Jams and Preserves

One of the lovely things about blogs is that you can live your life vicariously through them. Whilst we are having a wet, wintry week here, I can be instantly transported to the Northern hemisphere summer with all the lovely blogs I read. I have been enjoying seeing all the lovely jams and preserves that are being made with the summer fruit, and am already dreaming up new recipes to try when summer arrives here.

Whilst I was laid up last week, I did a spot of online shopping at Lark.

I found some lovely birdy jars...

some red polka dotted lids (I am envisioning some Christmas treats in jars)....

some blue polka dotted lids (just because)....

and some fun polka dotted doileys.

I think I will be prepared when the summer fruit is in season.

Sunday Baking: Chewy Spice Cookies and Chocolate Chip Muffins

Sarah has been back in the kitchen again today (which is usual for a weekend!), whipping up some treats for the lunchboxes this week.We have decided to start a regular post on her weekend baking, as she is always experimenting with new recipes. She often puts her own twist on recipes.

First up this week are the Chewy Spice Cookies. These are crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside, and smell divine when they are baking.

Ingredients:
125 g butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar, plus 1/4 cup additional for rolling
2 eggs
1/2 cup golden syrup
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Method:
Heat oven to 160 degrees C. Put butter, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup sugar in bowl of electric mixer. Mix on medium speed until smooth (approx 2-3 minutes). Mix in eggs one at a time, and then add golden syrup and oil. Gradually mix in flour, bicarb, salt and spices. Cover dough with wrap and place in freezer for 10-15 minutes. Roll dough into balls, and then roll balls into sugar to coat. Place on trays lined with baking paper, and bake for approximately 15 minutes. Place cookies on wire rack to cool. (makes 24 cookies).



Next Sarah made up a batch of Chocolate Chip Muffins.This recipe is one of our favourites and is often used. They are satisfying muffins but aren't too sweet.

Choc Chip Muffins

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups self raising flour

90 g butter, chopped

1 cup caster sugar

1 1/4 cups milk

1 egg, beaten lightly

3/4 cup choc chips (mix of milk and white)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Put baking cases in muffin pan. Place flour in bowl and rub in butter. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, and choc chips until just combined. Divide mixture among baking cases. Bake for approx 20 minutes. 

Makes 12

I am off to the sewing room now - the teens have a fancy dress day at school this week and I am off to create some costumes.  

Spring Cleaning

Due to my badly sprained ankle, I have been off work all week. Fortunately it is slowly on the mend and I can now hobble around without the crutches!

As I haven't been able to do much this week, I have spent some time spring cleaning our blog.

You will notice I have added a FAQ page under our Blog Banner, and have also edited most of our other pages.

I also managed to re-format our sponsors buttons using a helpful tutorial I found at Hello Flower. If anyone has any tips on how to format the sponsors in two columns I would be most grateful!


As I don't have any photos to share, I thought I would do a little round up of what is inspiring me this week (found via Pinterest):

Free Matryoska Card Set

Caramel and Sea Salt Topped Shortbread

Dresden Sweetness

Beautiful Packaging

10 Free Patterns for Crochet Flowers

Now I just need to get back on my feet and get creating again! 

Ribbon Lanyard

High school is certainly more technology based these days. Laptops, Graphics Calculators, Computers etc all make learning easier (not to mention more expensive for parents!). USB Flash drives are a common booklist item and they can be easily lost/misplaced as the kids go around school. One way of making them easier to locate in the school backpack or pencil case, is by creating a brightly coloured lanyard to attach them to.

My husband is often going to conferences and always gives me the items he picks up while he is there - he knows we love to re-purpose in our crafting!  A lanyard or key fob can be easily made by using the hardware on an existing lanyard. (They can also be purchased cheaply from stores such as Office Works).


What you need:

• existing lanyard
• twill tape (approx 1" wide)
• decorative ribbon
• sewing machine

Ribbon can be a bit flimsy for a lanyard, so I stitched it to some coordinating twill tape. 

I removed the hardware from the existing lanyard (i.e. swivel clip), and then stitched the ribbon tape in place. You can make them any size you want - either a lanyard to wear around your neck or a smaller key fob size.

They are perfect for holding a USB flash drive, keys, or ID card.

You can find the ribbon at Ribbons Galore. Sarah wants to make some more of these in the school holidays - they are a great teen craft.

Sunday Happenings

One of the many treats we enjoyed when we lived in France were Madeleine's, a small sponge like cake baked in a shell shaped pan. You could buy them by the bag in the supermarket. I have made them a number of times, often with mixed results. I made up a batch today using a new recipe I found over at The Food Network. These ones were honey and vanilla flavoured and were delicious. Perfect for an afternoon tea treat.

Do you like the waxed paper with strawberries? I found this at Tokyu Hands in Tokyo. I haven't seen printed waxed paper before -  trust the Japanese to make even the most functional things look lovely. The cute Mushroom Cup came from Typo.

