Mistress England

Moving across the U.K. today there is a wave of excitement - for it is today we gain a princess (though admittedly, a lot of the national excitement stems from the fact most of us have an unexpected day off work!). 
Not surprisingly, we are currently being bombarded by Royal Wedding memorabilia - thousands of items to help us all celebrate this 'momentous' day. I swear I saw a poster on my way to work the other morning saying 'Celebrate the Royal Wedding with ham!'. 

Whilst I will probably end up watching the wedding itself (just incase something like this happens mind you!), I was rather pleased when I found this alternative take on the situation on the Guardian website a few weeks ago.

So, here we have a song by one of my favourite artists, Emmy the Great - a lament for all the mothers out there who dreamed that their daughter would marry Prince William.

Recipe: Fudge!

It's fair to say that in this house we have a bit of a sweet tooth. One of our favourite treats is fudge - and what easier way to indulge this craving than to make it yourself! This is my mam's foolproof recipe for delicious fudge. So, are we set? Let's do it!

You will need:
120ml evaporated milk
200g white sugar
200g brown sugar
170g butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
60ml Baileys or other liqueur (optional)
up to 200g icing sugar
(you will also need a sugar thermometer and a heavy bottomed pan)

1. In a heavy bottomed pan, put the evaporated milk, butter, brown and white sugar and salt. (At this point you will realise that this ain't no health food! I say embrace it, a little of what you fancy does you good!).

2. Heat to melt the butter and keep stirring as you increase the heat to boiling point (it will look frothy and light brown and rises quite a lot - so make sure you choose a large pan!)

3. Using a sugar thermometer, get the mixture to between 230-240˚F.

4. Take off the heat to cool for a minute or two, before stirring in the liqueur and vanilla essence (or whatever you choose to flavour it).

5. Then, slowly sift the icing sugar, in portions, into the pan, stirring thoroughly each time. Taste as you go along as you may not need all the icing sugar - it depends upon how sweet you like it! You want a fairly thick consistency that you can level easily in the tin.

6. Once you have stirred in all the icing sugar and made sure it's mixed thoroughly, transfer it into a greased lined tin (ensure the lining is hanging over the edge you can lift it out easily once set).

7. Leave overnight or in the fridge for an hour or so to set. Score whilst warm and enjoy once cool!

Penguin Threads

I'm guessing most people out there will have already seen these, but I just couldn't resist posting them myself. 

These beautiful pieces were created by artist Jillian Tamaki for Penguin's new range of classic literature. I just find them so irresistible! Aren't they stunning?

When you read as many art/craft blogs as I do, you see a lot of concepts for book covers that will never see a real print run - so, for me, the best thing about these is that they will be available to buy very shortly! To create the illusion of embroidery on each copy, they will be finished with a sculptural embossing technique - definitely the next best thing to embroidering each copy!

You can pre-order Emma, The Secret Garden and Black Beauty before their release some time in the Autumn. Is it too early to be compiling my Christmas list?

Kokeshi Dolls

Rather than giving the usual stack of CDs and DVDs, my family vowed to give more unusual gifts last Christmas. For my gift I received a series of 5 vintage kokeshi dolls all the way from Japan. Aren't they beautiful?

These simple statuesque figures are a traditional northern Japanese craft - with particular shapes and patterns being specific to certain areas of the country. I wish I knew which area these dolls originated from!

The bottom of some of the dolls are marked with the signature of the artist who created them. 

This little lady is quite special as she is known as a 'talking' kokeshi. She has an articulated neck and the squeaking noise made when her head moves gives her a 'voice'!

Totoro revisited...

Remember a little while ago when I said I wanted to make this little guy?
Well I finally finished him!

Other than a few little bits here and there, this was my first ever crochet project - and I'm super pleased with how it turned out!

I really have the crochet bug now, I've spent longer than I'd care to admit trawling the internet for cute patterns to make next. I do think my next task should be to make Totoro's little pal though... best get the crochet hook out!