Today was such a beautiful day I thought it deserved a blog post of it's own. The sunshine put me in such a good mood and I got into work early today so managed to escape a little early to sit in my parent's garden.

The colours are so pretty at the moment and I wanted to take a photo that captured this. This tree outside my office is such a bright yellow, and with the sun and blue sky, it seemed like the perfect picture to sum up today.

I hope you all had lovely Friday's.

I had some egg whites left over and Greg really likes meringues so I whipped some up using Delia's trusty recipe. I made mine with golden caster sugar to add a bit more taste. I love the gooey inside of proper homemade meringues. So much better than the very hard powdery supermarket ones!

These are a selection of photos I have taken from my travels from (often easyjet) planes.

The weather this weekend was so nice and I managed to sneak out for a walk on Saturday morning with my friend. We tried to go blackberrying a few weeks ago but the rain had managed to get to all the lovely berries and ruin them. So we were very pleased when we came across some on our walk. 

Just enough to make some blackberry and apple jam. I used the same recipe from the Strawberry and Apple jam and am really pleased with the result again. It made lovely jam that set perfectly. Yay!

I am on a quest to make lovely homemade gifts for this Christmas so this means starting early. I found this post on the Pie Bird Blog on how to make teacup candles. 

I bought the cups and saucers from the charity shop a few weeks ago and bought my wax supplies from Endless Green. I highly recommend the teacup making kit which comes with simple instructions. I chose to buy soya wax as this doesn't harm the environment in the way that paraffin wax does. It is important to follow the instructions for the wax that you buy as they each have their own specific melting instructions. 

I found this really simple and dyed mine pale blue and scented them with a Calming Neal's Yard oil. The only really tricky bit is getting the wick to stay in the middle of the cup as the wax is poured in. I made my wick very long and sellotaped it to the edges of the cup but the method that Pie Bird used also looks good.

Let me know if you try it out.

When I asked for help on twitter in using up apples MagsTheObscure suggested this microwavable jam. I made strawberry and apple jam.

450g cooking apples 
50g strawberry 
500g sugar
Microwavable dish with lid
Jam pot covers

Empty jars
Makes 3 jars

1. Put a plate in the fridge. This will be used later to check whether the jam has set.
2. Heat the oven to 100C
3. Wash your jam jars in soapy water and rinse. Add to a tray in the oven whilst still wet.
4. Peel core and roughly chop the apples and add to a large microwavable dish with a lid. 
5. Roughly chop the strawberries and add. If you are cutting off the tops with the stalks use these leftover to make the strawberry salt scrub. 
6. Add the lid and microwave the fruit until it is a bit soft. Add the sugar and continue to cook for the next 20 mins stirring every 5 minutes and use a masher every now and then to help the fruit along.
7. You will see that the fruit keeps boiling up 
8. After about 20 minutes and when all the fruit has completely soften and lost its shape, take the plate out of the fridge and drop a small spoonful onto the plate. If it sets the jam is ready.
9. Carefully take the jars out of the oven and spoon the jam into them whilst still hot. 
10. Add the jam baking paper cover and cellophane. As the jar and jam cools this will form a seal.

This was the first time I have ever made jam and I never realised how simple it was. Off to make some apple and blackberry jam now. 

I am starting to get inspired by all the Autumn leaves and it has made me pull out all my needle felting supplies.

I created this leaf and thought I would share with you how to needle felt. You need to buy a foam block, a set of felting needles and some wool. Supplies can be bought at George Weil or GillianGladRag. The great thing about needle felting is that the design evolves. 

To begin with start by building up a base of layered wool. Lay it on top of the foam block and use the needle to matt the fibers together. Warning: It really hurts when you accidentally needle your hand so pay attention! Turn the piece over and make sure you also matt the other side. Keep adding to it with different colours and layers until you are happy. 

You need a little bit of faith when needle felting as it looks completely pants to begin with, but stick with it and it will get better. Have a look at the pictures below to see how it is done. 

I still might add to  my leaf  and I'm not sure what to do with it yet. Special thanks to my friend Lynn for teaching me how to do this. 

This is my all time favourite cake recipe which is surprising as I really am a chocoholic. I first saw the recipe in delicious magazine and have changed it slightly. 

I have added a few of my home grown blueberries to the cake as well.

Ingredients

1. 125g chilled butter, diced, plus extra for greasing
2. 225g self-raising flour
3. 175g golden caster sugar
4. 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
5. 2 large eating apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
6. 125g blackberries or blueberries

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190C
2. Grease a 900g loaf tin and line with baking paper or a paper loaf tin liner.
3. Rub the butter and flour together with your fingertips until they resemble breadcrumbs.
4. Add the sugar and eggs and mix make a smooth mixture.
5. Spoon half the cake mixture into the loaf tin, then scatter with half the apples and half the blueberries. Don't worry if the cake mixture doesn't look like much it will spread when it cooks.
6. Spoon over the remaining cake mixture, then scatter with the remaining fruit.
7. Bake for 45- 1 hour or until risen and firm. To test it, insert a skewer into the centre – it should come out clean.

This cake freezes really well. My colleagues will be the lucky recipients of this cake as I neglected to bring back any goodies from my Romania work trip and I still haven't brought in cake for my birthday!
I'm on the hunt for a really nice apple jam or chutney recipe. My mum has so many apples and it would be a shames for them to go to waste. I was thinking if I made something tasty and put it in pretty jars it might make lovely Christmas presents. If anyone has any good links or recipes please add these in the comments below and I will have a go at making them. Thank you!

Yesterday I popped to the V&A to see their Power of Making Exhibition. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

The exhibition showcased so many different things from the creation of a wooden bike made with no nuts and bolts to the careful crafting of glass moulds to create facial prosthetics. A six neck guitar, a crocheted bear and a dress made of needles were just a couple more of the creations. There was a really interesting focus on opensource software. Software freely available online to create things such as 3d printers and robotics. The exhibition was curated with a careful balance between crafting for aesthetics and crafting for a particular need. I was hoping to be able to better reference works, or show you pictures, but we were not allowed to take photographs. I have tried searching the V&A website and online but I have struggled to find the details for the exhibits I was looking for.

My favourite piece was a giant knitted afghan rug. It must be so physically challenging to knit a rug that size! Anyway the exhibition is free and on until the 2 January 2012. I highly recommend visiting.

Today was my Mum's birthday. Happy birthday Mum! I know, it's a very busy time in September for my family and friends. 

I had been on the lookout for something nice to treat my mum when a lovely afternoon tea deal appeared on living social.

So I treated my mum, dad and I to a lovely afternoon in West London today and I just wanted to say what a little slice of heaven the Upsy Daisy Bakery is! Lovely, cakes, sandwiches and scones. They have a lovely menu for lunches and a fabulous selection of teas. I chose lemongrass and ginger. 

Anyway if you live or work near Upsy Daisy Bakery I highly recommend you pop down there for some good value yummyness.