The Stitching, Sewing and hobbycrafts show

Last week my friend and I took a trip to the NEC in Birmingham to attend the Knitting, Stitching and Hobbycrafts show. Staged by ICHF Events it also included Art Materials Live, Crafts for Christmas and Cake International, which was great as we were able to fulfil our love of cake at the same time. 

I went to the Knitting and Stitching show earlier in the year with my mum, and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to attending another crafty event. Taking up a whole hall of the NEC it was packed with fantastic companies and artists showcasing new products and ideas and holding workshops and demonstrations. 

There were far too many companies to name all of them, but I have listed some of my favourites below:

• www.stitchdotcom.com - A new company specialising in cross stitch kits. Their lovely branding features dot the elephant, and the link will take you to their Typewriter Keyboard Kit, which was so eye-catching and different with its monochrome scheme when displayed on their stand
• www.3bluestars.co.uk - An art company that features quirky and unusual pieces of art in all different styles and genres
• http://www.historicalsamplercompany.co.uk - When you think of cross stitch samplers you may think of something quite twee and muted, however the original designs, quirky sayings and bright colours of the Historical Sampler Company bought the art form right up to date.

• Fabrics Galore and M Rosenberg & Son - Both of these stalls were a fantastic treasure trove of fabrics, and I couldn't resist picking up some for future projects. I already have a pattern in mind for the navy pansy floral print, and I love the cream and blue fishes, which is a Ralph Lauren linen. I am thinking something simple such as palazzo pants or a simple dress would be perfect to show off the large scale fishes. 

• The Spellbound Bead Company - This company had a fantastic stall showcasing a huge range of make your own beaded bauble kits that were absolutely gorgeous. Had our tree not already been full to bursting last year I may have bought some to decorate with, but the sheer number and variety that they had on their stall made it look very inviting.

I remember seeing Alpaca teddies at a show I went to see in Alexandra Palace with university a few years ago, but there are now so many companies that have caught onto this trend that the fluffy critters are everywhere! They are the cutest and softest teddies you will ever cuddle and the restraint I had to exercise not to come home with a hug bear was incredible. 

• The Toft stall is always full of quirky and unusual crocheted animals, and this big beast was no exception!

As with any show I can never resist coming away with a few things, and this time it included some more embroidery thread, some fat quarters, thread, lacy ribbons and trimmings and a box for tidying away threads for current projects, which has already been pressed into action.

A weekend of baking...Individual present cakes

This past weekend I was working on two individual 4 inch cakes that were to be given as presents for my Nan's friends. I haven't made many small cakes before and I enjoyed getting to grips with baking in a smaller scale. Like my bitesize cupcakes that I made for the Afternoon Tea Cake, I have learnt that it's just the same as large-scale baking, only any mistakes look much bigger!

After I had baked the cakes, I made a start on the decorations. I wanted to do a mixture of floral and stripe decoration for the cakes, so I decided to do a stripy cake board and icing top. I used my tappit stripe cutter to cut strips of icing...

...and then cut each strip into three again using the cutter to get nice sharp and straight edges.

I then rolled out the base colour to a little thicker than normal and laid the strips evenly over the top.

I then simply rolled the strips into the icing until it was the correct thickness. I was a little worried that they wouldn't stick and would peel, however the moisture that remained in the icing helped the two colours to stick together.

 Once I had the correct thickness and size, I gently brushed a layer of water over the top of the cake board, and draped the icing over the top, trimming the excess with a sharp knife.

I did the same with the pink cake board, and then edged both boards with complimentary ribbon attached with double sided sticky tape.

Once baked, I trimmed the cakes into two layers (I noticed I got a very good rise using a deeper but smaller cake tin) and then layered and filled them with vanilla buttercream and strawberry jam.

I wanted to mix the smooth fondant top and board with a naked cake texture, so I left the sides bare. I was a little unsure of the mixture of textures when I had finished, but apparently they went down very well, so maybe I should experiment more in the future!

For the top of the cake I repeated the striped process and cut out a circle for the top using a 4 inch circle cutter.

I placed the disk of striped sugar paste on top of the cake...

...and then put the cake on the cake board, trying to make sure that the stripes were at right angles to add a little interest! (I may, possibly, slightly, almost have dropped the cake on its side on the counter whilst moving it, but we don't have to talk about that, shhhh!)

I used my tappits again to create the letters and I had a little more luck this time using them. Thickness of the sugar paste and time left to dry is definitely the key, and they appeared to be a little neater than before, which I was very pleased with.

I made the flowers for both cakes the week before and set the large daisies in my new paint palette, which gave them a lovely cupped shape. I then added a smaller daisy inside and sat a sugar pearl on top which I was really happy with, I thought they looked very sweet!

I then repeated the process with the pink cake and attached my hand moulded miniature roses to the top with edible glue and around the bottom of the cake using buttercream.

I was really happy with my finished cakes and I was very glad to hear that the recipients loved them. I really hope they tasted as good as they looked, but I was very happy with their pretty floral and bold stripe decorations.

A stitched message

As my first task as a fiancée I needed to choose the person who would be tasked with helping to plan the wedding, my Maid of Honour! My friend and I had always talked about being Maid of Honour for each other, however I wanted to make it a little more official, so I decided to give her one of my stitched pictures as something to remember it by.

