Life is Crazy

It doesn't rain it pours.

Lately everything has happened at once. I am now officially self employed, doing workshops and being an artist. And possibly a curator. And a volunteer. And very tired. It's all a bit manic and stressful, and I find myself needing to wear more formal clothes, which is difficult because I don't have all that many formal clothes.

The other day I received my very own shiny new printing rollers. They were EXPENSIVE. But worth it. It's hard to explain the wonderful-ness of rollers. If you are a person who likes to mono print, or relief print in some form, a good roller is SO important. Until this week I was using a crappy roller, and the resulting prints were sub-standard. Suddenly, as if by magic, I am creating things. Things I actually like. It's insane.

I also got some heat transfer ink. Which is equally, if not more exciting. One day I shall be able to afford my very own heat press, and my life will be complete. But yes, this heat transfer ink, oh how I have missed it! I'm going to be teaching some people about the joys of heat transfer soon, I hope they don't think I'm insane. I promise, I'm not. I just like to print. And after my crazy time of un-creative-ness that I have only recently come out of, discovering that I do still actually like to print is amazing to me.

The final crazy thing about my life lately is that I screen printed again, for the first time in a long while. I smelled that smell of binder, and mixed in some concentrated colour, and made some crazy stencils, and made a lovely mess. It was wonderful. And I am glad I have been able to come back to it. For a while there I was scared I wouldn't.

So yes, life has been crazy, I haven't read a book in a week, I haven't slept properly for two weeks, but I think I'm happy. And that is important.

Accidentally

I am accidentally listening to Alanis Morissette today. Accidentally because it wasn't me that made my computer play it. But I like Alanis Morissette so it's ok.

Yesterday I made cookies, and they didn't last long. That is because I used the Mary Berry Recipe, and it is the BEST cookie recipe. (even the mixture tastes freaking awesome) My friend has given me the idea to make a giant, pizza sized cookie, which I intend to attempt in the next few days, I'll keep you posted.

Today I went to York, and went with my friend to the National Railway Museum. It was super cool, they have lots of trains and you can look inside at all the fancy old style seats and dining cars. They have examples of Royal carriages that have a full bath and beds and armchairs. So I have decided that when I have my own house it shall made of train carriages.

Also, I went to a book shop, and I couldn't find any books I wanted (except ones I want but shouldn't, because I know they will be bad), so I left without buying any books. Which is good for my bank balance, bad for my book addict-ness.

So in conclusion, everyone should go to the National Railway Museum in York, listen to Alanis Morissette, and make pizza sized Mary Berry cookies.

Goodnight World.

A Very Productive Day

Yesterday was a very busy day. I had planned a cinema day with my friends. So I went to the cinema, but when we got there it was much too sunny to spend the whole day in the dark. Thankfully we still viewed the first film on the list: Kick-Ass. Which, I just have to say, is an AWESOME film. Everybody (who is above the age limit) should go see it. Right now.

Then we went for lunch at a new restaurant, conveniently located next to the cinema, whose entire menu is made up of starters, or starter size portions of main meals, its a little confusing, but still quite yummy. Then we went shopping. Because really, when its a sunny Saturday what else can you do? I bought a new skirt, which is flowery and a little flouncy, generally its quite summery, which given the day yesterday I would say is quite appropriate.

After about 2 and a half hours of shopping we all went home. I watched a bad TV programme with my mum, and then read a book my friend lent me. It was called "The Manny" by Holly Peterson. It was really rather good for chick lit (which is a phrase I quite hate, but seems to sum up that genre quite well), in fact I read it all in one sitting, which kept me up past midnight, which is something I haven't done in a while.

So yesterday was a busy busy day.

Today however, was not. I woke up, lazed about for a while, and contemplated changing my current playlist on my computer. I did the usual, flicking through artists on itunes till something inspires me. Today it is All American Rejects, who I always seem to return to. They are really quite nice. But they also require me to listen to them very very loudly (which I don't think my Mum appreciates). So after some crazy dancing to overly loud music I then decided it was time to make that Owl shaped cushion I have been thinking about for weeks now, and that it was time to start watching Gilmore Girls again (not that I really ever stopped). It being Sunday I didn't rush this cushion making. I did all the sewing by hand (which I like to do sometimes, because its nice), and watched about 5 episodes of Gilmore Girls during this time. Now it is 8 o clock pm and all I achieved today was a cushion. Not terribly productive (see, the irony of the title here?). But I don't think I care. Here's my cushion, the fruit of my terribly un-productive day (because if I was being productive I would have made at least 3):



(Can you tell that this whole post was simply an excuse to post a picture of my new favourite thing? He's a little lopsided, but that just makes him special.)

