Making a house a home...

So it's been an exciting weekend in the world of Hannah...I went to see Switchfoot in Cambridge (amazing), catch up with old friends (also amazing), have a great chat with a 76 year old ex-jockey in Newmarket (hi Alfie, sorry I was so rubbish on the horse simulator), bake brownies (delicious), decide what to do with a donated beetroot and pumpkin (I'm thinking soup and pie)...and make a pretty heart garland to adorn our stairs! Some of this was planned, other parts, i.e. the horse simulator, were more of a surprise...and just plain random :)

We've lived in our little home for just over a year now and I love it so much. It's actually part of a converted mental asylum (un-p.c. I know, but it really was built to be an 'asylum' rather than hospital) which means it has gorgeous stonework and vaulted ceilings. But we've been pretty rubbish at getting round to those 'little touches' which finishes of the home. It's partly because we know we're only going to be here short term but it's mostly due to my inability to get round to things. I've been kicked into action after going round to our friends and seeing how lovely they've made their home...after only living there for one month.

So I decided to make a start on Sunday and make a heart garland. It's something I've been meaning to do since picking up some pretty craft paper in hobbycraft. And best of all? It took no time at all. Oh, actually, best of all was getting to peel off the glue from my fingers...it took me right back to primary school!

What you need:

Craft paper

Thin cardboard

Twine

PVA glue

Paint brush

Scissors

Pencil

1) Sketch two heart shapes (2 sizes) on to the cardboard and cut out to create your templates

2) Using your templates, draw out the hearts onto the reverse of the craft paper and cut out. Tip: Reverse the template when drawing on the second piece of craft paper to ensure a neat match when sticking them together.

3) Using the paintbrush, apply a thin layer of glue to the reverse of two of the hearts. Lie one onto the surface and position the twine down the centre. Apply the second heart and firmly push together. It's really up to you as to how much space you'd like between the hearts. A strand of 11 hearts with 6cm gap between hearts makes approximately a 4ft garland.

4) Next trim the twine (leaving enough to tie/secure the garland) and any uneven sides of the hearts. And then choose where you'd like to prettify.

Maybe a short strand to adorn a cupboard?

Or a longer strand for elsewhere?

I decided on the stairs.

Wherever you decide, let me know how you get on :) Right I'm off to massacre the above mentioned pumpkin in my attempt to make pumpkin puree for a pumpkin pie.

We remember...

For the fallen

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them

By Lawrence Binyon

Source

"Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends" (John 15 v 12-13).

Thank you to all who have laid down their lives so that we may know freedom today, we remember you.

Let's get sewing...

About 6 months ago I finally got a sewing machine. It's something I have thought about for years but have never lived anywhere with enough storage space to justify buying one. However, now I have a home waiting to be filled with wonderful and pretty and badly stitched  things so I felt that was the perfect excuse to buy one. 6 months on and I have only so far made a laundry bag and some cute bunting for my niece...although I have done very well at accumulating numerous pieces of material (why is it I'm so good at doing anything that involves cluttering our home?)

I have been reminded lately of how drafty our house was last winter so I decided to make a...

Beard warmer? Also known as a draught excluder. I had a look up on google to see how people made them and couldn't believe it when I found a designer draught excluder being sold for over £100 -eek! This is much much cheaper...and the fabric is so much nicer. Anyway, I started to use a pattern but it wouldn't have been very chunky (surely an essential element of being a draught excluder)...so here's my version...


What you need:

Measuring tape
Chosen fabric
Scissors
Iron
Thread
Sewing pins
Needle
Sewing machine
Some form of stuffing: I used hollowfibre filling but have seen rice, polystyrene balls and cat litter also recommended
Tea (optional)

1) Before measuring the fabric, iron it to remove any creases.

2) Measure the width of your doorway. Next, cut the fabric to 13" wide x length of the doorway + 2" (mine was 36"). I don't have a rotary cutter, so to ensure a straight line I marked the fabric with a dressmakers pencil at regular intervals.

3) Fold the fabric in half length ways with the right sides facing. Pin together along the edges.

4) And now sew, sew, sew away! Don't forget to backstitch to secure the thread. Sew first along the length of the open side with a 1/4" seam. In the middle leave a gap large enough to be able to fill the tube (about 5"). Then sew the short sides as well.

Here's mousey at work

5) Now you need to turn the tube the right way out and fill it with the stuffing.

6) Now to secure the opening. I pulled out my trusty martha stewart book and looked up how to slip stitch.

