'Secret stitching' - DONE!

Just finished my little birthday gift for Happy in Quilting. Do hope she likes it! It is a Leanne Beasley stitchery and is a 'couch companion' designed to rest over the arm of your chair as you stitch. It has lots of handy pockets & a pincushion on the inside. The design was published in Australian Country Threads Vol 5 No 6. Happy birthday, my friend!

A request to all lovely bloggers ...

Still busily stitching a little gift for Happy in Quilting for tomorrow (Thursday). She is trying hard to keep her birthday quiet, but she's 'got buckleys' (Australian for 'not a chance in the world)! Please be sure to inundate her blog with birthday wishes. You will make her feel very special on a very special birthday. I have imposed a temporary ban on her reading my blog, which is driving her crazy, poor sweet! Hope I can get her gift finished in time. Had better get back to it! These treasures (Zephyranthes rosea or pink rain lilies) jump up out of the garden every now and then. I have to be quick to see them, here one day, gone the next.

Quilt-a-long, week 3

The dreaded pinwheel block! Amandajean is demanding a little more of the quilt-a-long crowd this week. Triangles & that tricky 8-point join. Mum has it conquered though.

Bring on the heat

These are two of my favourite salad recipes at the moment, served for our Club Quilt day on the weekend. Sorry, not helpful for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere, but just right for those of us heading into summer & mango season! 

MANGO & AVOCADO SALAD WITH DILL DRESSING

Fresh mangoes, sliced ripe avocadoes, sliced mignonette lettuce, pecans 
Dill dressing: 150ml carton sour cream 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1/2 cup French dressing 1 tablespoon chopped chives 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill 


Arrange lettuce, mango & avocado on a large platter. To make dressing just whisk all ingredients together. Pour dressing over salad & top with pecans. I add prawns sauted in some garlic to this salad for Christmas lunch – YUM! You can use pine nuts instead of pecans. Add a bit of red onion if you like – just make it up really. The dressing is what makes it, & the mango of course!





ROASTED SWEET POTATO SALAD 


Mixed lettuce leaves, sweet potato, peeled & thinly sliced cucumber pine nuts, toasted cherry or roma tomatoes, halved avocado 


Basil dressing: basil leaves, 1 cup, loosely packed, 2 cloves garlic, crushed, 2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese, grated 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1/4 cup light sour cream Preheat oven to 180°C. In a bowl, place sweet potato. Drizzle with olive oil & toss gently. Transfer sweet potato & tomatoes to a paper-lined baking tray. Season with salt & pepper & bake until sweet potato is cooked & tomatoes have semi-dried. Cool. Arrange on plate with avocado & cucumber. Sprinkle with pine nuts. For dressing, combine basil, garlic, pine nuts & parmesan in a food processor. Process until smooth. Add mayonnaise & sour cream. Process until smooth. Dress salad just before serving. Sprinkle with pine nuts. (This dressing is also really good on a potato salad). You can substitute pumpkin for the sweet potato.

Secret stitching

If you have a 'significant' birthday this Thursday, look away now! That means you, Happy in Quilting! Hopefully, more will be revealed later in the week ... just don't know if I've got enough fabric in my stash to finish it - ha de ha, ha, ha!

Fabric, food & too much fun!

Had the lovely company of the Club Quilt girls at my place for the day yesterday. They are all such good fun. Had a fantastic day. The photo is blurred, but reflects the flurry of activity! These women do not dillydally. They are talented & proficient quilters & churn out projects quickly & beautifully! Didn't get many photos so head on over to our club blog to see what everyone got up to.

But I don't know what you're talking about, Ms Bloom!

Fiddling with felt today. I need to come up with a simple Christmas craft for some 11 and 12 year old boys and girls for tomorrow. My guess is that they may not ever have used a needle & thread, and I know for sure I've not tried to teach embroidery to such an audience, so it will be an education all-round! Wish me luck!

Quilt-a-long progress

Here is second of Mum's quilt-a-long blocks. She's loving it. Mondays won't be the same for the next few weeks as she waits anxiously, sewing fingers at the ready, for the next set of instructions. It is not too late to join the quilt-a-long. This is only week 2 of 12. Pop over to Crazy Mom Quilts to join the fun.

Lovely liliums

I have grown liliums for the first time this year. I always thought that flowers this beautiful must be terribly difficult to grow. Well, I'm here to tell you they are a cinch! Stick the bulbs in a pot, water them & look at the reward! This is a very old photograph (probably almost as old as me!) of a lilium my Dad grew. I remember him pointing this photo out to me in our family album many times as I was growing up; "Look, I grew that"! We lost my Dad to bowel cancer in February this year, and I find myself planting things in my garden that remind me of him. And so here are my first liliums. "Look Dad, I grew that"!

Now there's an idea

I will never lose embroidery floss in the middle of a project ever again! Keep your floss colours for your latest stitchery on a binder ring. Inspiration from here.