Adventures in Scone making

My favourite little scone shop closed down recently and I really do miss it.
It was run by a mother and daughter and they made the yummiest, lightest scones I've ever tasted. They also served High tea with a lovely assortment of sweet and savoury dishes that were to die for.
So now that I can no longer get my regular scone fix I have decided to replicate the experience at home. For the last couple of months I have been trawling the internet for scone recipes and the science of scone making. I'm totally obsessed; I get like that when I'm on a mission.
I have tried variations in the ingredients and technique to see how it affects the finished product.
Here's a photo of my most recent attempt. One of many, many attempts.
What I have learned is that the technique is very important when making scones. You can have the best recipe in the Universe but if your technique is sloppy, you will get hard, heavy scones. They may look O.K. but don't leave you with that nice memorable scone experience.

Patchwork scarf

One of my clients asked if I could do a custom order for the man in her life. She wanted a a patchwork scarf using the beautiful blue hues.
Well I love doing custom orders. I love the entire process of sorting through my fabrics, selecting the ones that look wonderful together and sewing them up to create a one of a kind piece.
I used navy blue corduroy and a blue stripey fabric. I then teamed them up with some gorgeous Japanese cotton fabrics, that I had been collecting, to come up with this unique design.
I'm posting it out today and will let you know what they think of it in a future post.

Clutch Madness

I purchased some gorgeous pieces of vintage kimono silk recently and couldn't wait to start using them. They were even nicer than I expected and after some consideration I decided to make them into envelope clutches with contrasting fabrics to match.
All handmade and one of a kind.

Abstract Paper Pierced Art Card

I love fabrics and textiles, with all the beautiful trimmings and embellishments that go with them.
I also love working with different types of paper and card stock.
This is a card I made recently. It is almost meditative to look at with a wonderful textured feel to it.
I sketched my design first, then transferred it onto this gorgeous art card.
A special pinpricking tool was used to create the hundreds of little holes that outline the drawn image.
The card takes on a new life when placed near a widow.
During the day filtered light passes each individual hole, highlighting the image and, leaving little pinprick shadows scattered about.
At sunset when the light is at a different angle and color, you get a whole new effect.

Why Recycle?

I came across some interesting facts on recycling that I wanted to share.

1 recycled tin can would save enough energy to power a television for 3 hours.
1 recycled glass bottle would save enough energy to power a computer for 25 minutes.
1 recycled plastic bottle would save enough energy to power a 30-watt light bulb for 6 hours.
Recycling the print run of a single Sunday issue of the New York Times, would spare 75,000 trees.

I am a very good recycler but these facts that I got from Keep Earth Beautiful are quite staggering and inspire me to do more to help out the earth.

Handmade Linen Hearts

I made these little hearts using linen that had a previous life.
They've been hand embroidered with French knots and chain stitch then stuffed with polyfill. A little silky ribbon has been attached to the back so that they can be used as ornaments. I use mine as a pin cushion cause you can never have enough pin cushions if you love sewing.

Half Moon Bag

This is my newest bag design and I have based it on the half moon shape which I really love. With the half moon shape there are no corners, so you can see all your essentials at a glance.

It is zippered at the top with an extra long strap making it easy to fling over your shoulder.
It's great for those little outings where you want to have your hands free for other things like taking photos or making calls.

It is made out of a lush black corduroy cotton and a beautiful red and cream Japanese inspired decorator fabric.

I've included some lovely accent features like the hand covered button, nickel ring and tab detail.