Riced

Currently my laptop is a sushi roll!
Water was accidently spilt into it and now its bathing in rice in the hope that "one day" it may turn on again! Without it I am slightly scattered and not so organised to blog about things.
BUT on the upside, I realise I can get on with alot of things without. I am thankful that my life can exist without a computer. Dont get me wrong, I love technology, computers phones etc but The time to just read some books has been nice.

And yes I cant wait to get a new one!!

Fabric challenge update - mix match quilt

I think officially, my challenge is over, but I haven't shown you everything I've made.

I cut lots of charm squares from random materials to mix together in some lap quilts for gifts.

I really enjoyed making these and they did manage to use up some of my stash, though I am amazed how much I could make from so little. I also realised I must buy so randomly as I found it hard to match up materials together without buying new stuff. I think I will purchase more carefully now.

I quilted it

I took the plunge. I quilted the baby quilt.

The more I worked on it, the more I loved it.

Was nice actually, as I wasn't that keen on it at the beginning but now I love how it has turned out.

I decided to only quilt half of the triangles.

It wasn't alot, but it was rather effective and really pulled the front and back together, so they flowed.

 I finished the edge in plain white which balanced the quilt, quite soft and pretty.

Its maybe more busy than I would love but I love it all the same and glad it came together so nicely.

I have a few quilts in mind that I would like to attempt next, when the time is right.

One step, then another

He has made his first steps, all by himself.

I cant believe how excited I am. I cant stop smiling and telling everyone. Did you hear? my boy took some steps!

Legally Blonde - The musical

Oh My God, Oh my god you guys!

Who loves a musical? I DO.

So when my friend offered me two tickets to the opening night I jumped across the table at her and said I'd Love them!

AND I took my girl to her first musical, Legally Blonde The musical.

We got all dressed up. It was very exciting. Our seats were in the dress circle and we were bang in the middle, a great view of the performance.

The lead - Lucy Durack was sensational. The music was very catchy and we are still singing and dancing to it (we downloaded the soundtrack) 

It was such a fun evening, just what I thought it would be. My girl Loved it and is keen to go back for more. 

While I was a bit of a party pooper and would not spend $40 on a stuffed dog in a bag or a tshirt or anything else on the promotional stand, I did buy my girl quite a fancy drink at half time

It was very Elle Woods!!

Fabric challenge update - Day ??!

I know I know... I have been slack with the updates BUT (and it is a big but) I have been very good with the challenge and my stash is (well was!) being used and not added to.

I was making presents for people, and I started to get adventurous (slightly!) with what I could make, which is what I have been so keen to do. I started to make things with my scraps, but it went a bit too far and I wasn't breaking the surface of my stash because I was using up scraps!
I decided to have a little destash on ebay and then I ended up booking a stall at a local school mini fete - my FIRST ever market stand. Exciting.
The sewing machine has had a workout and the stock piled up.

AND then I cracked and bought new fabric!!!! I needed it of course!

It was a great feeling to have to use up what I had and made me look with a new view but sometimes you just need another piece of fabric. And it has continued as I received more fabric in the mail today!!!

a skirt for church and shorts for everyday

It has been over a week since I have turned my machine on. Maybe two weeks if you dont count the small moment I wound the bobbin on and sewed up the 10cm of the backing quilt. Your right that doesn't count. So its been two weeks then.
And before that its been a while since I have made something for my littlies.

The little master had a 2 hour sleep yesterday. Are you still reading this or did you fall over?! I KNOW 2 hours is just what he and I needed. Into the 2nd hour and I thought I would push my luck and turn on the machine and I put together some quick shorts for him. He is growing so quickly - already out of the other pair I made him and with the weather becooming so warm he really needs them.

Cute aren't they. And so quick. Really quick. I even got to start on a skirt for my girl before he had woken - I was on a roll!
My girl is doing her first communion and today we needed to present her to the church community in preparation for it, I thought a new skirt for church was just what she needed.

Its really sweet isn't it, just like her.

Zombie

TIRED. I am.

Like a Zombie, though a few days late for Haloween - just missed it!

But when you wake to this cute face you cant be cranky, just tired.

Rainbow Layer Cake - EGG FREE version

The How-To

The Recipe - Basic Vanilla Cake

2 and 1/2 cups of plain flour

1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 and 3/4 cups of sugar

250g butter (melted - I think this is the key to the great cake)

1 and 1/2 cups of milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence/extract
red, blue and yellow colouring
NO EGGS! The receipe actually has 4 eggs But I just LEFT them OUT!

Vanilla Butter Icing

250g butter
2 cups of icing sugar sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla essence/extract

I used two quantities of the basic vanilla cake and one and a half quantities of the Icing. 

I have three round cake tins, so made three cakes from one quantity of cake mix.

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C

I started with the first quantity of cake mixture 

Place all the cake ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix until well combined.

I have an electric mixer which was perfect, but it could be done by hand, just give it a really good mix. 

While its mixing I greased and lined my three round cake tins. 

They are standard size - I think about 20cm tins.

I seperated the mixture equally between three bowls to colour each batch then put them into the cake tins which I had lined properly - cut out circles of baking paper, greased the base and laid the circles. Then cut strips, greased the sides of the tins and laid the paper around the sides. This made the cakes presentation that much better and no need for evening up the cakes or trimming them as they came out already so beautiful. Lining the tins this way was tedious and took the most time of the whole process! BUT it was worth it.

I made the red, yellow and blue cakes first as there was no colour mixing and I baked two cakes on the top rack and one below. My cakes took about 30 - 35 minutes. They browned slightly and I could tell they were ready with a skewer test and they had shrunk slightly from the sides - you know what I mean

I left them in the tins to cool on a rack before taking them out. Dont rush to take them out, or they could crumble and split. Tread carefully

To mix the other three I added small amount of darkest colour and touch more of the lighter. So for orange - a smidge of red and a dash of yellow and mix. Green - smidge of blue and dash of yellow. Purple is a little tricky smidge of blue and dash of red and see how it goes.

I baked the cakes the night before and stored them seperated by baking paper in airtight cake tins.
The next morning I mixed the icing - put a smidge on the base of my cake tray and laid the purple cake first, then a thin layer of icing then next cake till all cakes are on and finished with a fine layer on the red cake then put it into the fridge for about an hour before putting the final layer of icing over the complete cake. This step helps the final layer go in place easier.

I still cant believe it all worked so well and tasted delicious.

Quilting dilemna

Help Help

I decided to give pinwheels a go. Using charm square size squares it was actually very easy.

I found a quick and easy tutorial here

Mine were not 100% perfect but it still looks good, the yellow softly coordinates it all.

Im thinking of binding with plain white. Simple and sweet.

And I added a little strip at the back which is cute too.

BUT I cant decide how to quilt it together????

I cant wait to get back to the sewing machine and finish it.

Should I quilt in the triangles? do squares? free motion? Oh my!

What do you suggest??