Apologies

Sorry everyone. I have not dropped off the edge of the earth. Just lots of computer problems! They are wonderful when working properly and dreadful when they don't! New computer arriving this weekend along with the much anticipated puppy! Photos soon! Wish us luck.
Cheers

Coconut Cake

Made I coconut cake in a great hurry. My daughter is in the school play and on Saturday afternoons a group of parents get together to make costumes. I went to my first workshop a number of years ago expecting to throw a few elastic-waisted pants together. Oh noooo! These are the real deal. Fancy period bodices and capes and bonnets and beautiful ruffled Edwardian dresses! My dressmaking has improved out of sight.
Anyway I promised to take afternoon tea to the the latest sewing session and literally threw a cake together.
I would have a photo but there were only crumbs left!

Coconut Cake
125g butter (1 stick)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups self raising flour (or all-purpose flour with 3 tspn baking powder)

Pop the kettle on and put the coconut into a bowl. Pour the boiling water over the coconut and leave it to soak.
Meanwhile cream the butter and sugar and add the lightly beaten eggs slowly.
Once this is nice and fluffy mix in by hand the flour, vanilla and cooled coconut mixture.
Pour into a beautifully prepared 20 cm caketin and cook in a moderate oven for 35-40 minutes.
When cool, ice with Lime Icing which is just about a cup icing sugar with enough fresh lime juice to make a reasonably stiff icing.

Put the kettle on again. Make a nice pot of tea. Take a knife and cut a big slice. Plop on the couch with a cup of tea and a piece of cake. The world is a wonderful place!

Beautiful gardens

Just spent the day with a dear friend at the National Gallery of Victoria Open Garden Day. OMG!! The gardens were huge and incredibly beautiful.In some ways it was really nice just to stroll around knowing that we will never have an indoor pool and tennis court but wouldn't it be luverly!
No photos unfortunately because weren't allowed so I put this in instead.

What a gorgeous quilt from the Material Obsession blog.
I have both of Kathy's books and continually go through them trying to decide which project! All those delicious colours!

Rainy day quilt

Horrible weather here yesterday-rain and hail all day. So I put together the beginnings of a strippy quilt. This is will hopefully be for my dear in-laws in Scotland for their 50th wedding anniversary. What do you give people who have everything? A quilt!








We had a long drive this morning to choose a puppy. They were only 4 weeks old and so cute we wanted them all. Not very practical in a suburban backyard! So we finally settled on this one.

Now we are having troulble coming up with a suitable name for him. I am quite keen of "Jeffery" but didn't get alot of support!

Oh and this is my friend Jane's quilt which I snapped in a hurry so hence the awful photo. The colours are lovely!

Favourite colour?

I don't know if anyone has noticed but I am slightly obsessed with red and pink. Can't think of a quilt I have made that doesn't feature one or both!
So I just love this bag made by Vanessa.



Would love to put together a quilt using similar colours.

Should I admit that I am an idiot?!

I have had the same rotary cutter since I first started patchwork about five years ago. Somehow I always found rotary cutting tedious, difficult and not very accurate. It was also a bit of a pain in the wrist but I decided I had to persist otherwise everything was just too slow. Imagine my amazement when I realised that I had been putting Olfa blades in a Kai handle. That was the clunking I couldn't get rid of! The most amazing thing is that I have admitted this to the outside world!

While I wait for a new handle to arrive (cheaper than throwing away my 10 pack of blades) I managed to cut out this:

...but it was not easy to put together! Entirely my own fault!
It will eventually be put with lots of other blocks as a group surprise for someone. I had better not say any more!

While on my travels I couldn't go past these Lecien fabrics. The colours are lovely and nice to use instead of flat plains.


Oh and spring has finally come to Melbourne. We have gone onto daylight saving time and our darlings are enjoying the sunshine!

Frosted donuts!

Slight technical hitch with my blog hence the delay!
I received a lovely parcel in the mail from Piece O'Cake. Not exactly a present (I paid for it!) but a treat just the same. It's called a Frosted Donut and consists of finer cottons specifically for applique. Why do so many quilty things relate to food! Jelly rolls, layer cakes! Hmm. I could make a suggestion but I won't!


Thought I would also include a progress report on my latest quilt just to prove I really have been busy, really I have! The red perle has worked well and my hands have adjusted!


Last day of school holidays today. Bit sad as everyone is back to school on Monday!

Not a quilt but...

Yes, I know this is supposed to be about quilts and other arty things but we went to the show (Melbourne Royal Show) and of course had to check out the dogs and fell head over heels in love with the Australian Shepherds. At least I did anyway. So I have contacted Kate, a recommended breeder and reserved a puppy which will hopefully look a bit like this and will probably scare the cats witless!

We are away most of this week enjoying the forecast rain!
Cheers

Yeh, fabric sale!!