Slip stitch is great to use when wanting to make an invisible seam...exactly what we want to do here. First secure the thread with a back stitch and use a slip stitch to secure the opening.

Pull the thread tight and secure again with a back stitch.

Then place by chosen door and enjoy many cosy nights in, free from draughts :)

The delights of brown butter and boogieing...

The two are not related, however both have brought me equal pleasure this last week.

This weekend was the first weekend in a very very long time that I went on a road trip without my husband. In other words, this is the first time in a very very long time that I have had complete and utter control over the music in our car...a.k.a. dusting off my dirty dancing sound track. I was driving up the M4 juggling boogieing in my car with driving safely (don't worry, the latter was never impeded!). But don't you love those songs where you can't help but dance? I think everyone should make time in their life to dance...and i'm not talking 'good' dancing...I'm talking about absolutely ridiculous dancing! So...here's a favourite of mine for you to enjoy :)

Now onto more tasty matters...this week I discovered brown butter. Bizarrely, out of everyone I've asked, the only person who had heard of brown butter before was my husband...clearly a man of hidden depths! I have to thank How Sweet It Is for introducing me to this baking delight. Her food always sounds and looks sooo good however this was the first time I had ever made one of her recipes...and I will totally be going back for more as it was so so tasty! It is by far the best cookie recipe I have ever tried. I'll admit that I was a little sceptical as I stood stirring my butter over the hob but all of sudden it transformed into this delicious caramelly-smelling wonder...definately worth that little extra effort.

I have very minorly adapted her recipe due to her measurements being in American cups, the shop not having any toffee chips and, well, I just prefer to have chocolate throughout my cookie!

Brown Butter Chocolate Fudge Cookies

Sorry for the bad picture...something has gone wrong with our camera
and it really doesn't handle natural light very well anymore.

Ingredients:

200g unsalted butter
220g soft brown sugar
100g castor sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk, beaten
2tsp vanilla extract
280g plain flour
1/2tsp baking soda
1/4tsp salt
150g toffee or fudge chips
150g chocolate, cut into chunks

Recipe:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C / 325 degrees F and grease a large baking tray.

2. Heat a small saucepan over a medium heat and add the butter. Stir the butter until melted. As the butter melts it will separate into liquid and numerous tiny light-coloured bits. Continue to stir the butter until these bits turn brown. Remove from the heat immediately to ensure the butter does not burn. I found this whole process took about 15 minutes in total.

3. Leave the butter to cool for about 15 minutes. Once cool, add to a bowl along with the sugar. Whisk together until well combined, I was waiting for the mixture to become very smooth, like when you use butter normally, but the mixture does remain fairly granulated.

4. Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla and mix until combined.

5. Add the flour, baking soda and salt and mix until a dough forms. Finally, add the fudge/toffee chips and chocolate.

6. Roll approx. 2tbsp of dough into a golf-ball sized ball. Place on the baking sheet and slightly flatten it. Leave a couple of inches between the balls as they will significantly spread during baking - approx. 5-6 to a baking tray.

7. Bake for 10-14 minutes. The art of the perfect cookie is to remove them while they still look uncooked. You want them to be slightly golden around the edges but then they really need to be removed. Leave to cool for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

And there you have some rather delicious cookies to enjoy...let me know what you think of them!

(another) bracelet tutorial...

Things are hotting up here at Blackberry Grove with the first party tonight and also the arrival of lots of beautiful new stock...I can't wait to share it all with you!

But for now, I thought I'd share a pretty bracelet I recently made. I figure you can never have too many bracelets...and if you do, here's an idea for a gift!



I love the combination of the chain and the soft girly ribbon. This took me 15 minutes top...and 5 of those minutes was spent trying to pull one of the chain links apart with an industrial pair of pliers to get the right length. (I did this first thing in the morning and was not quite prepared for that unexpected work out)

What you need:

Quite simply a strand of ribbon and a piece of chain. You want the chain to be slightly short of your wrist measurement so that there's space to tie the bracelet.

1. Weave the ribbon through each link of the chain. It's worth taking time to make sure that the ribbon doesn't twist.

2. Once the ribbon is woven through the whole length of the chain simply tie a knot by looping the ribbon a second time through the final link at each end of the chain.

3. You'll probably find the end of the ribbon gets a bit frayed after weaving it through so simply trim by cutting it diagonally .

Now if only summer would remember us again so that I can accessorise this with a pretty summer dress :) (only another 8 months to go)