Paper Heart Decorations

Finding myself without a book while sitting by the fire one evening had me restless for something to do.

I had some pretty paper and scissors on hand and started cutting out heart shapes.

Once I had roughly 40 hearts, I put two paper hearts together...

and sewed a line straight down, leaving a chain stitch for about 3 stitches until I sewed down the next 2 paper hearts.

I had enough to make 3 heart chains.

I finished each one off by attaching an Incomparable heart pendant.

Which is the perfect finishing touch and it adds some weight so they don't move around too much in a breeze.

Next I will try a chain of butterflies...

These are so easy and simple to make and are pretty decorations for a child's room, wedding or engagement party.

Baked Cheesecake

I have been in search of the world's best baked cheesecake...and I found it here in London after a long search (my waistline is testament to how determined I was!)...the only problem is that it is rather too pricey to justify my addiction cravings!

So I have had to try out plenty of recipes (thanks to Google) and I think I have finally come up with the combination of ingredients that works perfectly.

To make this cheesecake you will need:

Biscuits and butter for the base (I use Marie biscuits but that is a very South African product - any biscuit you would usually use for a cake base is perfect)

600g top quality cream cheese (I use Philadelphia)

125g castor sugar

1 vanilla pod, split it and remove the vanilla seeds with a knife,

4 eggs, lightly beaten,

60ml soured cream (can be regular cream - both work!),

mixed berries,

1 T castor sugar and some lemon juice to make a berry coulis.

Crush the biscuits and pour over melted butter to line the base of a 23cm springform tin.

Blend the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth.

Add the eggs and cream.

Blend together.

Bake at 140 Celsius for approximately 1 hour.

On the stove, heat some sugar and lemon juice and a splash of water. Add a handful of mixed berries. Crush the berries with a wooden spoon.

Once heated through, sieve the berries and save the the thick berry juice to pour over the cake. I sprinkle a few whole berries on top of the cake for looks.

Put the kettle on, invite your friends over and enjoy...

Reversible Artist's Tunic

While Kate was having a ball downstairs, her brother and sister were upstairs where they love to spend hours in their JenJen's studio on the farm.

The studio is filled with paints, stamps, inks, ribbons, crayons, project kits and buttons (of course). It is my every child's biggest dream.

Needless to say one can't walk away without splotches of colour on ones clothes. Especially difficult to avoid when you are just four!

So I made Luke a reversible tunic to wear over his clothes to keep them from getting spoiled.

I made this tunic by tracing out the shape of a store bought one we had for Emma.

I used a cute fabric with crocodiles on the reverse and trimmed the tunic using the same fabric for bias binding...and put a large matching pocket on the front.

Our new Incomparable fish buttons were the perfect finish around the neckline. They are being chased by our hungry Incomparable croc button in the middle.

Poser!

Time to run off and get messy with the next project.

Soft Baby Toy

I have just returned from a wonderful trip home. This is a picture of me with my sweet niece Kate at her Christening. 

My nephew Luke insisted that I read a bumper book of 5 Dr Seuss stories to him before he would go and play with all the other children.

I made Kate some soft blocks with her name appliquéd on them. She loved them so much I decided to make her a soft ball in our matching pink & green teddy bear fabric.

The soft ball has a bell sewn inside it and several ribbon and lace loops for her to grip. I dried some of the lavender from our farm in the oven and added it too. So it jingles and smells good, has lots of lovely colours and great touchy-feely satiny strips...appealing to so many senses...except taste...but that didn't stop Kate trying them all out anyway!

I didn't stop at just making the one and had to try out our Incomparable space theme fabric as well as our Teddy bears with red ribbons fabric. Kate couldn't decide which one she loved best.

This yellow, blue and green one below with our Incomparable chicken fabric is definitely my favourite - I love how the colours pop.

The other soft toy in the pictures is something else I made while I was at home but I'll blog about that soon. 

Holey Cowl!

 

I've had a wonderful time back home the past week. Here is a pic of mum and I taken last weekend at my niece's Christening.

We normally Skype daily for at least about an hour and while chatting, she has to keep herself busy...

This is her latest 'Skype creation'. Some unintentional holes and dropped stitches are from when our chats were particularly interesting and distracting.

 

 Obviously these were mostly boring chats as this cowl looks perfect to me!

A large Incomparable heart button comes in handy to hide large flaws! finish it perfectly.

 

 I love it so much I've asked sweetly for one in a soft green. Unfortunately with no Skype chats for the next couple of weeks it is on hold!! Luckily the weather over in the UK remains cold enough that I'll be putting it to good use throughout the summer.

If you would like the pattern for this pretty cowl, minus the dropped stitches, email Jen and she'll send it to you.

 

For Katie-kins

 

I am flying home to South Africa tonight for a few weeks while my hubby is travelling in China & Australia for work.

This trip coincides perfectly with my niece's Christening this Sunday.

I am so glad travel plans have worked out so I can make it home for this special occasion.

 

I haven't seen Kate since January and I think she's done a lot of growing since then. 

I made her a few soft blocks with the letters of her name on them.

Fortunately my brother and sister-in-law have chosen 4-letter names for all their children which makes the task much easier! I had to add an extra block using our super cute Incomparable pink & green teddy fabric though.

 

 I sewed a large bell into the K so it jingles and attached ribbons to all the blocks for Kate to chew on and grip to throw them around the room.

 

I love how well our teddy buttons have translated into a fabric design. Perhaps my brother can be persuaded to create a few more fabrics incorporating our buttons in the next few weeks!

Another One for the Girls

A couple of weeks ago I made a few beanies for boys

It has taken me a while but I finally made a pink beanie for a baby girl aged 0-3 months using our Incomparable pink teddy bear stretchy knit fabric.

I simply traced the size from a store bought beanie...this is a very easy project to sew without a pattern.

It's slightly large for ted's head but he's the best model I have on hand.

I did consider asking my cousin if I could model it on her little boy (she has just taken him skiing in his cousin's pink snowsuit so I didn't think she would mind!) but ted wasn't having an afternoon nap so he ended up posing instead.

The matching Incomparable teddy bear button adds the finishing touch.

And its ready to keep a little head warm this coming winter in South Africa.

Lace Embellished Tank Top

 

This is something so simple to do yet it transforms an ordinary store bought top.

Take a length of lace from your stash and sew it along the neckline of a plain tee.

 

This lace looks rather 'frou frou' on this sleeveless top but its rather fun and decadent.

I added a matching green Incomparable flower button...

 

 Now all I need is for the weather to improve so that I can wear it out and about!

Until then, I'm going to go and transform my wardrobe and give all my plain tees a new lease on life!

Meg-made Doorstop

My friend Meg of Meg-made has been very busy creating beautiful items for her home incorporating our Incomparable buttons in her creations.

I love the fabric she has used for this doorstop.

It looks like it was made to complement our Incomparable range of black and white buttons. 

It's definitely the most stylish doorstop I've seen.