I'm back!

I didn't intend on being away so long! Computer issues and the start of a new semester at uni have kept me a little occupied. All seems to be going smoothly now :)

This semester my uni schedule is really hectic, but I'm absolutely loving it! The subjects are so much more interesting than first semester. As part of our Home Ec teacher degree we have to do a couple of TAFE courses so we actually gain cooking & sewing skills - which I already have, but it will be useful to have something "official" to back up my skills. A couple of weeks ago we started our first TAFE course which is Commercial Cookery. Apparently it's the same course that apprentice chefs have to do. I'm really enjoying it. We have to wear the full chef uniform - black & white checked pants, white chef jacket & hat etc. So far we've learnt to make chicken stock from scratch, precision cuts like julienne, brunoise, macedoine and a few others. I've only had a couple of minor injuries so far - a tiny cut and I burnt my finger on an oven door - ouch! It's so much fun though, working in a huge commercial kitchen and being trained by chefs. I think next year we progress to pastry chef skills. I can't wait for that!

I have been doing some creating, but nothing I can share just yet. Soon...

I can share a uni assignment that was just handed back to me a few days ago. I actually started it last year, but never had it marked. My start at uni has been a rollercoaster ride - I had a bit of a false start last year and pretty much had to start over this year (apart from one subject). But I seem to have found my "groove" with balancing study + family life this year and so I am enjoying it a whole lot more. Not to blow my own trumpet, but I was thrilled to have received a couple of High Distinctions, a couple of Distinctions and a Credit for last semester's assignments. It was incredibly reassuring that I am indeed on the right track. Below is my Design and Technology project that I received a HD for. As well as the quilt the assignment included a Design Folio, each making up 50% of the total mark.

I was prepared to make a new project for this assignment for this year. But my lecturer was happy for me to resubmit this one seeing as it was never marked. I had run out of time to even quilt it last year. So it was nice to be able to finish it off properly for this year.

Well I had better hit the books again! So wrong to be stuck here doing psychology homework when the weather is so gorgeous - almost springlike - outside. Sigh...

Exciting news...

Many people have already seen it, but for those who haven't check out Ezcetera Magazine by Kim Archer and her talented team. It is full of great projects and pretty pictures - it definitely has Kim's gorgeous fresh signature style stamped all over it. The first issue is free, then subsequent issues will only be $4.50AU - what great value!

What makes this all just that little bit more exciting for me is that Lisa , from Kim's editorial team, contacted me a few weeks ago to ask if they could link to my African Flower tutorial in the mag. I was so thrilled to have a part, even a small one, in such an awesome project.

Above is the pic I sent to be included in the magazine.

Well the kettle has just boiled so I'm going to make a cup of tea to enjoy while I have a good read of Ezcetera Magazine. In the busyness of the morning, I've only had time for a quick flick through so far.

Beautiful books

I love that we are all avid readers in our family. My children seem to be at an in between stage with books and it can be hard to find decent books for them to read. They still love picture books and we read (and re-read) LOTS of those. But at 6 & 8 yrs old they are both getting into reading novels. My son loves reading The Famous Five (I'm sure my daughter will love these too as she gets more confident with her reading), Zac Power and anything to do with Star Wars. Girls books are a little harder to find - ones with a bit of substance anyhow. Recently for one of my uni courses (about literacy) I had to read a lot of books - 3 or 4 each week for the semester across a broad range adult - teen - child... So I spent a lot of time looking for books that I'd enjoy. I came across a gorgeous new range of books aimed at Australian "tween-aged" girls. The series is called Our Australian Girl and there are 4 sets of books in the series. Each set features a different Australian Girl - Grace, Letty, Poppy and Rose. There are 4 books about each of the girls and the stories are based on Australian history from the early 1800's - early 1900's.

So far only the first 2 books about each girl has been released. The third books are due out on 3rd July and the 4th books will be available in November I think. I've really enjoyed reading them - so have both of my children. It's great reading about familiar places - Parramatta, where I grew up, Echuca, where we have relatives. They aren't super girly and there is quite a bit of adventure in them so they appeal to young boys too - well they have to my 8yr old :) All of the characters are strong in their own way. I love that each girl's story is written by a different author, so each story has a different 'feel'. While the stories are fictional, they are based on true history so it's a great way for kids to start learning a little bit of Australian history. They are not all sunshine and smiles - you learn about the conditions on the ships when convicts and others came to Australia from England and also about the poor treatment of Aborigines. In saying that, it's told in a very age appropriate way - not dark and heavy, but still factual. There is a lot of uplifting stuff too - like how strong these girls are when facing really tough times. At the end of each book are some facts about what life was like in Australia at that time. There are also some teachers notes on the website for the first series of books. So far I've read the first two books about Grace and Poppy and I have just started the first one about Letty. I'm loving them. I can't wait for the rest to come out to find out where the stories end. Each of the books is about 100 pages long, so an easy read. If you have tween girls - get these books. I'm sure you won't be disappointed :) I could go on and on - I really love these books. Check out the website for information about each of the characters and excerpts from the books, competitions plus lots more. I've been inspired to make something based on these books. But more on that another time...

