My Work In Progress Wednesday report this week is stitch free. Instead, before actually progressing on the UFO, 'Kafferepet', I pulled out of the cupboard last week, I will give you some background to this quilt.
What is a 'Kafferep'? Well, it is a traditional Swedish 'tea party', with the exception that coffee is served instead of tea (Swedes run on coffee). You have probably already figured out that 'kaffe' is the Swedish word for coffee!
For the Partnership Quilt project at Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival 2008 the theme was TEA TIME and each block should have something to do with 'having a cuppa'. There were blocks with tea cups, latte mugs, cakes, kettles, instant coffee jars, tea bags...
My contribution was a block with a Swedish platter of home made biscuits and a bun. (excuse the poor quality of the mobile phone photograph)
I enjoyed making this block so much that I thought I'd make a full quilt, called Kafferepet' and featuring all the things that make up a real gossipy gathering around the coffee table.
This UFO was started in the summer of 2007, so it is high time it got finished.
Today let me talk about the biscuits:
They are 'Vaniljhjärta' a soft biscuit, shaped like a heart and filled with custard, 'Uppåkra' where a bit of the top is folded over, 'Syltkaka' with a dot of raspberry jam in the centre, a 'Strassburgare' is a biscuit that has been piped and dipped in chocolate after baking, 'Gaffelkaka' has the imprint of a fork, 'Schackruta' has got its name from a chessboard and in the middle is 'Chokladsnitt', a chocolate flavoured thing sprinkled with coarse sugar and cut into diamond shapes (a TAST #60 biscuit!!!)
The 'chessboard' is pieced, the others are appliquéd, the forky one has pleats and the Strassburgare is ruched. There are a few scraps of fabric to make crumbs and French knots for the sugar and almond. One great advantage with these tea time treats is that they are totally non calorific and the only allergic reaction is a possible craving for appliquéing more of them!
Tuck in!
22 comments:
Yum! So charming!
Queenie my mouth was watering as I looked at your biscuits, interesting reading about tea and coffee in Sweden
Sounds fascinating, I look forward to seeing more on this. You've got a lot done already.=)
So, Kafferep is the Swedish for Kaffee und Kuchen in German. I understand.=)
Good thing this piece is not hanging near my computer, it is just too tempting. (Of course one needs to take a bite of each just to test it...and then eat the rest so it won't go to waste).
these look delicious, especially the strasbourg biscuit. love the fabric for the heart
Yummy!!!!! Very creative! Thank you for giving the names and details of the biscuits. Looking forward more of these kinds Queenie.
The biscuits look tasty - I could eat them but I don't think I could pronounce their names.
Ha, ha! Well, at a 'Kafferep' you simply stretch out your hand and load the plate, so there is no need to know the names.
All over the world there is some kind of 'tea time' with things that are eaten between, or instead of, meals. What would there be at your 'tea party'?
Thank you. The vanilla heat biscuit has a dusting of powder sugar but I could not find a suitable fabric so I chose the golden swirls instead. The Strassburgare (notice the Swedish spelling!!) IS delicious!
Yes, Julie that is the problem with REAL edible sweets and cookies, it is too easy to overeat for the sake of not wasting them. Cotton cookies, however, will never go to waste, nor will they go to your waist, either!
The quilt has several blocks with various items from the Kafferep tradition, and I will feature a block at a time.
I am not sure what the German 'Kaffee und Kuchen' actually means, is it just the 'tea break', 'afternoon snack' or is it a planned tea PARTY (obviously with coffee)?
'Rep' in the Swedish expression Kafferep could refer to two words:
repa = to tear, it is possible that old fabric was brought and torn into strips for rugmaking during these parties or
repartisera = share, which would suggest that every guest brought something (a cake, buns, rusks or biscuits)
the origin is unknown, I'm afraid, but my guess is the latter explanation
Sweden supposedly has the world's second largest consumption of coffee, Finland being the world leader. Cold countries = cravings for hot drinks?
Thank you. This quilt is a 'Lesson in Swedish Coffee Culture'!
I would right away bite into them - they are lovely and it is so similar to German "Kaffeeklatsch" which melans that ladies come together to relate all news about neighbours and other "important" things and of course cakes are important, too.
Your cookies looks delicious, love the ruched one!
Your quilt looks lovely and the biscuits good enough to eat!
Very clever translation into fabric!
My coffee break would be a large frothy, milky coffee with a fancy iced slice, filled with creamy confectioners custard!
Now,..........
How to make it calorie-free???
Spot on! This is Swedish Kaffeeklatsch. Another important part of the gathering was exchanging recipes, and maybe 'checking' each others' skill at baking.
The 'real' ruched cookie IS delicious!
Thank you. More edibles will appear in future blog post.
That's a good question, Barbara! How about this: skimmed milk for the coffee drink, a thin layer of icing and skip the custard? No, that wouldn't be any fun. The best way is maybe to make this a once-a-week-only coffee break and then have herb tea and rusks for the rest of the time!
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