No work for me today.

 You know I often wish I didn't work so many hours, or that I could retire. I should be careful what I wish for. I have me a nasty head cold and as you know in my line of work I'm not welcome at work with such bugs. Though I'm not feeling great I have been able to get on and complete my cross stitched bee. There really wasn't much left to do.

Now all that remains is for me to wash it and give it a really good press. It will be put away until I decide how I want to finish it. 

Next I hope to be getting on with my Chookshed challenge.

Wish me luck.

Steve's Surprise.

 We were recently invited to a gathering to farewell a friends daughter. She is going over seas to live and work for a few years. We were asked to bring a pot luck. I took along my slow cooked Chilli Con Carne, it always goes down well. That's not what I'm here to share, but I will one day. At the farewell party there was a platter with the most beautiful soft roasted beef nestled on a bed of mash. YUM! The next day I reached out to the guest who brought it along and he was kind enough to share.

The following is what he sent to me.

Hi Lou lol the recipe is pretty much Steve surprise (I'll be surprised if it works) What I did for last night: 1.5 kg beef ribs In the slow cooker on low for 11.5 hours Put them in at 0615 Salt pepper mixed herbs over the ribs mainly on the meat side Bay leaves (4) Rosemary sprigs one for each rib bone Ribs sitting on Swede slices about 1 cm thick Tin of watties basil tomates half on top and half around the Swede and half a tin of water into the base. I also added a touch of chilli powder as it was cold Let it do its thing and then mashed the Swede and tomatoes as the base and sliced onto the plate. I reckon you could use red wine in place of the water and it would add to the gravy It changes each time I do it depending on what I have available ie mushrooms courgette, etc

Like most slow cooker meals it looks pretty simple and also versatile.

Inspired I decided to have a go myself. I started at 07.15 though. 

I placed thickly sliced swede into the bottom of my slow cooker. Popped a 1.5 kg lump of topside roast on top of that. (I don't have ribs and as I have just put half of a home grown  cow into my freezer I wasn't going shopping for them). I sprinkled on plenty of salt, pepper, an Italian seasoning and a little beef stock powder. Then I  decided to add some sliced carrots around the beef. Next I poured in a pottle of Uncle Ruffies tomato sauce (Look on my recipe tab above for that). A little water, two huge cloves of garlic and some bay leaves and rosemary. Then as Steve says, I let it do it's thing.

I came back to it a few hours later after taking a frosty walk, completing my chores the grocery shopping and visiting a friend for a cuppa and a catch up. I decided it could do with a little more liquid so added the suggested red wine. Then I let it do it's thing for a few more hours while I cross stitched.

Later I strained off some of the fluid to make a gravy, adding some flour to thicken it. We pulled out the bay leaves and rosemary stalks and mashed the veges.  Tony carved the beef and we plated up with plenty of gravy and some steamed broccoli on the side. 

YUM!

I forgot to take photos of course and to be honest my version did not look as pretty as Steve's. But it did taste good and it was oh so soft. I've done pot roasts in the slow cooker before but it was nice to be reinspired.

So there you have it. Steve's Surprise pot roast.

A couple of days worth of hexies....

 This is not what I was going to do with my days off this week, but once the mending and hottie cover I mentioned in my previous post were taken care off I fell down the hexie hole. And I have a happy pile of hexie flowers to show for it.

There are some very pretty fabrics being used in this latest batch of flowers. The flower at the top of this image, with the dark centre has more pink in real life. It's still dark here this morning, so the lights are on and as you know that can mess with the camera.

I have a couple of small chores to do today, then my time is my own. I don't plan to stitch hexies, but we will see where my muse takes me. My box of prepped hexies is running low, so I will need to find some fabric scraps to make more.

I do have fabrics pulled for a very special quilt. I have a whole year to make it, so no rush but you know how quickly a year can pass! I keep on telling myself I should make a start. Then we have another cold dark wet day and I curl up in my chair with some hand work.

Speaking of hand work, my cross stitch Bee needs only one wing and some back stitch......

