A new Tilda website on the www!

My sewing angel sitting in the garden

Sew Pretty Homestyle tablemats

Teaspoon lady and a bug

Tilda's World has a new presence on the World Wide Web. It is really pretty.
This is a new web site which is being created and maintained by the Tilda design team. 
The web site is as beautiful as the books. There is also a blog section. 
I am looking forward to seeing what they'll be posting. 
The opening post is pure eye candy, and just the thing to chase away the winter blahs.

Another day, another polar vortex

I get it, this winter of ours is simply not interested in leaving. It has it too good around here.

I haven't been baking much lately. But today, as a blizzard swirled around the kitchen window, I decided I needed to smell the delicious aroma created by the union of apples and cinnamon. Also, having the oven on helps take the chill off the kitchen. That's nice when it is -26 C outside.

This is not an overly sweet tea loaf, but the streusel topping makes for a sweet finish. You can omit it if you like, but it takes a lot away from the olfactory experience.

Serve with a hot cup of tea, and pretend spring is just around the corner -- not cowering in fear under a log while winter rages on forever. 

 Apple Cinnamon Streusel Loaf

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup light sour cream

1 apple, peeled and chopped

Topping

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup flour

4 tbsp butter

1/2 tsp cinnamon

4 tbsp rolled oats

1.      Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a loaf pan.

2.      Combine apples, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.

3.      Using an electric mixer, beat sugar and butter together until light and creamy.

4.      Add eggs, one at a time. Beating until mixed well. Add vanilla.

5.      In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Stir together. Gradually add to egg mixture, alternating with sour cream in two additions, beginning and ending with flour. Beat for two minutes.

6.      Place half the batter in the pan, covering with half the apple and brown sugar mixture. Top with the rest of the batter and add the remaining apple and brown sugar mixture.

7.      Mix the topping ingredients until they resemble large crumbs. Sprinkle on top of the loaf.

8.      Bake for 1 hour. Cool for 30 minutes in the pan on a wire rack. Turn out of the pan and cool completely.

Great Tilda titles I know, love, and own...

The Craft Cafe, a great facebook group -- I am lucky to be a part of it -- is not exclusively devoted to the creation of Tilda things, but there are a lot of us who are major fans of Tone Finnanger.

Recently, a new member asked me if I had a list of the books. She has some, she said, but she isn't sure she has all of them.

I am not sure I have all of them either, but I have a goodly number of them. So, I created a bibliography based on my library of Tilda titles. In the interest of public service, I will share it here.

I will also pin it on my Pintrest board, Tilda by Tone Finnanger.

This isn't quite as bad as my slavish devotion to Donny Osmond back in my TigerBeat days, but I have to concede, it is getting there.

Tilda makes me happy. Does Tilda make you happy too?

Lovely mail and other fun I've been having lately

Fabric pretties from a lovely friend

 It has been a long hard winter. I am about done with it. Winter, is of course, not done with us -- yet.
Weather aside, it has been a challenge to fight the urge to hibernate and keep creating. We creative types just solider on -- with a lot of help from our friends.
Yesterday, after a day of frustrating things, the kinds of things that happen to each of us, I hiked to the mailbox, over the foot high snow drifts. There, I found the key to the package compartment. And in the package compartment, I found a cheerful package from Wendy, a crafty pal and fellow fabric fancier from across the pond. She sent me a generous gift of some Tilda fabrics and some of the Gutterman range called Summer Loft. Neither of them are to be found easily in Canada. I love them, so I will take forever to cut into them. Crazy, I know, but that is the way it is.

Wendy's Tilda card

Wendy also sent me some adorable Tilda paper craft sheets, along with a pretty card she made.
I am blessed to have such nice people in my life. The package lifted my winter spirits. Thank you so much, Wendy!
Another thank you to my wonderful partner in all fabric crimes, Sandra. She shared some fabric I greatly admired from her stash to create a present for my sister, whose birthday is later this month. I found a tutorial for a mug rug on Wild Olive. This involves a lot of handwork, which I love, and English paper piecing, something I find very relaxing to do in the evenings while watching TV.
When you have a moment, check out the Wild Olive blog. It has a lot of cute projects and very easy to understand tutorials.
As we prepare for thunderstorms, and possible flooding tomorrow (!) I am preparing to start a new project.
Stay tuned.
I will find a way to get through the rest of this winter. I will!

The Owl and the Pussycat, a mini quilt by me. Currently on the cover of A Needle Pulling Thread's Baby Gifts Issue.

A mug rug, a trial run for a birthday gift I am making for a special sister.