Christmas is coming and that means full steam ahead on all creations, the bummer is that most/all of the people I am making gifts for read this thing, so I can’t exactly post photos of them till they get them which isn’t for ages yet 🙁
However I can say that my back is sore from the amount of free motion machine quilting I have done in the last day or so, the person who gets this present is very lucky because if it wasn’t Christmas I would be keeping it myself! Full of blood, sweat and tears I tell you well actually full of 3 bobbins of thread! Thanks for Mum for showing me how to do free motion quilting.
Yesterday I also posted Jökull’s quilt so as long as the ship sails smoothly, he should see it in three to four months. I even wrote Jökull the Glacier Boy on the shipping label 🙂
Exams finished 1 week ago and I am already going stir crazy! Only 3 and a bit months left of summer holidays. ugg. I am already lined up to make Matthew three new pairs of pyjamas and to clean the kitchen and living room (paid work) so maybe it won’t be too bad. On Sunday I am going to see Ben Lee at the Zoo with Sam and Andrea 🙂 so that will be good, happy days. 🙂
Since I am now on holidays the biscuit making falls more regularly on me, this is the recipe I made yesterday.
Coconut and Hazelnut Biscuits
4 oz cooking margarine (softened)
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup coconut
1/4 or so hazelnut meal
a bit of milk
Cream the margarine and sugar, add the egg. All in together this fine weather mix in the rest of the ingredients. The amount of milk needed changes each time; you just need enough to make the mixture more workable. Roll into small balls and place on greased trays, cook in a moderate oven (180°C). Eat 🙂
The great thing about a basic biscuit recipe is that you can change it to suit what you have in the cupboard, for example the original recipe does not call for the hazelnut meal but I added that in and just added some more milk, other ideas would be dried chopped apricots or silvered almonds etc.
After I finished all my exams on Wednesday, I popped into Borders on the way home to check out the magazines, I walked out with the November issue of ABC Delicious which came with a July back issue 🙂 as well as the Donna Hay Spring issue that they still had on the shelves and the current Donna Hay Celebrate issue (which has the most gorgeous Christmas ideas in for example a biscuit wreath and a succulent leaf star).
After working Wednesday and doing some scrapbooking (The Story Bridge and Breadsticks Recipe It wasn’t till Thursday that I could sit down with some sticky notes and mark my way through the magazine. It was also my turn to cook tea last night so I dished up the recipe that had grabbed me the most.
Sesame Somen Noodle Salad with Smoked Salmon.
400g Somen noodles
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 or 3 shallots
1/4 cup chives (which I forgot)
1 or 2 small cucumbers (though I used zucchini, since Mum refuses to eat cucumber)
200g smoked salmon, roughly chopped
1 cup mint leaves
Cook the noodles and drain. Combine the soy sauce, brown sugar and sesame seeds in a large bowl. Add the other ingredients and noodles, lightly toss to combine. Serves 4
My notes.
As I am not a fan or raw shallots or zucchini, I gave them a quick cook in the pan (1 or 2 minutes on a high heat). 1 cup of mint leaves is total overkill, it turned out really as Mint Noodle Salad, next time go more for 1/4 cup or less. Maybe add some sesame oil to the dressing to add a bit more flavour. Recipe says it serves 4, but really would serve 5 with comfort and some left for lunch.
First’s things first, I was getting a bit tired of the scene round here so I made a new banner, changed the colours and modded some of the code. Random banners will probably appear again soon, as I make more. So tell me what you think of the new theme 🙂
The other day, the freezer was defrosted and as stuff was been put back in the freezer, Mum told me, I needed to use up the polenta I had in there. I kept the thought in my mind and the very next morning as I was going through the new headlines in my Feed Reader, I noticed that Baking Sheet had posted a Garlicy Polenta Breadstick recipe. Score!
The recipe and result is quite similar to that of Scones and I think that I can quite easily change the recipe to be Savoury Polenta Scones instead.
Polenta Breasticks
(adapted a LCBO recipe via a Baking Sheet recipe)
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup polenta
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried dill or rosemary
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper, to taste
4 tbsp butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1/2 cup milk
2 egg whites
Preheat oven to 220°C. Grease a baking tray or line with baking paper.
In a large bowl, mix together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar, garlic powder, dill/rosemary, salt and pepper. Add butter and rub in with your fingertips or use a dough blender until mixture resembles sand and no large chunks of butter remain.
Combine milk and egg whites in a small bowl, then add to flour mixture, stirring until it forms a dough. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface until it is approximately 1/4-1/2 inch thick (about 1 cm). Use a floured knife to cut into even strips, roughly 2cm wide.
