Making up for the bad weather out there

Mar23

Just had a look outside! Snow is falling on the 23rd of March! It looks cold and very uninviting, the cherry blossoms and daffodils are covered in snow and the wind is picking up and getting stronger.

I would usually sort my morning blues with a nice long run but it does not look like an option today, instead of burning some calories, I will get some in. I will bake.

I saw this recipe on great blog called http://www.roostblog.com/, with gluten free recipes and great photos. I amended the recipe a little to:bake2

  • 2 cups finely ground almond flour
  •  salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons white yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 teaspoon  vanilla extract
  • 3 table spoons orange juice
  • zest from 1/2 orange

Preheat the oven to 175oC, 350F.  Grease a small cake tin and dust with some almond flour to prevent the cake mixture sticking to the cake tin.  Combine the almond flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon. Mix the eggs, yogurt, honey, vanilla, orange juice and zest in separate bowl. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together. Pour the mixture into the cake tin. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until the cake is coming away from the edge of the tin. When baked, remove the cake from the tin and let it cool.

When the cake has cooled, top it up with whipped cream or glaze it with Orange glaze. I tried it and the glaze did not come out as I thought it would but will try again as I think it is great topping.

  • 1 1/2 Tbs coconut butter, slightly warmed
  • 1 1/2 Tbs honey
  • 1 1/2 Tbs fresh orange juice

Let me know what you think once you’ve try it??

 

 

 

Spring is almost here

Mar12

cardiganSometimes a little inspiration is enough to lift my mood. It can come in the form of a sunny day or a great article I read.

This time round it was in form of the latest Burda magazine and one of the project I loved. It’s a lovely cardigan, my must have spring item.

As I always have an abundance of fabrics in my fabric basket, it was just matter of time until I selected the right one and started on the project. I didn’t use the Butda pattern for my cardigan, I created my own, but the initial inspiration was from the magazine.

Some time ago, I bought lovely blue lace. I did not know what I was going to use it for but I knew then and there, it would be for something interesting. The lace stretches a little and that is great as I could make the pattern fitted.

It did not take me that long to make the cardigan, cutting it out of the lace was perhaps the most difficult part, making sure that the lovely edges were where I wanted them to be. I finished it off with blue ribbon in the same colour around the neck and handstitched the edges of the cardigan.

cardi2  cardigan1

 

It was easy to make and I cannot wait for more sunny days when I will start wearing my new cardigan. It will be great with a skirt, jeans or over a dress. And because it is fitted, it flatters the figure too.

Valentine’s baking

Feb11

Valentines biscuitsEvery year on Valentine’s Day, I buy lovely chocolates for adorable husband. This year I thought I would be little bit more creative and try to make them instead. And while making it, I thought I should create something tasty, but just a little healthier. For this Valentine, I updated one of my recipes and baked heart shaped biscuits sprinkled them with white chocolate and vanilla. They were yummy and when baking, the whole house smelled irresistible! Sadly, we ate them on the same day, so I will most likely be baking another batch.

If you would like to see the full recipe, please visit an amazing blog I discovered recently, it is Lily White Green blog of thoughts of busy mummy with reviews, ideas and competitions!

Something small, something old, something pretty

Jan18

Only recently, after many and many years of keeping one particular piece of fabric untouched, I finally found a use for it. I do not even remember how I come by this fabric awkwardly cut but so pretty, I have been saving it for something special all those years. It is gray, cream and black silk with gold irregular patterns, and was relatively small so I had to think very carefully for its best use.

Then I got the Burda Magazine and Making Magazine and there I saw beautifully crafted detachable collars of different shapes, colours and sizes, they all had one thing in common though, they would transform a relatively boring piece of clothing to an original outfit. collar

And that is how my latest project was born. I played for a bit with the design of my collar, then before I knew, the fabric had been cut along with the lining. Finding small and simple button that would fit with the fabric and there it was!

It took me about 30 min with the cut.  The finished collar was then decorated with arranged lace into small roses in the right corner and small cuts of it on the left.

If you are making something similar as a present, why not have a few labels printed in your name? It completely transforms the finished product and you will have your own label to impress your friends with. :-)

Snowflakes that will not melt

Dec6

I woke up this morning to the first snow of winter falling. The beautiful snowflakes falling, huge and sparkling against the street lamp.

And that is when I got an idea for my latest project. Bringing some of the beautifully formed snowflakes inside to my kitchen.

