Major Christmas Pressie Projects

Well I have another update for you ...

I've finished all the Big Chrissy Pressie Projects!  Yay for me!! ....and I am ahead of schedule too!!  Even better!!!

So what have I finished:

• The Japanese Lady Panel
• A set of Tableware
• Beaded Necklace
• 2nd set of Tableware

Am 3/4 finished the handbag, just need to sew together and place the lining inside and it's done.

Now all I need to do is put together the Mug Rugs, little pouches & finish off the Sashiko panel.

I feel a real sense of achievement at the moment.

I have had 2 casualties though ... I managed to break a Sewing Machine Quilting Needle, and my walking foot is taking a well earned rest after spraining it's arm.

So onwards I go....

Noosa River Queensland ... This is where I'm spending my Christmas Break!

Update

So I managed to finish the tableware and the wall hanging.

I've 3/4 finished the Sashiko Cushion, need to unpick the lining I have sewn in as I've had another idea.

Have started the other piece of tableware, and had planned on doing some more tonight, but had a nap when I got home, so didn't get to it.

Have now decided to make 2 mug rugs and some little purses.

Ongoing Projects

So I have a number of projects on the go at present...

• Japanese Lady Panel  that needs: Sashiko stitching, sandwiching, shadow quilting & binding.
• Tableware that needs: Ditch-stiching, quilting & binding.
• Handbag that needs: Cutting out & sewing.
• Mug Rugs that need: Everything!
• Tablecloth that needs: Cutting out, piecing, backing, ditch stitching & finishing.
• Cross Stitch that needs: Colour stitching.
• 40th B'Day Quilt that needs: Cutting out.
• Pink Lap Quilt that needs: Ditch stitching, quilting & binding.

So this weekend will be finishing some of these off.  I will be attempting to finish the Japanese Lady Wall Hanging, the Tableware and the Tablecloth.  If I can manage it I may even cut out the handbag!

Am not doing much else this weekend as there is track work on the train line, and I will not be attempting to travel on the replacement bus service! I might even have some pics to share during the week, although they will have to be sneak peaks as these are Christmas presents.

Hope you all have a fun weekend planned!

Sweet Peas.

To Cook! Cinnamony Sugary Goodness!

Well I finally made this bread that I read about a long time ago. I read this on Baking My Way Through Germany and loved the thought of it. I was a little scared of trying a bread, seeing as the last time I attempted it, it was a disaster. The deciding factor in making this recipe yesterday was the heat of the day, a need to knead some frustration out, and a large stone bench! Thanks to Karen from The House of Wilson for lending me her bench, oven and the heat in her laundry! Oh and the help with eating it too!

I found this recipe fairly easy to follow, I just couldn't take the waiting! So I've included the recipe below, and some pictures of my results. Yes, the colouring on the top is seriously brown, almost burnt, but it made for a crispy cinnamony sugary goodness! :D

I think you should give this recipe a go, and enjoy the delicious results!



Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

For the Dough:
2¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour(Plain), divided
¼ cup caster sugar
2¼ teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup milk
¼ cup water
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Filling:
1 cup caster sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ cup unsalted butter, melted until browned