Have just been to the local farmers' market (love it) and bought the best bread ever. This was on the way back from a fabric sale at Patchwork on Central Park where there were lots of lovely fabrics for $5/m!! I did exercise some restraint and reminded myself that I did not need metres of cowboy fabric (I have teenage girls) so bought these:



Have started quilting the Hidden Star with red perle. Looks terrific but pretty hard on the hands. This will come to Point Lonsdale with us next week. It's a really little seaside town about an hour and a half drive from Melbourne. While it will still be too cold to swim, the girls will see friends and I will sew. Poor husband will be at home with his other two children (aka the cats) working and enjoying some time to himself!

Don't you just love a good lighthouse!

Oh and this is a glimpse of my latest project- the applique medalion.


It's a bit psychedelic at the moment but will tone down once its actually appliqued (I hope)!!

Holidays and sunflowers

Thank you Debbie for your comments. I love the community feel of blogging especially when it connects different people from different countries. Like having a very dispersed sewing group! It is also fun reading about preparations for autumn while we are coming out of winter and looking at a very long, very hot summer!

It is school holidays here and I spent two hours today in at the NGV (National Gallery of Victoria) where I volunteer. No, I don't get to touch or even talk about any paintings. I am a lowly Members' Volunteers who keeps the members lounge running. So it is not very glamorous but it gets me into the gallery!
They have their yearly European Masters exhibition which is the highlight of the gallery year. This year it is from the Stadel Gallery (Germany) and this is one of my favourites!


Other than that I have been working on a new block which has turned out looking a bit like a sunflower.


It was one of those ideas that I had to make immediately. You know what that is like. Now I have to decide what to do with it!

Glorious colour!!

Sorry to be absent for the last week. I and my house have been recovering from the onslaught of 40 teenagers at my daughter's party! Mind you they were very well behaved and only four jumped into the pool (which is currently 10 degrees!!).

If you live in Melbourne you wear black in winter. It has, unfortunately become our uniform. It also unfortunately makes those of us who are pale people with blue eyes look like old crows. So I have decided to slowly eliminate black from my wardrobe. This is not an easy task because a. I never throw anything out!
b. It is almost impossible to buy anything but black(or other pasty neutrals) in Melbourne.
The solution...the Liberty shirt!




This bit of gorgeousness came from a shop nearby. I fell in love with the fabric at Patchwork on Central and was going to buy the fabric and make it. But who am I kidding! I love all the little animals and the traffic stopping pink.

So I wore it yesterday when the ladies came over to sew. Unfortunately I missed getting a photo of them but I did take this snap of my poor old Periwinkle quilt which has been around forever. I lost one of the pieced borders and was so cross I had to put it away!




Meanwhile I think my new found love of lots of colour will be reflected in my upcoming quilts. There is a very bright applique medalion in the works but I am still struggling with the design (and the applique).

Cheers

Having a great day!

Thank you so much for your kind comments. I really needed them! My heating has broken down and while Melbourne is not Europe it is quite cold for us. My toilet is blocked so the boys from the drain cleaners are currently head down in the sewer overflow (well not literally!).
Oh here is my effort at a closeup of my quilt (as requested. I will have a better go when it is finished.


It's called a Hidden Star and sewn using Marti Michell Templates (www.frommarti.com/)a truly wonderful invention which makes it possible to machine-piece that which was previously only possible by hand (for me anyway).
I have also just completed this..


which I am pleased to say is my own creation and not bad for someone who previously avoided all applique!! Lots of fun using my carefully horded little bits of Kaffe! I just wish I could do a better job of photographing quilts.

Well toilet is unblocked, heating still doesn't work but a quilt top is nearly finished and my girls are home from school soon so I'm having a good day!

My sewing room and other messy things

My lovely almost-14 year old is having a big joint birthday party (with her best friend) this Friday. Consequently my sewing room (which doubles as an extra sitting room) will need to be cleaned up!! Otherwise adults will find out just how messy I can be. So I have to turn this:


......into a nice room to sit in!
I have therefore been working at terrifying speed (for me) on this...




.... so I can put everything away!

So far I am quite pleased with the results though I am not sure about the mustard. I was trying for an antique prairie look done entirely on the machine. This is the most complicated machine quilt I have ever attempted (my other efforts were no more difficult then nine-patches). Will soon have to find a backing which is always exciting! I am thinking of quilting it in red perle which I have never used before. Any thoughts!

A quilt with imagination!

This quilt was designed by Klashbert for Parcs i Jardins (Barcelona parks department)to use as an illustration and popped up on this website. It was sewn by Wai Lin Tse and I love it. I've decided that it looks like a deconstructed Bear Paw. What do you think?

Quilting with friends

Had a lovely night quilting with friends at the library. Two of my favourite things-quilts and the library. Ours is wonderful, like going into a giant bookshop where you can have whatever you want (well, for three weeks at least)! Unfortunately no photos today as something strange has happened and all my photos keep encrypting themselves (very Da Vinci Code)!

More quilts!

Am currently obsessed by stars, in quilts that is! Possibly from starting to design the Lone Star for my friend but also stumbling across some beautiful non-traditional examples.

Unfortunately I can't remember where this photo came from so my apologies and I will acknowledge it as soon as possible but what a gorgeous quilt. I love the soft grey background and the different shades of pale blue. Can feel a new quilt coming on!

My Babuschka Project is coming along nicely and is only days away from the big reveal!

