Another Weekend is Over.

But what a weekend.

I had three whole days off work and made the most of them.

As you read in my last two posts Friday was mostly a day out and some kitchen work. Saturday was a sewing fest, which continued into Sunday.

On Sunday morning it took very little time to get the border constructed and on to my Oh My Blue Stars.

I am loving this quilt and it has remained pinned to the front of the Kaffetastic hanging in my hallway.

I've just done a little online shopping and hopefully I'll soon have a lovely blue delivered for the binding.

As Sunday was the first of the month Gail Pan sent out the next instalment of I stitch. So out came the pink mermaid box. It did not take me long to select fabrics and construct this wee block.

One of this months stitchery designs was pumpkins, which I opted to swap out. I kept it Gail Pan though, selecting a flower basket from this book.

Then I curled up on my chair, with my trusty lamp and stitched the afternoon away.

By the time Tony got home I was almost done and it really didn't take too long after dinner to finish the block and stitch it onto the row.

I can't believe there is only one month left of this delightful project.

Of course I still have to sort out a border and put my three rows together. That shouldn't take long.

*

Tony was amazed at how much I have achieved in a weekend and pleaded with me to slow down!

But I really wasn't that speedy. I pointed out that the Oh My Stars quilt top was a quick project, using pre cut strips as a head start, then a simple design.

The other two pieces I have worked on over the weekend have taken all year! As they are both BOM.

He liked that idea and joked I could make as many of those as I liked.....

So I suggested he might like to sign me up for Gail again...

LOL

We'll see if he remembers.

And I think I already committed to another year of RSC. I just need to find the right block.

*

Since getting home from work today I have finally managed to get the Purple 20 quilt back onto the frame, but I didn't do anything about quilting the last third. I've busied myself with chores and food.

Once I'm done here I'll be back in my comfy chair with the penultimate Christmas ornament!

Another project that is coming to an end. I wonder which ornament I'll make next year? Will I do them one a month or revert to my usual scramble in October and November? LOL Working on them one a month has been good, I didn't feel like I had to rush, even though I had to catch up after several weeks without my lamp. Having Janice sew along with me has been fun too. Each month she has done something different. Octobers was a cute wee stocking for her tree, other months were larger, or parts of much larger projects. It's been lovely to see what she has come up with and I know she has completed some UFOs, which is always a bonus.

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Who is keen for a Christmas stitch along next year?

No rules, except you have to do something Christmassy each month.

As a BOM? An ornie a month like I have done. Clean up some UFOs or make a gift?

Show them off each month if you can or like I have done this year, keep it all secret and do a big reveal after the big day. 

*

Time for me to have a quick look around blogland and see what everyone else did over the weekend. Then I get to sit n stitch.

 

A very busy day....

As promised, I'm making the most of my days off. Tony has to work over the weekend, on day shifts, so plenty of time to do what ever I want and no need to be quiet.

No chores were done yesterday, which means I will have to do some today.

So yesterday was all about sewing. Although Santa was calling to me, I ignored him and went to play in my room. My Rainbow Scrap Butterflies came out to play. I had a dig in the scrap and FQ drawers and came up with plenty of greens for the sashing strips and final border.

Then I had to ask my pal Janice for some advice.

We both liked the harlequin fabric, on the right here, for a narrow inner border, but sadly there just wasn't enough, unless I did a little join, but a join in that would have been very obvious

So I opted instead for the yellow with blue flowers.

Janice also helped with advice on the cornerstone fabric.

And just after lunch time I had a (Almost)

Tada!!!

I still need to add antennae to the butterflies, but that shouldn't take long.

Next, I had planned to pin the purple Turning Twenty back onto the frame, but found myself playing with a 5 inch jelly roll instead.

In the last Zoom meeting Maria pointed me toward Pat Sloans free patterns, she was sure I would fine something there to suit a 5 inch jelly.

Well, she wasn't wrong. 

Oh My Stars caught my eye. 

By the time Tony got home, just before 6.30 pm I had all the cutting done and all of the rows joined.

Belle was helping. Can you tell?

I plan to get this to a finished top stage today. After I do my chores....

On Friday, while I was writing about our morning out and my op shop find, I hinted that things were happening in the kitchen again.

Here you have them. A chicken Tikka curry all portioned into lunch boxes.

And another yummy chocolate brownie.

With walnuts.

That should keep us going for a day or two!

And finally....

Do you remember Polly the pitcher plant, (Scroll down a little) whom I bought last year?

She lived in the green house all summer eating bugs, then over wintered in the porch on the side of the house.

And now she is flowering.

What an unusual but beautiful flower.

She has given up on last years pitchers, but is making plenty of new ones.

I might pop her back into the green house as she enjoyed it so much last year.

*

Time for chores.

I've already pegged the laundry out and been for groceries, so just a quick tidy up and whizz over with the vacuum then it's play time.

 

A Morning Out

Tony and I both have a day off today, so we decided to make the most of it and took ourselves off to Temuka for the morning.  It's not far, just 10 - 15 Minutes North of Timaru. A smallish town.

We visited primarily to shop at the local butcher. We have heard good reports and wanted to try for ourselves. We came home with a few different bits to try out. While we were there we planned to have lunch which we did, then a saunter along the street. There are no craft shops, though the curtain shop does sell yarn. There does seem to be lots of Antique/junk/previously loved/op shops though and we visited them all, in search of an orange coffee mug, with spots...