1. In a large mixing bowl whisk together 2 cups flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. Set aside.
2. Whisk together eggs and set aside.
3. In a small saucepan, melt together milk and butter until butter has just melted. Remove from the heat and add water and vanilla extract. Let mixture stand for a minute or two, or until the mixture registers 115 to 125 degrees F.
4. Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula. Add the eggs and stir the mixture until the eggs are incorporated into the batter. The eggs will feel soupy and it’ll seem like the dough and the eggs are never going to come together. Keep stirring. Add the remaining ¾ cup of flour and stir with the spatula for about 2 minutes. The mixture will be sticky. That’s just right.
5. Place the dough is a large, greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel. Place in a warm space and allow to rest until doubled in size, about 1 hour. *The dough can be risen until doubled in size, then refrigerated overnight for use in the morning. If you’re using this method, just let the dough rest on the counter for 30 minutes before following the roll-out directions below.
6. While the dough rises, whisk together the sugar and cinnamon for the filling. Set aside. Melt 2 ounces of butter in a saucepan until browned. Set aside. Grease and flour a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. Set that aside too.
7. Deflate the risen dough and knead the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour into the dough. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for 5 minutes. On a lightly floured work surface, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out. The dough should be 12-inches tall and about 20-inches long. Use a pastry brush to spread melted butter across all of the dough. Sprinkle with all of the sugar and cinnamon mixture.
8. Slice the dough vertically, into six equal-sized strips. Stack the strips on top of one another and slice the stack into six equal slices once again. You’ll have six stacks of six squares. Layer the dough squares in the loaf pan like a flip-book. Place a kitchen towel over the loaf pan and allow in a warm place for 30 to 45 minutes or until almost doubled in size.
9. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place loaf in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is very golden brown. The top may be lightly browned, but the center may still be raw. A nice, dark, golden brown will ensure that the center is cooked as well.
10. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 20 to 30 minutes. Run a butter knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the bread and invert onto a clean board. Place a cake stand or cake plate on top of the upside down loaf, and carefully invert so it’s right side up. Serve warm with coffee or tea.
11. The bread is best served the day it’s made, but it can also we wrapped and kept at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Yield: One 9×5-inch loaf
Prep Time: 3 hours | Bake Time: 30 to 35 minutes

Taken from : http://www.browneyedbaker.com/ and is a recipe adapted from :
http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/ who adapted it from: http://www.hungrygirlporvida.com/

Try As I Might...

I keep looking at all these blog posts by all these wonderful women, and get frustrated with myself.

Why? I hear you ask? Because I want to do so many things at once, and just don't have the time or the funds to do so.  I have to keep reminding myself that most of these ladies are either retired or stay at home Mum's, so in essence have slightly more time than I do to complete all their sewing/quilting projects. Also they are generally faster/have been doing these things a long time, and I am just learning to do them.  I suppose if they were to see how quickly I design jewellery pieces or work bead patterns, the tables would be turned.

Don't get me wrong I love learning new things and creating pieces made with love to give away.  Just sometimes, like today, the frustration gets the better of me and makes me sad and overwhelmed with all the ideas I have.

I currently have 3 projects on the go, and a list for about 6 more new projects to start ... all before Christmas!  This is not including the 4 Sashiko panels I have already completed that need turning into cushions/wall hangings!

So frustrated I will stay! :P

To Craft!

So it's my Mum's Birthday this week. YAY!!

In April when I went to the AQC with her I bought a panel that was a cute applique of Poppies on a bag.  The kit only contained the materials for the panel, but came with the pattern for the bag too.  I had every intention of making the bag in time for Mum's Birthday, but as usual I had completely forgotten about it until it was too late to purchase the materials I wanted to use.  So I ended up making the panel up and deciding to make it into a cushion cover instead.

So this is the panel all put together. I used DMC embroidery cotton for the detail on the poppies and the blanket stitching around the shapes.  The stems on the poppies were sewn using a green variegated thread and the smallest stitch on my sewing machine.

On the weekend just gone I tea dyed 5 metres of calico. So I decided to use the dyed calico to make up the front and back of the cushion.  I had also decided to pad the front panel with some iron pelon, so lined the inside with regular coloured calico. I only ditch stitched around the black part of the internal panel then again around the red edge next to the calico.  I also had a strip of red left over from the inner panel, so I decided to try and use it for piping along the outside of the cushion.  Which worked I might add! Although it's not perfect I'm so proud of myself!! :D  The back of the cushion is also the tea dyed calico & lined with regular calico, it also has a fold over opening so you can slip in a cushion insert .

This Birthday present is now winging it's way to my sister's house in Brisbane for my Mum to open on her Birthday!

To Eat!

A couple of weeks ago (as I forgot to post this at the time!) a friend from Sydney and I went to Maha for dinner.  The style & cuisine of this restaurant is Mediterranean/Middle Eastern.

Now I had been there before, as I had booked there for our office Christmas Lunch 2010, and had been impressed with it then.  So we both chose the 5 course Soufra with wines to match.  As Anthony is vegetarian, I chose to have the vege option as well.  Upon reflection I don't think I would have eaten as well with the meat dishes!