I love to decorate for Christmas and this year I started earlier by making a few things. Inspired by the fresh snow fall, I decided to hand paint some snowflakes on my newly made kitchen curtain. It took some time to paint all of the jewels, small and big in red and silver colour but I am very happy with the result and better yet, my snowflakes will not melt!

All you need is a cotton fabric, some trimmings, fabric paint and a brush. And lots of patience. Firstly, iron your fabric and before you start painting your curtain (or anything else that you made), remember to put an old newspaper under your fabric and get painting. Let the paint dry for few minutes and you are ready. Enjoy.

The best thing to do when it rains – get baking

Nov27

It has been a rainy start to the week in London. The sky’s been dark and lots of heavy rain. Since I published my book Christmas baking with a twist a few weeks ago (thanks to all of you who have bought my book so far), I took a short break from the baking. But I missed it, and so on this rainy day, I decided to work on a new new recipe.

This time, it was Gugelhuepf (or Kugelhopf) cake – it is the sponge cake with a hole in the middle. I own few lovely Gugelhuepf cakes tins and they differ in shape and size. You can buy them in ceramic, silicon or with non-stick carbon steel.

So if you are stuck inside today, or tomorrow, why not try bake one yourself. If you don’t have a Gugelhuepf tin, try a square tin or even a loaf and let me know how you get on.

For my gluten free Gugelhuepf cake you will need:

  •  1 and 1/2 cups of almond flour
  • 1/2 cup of shredded cashew nuts
  •  2 spoons of honey
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 spoons of quark
  • 1 spoon of cashew nut butter (or normal oil)
  • 1 teaspoon of baking powder
  • orange zest from 1/2 orange
  • melted dark chocolate to decorate

Preheat the oven to 175oC, 350oF. Add the flour, shredded cashew nuts and baking powder in a bowl and mix well. In a separate bowl whisk the whole eggs with honey and cashew nut butter (or oil). Add quark and mix again. Pour the liquid in your bowl with flour, mix all together. Add zest from one orange. Butter the tin and dust it with flour (I use coconut flour) if required. Pour the mixture into the cake tin. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until the cake is coming away from the edge of the tin. When baked, remove the cake from the tin and let it cool. In a meantime melt your chocolate and decorate your cake.

I love the taste of this cake, the orange and chocolate are great together. The quark doesn’t add any flavour, but it will keep your cake fresh and moist far longer than milk. Lastly invite a few friends over, put the kettle on and Enjoy!

 

My e-book “Christmas baking with a twist” is out!

Nov11

I am so excited! Not only because it is Sunday and lovely sunny day, but also, my baking e-book “Christmas baking with a twist” has been published this weekend!

For you who do not know what my Christmas baking with a twist is, it is a gluten free, Paleo, almond and coconut flour baking book.

After months of baking, testing and tasting, it all has come together and work on my book has been finally completed. I must admit, not all has been walk in a rose garden.

Here are few of obstacles I had to to face:

  • Forgetting to note precise measurements of ingredients for my recipes and repeat the procedure again.
  • Eating the best and nicest looking cookies before photographing them!!
  • Photographing my bakes was sometimes challenging, coming up with new ideas, designs and dealing with occurrences such as luck of natural light on rainy day.
  • Thinking that e-book design would the the same as designing hard copy book, it is not and I had to simplify the book design a lot

Despite few challenges, I had to face, I loved every minute of making my book to happen. I so hope you will too and really enjoy it.

 

 

It was a dark and stormy night…

Oct30

I rang the door bell. I turned around to ensure we were safe. It was getting dark, cold and I could smell the rain in the air. There were 4 of us. Each with our weapon of a choice, 2 gleaming carving knives each. Sharp and ready for an action. The door creaked open and we spotted them! Also 4 of them, they were enormous! Massive! All dressed in the same orange uniform.

There they were, on the kitchen table, orange pumpkins ready to be carved!

We stepped in, looked at each other, selected our partner for the night, and started carving.

What a great way to spend the evening, with friends.

