And ATC received

And this is the little gem I got on the post last week...

Picture from Sue @ Dereyme.co.uk

It is such a cute card, and the stitching is gorgeous. But what I like the most about it is that it looks just like my Feli, with his tail curled up playing with the leaves in the park. We have a little park accross the road with a really long avenue of trees, and it has been gorgeous to see Feli play with the leaves (and we had tonnes of them). So this ATC is just the perfect representation of my autumn this year!

Thank you Sue for making such a great and lovely card for me. I will treasure it as the very special gift it is!

Artist Trading Card

Second round of Artist Trading Card (ATC) swap organised by the lovely Ali at Very Berry Handmade. And I am so happy to report that my ATC arrived safely home with her new owner Pat from Sunshine and a Sewing Basket, all the way in South Africa. Never been there but I am glad a little bit of me is now there with Pat.

The theme for this swap was Autumn, and after much deliberation I decided that I wanted to make a squirrel cross stitch. And I found this lovely pattern on pinterest that I thought would look great in a really small stitching arrangement.

I then replicated the squirrel the other way around and added a little heart. The leaves on the sides are also from the pattern. And here is a little close up...

Really look forward to see what is in the post for me soon as well! If you are interested in seeing more Autumn loveliness, head over to the ATC group on Flickr (click HERE).

Brrrr it's cold around here!

And it was time for a new jumper... One year on the little puppy has grown and outgrown his coat from last year... remember?

So mummy put her hands into action and cut into an old skiing jumper and voilà, look at Feli's new jumper:

He looks so grown up on year on... and so smart in his big boy haircut! So if you have a little puppy or doggie and an old sweater or jumper around... you can also make them something cosy for their cold winter walks.

So a little tutorial...

First pick an old sweater or t-shirt (it does not need to be long sleeves but better if it is a warm one). Feli really liked this one apparently!

Then cut the sleeves off and use the shoulders to mark the sleeves for the front paws. Then mark the sides to fit the dog's back. The tummy side may need to be smaller, but we will do that later.

Baste stitch and try it on the dog to make sure it is comfortable. Then sew all around and cut the seam allowance to 1cm. If the neck opening is too big you can also take it in to make it smaller. Finally cut the tummy side open through the middle and add Velcro so you can close it to fit the dog snugly.

Finally mark where the legs and end of the back are and trace a wavy line (just like in the picture). Cut and sew all around the edges with a zig zag stitch. And voilà, new winter outfit ready!

Now we can go out warmly!

Wednesday's sneak peak...

It is ATC week this week, and as usual I was still thinking what I wanted to make. Happy to report though that the ATC was made and posted on Monday as it should! but I can only show you a little sneak peak until it arrives to its destination (and this time it is going quite far!!).

An because winter has started I have finally managed to alter Feli's rain coat (it was a tiny bit big for him) and made him a jumper... a little sneak peak and tutorial coming soon.

And Wednesdays is also sewing class day so I had to get something ready to start sewing this week (sorry still waiting for a nice day to take pics of my new T-Shirt I made in the last few classes). So I decided to start a Kimono Dress. I bought this pattern from Pattern Runway and have been really looking forward to getting started. I was supposed to just prepare the fabric and maybe cut it to take it to class (but the whole thing is now basted ready for the teacher to give me the thumbs up to start sewing... oops I am a little to exited about making my own clothes!

  

This is a picture when I thought I was done for the day... but then I forgot about the pile of laundry and a few other things that needed done and kept going!

What have you been up to this week? Hope something nice and crafty! Linking up to Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesdays (link here).

I embroidered Rocco

A few months ago our friend's dog Rocco stayed over at another friends for a weekend. And this friend loves posting on facebook, so I was bombarded with lovely pictures of the cute French Bulldog...  and while looking at my favourite embroidery websites I found this pattern. What do you think? I just thought it WAS Rocco!

Pattern from Passion Broderie 77 (click here for link to the site)

Well the good news is my friends thought it looked just like their dog when they got their cross stitch during their visit to Luxembourg a few weeks ago.

And here's a close up of the face...

It is embroidered with two strands of DMC black (310) embroidery floss on Aida (18 count) fabric.

And a little baking....

It was one of my friend's birthday a few weeks ago and I offered to make her birthday cake... and we agreed after much deliveration that we would make cupcakes!

And though I LOVE making cupcakes, it is always the question of when making them for grown ups of how to make them a little more interesting. I here is what I came up with!

Lemon wet sponge cupcakes with buttercream frosting and topped with candied lemon peel... uff it is more daunting to name them than actually make them... so feel like a little recipe for the cupcakes?

Ingredients

250g butter (110g for the cakes and 140g for the frosting)
110g sugar (plus a small cup of sugar)
110g self risig flour (or normal flour and a tea spoon of baking powder all mixed)
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 tea spoon of vanilla extract
2 lemons
280g icing sugar
a few tea spoons of milk if necessary.

How to make the cakes

Preheat the oven at 180C and line a 12-hole cupcake tray with liners. Cream the butter for the cakes with the 110g of sugar in a mixer until smooth. Add the eggs, the vanilla and the zest of one of the lemons. Then fold in the flour until the mixture is smooth. Add some drops of milk if necessary to make the mixture easier to work. Distribute the mixture in the baking tray and bake for 10-15 min until the cakes spring back when lightly tapped.

While you wait peel the second lemon with a potato peeler and then cut the skin in julienne (very thin stripes). It should look like this:

Boil some water in a pan, and then with the heat off add the peel for 30 min. Strain and make s syrup with the cup of sugar and a cup of cold water. When all the sugar is disolved add the peel and cook for 30 min (until the peel is soft to eat). Save in a glass jar (it keeps in the fridge like jam).

Make lemon juice with the two peeled lemons.

Finally make the butter cream frosting. I follow the instructions in this (HERE) great video by My Cupcake Addiction of you tube.

Once cooled, pinch the top of each cake with a knife. I generally make two cuts in the shape of a cross. And slowly introduce two teaspoons of lemon juice in each cake. Then frost the cakes and decorate with a few strands of the candied lemon. And voilà, lovely lemon cupcakes.