Monkey Pants and Pirates

I said at the beginning of my blogging career that the next blog would concern monkey pants and how Xander should always be a pirate. I'm sorry, I lied, its taken me longer than that. So here is the promised ramble on those subjects.

In the Season 2 Episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer entitled "What's My Line, Part 2" Oz and Willow have a conversation that revolves around Animal Crackers, animal shaped biscuits with one half covered in chocolate (or at least that's what they are in England, I don't know about America). This is one of the couple's first conversations, and it is quite possibly the cutest (with the witch pez/bowling one from Season 3 being second). You see according to Oz, the monkeys are the only animal crackers who wear clothes, and the monkeys all "I mock you with my monkey pants" (in a french accent of course), and all monkeys are french, didn'tcha know that? And the hippos all "I have my hippo dignity" (I don't think this is in the right order, I'm sorry).

I am a bit of an Oz fanatic. I mean not that I don't appreciate the wonders of Angel (who is really quite wondrous, although lately I am more attached to Seeley Booth), and of course Spike, and for brief moments even Xander, but Oz is most certainly probably the best. This is because he is a werewolf. And werewolves are COOL (although please note that at this moment he is not a werewolf, just a guitar playing extremely cute and witty type person).

This conversation, heck the whole episode and its preceding part, is a perfect example of the genius of both the Buffy writers and Joss Whedon (who is my second favourite genius, after Jim Butcher). The Oz and Willow relationship (that begins with this conversation about monkey pants) lasts through to Season 4 (with a slight hiccup in the middle for the Xander affair), at which point Oz leaves to try and control his werewolf situation (why he must do this I don't understand, I mean yeah so it made him like Veruca, but we can forgive him for that, can't we?). Oz's departure was a very sad moment for me, but at least he ended well: "My whole life... I've never loved anything else." (in reply to Willow asking if he loves her).

I'm trying to remember the point of this post now, I think I got side-tracked in my Oz ramble. Oh yes, now to mention why Xander should always be a Pirate. Well, I'm not really sure why I mentioned this. Oh yes, because he looks like a Pirate when he has had one eye poked out by Caleb (the evil preacher man from Season 7), because he is the one who sees. Xander has had some of the most loveliest speeches in Buffy history, and his coolness sometimes just sneaks up on you, see:

"I'm not joking. I know you're in pain. I can't imagine the pain you're in. And I know you're about to do something apocolyptically evil and stupid and hey, I still wanna hang. You're Willow.... The first day of kindergarten you cried because you broke the yellow crayon and you were too afraid to tell anyone. You've come pretty far - ending the world not a terrific notion - but the thing is, yeah, I love you. I love crayon-breaky Willow, and I love scary veiny Willow so if I'm going out, it's here. If you want to kill the world.. then start with me. I've earned that. (Willow: You think I won't?) It doesn't matter. I'll still love you." (From Season 6's "Grave")

And so Xander saves the world with his wonderful kooky Xander-ness. And makes every girl in the whole world wish they had someone that loved them enough to stop them from destroying the world with their magical powers and a demon goddess type person.

Later on, in Season 7, Xander shows his specialness all over again:

"They'll never know how tough it is, Dawnie, to be the one who isn't chosen. To live so near to the spotlight and never step in it. But I know. I see more than anybody realizes because nobody's watching me. I saw you last night. I see you working here today. You're not special. You're extraordinary." (From Season 7's "Potential")

That's just beautiful. And that's why he gets his eye poked out. Which is just mean.

I was worried that when I was writing about Buffy, that I would just ramble incoherently. That was probably a sensible worry. I fear I may have just rambled for a very long time about things that probably don't interest most of you. But you see (I really need to stop saying that), I am a Buffy Geek. Have been for about 12 years now, and I don't see it stopping anytime soon. I now have to ration my Buffy watching, or else it's all I would watch (that and Gilmore Girls, cos that's an awesome show).

I will watch anything made by Joss Whedon religiously, because he has proved, over and over again, that he is a TV genius, which is not necessarily evident to most people, but is obvious if you watch what he makes. Recently a friend told me to watch Dollhouse, which I hadn't watched yet, for some reason (don't ask me why, I can't remember), and after the first couple of episodes I was hooked. Having restrained myself through Season 1 I then watched most of Season 2 in one day and went a little bit crazy from it.

So to all you people (which probably isn't that many) reading this, who have never watched anything by Joss Whedon, watch Buffy, then watch Angel (but not Season 4), then watch Firefly, then watch Dollhouse and I promise, it will be awesome.

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.