Teaching at Patchwork House and a few holiday reminiscences!

I am very excited as I will be teaching a quilting class at Patchwork House . Have done lots of teaching but usually about science and animals (that's another story) so I am really looking forward to it. Just a simple Star of LeMoyne that I made for my daughter a few years ago but it has always been one of my favourites with lots of old paisley fabrics (no photo as the quilt is at the shop).

Getting a bit over the cold weather here in Melbourne though it's good for sewing. Keep thinking about the beautiful Kakadu from our recent holiday and the warmth and the swimming holes....

This is Jim Jim Falls 170m high with a stunning swimming hole at the bottom. After 30 minutes 4WDing and 40 minutes scrambling over boulders you have earned a swim! The water is very deep and almost black. We were assured that the Estuarine crocs (they are the ones that eat you) had been removed at the end of the wet season and the fresh water species are very shy but we were still looking a bit nervous. So we sent the tour guide in first!

Much as I love Europe, Australia really is a beautiful place.

Inspired applique

Have a look at these inspiring felt appliques I found at this wonderful site . Jane obviously has a great eye for colour and the layering is fabulous. It puts me in mind of a modern Baltimore.....

Afternoon Tea

I found a recipe on a scrap of paper inside one of my notebooks. Can't remember where it came from which is a bit sad. Recipes are quite personal.

So I baked the Orange Syrup Cake and it turned out to be fabulous. Would have shown the whole cake but it wasn't around for long enough!

This is one of my favourite cups with my favourite beverage (tea from a pot never a bag) hence my blog name.

The recipe follows although I think it is a common one.

Orange Syrup Cake

1 whole orange (organic if you can)

1 cup castor sugar

180g butter melted

3 eggs

11/2 cups SR flour

1/3 cup almond meal

In a food processor: blend whole orange then add eggs, sugar butter and flour and process for 2 minutes. Add almonds and whizz a bit longer.

Put into well greased/lined 20cm tin and bake 40minutes in moderate oven.

While it bakes, bring 1 cup orange juice, 1/2 cup sugar and a large slug of Cointreau to the boil. When baked stab the cake thoroughly with a skewer (very satisfying) and pour the syrup over the top. Don't panic as it takes a while to sink in.

Cool in tin then manoeuvre out onto a beautiful plate (Hint: wet hand first so you don't remove the glaze when you touch it.)

Bon appetite (in the words of Julia)!

Oh, the book is for my new book club (Trust by Kate Veitch).

A new quilt and quilter!

My lovely friend has decided that she wants to make a quilt for her daughter. I have advised her that quilting is addictive and once she starts she will be unable to stop. It may even take over her life (and her cupboards) but she has chosen not to heed my warnings!!

So she dug out this beautiful photo of a Star of Bethlehem from an Architectural Digest cover and we are going to recreate the pattern. It lives in the Shelburne Museum and was sewn by a Sioux woman sometime in the late 19C. How gorgeous is it! It was part of a kaleidoscope exhibition held there in 2006.

Siblings!

Quick post while the teens are in the kitchen baking brownies and bickering as only sisters can!!

The two youngest members of the family (pictured here) are also trying to kill each other under my desk. Situation normal! We have tried to get them to love each other but just like siblings they have other ideas. Teddy (the gorgeous grey boy) loves Molly (the elegant older lady). Unfortunately Molly treats Teddy like she brought him in on the bottom of her shoe (if she had any)! So 99% of the time they avoid each other and 1% they fight at my feet!

Absence

Well it is supposed to make the heart grow fonder. Yes I had a panic attack and stopped blogging but hi, here I am again.

I am now trying to figure out how to use my camera (a very special birthday present) and add a bit of interest!

This is my year of "cleaning up my act" and hopefully doing a few "firsts"!! So we have just returned from a magnificant holiday in Kakadu in Northern Australia, camping with no phone reception and no computers.

My firsts: 1. Sleeping under the stars

2. Going on a tour with other people

3. Seeing the Northern Territory

4. Swimming behind a waterfall

Hard to come back to the cold!

Have also started a number of quilts I've designed myself. Now if I can work out how to get the photos on.............

Please excuse the photo quality. I'm working on that!
Have always wanted to do a red and blue star quilt but have abandoned a few attempts due to their strong resemblance to the American flag (no offence intended). I think the bit of mustard (my least favourite colour) adds a bit of balance. What do you think?

I also have a Babushka project but will save that one until it is finished!

Sorting

Have just spent an exhausting afternoon sorting through a dear friend's lifetime collection of ufinished projects, fabric and general craft paraphenalia. Thank goodness I had plenty of help as it was rather difficult and very sad. It has really reinforced my conviction to "live my best life" NOW. Onwards and upwards with the project!

In the beginning

In the middle of next year is a very significant birthday (never mind which one) and therefore, dear non-existant readers, in a bid to save my sanity, I am going to blog my way through the next year and a bit. Can a slightly cuddly, over-educated, currently unemployed housewife quilt and crochet her way to a better organised existance. Here's to a year (and a bit) of healthier eating, finished projects, worthwhile employment and oh yes, we are getting a dog!!