present (see this post), and two generic cards that will go to some lucky recipients soon.

But here are a couple of images of what I made...
(don't snigger too loud, it was my first attempt at card making ;-) )

Bead flowers

I've been practicing making little flowers from seed beads recently. Mostly it's just been about getting my "wire technique" under control, as I am quite happy to admit that it was a bit haphazard to start with ;-).

Now I've got the first few items to show you, and I would really like to know what you think!!

The firsts ones on show are some little flower hairpins I've been making. I made the first pair for Alyssa (white ones) and then kept on going, experimenting with different colours and sizes.

I've given a few pairs away to some of my friends' daughters and some of Alyssa's friends at school just to try and establish whether other people like them too, and if I should maybe consider making them to sell at craft/school fairs... so your thoughts would be most welcome (and how much would you pay for them)?





This second one is something slightly bigger and I think was a bit to ambitious to attempt at first (at least until I had my wire technique under control), so the theory behind it is good, but I think I'll have to redo it. It's a bit floppy and not as neatly executed as I would have liked. ;-)
(The idea is for it to be a broach or a large hair decoration - I haven't quite decided yet).



And lastly... (for now at least)
is the little Sweet William flowers that I haven't quite decided what I'm doing with, but I liked the design so much that I had to try it in Red and White. so any suggestions welcome...



So I've got a couple of projects that I'm currently working on, and will be showing those off in the next week or so, so watch this space for updates.

Lx

A bit of a Baking day

On Friday I had the urge to "bake stuff", and as all my biscuit jars and tins are empty, it was probably high time too ;-).

I started off with a nice brown bread (with a sprinkling of oats for interest) which came in really handy at lunchtime as I haven't quite made it to the supermarket yet, and the cupboards where looking a bit bare...



and then I moved onto the biscuits (or cookies), whichever you prefer.

I started by making some wholegrain chocolate chip cookies to which I decided to add a couple of handfuls of chopped pecan nuts.

I love having nuts in cookies, it makes them even more crunchy. But I suppose it's a preference (and allergy) thing, as I have come across lots of people that don't... Mad I know!!



After completing them, I moved onto some shortbread biscuits in the form of buttons. They were coloured green, pink and normal which I saw on another blog I read (Forty-sixth at Grace), although hers looked ALOT better than mine!!

I left most of the "button making" to Alyssa and there was not two biscuits that looked even remotely the same in shape or in number of holes "for the thread". But then what do you expect when you leave it up to a 4YO??



I have now got a few jars full of biscuits again, but at the rate my family (especially my husband) eats them, I think it won't be long before I'll have to restock them again.



PS: As I know that my husband doesn't read this... I have taken to hiding some of them away so what you see is not necessarily all there is! ;-)

Love Heart Blanket - Crochet Masterpiece

And here it is, finally!



After nearly 4 months, I've finally finished it. And even if I say so myself, I'm very pleased and proud of it. I've loved doing it, and I'm already looking for the next crochet project to start, because I'll miss not having something to crochet in front of the television :(.

Alyssa keeps on asking me (everytime she sees me working on it) if this is her blanket or if I'm STILLLLLLL busy with Tannie Lara and Oom Iwan's blanket ;-). She insists that she wants one exactly the same, but I think I'll choose something different for her, I just need to find the right design. And then of course there is one for myself as well.

To be honest, I've loved doing it so much that I'll be happy to take on commissions if anybody is interested?? Let me know!!

I'm looking forward to packing it up beautifully and sending it to it's new owners, let's just hope that my Sister (and her soon to be husband) likes it too.

Beads - a new found passion!

One of the first things that caught my eye when I was paging through my Martha Stewart book, was beading. I instantly liked the look of it and thought the classic thought of "I can do that!".

So of course with any new idea or venture you need to go out and buy all the stuff, which, 'surprise, surprise', I did.

I have decided to start with seed beads, as they looked the least complicated of the whole lot.

I was amazed by the varieties in colour and finishes that are available, and had a hard time choosing only a few colours to start with. I naturally favoured the pinks and reds, and threw in a few creams and greens just to mix it up a bit.



I also bought this handy container to keep them all organised and easily accessible. As you can see, I've pretty much filled it up, so I will probably have to buy another one (maybe even larger ;-) ).

Each little compartment can open individually, and it has a really clever 'locking/unlocking' system that prevents you from opening more than one compartment at once and getting all your colours mixed up by mistake.



I've also bought 2 different kinds of beading wire. The main difference comes down to the thickness of the wire (or the guage as they say in America).



And of course I needed some wire working tools to complete the list of essentials. I found a handy little set of three on the Beadstore website and it came within their own "tidy it all away" case.



So now that I was all set to begin, I only needed to figure out what it was that I wanted to make... but more on that soon ;-).

Crochet - "Love Hearts" Blanket, part 2

So I've finally finished tidying up the last few blocks for my Sister's heart blanket and now they are ready to show you.

As always I've not stuck to the pattern (hee-hee-hee - I never do!) and have decided to only do 10 of the 12 designs, but as I said in a previous post, doubled up.

