Attic24

Strawberry Love

We are devouring punnet after punnet of British grown strawberries this summer, I just can't seem to get enough of them. Along with nectarines and cherries, they are a true taste of the summer season for me, and as a summer-loving soul I cannot resist their sweet charms. As a family we eat a lot of fruit every day, and it's my go-to solution during the holidays when the Little People seem to be continuously snacking and grazing. 

During this past week I've been working on the big Creative Community project for Yarndale*, and have been searching for pretty little crochet things to add some extra decoration to my makes. Flowers are the obvious choice, and I always love creating a bit of floral embellishment, but I was after something a little different. I looked at crochet butterflies (I've already designed bees and ladybirds) but decided that butterflies were something I'd love to explore in more detail at a later date. So I was thinking of various pretty summer things, and suddenly the idea of strawberries popped into my mind.

There are already plenty of crochet strawberry patterns out there in the world, but I wanted to have a go at creating my own.

I've had a huge amount of fun playing around, and really it would be selfish of me to keep my strawberry-making know-how all to myself don't you think? So I've spent today making, photographing and writing a tutorial, and it is right here all ready and waiting for you in the usual place.

{STRAWBERRY TUTORIAL}

I've named the pattern "Strawberry Appliqué" - appliqué is a very useful term if you are searching for two dimensional crochet patterns as opposed to three dimensional ones. At some point I'd love to make some three dimensional strawberries as I've got a partly made Summer Wreath sitting in my studio and I know it really must contain some summer fruits. But right now, it's all about the flat things......

.....this is a little taster of the "Creative Hearts" project for Yarndale* 2017 which will launch tomorrow. There will be a full tutorial for making the heart decoration shown here, as well as lots more beautiful hearty inspiration and details of how you can join in with the project. I'm excited to show you what I've been working on!

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**Yarndale is a creative yarn festival held in North Yorkshire, UK. It is a for-profit organisation, and I am one of the five organisers. You can find more details on the Yarndale website.

 

Elderflower Cordial Time

Since moving from the outskirts of a city to a rural market town seven years ago, one of the many things I really appreciate is how I feel so much more aware of the seasons. I think there are several reasons for this, the first one being the beautiful view from my Attic window. Every single day I look out across the rooftops to the fields and hills beyond and observe the ever changing colours as the weather and seasons do their thing.

Where I used to live there were no hills. None-what-so-ever. The landscape was as flat as a pancake and as such it was hard impossible to really get a feel for what was going on around you. The compensation for this was Big Skies, but oh I do really love to be surrounded by hills and I don't miss that flattened out landscape one little bit. I also used to go almost everywhere by car when I lived on the outskirts of the city, as everything I needed to get to on a daily basis was so much further away. Living here I walk absolutely everywhere, which means I am very much more aware of the weather conditions/seasons as I am not riding around in a metal box.

Blogging my daily life is also a terrific help in reminding me of my connection to the land and the seasons. My blog gives me a precious little window to gaze through and gain access to my faded memory banks, and I am often surprised and delighted by the rhythmic and repetitive nature of my lifestyle. It tickles me that year after year we do the exact same things on more or less the exact days of each month!

For the past three years, June has been the month of the Elderflowers. There are a lot of trees in my neighbourhood, they sprout like giant overgrown weeds in the most unlikely of places - along roadsides and verges, in hedgerows, along paths and even out of walls. In early June as I go about my business to and fro, I keep an eye on the flowers, waiting patiently for the tight little green bobbles to open up and produce a froth of creamy white, teeny tiny flowers. Last year we made our first pickings right in the middle of the month, with a second batch a week later.

This year, the flowers have been late as we had a very long, cold Spring and Summer has been slow to get going. But during the last week in June I suddenly noticed creamy white flowers everywhere and knew it was finally cordial making time.

I went with the Little People on Monday evening after dinner to gather in the floral booty. It had been a very hot sunny day and the evening remained balmy and completely summery, it was a gorgeous time to be out and about.