Let’s be inspired

Oct29

While sipping a Latte, one rainy afternoon, in a small London coffeehouse, my mind wandered from thought to thought seeking inspiration and I found it at Liberty.
Liberty LondonIf you love art, design, new and old, great style with a homely feel, all combined, I found the perfect place at Liberty of London. Standing in front of Liberty’s Tudor style building, just off Regent Street, I felt that I was slowly being transferred back in time. Stepping into the shop sped up the shift and I suddenly felt as if I was in a different age.
The building was built in 1920s from the timber of 2 ships (Liberty historical facts), it has beautiful wooden staircases with short messages carved skillfully into the wood used on side panels and beautiful glass windows.
Liberty is a shop, with a sense of uniqueness that you don’t feel in the majority of today’s shops.
The assortment in Liberty is luxurious and beautiful, classic and original. After a short browse in the gifts section, I headed for the haberdashery department. Here you can find almost anything that you would need for your home crafting. Liberty’s well known fabric with soft prints, colourful ribbons and interesting trimmings and beads and buttons in all shapes and sizes. In one corner a selection of old metal tins, similar to those my grandmother still uses for bits and pieces, in another a selection of craftsman books and many other items all beautifully presented and carefully arranged.
And a few times, when I looked really lost, I was approached by almost floating and mysterious shop assistants, all dressed in black, and asking politely if I needed any help. They made the whole Liberty experience much more then just a shopping . They were the connection between present and past and added gentle touch that is so often missed from our lives.
What is your favorite special place where you go shopping, or just like to visit? Let me know.

 

 

Wrap up in silk

Oct23

Here we go, as requested by one of my readers, I am today publishing a silk kimono I made some time ago. The shape is sort of kimono, perhaps a bit simpler but equally effective.

I was glad I could make a kimono because of the beautiful silk I had. The pattern is screen printed and should be original, as per the shop assistant in Shepherd’s Bush, where I go for my silk. I do not mind if it it is not, I still love it. The motif is a beautiful beach, where you can see individual grains of sand, amazingly coloured clouds and electric sky. One whole screen has been used for the back and another one parted in front. And as this is silk, it moves in a beautiful organic way.

I really enjoyed making it. What was a bit more challenging were the photos …. where do you even start when taking photos of such shapeless creation with no-one close by? What are the tricks? If anyone knows, please tell me because I am sure there are ways…. .

 

The Masterpieces not only when it rains

Oct12

It is raining again in London, the tube are delayed and they still expect me to pay for entrance? Can this get any worse? I only have an hour before my next appointment and decided that rather than struggle with the tube I would fill the time with a free cultural experience. Luckily being in the centre of London means I am surrounded by loads of free entertainment.

This time I opted for the National Gallery. If you like art and paintings, this is the place to be, and according to the Association of Leading Visitors Attractions (AVLA) more then 5 million visitors thought the same last year. That’s greater then the Irish or Norwegian population!

It was just after lunch time and I was lucky enough to be on time for a free Guided tour. Splendid.

The tour guide was a well presented gallery lecturer who did not waste any time and took us straight to one of the Gallery’s masterpieces.

There, standing very close to each other, trying to hear as much as possible, we were presented with some facts that you’d never come across on your own. Did you know for example, that using cheap, bad quality blue paint, would result in the pigment changing colour over time? In this case the blue had become green, and as a result if you were to stand in front of the painting you’d think the background was a green meadow. But if you look closely you’d see small boats now floating beautifully on a sea of green. And the adorable little angels, floating in the air, are in fact cheeky little puppets.

The tour continued in this spirit, we visited Rembrandt and few other masters, before finishing the tour with a lecture on the floor mosaic. It was absolutely beautiful! I will definitely pay more attention to the floors next time. I was even told off when I tried to take a photo, yes, even the mosaic on the floor cannot be photographed!

Overall it was well worth it.The National Gallery, London

Since then, I have discovered that the British Museum (over 5.8 mil visitors in 2011, according to AVLA) do similar tours. This is another beautiful place to visit, with much to see, explore and learn.

If you are planning your tour, check on the museums websites for the time and location:

The National Galery, London
The British Museum, London

What is your favorite place to visit, even for a short stop? What is special about this place? Let me know and I will publish the most interesting suggestions.

Something new, something old, get ready baking…

Oct9

We are now half way through October and even though the weather is turning uglier by the day, there are so many interesting thing we could be doing to prepare for the upcoming holidays. I know it seems a long way off but before we know it, Christmas festivities will begin once again.  

This year I am very much looking forward to Christmas. For the first time in many years I will be home and able to take the time to do loads of lovely baking. But there is a challenge, as mentioned in one of my older posts, I have been following the Paleo life style. The results are great, I have more energy and managed to lose a few kilograms while eating great foods and what more, even lots of cookies, cakes and sweet things, the only difference is, I use coconut or almond flour and honey instead of normal sugar.

