Block envy!

Well, just got back from a long weekend at the beach again to find one of my blocks has been featured on Cut to Pieces blog. Angela is one of the designers in the 99 Modern Blocks book. I am doing 2 bees that use the designs from this book. With one of them, Modern 99  we get pre-chosen fabric sent to us each month and the other, Modern Minx, we use our own stash, but with guidelines from the bee member as to colours etc.

The first block for the year in the Modern Minx bee was Envy by Angela and I used Hope Valley fabrics by Denyse Schmidt for it. The solids are Kona Green Tea and Snow. It was easy to make and her directions simple to follow. 

In the Modern 99 bee, the first block was Mondrian by Jamie Moilanen.  The funny thing is that the angel  block I made for a member in the 3x6 bee group that didn't receive a block turned out to be for Jamie. I had no idea when I made it and I nearly picked the Mondrian to make for her. How funny would that have been!! It wasn't until I had mailed it off and was looking at making the Mondrian for this bee that I twigged that the name I had written on the envelope and the designer's name in the Modern Blocks book were one and the same!!

Endings and beginnings

From this on 28 October 2011.....

To this on 10 January 2012

Sarah has finally been given the all clear to start walking so this is her first day without crutches! Yay!!!
What a great start to 2012....

I am now back at work...what a shock to the system that is after 2 and a half months off looking after Sarah!  I am enjoying being back at work, but have noticed I don't have near enough computer or quilting time now! I have joined several bees this year as a way to try different types of quilting and to challenge myself.  Doing small blocks will be more achievable than trying to do a whole quilt too. This year will be busy, as along with working fulltime, I am also doing the last postgraduate paper in my Masters degree in Nursing.

I signed up to do an angel bee block for Jamie on one of the Flickr bee groups. Her request was bright colours with a black background.  Hope she likes it!

And I have booked our next holiday...having listened to all the suggestions from my giveaway, we have decided to go to Hawaii.  So all booked and will head off there for a couple of weeks in June. We thought after the stress of the last 3 months we want somewhere relaxing and warm, somewhere where Tony and I can just enjoy one another's company and spend some time together and somewhere that won't cost a fortune!

I love summer

I am definitely a sun lover. I hate the cold and look forward to the spring blossoms and lambs as I know then it won't be long til summer is here. We have a permanent caravan site at Mount Maunganui and spend a lot of our summers here.  I wondered whether we should come over this summer given that Sarah wasn't that mobile but she insisted on wanting to come over.  So we all came over on Boxing Day for 2 weeks. Tony went back to work on Tuesday and I go back next week which will be a shock to the system after 2 months off work caring for Sarah. I just love being close to the sea and the beach...there's something about walking along the beach with the waves crashing around you and a gentle breeze blowing.

It certainly is a little more challenging but Sarah is pretty mobile on her crutches now over short distances. She was determined to go to the beach and swim today so off Hannah, Sarah and I trotted with the beach towels, sunscreen and a good book for me.  She is such an independent wee girl and so crutches all the way to the water's edge then her big sister helped her into the water.

Nick came down later and just chilled for a while with us.

I haven't done any quilting at all for over 2 weeks. I have joined a couple of quilt bees though...looking forward to getting started on them.  This time at the beach is all about family and relaxing and looking forward tithe year ahead.

Christmas baking

All the shopping is done, presents bought, wrapped, and under the tree. All that is left to do is some Christmas baking.  I love baking at this time of the year as I love leafing through all my Christmas books and deciding what to make.  One of my fav books is Nigella's Christmas Kitchen, so I whipped up these Chocolate Christmas Cookies and Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookies yesterday from her book.

Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients
150g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
75g rolled oats (not instant)
125g soft butter
75g dark brown sugar
100g caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
75g dried cranberries
50g pecans, roughly chopped
150g white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180oC/ 350°F/gas mark 4.

Measure out the flour, baking powder, salt and rolled oats into a bowl.
Put the butter and sugars into another bowl and beat together until creamy — this is obviously easier with an electric mixer of some kind, but you just need to put some muscle into otherwise — then beat in the egg and vanilla.
Beat in the flour, baking powder, salt and oat mixture and then fold in the cranberries, chopped pecans and chocolate chips.
Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into a ball with your hands, and then place them on a lined or greased baking sheet and squish the dough balls down with a fork. You may need two baking sheets or be prepared to make these in two batches.
Cook for 15 minutes; when ready, the cookies will be tinged a pale gold, but be too soft to lift immediately off the tray, so leave the tray on a cool surface and let them harden for about 5 minutes. Remove with a spatula to cool fully on a wire rack.