Sarah's favourite spread is Nutella. We ran out yesterday so Sarah found a recipe to make her own (I love how my girl thinks!). She made up a batch and it tastes delicious. You can find the recipe she used at Oh Nuts.

The sun came out this afternoon so I rushed outside to take these photos - it my haste to bring everything back inside, I tripped and sprained my ankle. It is now elevated with ice and it is going to prevent me to get to the sewing I had planned for the afternoon. Luckily I have a good book to read - 22 Britannia Road - it is hard to put down. My DH has offered to make dinner tonight and I have been spoilt with cups of tea and madeleines so it isn't all bad:) Hope you are all having a good Sunday!

Winter Warmers

Sarah and I had a Mother/Daughter sewing session this afternoon and made up some Heat Packs. Now we are finally getting some winter weather, these will be put to good use soon. It is a great project for beginner sewers as they are quick to whip up. We used left over fabric from our flannel pajamas as the flannel will make an extra cosy heat bag. We made up a few extra ones for gifts.

They are basically just two rectangles of fabric sewn together. This is how we made them if you would like the specifics:

Materials (per bag):

Cotton fabric, 2 pieces each measuring 28 cm x 15 cm (10 1/2 " x 5 1/2 ")

Co-ordinating ribbon or trim, 1 piece measuring 5 cm length (2 ")

Wheat, 500 g

Dried lavender, 2 tablespoons

Matching thread

Equipment:

Sewing machine

Hand sewing needle

Funnel

Method:

•  Fold the piece of ribbon in half and position it 5 cm from the corner on one of the long sides of quilting cotton, and baste in place. Place the two rectangles of quilting cotton with the right sides together. Stitch around the rectangle using a 1 cm seam allowance, leaving a 5 cm gap on one of the short sides. Clip the corners of the bag. Turn the bag right side out. Use a chopstick or turning tool to poke out the corners. Press the bag.

• Use a funnel to fill the bag with 500 g wheat, and 2 tablespoons of dried lavender. Use a ladder stitch to hand stitch the opening closed.
• If giving as a gift, be sure to include the heating instructions:

Lavender Wheat Bag

Use to warm up your bed or soothe aching muscles

Instructions: Heat for 1-2 minutes in the microwave with a small

                                glass of water to prevent the wheat from drying out. 

The ones we were giving as gifts, were tied with ribbon and an instruction label. We used ribbon and twine from Ribbons Galore. 

Notes:

Filler Options: 

I have made these with both wheat (available from pet food aisle of the supermarket - readily available in Australia) and uncooked long grain rice. You can also use lupins, barley, buckwheat hulls.

Aromatherapy: 

I added lavender for a nice fragrance. You could also add some essential oils, or spices such as cinnamon or cloves. 

Safety Caution:

Do not leave the bag unattended while heating in the microwave. As a precaution, you can set a cup of water inside the microwave while heating the bag to add moisture or spritz bag lightly with water before heating. Always check how hot the bag is before using it to avoid burns.


The little ribbon tag is purely for decoration.

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I Heart Vintage Patterns

I love vintage sewing patterns and inherited a stack from my Nan, who was an avid sewer. She made some of my most favourite childhood outfits, and made my kids a lot of track suits to play in when they were toddlers.  I have framed a few of her patterns and they are on display in our sewing/craft room (as shown here and here).

Today I scanned a few of the patterns and then printed them out on cardstock to make some cards. They will be the  perfect cards to have in my stash! Now I just have to come up with some sewing related verses to add on the inside. Any ideas?

These cards will go perfectly with gifts wrapped in pattern tissue.

Sashiko Table Runner

I love how many bloggers are starting to share the process of how their designs developed as it gives a great insight into the design process. I was looking through my photos and realised that I had never shared how my Fizz Table Runner (pictured above)  came about. 

I purchased the Moda Lamour Circles Fabric as it reminded me of sashiko stitching, and then stitched some overlapping circles on linen to compliment the fabric. Below is a progress shot of the red table runner. It is too dark now to photograph the completed runner which takes pride of place on my dining room table. 

Stitch magazine wanted the runner made up in more earthy tones to fit with their issue theme so it was fun to remake it in the chocolate colourway.

I purchased the red Moda lamour fabric from Ladybug Quilt Shop.  The Ladybug Quilt Shop is having a  20% off sale from  June 13th - 21st. Enter the code Lucinda4th at checkout.

Baked Treats

Winter weather is perfect for baking. Sarah made us a few treats on the weekend. First up were these delicious Cinnamon Scroll Cupcakes - which were beautiful warm from the oven. They were filled with a generous swirl of cinnamon sugar and sultanas. Sarah used a recipe she found over at La Fuji Mama.   

Sarah also made some Mini Chocolate Meringue Cupcakes which were the perfect chocolate concoction - halfway between a brownie and a meringue - bliss!She used a recipe from Food Network.

Our freezer is now packed with treats for the week ahead. 

Stamped Tags and Labels

I have a sweet set of Japanese Sewing Stamps that I bought from Cute Tape. I love the sewing motifs, and used them to make some fabric labels.

