Thank you Australia Post!!

Yesterday we were delighted to come home to two lovely packages on our doorstep!!

Terri from Terri's Notebook sent us some gorgeous Christmas fabric full of old world charm; a sweet little patchwork bag; some fun mittens to hang on our tree; and other goodies. Terri makes lots of fabulous notebook covers, baskets, bags, and is a pattern reviewer for Sew Mama Sew. If you haven't already, you should check out her terrific blog.




Hannah from Hannah M Shaw sent us a beautiful teacup topiary tree; some lovely notecards; a cute tape measure; and dress form banner. Hannah is really creative and makes lots of wonderful things as well as being an awesome cook! She sells her handbags and accessories in her etsy shop. Head on over and say hi!!




Thank you so much ladies - we felt very spoilt this week indeed!!

I have also made up some more yummy coconut cupcakes. These ones turned out even better!!



Posted by Sarah

Blog Meet and Quick Christmas Decorations

Firstly, I would like to thank you all for your wonderful comments about Du Jour – I was blown away by all the lovely comments and feedback I received. For those of you that were interested, I believe it should be arriving in book stores around Australia this week and is available on line from the publisher.

I had my first ever blog meet this morning, with the lovely Janelle from Threads of Friendship. It was wonderful to meet a kindred spirit!! Janelle and I share a love of Farmers Market fabric and have been sourcing it from various stores around Perth. We had a fabric exchange and here are the lovely pieces I received to add to my stash!






I am starting to think more about Christmas recently and have been working on updating my decorations. I have made a collection of yo yo ornaments to hang on the tree.




I have also used up more of my paint cards to make these quick paper balls. They are easily constructed by cutting strips of paper/card. Punch a hole in each end. Join 8 – 10 strips together with a brad at each end and then fan into a ball shape. I attached some silver thread so they can be hung from the tree. These are a great quick kids craft and can also be made out of used Christmas cards or any card that you have on hand.




Edit: A wooden tree, similar to the one used with the yo yo's, is available in Australia from Adairs.
Posted by Lisa

Du Jour

There was much excitement in the sugar household last night when we attended the book launch of "Du Jour" - a cookbook that features 17 of my recipes! I have been included in this lovely cookbook with some of Perth's best chefs. I specialise in making cakes and other baked goods. Here are some of my favourite photos from the book.....








Posted by Lisa

Encyclopedia Crafting....

Old encyclopaedia’s are often out of date and are fast becoming redundant in the computer age. I have been making some gift tags using elements cut from encyclopaedia print. I also embellished a candle for gift giving by wrapping it with paper and tying with a ribbon (if you do this, be sure to remind the recipient to remove the paper before lighting the candle!!). With 20 plus volumes to use, you will no doubt see encyclopaedia’s used in all manner of projects around here in the future.

I had some great responses to my plea for ideas for encyclopaedia craft. You should check out all these creative ideas for using old books!

Curlypops suggested making a collage
Jellybelly*Jellybrain suggested checking out the Book Art at Whimsy Love
Debbie has altered an old book to create a memory book for her Mom
Liz suggested photocopying special pages and using them as backgrounds for journal pages or as wrapping paper
Lolly suggested using them to make tags, possbily aged with ink and distressed
Kssnnikkel – uses them to line drawers and shelves in an old dresser
Vickie recently received an altered home ec book for her birthday. With verses added, and lots of embellishments.





You must try these Spicy Pumpkin Muffins – perfect for school lunch boxes or served warm with a cup of tea!


2 cups of self rasing flour
1 ½ cups brown sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
100g butter
2 eggs
1 cup cooked, mashed pumpkin

Measure the dry ingredients into a bowl and toss with a fork to combine.
In a separate bowl, warm the butter until melted, add eggs and beat well. Stir in pumpkin. Add this wet mix to the dry ingredients, and fold together without over mixing.
Line 12 muffin pans with liners. Divide the mixture between the pans and bake for 15-18 minutes in an oven at 200 degrees.