My batik EPP is here waiting for me.....

My Chookshed challenge is here waiting for me.....

The Christmas ornaments I have kitted are waiting for me....

Oh! I forgot to mention... I completed last months Chookshed challenge. I used my rulers while I was quilting the hottie cover. Yay!

A tidy up was needed.

Yay! Three days off.

What to do with myself?

The first job on the list was a good tidy up in my very messy room.

Things have been dumped everywhere, the first stop on the tidy up mission was to sort out the pile of felt pieces that I was lucky enough to score yesterday.

A facebook seller was letting go of her late Mother's huge stash. There was a massive amount of threads, ribbons, magazines, fabrics and, and, and...

After a good look I settled on this big pile of craft felts for a very small price.

Time to sort it out.

The pieces are all different sizes,

Many have been cut into, but that's ok.

And some are just pieces. 

There, that is better, all put away. 

We have a felt project at club later this month, I'll take one of these boxes along.

NEXT!

That big bag of fabric I scored from neighbour Shelly.

Those beautiful batiks did fit into the top drawer without any major maneuverings. 

Only just.

The other fabrics in Shelly's bag soon found homes in various drawers. Then I had my cutting table back and could get on with a quick repair job for work.

When we are working in the dining rooms at work we wear cute cotton aprons. Some of our residents also wear an apron at meal times. Yesterday this poor apron fell apart while in use.

So I brought it home for a quick repair. A dig through my lace trims and ribbon jar found just the right piece.

Five minutes later it was all fixed and ready to return to work.

Next I had a request from a colleague.

Please make her daughter a hot water bottle cover.

Plan A will become something else. LOL. But plan B looks cute. I'll deliver both tomorrow.

NEXT.

I ironed the small pile that had grown.

Tidy up and chores completed.

After some lunch I think I'll sit and sew something for me.

Acquisitions.

 My second blog today. But I had to record this... I mentioned earlier today that I was going over the road and a few doors along to visit a pal who is destashing....

What an incredibly generous lady. She agreed to my original offer, but when I got home and had a play in the rather large bag, I doubled my offer and paid it before she could object.

About half of the pieces in the bag are batik, you know I love batiks. Many of those are over a meter, one is a very generous two meters. There are fat quarters, off cuts, and even a panel to make a very cute quilt. 

WOW!

Take a look.

This piece is about 1 meter.

Another big piece.

Two half meter cuts.

These two Christmas fabrics are half meter cuts. They both have a lump missing, but that is ok.

A skinny off cut.

A fat Quarter.

Three more FQ.

A beautiful Japanese dragonfly FQ

And a bunch of leafy browns and golds.

The horse fabrics are about a half meter, one is a little bigger.

A collection of kiwiana. Mostly long thin pieces, not skinny quarters, thinner than that. 

A whole layer cake and a charm pack.

And some left over layer cake pieces. 

More not quite FQ off cuts.

And more....

The lighter green below is a half meter cut. The darker piece with white butterflies is a Japanese Tana. A half meter.

And some off cuts. 

A huge purple triangle. 

A huge piece of blue check.

I got the deal of the Millennium!

And what a cute panel.

I just need to find a coordinating fabric and follow the instructions.

I saved the best for last...

It looks like not much in this image, I'll spread it out a little...

Some random shapes and off cuts. That piece with the purple splodge is a half meter cut.

There is a meter cut of this one, look at the chain stitch all over the swirls.

A bunch of FQs.

And some more FQs...

A big pile of golden off cuts in all shapes and sizes.

Then the big pieces...One is over 2 meters.

On the left are the 1 meter or larger pieces and on the right the half meter pieces.

Oh my goodness. I can't stop looking at it all, stroking and folding and stroking and refolding...

You know how it goes. 

I might keep it here by my chair for a day or three. LOL

I'm not ready to put it all away just yet. LOL

A bit of a reshuffle will be required to get the batiks away, that drawer is pretty full already. 

I really need to get some quilts made.