A week off work was spent being very busy indeed - with 2 separate trips to Bungay with friends. Firstly I'd planned a trip there on Tuesday with my friend Helen - we did a little bit of shopping in Sew and So's - I needed some fabric to make another baby quilt, and these packs of mini-charms in the range Comma by Zen Chic for Moda were perfect for this, and I couldn't resist this black and white numbered fabric (599 Numbers by The Henley Studio for Makower UK) for the backing. Of course a lime green spot for the binding was just what I was looking for! Then trotted off to lunch at Earsham Street Cafe, where we both had the spiced sweet potato, leek and coconut milk coup followed by some delicious cake... ...this was followed on Wednesday with another trip there with my friend Sue. This involved coffee AND lunch at Earsham Street Cafe, and a shopping trip to Sew and So's. I'd seen the spiced apricot crumble on the menu at the cafe when I was there on Tuesday, and luckily it was still on the menu on Wednesday and it was as delicious as it looks! I'm rather fond of batiks, and these four half meters were just what I needed to make some more place mats with to go in my newly decorated dining room - maybe I'll have time to make them at the end of my week's stay-cation, before I have to go back to work!
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Last night I was very busy baking again - this time it's cheese scones for a shared lunch at work today. This is a sort of made-up recipe as I added a few extras to my usual recipe!! So here's a list of the ingredients - plain flour, wholemeal flour, baking powder, cheese, pinch of salt, mustard powder, milk and my secret ingredient? Finely chopped onion! I just hope these taste as good as they looked when they came out of the oven!
I haven't spent ALL my week off work sewing and shopping - I've been baking too!! Mr F needed some cakes to take on a shoot, and I was having some friends over for coffee and cake this morning, so last night after supper I set to work with some raspberries and lemons and some VERY good quality chocolate and some eggs from our hens and look what I produced!! Firstly some raspberry and white chocolate muffins - (these were very tasty) followed by some triple chocolate muffins (again, these were very tasty too) and finally some lemon muffins with a very sharp lemon icing and zest plonked on the top. They were my favourites! I bought these fab dotty muffin cases from Lakeland at the weekend - I thought they looked much better than plain boring white ones - and the muffins didn't stick at all!! Well as you can see, after coffee and a natter and much oohhing and ahhing over the new baby (Elliott is the most GORGEOUS baby!) you can see there wasn't very much left. Poor Mr F - looks like he's got left-overs again for supper!!
This morning I made my way to Norwich to see my very crafty sister, Lisa, as we hadn't met up for months and months and due to various bouts of illness and bad weather, we still hadn't exchanged Christmas presents!! Anyway, we met up this morning and trotted off to Biddy's Tea Rooms where there was a superb selection of cakes to tempt me!..... .....and just look what I was tempted with - the largest slice of the most DELICIOUS lavender and lemon drizzle cake that I have ever tasted (and believe me, I have tried a lot of cakes in my time)!! It was absolutely YUMMY!..... .....anyway, as I said we still exchanged Christmas pressies and look what my very clever crafty sister made for me - this beautiful hottie cover - isn't it lovely? I shall put it to good use tonight keeping my tootsies warm and cosy hehe!! What a lovely time we had this afternoon! We were going out to celebrate my mum's birthday (she's got a very SPECIAL birthday later this week!) and we were going out for afternoon tea at Tilly's Tea Rooms, in Southwold. And just look what turned up at my mum's house to transport us to Southwold - the Tilly's Tour Bus!! We all hopped aboard, and the driver took us on an easy-paced drive to Southwold, and gave us the guided tour - it was a gloriously sunny afternoon, and we had a wonderful time as we went past the pier and onwards past Adnams brewery, past the Southwold museum, and past the church then over the common and past the golf course and then headed off towards the harbour..... .....we carried on through the streets of Southwold, getting some admiring looks from passers-by - all the while hearing all about the history of Southwold from the very charming driver! Finally we drove down the high street, and stopped outside Tilly's Tea Rooms - and oh what a feast was waiting for us inside!..... .....we were transported back to the 1930's for a real proper high tea - we had pots of proper tea (no tea bags for us today!!), and plates of dainty sandwiches with the crusts cut off (the brie and cranberry ones were my favourites!) and warm sausage rolls and buttered cheese scones, and Victoria Sponge and the most delicious chocolate cake and scones with jam and cream topped off with a strawberry - it was just an absolutely splendid afternoon. (Note: I checked out the menu, and I can't wait to go back and try their "boozy tiered tea" with a glass of fizz)!! I wasn't able to blog about Mothering Sunday on the day itself, because we had no internet access (some stupid people thought it would be a clever idea to cut out half a mile of phone cable in my village, so we had no landline or internet access for several days). Anyway, my two girls really spoiled me..... .....my eldest daughter Beth was home for the weekend and she decided that she was going to cook a roast dinner!! I must say she did an EXCELLANT job, and peeled all the veggies herself and made Yorkshire puddings and breadsauce (with no sign of Aunt Bessie!) and although she's vegetarian, she cooked a roast chicken for us, and did a veggie roast for herself - it was all absolutely delicious and I was so very proud of her..... .....and Alice baked me a special Mother's Day cake which she decorated with icing and sprinkles and was very tasty, and she bought me some flowers too, AND she baked lemon muffins for our tea..... .....as well as cooking lunch, Beth bought me some Lush goodies too, which smell divine! So I really was a very lucky yummy mummy!
One of my colleagues, Kirsty, was leaving work to take up a new post elsewhere, and I have been busy making her a leaving gift - another one of my toilettry bags, inspired by AnnAKa patterns. This time I used a picture from this website, Magic Moonlight, where you can download lots of free images ..... .....once again, I used the miracle sheets of fabric to print the picture onto - this is a great way to make a gift unique. I chose this picture to blend in with the colours of these Lecien fabrics that I chose for the rest of the bag..... .....the back of the bag is quilted in a cross-hatch pattern - you can see the grid lines that I have marked on the fabric with a Clover Hera marker..... .....the front section of the bag is quilted in exactly the same way..... .....the printed picture is then machine appliqued into place. I have still used the walking foot for this, and altered the needle position so it sews just inside the edge of the picture..... .....the lace trimming is attached at the same time as the binding for the zipper - this saves time and thread, and I used a few dabs of Roxanne Baste-it glue to hold the lace in position instead of pins..... .....you can see how I have hand-sewn the zipper to the inside of the bag so it lays flat. Oh and this time I added one of my labels inside the bag as a little flourish..... .....and here is the finished bag - perfect for make-up or toilettries. Job done!..... .....we all had a great time on Wednesday at Kirsty's leaving do - we had a meal at the Maybush Inn, Waldringfield - and I chose prawn and crayfish cocktail for starters. No piccie of the delicious smoked salmon fishcakes that I enjoyed for the main course - sorry!..... .....and I just managed to squeeze in this delicious pudding - chocolate fudge cake with cream - it really was yummy - very sweet and sticky! Oh, and you can click onto the pictures for a bigger look if you want to - that pudding really was DELICIOUS!! Well today Mr F was very busy with new bedroom cupboards and man-stuff, so I planned a little jaunt over to Needham Market to my favourite shop, Halfpenny Home. I always get a little bit excited when I go over there and I'm like a child in a sweet shop when I look at all the wonderful goodies there are on display..... .....and today I wasn't disappointed, especially when Harriet was there too - "Hi Harriet" - anyway, I can't show you a piccie of what I bought as some of it is being posted off for a belated birthday present (I hadn't forgotten you Eva ), so you'll have to make do with a piccie of Nic and Harriet and this GORGEOUS wool. Oh and Nic had baked the most scrummy Rhubarb and Raspberry tart which I had a little of - sorry no piccies of that.... .....after we'd chatted and shopped and had a cup of tea and chatted a bit more and oohed and ahhhed over the wool, we headed off to our favourite place for lunch, Alder Farm Barn Cafe..... .....on the specials board today was Garlic and Ginger Tiger Prawns with Butterd Linguine and Homemade Olive Bread..... .....as you can see from my empty plate, this was horrid and I didn't enjoy it at all ;)..... ....and after a little rest while we chatted over a couple of pots of tea, and browsed through the latest Mollie Makes magazine, we had pudding - Nic went for the Ginger and Orange Cheesecake, while I plumped for dark Chocolate and Hazelnut Terrine with Raspberry Coulis and Cream - it was soooo delicious!! I had a great time today with Nic - now I wonder what will be on the menu the next time we meet? Well on Saturday morning I took my friend Fran over to Halfpenny Home - my goodness we had a fab time over there with Nic (sooo sorry I missed your birthday Nic - special pressie coming your way on the 10th)..... .....we ohhhed and ahhhed over ribbons and buttons and fabrics and lace and trimmings..... .....then we drove over to Alder Carr Barn Cafe for lunch - Barn cafe beef burger in a floured roll with yummy caramelized onions and cheese served with hand cut chips and salad, washed down with elderflower presse..... .....we were too stuffed to have a pudding each so decided to share a slice of this yummy bakewell tart - deeeelicious :) On Friday I met up with my friend Heather and we had a lovely lunch together at the Quayside, Ipswich. I didn't get any piccies of the starter - (we both decided to have the country terrine with apple and pear chutney and crusty bread) - or the main course - (we both really enjoyed fillet of hake, Israeli cous cous, provençale vegetables and pesto) but just LOOK at our yummy puddings! Heather had floating island, strawberry compote and custard and I had the most delicious iced dark chocolate parfait with orange sorbet. We topped this little lot off with coffees and enjoyed a good old natter. Unfortunately Heather couldn't make it to Birmingham, so I'd bought her a present - a kit to make a bag - which she seemed to be very pleased with. Maybe next year we'll go to Birmingham together Heather :) |
About me...Hi - welcome to my quilting blog! My passions are my family, my dog, my friends and sewing, not necessarily in that order! Archives
July 2023
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