Glass Coasters

I make my glass coasters whenever I have the chance to crochet them...during train rides, waiting at the doctor´s, etc.. It´s a craft that is easy to do and requires not much 
materials, just hook and thread and it´s easy to carry yarn everywhere you go...

When I visited my Mom last December, this craft rekindled my interest when my set of coasters that I made 3 decades back where still there... So when my holiday was over, I took a couple along  to make new ones. A coaster for a normal glass would take about 30 -45 minutes to finish depending on its design.

These reds were requested by a friend for the upcoming Christmas 2012, I also have greens to pair  these reds with.

The shot of these coasters in group doesn´t show its real shade, and that´s because of the lack of daylight,  but  their original color is more or less shown in the single coaster shots shown above . .                                                                                                                

That´s it for today...I hope you´re having a nice lazy Sunday. 

              Thank you for  reading this blog and hope to see you next time.                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                                         

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French Country Cottage

Little Baking Adventure - Mascarpone Cheesecake

Updated: Feb. 14, 2016

This is another version of the recipe that I baked today for Valentine´s Day. I only made a different topping by adding chocolate softened or melted in the microwave adding a small amount of  fresh milk until liquid in consistency...then poured on top of the cake. The ingredients are 
exactly the same!

A fusion of simple batter and a lush of various toppings with Mascarpone Cream
Cheese. Simply decorate the cake top according to your likes.

Cake Ingredients:

2 oz (50 g) plain wholewheat Flour,
2 tsp baking powder,
8 oz ( 230g) ground almonds,
8 oz ( 230 g) soft butter,
8 oz (230 g) soft light brown sugar,
6 eggs.

1. Mix flour, baking powder and ground almonds together

2. whisk butter & sugar and the eggs gradually, adding a bit of the almond/flour mixture to stop curdling...

3. Fold in remaining flour, blend well and spread the cake evenly over a springform of about 26 cm. Place the cake on the middle oven rack and bake for ca.25 minutes under 180 degrees°C / Gas mark 3 until springy to touch, remove cake from form and cool on rack...

Fillings and Toppings:

500 g Mascarpone Cheese ( cream cheese used for Tiramisu)
100 g Sugar
250 g whipped cream with added sugar of about 4 tbsps and 2 tsp whipping cream stiffener
1 glass diet strawberry marmalade (slightly warmed)
sliced almonds & favorite berries to decorate the toppings


How to:

1. beat mascarpone cheese + sugar till well blended, let cool in the ref for at least 2 hours

2. divide the cake horizontally into 2 parts, filling the mascarpone cheese onto the first
    cake base, add the top layer adding mascarpone cheese again and on top of it, the warm     
    marmalade.

3. decorate the cake with the whipped cream, add berries, sliced almonds as you like. 
    Refrigerate the cake for about 2 hours til the marmalade + whipping cream get stiff...

Ps.
I used a smaller springform for the above cake and 1/2 of the Recipe Ingredients...you can also use sugar substitute .. sugar equivalent is with a ratio of 1:1.

Hope you enjoy this recipe and that you have all the ingredients needed. If not, you still have the option to improvise and replace the berries with those available in your area.

Happy Baking!

Til next,

Mercy

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A Dash of Swirls - African Necklace

The material for this necklace is of african origin, but, I discovered it at a "Rastro" ( Flea Market ) in Southern Spain. When I saw the necklace, it was done in a very primitive way,  probably due to lack of  proper material in the regíon where it came from.  The dealer from Senegal said that these kind of necklaces are products of the natives in their townships who produce them as by-products from cattles mostly cows & goats whose meat are sold locally and horns made into ornaments for their women to wear.

The design is beautiful  so I bought it and had to dismantle it to wire it properly. Then,
I also added brown agate beads to make it longer and used copper
wire for the rewiring...

For the closure, I turned a copper wire as you can see the above to make a simple closure
that is to be hammered later on.

I also have pretty bangles to match this necklace ( see below) which I bought from the 
another african dealer in the same Rastro the previous years.. The material for the 
necklace was a lucky find, since it really matches the design & color of the bangles.

                                                   The African Bangles made from cattle horns

To complete the set, I´ve  sewn the above skirt that would match the african design of the necklace and bangles and  surely I´ll enjoy  wearing all of them as a unique style next summer season.

Have a nice Tuesday everyone!

Til next,

Mercy

Lovable Doilies

Doilies came to popularity in the 17th Century when a London draper named Doiley created mats out of fabrics to protect furniture surfaces from the daily wear & tear , prevent scratches from all home crockeries and the like. Women in those days created mats by starting to crochet in the center using the filet crochet techniques.

So many patterns were customized by unknown artists for thread & yarn manufaturers to enhance the  selling of their goods...  example companies are DMC or Metz Coats and til now,
women are still so hooked in this hobby while yarn makers are still going strong in business.

