Friday 5 February 2010

VESTIT COIXINERA - PILLOWCASE DRESS



Em vaig inspirar en aquesta tutorial de Jen Leheny per fer aquest vestit. Segueixo no tenint ni idea de com es fan les vores i altres petits detalls amb la maquina de cosir, pero com que no tinc paciencia per aprendre el mes aviat possible, em llenc,o de cap a fer aquestes coses. Despres, sobre la marxa ja em vaig trobant amb dubtes i equivocacions... pero oi que diuen que "fent i desfent apren l'aprenent"? doncs en el meu cas, com que de desfer no m'agrada gaire i ho evito com puc, diria "fent fent i fent apren l'aprenent!"

This instructions from Jen Leheny inspired me to make this dress. I still have no idea when it comes to all the techniques for machine sewing, but I am so keen to learn that I will jump in to do any project I like, such as this dress. Then, as it often happens, I make many mistakes and I'm not sure about how to do certain things, but as we say in Catalan "one learns by doing and undoing" . I 'm very lazy if I have to "undo" something and I'll try to fix it instead. So with me it's more like "one learns by doing doing and doing"!


Vaig descosir la part oberta de la coixinera i tallar la part cosida de l'altra costat.
I cut the sewn side of this pillowcase and cut the stitches of the other side to open it.




Seguint les instruccions, vaig doblegar la coixinera per la meitat i tallar les sises. Les vaig embastar i fer una vora (que em va costar prou!) doblegant-la dues vegades perque quedes mes polit (tot i que despres vaig penar que no hauria calgut perque veig cosir la beta vermella a sobre. Aixo es el que passa quan improvises sobre la marxa).

Following the instructions, I fold the pillowcase lenghtwise and cut out the armcyes. I folded in the fabric and stitched all along the way. I used the red binding for making the straps too. Now I think I should have made them a bit longer for the ribbons, but I'll leave that for the next dress...



Despres de fer les vores de les sises, vaig doblegar la part de dalt, del davant i del darrere, assegurant-me que fos la mida justa per passar-hi la goma. Un cop cosida, vaig passar la goma i vaig cosir una punta d'un costat i l'altra punta a l'altre costat. D'aquesta manera ja queda arrugat com es veu a la foto.
No tenia gaire clar com fer els tirants. A les instruccions s'ha fet un "canal" a les sises per al qual se li ha passat la beta que fa de tirant. Jo vaig pensar que aprofitant la beta vermella seria mes facil i aixi ho he fet. Ara crec que hauria d'haver fet els tirant molt mes llargs, pero be, amb el proxim vestit ja ho intentare.

After sewing the armscyes, I folded in ans sew the top front and back making a casing where the elastic goes through. 



Tambe he cosit la beta vermella als baixos un cop he mesurat la llargada del vestit.

I also used the red binding for the bottom of the dress once I measured the length I wanted it to be.


Un cop ja tenia el vestit fet, vaig escollir aquestes teles que tenia de fa temps per fer unes flors aplicades.

Once the dress was made, I chose this fabric to make apliquee flowers.


Les vaig dibuixar sobre paper, mes o menys com volia que fossin, de manera irregular. 

I draw the idea I had on paper and cut them out to use them as a pattern.




Vaig tallar-les i les vaig fer servir com a patro per tallar la roba. 




Un cop les flors tallades i amb la tela que s'enganxa al darrere, vaig col.locar-les alla on volia, amb una cinta de quadrets en una i un troc, de la mateix beta vermella per l'altra. tambe vaig aprofitar una mica de cinta de quadrets per fer les fulles del tall de la flor gran.

Once cut out I placed them on the dress, using gingham ribbon as the stem of one flower and red binding for the other one.





En comptes de cosir les flors a ma, amb el punt de festo, vaig voler provar de cosir-les amb la maquina. Vaig fer servir el mode de ziga-zaga. He de practicar mes perque no m'ha sortit gaire be, pero com que des d'un primcipi ja volia que les flors no fossin perfectes, ja m'esta be!

