Best Bauble

My Mum and Dad have just been on a city break to Venice. Sounds lovely doesn't it? They have brought me back a gorgeous souvenir, a Murano glass bauble. It's handmade and really beautiful.

 

Look at the lovely swirling colours, a mix of blues, greens, whites, browns and gold. Here it is in pride of place on my tree.

 

 

I am a lucky lady, thank you Mum and Dad.

xxx

 

 

 

Christmas Project

Well that's me done for another year at work. Yippee. I've had plans for a knitting project on the back burner for a while, so the holidays seem like the perfect time to get started.

Ooh what's this? Is it a lovely parcel for me? Yes I've been ordering wool from Pickles again.

 

It's going to be the Golden Child Dress - a Pickles pattern for my niece Emma (who else?!). I got my sister Vicky to help choose as there are lots of yarn kits available in various colours. This is the one she picked...
...hello Missy!

The body of the dress is Pickle Pure Alpaca. So lovely and snuggly soft.

The yoke of the dress has some lovely detailing, highlighted by the use of Pickles Bling! I know so fab!

 

 

I feel festive just looking at it.

Christmas Tree Christmas Cakes

I've finished my Christmas Cakes! Woo woo! I can rest easy for another year. It's funny, although I make six cakes, I don't keep any for myself - they're all gifts. One for my colleagues, one for Tim's colleagues, one for my Mum and Dad, one for Tim's Mum and Dad, one for my Auntie and Uncle and one for my Dad's best friend. Not really sure how that happened!!

To finish these cakes is pretty easy. I use royal icing which is the traditional icing and sets hard. I used a spatula to dollop the icing onto the marzipanned cake.

I spread the icing over the top of the cake first, then the sides. Trying to spread it the icing evenly and ensuring no yellow of the marzipan is peeping through is the hardest bit.

 

I like to go for a snowstorm effect for my Christmas Cakes (because it's easiest!). I just use the flat of the spatula and tap the cake, the icing sticks an gets pulled into peaks as you pull away. See snowy?!

 

 

Then just stick your decorations onto the wet royal icing. Easy.

 

 

 

 

Icing The Icing

I used icing sugar, a piping bag and a 1.5mm nozzle to add some extra decoration to the Icing Christmas Trees, that I'd cut out yesterday. I decided to stick with white icing as it really stands out from the green background. I also stuck the yellow stars on the top of some of the trees with a blob of the icing.

 

I didn't have any particular design in mind when I started to pipe so some patterns have turned out better than others. The overall effect is quite striking though so that's good.

 

 

Not so good - my hand is killing me from squeezing the piping bag for a couple of hours. Ow ow ow. Oh well, no pain no gain etc.



Icing Christmas Trees

I've made a start with the icing design for my Christmas Cakes and thought I'd share it with you. It's Christmas trees this year. Obviously.

I used flower paste for the design as it is so nice to work with, you can roll it really thin and it sets hard. The cutter and green food colouring I bought from my Imaginative Icing. Sorry about this next photo - it's food dye honestly!

 

I use the paste colours when dying flower paste as it stops the icing getting too wet and sticky and gives a much stronger colour than traditional liquid food colouring. I use the tip of a paint brush (never used for paint!) and dab a small amount onto a a third of the required flower paste. Working the dye into a smaller amount of the flower paste, then adding the remainder of the icing, helps achieve an even colour and avoids streaks. I then rolled the icing out on baking parchment dusted with icing sugar.

 

 

Then got cutting...

 

 

and cutting...

 

 

and cutting - Phew. I also cut some stars that I might use for the tops of the trees.

 

I'm letting them dry out this evening but I'll add a bit more decoration to the trees tomorrow.

 

Getting Quilty!

I have made a start on quilting Emma's Cot Quilt. I decided to quilt the chevrons to start, but wasn't sure what to do next - I originally thought I'd stitch in all the ditches. Then I thought to myself, why not sew an extra line offset from the first? That's where I'm at now.

I really like how it's looking. I haven't finished though. My plan now is to keep sewing offset lines, but only on the lighter coloured chevrons. That way the brighter chevrons should stick out (as they aren't quilted) from the lighter chevrons (which are).

That's the plan!

It's Marzipan Time...

