My first attempt at chocolate moulds

I bought a button mould for use with chocolate or fondant yesterday...no particular reason except I saw it and thought cool...edible sewing...

I tried it out today with some white chocolate (to see if it would work before I made the cupcakes) and I'm quite pleased with the results.

Then I combined my left over white chocolate with some brown in a light plastic container I bought some tool shaped chocolates in and I'm pretty pleased with the result from that too (although they are not as smooth as the silicon mould).

I'm no expert by any means, but it's been fun.  Now I'm planning on some cupcakes for "The Gardeners" birthday...

xxx The Quilter xxx

Olive Picking...

Decided to give olive picking, preserving and oil pressing a go.  So I went over to my sister "The Gardener's" olive trees and picked some of the left olives from the harvest.  Not a bad haul if I do say so myself.

Now I need to decide on how to preserve and press them...any ideas?

xxx The Quilter xxx

Balloon Bugs

Following on from the failed balloon tulip turned bug...I decided to make a few more for my sister "the Baker's" 6 month old twins. 

Obviously they don't play unsupervised but they giggle away if you hold a balloon bug in front of them.

xxx The Quilter xxx

More Balloon Projects

A friend asked me the other day if I still remembered how to make balloon animals as she remembered some flowers I had made.

I decided to make her a bunch of flowers for her office and put them in a balloon basket...

As you can see, a failed attempt at a tulip even became a cute little aphid who pops out the side to say hello!

Two weeks and counting and they are still on her office desk looking fresh!

xx The Quilter xx

The Quilter's 30th Birthday Dinner Party

Channelling both Julia Child (& Martha Stewart where need be) the Gardener and Quilter prepared for the Quilters Birthday Dinner Party.

The table was prepared (with menus)...

The Menu included...

The Entree...Warm Mediterranean Stack with Green Leaf Salad

Followed by a Lemon Lime Sorbet to cleanse the palete before the main...

The main...Julia Child's Boeuf A La Bourguignonne - cooked exactly to the recipe!

The Dessert...A Croquembouche tower with white and milk chocolate accents...

The finished croquembouche....

A close up...

And finally, the Birthday cake! (chocolate with white chocolate decal of course!)

A great night!

Love, the Quilter xxx

Afghans were the treat for the day!!

With the cold winter nights upon us the Gardener felt it was time for some baking.

Afghans were the treat for the day with lashings of chocolate icing and walnuts on top.

Super yum and sure to make a tasty addition to winter lunches.
XX The Gardener XX

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!! - 2 Months and a few years late!!

Finally Mum's Birthday Cross Stitch is finished!! I chose this cross stitch for my Mum’s birthday as it has everything that represents her hobbies, sewing, quilts, knitting even an African violet.

I won’t let on how many years it took but let’s put it this way it took Julia Child 7 or so years to write her "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and I put just as much care and attention into my cross stitch masterpiece for my lovely Mum!!

The cross stitching took lots of summer holidays with so much fine detail.

Every inch seemed to add another aspect to the picture.

Finally it was on to the back stitching.

Check out the fine detail on this Quilt.

Hey quilter do you think you can make one of

these for mum's wall. :-)

Check out the real tassels "How Neat is that?"

Tiny little charms just add to the charm!

So pleased to have it finished for you Mum! You are worth every single stitch!

Hand lacing took most of the afternoon and now it is off at the framers.

Can't wait to give it to Mum.

Lots of the Love

xx The Gardener xx