To Craft...

Okay so I started out this year with a project for a friend at work who was moving out of home for the first time & setting up her apartment.  I decided that I would make her some place-mats & coasters for her new dinning table, then also decided I'd make her a heat mat too.  I asked her what colours she wanted, which ended up being brown, red & black.

On my Christmas break in Noosa I had discussed this idea with my Mum, and she had a couple of patterns that I could choose from.  I decided on a large hexagon pattern, as I thought it was unusual and would suit Mariel.  So when I got back, off I went to the fabric shop looking for the colours and designs I had in mind.  It did take me a few goes to find the exact material to use. I also needed to decide what weight wadding I wanted to use, I chose a fairly light weight one, and it seemed to be the right decision when I started sewing.

So I was making 4 place-mats and 4 coasters out of hexagons.  I cut out all the material and the wadding for the 4 place-mats and 4 coasters. I ended up cutting out 32 6.5", 32 7" & 32 7.5" hexagons! I know it's not much in the scheme of things, but to a newbie quilter, it's a huge amount! I also decided that the centre hexi for the place-mat's would be boarded red instead of black to tie in with the red boarded coasters. I started out hand sewing the hexagons, and had almost completed one place-mat before I decided to see if I could do a good enough job using the sewing machine instead. Turns out I could! Which was a relief to me, 'cos I really wasn't enjoying the experience.

That was when I decided that I could also sew across the hexies to stabilise the 3 layers.  I decided to different things for the place-mats and coasters.  So the coasters ended up with black thread and point to point across the hexi, then red centre hexies also had red thread side to side too.The place-mat hexi's ended up with black thread and point to point only.

I also decided that I could do different things with sewing the boarders down.  So again used red & black thread and after the initial run of sewing the side down, stitched a second row on the red centre ones & on the coasters a third line of stitching.  Once I had done all that and then finished off all the ends I was ready to sew the place-mats together.  Which ended up being a lot easier than I thought.

Once all the hexagons had been sandwiched together and sewn down, I needed to design the heat mat. I had to figure out measurements, so had asked Mariel to measure her largest baking dish, so that I could make sure the heat mat would fit under it.  I started out with those exact measurements, but forgot to include the seam allowances and the fact that it would get smaller when it was filled with the rice & spices.  I used calico and stitched in channels to fill so it would displace the heat evenly.  I filled the channels with brown rice, whole cloves, allspice & cinnamon sticks. I then made the cover, which is removable for ease of cleaning to match the dining set.

Then Mum & I went to the Australasian Quilting Convention and found this fabulous pattern for a "Chookie Oven Mit" by Bella Embroidery Designs in Queensland.  We both saw it and said that would be a great addition to my present. So we bought it and I put one together.  It was hardest to sew on the binding for the round edge of the bottom.  It was the only thing I didn't initially sew myself. It's not perfect but it was my first attempt.

Anyway I am very pleased with the end results and Mariel was pleased too.

To Craft ...

... and these are the newest additions to my Craft Book Library!

To Cook ...

These are the newest editions to my Cook Book Library.

To Cook ... Again!

Okay so this one took me a couple of days. The only reason being is I don't have a food processor, so crumbing biscuits is done by hand, and well it took a while!

 These are delicious!!  The good thing about them is I can't eat more than two at a time, so they will last for a while!

I have to confess to not reading the recipe properly, I didn't chop the dates before heating them with the sugar & butter. So it took a little longer for them to break down enough, but they worked out anyway!

I thought about making them big, but in the end decided I'd roll them to the size of a large marble.

This is the link to the recipe for Aimees Marie Biscuit and Date Balls.

To Cook!

I made a new cake recipe yesterday.  It was a Ginger & Date Cake!

It is/was rather yummy too!

It combined dates with golden syrup, boiling water and bicarb soda, till they were soft enough to mash up.  Then the ginger was added with the self raising flour, to the creamed butter, egg and brown sugar mixture.

It baked for about 50 mins in my gas oven, because I wasn't convinced the middle was cooked enough at the 40 min mark.  I then took it out of the oven and let it cool completely.  Once I got it to work this morning I iced it with lemon flavoured butter icing.

This cake was easy to cook, and even easier to eat! The flavour of the ginger definitely compliments the dates.  I suppose if you wanted to eat it warm, a thin butterscotch sauce would work well, kind of like a sticky date, but not. :D

Recipe taken from recipes+ March 2011 Back Cover ...

Gingerbread & Date Cake

1 1/2 cups of dried pitted dates, chopped

1/4 cup golden syrup

3/4  cup boiling water

1 tsp bicarb soda

80g butter

2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 x 59g eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups self raising flour

1 Tbsp ground ginger

·         Preheat oven to 180˚C.

·         Grease & Line 20cm square deep cake pan.

·         Combine dates, syrup, boiling water & bicarb soda in a medium bowl.

·         Set aside for 10 minutes then mash dates until semi-smooth.

·         Beat butter & brown sugar with electric mixer until light & creamy.

·         Add eggs one at a time & beat until combined.

·         Fold in sifted flour, ginger & mashed date mixture.

·         Spread mixture into prepared pan.

·         Bake for 40-45 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.

·         Rest in pan for 10 mins before cooling on a wire rack.

·         Suggested toppings include lemon butter icing, a thin caramel sauce or ice cream.

Finger healing nicely

So my injured sewing finger has healed nicely, I can now re-commence hand sewing the Hexagons for Mariel's Table Setting. YAY!!

I can also attend the Stitch 'n' Bitch and actually sew this coming weekend!!

I also need to complete the handbag I started at Christmas for Kasey Ann too!

So lots of sewing in my future.

So continuity isn't my strong point.

Well it's been a while since I updated this blog.  That doesn't mean I haven't been crafting or cooking! I've cooked a number of new dishes, sweets etc.

So here is a list of the newest dishes I have cooked:

• Mini Confetti Muffins
• Potato, Bacon & Chicken Casserole
• 2 different versions of Banana Bread/Cake
• A Chicken Curry
• A Chocolate Ripple Cake
• A Citrus Mud Cake

I've also made the following:

This is a Knitting Bag, made with cotton seer sucker and other cotton fabrics in the shade of green. The handle is white cotton. The bag is quilted on both sides in a free geometric design of my making.

This is the matching Needle Bag, it is double padded at the bottom for the points of the needles. I also used bright green satin ribbon as the sashing and a finer white satin ribbon for the 'belt loops'. I also employed some basic straight line Sashiko on the trim.

This is a baby quit I made for Ethan.  It is all cotton fabrics and the wadding is polyester for ease of washing. The colours for this quilt were based o his Mum's 21st Birthday Quilt. The pattern is a commercial one,