It was superb!  We started with a pumpkin soup, but not just any old pumpkin soup!  In the bottom of the rather large bowl/dish, were roasted pine nuts and something green (which I can't remember what it was), and a small swirl of feta cheese.  There was also a small roll made with cinnamon filled with feta cheese on the side.  The soup was them poured over the nuts & greenery.  It was absolutely delish!!

The second course was an antipasto style, there were bowls of olives marinated in chilli and a Maltese cheese (Name of which I didn't catch), a bowl of white cannelli beans with olive oil & garlic, a bowl with thinly sliced zucchini, olive oil & spices and a beetroot & sour cream dip, all served with individual Turkish bread rolls.

While we were still eating that, out came course No.3.  This was a spring roll filled with roasted red onion and garlic, and a tahini sauce (I think!), a bowl of lentil in olive oil with caramelised onion and feta crumbled over the top.  They were beyond words yummy! 

By this point we were onto the double glasses of wine with the food. I cannot even remember what I was drinking! I know they were white wines and were very good.  The main course was accompanied by 2 reds, one of which happened to be a Shiraz. I cannot drink Shiraz or any blends with that grape variety, as it just doesn't like me. So not wishing to ruin my meal, I asked them to take it away.  The somelier then gave me some VERY nice Pinot Noir which also suited what we were about to eat.

So main course was pumpkin & feta (me thinks) ravioli, with a nutty foam of some sort.  I tell you it was a different taste sensation! Some fatoush, and a rice dish with apricots, pine nuts and something else.  The final dish of the mains was turnip & mushrooms, cooked I think on the grill with some sea salt and olive oil.  I'm not really sure what else was with it, because at this point I'm enjoying the food too much to pay attention to what our attendant is telling us about it!

After all that, we still had the dessert/sweets to come.  We opted to wait for about 30 mins before even contemplating eating again!  So we sat and chatted and finished our wine. 

I tell you it was worth the wait!  Out came a board with 3 small dishes/glasses.  The first was a cone of very fine pastry, made by piping and swirling it around to create the cone shape.  It was filled with a white chocolate mousse, that I think m ay have had some sort of nut in it.  Drizzled over this was an orange syrup. OMG YUM!!!  It was but a mere mouthful, but it was heaven.  The second was a shot glass, and according the the attendant was their version of a 'Golden Gaytime' ice cream.  The inside of the glass was smeared with salted chocolate and nuts and roasted cous cous, yes you did read that right.  At the bottom of the glass was a layer of salted caramel, on top of that was a dark chocolate mousse, and on top of that was a foam of some sort.  It was toe curlingly yummy.  The last was the signature sweet for Maha, Greek style donuts filled with Turkish Delight, and drizzled with Turkish Delight syrup.  We also had 2 dessert wines to go with them, but I only managed to finish one of them, the other wine was way too sweet for me.

After all that we waddled home!  It was a great dinner!  I cannot recommend Maha enough, so if you come down to visit Melbourne, see if you can go for lunch or dinner!

To Craft at the last minute!

So it's Godboffin's Birthday on Monday next week.  Time got completely away from me and I failed to make the fun bag I was going to do. So was in a panic at the beginning of this week, as I had no idea what to get her!  I remember Karen showing me a few "Mug Rug's" she had made.  So I went searching the internet for inspiration.  I found it here.

I found some scrap pieces that were already sewn together and cut them up, and put them together as shown below.  Now my 1st Mug Rug is a little longer than was advised in the instructions, but I think it adds character! :D 

It took me just over 4 hours due to the ironing and cutting then sewing the decorative quilting and the binding.  The instructions said the sew the binding on by machine, and I would have happily done that, had I not decided to try something different.  And by different I mean sewing on all 4 side as separate pieces.  Note to self - DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!!!

 I did however, have fun putting it together and may make some more later on.

To Cook ...

Last night I made 3 dishes!

I first prepped the ingredients for a Slow Cooker Casserole. Sliced some spuds, some bacon and some pumpkin. Then browned the bacon with chicken thigh pieces which had not really thawed very well. So I browned them very slowly. Piled it all into the slow cooker, and set it to high for 4 hours.