For those of you who are not in the know, a certain bloggers husband has a chip out of his, and would like a replacement, so many bloggers are on the lookout. LOL

Sadly we didn't find that particular treasure, but we did find others.

This adorable little sewing machine was in one of the windows. Sadly it is broken and has a resident spider!

It didn't come home with me, but I couldn't resist a picture.

Another photo opportunity was this adorable child's commode chair.

If I had $250 to spare it would have come home with me. Wouldn't it look so sweet with a teddy or a doll sitting comfortably?

The last store we visited had loads of crafting books and magazines. While Tony perused the man cave section, I got chance to have a good browse and found this one.

There are some lovely designs which will be good for scrappy quilts.

And at only $3 it was a great bargain.

*

When we got home, I got busy in the kitchen, making up lunch boxes and of course a new slice for Tony. It's in the oven as I type.

I'll try to get a photo, before he eats it all.

*

I've been busy sewing away at some secret stuff, over the last few days, so no photo report, sorry.

With two more days off I'm hoping to have plenty of time to get some pictures of projects for my next blog post.

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I also visited the post office today, to send my secret ornaments to the family in the UK.

😲

HOW MUCH!!?

I know less travel means fewer flights and they have to make money somehow, but seriously $25 for one Christmas card and one lightweight ornament?

The rest of the Christmas items for the UK will be bought online at Amazon.uk and sent direct.

 

It's been a busy week.

Do you remember I was telling you about the chocolate cake I had in the oven.

Well here it is, all finished and ready to eat.

Hmm... there seems to be a piece missing. 

A gooey brownie like chocolate cake, with a chocolate topping and coconut sprinkles.

YUM!

So yum in fact there is only one piece left and Tony will take that to work with him this evening.

Time to make a new cake.

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I worked six days last week. So much for more time to cross stitch and craft!

Never mind, I'm enjoying the work.

And I have still found time to stitch. Snowy St Nick is progressing.

This image was taken when I had finished for the evening on Thursday 22nd October

And on Friday 23rd. Not quite so much time spent stitching on Friday.

No stitchy time on Saturday, but I made up for it on Sunday.

I am really pleased with my progress yesterday.

Hoping to sit down with him again this evening.

I might have had more stitching time yesterday, but we had visitors.

Look who I got to cuddle with. 

And just because I can....

Torstein and Charmaine.

It looks like they wore each other out.

Floki eating a scone his mummy made.

Look at all those curls. I have a picture of me with a hair style just like that!

And would you look at this face, you can almost hear the laughter.

Una is such a happy wee soul.

And one last pic of Torstein on the blanket Nanny made.

I'm told he loves it and always falls asleep under Nannies blanket. 

That's good to know.

*

So that was my weekend, how did yours go?

 

What is Parkin?

 

After my last post, more than one person asked in the comments...

What is Parkin?

Wikipedia has this to say.

For me, it is a slightly spicy, very dark and treaclely cake that my Mum always used to make in October and November.

It was always wrapped up and hidden away for a few days to 'let it improve'!

Then served in generous slices spread with butter.

The recipe I used last week was not my Mums recipe and came out rather paler than I recall, which set me to hunting through my old school recipe book. Sure enough, there it was, carefully copied from one of Mums books.  A quick comparison told me that I was right. Mums recipe used a lot more treacle and more spices too.

I'll share Mums recipe with you.

Parkin

Ingredients

8oz / 225g Plain flour

1/2 tea spoon salt

1 Tea spoon Cinnamon

1 Tea spoon Mixed spices

1/2 Tea spoon Ginger

8oz / 225g Oatmeal

5 oz / 140 g Butter

4 oz / 110g Soft brown Sugar

4 oz / 110g Golden Syrup

4 oz / 110g Black treacle

1 Egg beaten

1/4 pint / 120mls Milk

Sift flour, salt and spices into a bowl and stir in the oat meal.

Place the butter, sugar, syrup and treacle into a pan over a low heat. Stirring until the butter is melted and the sugar has dissolved.

Allow to cool slightly.

Beat the egg and stir into the milk and stir this mixture into the cooled syrup mixture.

Fold in the dry ingredients and pour into a 9 inch lined backing tin.

Place in to a preheated oven (Gas 3, 170C / 325F) bake for 1.5 - 1.75 hours or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted.

Cool in the tin for 10 - 20  mins, then allow to go cold on a cooling wire, before wrapping in kitchen paper and foil.

Store in an airtight tin for a few days before serving.

It is especially good when served with plenty of fresh butter.

Well, my new parkin recipe may not be as good as my childhood memories, but it still got eaten.

Sliced thickly and spread with butter.

The new recipe didn't say to try storing it for a while, maybe I'll give that a go, or maybe next time I fancy parkin, I'll use Mums recipe.

What ever, there is only a couple of slices worth left, so I have the next creation in the oven as I type.

It smells amazing.

Well it would, it has chocolate in it!

*

I did find time to stitch on Sunday and made great progress on St Nick.

His little piece of Holly garland has been joined by a fold of that beautiful blue overcoat.

AAAAaand I found my way to the shop after work yesterday, where I bought more brown thread, so the butterfly bodies are all finished and I even tidied the threads. Now I just need to find some fabric for sashing strips and corner stones.

Shall I do that?

Or shall I sit with St Nick?

While my lovely chocolate cake bakes...

Did I say it smells amazing?