I love crocheting intricate doilies and laces and the first two on top are crocheted  under the
style called Brugge crochet made famous by the women of Bruges, a town in Belgium.
It is interweaving crochet that resembles tatted lace..once you start this, you´ll get excited and 
smitten on this project until it´s finished.

The pattern of this doily came from one of the two Ondori crochet books my former japanese boss gave me as present when he visited his hometown in Japan with his family. I really love the books and I made quite many tablecloths from those books pattern.

In the above, I used 2 different thread colors and each color has a different effect on the pattern.

Crocheting is a craft that is wonderful to make even when you´re watching TV,  or during long train rides. I´ve made wonderful tablecloths during train rides to work and I still adore the finished project right at this very moment.

That´s just about for now and hope that you liked today´s posting. Thank you for visiting me
today and I´m wishing everyone a cheerful, sunny & bright week-end.

Til next

Mercy

Decorate A Small Elegant Bedroom

       Note: 

All soft furnishings, bed canopy, headboard  were all made by myself.

                This posting has a youtube video called  decorate a small elegant bedroom

   

It´s the english style of interior decorating that fascinates me most, especially those flower printed fabrics  which give a room that chic cottage feeling are just lovely.

You don´t even  have to spend an enormous amount of money to achieve the elegance you want in a room. In fact, elegant bedrooms can also get their charm from inexpensive collectibles, fleamarket finds, recycled furnitures and bargain quality fabrics.

Of course, color is very important to the style chosen.

 With colors, you get fabulous effects if materials and objects harmonize with each other. The concept is a bit femine...

 but, it looks romantic!

 My budget was limited, so regardless of color and the room´s north facing location, I spontaneously bought at sale 8 meters (double width = 280 cm ) of a rose printed fabric.

I love the design and I thought it nicely suited the room to be decorated. 

The fabric is 100 % cotton, an it´s also machine washable.

The rest of my decorating scheme was developed around this flower design material. I think it really made the room look elegant, cozy and romantic.

It was fun making the headboard, I made a template according to the shape I like. Of course, I considered the width of the bed mattress  extending the template with 2 cm more on each side.

Then, I cut the wood myself using the template, glue the preshaped sponge, then  I upholstered it with a chenille fabric, giving a trimming by using the curtain fabric to give a bit of contrast to the headboard.

For the curtains, I used curtain bands, the draw string type, so you just have to sew the band to the fabric, pull its string and gather the fabric to a perfect pencil sheared side curtain...I used velcro to attach the pelmet to the curtain rail.

To add a personal touch, I´ve added a self made framed crossstitch alphabet.. I think the red color and the beige background of the the embroidery fit nicely to the overall wall decor. The plates were found at the fleamarket as well as the framed watercolors of flowers.

  

       The pic above shows that mood can change the atmosphere of the room 

if you use different  colors for your soft furnishings.

If you can´t decide what style you want for a room, just go by your instincts!

Decorate it for your own comfort and with the things you love.

Go eclectic, do not be afraid to mix mismatched furnitures as well as the old and modern... afterall, it is your room and you´ve got to like and enjoy it yourself......

    Happy Decorating!

Til next,

Mercy



The Sunny Side Of The Viennese Flea Market

As usual,  the Viennese Flea Market on Saturdays is jampacked with visitors, tourists & dealers as well. It´s not much of an antique flea market, I´d rather say that it´s a practical market where most dealers from Eastern Europe sell their second hand goodies . It´s not really comparable to other great flea markets in Europe  such as in France, England or  Holland where you could really find qualitative antiques.

When we visit the market, we would usually go later when the dealers are about to pack their goods and that´s 2 hours before closing time at 3 PM. Going to the Flea Market means bargaining for something you really wish to acquire, maybe things you are looking for to add to your growing collection of whatever. 

Visiting the flea market is also like sports, you covet something and consider that thing like a trophy, ahhhhhhh......, how it feels good to have bargained for a thing that costs only a fraction !!!...it  doesn´t hurt your pocket, but it makes you happy and fulfilled.

The  market is  located in the  area called "Naschmarkt" that was once a farmer´s
market until it was reinvented as a mecca for food lovers. It´s a parking lot on the
weekdays and on Saturdays it´s completely in the hands of  the dealers... It is also surrounded by beautiful buildings with tasteful architecture which were mostly built late 18th Century. One example is the building above. 

The two cobalt blue glasses are part of the bohemian glasses we collect. We got them both about 3 weeks ago at a price of 18 Euros each instead of  about 40 each. The 2 plates below are probably part of a set of plates that hold nuts or cookies which I got a 1 Euro each.

The two plates are now displayed in my cupboard adding to my collection of blue & white wares... By the way, the blue & white ceramic coffee sets are "hand downs" from hubby´s family.

Hope you found today´s posting interesting  and I hope to see you here again...

Til next,

Mercy