Craft, Chatter and Cake

Yesterday was Craft Club and it was my turn to provide the cake. So, first things first, I set about making a Cardamom, Pistachio and Marmalade Drizzle Loaf. I had recently been sent a jar of Riverford Seville Orange Marmalade as a taster and I can report that it is delicious, albeit quite runny. However, the texture made it perfect for this cake, which not only required to have it added to the cake mix but also poured over the top once it was baked.

Whilst the cake was in the oven I set about preparing for the afternoon of craft ahead. I planned to make hot water bottle covers to go with some appliqué blankets but first I needed to make a pattern. Since there were to be six of us at craft club today I thought table room would be limited so thought it best to get the pattern made before I went. It was a simple task once I'd armed myself with a hot water bottle, some brown paper, a pencil and ruler. Having drawn around the hot water bottle I used to ruler to add a 1.5cm seam allowance around all the edges.  I then used this to made two back pieces, making sure to add enough to the bottom of the top piece and to the top of the bottom piece so that they could overlap comfortably.

With the cake out of the oven, the marmalade drizzle appropriately applied and a bag full of craft supplies I set out for my afternoon of craft, chatter and cake.

I think it must be almost a year since all six club participants have all been able to attend, so there was much catching up to do. Tales of family fall-outs over guinea-pigs, and daughters training their mothers to do their paper rounds kept us all entertained and the time flew by. I'm not sure our hostess got much done, between sorting out squabbles between her sons and supplying us with endless cups of tea but I was quite pleased by how much I achieved. Two hot water bottle covers almost complete - with just some blanket stitching and buttons to attach.

The weather is a far cry from last week's balmy weekend so there was nothing to keep me from finishing the bottle covers this afternoon. A very satisfying task!

And, in case you are wondering, the cake was delicious!