Fabulous Feijoas

We came home from an amazing holiday to the scent of gorgeous Feijoas now ready to eat. So for our first meal back home we started with a couple of fresh feijoas each. Ahh the aroma, the taste....sigh.

Resurrecting the Quilt

I stopped doing this quilt over a year ago. I had initially thought it finished. But when I put it on my bed I realised it was too small. I wanted a quilt that hung over the edge, not a bed topper. I made an edge of one white row, patterned squares and then another white row. I was seriously unhappy with that, it still wasn't big enough and so I parked it.

What was also in the mix was that I totally ran out of material to make it any bigger. Then the middle of last year I found some of the material line at the online shop Sew Pretty. (now you can go to The Make Cafe if you are in town - fab!). I still sat on it.

Finally yesterday I was watching the worst movie ever with Aaron, what a waste of 2 hours of my time. So I pulled out the quilt and the ironing board and cut material. I was going to unpick the entire border I had put on but today I have sewn a new edging on and it is looking more finished. And it is looking the right size. So now it is actually a finished top. Just the quilting to do (and that will be no mean feat as it is a huge quilt!!).

I link to these places

Quince

The amazing coloured Quince Jelly

Today I picked up the last of the Quinces. Chopped out any bad bits and removed the main core. Put them into a roasting dish and covered them with water and a bit of sugar, then poached them in the oven for two hours. Over the years I have found this to be the easiest way to keep quince looking good when preserved and nice and soft. After poaching the skin just slips off.

So for pudding tonight we had warm poached quince with thick cream. Yum.

This method leaves lots of juice. So I put it the liquid in a pot, added a couple of cups of sugar and slowly simmered it for 30 minutes. This has made the most amazing coloured jelly that will be fabulous for adding to gravy or having with cheese and crackers. This is the simplest way to make Jelly as the liquid does not go cloudy if stirred as there is no fruit in it.

A boys Refashion

The finished hoodie - Jakob trying to be Dr Spock.

In a week we are going to Fiordland. It is predicted to rain, rain and rain some more. Which it does anyway (it is not called a temperate rainforest for nothing!). With rain comes the cold. The Merino jersey that I made Jakob last year was not so sucessful. The hood was too big, the Merino wool was a bit too light.

So I had a rush job on. Make a boys hoodie with pocket by Friday. And it is done. It took me two nights (approx 3 hours altogether). I am much happier with this one, the Merino jerseys I chose were heavier and so held their shape better. Also I was pedantic about the finishing and have used bias binding to prevent stretching around the hood / neck area. The sleeve ends look a lot tidier too, the boys love the semiglove end that a lot of tramping gear has and I know it will be handy down in the cold. I also used stitch number 15 on my Bernina sewing machine, rather than the overlocker and this was very successful.

So what started as two ladies Merino jersey's bought from the Op Shop, are now one boys hoodie to keep him warm.

The two ladies merino jerseys I started with

Chop off the arms

bind the edge of the pocket

stitch the pocket on at the top and bottom, matching side seams

Cut sleeve down to size and re-inser

Sew up the arm and side seams, then add the cuffs and hood.

I link to these places.

Fun on my Scooter

The front bars are a nifty place to put my handbag

Going to church on my scooter has become normal practise for me. I love that I don't need to use the car and get there a whole lot quicker than when I walk. So the boys jump on their scooter, me on mine and Aaron tends to run.

Last Sunday when the boys were away tramping by themselves I scootered to Church as normal. The funny thing is because I was by myself I had all sorts of people looking at me, some tooted and waved, others talked to me on the way past and one person even hung out their car window and took photos of me on their phone!! It all just makes me laugh as I know that my look is not what people expect. They see the grey hair and a dress or skirt and just about fall over when they realise I am on my scooter. I went Grey at 25 and a lot of people cannot get past the colour of my hair and think I am the boys Nana, well I don't care as it is me and I know I am young. BUT I must say that sometimes I play up to it and have a laugh at other peoples surprise when I do crazy things.

Church was awesome as the Sunday School were sharing what they had learnt for the last term. All about the Armour of God. They had slowly made their armour over the term. It was fantastic.

my boys trying to hide from the photo

I link to these places

Fantastic Food

This weekend has been very busy, but in amongst all that we have had some awesome food.

On our way home from Soccer at Oxford, Jakob and I stopped in to see Colleen. Had a chat and cup of tea and came away with a crayfish!! Wow, one of her friends gives her them occasionally and she gave it to me. We had it grilled with garlic butter for an entree for Saturday night dinner.

Then on Sunday I had some monkfish to cook for dinner and I wanted it to be quick. So I went to one of my recorded programmes for Jamie Oliver's 15 minute meals and wrote down the Greek couscous recipe. Of course I changed it to what herbs etc I had in the garden. But his idea of whizzing all the ingredients up in the food processor was great and saved heaps of time. Also as I pick my veges from the garden I have a bit of cleaning and prep to do with them first.

And it was so fantastic that we all kept nibbling it before dinner.

My version of Jamie Oliver's 15 minute meals - Herby Vegetable CousCous

1/2 cup cous cous into a bowl with a lid
1 cup boiling water into that bowl and put the lid on.

1 cup baby frozen peas into a small bowl, cover with boiling water.

Into food processor put:  (American names)
2 charred red capsicum (peppers)
2 green fresh capsicum (peppers)
5 Spring Onions (green onions)
1 Big bunch coriander stalks and all  (cilantro)
1 green chilli - seeds removed

Whizz using the pulse button until well chopped but not mushy.

Into serving dish put juice from half a lemon and 2 tablespoons oil. Placed the whizzed veges into the bowl. Drain the peas and add, Add the cous cous.  Mix well

I link to some of these places

Quilted and Bound

The boys declared the quilt very comfy

Aaron trying it out after work

The quilting

Well the quilt for the caravan is finished. Whew and finally. Over the week I have been quilting it. I went for a sphere shape based around the diagonal seam. Never again. For a couple of reasons....
1. It meant the quilt went through my machine on a diagonal which was just too much bulk to push through the arm of the machine. Horrible to quilt - would do a cot or throw like this but never a bed quilt.
2. I like geometry- quilting this with a sphere shape takes away from the definition of the hourglass block and merges it more together. Now that is the effect you want on some quilts but not this.

The binding also should have been unpicked and redone as the larger part of the binding is on the back. But I had sewn the binding on by the time I realised and as this is for the caravan, therefore does not need to be perfect, I just left it as is.

So now Aaron and I have a flannelette quilt for our big bed and both the boys have ones for their beds. We will all be snug as bugs in rugs!!!! you can view the boys quilts here and here.

To look at the making process you can go to these posts on my blog.
pining out the quilt
patchwork finished
starting the piecing

I link to these places.