Rugby Player of the year

Congratulations to Eli. Kaiapoi Rugby Football Club (KRFC) Under 9 Rugby Player of the year. Well deserved, so proud!!

Refashion a business man's shirt - sewing for me

From this

To this

I really liked the material that this shirt was made from. 100% organic cotton and it has a natural look and image to it. I should have taken a close up of it to really show. Anyway. There was enough material in it to make a little cap sleeve top for me. I actually used a pattern this time (very unlike me!). I have decided that the front looks OK but I do not like the back, it is all puffy and doesn't drape. So I am going to try putting the pattern on the bias and see how it goes as I think that will give it a lot more shape. As Gilli pointed out - it could do with being longer, but because it was a refashion I did not have enough material to do that.

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Number 21

Yes this is charity quilt number 21. Off to Hope Homes in the package. A real kids quilt. The centre Winnie the Pooh and the alphabet are a panel. The rest was some matching strips which I have added. But it all looks like it is one panel. I made this when I was on my quilting retreat recently. Started it, cut it, patched it together, sandwiched it, quilted it (some straight line quilting, some stipple and some outlining) and then bound it. All in about 4 hours. Yippeee!!! Was so intent on getting it finished that I forgot to take process photos.

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Best Date ever

Well that is what he told me when I let him watch 20 minutes of the all blacks game while we were on our date night! I took a photo to prove it.

We had dinner out, then went for a walk in a nearby scenic reserve (very reminiscent of when we were dating), then went and had a cup of tea and viewed the Bledisloe Cup match for 20 minutes while waiting for the movie start time. Watched 100 step journey and came home. Great night out and I scored brownie points!!

Wow a Christmas present completed already

 Way back here my Mother in Law decided to try making a quilt. It was gorgeous but when she finished I think that was it!! So I was the receiver of scraps. I have been pondering for ages about what to do. In the end I made two cushion covers to go on the spare bed with the quilt she made.

I do hope that she likes them! I am trying to branch out and do different quilting. So am quite pleased with the result on these. It is so much easier to practice FMQ on small pieces! Will have to do more.

The centre of each block

Two cushions ready for Christmas

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Amazing chocolate cake

At work the tradition is that on your birthday you bring in a cake. Everyone stands around the office, eats cake and has a bit of time out chatting about non work stuff.

I made this cake. I don't normally use this recipe as only Jakob and I really like it and I do not need to eat a whole cake myself!! Plus it uses two blocks of chocolate. This is a super dense, very nutty flavoured cake. The interesting thing is that the nutty flavour comes from putting fresh breadcrumbs in the mixture. Yes there are some almonds which enhance that. But when I first tried this cake I thought it must have been packed with almonds.

This is Kris recipe. I miss her. She is a great friend and when your great friend is on the other side of the world it is difficult to keep up to date. So thanks for making this cake and sharing the recipe Kris.

Kris's nutty chocolate cake.
250g butter
250g plain dark chocolate (over 60% cocoa solids)
250g Castor sugar (fine sugar NOT confectioners sugar)
250g ground almond
6 eggs
125g  fresh bread crumbs (which is about 4 slices of toast bread)

icing - 150g dark chocolate
           1 Tablespoon clear honey
           75g butter
180oC for 45min-1hr  in a 10 inch round cake tin

melt choc, cool. Cream butter and sugar and add eggs one at a time. It does curdle with that many eggs, but don't panic. Pour in chocolate and mix. Add almonds and breadcrumbs and fold in until coated.
Cook. If you want, when it is out of the oven you can prick holes in the top and pour over 2 tablespoons brandy.

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It's not just me!!

When I was away on my yearly quilting retreat I sat by Colleen. Now that it not unusual in itself but it was really funny that we were in the same seating this year and we were the only two people using recycled fabric. I wished I had a photo of what Colleen made. She had all her husbands old business shirts that had worn through at the collar and cuffs and had cut them into rectangles and made it into the most gorgeous summer beachy look quilt. 

Colleen and I upcycling a storm

I was also using business shirts big time. My nightie had ripped as the back was just so worn. But the bottom material was still really good (it also had been a refashion). So I still needed a nightie as I was short. Add one blue and white pinstripped business shirt and voila, a new nightie. All the binding ws made by me too. The blue binding at the bust and sleeve was another cotton shirt and the neck binding was a stripe business shirt.

So for those who know the band "Flight of the Concords", due to the material this nightie is made from I have named it "business time"!
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