This year I found a new place to go not far from home where there was an abundance of trees laden with flowers. So I was able to snip the stems freely, taking only a handful from each place as we strolled along. There was also the bonus of finding a great swathe of ox eye daisies growing wild along the road side, so I thought it would be ok to gather a few. We were walking along a quiet access road along the back of the railway track, not very picturesque but the flower bounty more than made up for the rather industrial feel of the location.

I filled my bag with flower heads, emptying them out onto the back yard table once I was home. I spent a little bit of time freeing up the critters and snipping off as much of the green stems as I could manage, counting the flower heads as I went. This year we had gathered 63 so enough for 2.5 batches of cordial - result!

I have adapted this Sarah Raven recipe, leaving out the limes and reducing the sugar. Elderflower cordial is a cinch to make, this is it in a nutshell....

Put 1.5L boiling water into a large pan on the hob with 1kg of white sugar. Bring to the boil, stirring as the sugar melts.

Add in 25 polleny elderflower heads (stalks removed), stir well and bring back to the boil. Take the pan off the heat.

Add in 30g citric acid (I buy from the local health food shop, but you can find it on Amazon), plus 2 sliced oranges and 2 sliced lemons.

Stir well, cover and leave to cool. I leave mine to infuse for 48 hours, then strain using a jelly bag (this sort of thing), giving the bag a good squeeze to get all the juice from the citrus fruit out. Then bottle the precious liquid and keep it in the fridge ready for when you need to quench your thirst....

....ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, the very taste of Summer in a glass!

Elderflower cordial is diluted with water the same as you would dilute a fruit squash, but I have heard rumour that it is also very good added to a glass of prossecco. I may have to give that a whirl over the weekend (this recipe sounds delicious) as the idea of sitting around in the sunshine sipping a chilled Elderflower Bellini is very, very appealing indeed. Roll on Saturday.........

x

ps elderflower cordial also freezes well, I save up small 250ml water bottles to use for this purpose.

 

 

 

Two days of Lovely

#1 :: I've loved looking upwards as I've walked around and about the place. It's made me so happy to see the most beautiful blues skies and feel the gentle warmth from the bright winter sunshine.

#2 :: I've loved pottering around my town, visiting friends, the market, the park and local shops.

#3 :: I've loved seeing my two boys slowly recover their energies and appetites, kicking those germs into touch. We've eaten lots of fresh fruit, salad and veggies this week.

#4 :: I've loved watching my Little People at play, both individually and with each other. Some very sweet role-play games have been taking place (we are at home for half term this week), and the pop up tent has been in almost constant use.

#5 :: I've loved seeing my little clump of snowdrops get ready to open their petals as the sun shines down on them.

#6 :: I've loved making (and eating) an incredible new snack/addiction which is thankfully a little healthier than tiffin. These are curly kale crisps which I learnt about on Hannah's lovely blog Homebaked. Half a bag of sliced curly kale with a drizzle of olive oil massaged in and a sprinkling of sea salt. Spread on a baking tray, bake in oven at low temp (150C) for about 25mins until kale is crisp. Utterly delicious.

#7 :: I've loved putting a few stems of baby narcissus into the old glass bottles on my bathroom windowsill. They completely light up the room and make me smile every time I walk in.

#8 :: I've loved using this bar of handmade soap bought from a local shop. My last soap (wild rose) from the same shop ran out a few weeks ago and so I treated myself to a new one...it smells lush.

#9 :: I've loved browsing through this beautiful book-zine at bedtime. The pages are filled with colour and inspiration, it's quite wonderful. More info here.

#10 :: I've loved getting this book in the post today, I ordered it from Amazon after reading about it in the above mentioned Mollie Makes Home. I think the author (the founder of my fave company Rice DK ) somehow sneaked a peek inside my Creative Mind and made this book especially for me. I'll write more about it soon when I've had chance to read it properly instead of just dribbling all over it.

