Lockdown week 13 - quilts and cake

A day of two halves. In the morning, my friend came over and I gave her the quilts I'd made from the shirts of her late husband. Our coffee date was actually in the garden; she just came in for the photos. When we were discussing what she'd like, she looked at photos of ones I'd made and choose the tumbler shapes, quilted hearts and half-square triangle borders.

It's quite tricky to get the quilt the right width so that the triangles meet neatly at the corners - I've only done this kind of border once before - but I was quite pleased at the result here.

I'd found a £20 note in this pocket, so I sewed the pocket on the back and put the note in a little envelope.

And then I made a second quilt, because there was so much shirt fabric. This one was much quicker, though. So few corners to get right.

Then in the afternoon we went down to Daughter 2's Edinburgh flat and Mr L worked very hard. He put up the curtains and new shade so that the living room looked smart, and then we moved all the furniture from the bedrooms into the living room (thus ruining the effect) and also the washing machine into the hall, and he lifted the vinyl in the kitchen - so that we can get new carpets and vinyl laid tomorrow.

So that was less fun. But never mind; it's progress.

Lynda asked for the cake recipe. Here it is.

Coconut cake:
3/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup fresh grated coconut (only I didn't have any so used desiccated)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 and 1/4 cups self-raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
10 tablespoons (ie 6 ounces) butter
1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs

Heat the coconut milk (though I didn't bother and it was fine). Cream butter and sugar, gradually add eggs, coconut milk, coconut, vanilla, then mix in flour and baking powder by hand. Bake in two 9-inch tins for 20-25 minutes.

I then used chocolate butter icing but the recipe suggests making -

Fluffy Coconut Frosting.
1/2 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large egg whites
1 and 1/2 to 2 and 1/2 fresh grated coconut
Bring water to boil with sugar, cover and cook for 1 minute without stirring.
Uncover and boil, stirring frequently until mixture is hot enough to spin a thread when a little is dropped from a spoon, or about 230F. Remove from heat. Whisk egg whites to stiff peaks. Still beating, add sugar mixture in thin stream. Continue till mix is fluffy again and holds peaks. Assemble cake with frosting between layers and put frosting on sides as well, then sprinkle coconut over the top and sides.

(You can see why I didn't bother with this. I didn't have any more coconut anyway but, well, chocolate and coconut are nice together and I'm a busy woman.)

Lockdown week 12 - Saturday

Hmm, that's funny - Blogger is being peculiar this evening. At first it wouldn't allow me even to start uploading (is that the word?) photos and then it sort of half-started but then stopped.

Ah well, I don't have any very interesting photos from today anyway. Both yesterday and today, we've been spending time getting things organised in Daughter 2's Edinburgh flat, which has been rented out (and messed up by some of the tenants) for some years now. She planned to sell it in the spring and her tenants left (leaving lots of their grotty stuff) but then lockdown happened.

We managed to get rid of lots of the stuff just before everything ground to a halt, and then, because the flat was empty, a painter was allowed to paint it and then a flooring company was allowed to come and sand the floor. But because we didn't have our car it was difficult for us to go down and do things.

Anyway, a carpet company has opened up so yesterday we went there in our new (to us) car (we needed an appointment) and ordered carpets for the two bedrooms and vinyl for the kitchen and bathroom. And today we went to the flat and did various jobs such as refitting the washed loose chair/sofa covers which have been in our house since March; jigsawing together the table which the tenants unscrewed and put in a cupboard (sigh) - luckily Mr L is a patient man who can think in 3 dimensions; cleaning, clearing and so on. Daughter 2 has decided to get rid of various other pieces of furniture which the tenants put wet mugs down on and ruined - so that's happening on Tuesday.

And so on. It's time-consuming but satisfying - we oldies haven't been able to be very much use to anyone over this strange period so it's nice to feel productive. We'll get the flat back to looking nice again and then - well, will anyone be buying flats???

Of course, architect Daughter 2 would very much like to be doing this herself. But she's stuck in London. However, the internet is a great thing so she's ordered curtains, a new hob, a new bathroom suite and tiles and so on. And we've been consulting her at every turn.

I only went on a brief local walk when we got back. Mr L had a little snooze on the sofa instead. He did most of the difficult work at the flat.