Jess' First Quilt

Another little project i have going at the moment is helping a friend of mine (Jess), to complete her first quilt for her Mum's very important 60th birthday.

Jess had her Mum choose the fabric, which is Winchester by Andover Fabrics from The Fat Quarter Shop and we're using a Hatched and Patched pattern called Town of Plenty (minus the stitchery blocks) as it's a nice simple quilt for a first attempt.

Here is a sneak peak of some of Jess' blocks to date:

Jess has already completed nearly 50 blocks and for a complete non-sewer, she's doing a great job............ and very little un-picking has been required so far! One more sewing day and the top should be complete.

And Jess....... You're not to show your Mum any more now until it's finished!

Until next time, Happy Stitching

An End In Sight!

Here are my latest Angel Story blocks that i've completed this week.

Charlotte the Shopper, Dimity the Dreamer & Sarah the Sewing Angel:-



Also, Sophia the Social Butterfly & work-in-progress, Harriet the Homebody....... my last block, which i should finish hand stitching tonight (if i stop blogging and start stitching)!

Getting excited about finishing it off now and hopefully I can find a day very soon to put it all together....... i have all my borders and blocks cut and at the ready!

Until next time......Happy Stitching

Some people think we're Mad!

I was lucky enough to be invited to join a friend (Paula) for a day of sewing yesterday, so we set to work at 9am...... and only stopped for Morning Tea, Lunch, Afternoon Tea, Dinner and Dessert...... Hmmm, maybe this is why it took so long to complete our project. Paula certainly looked after me!

The plan was to Complete "Faerie Noelle", a gorgeous doll by Annie Smith of Country Keepsakes. Paula and I found the pattern back in August at our favourtie patchwork shop, The Home Patch on our way back from Sydney but hadn't been able to get together to make her until now.

After a mere 12 and a half hours sewing, this is what we had achieved:

As you can see, Paula's is almost finished but mine still had a long way to go!

Finally!

After a few more hours sewing today my Faerie is complete and i think you'll agree she was worth the effort.............Think i'll name her Ruby!

Until next time
Happy Stitching

Look what arrived today!

These gorgeous fabrics arrived today from the Fat Quater Shop, ..... i couldn't resist buying them after seeing Bloom's lovely new design for Moda Bake Shop. Fabrics are "Hushabye" by Tula Pink and Moda Basics "Milk".
I guess now I had better get my Angels Story Quilt finished quick smart so I can make a start on this one!

I've got Mum Sewing!

Today i spent some time teaching Mum how to make these lovely journal covers using the tutorial at Bloom.

I don't often get to sew with Mum as it's not really her 'thing'..... so it was lovely to spend the day with her doing something I love (She even admitted it was fun!).


The lovely Martha from Princess Martha suggested making them out of denim and even had her hubby deliver some to me when i didn't have any in my stash......and what a great result!
Thanks Martha xo

Plaited Pesto Bread

This is another one of our family favourites that is great to take along to a BBQ and i've made it three times this week for different functions..... it always goes over well!

Ingredients:

• 600g Bread Flour
• 2 tbsp Olive Oil
• 350ml Water
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 sachet Yeast
• Sundried Tomato Pesto (about half a jar)
• Grated Cheese
• Ham or bacon (optional)
• Dried Basil

Put water, sugar, salt, oil, flour and yeast into bread machine and use dough setting to make dough.

Once your dough is made empty it onto a floured bread board and cut into three equal pieces. Shape the pieces into long flat rectangles and spread with pesto. Sprinke with ham and cheese then pinch the dough together to seal in all the topping.

Plait the three pieces together and place on a floured oven tray. Sprinkle with a little more cheese and some dried Basil and bake for about 30 minutes at 180 degrees celcius, or until golden brown.

Only problem with this recipe is that it never seems to last long!

Enjoy!

A Gift for Maddy

This morning Miss ten and I set to work to make a birthday pressie for one of her friends...... nothing like leaving things till the last minute! Miss ten had been working on a stitchery from Anni Downs book "simple Pleasures" over the last couple of days which we appliqued to the front of the Journal cover. To assemble the cover we used a tutorial from Bloom for the basic instructions and measurements although we did change a few things to achieve the result Miss ten was after.
It was very easy to assemble and much less bulky than ones i've made in the past...... which means there will be plenty more to make before Christmas comes around. We were both very pleased with how it turned out and hope that Maddy likes it as much as we do.
Miss ten has now also started a blog of her own to display her creations, you can check it out at Little Miss Thimble.

A Bed for Dolly

I found this cute pattern a while ago in Country Threads magazine Annual Kids Special (Vol.9 No.11) and knew i had to make it for someone...... so when my little niece's third birthday was nearing i finally had an excuse to make it!