#11 :: I've loved taking a train journey through the cold, frosty landscape with Little Lady today. We went to The City to shop for clothes (her) and pretty things (me), and had a lovely time out together. She is the sweetest companion, I found I laughed a lot in her company.

#12 :: I've loved bringing these sweet new tins home to the attic, they are of course from Cath Kidston. Destined to go and live very soon in my new work studio. Shall I say that again? Uh-huh...that's right...s-t-u-d-i-o. The most exciting, wondrous developments happening here behind the scenes. Squuuueeeeeeeeeeeeeal! More of that very soon. 

#13 :: I've loved coming home from The City with exhausted achy feet and flopping down on the sofa to drink tea from my new mug. Cath Kidston again, I LOVE this new design called Daisy Rose Check.

#14 :: I've loved (LOvEd-loveD) opening up a surprise parcel today, and finding this incredible piece of handmade fused glass inside. A very generous and beautiful gift from a lovely Attic visitor, Charlotte I can't tell you how much I love this, you have an amazing talent. When are you going to open an online shop? Perleaaaaaaase?! ♥

#15 :: I've loved having a crochet idea, working on it before breakfast (not particularly successfully), pondering on it all morning (whilst shopping in The City), tweaking it in my mind, then coming home and re-working the imagined tweaks. And it worked! I made a little hooky daffodil! I have in my mind to create an Easter Wreath, similar in style to my Christmas one. Think lots of crocheted spring flowers, leaves, pretty ribbons, buttons, feathers, decorated eggs, pom poms (of course) and an Easter bird nestling at the bottom....oh cripes, the giddy shivers are back again :o)

#16 :: I've loved looking forward to going to the coast, yaaayyy! This gorgeous looking building is the youth hostel at Whitby,  and we've booked a family room to stay here tomorrow night...it's right up on the top of the cliff next to Whitby Abbey. I am really, really looking forward to it, we leave tomorrow morning for two days of seaside pootling. Fingers crossed for good weather, well dry weather (without snow, hail or rain) will do nicely.

See you when I get back from beside the North Sea!

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Elderflower Cordial

I have wanted to make Elderflower cordial for the longest time. I absolutely love it and due to the high price of the commercially produced stuff it's something of an infrequent treat when I've got pennies to spare. Come to think of it, I've absolutely no idea why it's taken me so long to get round to making it? One of life's mysteries, but most likely connected to my incredible Lazy Gene and uber-strong Procrastination Tendencies. I very often have Big Thoughts about doing all sorts of productive, creative things, but the following through with action just doesn't always happen. Oh, and the other thing is that I am quite allergic to elderflowers, or rather the vast amount of dusty pollen they contain. Cath Kidston tissues at the ready for this venture.

This year I noticed a real abundance of elderberry trees/bushes in my neighbourhood throughout June, they seemed to be everywhere I looked and were smothered in flowers. A few weeks ago I had been chatting to a friend about wanting to make elderflower cordial, and she gave me a brief run down of the recipe as she remembered it. Twenty Five flower heads she said. Plus lots of sugar and some lemons. Sounded simple enough, and I figured that twenty five flowers would be fairly easy to harvest.

Not sure what prompted me finally to go forth and Make It Happen, maybe I wanted to do something so very Summery to combat the un-summery weather. Maybe I was just plain bored one damp, overcast Sunday morning. Bored and thirsty perhaps?

Despite the ridiculously unseasonal weather, I really enjoyed my early morning picking trip to the park. I find elderflowers incredibly pretty, they really are beautiful when you study them in close-up.

As anticipated, I had soon gathered twenty five pollen-filled flower heads into my basket. It didn't take long at all and I wished that it had lasted longer. It was definitely the bestest bit of the whole Cordial-making experience (although consuming the finished product is pretty darn good). I felt so pleased with my efforts as I tramped back up the soggy hill with my hedgerow booty swinging in my basket. How wholesome and productive to venture out and gather natures harvest to do fantabulous homemade things with!