I think this is something that everyone should be able to do and so I am putting all of the recipes into a Christmas recipe book and hope to have it done sometime in November. I have asked many friends for their favourite recipes, and have received responses from as far afield as India, with some great recipes for Indian sweets. I  am working my way through them, one by one, and modifying them for the Paleo lifestyle.

I will keep you posted on my book progress, till then, I know it is a bit early, happy Christmass preparation.

Reminder of summer with silk and lively colour

Oct1

The lovely warm summer days are over for now and the upcoming rainy days will be a good time for some reflection on the season that has just past.

What is it that makes us love summer days so much? Is it the the warmth or the long daylight? Or perhaps it’s the association  we have with summer days and fun, adventures, discoveries, some relaxation and travel, vivid colours and delicious food?

To cheer me up on this otherwise dull rainy day in London and to prolong the hope of a few bright days, I made a silk blouse that I hope to wear a few time before the autumn’s reign gives way to winter.

I chose a lively green colour that reminds me of the English countryside in smooth silk that feels like touch of summer breeze on my skin.

I used one of my old patterns that I had created a long time ago, when my all time favorite blouse needed to be retired. I took the blouse apart, piece by piece, and use them as the pattern for new items of clothing.

You can do the same, but ensure that the fabric on your old and new item is similar enough, that way less adjustment will be needed.

Try a few projects like this and before you know it, the whole process will become easier and enjoyable.

I hope this will inspire you to be even more creative then you already are.

If you still need more inspiration, I’ve come across a new magazine, full of great ideas for the home, short stories and great photos.

It is called The Simple Things and the first issue is out now . This new magazine is full of ideas for home, short stories and great photos.  I am looking forward to their issue no 2.

Good luck creating!

Planning for the rainy days

Sep5

The weather today has been beautiful, lovely sunshine and warmth, exactly they way I like it.

August 2012 is now history, we have entered September and days have started getting shorter again. That on its own would be quite depressing, not to mention that, in London, it will get colder and wetter again.

I have been fighting off the winter laziness with different ideas over the years. One of my favorite one is entering for an interesting evening or online course.

In spring, I signed up for a 10 week painting class in Central London. Before joining, I Googled the teacher and the subject and decided, I was interested enough to dedicate 10 evenings to it.

And what a choice it was!

No matter how interesting the subject is, if I do not see the sparkle in the teacher when teaching, how do I awaken the sparkle in myself?

Fortunately, the teacher, young Portuguese Visual Artist and Art Tutor, Nelson Ferreira, has the ability to draw the sparkle from his students, and guide to produce paintings that are worth the effort. Nelson’s expertises are always spot on, his tips and tricks sometimes closer to geometry and mathematics then to painting.

It amazed me what sort of techniques, shading, fading, blending and Nelson’s favourite technique “scumbling” can be done in one painting to maximaze the effect and achieve the result desired. Nelson gave us good basic information to start off and then added to it every time we needed to move on.

Of course there were evenings where I was not sure about the result or how to carry on, but that was all part of the learning curve. The paintings I have finished in Nelson’s class were very different to what I expected (a portrait and a landscape of Indian Temple), they exceeded my expectations.

To add to this, the classes were small of about 10 students; that was great as we had Nelson’s attention and help when needed.

I am now looking forward to another class like this, it certainly brightens the ugly weather we might be having soon, lifts the mood and keep the soul happy. Evening classes during winter are great way to take the mind of the ugly weather, learn new skill or two and meat great people with similar interests. I recommend it.

If you’re interested you’ll find me at one of these this winter.

I have incluede few paintins for your inspiration: Hercules - by a friend of mine, Malta Harbour, Portrait, India Taj Mahal – by me

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evening in the museum

Aug28

It was day like any other, grey and with no prospect on the horizon of any improvement, we were not going to see the Sun for a while.

But it does not need to be always sunny and warm for a day to go well. And today was the perfect example of it.

A friend of mine, Alison, invited me to go with her to see an exhibition, Ballgowns, The British Glamor since 1950,  in the famous Victoria and Albert museum in London.

Victoria and Albert (V&A) museum is fantastic by itself, the buildings are magnificent, the decor great and the vast cafe has lots to chose from, different types of cakes, coffees but also beautiful live piano music in the background at certain hours.

We decide to go Friday evening, after work.

Fridays are good for this sort of things, museums stay open longer, the cafes are not that full and the place is not as overcrowded as it would normally be on any weekend.