In the mean time I mixed 500g of ricotta cheese with 4 eggs and a handful of shredded tasty cheese, salt & pepper. I put this back in the fridge while the frozen puff pastry thawed. I took out 2 sheets thinking my pie dish needed the 2, only to find it did not, once I had lined it with one.  I had had the oven pre-heating, so once the pie plate had been lined with the pastry and filled with the cheese mixture, into the oven it went.  Now I've cooked this dish before, all with varying degree's of success, as it was a verbal recipe given to me by my Nana over 20 years ago. I have finally sussed out the correct timing for a perfectly cooked cheese pie! I was sooo happy!

While the cheese pie was cooking for the initial 25 minutes, I cut the 2nd piece of puff pastry into for and got out my silicone muffin tin and lined 4 of the holes with the pastry.  I also had some bacon left over and so used my scissors to cut up 2 of the 4 remaining pieces.  I placed the bacon in the bottom of the 4 pastry holes, then cracked and egg directly into each one.  Topped it off with some shredded cheese and placed it into the oven with the cheese pie .

So I baked the cheese pie for a total of 45 mins, 10 of which it shared the oven with the egg & bacon pastry muffins.  I then cooked the pastry muffins for another 15-20 minutes to make sure the egg & the pastry were cooked through.  Surprisingly the egg wasn't over cooked and didn't develop that green line around the yolk.  I know this cos I had to test one. ;D I also had a slice of the cheese pie with some fresh tomato & lettuce for dinner.

So now I have chicken casserole for dinner for the next couple of nights with added vege's, and cheese pie for lunch, and pastry muffins for breakky!

Now to face all the washing up!!!!  NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! LOL!

To Bead ...

I suddenly got inspired to create a necklace for a Birthday pressie.

I used black and white glass beads, along with plastic metal look bead, AB round beads & small black round beads.  Tiger tail, antiqued silver crimps & a toggle clasp.

To construct the necklace I used a random pattern to place the beads along the piece of tiger tail.

To Cook ...

So I decided to try using one of the flan pan's I bought before Christmas last night in making something for the office.

I had bought a home-brand chocolate cake mix, some butter puff pastry & a tin of pear halves.  It was a very basic thing to put together.

I first semi defrosted 2 sheets of puff pastry and molded then to the pan shape. I then blind baked the pastry with rice as weights.  I found that this doesn't always cook the bottom, so after it had been blind baked I then removed the rice weight and placed it back in the oven.  This of course made the pastry puff up from the base, but this was okay. Why? I hear you ask? Well I then used the damp tea towel to gently press the base flat, like you would if you were making the pastry layer for a Vanilla Slice.

I had already drained and sliced up 4 pear halves. All that was needed was the cake mix to be done.  With that done I proceeded to layer up my flan/tart. Firstly I spread a thin layer of cake batter over the base of the pastry. Then I placed the sliced pear all along the pan, and top filled with some more cake batter.  Baked it for about 25 mins, and this is how it looked. It was very light, not too sweet and yummy!!

To Craft!

Okay so this post is going to combine 3 things I've crafted. One very recent, one not so recent, and the other quite a while ago.

So I should start with the item I crafted quite a while ago.  This was a free form pouch that I Sashiko stitched after I finished the bag.  I needed something to keep my usb cord & memory cards in for my camera, as they were starting to scratch the screen.  I already have a camera case but this was to go inside it, as my camera is small and the case was just that little, okay make that a lot too big.

The next item is something I made for my niece's 3rd Birthday.  She has been wanting to help out in the kitchen for a while now, so I though it only fair that she have her very own apron. I used a heavier calico, pale pink tape and some ribbon Mum & I found at the Australasian Quilting Convention in April this year.  The pattern comes from ... (To be advised).  It was very easy to sew, the tricky part for me was attaching the ribbon.  I had to make sure it was straight and didn't move while I was sewing the side seams together.  So I used a number of pins, and did prick myself a number of times while turning it out! The same thing applied to the tape for the straps and the 'D' rings at the side.  I also stitched the ribbon down along the long side, once I had turned the apron out the right way, to make sure it stayed straight! This was the first time I had sewed an apron pattern too.

I also hand stitched my niece's name on the pocket in pink variegated DMC cotton. You can't see it on the photo, because I took the photo before I did it.

An the final item is another Chook! It will have a twin, I just haven't finished it yet.  I made this for a friend at work for her Birthday, as she requested them!

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,