Addison Embroidery
at the
Vicarage

The church biscuit: 24. Mary Berry’s ‘very best shortbread’. (From ‘Mary Berry’s Ultimate Cake Book’: BBC Books, 1994)

When you’re running short of time and need a reliable recipe that will work perfectly, Mary Berry is a good bet and if she calls something ‘The Very Best” then she’s fully engaged my attention. This was quick to make and was much appreciated by both our congregations. I doubled the ingredients but think I might quadruple them next time in order to make the biscuits thicker and then I can cut them thinner. See the recipe here. I used ground rice this time but will try semolina next time. Mine are a little overdone as I set my fan oven on the temperature for a non fan oven and had a mad dash to reduce the thermostat half way through – after which the shortbread  finished cooking covered over with foil. Although I marked out the slices before cooking these  lines had disappeared when the baking tray came out of the oven. It was, however, easy to impress firm lines on the shortcake after it had cooled for a couple of minutes  and then when fully cooled, it broke beautifully. Thank you Mary for trouble free baking. 

Wedding monogram L & P (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)

This time, I thought I’d try a wedding monogram with red lettering on white linen and I do rather like the result. It was certainly much easier on the eyes and, as the nights are drawing us ever closer to the puddles of light cast by favourite lamps and a not really necessary but very comforting log fire, I am grateful to be away from sewing white on white – if only just for a while.

Wedding monogram L & P: detail (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)

I based the design of these letters on some monograms seen on old linen and found it fun to do something a bit more curly than usual.

Wedding monogram L& P: detail (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)

I was fortunate to find this white box frame from Debenhams. I think the white frame allows the red lettering to speak for itself – the fact there was a 20% reduction on the frame was a real bonus as I know of nowhere else that sells box frames, so cheaply –  whether oak or painted white or black. Must buy more.

L & P wedding monogram (hand embroidered by Mary Addison) in white box frame