This exhibition seemed to be an exception, with more people then I would have thought and they all had one thing in common, the majority were woman, from the youngest ones accompanied by their mothers or grandmothers, art students with their sketch books ready for action or girls like us, just admiring the beauty of the ballgowns.

In the ticket only section, were treasures for every eye, gowns from different periods, from 50ties all the way to 2000+, different colours, shapes, all made from beautiful fabric. Some displays had even a photographs of the person wearing the dress. That was a great idea as it put it nicely into reality; some of the dresses looked more like a fairytale gowns then a real piece of clothing. Short videos from the times of our grandmothers gave us a glimpse into the fashion world of the past. The models were all beautiful, with charming smiles!

As I was wondering among the dresses I had mixed emotions, on one hand, I envied the wearers, the sheer elegance of each dress, perfectly cut, one of a kind. On the other hand, I come to the realization that times during 50ties for example were very much different to today and sometimes, not only the dress but also the society seemed little too restrictive for my liking.

All emotions aside, most of the creations we saw at the Ballgown exhibitions were amazing. Of course there were some examples where we wondered why such creations were included as we did not see anything similar to rest of the dresses, but I guess, we are all unique and so our tastes are.
Leaving the part of the exhibition where ticket was needed, we could still browse through periodic dress styles…. I got completely lost in Jane Austen era and could vividly visualize Mr Darcey or Emma stepping out of the glass window.

The evening at the V&A exhibition was inspirational, my soul was happy, the mind was working overtime to absorb all the glamorous moments and new ideas were being born.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It did not matter if the weather was being ugly or not.

 

Something small ……

Aug24

For a change, the Sun was high in the sky and shining beautifully. I was sitting in the garden, reading my book. The afternoon was almost perfect, except for the creeping thought that I could do with something small to eat, something to nibble on, something to enjoy…….
There was nothing I could just grab so I had two options, either have a coffee and forget about something to nibble on or see what I could create.
I have decided to be creative and try to coat sweet ripe banana in dark chocolate and crushed nuts.

For my coated banana slices I used: 

1 larger banana

1/2 of bar of dark chocolate

or why not make your own one from good quality cocoa powder – I used Green&Black Cocoa, some butter, sugar, ground arrowroot powder)

crashed nuts, or coconut

I sliced banana. In a pan I melted salted butter, adding few spoons of cocoa powder, and a spoon of brown sugar with a little arrowroot powder. Keeping it on a very low heat. I then coated each slice of banana in hot melted chocolate before dipping them in nuts or coconut.
I left it to cool for about 20 minutes. You could try milk chocolate or even white chocolate, depending on your preferences.

It was more of an experiment and I personally enjoyed the result.

The combination of salted butter and sugar made the chocolate interesting, and as I did not use much of sugar, the chocolate was still a little bitter. The sweetness and softness of banana and crunchiness of nuts was good combination.

I took some with me to the garden and carried on reading my book. And guess what? It didn’t even rain.

Before it rains, get organic

Aug21

All around me I hear organic, healthy life style, natural….and sometimes organic and natural is closer then we think. A brilliant example would be the plum trees in our garden. Every year, those trees bear lots of plums, but we either left the plums for far too long and when we eventually thought of picking them up they had already been sampled by birds or wasps or they had dropped on the ground and were sampled by those who do not fly.

It was different this year.

A few weeks ago, with storm clouds gathering, we picked our plums.

Some were already purple, and others various shades of green. We left them for about a week on our window sill in baking trays and the sun finished the ripening process. And we didn’t even need to worry about anything getting to then before us.

Now, you might ask what our recipe was like. Well we carried out loads of research, finding recipes where different spices or alcohol were added to home made jams, on some occasions even chemicals. Some recipes looked interesting, some more like a manufactured process with uncertain results.

We decided not to complicate it, try the simplest way and see if we liked it or not and perhaps do more of it later on again, when there are more plums ready to be picked.
Once most of the plums had the lovely purple plum colour, and were soft, we unstoned them all and put them in a larger pot. We added coconut sugar to our plums, generous sprinkle on top of the already sweet plums and boiled it for about 30 or so minutes, and when we remembered, we would steer it. About 1/2 way through the process we would run all the jam through a colander (we didn’t have a strainer on hand), separating the skins from the centre of the plums, before simmering on a low heat for another 30 minutes.

While the jam was boiling, we sterilized a few bottles (washed and microwaved for a minute), and then, while the bottles were still warm, we filled them with hot jam and after leaving them to settle for 15 minutes we sealed them.

