The Sewing Dilettante

At the risk of confirming a cliche about American tastes, I admit that I LOVE peanut butter. I eat it almost every day and think just about anything can be improved with a dollop of it - toast, baked goods, smoothies, fruit slices. Ants on a log anybody? Or how about a fluffernutter sandwich ? Nom, nom, nom! Not sharing my fondness for peanut butter, hubby naturally thinks my obsession with the stuff a bit odd. He certainly wouldn't be too impressed by the suggestion of PB&Js for lunch. He did manage, however, to choke down one or two of these cupcakes the other day.  Chocolate sponge with peanut butter frosting and peanut butter chips! I followed  this recipe from Bakerella , though I simplified things a bit. They were only gorgeous!  In hindsight, I wished I'd made a little bit of chocolate frosting to swirl in with the peanut butter frosting, as in Bakerella's original recipe. It would've cut through the intense peanut butter-iness of the frosting

So, I've kind of lost the blogging bug recently, mostly, I think, because I've been enjoying spending loads of time with hubby and Baby G after 9 months of a crazy distance living/working situation. It's set to start up again in September, so we've really been maximising family time together this summer. As Granny Murray might say, there was swimming, exploring, building, visiting, colouring, reading, travelling, cycling, eating, laughing, jumping, running, 'washing up and wiping down'. The halcyon days of summer, indeed! (We've watched a bit of CBeebies, too, in case you couldn't tell!)  Somehow, along the way, I've managed to fit in a bit of sewing, too. Hoorah! I started this little scrappy log cabin quilt in the spring for friends who welcomed their first baby to the world last weekend. (I always knew I wouldn't have it done in time!) I've been having such fun with this one, especially as it's given me the opportunity to dig throu