Infused date & banana loaf on a damp autumn morning ...

 I think we all have times when we look at the fruit bowl & think; how did the bananas go soft so quickly? 

Today was such a morning & as I picked up the last 3 bananas, I thought - I have everything in so waste not & turn them in to a banana loaf. This is a recipe I bake regularly with variations including with cranberries

My store cupboards usually contain everything needed for these impromptu baking times, as well as some extras.  Everyone likes a homemade treat so I took out some dates, desiccated coconut & even a shake of chocolate bits that usually end up in cookies. 

This is my tried & trusty recipe that I often double to make a loaf & some muffins, today just a loaf.  I used a paper lined loaf tin. 

Infused date & banana loaf

The dates felt a bit underwhelming so I cut up about 100g & put them to soak in a warm Earl Grey / Rooibos (Red Bush) tea mixture to just cover them & plump them up again while I made up the rest of the mixture.

Preheat the oven to 175C (for a fan oven)

Ingredients

130g butter 

150g dark brown sugar

2 medium eggs

3 large ripe bananas, mashed

240g self raising flour & 1 tablespoon baking powder 

1 tsp of any spices you like - mixed spice, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger etc 

1 tsp vanilla extract. 

Line a loaf tin with lining paper or grease & flour a loaf tin. 

Cream the butter & sugar until pale  & fluffy.

Add the eggs to the mixture, along with a bit of the flour to stop the mixture curdling. 

Add the mashed bananas & the drained chopped dates & mix well. Sift in the flour, baking powder, spices, vanilla extract & mix in well. 

Pour in to the loaf tin or lined, deep muffin tins & bake in the middle of the oven for about 50-60 minutes or until a knife comes out clean from testing. 

Cool on a cake rack & enjoy with a hot cuppa. It  can be eaten as is or lightly buttered. 

The house smelt absolutely wonderful with the spices & a hint of the tea infusion (you can naturally skip this step if you don’t like infused fruit) 

Do let me know if you make it or what variations you prefer.

Thank you for stopping by, liking, sharing or commenting. 

Dee 👩‍🍳🍪🍞🍌

#10 Circular Stitching - Fascinating fungi

 Month 10 of 12 months circular stitching saw the brief look at fascinating fungi & the forest floor in late Autumn when fungi are abundant & varied.  The previous ones are all listed here ...

The brief was to make fungi in our 4 inch circle. The suggested stitches were the fly stitch combined with the pistol stitch. 

It was suggested to make 3 smaller lightly padded Suffolk puffs then turn them over for the stitching to be done on the round back, suggesting the gills of the mushrooms 

I remembered that I still had these 3 beaded & stitched moss shapes from a stitch along on another group  - making zen is always so inspirational.

The stitches had been challenging & varied - several stitch combinations in each shape & they were still on a hoop along with the various green threads I had used.  They are perfect to combine with this challenge because fungi & moss live side by side on the forest floor. 

I cut out the 3 shapes & decided to add them to the already cut shapes I had prepared for the year. 

I came across this forest scene stamp in my stash & thought - why not? 

It is my understanding that heat will set the ink from normal stamp pads on fabric so I stamped the forest then heated it to set (supposedly.) 

The 4 inch circle was drawn on this stamped background then the cut out moss shapes positioned along the circle. 

I made 2 brown Suffolk puffs, turning the brown fabric around so the reverse was used as it was a gentler colour for the fungi. 

I decided to use the gathered side & as suggested, whip stitched the edges to give it a slightly raised look & then whipped some of the folds to give the structure of the underside of the fungi. 

 The 3 shapes were stitched on to the circular shape, some beads in the same colour dotted around the remaining circular shape. 

We had made these tiny flower shapes in our Blossom stitching in August so I combined circles in green & brown fabric to make the flower shapes & thought just 3 was needed on the forest floor. 

I am not sure about this but I lightly felted in some wafts of felting wool to suggest leaves & canopy on  the stamped background. 

The 3 edges were machined, the stiffener added in & the last edge stitched. It was overstitched by hand with blanket stitch as required so that the final task after month 12 will be to join them - we do not know that detail yet but I am confident mine will be fine as I have followed the binding instructions. 

It is interesting doing something quite different each month, we are encouraged to be bold & original & this is what I have done. 

Thank you for stopping by, taking time to read, like, share or comment, 

Dee 🪡📍🧵🍂

Felting an Autumn scene with heather & sheep ...

 In 2022, I took a 3D free motion embroidery day course in using dissolvable film to create a tree which was mounted in a tea cup. The details are here and the results are here ...  

A cousin has been visiting & she asked about how needle felting is done so I got down some of the things, it is easier to do than explain. 

My teacup & the test piece was close at hand so we used that as inspiration. 

It was the first  time she had done needle felting so the multi needle stabber with the safety piece was sensible. I had learnt to needle felt on a local course in 2017  & love the creativeness of it. 

Time passed so quickly while cousin & I felted a scene.  I decided to do 3 fat Shropshire sheep for mine; my previous one had 5 smaller ones but I like a change. 

The faces & legs are stitched on with black thread & after a few stitches, they looked good, like well fed sheep in early Autumn. I had felted in some sheep on my Scottish scroll with wool I had found along the way so had had recent practise. 

Cousin Lorraine tinkered with her trees the next morning & her scene was very sweet. She really enjoyed the new challenge & went away with some of my bits to carry on with some more felting. 

I have put both my little panels together with my 3D tree, they are similar but not the same. The lifelong teacher in me loves sharing my skills & inspiring others. 

I hope  you  find time to seize the moment & learn new skills whenever the opportunity arises. 

Thanks for stopping by, taking time to read & liking or sharing the blog, it is much appreciated. 

Dee 📍🧵🪡🐏🐑

Sir Christopher Wren's connection to St Mary's church, Ingestre

 On a visit to Staffordshire, we made a detour to the Ingestre golf course where hubby had recently played & won in a tournament. He had spied a church on the estate & wanted to see more.

The estate on which the golf course is, has so many interesting cottages, buildings & a church that is the only church outside of London attributed to Sir Christopher Wren, the acclaimed architect of St Paul's Cathedral in London & many others rebuilt after the Great Fire of London in 1666.

The church details are as such ... 

The Church to the south-east of the house dates to 1673, and is attributed to Sir Christopher Wren. The formal gardens of that time are extensive. There is a large wilderness on the hill above to the west, and a parterre towards the park to the north.

The inside is absolutely beautiful with impressive tombs & monuments to the Earls of Shrewsbury & other members of the Chetwynd, Talbot & Chetwynd-Talbot families. 

Some of the church windows come from the original church before it was remodelled by Sir Christopher Wren; they are not as bright as the later ones. Some windows were Victorian & we made in the workshops of William Morris, the leader of the Arts  & Crafts Movement. These reflect the richness of the pre-Raphaelite colours.

The cemetery around the church is fascinating too with many family plots & impressive headstones. 

I was touched by this tribute to a teacher.  How amazing to be recognised for his dedication to his profession. It is some thing us educators aspire to; to have our contribution acknowledged. 

A very interesting time soaking in history in this small church set in an estate n that would have been hugely influential in its time. 

I hope you have enjoyed the visit with me, do stop by again, subscribe & share the link please. 

Dee