Floral Inspiration

The light is getting a little thinner and brighter now (does that make sense?) and perhaps only a few more weeks of lovely cornflowers and daisies. The roses have gone and the hydrangeas are turning. A little sparseness and lightness before Autumn descends. Lovely.

The Card Society

I’m a big fan of letterpress – thankfully many other people are now too, so that once redundant machines are now humming, and young vibrant artisans are adding contemporary flair to traditional beauty.
One of my favourites is The Card Society. This delightful card-of-the-month club sends members two individually designed, letterpress-printed cards in their postbox each month. The cards are one-of-a-kind, never to be re-printed or sold anywhere else. Every card is hand-made on a table-top press and the love put into them is palpable.
A simple, bespoke and delightful business and one that I hope stays around for a very long time.

Thought for the week

A new home

Hopefully soon, we will start planning to build our own home.

A few months ago we sketched what we needed and wanted for what is our family unit. It needed to be on a few levels, so that Ed can be with his children, or one of them, I can be with them or not as needs and wants collide, and that as the children grow, there is a place for everyone to be what they want. It needs to house our many, many books, needs to give me space outside to dig and for Ed, needs to be close to the heart and vibrance of London central. It also needs to be responsible. use natural materials and not be a pretender. This isn't a grand palace, it's a home.

And then we found the image above. It's the Shoreditch Prototype House, designed by cbarchitects and it's recently won 'Best Eco Home' from Grand Designs. We're going to see it soon - I can't tell you how exciting this will be. Then it will be on the push-bike, investigating any possible piece of land in our chosen area.

Sometime in the next 2 years, these thoughts will become a reality.

Food is love - My mums scones

My mum came to visit me last month. I hadn’t seen her for a year and it was really lovely. Choosing to live away from your family is an incredibly hard decision, not the least of which is not seeing my nieces grow up and conversely worrying about my mum getting older.

When my sisters and I were kids, one of my best memories was mum making us scones after school – date, sultana or cheese. We got to chat to her and tell her about school and any other stuff. She worked a lot, through necessity, so it was a special time for me.

She’s a demon scone maker – I wish I'd got her to rustle up a batch when she was here – both for the scones and the chat. The classic recipe comes from Edmonds cookbook – it’s been around for 90 years. I remember my nanas copy, my mums copies and now I have mine in London. Already four birthday cakes have been made with much success.

Food really is love.

SCONES
3 cups plain flour
75g butter
¼ teaspoon salt
6 teaspoons baking powder
1- 1 ½ cups milk, approximately
extra milk

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Cut butter in until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add milk and mix quickly with a knife to a soft dough. Knead a few times. Lightly dust an oven tray with flour. Press scone dough out onto this. Cut into 12 even-sized pieces. Leave a 2cm space between scones. Brush tops with extra milk. Bake at 220C for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
Cheese scones – add ¾ c grated cheese to flour
Date scones – add ¾ c chopped dates, 1 T sugar and ½ t of cinnamon to flour
Sultana – add ¾ c sultanas to flour

Image from Donna Hay - the queen of food love!

Floral Inspiration

We were dyeing silk yesterday and were inspired by the colours in this image. So now we have a pile of pale rose, tea and cream silk all waiting to be pressed and cut. Delightful.

Thanks Design Sponge!

The lovely Grace at Design Sponge posted my house a little while ago. Hard to believe it's all sitting in containers now, waiting for a new home. This time (and for the first time) everything has to mix in with my Ed and his possessions ..... many many guitars, music and more books.

Thanks again Grace - it was a very fond trip down memory lane.

Our quilts on Apartment Therapy Designer Showcase

What a fantastic start. Our quilts have been selected on Apartment Therapy's designer showcase. Now we just have to wait and see what people think of them. I think my mother voted...... at least I hope so. The link is here.