Transfer strips to baking trayss, leaving room between them.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown.
Allow to cool before serving. Leftovers can be wrapped and re-crisped in the oven.
After my sticks had been in the oven for a little while, I gave them a spray of garlic olive oil and returned them to the oven, mine also took a lot longer than 12 minutes to cook. Of course you can change the herbs to suit your tastes, or perhaps sprinkle with some cheese before placing them in the oven.
They are great as a quick snack, just grab a stick and walk out the door 🙂
I have been making a lot of little things recently but have put off posting about them as I have not taken photos, well now I have.
Made Cranberry Muffins again last night, but this time I used whole meal flour and raw sugar instead of the plain and white it calls for, didn’t end up adding rolled oats though – next time 🙂
Over a week ago I made Amy Butler’sNappy Bag, the fabric I used is Floral Song#2055 from Print Concepts. For the interfacing of the bag and one set of the pockets, I used iron-on wadding to give my camera extra protection when it is in the bag. I didn’t add the mobile phone or bottle pockets either.
When I make this bag again, which I will because I do like the style, the strap is going to be cut thinner as it is really wide on the pattern (10cmish) and longer as it doesn’t sit in the right place on my body. Also going to make the whole bag narrower and round the corners. Just a few changes 🙂
In the way of scrapbooking have done nothing for me in quite a while now, but did manage some layouts and cards for an upcoming thing. Speaking of that, my next challenge is up on the Scrapbook Creations website – the prize this month is great, go on and enter!
After seeing the Ramona Peep Dolls by Roxy at Etsy, I showed them to Mum and said I have to learn how to Crochet as I want to get the pattern and make one, yeah well I can make a standard chain all right and can do a couple of rows, but yeah going to take a while before I can attempt Ms Ramona 🙂
After seeing Hillary’s Shrinky pins on Wee Wonderfuls moons ago, I picked up a pack of Shrinky Dink Plastic whilst at a new scrap shop the other month. To make the shapes I used a spirograph (idea from Jodi) and the Owl Stamp from a ColorBox Stylus Moulding Mat, though most of the owls look more like cats to me.
But that is not all, I have started painting glass again in preparation for Christmas, all the ornaments I am working on at the moment are only partially completed so no photos yet.
The big thing is that I have discovered the wonderful joy of Needle or Dry Felting. It Rocks! I visited Gerry’s yesterday where I picked up some needles and two bags of wool tops in Grape Jelly and Bean Sprout, such yummy colours. On the Bus home, I made a die, which is about 1.25″ on the sides, it isn’t perfect but it gave me the hang of how to do it. I have made some more little things as well, one of which is a flower that I made based on a tutorial by Maitreya of Craftlog, I need to add a middle yet. After making and playing, I have ordered some more needles and a pack of primary bright wool from ebay. So many ideas, so much time 🙂
Yes, they are such fun to have around 🙂 A quick catch up of the last couple of days. Last Thursday night, Ali (and Liam) and I went to see The Whitlams at The Zoo, Ali has a very good write up of the concert – go here.Helen and The Whitlams, they roll off the tongue like yogo and bread, cherries and milk, Summer and Seth, etc all such perfect matches. I was first introduced to The Whitlams in late 1998 and well since then, they have always been there for me and I am proud to say they are the only band for which I actually own each CD (Timmie, I could never steal your music!). However I have only seen them as a band twice, Tim and Jack as a duo once and an amazing concert with Tim and The Australian Chamber Orchestra at the Concert Hall. This concert is going to always stand out in my Whitlam memory as one of the greatest, just such pure energy all round, from the band, from the crowd, from Tim saying thank you after each song (at least 23 times, since that is how many songs they played :))Happy Times, nothing beats the Whitlams, they are one of those bands where every single song just rocks 🙂
Friday evening was Rachel’s 21st so Andrea and I hammed it up at the Toowong Bowl’s Club for a sausage sizzle, rounds of barefoot bowls, lots of talk and enjoying Rach’s day. Laughs all round as we tried our dandiest to get the bowl near the jack. Rachel scored a bunch of totally awesome presents as well 🙂 From me, she received 18×12 print of Fern Awakening, which is the very first time I have given someone a print of my work 🙂
Saturday – Exam = > Boring!
Then on Sunday night, Mum, Granddad, Sam and I joined NPAQ for a Batty Bat Cruise, lots of fun, enjoying a cruise up the river to Indro Island, checking out all the water front houses, chilling, talking and enjoying a sausage sizzle.
Over a week ago I made 
After seeing Hillary’s
