Gone to the Birds

Over the past couple of years, my sister Janine and I have done quarterly swaps - usually comprised of quilting fabrics, pieces of felt and beautiful embroidery threads.  Towards the end of last year, we were talking and decided we must do something with these lovely things.  We decided that an applique project would be a good start.  Janine has picked the first project which ideally we should complete by the end of June, because I then get to pick the project for the second half of the year.

Janine has picked for us a Sue Spargo pattern called Bird Dance.  It features applique, lots of embroidery with stitches I have never tried before or seen before, ie: bullion knot (that's the gold loopy one around the bird's chest)  or really need to master - french knots.  Luckily Janine had given me a stitching book by Sue Spargo a couple of years ago.  Another good You Tube tutorial I have found demonstrating stitches is by Mary Corbet and is found here.

I have started with block number 26 and am making these birds in a colour palette of my own choosing, rather than the ones suggested in the book. Each block is 6.5" unfinished.  Whether I get all 30 completed is another story.

2017 - Happy New Year

Merry Christmas

My Christmas lily has 12 blooms this year, and the most delightful scent, I wish you could all enjoy it in person.

It's time for my annual break from my blog over Christmas and New Year.  Thank you to all my readers and online friends - both new and old, to everyone who leaves comments, book recommendations and advice.  It has been so nice to be able to meet some of you in real life this year too.

I wish you all a safe and happy Christmas and New Year.

See you back in 2017.

2016: A Creative Review

It is always nice to look back and see what one has achieved in a year. I may not have been as productive this year as in others, but am still very pleased with what I have created.  Here is a review of my finished makes for 2016:

• Jeweled kaleidoscope mini quilt -pattern from here
• my first foray back into making clothing saw me make the A-line Barcelona skirt
• an EPP Liberty Sew together Bag
• A Nani Iro infinity scarf
• the quilt top for mum's reversible quilt - Morocco pattern from here
• the Rocky Shore to Sky quilt for my brother
• an EPP AMH pillow
• my second attempt at an item of clothing, the Sorbetto top
• a feather pillow for Miss B
• I finished the EPP cartwheel pillow started last year
• My big finish was my Scrappy Sampler Quilt
• my big bold beautiful Liberty Bloomsbury - has been bound, and partially quilted, so I am saying effectively a finish.

So what am I working on next year

• still more blocks for my seaglass sampler quilt
• finishing the hand quilting on my Liberty Bloomsbury quilt
• maybe another EPP project
• another hand sewn felt ornament in the 12 Days of Christmas swap with my sister
• a new applique project with my sister - this will involve felt, embroidery, fabric and no doubt a little muttering as I unpick things.
• hopefully a couple of new additions to my wardrobe.
• piecing my city sampler blocks into a quilt top 

Linking up to My Makes of 2016 at Say Little Hen

Cook the Books - December

This is going to be posted before the end of December, so I can have a relaxing Christmas Break and be all refreshed and inspired for the New Year.

Week One:
December means Christmas baking.  Chelsea's Christmas Cookies from her Scrumptious book were first up.  Quite a simple recipe, the icing was yummy. meant to have silver cachous, but I only had these coloured ones which I thought were very festive.

Verdict: Well needless to day these didn't last long.  They are delicately spiced, deliciously chewy a day after they are made.  These will probably be made again before Christmas.  In fact I might put Mr J and Miss B on the job when they finish school.

Week Two: If a surprise 70th  birthday party isn't an occasion to test some new recipes, I don't know what is.  With my sister over from Australia, we cooked and baked for the event.  Three new recipes were tried:

• Real Raspberry Louise Cake from Scrumptious
• Lemon Tarts - from the family cookbook my sister made 
• Roast Vegetable and Quinoa Salad

Verdict: All the food was eaten, so I think that means everything was a success.

Week Three: A morning tea at work saw me making Raspberry and Chocolate Coconut Ice from  Cuisine Magazine issue 161, while a surplus of old bananas got used up in Best Ever Banana Bread from Annabel Langbein's Celebrate Summer Annual.

Verdict: Fiddly to make, I used raspberry essence which gave a nice flavour but not the colour, so had to add pink food colouring. If I had felt like splurging on my work mates, possible the dried raspberry powder may have been a better option.  The banana bread was a nice easy recipe, it makes two loaves which is very handy with an almost teenage boy in the house, tastes delicious too, I added chocolate chips, cranberries and coconut from the suggested list of ingredients.

Week Four: I always make a dessert to take to the in-laws for Christmas Day.  This does prove to be a challenge in itself, as my mother in law is allergic to dairy and chocolate!!  A pavlova is my standby dessert (she can scrape the cream off) - this year I am planning to make Coconut pavlova with mango and passionfruit from issue 120 of the New Zealand Taste Magazine.  I'll try to get a photo before it's served up.

Overall I think I did pretty well managing to try new recipes each month, definitely easier in the beginning of the year.  I ended up getting 3 or 4 new cookbooks too during this time, so probably neglected some of my older ones which I should have used,

I guess the big question now is do I keep this monthly post going in 2017, are you all still interested in reading about my cooking endeavours? Would anyone be interested in doing it with me, perhaps if we link up each month (if I can work out how to do that).