First week of February.

 And I'm back to work.

It's been a busy week, I've walked after work each day when it wasn't raining then sat with my crochet in the evenings. A friend tagged me on Tuesday pointing out a facebook post giving away fabrics. I was lucky and scored a huge bag full of quilting fabrics. It was advertised as scraps, but there were/are some very large pieces in the bundle.

This is what I decided I would keep, the rest I will take along to club next weekend and share with the ladies. The very generous lady had much, much more to sort out and give away. She said that she might reach out to me once she is finished, especially as I said that our club makes lots of quilts for charities.

Wednesday was an extra shift at work but also a bumper day for the garden, I brought in a huge haul including 3 more zucchini, so a new recipe was tried.

Roasted Zucchini, Tomato and Feta.

2 Zucchini cut to 1 inch dice

10 cherry tomatoes

3 cloves garlic peeled and finely sliced

2 red onions peeled and cut in to quarters

10 black olives

225g feta cheese

2 table spoons olive oil.

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons fresh thyme

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper.

Cut the feta cheese in to 1/2 inch cubes and lay in a shallow dish.

In a small bowl mix together 1 tablespoon full of olive oil, the balsamic, the lemon juice and half of the thyme. Pour it over the cheese and allow to sit for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 230C/450F

place the zucchini, garlic and onions into a greased roasting dish and drizzle over the remaining olive oil. Season with the salt and pepper and roast for 30 mins. Stir/turn occasionally.

Add the marinated feta cheese, cherry tomatoes and olives along with the rest of the thyme. Roast for another 10 - 15 mins until the veges are tender.

Spoon over the remaining marinade before serving.

This was very tasty.

I didn't have red onions so used whatever was in the pantry. And as there are only two of us I used only one zucchini and one onion and reduced the olives and tomatoes a little too.

I made it again the next day but I forgot to marinate the cheese. and I used  dried Italian herbs.

In our opinion it was much nicer without the vinegar and lemon juice, so we will stick to that way in future.

Thursday was Waitangi day here in NZ, a public holiday, so Tony was home. I had hoped we would get a day out as there was a free concert on down at the bay, but the weather did not turn on the sunshine. In fact it turned on the rain. The concert went ahead, without us. LOL I spent some of the day pottering in my room. I pulled out my Chookshed #10 and had a play.

This is an adopted project, I found it at an Altrusa sale last year. All of the fabrics had been precut and were all bagged up into bundles, light, medium and dark. And there was one block that had been started. I fiddled with that and persuaded it behave.

Look at how uneven those edges are...More about that soon.

Then I played about and made up a block of my own.

I have to say the fabrics are not very nice, oh they are pretty I do like the look of them, but they feel very thin and even the darker ones are see through. Hmmm, I wonder if that is why this project became someones UFO?

Then I discovered this.

A closer look at the seam allowances revealed that my predecessor had used a very generous seam allowance. That might explain why I had to use so much persuasion to complete the block....and those uneven edges.

I really wasn't feeling the love for this project and this discovery did not help it's cause.

I put it aside and decided to play with some French General fabrics instead.

Hmm, blogger wants this picture to be upside down!!

You don't get to see what I made, it's a secret. 

I'm off to buy a zipper later today so that I can progress along to part two of this project.

I spent some time with my crochet in the evening.

Friday saw Tony home for another day, he figured that as he was off on Thursday he may as well take Friday too and have a long weekend. We went for a nice walk, and did a little garden work though it was still damp from the rain, then I spent the remainder of the day with my cross stitch. I made some good progress, I'd share but there really isn't much to see as the area I was working is mostly the light around the lantern just a greenish yellow blob at this stage. 

Saturday and Sunday I was back at work.

And here we are at Monday. Another grey day in what has been a very poor Summer for us Southern Kiwis. We seem to get one or two beautiful days then a whole bunch of grey, wet days. Not like Summer at all. I have chores to do here today and also need to make a trip to town for some groceries and a very important zipper.

I will also need to decide what I'm to do with the #10 project, do I continue or swap it out for something else? If I swap it out do I stash it away for a possible revisit or pass it along to someone else?

I'm off to find my shopping list....

My Final Day Off and my Chookshed #10.

Just like that a whole week has passed and tomorrow I return to work. I've had a great week, cheered on by you, my readers. I've made starts, made progress and even had a fantastic finish. I've spent time in the garden and the kitchen and walked everyday.

So how has my last day gone? We had a very late night on Saturday with our visitors so allowed ourselves another lie in, I didn't get up until 7.30 and Tony had another two hours. I sewed for a while this morning until Charmaine and Torstein arrived with their Mum and Dad. Look at these lovely books Lee brought for me.

She found them in an Op shop along with a few that she has kept for herself.