Chocolate Christmas Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/8 cups soft butter ( 2 1/4 sticks, 18 tbsp)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

Topping

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup boiling water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

candy sprinkles or sanding sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F Line a cookie sheet with parchment or Silpat.

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Sift 1/3 c cocoa powder into the mixture and beat well. Sift together flour, baking soda and baking powder, and add to mixture. (Optionally, combine everything in a food processor and mix until combined.).

Form 1 tbsp sized balls. Place on cookie sheet at least 2" apart, pressing down into fat discs. (The dough will be very sticky; gloves may be a good idea.).

Bake 15 minutes. The tops will develop a cracked appearance. Cool 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack until completely cooled. (Placing a sheet of newspaper under the rack will help catch drips in the next step.).

For the topping, combine 2 tbsp cocoa powder with confectioner's sugar, boiling water and vanilla in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat and whisk until smooth. Cool 10 minutes.

Drizzle 1 tbsp of glaze on each cookie, spreading lightly with the back of the spoon, then sprinkle with sprinkles or sanding sugar. Work with 6 cookies at a time so the glaze doesn't dry out before applying the sprinkles.

I also went blueberry picking the other day and with the help of 2 willing  bribed teenagers, we scored ourselves loads of fresh blueberries. I think they ate more than they picked but not to worry. then whipped this Blueberry Cheesecake up for dessert.  

SMS Giveaway Winner

Wow, whose fingers are numb from all the blog hopping this week? I have had so much fun and found lots of new blogs to follow.  There is so much talent out there in blogland!

I loved reading all your answers. I tried to reply to all comments, but some people are still no-reply bloggers which means I have no way of getting in touch with them.  It was fun reading about all the places that are special to people for whatever reason.  I now have a few more places to add to my list that I hadn't even considered....who knew Oregon would be so popular! The favourites that kept popping up time and time again were Italy, Paris, NYC, San Francisco, Canada, Hawaii and Oregon. Lots of you had many happy memories of those places.

So without further ado, the winner of the Bliss fabrics is Kath who was lucky number 47

Will send you an email Kath...Congratulations and I hope you have fun with the fabrics.  Thanks for entering my giveaway. I am planning to have another one in the New Year, as I had so much fun with this one.

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day

Yay, it's here. I love  Giveaway Day.  I have met so many amazing people through Giveaway Day in the past and found so many new blogs.  If you are new to my blog Welcome, and I hope you stay around for a while.

I am giving away some of the leftovers from my Bliss quilt.  There are 7 pieces of fabric with most of them measuring about 11" x 22". I just adore this range and it is probably one of my fav ranges of all time. There is also a limited edition pack of silk thread from Dinky Dyes, an Australian hand dyed thread designer.

All you have to do to have a chance at winning this is to tell me
where one of your favourite places is and why? 
I love travelling and am always on the lookout for new places to go. We try to go overseas every year...sometimes twice a year!

If you are a new or regular follower you get an extra chance, so be sure to leave a second comment, letting me know if you are. I will post internationally as well.

Have fun blog hopping!

Christmas Wallhanging completed

I started this wallhanging last year and ran out of metallic thread, so put it to one side until I could get some more thread.  It was after Christmas when I finally got more thread and I really didn't feel like making Christmas themed  things after Christmas had been and gone, so put it to one side and completely forgot about it.  With the silly season upon us now, I thought it was time to drag it out and complete it.

This was my first attempt at FMQ, so please don't look too hard at the background! I then quilted stars on the gold speckly border. Once I got into the FMQ, I really enjoyed it. Got caught a couple of times losing my train of thought and it got a bit pointy or strange shaped!! I didn't want to quilt over the tree so it probably would be a lot easier if I had picked a quilt to just go wild over without having to worry about avoiding bits of fabric.

I have put little Christmas lights and gold stars over the tree, which don't show up that well in the photo, but actually look really cool on the actual wall hanging.