Poppies

Whilst driving back from the post office this week two factors finally came together... the field full of poppies that I have driven past on numerous occasions in the last few weeks, and having my camera in my bag! So I pulled over and started snapping. The field was full of hundreds of poppies and lots of meadow flowers intermingled with them, the sight was spectacular.

Handmade in Britain 2011

I have spent the last few days in my favourite city, Bath, at the Handmade in Britain fair at the beautiful Assembly Rooms. I shared my stand with the ceramicist Julia Davey (we are also sharing a stand at Country Living in November, so this was the perfect trial run!)

We enjoyed four days of fair-action, assessing how our products sit alongside each other and planning our Christmas stand in London. I met so many lovely people at the fair, both fellow exhibitors and fair-goers, with some exciting new contacts too. 

And I even managed some early morning strolls and coffee expeditions around the centre of Bath before the fair opened to the public at 11am. It is definitely still my favourite city and I'm getting excited about Christmas already! x

Soft Brown Sugar Cookies

This week we have been celebrating birthday after birthday here in the Macey household... well, two birthdays to be precise. So at the beginning of the week I tried my hand at a spot of baking, and found a tasty-looking recipe for Soft Brown Sugar Cookies on Pinterest (my new favourite website!) 

For a start the recipe was using cups (as it was American) and I altered it a tad as I am wheat intolerant, but here is the original recipe...

Ingredients:

2/3 c. butter, softened

1-1/2 c. brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla extract

2-1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1 c. sour cream

Directions:

Blend together butter and brown sugar.  Add eggs, one at a time; blend well.  Add vanilla; beat until light.  In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with sour cream; mix well.  Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto non-stick or lightly greased baking sheets.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.  Remove to a wire rack; cool. Makes 2 dozen.

I swapped regular flour for self-raising gluten-free flour and still used the same quantities of baking powder and baking soda, but left the salt out of the recipe, and the results were great!! When I make these again I would add chocolate chips to the recipe and then they would be perfect, but all in all, a good week's baking! x

Weddings & Chickens!

In the past week my range of cosies has seen a couple of new additions. Firstly a new Mr & Mrs tea cosy (with a coffee cosy to follow in the next few days!) that co-ordinates wonderfully with my Mr & Mrs egg cosies. Inspired by vintage lace and classic wedding dresses it makes a lovely wedding gift.

Each is individually handmade from beautiful ivory linen with a red ticking lining. The front and back of the cosy feature 'Mr & Mrs' stitched handwriting and a pretty quilted-effect floral design.

The second new design I've been working on is... chickens!! I have had customers asking me on numerous occasions for a chicken design, so here it is! This week I made my first couple of egg cosies and in the next few days I will also be adding a tea and coffee cosy. Check my website in a few days to see the full range of 'chicken' cosies! x

We have a winner...

Congratulations 

to the lucky winner of the beach huts tea cosy... 

Wendy Massey!

Wendy, if you would like to email your address to me at: design@charlottemacey.co.uk that would be great and I'll 

pop your new tea cosy in the post!

...and to everyone who entered, thank you so much!! 

Stay tuned for more blog news and adventures and 

more exciting competitions in the future!

I hope you all have a wonderful sunny weekend, 

Charlotte x