I embroidered the message in the colours that I am thinking of having for my colour scheme in dusky pink, navy, and sage green. 

I also wanted to add in some decorative elements to the picture for this one, so I added in some leafy twigs with little pink blossoms in a circle to frame my words.

I think I need to work on the spacing of my words a little more, as some are larger than others and a little closer together than others, however I liked the little flicks at the start and also the way the letters joined together. I think this says more about my calligraphy than my sewing however, so I think I will need to practice the formation of my words to make my pictures better.

My finished piece was framed in a white frame and I wrapped it with some silver and white butchers string, brown paper and hand-stamped tag to complete the present. I was really pleased with the final piece and luckily my friend was too as she said yes! 

Let the planning commence!

A weekend of baking - Afternoon tea cake - Part 3

As we arrived at the week before the delivery, I started to assemble all of the components for the tea table and bring the design together. I stuck all of the different pieces onto their plates, including the slices of cake, cupcakes, macaroons and cups to the saucers.

I used the edible glue to stick everything together, and managed to assemble a little tower of macaroons which I thought looked very sweet.

For once after baking, filling and crumb coating my sponge, I managed to cover it evenly with very few creases which I was very happy with. 

Once smoothed and stuck to the cake board, I then attached a pretty cream lace ribbon to the cake using the edible glue.

I then got to have a play with my stitching wheel! I have had this in my tool pot for a few months now, but haven't managed to use it, but I thought that for the edge of the table cloth it would be perfect. 

I gently pressed it around the edge of my icing tablecloth and the effect was very pretty and exactly what I wanted. I think a little more practice may be needed to get an even line an exact distance from the edge, but I shall keep practicing!

When I draped the tablecloth over the cake, I realised that it may be a little thick, however as it wasn't going to be stuck down all of the way around, I didn't want the weight of it to pull it and tear it. I decided to go a little thicker that I would have thought, but if I do this design of cake again, I shall make sure this piece is thinner.

Once the icing had dried a little, I painted little blue flowers around the edge and then placed the letters onto the cake board to check the spacing. I was very glad that I had made extras of every letter as they were so fiddly and so prone to breaking. I eventually got them placed, but sticking them was even more tricky! I had to gently prod each one out of the way, paint the shape of the letter onto the board and then gently poke them back into the glue. It was time consuming and nerve-wracking but the finished effect was delicate and perfect for the style of the afternoon tea theme.

Once the table cloth was finished and the letters were attached, I then arranged all of the afternoon tea pieces on top. I had made extra sure that all of the pieces had flat bottoms, and the top of the cake was a flat as possible, however even so one plate of cake did slide off the back! However after a few seconds of holding it behaved itself and stuck itself firmly to the top.

The flowers were then added in little clusters around the base of the cake and around the letters which tied the whole scheme together. I was so pleased with the colours and the finished appearance and despite the added fiddliness of the moulding, painting and the letters, I was really proud of every part of the finished cake.

Part of the order was also 36 mini cupcakes in lemon, chocolate and vanilla flavours. I used some of the spare flowers to decorate the vanilla cupcakes, and used a star nozzle to pipe the lemon buttercream and chocolate ganache butter cream. 

I found that the key to mini cupcakes was not to overfill the tiny cases, as the mixture was liable to go out and over the sides rather than up into a dome. I also found them a little top-heavy once the buttercream was added so they tended to be a little wobbly. However they are the perfect two-bite morsels to add to any afternoon tea table spread.

A Weekend of baking - Afternoon tea cake - Part 2

This weekend I carried on with the Afternoon tea table cake and covered the cake board in celebration ivory sugarpaste, and then made all of the letters for the text on the cake. I have some letter cutters that I have used previously, but I thought that they were too big and clunky for a delicate and sophisticated cake such as this. As a result I bought some fmm letter cutters, or Tappits which I think is the technical term! If you want to buy some, you can find them on the fmm website here.

I followed the instructions on the back of the packet, mixed my sugar paste with some Tylose powder and then used the strip cutter to press out a single strip. I have discovered the joy of cornflower when creating things out of sugar and it really is a bit of a game changer! It was so much easier to handle and didn't get sticky at all which was so much easier.

After cutting out the strip I turned it vertically and then dusted the cutter with cornflour. I then cut out the letter horizontally on the cutter and tapped it to release the letter.

And then nothing! The letter was stuck in the mould and this happened to every letter I tried to cut out! I had to use a scriber needle to prise every one of the letters out of their mould which really was  a giant pain and took a lot longer than I had anticipated. Due to this some of the letters got a little deformed which I wasn't very happy with. I tidied them up as best I could and then left them to dry. When I attach them I will paint over them lightly with a little water to remove any spare cornflower and hopefully smooth out any imperfections. 

Having done a little research I can reveal the following tips for using Tappits:

• Roll out the sugar paste as thin as you can, 1 - 2mm is ideal
• Once you have cut out the strip, leave it to dry for around 10 minutes (it might be easier to cut out all of the strips that you might need so you can cut out all of your letters all at once)
• Dust the moulds with cornflour using a pastry brush
• Rub the cutter over the mat or worktop to make sure that the letter has been released from the other fondant
• Tap the cutter multiple times and leave the letters to dry before you use them on the cake to avoid distorting them