pin cushion swap - received

here's what i received in my latest swap
my partner was Jenny - who has just had a baby :o)
check out her blog here
http://gingerbreadhouse.wordpress.com/

some really cute tiny hanging signs and a house button

goodies!!!

the pincushion -
it is made of felt and very bright
i couldn't lose this one
not even in my mess of a workdesk!

cute basket shaped card of needles

and some lovely fabric - with a very vintage vibe :o)

thanks again Jenny for getting my parcel to me against the odds!
{read her blog to find out
what's been happening in her world}

and thanks to the lovely Claire.P for organising the pincushion swap :o)

thrifty finds. . . .

i've found lots of lovely things in the last couple of weeks
the silhouette is a needlework kit
not started with a frame and all the threads too :o)

some very very funky cats eye shaped glasses
a very old school reading book of Annancy stories

i had a quick check to make sure it wasn't rascist as so
many books with black characters of this period are
before reading the first story to my son

i love the illustrations and the story

a bag of vintage stamps these were my favourites
i love space stamps

nice medallion - i guess you would've had it engraved

me in the "Aunty Thelma glasses"
my Aunty has always worn this style of glasses
so i had to get them!!!!

the lenses are sooooo strong!
*****
i also found a vintage tea set one bowl short of complete
in a blue rose pattern very 50's
it had
6x cups/saucers
6x tea plates
6x larger plates
and
5x bowls
shame i have nowhere to display it or store it!!!

*******

ahhh happy thrifting :o)

the kindness of {virtual} strangers

ooooohhhh
LOOK WHAT CAME IN THE POST TODAY!!!!

JUMPS UP AND DOWN WITH EXCITEMENT!!!!!

yes it's a Habitat button box
just the right size for mini moo cards!

sent to me by the lovely Eirlys
who i only know virtually
via twitter and flickr
http://twitter.com/scrapiana
i'd been lusting after one of these button boxes for some time, Habitat were selling large ones,
big enough to use as actual button boxes
but i couldn't find them online and the nearest store
is in Exeter, where i probably only go twice a year!

Eirlys very kindly offered to get me one next time she was going to her local Habitat, but she couldn't find any and then it was like a search for the Holy Grail everytime she went to Habitat :o) - anyway she bought a little pile of these small boxes and let me choose my colour, i had to have purple of course!

I have made so many friends online
including the lady whose mini moo card is on top of the pile,
she is in the States right now visiting family and friends,
and i'm missing her online presence and our funny little messenger chats
hope you're having a really great time Apryl :o)

simnel muffin recipe

i got asked by a few friends for a recipe for these muffins - to be honest i kind of make baking up as i go along but a made a second batch on sunday as we had family over so here's more or less what i did

ingredients:
3oz of soft brown sugar
1oz of white caster sugar
4oz of stork margarine
4oz self raising flour
2 medium free range eggs
1 cup full of raisons soaked in Disaronno Ameretto
mixed spice {to taste}
BIG block of golden marzipan
icing sugar
food colouring
mini choclate eggs

method:

1: roll out your marzipan on a flat surface sprinkled with a little icing sugar, using a round cutter, cut out 12 discs of marzipan to decorate the tops of the muffins and 12 smaller discs to be baked in the cakes

2: next cream the sugars and margarine
{i use an ancient Kenwood mixer}

3: slowly mix in the eggs

4: sift and mix in the flour
add the mixed spice to taste

5: mix in the raisons by hand
save the liquor that didn't get soaked up

6: pre-heat your oven to whatever temp you
normally cook cupcakes/muffins

7: add a small spoonfull of mixture
to each muffin case smooth out a little

8: add smaller disc of marzipan
then another spoonfull of cake mixture

9: cook 'em!
not sure how long i cooked them for as i was busy chatting away!
when they are golden brown and spring back to touch
they are done :o)

10: leave them to cool awhile
then using the saved Ameretto paint the bottoms of the discs of marzipan and stick to muffin top
{he he he}
i painted the tops too
then popped 'em under a medium grill
till they were toasted golden brown.

11: again leave them to cool
then mix up some icing
add a bit of colouring - i used violet paste
add a little dollop in middle and add eggs then drizzle the icing around the eggs to give impression of a nest
add a little more colour and repeat

12: QUICK EAT THEM - before someone else does!!!

*******
this recipe makes a dozen muffin sized cakes
*******
hopefully this all makes sense
i am a marzipan addict so i make the marzipan tops quite thick - you may want to use less marzipan!

HaPpY eAsTeR

"eeek i think we are dinner"

happy Easter to all my readers
hope you have a great day
and of course lots of lovely chocolate x

haberdashery happiness

oooh a box full of lovely-ness just arrived at my door
so i thought i'd share the photo's of the delights inside

needles pins and thimbles

lovely old measuring tapes
ribbon and darning mushrooms

i just couldn't resist this box of Cash's embroidered initial tapes
V.B. must stand for Violet Button right?
ok so that's not my real name but
hmmm maybe i could change it?!

and well these buttons were rather expensive
i got eBay bidding fever BUT wow
they are so cute and it is Easter

could you have resisted????

pincushion trials and tribulations!

My mission for wednesday
was to make a pincushion
i had the idea in my head
i was in the mood for making
so off i went to my craft room to get to work

after a quick rummage through my
vintage embroidered linen cloths
i found this tray cloth
i used a large embroiderey hoop
to select the section i wanted
marked out a circle and cut it out

i then made a suffolk puff
but didn't pull the threads tight

then i made another the same size
with a plain linen napkin

i filled the plain puff with a LOT of polyester stuffing
next i pulled the threads tight - very tight

*POP*
oops that was too tight and the thread just wasn't up to it so it snapped under the pressure

feeling slightly annoyed i re-did the puff with stronger thread
and tied it up as tight as i could
whilst wishing i had an extra pair of hands to help

i popped the plain stuffed puff into the embroidered one so that the hole was on top under the embroidered linen and stitched a vintage dorset button on to the outer puff and a plastic button onto the plain puff pulling nice and tight to get a nice dimple in the middle

hmmm anyone else thinking this is all rather over complicated?

then i pulled in the threads
to finish the puff and tied them off

okay so it does looks quite pretty
but at the end of the day it's wasting the plain napkin 'cause no-one can see it.
So i left it on the side and cracked on with making another version which i'm not going to show
as it's for a swap ;op

********
After working on the secret pincushion and having learned from some of my previous mistakes, i came back to this one and decided NO i don't like it and dismantled it!
That plain area NEEDS something i thought
so i got out a hoop and sewed on this little phrase that's been going round and round my head
it seems very familiar {not the words themself as i know they are song lyrics} and i'm worried i may have lifted the idea from someone else
but i've no idea where the inspiration came from?

the pin marks the spot for a button
to give a nice middle dimple

dimpled!
i used the plain green stuffed puff for the inside again with them placed in opposite directions so the button sits nicely in the hole off the puff, i didn't bother with a button on the bottom as it's a real faff trying to get the needle through the holes of both buttons and it was nice to see the green showing through the puff-hole!

The lettering's a bit distorted where it got stretched
for the dimple but it's only for me so hey-ho!

For some reason i always seem to over-complicate what should really be a simple project, everytime i take part in a swap i make twice as many things as i need because i can't work out how to make something and have to make several prototypes!!!

Now i've got a couple of different pincushions under my belt, i think i may make a few for the shops
do you think they would sell?