Urban Views by Cherri House

 

Urban Views by Cherri House picks up where City Quilts left off. Whether simple or more complicated, the quilts all made in Kona solids and brilliant for a new or more experience quilter.  In the book there are 12 quilt patterns, packed full of tips and ideas so everyone can personalise their quilt designs and make them unique.  Cherri shows how to use a colour wheel to balance tones and colours, whether you go for complementary, monochromatic or dolly mixture.

City Rain © C & T Publishing

City Rain was inspired by the Emerald city of Seattle.

City Bridge © C & T Publishing

City Bridge was inspired by the 17 bridges of Portland Oregon .

City Hall © C & T Publishing

City Hall is based on the two most frequently used words from any city/town hall – Red Tape.

City Beat © C & T Publishing

  City Beat represents the nightlife of every city, like Piccadilly Circus at night.

City Electric © C & T Publishing

City Electric lets diagonal images crisscross like lightning in a thunderstorm.

 

At the back of the book there is a section called Useful Techniques and this is invaluable, notes on pressing, rotary cutting, construction and pinning to get the best finish to every quilt. Tips on boarders, backing, batting, basting and quilting.  All the quilts throughout the book are professionally done by Angela Walters and the solids are Kona Solids.  And if you've got an ebook, there is a kindle version for instant gratification.

Elderflower cordial

This week I have been foraging elderflowers, the common is full of the beautiful white scented  flowers and there are quite a few ladies picking as they walk their dogs.  I used a BBC recipe:

30 Elderflower heads
3 pints of boiling water
2 lb caster sugar
2oz citric acid
2 unwaxed oranges,sliced
2 unwaxed lemons, sliced

1. gently clean the elderflower heads.
2. Pour boiling water over the sugar in a large mixing bowl, stir and leave to cool.
3. Add the citric acid, oranges, lemons and elderflowers.
4. Leave in a cool place covered and stir occasionally.
5. Strain through a muslin and pour into sterlised bottles.

I found some great bottles in Robert Dyas, where they also have the muslin and funnel.

The recipe is very easy and does taste delicious, will be trying out another recipe from River Cottage and see which we prefer.  Do you have any great Elderflower recipes, if so please do share them.  Have a great weekend.

schoolhouse tunic

I have finished a new schoolhouse tunic in a linen viscose mix from Fabrics Galore.  Should summer ever arrive will be great to wear and I've made it much longer, so its knee length.  Just noticed the pleats are inverted the wrong way - so will grab my quick unpick!  Next in my stitch pile is another Datura blouse in fabrics I found at Annie's and a pair of capri trousers in a fabulous linen.  What are you sewing at the moment?  Any fabulous patterns you could recommend?

McCalls 6702

Since I got my sewing machine out I have been dress making, the Deer and Doe Datura Blouse (available only in store at The Village Haberdashery) was fun and have made another for myself in some lovely white Seersucker.  So continuing on the clothes them I made up McCalls 6702 in this fabulous Liberty print I found at Fabrics Galore.  The pattern is straight forward, although a couple of steps did make me scratch my head to begin with (the sleeves are meant to turn up).  I had planned to use some amazing satin backed silk, but may just find another pattern for that - or overlock all the seams and reinforce the silk at the bottom of the placket..

I am making another sleeveless version in a linen and viscose mix, perfect for summer (when ever it arrives).

Not the best photo of the seersucker, it washes brilliantly and in hot summer weather it will be perfect.

Apple cake

Unpacking boxes gave me the chance to look through all our books.  I have managed to collect quite a few cookery books over the years and thought I would start to use more of them, favourites are by Bill Granger and used weekly - his style of cookery is easy to follow and delicious too.  Some books have never used, so this week (1) I chose an apple cake from Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer by Jane Brocket.

I ground the hazelnuts myself with a stick blender, it worked well and adds some texture to the cake as they were not ground evenly.  Here's what I did:

100g self raising flour

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

100g hazelnuts

1 unwaxed lemon

2 apples (I used red delicious)

125g butter

125g soft brown sugar

3 free range eggs

20cm spring form tin, lined with baking parchment.

1. Preheat the oven to 180'.

2. Sift flour and nutmeg into a bowl, grind the hazelnuts and add to the flour and nutmeg.

3. Peel and slice the apples thinly.  Place in a bowl with a little lemon juice.

4. In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time.  Add the flour, nut and nutmeg and fold in gently.

5. Spoon into prepared tin and level the cake mixture.

6. Arrange the slices of apple on top and brush on a little melted butter and sprinkle with soft brown sugar.

7. Bake for 35-40 minutes.

8. Leave the cake in its tin for 15 minutes, then remove and place on a wire rack to cool.

It worked brilliantly, lovely nutty texture and the apple add a delicious sweetness.

Dear dear dear

Weeks without any Internet access has been interesting and some what freeing too. This week I went up to The Village Haberdashery in West Hampstead and discovered Annie sells Deer and Doe patterns.  I have often thought that they looked interesting but did wonder how my terrible school girl French would cope, but discovered they have full instructions in English as well as French!  Miss T loved the pattern and chose a fun toile by Alexander Henry from Fabrics Galore,

just have the buttons to sew on and she will be able to wear it.  I have traced out my size of the patterns and will zip it up tomorrow (minus the peter pan collar), it is perfect for this wonderful warm sunny weather and although the pattern calls it an intermediate level of experience - was very quick and easy to follow.

The pattern is set out in sections and each piece is made and then constructed, the lay out is for plain fabric and if you were a beginner - plain fabric would be best.  Fabulous pattern and we love the fabric too!  My baby quilt diamond quilt top is finished and just needs to be quilted - but far to warm to snuggle under batting and stitch.

Hi

I am giving the blogger app a try. Not found a space for my machine so hand stitching, this will be a half star using a fat quarter bundle I bought at the NEC last summer. The Prince Charming by Tula Pink is a great collection and Miss T chose the colour way, now to stitch the diamonds together. They are 1.5 inch and I used my 60' diamond template.  I have had lots if problems commenting on blogs using the bloglovin app, anyone else found this?