I'm looking forward to having a proper look at them, maybe later this evening.

The children came outside with me to help pick beans, we got a whole bowl full and steamed them for lunch.

They were very nice with our roast chicken.

The children had brought their Nerf guns so there was Nerf war again. It's so good to hear their happy little giggles as they shoot Grandad. So much fun was had. Torstein also pulled out his Dinosaur jigsaw puzzle and I helped him to put it together. 

Once the children left, Tony and I went out for a walk. When we returned I went into my room again and sewed until I had a completed top.

Very happy with that. Some of the fabrics are sewing themed, so I think I need to find a sewing themed pantograph. 

While I was messaging with Janice yesterday she said that the number 10 had been selected by Deanna for the Chookshed challenge. 

My #10 is an adopted project. I found it at the Altrusa sale last year. Most of the fabrics are precut. I'm not sure if they are left overs from a larger project or if they just got stuck...

There was a pattern in the package and a template sheet.

There is also a bundle of uncut fabrics.

One block is partially made.

I'll need to have a good look at what is there and make a decision on how to progress.

*

My goals for February remain the same as the January goals. They are listed in the sidebar over on the right of my blog. 

I'm off to look at my new books. 

Day six of my leave.

 The first thing I did this morning when I woke was to say Happy Birthday to my Mum.

Sadly both of these lovely ladies are gone now. Today February 1st is Mums birthday and her mum, my Gran was born on 29th February.  

I have lovely memories of both of these special ladies.

I miss them so much.

We had a slower start this morning, no alarm clock at 5.45 but I was awake and up by 7am and Tony appeared a short time later.

After a leisurely breakfast of bacon, eggs, and as it's Saturday, some mushrooms. I made a start. Spider eviction from the back porch has been on the 'Hunney do' list for quite some time, I was tired of waiting so I went out and made a start, Tony soon felt guilty enough to join in. After I had cleaned everything out he got busy with some spray that will discourage their return for a while. 

Next I vacuumed the whole house and threw the duster about too!

We will have guests here for supper, so I thought I should make an effort.

That is who yesterdays Lemon Cream Pie is for. it has to be chilled for a minimum of 12 hours. I think we can safely say it has had that. LOL  This morning I also mixed the ingredients for vanilla ice cream to go with the pie. They need to chill for several hours before going into the ice cream churn. 

Then as I waited impatiently for Deanna to release this months Chookshed number I wandered into my room looking for 'something' to do.

And this is what I found.

First a bunch of grey and white fabric samples. 

They went together very quickly in a hit and miss style pattern. I think maybe I'll add some applique to brighten it up.

OK NEXT!

And out came a charm square pack. Four of each design.

Argh!

Those blacks gave me issues.

I messaged my pal Janice.

She sorted me out. And I was on  my way again. Before I knew it I was auditioning sashing fabrics and corner stones. 

I should have another top in no time. 

Everything ground to a halt while I over thought my sashing squares and border fabrics.

I could have messaged Janice again but decided to go for a walk instead. Another great walk. Tony joined me and we covered 7 km in the scenic reserve. A good walk.

We got home in time to shower and prepare for our guests.

A lovely evening.

We all ate too  much.

And probably drank too much alcohol too.

I hope your Saturday was a good as mine.

Tomorrow we will will have Torstein and Charmaine here foe Sunday lunch.

Exciting!

Love hanging out with those people.

January Round Up.

 January has seen me sharing a lot of recipes amid my sewing and crafting. I even created a new page at the top of the blog to collect them all together. These are not all new to me recipes some are old favourites that I wanted to share.  Let me know if you try any of them.

On the sewing front, I have completed my Chookshed challenge which was to make a couple of Christmas ornaments. And as that was listed as a separate goal I made some more. Six in total.

Next I was to sew or crochet for 15 minutes every day. I did miss out on a couple of days but on the whole I'm happy with my effort.

I said that I wanted to work on my Pretty Little Pots project. That didn't happen, something else got in the way. Hopefully I can get to it in February.

Walk for weight loss every day. In the whole month I missed two days.  I'm very happy with that and plan to continue. I might have to increase my daily step goal.

The end of the month saw me take a week off work for a much needed rest, I still have two more days before I return to work. I have blogged every day telling you about what I have been up to and a few of you say you are tired just reading of my efforts. I like to keep busy and in all honesty I feel rested and better for having a few days of doing my own thing in my own time. 

All those words and still no pictures. What have I achieved?

My big achievements are to finish the preparation work for Down In The Garden... This is what got in the way of Pretty Little Pots. 

I also quilted and bound my Windswept quilt top.

I pulled out a crochet project that wasn't going as planned and took off on plan B that is working out much better. I made a bunch of zippy pouches and baggies. Hmm, no picture.... And had a big tidy up in the corner by my arm chair and also in my happy room.