So below are the remaining 4 designs that you haven't seen yet, and I am nearly finished with putting the whole lot together as well. Once again, I didn't like their way of joining them all up, so I invented my own. :0)

I'll put up some images of the finished product before I send it off to South Africa, in time for my sister's wedding.

My new book of inspiration!

A few weeks ago, when I made the decision to spend more time doing crafty stuff, I went on a mission to Waterstones to go and buy some crafty project books. I was amazed at how many there where and how many seperate areas of expertise there are!

If I had to buy one of each of the books that intrigued me, I would have been bankrupt on the spot... not a good way to start off I think ;-).

So when I saw this book, it was the ideal alternative.


Martha Stewart - Encyclopedia of Crafts

It gives you an overview of a whole bunch of crafts (30 to be exact), from candlemaking, all the way to wirework and wreaths. It gives you the all the fundamental techniques, the basic supplies you'll need and a couple of little projects for each. It doesn't go into too much detail, but that's ok if you only want to try out these techniques to find out which ones you would like to persue more in depth.

I will be showing you the first projects that I attempt from this book soon... but first I have to order all the "basic supplies" that I'll need. Somehow I think that bankrupt status might just be lurking in the shadows... so much to buy, so little money ;-).

Crochet - "Love Hearts" Blanket

As I said in my first post (below), in October I was wandering around WHSmiths one lunchtime only to start paging through a Crochet magazine - WHY? I hear you ask ;-).

I have always wanted to know how to Crochet, as my Grandmother (Ouma Bettie) is so fond of it and I have never really had the opportunity to sit down with her and learn how to do it. Now that I live in the UK (so very far away from SA and my family...) I don't suppose I'll ever have the chance either. We normally have too much gossip to catch up on when I'm over there and no time for learning anything new ;-)

But I digress... In this magazine, there was a step by step teach yourself how to Crochet article and I thought - "This is my chance!" - and bought it. By the end of the weekend I had finished a couple of the sample flower squares, which was the pattern that showed you all the basic stiches. I decided to do a few more of those and turned them into a dolly blanket for Alyssa (my 4YO).

After these humble beginnings I went onto the internet searching for some free downloadable patterns, and came across the redheart website, where I found a loveheart pattern that immediately caught my imagination. It was the outcome of a design competition where individuals all submitted designs with a heart motif. Each month the winner's pattern got published and at the end of the year you had enough blocks to complete a blanket.

Now, my sister is getting married in April and I've was thinking of trying this design as a wedding present for her. If it didn't turn out ok, I could always buy something else at the last minute :0).

The pattern calls for 12 squares, each with a heart motif. In my infinite wisdom I decided that this blanket would end up being too small so I was going to double it up to 24 squares.

I left the wool shop with 4 bulging carrier bags of wool and my husband nearly had a heart attack when I turned up with that lot at home. It really looked as if I had enough wool for at least 10 blankets.

I hoped that 5 months would be enough time to complete all the squares, as I had no idea how long this design was going to take me. It was still a very steep learning curve after all.

I've finished all the squares now, and am in the process of tidying them all up ready to start putting them together.

So here is a preview of all the squares that are ready to go, and I'll show you the rest in a couple of days (as soon as I've tidied them up too!)




I ended up doing (and undoing) this one at least 4 times before I got it right and thought I would be stuck on it for all eternity at one point ;-)










Let me know what you think of my first attempt at the art of Crochet - All comments (and tips) would be greatly appreciated.

Lx

Addressing the work/life balance

This is the first post on this brand spanking new blog that I have created to showcase all the projects that I'm going to tackle in an attempt to re-address my work life balance.

I have decided to start doing more of all the things I love doing like cooking, baking, gardening and crafty stuff.

Years ago I signed up for one of these weekly craft magaziny things that you collect and put in a folder (you know the ones... they come out shortly after Xmas and they are 99p for the first week and then go up to 2.99 after that) - yes I know... I quickly realised how silly this notion was! So I collected about a 100 of these thingies and put them in folders (very expensive I hear you say ;-) ) and over the years I've paged through them a number of times and wanted to start doing some of the projects in there, but it always came down to lack of time, space and energy that stopped me.

Well all that is about to change, and here is how...

I've recently decided to leave my dayjob and to persue my photography business fulltime (well 3 days per week) and the rest of the time I am dedicating to my life!

I've also bought a magazine and tought myself to crochet from scratch and bought a secondhand sewing machine off a friend. (She's fantastic, please check out her new "Jennifer Bartram Designs" blog)

As a child I made/baked lots of stuff, as my mother was always up to something with either a sewing machine or a pair of knitting needles. I think I learnt to knit before my 6th birthday (if I remember correctly) and I was making doll clothes on the sewing machine shortly after.

Of my mother's three daughters, I am the only one that ever really took a fancy to all the sewing and creative stuff, and my hope is that my daughter (now 4 years old) will show an interest in the projects I'm going to be doing and would want to learn how to knit and sew in the very near future.

There are lots of other bits and pieces that I would love to tell you, but it is too much to fit into one post, so...

I herewith declare this blog - Needles, Spoons and Spades - open for business.

The first results will be appearing shortly ;-)

Lx