Using ink pads that are suited to fabric, I stamped some images on cotton twill tape and heat set them with the iron.

I sewed them onto scraps of fabric to make some little tags that I will used to decorate sewing projects.

While the stamps were out, I also stamped some shipping tags. Thanks to a sweet friend who gave me heaps of old sewing patterns, I have plenty of pattern tissue for gift wrapping. It works really well with some Japanese masking tape.

Weekend Sewing

Sarah has been enjoying her sewing class at school this term and learnt to install a zip last week. She was keen to put her newly learnt skills to use and made up a little zippered pouch yesterday - of course it was aqua, with a red lining! It is so much fun having Sarah sew with me - we may need a second sewing machine so we can both be working together.

I spent a few hours this week on my scrap quilt made from the Butterfly Block.

 I have calculated that I need to make 270 blocks - so far I have made 28 - I think it is going to be a long term project.

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

One of my most used cookbooks is Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess". It was so lovely to see Nigella as a guest judge this week on Masterchef. I was in the baking mood today and baked up a batch of her Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese icing -they are delicious.

Carrot Cakes with Cream Cheese Icing

For the cupcakes
100g light muscovado Sugar (I used brown sugar0
175 ml of sunflower oil
2 large eggs
225 g plain flour
3/4 tsp bicarb soda
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
zest of 1/2 lemon
zest of 1/2 orange
2 medium carrots grated
scant 1/2 cup walnuts chopped (I omitted the walnuts - my family don't like nuts).
12-cup muffin pan lined with 12 cupcake cases

for the icing
125g cream cheese
250g icing sugar (confectioner's sugar), sieved
1-2 tsp of lime juice 
12 walut halves

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Beat sugar and oil together, then add the eggs one at a time. Add flour, baking bicarb soda, cinnamon, salt and zests, then fold in carrots and chopped walnuts. Spoon into the cupcake cases in the muffin tin and bake for 20 mins. Cool on a rack. 

Beat the cream cheese until soft, then  beat in the icing sugar, then squeeze in the lime juice. Spread on the icing and place a walnut half in the centre of each cupcake.

I love the sweet cupcake liners I used - I bought them in the 100 Yen store in Tokyo. I boxed up a few of the cupcakes for my Mum and Dad. 

Sarah and I have been doing some sewing today - will be back tomorrow to show you what we have been up to!

La Laverie

I have spent more time than I would have liked in the laundry this weekend. Sarah's winter school uniform includes tights and the wash bag for delicates had a hole in it so a replacement was urgently required.  (It is no fun having tights get tangled around the rest of the wash!)

I had a look through my stash for suitable material, and found an offcut of sheer curtain fabric which was perfect - it is easy to see what is in inside and it dries quickly. The wash bag was made using a rectangle of curtain fabric measuring 15" x 36" and a 15" zip. The zip was sewn onto the short ends first, and then the sides were sewn up using an overlocker/serger as the curtain fabric frays easily.

Of course it needed a bit of embellishment so I added an appliquéd patch of a washing machine and a tag with washing symbols. Unfortunately the linen  had the selvedge missing so I can't identify it but it was a piece I picked up in Japan in 2010. I love the retro appliances.

The laundry is now all done, and the school uniforms ironed for the week ahead. It is a long weekend here, so hope to spend the next few hours in the sewing room (a lot more fun that laundry!)

Almond Cream Slice

I baked up a special treat for the teens this afternoon - one is in the middle of Year 12 (semester 1) exams and the other has been feeling unwell this week.  Almond Cream Slice is a recipe from an old cookbook that I used to make frequently but haven't made for many years. It was just the thing to provide some cheer on a cold wet afternoon.

Almond Cream Slice


Ingredients:
1/2 cup cream (thickened or whipping cream)
1/2 cup castor sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 eggs
1 cup self raising flour

Almond Topping:
90g butter
1/3 cup castor sugar
1/4 cup cream
1 tablespoon plain flour
1 cup flaked almonds

Grease a 25 x 30 cm swiss roll pan, line base with baking paper.

Combine cream, sugar, essence and eggs in a bowl and whisk until combined. Whisk in flour. Spread mixture into prepared pan and bake in moderate oven (160 deg C) for 15 minutes.

Spread with topping, bake further 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Almond Topping:
Melt butter in saucepan, stir in sugar, cream, and flour. Stir constantly over heat until mixture boils and thickens. Gently stir in almonds.

Edit: The slice has a cakey texture. 

It's the Little Things ....

...that bring the most joy.

• Having the whole collection of DS Quilts Picnics and Fairgrounds (After stalking Spotlight for the past 2 weeks for the Australian only prints, I was so pleased to find them at Joondalup today).

• Working on a new scarf in a lovely wool and soy blend

• A new Book to read from the library

• Practising my circular quilting, using a pattern from Fresh Quilting

It is rainy and overcast here today. I have had  fun playing with my new external camera flash - it makes all the difference!



Life . is . Good.