January has been a good month.

I wonder what February will bring?

Friday...Day Five.

 Our day started early as usual and we were eating our bacon and eggs by 06.15.
I was pegging out a load of washing by 07.00 and as soon as Tony headed out to work I headed in to my room to plan my day. I knew I would need a trip to the garden center and the super market, and my efforts in the early morning showed that I also needed to visit the sewing center.

At 8am I was on the doorstep waiting for the sewing center to open. Got what I needed there, next stop the garden center. I was spoiled for choice, how many varieties of cauliflower are there???
I settled on good old White cloud which produces lovely white football sized heads.

By 9.20 I had finished at the supermarket and was on my way home. By 10am I had my cauldron bubbling with a batch of tomato sauce. While it was busy with that, I got busy making a Lemon Cream Pie. (You can find it on my recipe page at the top of my blog).  By 11 am the Lemon Pie was chilling in the fridge, the dishes were done and I was itching to go for a walk but the tomatoes were still bubbling.  So on went the bread machine, and I watched a couple of video tutorials and prepared a few bits and pieces for the afternoon.

An earlyish lunch and finally the tomatoes were ready, I finished them off and poured them into freezer pots, leaving them to cool and did another load of washing up. 

I finally made it into my room just before 1.00pm. When I got busy making a zippy pouch.

Bit of a washed out image, sorry. The sun has decided to burn off the cloud.

All those points caused me a few issues with bulky seams getting in the way occasionally but on the whole I'm happy with it. There will be more.

The bread machine beeped as I was taking photos of the pouch, so I put the dough into a pan and set it aside to rise. (We use the dough cycle only, preferring to put the dough into a normal loaf tin and not have that silly hole where the paddle sits). That done I put my shoes on and headed out for a late walk. I walked 8km through the scenic reserve listening to the cicadas and the birds. The warm sun on the gum trees filled the air with wonderful aromas. A hot but lovely walk. I pulled the washing off the line when I got home and had it all put away before Tony got home. The bread had risen and was ready to go into the oven. It made a lovely loaf. 

Tony helped out in the garden for a while before tea, as I planted the cauliflower seedlings and we tidied up some low branches on the cherry tree. A bowl of tomatoes was picked before watering the greenhouses. I left the beans, I'll investigate them with the children on Sunday teaching them how to pick them nicely and hopefully have enough for Sunday lunch.

Home made Pizza for tea. Lets face it I have plenty of tomato sauce and fresh tomatoes for the topping. A little cheese, dice a left over meat pattie throw the lot onto a keto base and I was done. 

Now I'm going to sit down for the evening and pick up my crochet. 

Day Four

 And still busy, busy, busy.

My day started at 5.45 like most days. Tony cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast and after clean up we both pulled out our laptops then at 7.20 Tony went off to work and I wandered into my room knowing I needed to have a tidy up. My Down in the garden project was everywhere.

As well as the results of yesterdays tidy up by my armchair.

I couldn't even sit down while I had a think about it!

So I got stuck in, I put a bunch of stuff away then set about completing the applique on the Garden blocks.

The blocks that still need work also now have a calico border as some of the stitching is very close to the edges. It is all now safely tucked away in a project bag along with the threads, the pattern and border fabrics.

My room looks way better and I was able to get the ironing done. Yay!

Hmm, I neglected to get after shots of the room. I promise you it is waaay better. LOL

Still in tidy up mode I turned my attentions to the quilting room. As I tossed the next quilt top and it's backing over the frame

I had noticed the pile of pantographs on the bed of the frame. My patterns are printed on to normal A4 paper and I have to stick the pages together. I used to pull them apart after each use and put them away in a folder, but that leads to a build up of old tape and the risk of tearing.

 Last year I started to just leave them and pop the next one right on top. It was getting untidy and sometimes they would get hooked up in each other. The solution came to me when I was helping with the crafts at work. 

You can't see it but I've written the names of the pantos onto the cardboard tubes. 

Works for me and looks a lot tidier on my quilting frame.

Time for a walk. There was a nasty looking cloud out there so I opted to walk with Leslie on my TV.

Picking a 3 mile walk. 

I was glad I did as it soon started to rain, though it didn't last long.

It wasn't quite lunch time when I was finished so I got on with organising binding for the Windswept quilt. 

It's not a batik like the rest of the fabrics, but it looks like one and it looks better with the finished quilt than my original choice. I got it cut, joined and sewn on before lunch time. After a quick lunch I decided to get a head start on tonights tea, making lamb patties.

I used this recipe. 

Seekh Kebabs.

1/2 medium onion

2 cloves garlic

tablespoon crushed fresh ginger

500g lamb mince. (Beef is ok too).