Ahhh, long summer grasses, swaying gently in the breeze......you would never believe from this photo how cold it actually was on that first day of July). Freeeeeeeeezing it was.

Just had to share these roses with you, I pass them on my short walks to and from the park and have fallen in love with them over and over again this summer. I so wish that they were mine! Need to purchase and plant roses at number 24. It's a Must-do. Is rose-planting an Autumn pursuit? Any rose-lovers/growers out there, please do pass me some rosy-growing info!

Right then, pull my thoughts away from gorgeous, delightful, fragrant, smoochy pink roses and back to the sneezy, creamy white elderflowers. I loved the look of them inside my strawberry oilcloth lined basket. So pretty.

If you read any recipe for making elderflower cordial, it will always tell you to wash the flowers in water first to get rid of any critters. I didn't actually do this (plain forgot), but I did give the flowers a good shake and an inspection as I pulled them one by one out of the basket. I was completely mesmerized by this spider that crawled out, it is the exact colour of the alchemilla that's frothing away in my front garden. It's the first time I have ever encountered a lime green spider, it was a lovely little critter indeed.

I have to tell you that there are a gazillion-bobillion recipes in the world for elderflower cordial and they seem to vary wildly. Although the main ingredients (flowers, sugar, water, citrus fruit) are pretty much the same in each recipe, the quantities and proportions were staggeringly different. I flicked through about a dozen variations on the internet and perused a few in my books, eventually settling on this one by Sarah Raven.

Sarah's recipe has rather more citrus in than other recipes (2 lemons, 2 oranges and 2 limes, although I left out the limes cos of not having any in at the time). I love citrus flavours though, and I also loved her no-nonsense method.

One other ingredient she also uses (that I miraculously did have in) was citric acid. From what I know of this ingredient, it's a natural product that's mainly used in wine making to act as a preservative. It might possibly also give a little extra fizz-kick to cordials, although that's just a guess. It's perfectly possible to make elderflower cordial without it, but I think it does make it taste better. You can buy it easily online, even Amazon sells it (well Amazon does sell just about anything these days).

So this is Sarah's easy-peasy method :: water and sugar in pan, bring to boil. Add in flowers, bring back to boil. Remove from heat, throw in sliced fruit, stir and leave for a few days. Easy or what?

I left my concoction to infuse for 3 days for maximum flavour to develop. Then I strained it through a muslin bag into a big jug and poured it into two empty 1 litre soda bottles. 

The Little People were suitably impressed with my efforts and couldn't wait to sample it. The cordial is quite strong and needs to be diluted with water :: we made it first with normal tap water, then later with some bubbly soda water.

It really is delicious. Delicate, refreshing and oh-so-summery. I just wish I'd made more of it now, but there's always next year.

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♥ Three Things ♥

Three Things that are making me heart-skippy happy today......

:: Thing #1 :: on my table ::

The most Gorgeously Vibrant bunch of tulips, brought to me today by a visiting friend.

Don't think she realised quite how happy these would make me today, or quite how glad I was to have company today. Yesterday I was home alone with Little B and to be frank, we had a rotten day together. Lots of screaming, very little let up. Today has been so very much calmer and for that I am truly thankful.

:: Thing #2 :: in my tummy ::

The most Gorgeously Delicious white chocolate and raspberry muffin.

I find I am missing my home baking activities, but eating shop-bought alternatives is not so bad. I would even go so far as to say it was pretty damn good actually.

 

:: Thing #3 :: on my sofa ::

The most Gorgeously Inspirational catalogue from Sarah Raven, which arrived this morning. 

I've been flitting through these pages ooohing and aahing and getting all quivery with excitement at the thought of all the colourful floral goodness to come this year. This catalogue is Grade A eye-candy, highly recommended for top-notch January sofa-day-dreaming.

Hope you find some things to make you heart-skippy happy today xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx