I am a Bag Lady

It's true I am. The wardrobe full of bags in my room is proof. And that suitcase under my bed, and in the loft.

I first taught myself to make bags whilst I was at sixth form college, when I first decided I was brave enough to use a sewing machine. I broke my mum's sewing machine trying to sew through about 6 layers of fabric to make the bags stronger. I had a bit of a penchant for using polka dot fabric, and gingham, and for box like structures with fraying edges (hems took much too much extra time). Very few of these first bag experiments have survived, thankfully.

You will be pleased to hear that my bag making skills have improved since the broken sewing machine and polka dot era. I use wool, or cotton fabrics now, lined nicely, all with hems, and most of the time I use a proper strap material (I also have a new sewing machine, that was recommended as harder to break). My quirks come out by using oversize buttons that have no purpose, and using contrasting lining fabrics. The selection of shoulder bags, and totes (as well as some shopping bags with my own actual designs printed on), are available on my craft fair stalls, and on my folksy shop (www.folksy.com/shops/annalou56).

Too Many Lemons

My mum's lemon cake is the best lemon cake ever. I'm sure that everyone feels that way (that their mum's is the best, not my mum's, although that could also be true, it is rather good cake). I don't know how it manages to be the best, it just is, its just the right amount of lemony, with a nice crunchy sugary part, and the cake bit is yummy also, its just perfect!

When I was living in London for University I created my own lemon cake recipe, based on a mish mash of what I could remember from my mum's recipe and my own. It's called Too Many Lemons Lemon Cake, because that day we had too many lemons in the house.

Lately I am reminded of that occasion, as I currently have too many lemons in the house, I bought them for a River Cottage inspired citrus-y flapjack (which was just quite odd, to be honest), and for some strange reason I had to buy a whole bag of the things (my local supermarket can only guarantee me fair trade unwaxed lemons in bags of 6, which is just silly).

Having currently too many lemons in the fridge (because cold lemons are better), I am going to make lemon cake. But which version shall I make? Shall I be greedy and make both?

I will probably make my mum's version, because I have the recipe, but in case my blog has inspired you to bake today, here is a recipe for my version (I am keeping my mum's a secret, it's like a family heirloom!):

Too Many Lemons Lemon Cake

You will need:
4oz (100g) Self Raising Flour
4oz (100g) Caster Sugar (get fairtrade if you can, it makes the cake more gold)
4oz (100g) Margerine (or Butter, if so soften it first by leaving it out of the fridge for a while, to be honest I would also do this with margerine, it makes mixing easier)
2 Eggs (remember the chickens, get free range! - also I usually use large ones, but medium will do fine, although if you get proper free range they don't classify them in sizes)
1 Lemon
1 Tablespoon Granulated Sugar (like the kind you usually put in tea)

You will also need:
20cm Round Cake Tin (that about 8 inches if you don't like cm)
Baking Paper (and scissors to cut it)
Zester (or fine grater)
Mixing Bowl
Wooden Spoon (or hand held electric mixer, or even a fancy proper electric mixer)
Some sort of weighing device, like scales
Assorted spoons for measuring
Spatula (to make sure you get all the mixture out of the bowl)

1. Preheat the oven to 180oC (Gas Mark 4, or 350oF) - because trust me it works better if the oven is pre-heated! (usually the time it takes to make the mixture is enough time) and line the bottom of the cake tin with baking paper - you don't need line the sides but remember to grease them with some margerine or butter!

2. Mix the margarine and caster sugar in a bowl till soft. (Recipe books like to say 'till light and fluffy' I never really understood this, but when its ready the mixure will actually look a little paler than when it started! - although if you're using the golden fairtrade sugar it won't get that much lighter, sorry to be confusing!)

3. Add the Eggs 1 at a time with half the flour each time, and mix thoroughly. (I have recently started to cheat with all this mixing and I am using an electric hand held whisk thing, which to be honest makes the cake lighter, and is less hard work, but when I created this for the first time I did it by hand and it was still yummy!)

4. To the mixture add the zest of the lemon, (which you get by using the zester or grater and only grating the yellow part of the skin, no white bits please!) but don’t do what I do and drop the whole lemon into the mixture whilst zesting, it just wastes time and makes a mess! (In my house we have a tiny conical grater that my mum received in a gift pack of hot chocolate and a mug for grating chocolate, and I have found that this works really well, because its easier to control over the bowl)To be honest using the zest of the whole lemon makes it quite lemony, if you only want a little lemony ness then don't zest the whole lemon.

5. Pour the mixture into the tin, and spread it out to all the edges (although don't worry about getting it perfectly flat, it will level itself out) and bake for about 20 minutes, till golden brown on top, and when poked the fork comes out clean.

6. Squeeze the juice out of the lemon, and mix with the granulated sugar, then pour this mixture over the still hot, still in its tin, cake, making sure you cover it all if possible. (I would use a dessert spoon and do it a little at a time, using the back of the spoon to spread the sugar and push in the juice)

7. Leave to cool for about 5 minutes in the tin, then remove from the tin, put on a cooling rack for another 10/15 minutes or so then eat! (like all cakes it tastes better warm, its just the magic of cake, but it is also good cold, and should keep in a tin for a couple of days, if you can make it last that long!)

If you want a tray bake type thing, double the recipe and use a tray bake tin (or a roasting tin works fine too!), it will take a little longer to cook but you get more cake!

This cake draws upon a wonderful basic cake mixture that a friend I lived with whilst I was at University taught me. Having been a staunch supporter of Be-Ro recipes my whole life I was shocked at this equal quantities of everything version of a basic sponge, but I must admit it makes a much lighter, moister cake, that lasts longer, by doing it this way. The basic mixture (minus the lemon components) can be adapted for all kinds of things. Sometimes I add some chopped cooking apple and a teaspoon of cinnamon to make apple cake, or add chocolate chips and replace about 1/2 ounce of flour with cocoa powder to make chocolate cake (this works really well as a tray bake, as its kind of like brownies!). You can really do anything with it, although remember when adding fresh fruit the juices they leak can affect cooking time, experimenting is fun, but make sure you have a houseful of people ready and willing to eat the experiments!

Happy Baking!

A Summer of Travelling

The summer between my first and second years at Central Saint Martins I somehow managed to go on at least 3 holidays. From all these holidays and travelling up and down from London to home and around and about across London I collected tickets, photos, momentos. When it came to Projects in my second year all I wanted to use was this collection. When I moved from London back to home last Summer I managed to lose nearly all my fabric samples from this year (don't ask me how, its amazing how much I lost during that move, including my car, which is an entirely different story). I managed to keep the sketchbooks though, and in one I discovered this ticket collection, which I obviously in a fit of organisation installed in a book to be kept forever (which I am very glad about now!).

This week I discovered a digital back up of some of my favourites of these samples. Albeit not a particularly good digital back up, as my photography skills are sometimes quite terrible. I also found some scans of some of the images the textiles came from. I had forgotten about my love of sticky back plastic and strips of paper. I think I spent the first 4 months of that academic year constantly carrying round these strips, I am still finding them falling out of sketchbooks years later! Having re-found these images I think I have been re-inspired, which is always nice. So I shall show you world these crazy collages, which sum up that summer for me, fast and colourful and crazy.





Up there are the original collages, and down there is an example of the accompanying fabric - I think the thing I miss most about university is the heat transfer press!



Sometime soon I shall commandeer the photocopier in my local library and return to my crazy paper strip ways.

A Blast from the Past

Last Summer marked the end of my time at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, where I studied Textile Design. This is a bit of a picture gallery, a showcase of some of my favourite drawings, prints, etc from my Final Major Project - A Little Bit of Crazy.













This project was my attempt at Abstract Expressionism, pulling inspiration from poems (supposedly, though I like to call it my 'I'm going insane trying to finish this degree' project, or the 'I want to play with ink and pipettes' project), and creating drawings, and mono prints, which I then turned into fabric. The fabric didn't turn out as well, but I still made it into scarves (which you can buy from my folksy shop [www.folksy.com/shops/annalou56]), and I finished my degree, and now that's done, and soon I will figure out what happens next!

Stitching, sewing, experimenting.

I have always made things. From clothes for my barbies and other dolls to my first handbag experiments. Since finishing my degree and living in this state of limbo that I am now I have returned to my making things ways. Only now instead of keeping all my experiments for myself I am attempting to sell them to the world. Or at least the locals who frequent craft fairs. (ps - the photo above of an apron, in case you couldn't guess!)