Posted by Lisa

Garden Blooms Completed!

I put the finishing touches to my Garden Blooms lap quilt this week. I started it for Sarah nearly 2 years ago and it has taken rather a long time. It is based on the "Garden Blooms" pattern by Piece O Cake designers that was featured in APQ Feb 06 issue. I have hand appliqued and hand quilted it, which is why it has taken so long. Since I started blogging, I don't seem to spend as much time in front of the TV hand sewing as I used to. In order to speed it up, I free motion quilted the two outer panels. I conquered my fear of FMQ and am sure with more practice I will have better stipples - being a perfectionist didn't help but I could only unpick it so many times ! The main thing is that Sarah is happy with it. However as the weather is finally warming up, it may be a while before she needs an extra throw at night.



Unfortunately my Pfaff is overdue for a service. Part of the machine fell off over the weekend and is now taped together with masking tape. I rang my local service centre and it is going to be four weeks before they can look at it. Hopefully it will keep chugging away until then - I think I would get withdrawal symptoms if I couldn't sew for weeks. Especially as I am working on this secret project.



It was my Mum's birthday last week and I added some baked goodies to her birthday package. I made up a batch of custard shortbreads - her favourite!



Posted by Lisa

More Paper Crafts and Baking

During the week I made some origami heart baskets using card and paint charts.

I have also made some chocolate caramel tarts out of the Woman's Weekly Great Casual Food Cookbook.

Caramel Chocolate Tarts

1 cup plain flour
90g butter, chopped
¼ cup caster sugar
100 g dark chocolate

Caramel filling:
395 g condensed milk
30 g butter, chopped
2 tablespoons golden syrup

Preheat oven to moderate. Grease two 12 hole mini muffin tins.
Sift flour into medium bowl. Rub in butter. Stir in sugar. Press two teaspoons of mixture into each hole of the muffin tins. Bake in moderate oven for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
Pour hot caramel filling over hot bases. Return to oven for 3 minutes. Stand tarts 2 minutes before gently easing out of pans. Cool.
Spread top of tarts with melted chocolate. Stand at room temperature until set.

Caramel filling: combine ingredients in small saucepan. Stir over low heat until butter melts and mixture is combined.

Posted By Sarah

Notions Jar

I collect jars to use for all manner of things - homemade jams, preserves, sauces; to store buttons and other notions. Jars come in such a great range of sizes and shapes - perfect for so many projects. Here is a quick project to "pretty" up a jar. 

Materials:

• glass jar with label removed
• strip of fabric 1 3/4 inch wide and slightly longer than circumference of jar
• mod podge
• co-ordinating ribbon
• fabric glue
• masking tape (painters tape)

Cut the fabric strip to size and press with a hot iron. Use spray on starch to make the fabric stiff. Position a strip of masking tape just below where you want the fabric strip to be positioned. This is to prevent getting glue/mod podge on the jar. Position another strip just above where you want the fabric to sit. Apply mod podge to the jar (where the fabric will sit) with a foam brush. Position the fabric on the mod podge and smooth out, and allow to dry. When it is dry, add a layer of mod podge to the top of the fabric to seal and protect the fabric. 

When this has dried, remove the masking tape. Using fabric glue, glue a strip of narrow ribbon around the top and bottom of the fabric panel if desired. Add a circle of fabric to the jar lid using mod podge. 

Next up I am going to make a set of these for Sarah’s room to match her new bed linen. She can use them to store desk supplies or pencils.

I have made up a sleeping bag cover for Sarah. Not that practical for camping but will look cute on her next sleep over!!

Thanks for all the great suggestions for “encyclopedia craft” and repurposing old books. I am currently compiling all the ideas and will post a summary soon.

Thanks also to Cassie from You Go Girl for tagging us recently. It was much appreciated! Cassie makes the best bags and children’s clothing – such fresh and funky designs!

Posted by Lisa