Monday, April 26, 2010

Mother's Day Card

This one of the cards I've been making for the upcoming Mother's Day stall at school. I'll post some more up when I get a chance to take pics.

Chocolate Freckle Slice

I made this slice today. The recipe is from AWW Easy Baking . Just searching for the book online now, I was surprised to find the RRP is $24.95, I paid about $8 for it at Sam's Warehouse a couple of month's ago - SCORE!!!

This recipe makes 35 sqaures - about 4x4cm each. It's only about 1cm deep, but it's VERY rich, kind of like a fudgy cookie. So one square, OK maybe two, are enough...

Chocolate Freckle Slice
185g butter, softened
220g jar chocolate hazelnut spread
1/3 cup (75g) firmly packed brown sugar
1 3/4 cups (250g) plain flour
200g packet freckles

Preheat oven to 160 deg C (140 C fan forced oven). Grease and line a 19x30cm lamington pan.
Beat butter, spread and sugar in a small bowl with an electric mixer until combined. Stir in sifted flour in two batches.
Press dough into pan, smooth surface with a spatula. Bake for 25 minutes.
Remove pan from oven and immediately press freckles firmly into slice in rows about 1.5cm apart. Cool slic in pan, cut when cold.
Makes 35 sqaures.

Crochet

**eta** 5 June 2010... When I started this new blog I was really busy, so I posted a few photos with every intention of writing about them. But it was in the middle of my first semester of uni so I had absolutely no time! So semester 1 is now over and I have a bit of breathing space - and hopefully some creative time :)

In my blog surfing travels over the past couple of years I've come across some gorgeous crochet blogs. I decided I'd love to take up crochet again. I remember making a granny square rug when I was about 8 years old, but I'd totally forgotten how to crochet - apart from chain stitch... Last year I attempted to start a granny square rug, but failed dismally. I couldn't find any tutorials on youtube, or anywhere else that didn't totally confuse me. Then... a few weeks ago I found this easy to follow tutorial on youtube . I couldn't wait to get started (even though it was mid semester) I went to Spotlight and was delighted to find some gorgeous wool in bright colours - on sale! I'm using Moda Vera 8 ply 100% wool in colours: 08 (white), 04 (pink), 34 (green), 37 (turquoise), 15 (orange). The colours in brackets aren't the real names, I'll need to find out what they are. Only the numbers are on the labels, so if you are looking for the same wool, it should be easy enough to identify.

Above is the first square I did. It took a while. But I've now sped up the process a little and it takes me about half and hour to complete one square - hoping I can get a little faster.

By the end of the first week I'd made all these (plus a couple of rejects).
If you're looking for some crochet inspiration have a look at attic24 , I came across this blog last year and it's the first one that inspired me to take up crochet again. Then I discovered Sarah London's blog and Retro Mummy These are just my faves, but there are many more. Their work is all so pretty and neat. I have a long way to go in perfecting my crochet, but I'm loving it...

Hummingbird Slice

Recipe to follow...when I find where I wrote it down. This is why I need this blog - so I don't lose my recipes lol!