Radio silence

I haven't really done anything noteworthy as of late, which is why there have been no posts. Today I'm going away to visit friends and family for a while, and I hope to have more to write when I get back!

Sunday chili

Of course I forgot to take pictures when my cousin was here, bummer. I also forgot to take my camera along when I went to my cousins for a party yesterday, hopefully i's something I'll get used to as I blog more.

Today I'm spending a lot of time in the kitchen. I've made paneer for the first time in my life, hopefully it's as good as the kind you get in Indian restaurants. I've also made some bread, and a chili! It might have been the strongest chili I've ever had, but it was delicious. It wasn't very photogenic but at least my chilli peppers were!

Right now

My cousin is coming for dinner with his girlfriend tonight, I hope I'll remember to take pictures. I've made strawberry parfait for the third time since I discovered the recipe. It's the most delicious thing ever - strawberries, whipped cream, egg yolks and sugar all mixed up into an ice cream.

I've spent all day tidying up at home, so I thought I might just as well snap a few pictures, while it's reasonably pretty.

Sewing basket, I hide all my fabrics and works-in-progress under a cloth.
Corset laces peeking out.

Clutter on top of a bookshelf. The sunglasses in the candy jar is a favourite detail.
I'm very fond of the little Japanese doll as well.

From top to bottom: Soap, Tarot cards and a beautiful box containing a nifty little thing
for crimping the ties of old fashioned pillow cases. Highly useful I know.

My kitchen garden. Tarragon and thyme on top of an old margarine box.
I managed to kill my first plants so these are still just shoots.

View from hallway into the room. The closets all along the left wall are very useful.

Finally, the bed. With an adorable owl, and a poster that I love.
The walls are pretty bare unfortunately, they're made of some kind of
super-concrete that regular nails won't go through.

Corset update

Despite being happy with my mock-up, I was really quite frightened when it came to actually cutting my beautiful white coutil. It looked so perfect just lying there, and I was suddenly convinced that I'd mess up something terrible if I tried to do anything with it. Eventually I managed to pull myself together and do it. I think it went well.

As you can see my sewing area is far from ideal, but it works.

So far I've sewn all but two of the corset pieces together, while I was matching and pinning pieces to each other I watched a TV-programme called The Edible Garden, which is great and really inspiring (even though I, you know, have no garden). I've been wanting to watch it for ages but I get so restless when I watch things on my own without anything to occupy my hands. If you're interested it's available on youtube, here's the first part. Alys Fowler seems like such a lovely person, I wish she was my friend.

I've always loved those pincushions, this one was a gift from my boyfriend!

 The part I'm not looking forward to is the grommets. The ones I used for my mock-up feel a bit loose and I don't know if that's something that the thickness of the coutil will take care of or not. At least I have a working pair of hole-pliers now, my mother lent me hers after I bought a useless one for myself. Hers was inherited from her grandfather I believe, they sure knew how to make things back then.

Oh, and I made pickles yesterday, to make up for the elderflower disaster. The recipe said to leave them in the jars for a minimum of two days before opening them, but that sounds like rather a short time to me. Maybe I'll open one jar just to have a taste and leave the other one for a bit longer. Have a picture:

Aren't the colours gorgeous?

Darn it

I must have done something wrong with the elderflower champagne, it had moulded when I went to get it! Such a pity, and the only elders that are still blooming are in other people's gardens. I think I'll have to make some sort of plum squash when the plums finally mature, to make up for drink lost. Or cherry, there are some cherry trees down by the railway station that I've been monitoring closely for a while now.

At least I'm wearing a pretty dress!

Birthdays and otters

Grattis is Swedish for "congratulations"

My boyfriend turned 25 yesterday, yay. We went to visit his gran who gave us cake and sent us home with two litres of delicious strawberries. I'd made a gift card for a t-shirt of his choice and he ended up choosing this fabulous otter t-shirt from the Etsy shop Zen Threads. Eco friendly too!

The buns I made the other day were good, but not everything I'm looking for in a cinnamon roll, I think I'd better just stick to my grandmother's recipe!

Pattern giveaway over at A Few Threads Loose

Yep. There's a pattern giveaway going on over at the great blog A Few Threads Loose. I've yet to win a giveaway, but I'd be really happy to win this one! You get to choose two digital patterns from the Etsy shop Mrs.  Depew Vintage and honestly, I want them all. A Few Threads Loose has earlier held a lingerie sew-along together with the equally great Ohhh Lulu, which I think I'll have to utilise later on, when the corset is finished!