This gorgeous little dolly bed comes complete with it's own tiny little patwork quilt (the smallest and quickest i've ever made), mattress and ruffled pillow.

I chose brighter colours that i thought would appeal to Miss Three a little more......... and i'm told she was delighted when she received her special parcel in the mail. Unfortunately, this is the only photo i thought to take as i was in a hurry to post it off.

Stitching with Company

I was lucky enough to have a good friend of mine (Nic) come for a sleepover on Friday night. Hubby and Master 7 went out and the girls all stayed home and ate, drank, stitched and watched a movie............ Heaven! So i now have three more of my Angels Story blocks completed!
Angela the Animal Lover, Libby the Librarian & Becky the Bookworm..... only 4 more to go!

Nic was finally stitching the binding of her Ashes of Roses Quilt that she started three years ago...... i knew my pestering would get to her eventually!

She used the gorgeous "Poetry Collection" range of fabric and increased the size of the quilt so that it hangs down generously on her Queen size bed.

And best of all, now that Nic has started stitching again she's finding herself all inspired to start new projects and has set up her own blog Luv 'N' Hugs..... Welcome to blogland Nic! xo

Time to Dress-Up

The last week of the school term saw me putting aside my quilting for a bit in order to make a dress-up outfit for Miss 10 to wear to the school social.

Miss 10 had her heart set on Tinkerbell, however, finding a pattern for a small women's tinkerbell outfit that covered her knickers was difficult. I ended up using the bodice from a dress pattern i already had "New Look 6557". I had to extend the length of the mid section by a couple of inches and then i drew up a petal shape pattern on baking paper and made 9 fabric petals to join together to make the skirt. Being a dress-up outfit I was able to just use velcro to fasten the back which was super easy and I completed the outfit with slippers to match, made from "Kwik Sew 3323". Overall it turned out pretty good & Miss 10 was delighted.

Yummy Singapore Noodles!

Last night I made one of our family's favourite dishes and thought I should share my recipe with you. I always loved Singapore Noodles from the local Chinese Restaurant and it took me quite a few goes to find a recipe i liked. By the time i'd finished changing it for ease of cooking and to suit my taste it barely resembled the original recipe at all!

Ingredients:

• 375g packet dried thin egg noodles (The Asian brand's are much better)
• 4 eggs, beaten lightly with a dash of water
• 1 large brown onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 3 tbsp Mild Curry Paste (I use Pataks Mild Corriander & Cumin)
• Meat from half a BBQ chicken, shredded
• 4 shallots, chopped coarsely
• 3 carrots, cut into fine matchsticks
• 1 red capsicum, sliced
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup oyster sauce
• Spray Oil

Method:

Cook noodles in a large saucepan uncovered, until just tender, drain.

Spray a large frying pan or wok with oil and cook the eggs in a couple of batches to make thin omelettes. Once cooked, roll omelettes and cut into thin strips, then set aside.

Spray pan again. Stir-fry onion and garlic until onion softens. Add paste and stir-fry until fragrant then add chicken, carrot, capsicum and sauces and stir-fry for a couple of minutes.

Add noodles, shallots and omelette, toss to combine and heat through.

NB. Green prawns make a yummy addition if you have them and I usually keep a small amount of the plain noodles set aside to add to Master 7's meal, as he's not a huge fan of anything too hot!

I hope you like it as much as we do!

An Angels Story

About 18 months ago my Aunt and I both bought a fabric kit for "An Angels Story" quilt from Hatched and Patched and it's been sitting in the cupboard ever since.

On my Aunt's recent visit, she proudly showed off her almost completed quilt...... how envious I was! There was only one thing to do and I quickly dug mine out from underneath the numerous other projects waiting to be completed and began.

Surprisingly, it's coming along a lot quicker than i thought it would considering i've only been working on it for about two weeks in between other projects.

The Angels Story Pattern book designed by the very talented Anni Downs from Hatched and Patched.

I'm currently stitching Pot Plant Penelope

Millicent the Magnificent Mum & Tillie the Tea Lady are all stitched!

As are Fran of Fran's Flying School and Hettie at the Hat Shop

And my favourite Best Friends Zoe & Prudence!

Until next time
Happy Stitching!

Welcome

Welcome to my blog.... not quite sure what i'm doing as yet so please bear with me while i fumble my way around construction.

I'm hoping to achieve a read-worthy blog following my on-going obsession with craft.....namely quilting and stitching, with the odd recipe or other item thrown in. I also have several very clever friends who i'm hoping will let me share some of their gorgeous creations!

Happy stitching!