Very Berry Inspiration!

Some of the crafty and baking stuff I show here is inspired by fabulous bloggers that I follow or chance across from time to time, none more so than Ali from Very Berry Handmade who designs and makes gorgeous stylish things and sells lovely Liberty bundles on Folksy.

It was a coincidence recently that a crochet project and some baking I did both came from Ali.  I had book-marked the pattern for this triple layer crocheted flower quite a while ago but didn't get around to trying it out until the Christmas holiday. Then Ali blogged about this Chocolate Cardamom cake the other week and I couldn't resist giving it a try.  The flower came out quite large because I used some chunky yarn I had lying around. I made it into a brooch after finishing it off with ribbon and a button.

The cake is definitely only for special occasions as it contains two slabs of melted 70% chocolate, but despite being rich, it's not heavy or stodgy.  I made a full-sized cake by doubling all the ingredients (except the cardamom, which I was glad about because it had enough flavour with just the 2 pods).

Ali's cardamom pods looked huge compared to mine (I suppose being 4 years out of date might have had something to do with it)!   Above are the contents of 2 of my pods (one lot hard and crunchy, the other soft and much bigger).  All previous pods I'd used were filled with the small, hard seeds so I was reluctant to use the ones that resembled mice droppings (hence only using half the amount).

And while I'm on the subject of lovely inspirational blogs, here are a few more to browse:

Betz White (beautiful creations from felted woollen jumpers and her own organic cotton fabrics)
Wayside Sacraments (inspirational words and pictures from Leslie, who has become a good blog-friend)
The Scrappy Appleyard (Another blog-friend, John'aLee, who creates wonderful quilt patterns, and is so busy I wonder that she has time to blog let alone read and comment on mine!)
Posie Gets Cozy (If I could could take photos half as good as these, I'd be happy)
Patchwork Pottery (A blog full of wonderful, intricate patchwork designs with their own unique style)
Attic24 (Crochet fans should definitely visit Lucy's blog for a fix.

So, there you have it; I felt I should share some of the wonderful blogs I've discovered over the years (although I suspect they're not much of a secret to many of you) and not keep them to myself.  They've given me much food-for-thought and (as I said at the start) much inspiration in my own life and crafty journey.

Progress since last time:

Purple scarf finished
Charity shop jumper un-run
A few more tumbling blocks added

Bye for now
Teresa x