Since I want to practise as much as I can with my sewing machine, I sew the flowers with the zig-zag stitch. I didn't find it very easy, with so many bends! but it looks good to me, as I want the flowers to look very irregular, almost like children's drawings.




Els talls de les flors estan cosits de manera que sobresurtin una mica a la part d'abaix. 
With some left overs of the gingham ribbon, I made leaves for the big flower.





Finalment vaig cosir uns botons nacarats vermells al centre de cada flor. Un de gran per la flor gran i un de mes petit per la flor petitona. Hi ha bastants errors, tecnicament parlant... per falta d'experiencia, pero a mida que en vagi fent, ja anire aprenent...

Finally, I found these lovely red ivory buttons and sew a small one for the small flower... and a bigger one for the bigger flower!
There are many mistakes on this dress, technically speaking, due to my lack of experience with the sewing machine. I'm just starting but I'm improving quickly, and so far... I'm really happy with it!



Monday 1 February 2010

ULLERETES - PUFF PASTRY SPECTACLES (OR HEARTS...)



Us aviso. Aquesta recepta es molt perillosa. Es massa facil i aqui esta el problema. O potser el problema es que quan n'has menjat una, ja no pots parar...
No l'he inventada pas jo... pero mai no se m'havia acudit de fer-les fins que vaig veure la recepta en un forum que visito sovint.

Avui que tenia pasta de full al congelador, l'he tret i, un cop descongelada, en 30 minuts les he fet.

I en menys de 5 ha desaparegut la meitat...

RECIPE

I'm warning you. This is a very dangerous recipe. It's too easy and that's the problem.
Or the actual problem is that once you've eaten one, you can't stop...
It isn't my recipe of course, but I never thought of making them until I saw the steps to make them in a forum I often visit.

I had some puff pastry in the freezer today, so I took it out and it only took 30 minutes to make them.

And less than 5 for half of them to vanish...


ingredients

2 lamines de pasta de full - sucre

2 sheets of puff pastry - sugar                        



1. Estireu la lamina i espolvorejeu abundantment amb sucre
1. Spread the puff pastry sheet and sprinkle a genrous amount of sugar all over it.


2. Doblegueu cada costat cap al centre, deixant un espai, i torneu a espolvorejar amb sucre.
2. Fold both sides towards the centre, making sure you leave a gap, and sprinkle with sugar again.



3. Repetiu el mateix pas.
3. Do the same as before.


4. Finalment, doblegueu per la meitat i talleu llesques d'1 cm de gruix.
4. Finally, fold it in half and cut slices of 1 cm thickness (half an inch).




5. Poseu-les en una plata sobre paper vegetal a la part de dalt del forn precalentat a 200C durant 10-12 minuts. Treieu-les per donar-les la volta i coure-les 5 minuts mes.
5. Put them on a baking tray on grease proof paper at the top level of your oven which should be pre-heated at 200C. Bake them for 10-12 minutes and then take them out, turn them over and bake again for 5 more minutes.


6. Deixeu-les refredar sobre una reixeta (si sou prou pacients) perque s'endureixin.
6. Let them cool on a rack, if you're patient enough, so they'll get crispy.

MITJONS II


Aquests mitjons estan fets amb nomes dues agulles. Bones noticies per a les que no us atreviu amb mes de dues! No costa gens de fer-los, pero a mi m'agrada mes fer-ne amb 4 agulles perque aixi no cal fer costures. En aquests, la costura passa per la planta i molesta una mica quan camines. Son mitjons de llana gruixuda per estar per casa (asseguda al sofa si no vols clavar-te la costureta...) o per quan tens molt de fred als peus quan te'n vas al llit!!!



SOCKS II

These socks are knitted with 2 needles. Good news for those who don't dare taking up 4! It's not difficult at all to make them, the only thing is that you have to sew the seam all along the sole and up the back. If you're not good at it (like me) it will be quite annoying walking on them...
They're made with chunky yarn, so they're great for staying at home (sitting on the sofa if you don't want to feel the seam under your feet...) or wearing the in bed when your feet are really cold!!!