The Jam was left overnight to cool down.

It tastes lovely, it is little sour, but that is exactly the way we like it. I do not know how long it will last but we are most likely to eat it long before.. . We now have our own very organic, home made, natural jam.

PS: the skins did not go to waste either, they were lovely warm or cold with a bit of cream and made wonderful pudding when the weather was just ugly.

Before it rains

Aug8

Remember my post from a few weeks ago? Where I experimented with fabric paints. I mentioned that there must be multiple uses for them.

Today, I wanted to follow up on this, and as the weather forecast promised a nice day later on, I started early..

I’d seen a fabric bag with print on front and I liked it. I did not have just a plain bag to experiment with, so I decided I’d quickly make one and paint it once done.

You can either use any of the fabric bags that you might have gotten at some show or exhibition full of stuff you would never read or use, or make one yourself.

To make one, you will need:

Fabric of your choice, I use thick, white cotton.

Cutting the shape was easy, I used a magazine I had at home (as this was the size I was looking for), placed it on folded fabric and cut the shape out with extra 1cm on each side and about 10cm on top.

If your fabric folds, then you do not need to cut the bottom of the bag. I then cut out the shoulder straps, about 80cm long and 7cm wide, before sewing the sides of the bag. I turned the bag inside out and folded the top inside, and about 3cm twice and pinned it to keep it in place.  My next task was to sew the shoulder straps, I folded each of them in 1/2, and then about 1cm from each side inside, pinned and sewed from both sides. Next was the placement of the shoulder straps to the position from inside of the top fold of the bag (that is why I pinned it only). I made sure the straps reached all the way to the top of the fold. I then pinned them and sewed the top perimeter of the bag. This way, I secured the straps in place as well as finished off the perimeter of the bag. Lastly, I folded the shoulder straps from inside out of the bag and zigzagged them in “Z” shape from the outside of the top of the bag. To make it easier to paint on the bag, I ironed it.

Job done!

Now to the painting.

The fabric paints I use are Pebeo paints. These are the first I’ve tried, but they appear to be good quality and easy to use.
As before I used aluminum to line the inside of the bag to prevent it from paint soaking through and started to paint. It was good fun, I was being creative but kept the picture simple; there is so much you can do. Geometric shapes, nature, or just dip the paint brush in the paint and splash it on the bag. Whichever way you do it, the result will be a unique pattern.

As the weather was nice and sunny (for once), the paint dried fast and I was able to take my new bag with me when I went for a walk to close by forest.

My new bag is nice, practical and very light. Easy to pack for shopping or travel.

I’m off for a run now, so thank you for reading, and I hope you’re enjoying the suggestions.

Little present

Aug7

It is not raining (yet); it does not matter to me today. I am all set to make a home made present for a friend of mine who’s set up her own baking company. I have seen and tasted some of her work, and can recommend cupcakes & novelty birthday cakes.

So today I am making an apron, decorated with some cupcake prints.

I was lucky enough to buy a fabric with cupcakes prints a while back, and added to this I need thick cotton (I have used a cream color) and some ribbon to decorate the edges.
As for the shape of my apron, I decided on simple rectangle that would wrap around my (and my friend) waist, ending just above knees. In my case the measurements were: 43 x 80 cm.

      Make one yourself:
Started by cutting out the prints of the cupcakes (or whatever print you have on hand) leaving a few millimeters around each one. Positioned them where you wanted them on the white rectangle and pin them in place. Zigzag them with small stitches on your sewing machine.

The apron should start taking shape.

Using red ribbon (or blue if you’d prefer), fold it in half, length ways, and ironed it. Place it under and over the edge of the apron, on both sides and the bottom. Secured it with some hand stitches and then with sewing machine.
You’re now about 3/4 of the way there.
The final part is the waist.
Cut one long strip of white cotton, 60 cm long and 8cm thick (or you can cut 2 if you do not have enough fabric). Ironed the strip in half, length ways. Located the centre and secured it with pin in the middle of the waist of the apron from the reverse site and finished hand stitching the strip onto waist. Sew the strip on the apron’s waist (you can also iron the edges of the strip into the waist – about 1 cm from each site). Finish off the ends of the waist strip by bending them inside of the strip and then sew the whole length of the strip from the front. This is much easier if you have already ironed the edges of the waist strip inside as mentioned before.
Finally, I have added more of the red and also white ribbon to enhance the waist.

I only took me a couple of hours, but I am very happy with the result and hope my friend will get many years of use.