Nearly

but not quite

In spite of coaching from my paper heart weaving tutor ;-)

But there is success to report in other areas.  Six Christmas puddings made and wrapped ready to store, Christmas cards designed, prototyped and going into production as I write.

Pudding time

The only time in the year when I use barley wine.  As a result, the multipack of four cans from the supermarket last for four years – probably well past its sell by date, but we’ve had no problems so far.  This morning I’ve weighed out all the ingredients and stirred them together in a large mixing bowl to sit and soak overnight.  Tomorrow, I’ll divide the mixture up between some pudding basins and steam the puddings in my steam oven, which will take most of the day.  Do I wish I had a large copper washing boiler like my Nan?  Not really…but I’m sure this was one time of the year when it really came into its own.  My Mum told stories of the kitchen walls running with condensation on the day the puddings were steamed, the whole house feeling vaguely damp for a few days later.  I’ll simply switch on the extractor fan.

Oh, and as you can see, the bald oranges and lemons have been dealt with.  Pancakes for tea!

Heart progress today?  Well, from left to right, one success – harder than it looks.  One so very nearly complete but failed at the last hurdle, because with one red strip to weave, there’s no space left.  On the right, one total failure, when I tore one strip completely and ruined the whole thing.  I didn’t take a photo of the one which was thrown in the bin!

Time to cut some more “practice pieces” I think.

In between the hearts

Before I went to work this morning, I had to have another go at one of Marianne’s star patterns.  Clearly, I was in a calm and gentle frame of mind, because the heart came together very well and was no problem at all.

I am told, by someone close to me, that weaving paper hearts keeps me quiet.  As if I normally make a lot of noise!

Well, to be truthful, there is often a noise when I’m at home in the studio.  But it’s not me, it’s the Silhouette machine, buzzing and screeching as it cuts complex patterns and intriguing shapes, which occasionally come together to make something like this

A dear little suitcase, inspired by reading about it here, which came together in no time and which is so cute, I need to think of ways to use it!

I feel sure that two small girls not so far from here would be thrilled to make one of their own, to put a few small treasures in.

The Silhouette sale tempted me to download quite a few interesting patterns, including this intriguing book of boxes

It’s the kind of thing which would take forever to cut from scratch and yet, thanks to a clever designer, cuts in minutes and pieces together so accurately, it is immensely satisfying. 

It’s very adaptable and could be put together in many different ways to showcase all kinds of creativity.  I’m looking forward to doing exactly that – and to making another two so that they can fit snugly together in the little crate which is provided for them.

In the meantime, I sit and stroke it from time to time, I open it up and close it again.  Because I can.  I love it!

The little drawers are cute too!

Rather less cute is the heart I’ve been trying to weave this afternoon, having returned from work a couple of hours ago.  I wonder if I can learn from this?

Think calm.

A little less impressive

Marianne, you know how to set a challenge!

Don’t look too closely at this poor effort, but admire the clever design and the imagination which created it. 

The paper heart weaving fun continues, thanks to my sweet friends.

Stir Up Sunday

I hadn’t worked towards this particular day to make my Christmas cakes but having put the fruit to soak in a good sized splosh of rum (or two)  a couple of days ago, it was time to get on with it, for sure.  Whenever I bake my cakes, I think of my Nan, who made them for all the family and for whom it was a major operation.

She sensibly prepared everything over a few days, gathering the ingredients over some weeks before, stretching her housekeeping money to cover what were expensive ingredients.  She’d have to wash and pick over her dried fruits, taking out stones and stems; an extra step in the already lengthy process.

In particular, she’d take trouble to line her baking tins well.  No such thing as baking parchment, she’d cut greaseproof paper and use the wrappers from the butter pats to grease the tins well.  I simply grabbed a bit of kitchen roll and gave them a quick once over with a bit of butter before getting out the non stick paper and trimming it to fit.  But always, at this point, I wish that I’d done this yesterday, or even last evening, because it’s a niggly little job and has to be done properly.

At least it gave me time to get the butter warmed up and softened, ready to cream.  My Nan wouldn’t have stored her butter in a fridge, so it might not have been such a preoccupation for her – except that her small kitchen often felt like a fridge in cold weather! 

The lovely aroma of demerara sugar is the prompt for the first of my small anxieties.  It’s one time when I’m envious of Karin’s new Kitchen Aid and when I wonder if I really ought to have kept Mummy’s Kenwood Chef, because all of that sugar needs to be creamed into the butter.

It’s hard work, even with a powerful hand mixer, and this is the part when I consider the serious work my Nan put into those cakes, doing it all by hand.  But it needs to be done and as I work, I keep an eye out for the hard little lumps of sugar and crush them in between my thumb and forefinger as I go.  (It’s a good excuse to take a little break, and rest my arm!)  The beaten eggs go in next and I’m relieved that my mixer is still going – if feeling a little hot!

I sift the flour and spices into the mixture and decide that not only is it time to go back to Nan’s way of working and put the mixer aside, but it’s also time to dispense with the rubber spatula and get out the good, strong, reliable wooden spoon to fold in that flour.  The mixture is pretty stiff and there’s a lot of flour to work in.

At last, it’s time to get out the little red, gold and black tin – the only time of the year it comes out, it seems.  Someone, somewhere had a disaster with black treacle, so now it comes with a stern message about using before the expiry date which makes me cautious about keeping it too long.  There’s the other inevitable consequence of Christmas baking too – a handful of bald citrus fruits!

Having added all the ingredients now, it’s time to give the whole thing a good mix and give my Hero a call – yes, my arm is getting tired, but it’s also time to stir and wish.

I read the traditions of Stir up Sunday this morning and learned for the first time that it’s supposed to be stirred from the East to the West.  Hmmm.  Since we stir in a circle, I guess that’s covered already, isn’t it?  Anyway, we each had a stir, we each made a wish and that was that.

All that remained was to divide the mixture between the two tins, to wrap the baking tins in newspaper to prevent the sides from scorching

and to give each a little greaseproof paper hat to protect the top from a similar fate.  The oven as been on all morning and remarkably, I’ve remembered to arrange the shelves so both cakes will fit in!

All that’s left is the washing up.  Not the great big, heavy stoneware bowls my Nan would have used, and thankfully, with plenty of hot water and modern detergent to wash up in, it’s quickly done.

But as I turn around, I spot something.

Guess who forgot to put in the chopped almonds?

Will anyone notice?  Probably not – unless you tell them!