I am a collector of off cuts of fabric, whether I have inherited them from someone's scraps box, found them at an end of line sale or bought small amounts of interesting but potentially expensive fabrics. One of the first things I started to make last year was make up type bags, from these off cuts, scraps, and one off pieces.





Last summer I was at Spitalfields market in East London (which is a wonderful place, that I wish I could visit more often), and I found a necklace, an owl (which has been sometimes been mistaken for a fish) on a very long chain. This, along with an old money box provided inspiration for a line of pin cushions, needle cases and brooches.



This simple shape with pattern inserts type thing inspired me towards my new (and still in development) line of pin cushions, still on an avian theme, but slightly different.



I love brooches. They are easy to wear, and are capable of turning a boring outfit into something much more exciting. So I decided to turn my owl and bird shapes into something I could wear. (I keep having to restrain myself from keeping them all for myself, its dangerous making things)



Before this there were the other brooch experiments (which I still like, but I haven't had much interest in, which is sad).





Inspired by my mum's love of everything heart shaped dangling from every door knob, I made stuffed hearts, all from odds and ends I have picked up during my fabric shop investigations.



These are just some of the things I like to make, they are the most successful ones (I don't dare show you the ones that failed miserably), and the ones I like the most. I also do bags, but that's going to have to be a whole nother post (because I keep changing my mind about them, but you can see most of them on my folksy shop - see below for more details!)

Most of the items above are available on my folksy shop (www.folksy.com/shops/annalou56) and everything is available from my stall at craft fairs. My next fairs are Sunday 28th March, Nature's World, Middlesbrough (http://www.naturesworld.org.uk/holding/index.html). This fair runs from 10am till 2pm and is free entry. I will also be at the Manor House Hotel, West Auckland on Sunday 4th April (Easter Sunday), for a Charity Craft Fair. This fair runs from 10am till 4pm, and costs 50p to get in.

Check back soon for more info on things I make, and where I will be in April, as well as my new collection of things (which I think may be inspired by my crazy fish Horatio, but I'm not sure yet).

An explaination.

I have been attempting to begin a blog for quite some time now. I think about it and I decide oh hey lets make a blog, and then I sign in to my gmail account, I go to blogs and I say ok start my blog now! Then it asks for the name of my blog. Usually I then stare at the screen for about an hour before giving up. I can't think of a name for the stupid thing, and you can't go any further without one. This has been going on for months, and it was starting to become annoying. I wanted to write a blog about many things. About my love of books, mostly in the Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Horror, etc genres. About my crazy ways of relating Buffy the Vampire Slayer to real life. About my baking experiments, because I like to bake. Also I am a designer/maker who is attempting to sell things at craft fairs, and online (www.folksy.com/shops/annalou56). So I thought I could use a blog to tell the world about what I make (mostly its things I would like to buy, every time I make a new handbag design the prototype goes straight into rotation as my current bag of choice).

I'm getting off the point here. Yes, an explaination of the title of this blog. About a month ago my best friends and I went out to a nearby town for a bit of a drinking session. It started out as a simple pub outing, then I made a stupid comment about believing alcohol didn't work on me anymore. This was seen by my friend as a challenge, and as a result lots and lots more drinking ensued (and then there was more drinking, and then it was 1am, and there was a parking cone, and pizza and dragging around of mattresses, it was certainly interesting). At one point we ended up in a particular pub which holds memories of earlier drinking exploits. Mostly that on one night, years ago, me and these best friends of mine were out drinking (which I assure you we don't do all the time!) and there was some special offer on silly alcopop things. Buy one get one free or something, on fruit alcopops. But of course, being terribly fussy about what I drink I wanted the blue flavour, so I marched up to the bar and asked for two blue alcopops (god only knows what flavour they were supposed to be!). The bar person then asked me to pay for them both, but I pointed out the buy one get one free sign, and he said "Blue is not a fruit." Its true, its not. But being drunk already I (and my friends) found this terribly amusing, and slightly confusing, and every time we go to that pub, or indeed to that town, we remember, and laugh.

So why is that the title of my blog? Because I think it works. Its quite me I suppose. Ok?

Now the next time I begin this silly ramble of a blog I shall talk about something proper. Like why Xander should always be a pirate. And monkey pants, and a coup at the zoo.