MERMELADA DE TARONJA


Cada hivern l'Aoife, la landlady, fa mermelada de taronja i sempre ens porta algun pot a casa. Aquest any li vaig demanar que m'ensenyes a fer-la. Un diumenge a la tarda ens hi vam posar i aquest va ser el resultat.
No soc gaire amant de la mermalada de taronja, prefereixo la de gerds, maduixes o albercocs... Pero com que ara ja se com es fa, intentare fer-la amb altres fruites. Aqui la mermelada sempre es de taronja, tot el que no sigui de taronja l'anomenen "jam" (gerds, maduixes, etc). La mermelada sempre se la menjen per esmorzar, i pobre de tu que els hi posis "jam" per esmorzar! (si treballes en un cafe com vaig fer jo et mirarien com si et faltes un bull...). La "jam" es menja a la tarda... encara no ho entenc, pero a mi com que nomes m'agrada la "jam", me la menjo a l'hora que sigui.

MERMELADA DE TARONJA AMARGA

2 kg de taronjes bordes
2 kg de sucre per fer mermelada (ja porta pectina)
un parell de llimones
3 l. d'aigua

1. Exprimiu les taronjes i les llimones i poseu el suc en una cassola amb els 3 l d'aigua.
2. Treieu les pells i les llavors de les meitats i feu-ne un farcell amb tela de lli, lligueu-lo amb un cordill i poseu-lo tambe dins l'olla.
3. Porteu-ho a ebullicio.
4. Talleu la pell de la taronja en trocets petits i l'afegiu a l'olla i deixeu que bulli unes dues hores.
5. Treieu el farcell i deixeu-lo refredar per poder escorre el contingut dins l'olla. Aixo ajudara a que la mermelada espessi.
6. Calenteu una mica el sucre en un bol al forn, mentres hi teniu els pots de vidre a dins, durant uns 5 minuts. Afegiu-lo a l'olla i deixeu que es desfaci a foc lent. 
7. Torneu a fer-lo bullir durant 15 minuts i tanqueu el foc. Deixeu reposar la mermelada, que anira fent una capa espessa a la superficie (NO REMENEU ENCARA!). Al cap d'uns 20 minuts, remeneu i poseu-la als pots de vidre tancant-los tot seguit.


Every winter Aoife, my landlady, makes marmalade and she always brings us some jars. This year I asked her to teach me how to make it. She came on a sunday afternoon and here is our result. I am not a fan of marmalade, I prefer jam. But now that I know how to make it, I'll try to make raspberry, strawberry or apricot jam. In Spanish and Catalan we don't distinguish marmalade from jam, as far as we know it's all marmalade to us. It was when I came to live here in Ireland that I realised how important (to the Irish) is to have "marmalade" in the morning (which is only orange, of course) and jam in the afternoon... I still don't get it anyway... I always have jam in the morning, midmorning, afternoon or night...

BITTER ORANGE MARMALADE

2kg of marmalade oranges
2kg of jam sugar
a couple of lemons
3 l of water

1. Put the juice of the oranges and lemons in a saucepan with the water.
2. Take out the pit and the seeds of the halves and wrap them up in a muslin that you'll add to the saucepan.
3. Bring to boil.
4. Add the peel of the oranges cut into small pieces and let boil for 2 hours.


5. Take out the muslin and let it cool before you squeeze it over the saucepan. It's a jelly-like liquid that will help to set the marmalade.


6. Warm the sugar for 5 minutes in the oven while you still have the jars in it and add it to the saucepan at low heat. When it's melted, bring to the boil for 15 minutes.
7. Let it cool a bit until it forms a thick layer on the top. Don't be tempted to stir it! Stir after 20 minutes and pour into the jars while still hot. Put the lids on and label the when they're cold.

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