Balloon Christmas Wreaths

To make things a little different this year I put together a balloon Christmas wreath, complete with Christmas Bear :-)

Love the Quilter xxx

Sewing Machines

This is for the my sewing sisters.

In cardiff a fancy clothes shop chose to decorate it's window with antique sewing machines, they had singer machines there too!

The funny thing was that a great number of people were stopping to see the machines but none of them were the type who would wear the clothes being sold in the store (including me!)

Hopefully they don't decide to give it up for a window decoration that attracts there customers they want instead.

B

Happy Pig

Hi

I had to add this even if it isn't strictly baking.

We went to a mock village of medievel times and this was this little pig's home. In fact she shared it with two others and none of them were that little. She was at least over a metre long and so big it would take all of your arms to hug her.

She was still very cute though :)

Baklava

I already have the Silver Spoon, a gian cook book on italian home cooking. Supposedly the Edmond's Cookbook of Italy. I then bought the Spanaish version and have most recently added to the collection the French and Greek verisons.

This baklava was from the greek book and made for dessert when some friends came over. It was so yummy it was breakfast the next day too!

The receipte is straight forward and if you followed the instructions it worked well.

love

b

Samosas!

We missed samosa's so much we made our own. Dough and all.....

I'd like to pretend it was all creative and orignial but although we did the hard work we took the receipe from Gordon Ramsey, so rather than re type it all here... the link is www.chanel4.com/food/recipes/chief/gordon-ramsey/gordon-s-curried-chickpeas-samosa-recipe_p_1.hmtl1

My only hint would be work the dough for the full ten minutes and when you are rolling it out, don't give up. It takes a lot of strength and effort to flatten out thin enough but it's worth it in the end :)

B

Birthday Cake!

The Quilter put together this birthday cake for our dad with raspberries from the garden and a good family secret chocolate cake recipe...yum!

Love the Quilter xxx

Raspberries straight from the garden.

While the Gardener was out the Quilter has been hard at work in the garden picking the most divine raspberries which made for a delicious desert.

I am sure they would win first place at any county fair!!

XX The Gardener XX

For the Quilters Birthday - Hungry Caterpillar Cake!!

For my birthday cake this year the Gardner decided to bring a caterpillar to life - Hungry Caterpillar style!
As you can see the finished product was planned using a drawing based on the book...

Perfect face - such cute antennas!

The finished product turned out wonderful!! Good enough for a hungry caterpillar to eat!

Love the Quilter xxx

Hi

this is my greek lunch I made for all my friends! Everything from scratch but for the dolmades.

:)

B

Danish Twists

Having made a lovely bacon and egg pie I had a little pastry left over so I decided to make some Apricot Danish twists, A little apricot jam a little apricot chutney and a slice of Peach - no apricots in the cupboard. Tasted delish!!
xx The Gardener xx

My New Sewing Machine Cover!

Heres my new sewing machine cover. I went to a free class offered by Singer for those who bought a sewing machine from them. We discussed various techniques, use of the different equiptment etc and practiced our skills making this sewing machine cover...

Heres a pic of the finished cover...(its got a side pocket and four front pockets for storage). The ribbon can be used to tie loose buttons etc or scissors...

Here I've turned the cover inside out which shows the quilting I did better. It also shows the binding. Once the cover was sewn we had to sew binding on every line of stitching to make it presentable inside or out...

Here's an close-up shot of the handle gap...

and an close-up shot of some of the pocket decoration...

Now my sewing machine will store in style!

Love

the Quilter xxx

High Tea at the Homestead

The Gardener decided it was time for High tea at the homestead. So with the help of the Quilter and their Mum, little sandwiches and delicate cakes were the order of the day, Finished off with a fine cup of tea.



The Baker would have loved to be there! We will have to have Tea next week to celebrate The Bakers birthday.

XX The Gardener XX

Birthday Cake

Hi

There are no lamington cakes in the UK!!!!!

And so for my friend, half aussie and half kiwi, married to an english man living in England I made her a giant Lamington Cake surrounded by her three national flags!

I even piped on the cream so it looked authentic :)

love

the Baker

Sunday Afternoon Chocolate Chippies!

I thought I'd try out the new cookie cutters I bought on holiday in Sydney! One plate shows the finished biscuits with designs cut in the middle and icing in between. The other shows the baby star cookies...yum :-)

I flicked through books till I found a recipe that I had all the ingredients for...once the dough was mixed I wrapped them in gladwrap for an hour...

I was pleased with how well the cookie cutter cut out the centre designs...

Though when they baked they lost some of their "flare"!

Finally, I iced the finished biscuits...ahh...done :-)

And put the rest away for later :-)

Love

The Quilter xxx

An Eggtraordinary Tale!

Once upon a time my Little Red Hen was sick of the other chickens bragging about their marvellous eggs so she decided she would make the biggest and best egg in all of Chickenville. The next day there in the nest of straw was the most extraordinarily wonderful egg. Twice as large as any other egg and a double yoke as well. From that day forth the Little Red Hen was called the Queen of the Hens.

The three sister's Mum saw the wonderful egg and was inspired to make a delicious egg, bacon and silverbeet pie. Silverbeet courtesy of the Gardener.

And they all lived happily ever after.

XX The Gardener XX

More Balloon fun!

This one is for the baker (I'll teach you to do it when you come home - promise!)

Above is a purple monkey with Balloon Banana (the hardest part believe it or not is making a balloon shape into a banana - I'm not kidding!).

The little orange bear is just for fun (with his cocktail umbrella) - I really like the lighting and photography - curtesy of the Gardener.

The little clear bear shows how small he is (they are generally about 4x the height).

Love

The Quilter xxx

Teddy Bear Balloon Fun!

I decided to turn my hand at some teddy bear animal balloons. The ears are made using a twist called the teddybear twist because it makes perfect little ears! Add a skirt and hey presto...a ballerina bear!

And here is a bear in its natural environment :-) (without the ballet lessons)

love

The Quilter xxx

The Gardener is very happy!!

This morning it was the gardeners birthday and she awoke to a beautiful garden of balloon flowers, and a array of wonderful birthday presents.

She put on her balloon corsage and admired her family of little balloon dogs especially the worlds tiniest purple balloon poodle! Thanks to the Quilters expertise in balloons!!

The Gardener is also extremely happy with her Nordicware baking tray she can now make butterfly, bee and dragonfly cakes to enjoy at her next garden tea party.
Thanks so much for my wonderful presents!

XX The Gardener XX