Thursday, May 9, 2013

Buttercream and Bunting

My mom arrived for her annual English Week on her birthday. So, while she was napping after her red-eye flight, I made some cupcakes with her favourite (buttercream!) frosting.

I used this chocolate fudge cupcake recipe (and overfilled the cakes slightly), and this buttercream recipe (with vanilla added).


The cupcakes were super-chocolatey and not too sweet.


And the buttercream was delicious (vanilla, sugar and butter...what's not to like!?)


Our random entertaining activity this time (in the past, we've Delia'd and screenprinted fabric) was making Bunting at Halfpenny Home in Needham Market. Nicola and I have been twitter-buddies for a while, and I randomly pop in when I need buttons/fabric/etc. Side note: hers was the angora yarn that was beautifully soft but that filled the airplane with fluff when I went to NY in February.

My mom was initially skeptical. They don't really DO bunting in New York. I pointed out that she could make some in colours to match their boat, and she perked up. I gave Nicola a general idea of what we might be using in terms of colour schemes, and she managed to scrounge up a surprising amount of orange fabric!

We ended up doing the workshop with Nic and her mum, who was making (gorgeous) bunting for a summerhouse.

Here's some free-motion embroidery practice:


Here's my pile of fabrics:


Nic made a pear and ginger cake and some lemon tarts. YUMSTERS.


We spent the whole day either sewing and concentrating or laughing. This one was both!


More concentration:


The combination of top-stitching the red polkadot fabric and union flag bunting was making me somewhat dizzy.


Finished!


All three of us with our creations - they came out SO well and we had a blast. There are still workshops to come on the schedule - I'd highly recommend booking one!



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