Scenes From my Week

• Making cards to send to special friends
• Reading a beautiful book on the life and garden of Vita Sackville West - which I inadvertently returned to the library before I finished it.  Needless to say, it has been re-requested.
• Opening happy mail - a beautiful swap package from Kathleen and some  envelopes from Mia for my SWAK Quilt.
• Playing with all my envelopes, I am only waiting on five more, but will need to make another three to even it up. 

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend.

Weekending

 

Beautiful hot fine weather all weekend, and I spent a lot of it inside, in my sewing room.

• I have finished all the blocks of my Jacob's Ladder quilt so had a little play around with some layout ideas.  The top design is the same as the quilt that inspired me, however I am quite liking the second option.  No doubt there will be more layouts trialled yet. There are still borders to go on, including a scrappy square one - lots more 2.5" squares to cut.

• Some fabric stamps were made to go with the envelopes for the SWAK swap.

• A birthday card for Mr J.

Both Miss B and Mr J went happily off to school today, I now have two weeks to catch up on some long neglected housework, gardening and a couple of sewing projects before I start my training for my library job.

What did you do this weekend?

Weekending

Fine weather and the whole family at home for the official start of New Zealand's summer.

• Pottering around in the vegetable garden, I picked my first handful of green beans - my favourite variety,  that I grow each year is Shiny Fardenlosa
• Warmer evenings are leading to more lighter salad type meals -couscous with broad beans and my freshly picked beans, carrot salad, tomatoes and pita breads
• Baking sweet treats for school lunchboxes - a new caramel slice recipe with chopped hazelnuts.
• Christmas card making (lots of pinspired ideas here)
• A sewing finish of sorts - 80 four patch blocks have been sewn up for this quilt in progress

What did you do this weekend?
Have you started to decorate forChristmas yet?

Happenings

 

Scenes from my week:

• spinach and feta open pie - made with the last of my perpetual spinach from the vegetable garden
• the twenty scout badges I am embroidering the year on, for those scouts who completed the winter camp a couple of weeks ago
• the sewing which won't be getting done for a while - as my machine has broken again.
• some little fabric stamps I made and turned into Christmas tags
• a beautiful new book to drool over, I wish I had a garden full of flowers to pick and put in my house.

What have you been cooking, creating or reading this week?
Can you recommend a sewing machine brand/model that isn't too pricey - that will do the basics, has a walking foot and be able to handle some quilting and sewing through thick layers?

Today ...

I have:

• Been caught in the rain once on my morning walk (it has since turned into the most beautiful mild spring day).
• made my favourite bread again , I added half a cup of linseeds to it cos I didn't have enough sunflower seeds. 
• made a birthday card for my sister-in-law, which will be posted off today.
• started reading Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris.
• enjoyed seeing the sheets flapping in the wind and sun.
• been eating roast beef and bread and butter pickle on my freshly baked bread.
• found signs of spring in my garden - the brightly coloured Bilbergia flowers and the tiny delicate mauve flowers of the Cercis (or Forest Pansy) tree.

What have you been making, baking, creating today?
What signs of spring or autumn have you found in your gardens?

Weekending

 

 

 

 

 

Winter is now officially over and we have had the most beautifully fine weekend to celebrate the arrival of spring.

• Brioche again for Saturday's breakfast - my favourite dough recipe and a new filling - spicy apple.  Not a great hit with the family - I probably should have added more brown sugar and cinnamon.  The general consesus was that they were rather bland.
• Home-made muesli for breakfast this week- a change from porridge and weetbix.  Full of oats, wheatgerm, bran, coconut, sunflower seeds and dried fruit.
• Poppyseed bread from this recipe - more of a loaf or cake than actual bread.  Still tastes good though.
• A birthday card for my nephew who is turning 3 next week, and has just come down with chicken pox.
• More mini pinwheels for some sewing projects - I think I have at least another 15-20 to make.

What did you make or bake this weekend.?

Weekending

Lots of baking and eating this weekend, jersey caramel biscuits for school lunches, very rich chocolate mousse made by The Scout and warm cinnamon scroll brioche for Sunday morning breakfast.

A litlle cardmaking for Father's Day and another fabric bowl for my sewing desk - this one has machine topstitching instead of hand stitching.

Flowers on my broad bean plants - they are absolutely laden with them, and lightly scented too. I have even seen a few tiny little pods.  I think that next year I will grow them in a different place, and with more support, mine are starting to collapse - they are so tall.  Does anyone have successful tips for growing them?

My mini Agapanthus are starting to explode open - I love the delicate colour of these ones.  They are flowering very early this year - fingers crossed I still get a summer flowering from them.

What did you do this weekend?

Baking and Card Making

A bowl of peeled and sliced tamarillos, lemon zest and juice for this cake.  Delicious warm from the oven for afternoon tea  yesterday.

The Scout celebrates a birthday today - this is the card I made him.  A special birthday dinner for him is planned, with his favourite foods - crumbed schnitzel, creamy potato gratin and sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce for dessert.

Miss B is tucked up at home today with a cough - hopefully a couple of days in the warm will help.

Plans for the weekend include a little sewing and hand quilting, maybe a long walk and scooter ride with Mr J and Miss B, cos the weather is meant to be nice and fine. A lie in on Sunday if I am lucky, with a good book.

Enjoy whatever you have planned for the weekend.

Today

I am:

reading  and enjoying this book.  You can almost hear Julia Child talking as you read her letters.

thankful I finished  knitting my fingerless gloves before it got too cold - they are ideal to wear when on the computer - I can still type and keep my hands warm.

playing with my newly purchased  zips - watch this space - zippy pouch images to come in the next few weeks.

making birthday cards - one done for my niece, one to go for my brother-in-law, a sister-in-law and The Scout.

very pleased to see that there are buds on my lemon tree - hopefully that will mean lots of lemons for lemon curd, lemon cake and of course my summer G & Ts.

also very pleased that it is not as cold and the rain has stopped.  Now if only the sun would come out and dry the sheets on the clothesline.

What are you reading, making, doing today.