I've had a little time to play with my new machine. I embroidered the cute "Captain Peppernose" from Huups! on some jersey material, cut it out and sewed it onto the jumper (just in case I made a mess of it :-)

The pattern is from the Ottobre magazine 1/2010, fabrics are Hilco's Campan jerseys. Oh, and did I mention that I love green? :-)

Robo Yorik

A good team: jumper YORIK with Ottobres Robo applique. Here on green sweat fabric and the hood is lined in Campante olive/green.

Embroidery here I come

I have always wanted an embroidery machine and since Saturday I am now the proud owner of a Husqvarna Topaz 20! I've been using an older Husqvarna sewing machine for over four years now, day in day out without any breakdown, so I wanted to stick with that brand. This is a combined sewing/embroidery machine and I've already explored the sewing part of it by finishing a pair of school culottes for Leoni. There are so many lovely embroidery designs out there that I want to try, I just need a bit of time now to play with it...

Ottobre magazines

Over the past few days I had two queries regarding sold out OTTOBRE magazines. They seem impossible to get hold of anymore which leads me to my question:

Is there anyone out there who would want to part with (sell) their Ottobre kids issue 6/2007 and 3/2008? If so, please let me know and I will pass it on to my customers. (And thanks to Lorna who had this great idea to ask the blogger world!)

Swedish cinnamon buns

I found this recipe on Millie's blog last year and I have made them already a few times since then. They take up a little time but they are so worth it: absolutely delicious!!

If you want to try them, here's the recipe:

80g fresh yeast

2 eggs

500ml luke warm milk

1kg wheat flour

200g demerara or muscovado sugar

150g butter, softened

1 tsp salt

2tsp cardamom

Filling:

80g butter, softened

demerara or muscovado sugar

cinnamon

Decoration:

some cream and pearl sugar

Crumble the yeast into a bowl. Add some of the tepid milk and stir until the yeast is dissolved. Add the rest of the milk, half the flour and both eggs. Leave to proof, covered, for one hour.

Add the rest of the flour, the sugar, salt, cardamom and butter. Work into a smooth and silky dough. Here's when you might need a bit more flour. Transfer the dough into a clean bowl, cover and leave to proof for 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into two. Roll out each part to a large rectangle. Spread with butter and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. roll each rectangle into a tight roll, starting at the long edge and cut each roll into about 20 pieces. Place each piece in a paper cup on a baking tray (covered with baking paper to avoid a mess), cover and leave to proof for another 30 minutes.

Brush some cream on the buns and sprinkle over some pearl sugar.

Bake 220C for 6-8 minutes, until they are as golden as you like them

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year. We went to see my mum, usually we fly but because of Christmas we decided to go by ferry. In hindsight a very wise decision as the airports were closed on and off due to the snow. On the other side, I found out that going on a boat is not really my cup of tea. The sea was quite rough and my stomach not happy at all. It didn't bother me when I was younger, so I assume it must be an age thing... Anyway we got there and back safely and everything is back to normal now.

I'm working on a custom order just now, but otherwise I don't have much time for sewing. The shop takes up most of the day with cutting and packing orders due to the sale I have on just now. But I'm not complaining :-)