My local

Those of you outside the US will be familiar with the struggle to buy local while online fabric prices from US based shops are so very much lower.

I also struggle with this and I do buy some fabric online.

But what the online shops fail to provide is the creative atmosphere, the friendly welcome, the fabric touchability.
I am lucky enough that my local patchwork shop is Amitie. Compared to many other shops I have been into, Amitie staff always have a friendly smile and are always happy to help you put together a project no matter how large or small. And I have noticed that recently they are working their bums off to keep prices down.
And they have some awesome classes coming up. Ever wanted to meet the mad-capped Madame Ricrac in person and learn to make one of her wonderful softies? Well you can here!! (Incidentally, you can also come along on a Thursday afternoon and take a patchwork class with me! Just saying...)

Anyway, I thought I'd show off some of my recent Amitie purchases.

Beautiful variegated Perle 8 thread and stunning new ribbons. (Yes, that IS Kaffe Fassett ribbon!!)

Pretty Liberty fabrics in my favourite colours.

Home dec fabric from the half price shelves.

And an amazing new tool that helps create HSTs without having to rule a line!!!

I hope you have a lovely local bricks 'n' mortar shop like I do. And I hope you give them your support so we get to keep these wonderful shops in business.
I know the lure of online shopping is great. But maybe just put aside a percentage of your crafting budget for local shopping.

What do you say?
Andi xx

WIP Wednesday

Another WIP this week.  First mentioned on the blog here, nearly 2 years ago.

An homage to my grandmother's one-and-only-quilt-she-made (shown here) that I inherited, re-quilted and absolutely cherish.

Another great scrappy project. All paper pieced and hand stitched. Each hexagon measures 1 inch along each side.

I have 14 more flowers to make, white 'borders' to tie them all together and also some work to do on the edges to straighten them up a little. And that's before I've even begun to think about quilting (which I plan to do by hand).

This is most definitely my slowest stitching project but a great one to pick up when I'm running out the door to Perle 8's and don't want to lug around a sewing machine. Also great for taking on holidays, or even having some piecework to keep in my bag for those moments when the craft 'itch' takes hold and I'm out and about!

Do you have a portable project like this one that you keep on hand? What is your 'go-to' slow crafting project?

Andi xx

WIP Wednesday

I've made some more progress on this quilt 

These are all individual blocks (not made using an online mosaic maker).

I have 6 more blocks to finish making the quilt square.

Then I'm thinking about borders. Not sure.

But I DO know that I'm loving it so far.

I had a lovely day today hanging out with my mate Clair. We ate. We shopped. I stitched (Clair left her stitching project at home ... oops). And we had a lovely catch up.

How was your Wednesday?

Andi xx

Term 3 classes

It's been a while since I've blogged. Temporarily lost my blogging mojo!
But I'm back with lots of stitchery to show!!

Thought I'd start by showing you a gorgeous quilt top made by the lovely Simone in my Scraptacular Class at Amitie:

Simone loves autumnal colours and has used them to wonderful effect in this scrapalicious quilt top.

We are having a break over the school holidays and will be back next term but this time on Thursday afternoons. 12:30 til 3:00pm so there's still time to make it to school pick-up!!

Want to make a quilt as gorgeous as Simone's? Come on over and have a play with us next term.

I'll be back soon with more of my stitching to show.

Have a great day wherever you are.
Andi x

Falling Bee-hind

I received my fabric parcel for May's Beehive in the first week of June.
Long story! But ... being a person who hates falling behind, I quickly put together Kat's gorgeous voile string blocks. I anticipate another super soft and snuggly voile quilt. I adore these!!

While I was at it, I made a couple of little blocks (5.5 inches) for Annabel. She is making a quilt for her little boy called "The Busy Sea at Night".

She has asked for pieced blocks, rather than applique which ... at this scale ... caused me a little anxiety. But in the end I really enjoyed making these 2 little blocks.

Now I just need to find the time and energy to get to the post-office!!

Andi x

Mmmmmm .... cheesecake

Next week will be a Jewish festival called Shavuot. At this time of year, it is traditional to eat dairy foods. So I have re-named this festival "The Cheesecake Festival".

Last night my family and I shared a cheesecake I had baked. It was delicious!!
The recipe is from a book that belonged to my grandmother, first published in 1951, called Jewish Cookery by Leah Leonard.

I've been making this cake for many years with consistently great feedback.
I don't usually include recipes on this blog but this one is so amazingly good, I have decided to share it with you ....

Ingredients

Crust
1 packet Marie biscuits
1/4 cup sugar
135 grams softened butter

Cheese filling
125 grams cream cheese (I used Philadelphia)
125 grams fresh ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornflour
Pinch of salt
1 cup sour cream
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Method

To make the crust:
- Put Marie biscuits into a food processor and break down into largish crumbs
- Add the sugar and mix well
- Work in the softened butter until well mixed
- Prepare a spring-form cake tin using baking paper and butter.
- Tip the crumb mix into the cake tin and spread out evenly, pressing the mixture down to a flat smooth crust.

To make the cheese filling:
- Add each ingredient (in the order listed above) slowly into a kitchen mixer, allowing for mixing time in between each one.
- You will end up with a very loose batter.

Pour the batter carefully into the crumb-lined tin.
Bake at 180 degrees C for an hour.
After an hour, turn off the oven but leave the cake in there for another hour to cool.
Once it is out of the oven, it really benefits from a couple of hours in the fridge.

This cake doesn't usually come out looking so great so I often sprinkle some icing sugar over the top to make it look a bit better. Once you cut into it though, it looks (and tastes) divine.

Serve on its own or with some cream or vanilla ice cream.

YUMMMMM!!!!

Andi xx