This was supposed to be a post about the things I made last week but the smells coming out of the kitchen have sidetracked me. 
Never mind that I finished off this lovely fairy from a pattern in Salley Mavor's book. Never mind that I came across the free bunny pattern from wee wonderfuls last Friday and was inspired to make this wee bunny . It's all been forgotten whilst I nip into the kitchen to have a warm slice of bread and butter.
Nothing can beat warm bread on a day when the rain is lashing at the house and the wind is howling. I know we need the rain....
That's better I've had two slices as you can see and I can carry on now. The wee bunny is made from bits of dyed blanket that I had left over from another project. I spent a few days last month cutting up blankets and dying them with Dylon dyes for a sewing project at school. The colours turned out much better than I expected and I'm probably going to have another go over Easter. (I have 4 blankets left). I was really lucky with my blankets. I found about 6 in different charity shops, they're all pure wool and all made by Witney. Anyhow, some of the blankets are like felt now and I thought I'd try making the bunny out of them. I sewed most of it on the machine, forgot to sew in the ears so they went on afterwards and I sewed on the bottom circle by hand. As you can see Millie, as she is called is wearing one of those flowers that I'm so fond of crocheting. It was a very quick and easy project and I think the pompom tail took the longest to make. I'm going to try another bunny with different fabric. There's a whole group on flickr devoted to them if you want to have a look. Now for the recipe for the loaf which I'm sure you'll all want to try for Easter (it's much easier than making the buns I have to say).
Hot Cross Bun Loaf
- 700g strong bread flour
- 7g sachet of easy-blend yeast
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 75g caster sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons mixed spice
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 125g of mixed fruit
- 375g tepid milk
- 1 large beaten egg
It's so simple. Just put all the dry ingredients into a bowl and add the tepid milk and egg. Mix together and knead for 10 mins. Divide the dough into two and plait each one and place into two, greased 1 lb loaf tins. (I only had one tin so I just made the other in pan, hence it's squat features). Leave to rise in the tins (covered with a damp cloth or carrier bag) for about 1 1/2 hours. Bake at gas 6, 400F, 200C for 35 mins. My squat one took five minutes less. If they start to darken too much place a piece of silver foil over the top of them. Take out of the oven and place on a cooling rack and glaze with: 3 tablespoons of milk mixed with 3 tablespoons of sugar that has been boiled for 1 minute. Try and leave a bit of time before eating if you can resist the aroma. (The fruit doesn't seem to have distributed so well between the loaves and that might be because I made mine in the Kitchen Aid.) Incidentally, the recipe is from the Waitrose magazine Spring 2005.
Love your wee bunny and the fairy.Thanks for stopping by my site.I have added you to my bloglines!
Posted by: Kristy | March 28, 2006 at 02:00 PM