Did you know that otters go to sleep holding hands so that they don't drift apart in the water?

While I realise that the otterly fabulous hand-holding is an essential survival tactic to ensure survival of the species, this speaks to my inner twee romantic, resplendent in pun-loving ridiculousness. Thank goodness we embrace a healthy level of the ridiculousness in this house.

Because, really, dear husband, you are my significant otter. I want to hold your hand every night when I go to sleep.

Have you stopped laughing yet?


You see? I'm not making it up. That's totally photographic evidence. Image Source Here

I stitched this up, partially for Valentine's Day, partially because I absolutely needed it on my wall to look at each and every day, to remind me how wonderful the world is.

I've drawn up the embroidery pattern so you can stitch it too, and join me in my giggling fit of sillyness in time for Valentine's Day (or any other occasion, really). All you need is a 6" embroidery hoop (if you want to frame it in the hoop), the pattern, embroidery thread and needle, and a good sense of humour.

It doesn't take long - an evening or two of stitching in front of the TV with a cup of tea is all you need. Or less, if you scale the design down and do a smaller embroidery.


Here's how I did mine:

I traced the design on to a piece of linen, and mounted it in a 6" embroidery hoop for stitching. I used a plastic wood-effect embroidery hoop because I like the way it looks (it will stay in its frame to be mounted on the wall), and because it has excellent tension for neat embroidery stitches.

Here are the colours I used for the design:

• Madeira 2214: Brown, used for the outline on both of the otters
• Madeira 1904: Dark Brown, used for the otters' faces and ears
• Madeira 2204: Light Brown, used for the paw details and chins
• Madeira Metallic 3: Gold, used for double stitched detail on the otters around the back, tail and head
• Maderia 2401: White, used for the whiskers, and the outline of the heart
• Madeira Silk 1112: Seafoam Green, used for the bottom line on the waves
• DMC 130: Blue, used for the top line on the waves
• DMC 817: Red, used for the inside line of the heart
• DMC 11: Coral, used for the text

Click here for a link to a thread conversion chart if you want to try and match colours in other brands.


More about stitches:

You can use any colours you want, and any stitches too! I did the almost the entire design in a simple backstitch, with double lines on the waves and the paws and gold outline added as a separate line too.

I stitched around the otter outline entirely in chocolate brown, and then added in extra details (paws in a light caramel brown, and texture on the tail, back and head in gold) afterwards as separate second line. The chin is a single line of caramel brown backstitch. I stitched the heart in bold red, and then outlined it in white.


I used three stands of embroidery thread everywhere except for where I've used gold (the metallic thread is thinner, and more difficult to strand so I used the full thread) and seafoam green (the silk thread is only 4 strands thick, so I used the full thread here too).

The main colour of the waves is the blue DMC 130, with a slightly shorter line of Maderia Silk 1112 filled in underneath each wave.

I also used french knots to dot each i in "significant."

If you're new to embroidery, click here for some lovely illustrations on a handful of basic stitch directions.

Ready to get stitching? Click here to download the pattern.

I'd love to see what you make with this pattern; leave a comment or get in touch!

Happy Stitching x

I'm not a heart-skippy, giddy-about-Valentine's-Day kinda gal. But I do like a good biscuit, and what better excuse to use my increasing collection of cookie cutters than Valentine's Day?

















So I made these. They're pretty-in-pink Linzer Heart Sandwich Cookies made using my scalloped circle and miniature heart cookie cutters. I was feeling rather out of inspiration, so I had a look through pinterest for some ideas and happened upon this recipe from Martha Stewart's website for Pecan Linzer Cookies. I changed the shape, as you can see, and I opted for home-made plum jam instead of cherry jam. I also sandwiched half of the cookies with jam, and the other half sandwiched with Nutella chocolate spread.

















They took a really long time to make. I'm a 'fair weather baker' (as Mister Bakercourt always says about football) and I really don't like to fuss over recipes when a simpler one will do. I've made some demanding things in the past (like the prinzregententorte!) and these linzer cookies were on par. You have to make the dough and then refrigerate for 2 hours. Then, you roll it out and refrigerate again for another 20 minutes.















Then you cut out, and bake. I made smaller biscuits than suggested in the recipe (they're just smaller than two inches wide) so it made about thirty biscuits (doubled, like you see above) and about thirty other shapes which I made when I got tired of cutting out scalloped/fluted circles. In between baking, I stored the cut shapes in the fridge. All in all, it took around fifty minutes more to bake the smaller biscuits on one tray at a time in the oven.

After they've cooled down, you need to reduce the jam for the sandwiching and that takes another ten to fifteen minutes in total before you can spread it, so I opted for some other fillings for the extra biscuits to pass the time. For interest's sake, these biscuits are really nice when dipped in melted chocolate!















These are really nutty biscuits (they have almost a cup of pecan nuts in them) and aren't very sweet, so it's important to use a nice filling that adds the right amount of sweetness for the biscuit. I added in a bit of extra sugar when blending with the butter, I doubled the cinnamon like I usually do, and they turned out really nicely. They're ideal for those who don't like double-chocolate-sugar-dipped cookies, but who still like a bit of nutty indulgence with a cuppa.

Here's the recipe again: Martha Stewart's Pecan Linzer Cookies with Cherry Jam