1 tea spoon each ground cumin, Ground coriander, garam masala and dried mint.

1 tea spoon salt

1/2 tea spoon each Chilli powder, ground cloves and cinnamon.

8-12 wooden skewers, or kitchen paper squares.

Put the skewers if you're using them, into a bowl of warm water to soak.

Add all of the ingredients to a food processor and whizz until well mixed.

I couldn't be bothered getting the processor out so I just mixed by hand today.

 Divide the mixture into 8-12 equal portions and press around the skewers.

Or shape into patties by dropping each portion onto a paper square and using damp hands to form a pattie shape. I pulled out my trusty pattie maker.

I found it at a dollar store and use it every time I make patties.

As you can see it works perfectly.

I piled my patties on to a plate, wrapped them in glad wrap and put them in the fridge.

Next a quick coleslaw. That came ready chopped in a bag from the supermarket. LOL

*

Then I sat down to rest and closed the binding by hand. 

It really didn't take long to close up and add my Loulee label.

By now the sun was shining again so once that was done I took a walk around the garden to see what awaited me today.

I think tomorrow I'll be making more of Uncle Ruffies tomato sauce. I might add one of those zucchini to the mix.

As the sun was out I decided to take another walk, around the block this time. When I got back Tony was home and we got busy together in the garden. Tony with the mower and me with the leaf sucker as the foot paths were starting to look like my quilt top.

That didn't take long and pretty soon Tony was cooking up my patties on the BBQ.

While he did that I took my completed quilt in to the garden for a photo shoot.

It was a bit breezy for the old man tree shot so I laid it on the lawn under old man tree. 

Next I draped it over the bench that Joe made for us.

And finally a quick shot in the leaf litter and bark chips.

And that was my busy day.

Time to sit and maybe do a little crochet.

Wednesday.

 The third day of my leave has been another very busy day. It started early, my first job was to prepare those zucchini and salt them. I left them covered all day long.

Next I made this.

And here's the recipe. 

Coconut Balls.

150 g dark chocolate 

60 ml cream

50 g desiccated coconut

15g coconut oil.

Break the chocolate into small pieces.

Pour the cream in to a pan and bring to almost boiling, add the chocolate and stir until it is melted, then stir in the coconut oil and finally the coconut.

Set in the fridge for about an hour then roll in to approximately 16 balls, roll them in a little extra coconut or crushed walnuts and return to the fridge.

Or do what I do and make double the recipe then pour it into a lined baking tin, lick the spatula and place the tin into the fridge for 2 hours then cut into bite size squares. The missing square?

Cooks perks. LOL

Once the chocolate was in the fridge I got on with quilting Windswept.

I was going great until I ran out of bobbin thread.

At least it wasn't in the middle of a row. But frustrating to be so close to finishing. I quickly filled a bobbin and returned to quilting. It didn't take long to complete the final two rows and very soon I had it on the floor trimming around the edges.

The back shows the quilting nicely.

With that job done it was time for a walk.

It was beautiful outside, finally we are getting a taste of Summer.

When I got back it wasn't lunchtime yet so I went back outside to complete some garden jobs. 

First I planted some more potatoes into one of the empty buckets.

I tidied up the zucchini, trimming lower leaves. Next I turned my attention to the broccoli, cutting the final three heads off and pulling out the roots, I mixed some fertiliser into the soil and pulled the butterfly net back over the bed.  I'll go shopping for replacement seedlings tomorrow.

Next I pulled some rhubarb. While I was doing that a Southerly wind blew in and cooled everything down. Time for lunch anyway so I retreated indoors. After a cooling and much needed shower I had some brocolli salad for lunch. 

After eating I chopped the rhubarb and stewed it for Tony, then made a chilli for tea, next I looked into the corner beside my armchair wondering what to work on for the afternoon.

What a mess. I pulled everything out and had a good sort out.

Three baskets of crochet became two.

Five boxes of EPP became  one and a thread box.

And two boxes containing my Christmas ornament and my cross stitch chart tucked in alongside my sewing chest.

Finally I got to sit and sew.

Out came my cross stitch.

Over Christmas we were visiting with friends and the lady of the house was going to throw this handy tin into the bin. Noooo!

I know it's not the prettiest of tins....

But it's the perfect size for holding all the threads needed for Winter fairy.

I do like a tin and couldn't see it going to landfil.

I seem to remember promising an update on Winter Fairy.

This is where I left her last year on 30th December.

And here you can see the progress I have made.

Not all todays progress, I have worked on it here and there over the last few weeks. 

This is where I left it at tea time this evening.

After tea I drained and rinsed the zucchini then made it into relish.

And there you have it, day three of my leave. Another very busy day.

I might do some crochet while I watch a little TV.

*

I wonder what tomorrow will bring?