I think this part of the Christmas Cake making might actually be my favourite - adding the marzipan. It helps that I'm a massive marzipan fiend (as is the rest of my family). I think it stems from my lovely Nan, Minnie, she used to sneak us all bits of chocolate covered marzipan. She was wonderful. Tee hee.

The marzipan process is actually quite straight forward. I used bought marzipan this time (as I have 6 cakes to cover), but have made it from scratch in the past. There are loads of marzipan recipes online if you fancy home-made. Quantity wise, I tend to buy one 500g pack for the 6'' cake size and 1kg for the 8'' cakes, though 750g would probably be plenty (marzipan fiend, remember?). I find its easier to work with if you have plenty and you can make marzipan chocolates if there is any excess.

 

To start the marzipanning process, liberally sprinkle your clean and dry work surface with icing sugar. Knead the marzipan until it is malleable and then form  it into a roughly circular shape. Place on the icing sugared surface and start rolling out the marzipan. I use a non-stick rolling pin and it is fab, if you don't have one make sure to dust your rolling pin with icing sugar. Turn the marzipan between rolls to ensure that it isn't stuck to the work surface and that so that you end up with a roughly circular shape. Roll to desired thickness, I go for about 5mm.

 

 

Next you have to get the marzipan onto the cake. The traditional way to stick the marzipan on is using apricot jam. Bring some apricot jam to the boil in a pan. Remove from the heat and pass the jam through a sieve, collecting the strained jam in a bowl. Allow this strained jam to cool before brushing it onto the fruit cake (you can also buy apricot glaze on the baking aisle, which means you can skip the boiling, sieving step). Place the cake on a cake board, using some jam to stick it down. Move the cake to the marzipan so you don't have to move the rolled out marzipan very far. To help move the marzipan you can wrap it slightly around the rolling pin and that helps support the weight and stops it ripping. Make sure you place the marzipan centrally on the cake top, then using your hand gently smooth the marzipan, firstly on the top, then round the sides. You can use a cake smoother too if you have one to help create a smooth surface, or if you have any gaps it can be used to smooth marzipan into position. Your cake should look like this.

 

 

 

Next, using a sharp knife cut off the excess. I hold the knife quite vertically so I can get a neat finish.

 

 

Give it a final smooth, then store in an airtight container until you are ready to add the icing. More on that next week! Merry Christmas!



Lucky Find Lantern

I first saw these lanterns when I was working in Vienna last December (I know, luck lady!), they were hung outside many of the shops. I looked everywhere to try to buy one for myself, visited all the Christmas markets (fun!) but just couldn't find one anywhere. Then, last weekend I went to Ilkley to visit some university friends and in one of the shops what should they be selling, but the exact lanterns! I bought one instantly.

 

It's got spinning reindeers and Santa's sleigh. I have it sat on my fireplace at the moment, but if I know I'm having visitors I'll hang it by the front door to welcome people in. I could honestly watch this lantern all day. Magical.

Snuggley Stuff

I bought the batting for Emma's Quilt. None of the usual low quality guff for that delicate flower. No Sir, she has the finest cotton batting that money can buy. She'll be so snug.

 

The batting is Warm and White from the Warm Company. I bought it from Gillies Fabrics in York.

 

 

It really does look good doesn't it? Right then, I really do have to crack on and get the quilt basted rather than just admiring the lovely batting all day. Bye.

Tim and Sally's Christmas Stockings

It is officially December now so the tree is up and it's time to enjoy an advocaat (it's a family tradition!). Woo.

 

I can also reveal my latest Christmas Stockings. OOOOooh! I sewed both of these in an evening. I couldn't bring myself to cut up the Winter Wonderland fabric so I simply quilted the fronts in a criss-cross pattern using the fab Christmas Cotton. I think the cotton and fabric go perfectly together. It's the first time I've used a stripy cotton and I really like the effect here. What do you think?

 

 

How cute it that deer?

 

Then it was simply as case of sewing everything together, the linings are made from the fabric I bought at the Knitting and Stitching Show. I cut the linings a bit longer than the fronts so that I could create a nice cuff. Tim's has the grey cuff, mine is the red.

 

 

Here they are pinned up on the fireplace awaiting Father Christmas' visit!

 

 

 



Advent Calendar

I got so excited about finally opening my advent calendar today, but I've left it in York and I'm in Oxford. Boo.