Soup Sunday

We eat a lot of soup in our house in the cooler months. I love soup and so do my often picky-eater children. It's a nice healthy way to warm up on a cold day - I often heat up some soup for an after school snack. So I'm thinking of maybe starting a semi-regular feature here on my blog  - Soup Sunday. Semi-regular because my schedule changes a lot once uni starts again - I'm on break for a few weeks now :) This might encourage me to keep on trying out new recipes - which I have been doing lately - instead of just sticking with the same old ones.

So to kick off Soup Sunday I am sharing a recipe for Chicken Wonton Soup that I made last night - recipe from July 2011 Issue of Super Food Ideas. It was so quick and easy to make - although my wonton folding technique needs a little ok a LOT of work :) Which is why there is only a before photo of the wontons. Just so there is proof that I actually made them - I was too embarrassed to show them folded though! Don't be put off though - it was a really simple soup to make and is a nice change from regular chicken and vegetable soup.  It would be really easy to experiment with the flavours too. I'm thinking next time maybe pork mince with some hoisin or kejap manis with garlic and ginger might be nice to try. I'll definitely be searching the internet for some wonton folding tutorials! We normally have some kind of bread or damper with our soup, but this time we had mini spring rolls on the side instead which was really nice.

Chicken Wonton Soup
Ingredients
250g chicken mince
24 wonton wrappers
4 spring onions
4cm piece of ginger
1 litre chicken stock
2 cups water
3 bunches baby bok choy
Sesame oil to serve

Finely chop 2 of the spring onions and finely grate half of the ginger and add them to the chicken mince.
Mix together really well.
Add a heaped teaspoon of chicken mixture to the centre of a wonton wrapper, brush the edges of the pastry with a little water and fold to enclose chicken completely. Be sure to remove as much air as possible from inside the wonton and seal the edges well or you'll have the contents of the wontons all through the soup.
Cover wontons and set aside while you prepare the soup.

Pour chicken stock into a large saucepan along with the water.
Finely slice the remaining ginger and add to the stock.
Bring stock to the boil.
While stock is heating, finely slice remaining onions on an angle and slice the bok choy.
When stock has come to the boil, reduce to a simmer and add wontons and cook gently for 5 minutes or until cooked through.
Just before serving add onions and bok choy to the soup.
Serve with a few drops of sesame oil in each bowl. Serves 4

Chocolate Cheesecake Brownie Slice

 I can't remember where I found this recipe, but I'm sure it's from a magazine. It's another favourite in our house - there seems to be lots of favourites in the ever-growing "sweet" category of my recipe box :) This is much better the next day (or the day after that!) after it's been in the fridge - in fact I'm not too keen on it on the first day.

Chocolate Cheesecake Brownie Slice

Ingredients
Cheesecake mixture:
250g cream cheese (let it come to room temperature)
1/2 cup (115g) caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup plain flour

Chocolate Brownie mixture:
180g dark chocolate, chopped
160g butter, cubed
3/4 cup (155g) brown sugar
3 eggs, whisked
3/4 cup (115g) plain flour

Method

Preheat oven to 170 ^o C. Line 16x26cm slice tin with baking paper.

For cheesecake mix:

• Beat cream cheese and sugar with electric beaters until smooth then beat in eggs one at a time.
• Add vanilla and flour and stir until combined

For brownie mix:

• Melt chocolate and butter over a double boiler on a gentle heat. (Or gently melt using a microwave). Cool slightly.
• Add sugar and eggs and mix well.

Spoon cheesecake and brownie mixes alternately into the prepared tin. Swirl mixes with a skewer - don't overdo this step or it will end up all mixed together.
Bake for 30-35 minutes. Set aside to cool completely before cutting into about 20 squares (or 10 slices if you are using for dessert).
Best eaten the next day after it's been in the fridge overnight. I don't know if it freezes well as it's never lasted long enough in our house to have to freeze it! It's really delicious served for dessert with some icecream and raspberry coulis. I've been thinking of even adding some raspberries to the mix before baking - next time!

Star baby blanket

My friend, Ally, had her 3rd precious baby boy last week. As I mentioned in my earlier posts, I've started making a blanket for my little boy, but I decided to add to the squares I'd already done to make a baby blanket for Ally's new baby.

I used a pattern from Issue 25 of The Art of Crochet .It was pretty easy to make. I'm surprised at how simple crochet is! Most patterns only consist of a handful of the same stitches, just in different combinations. I wish I had retaught myself how to do it when my children were babies - I would have loved to have had blankets like these for them. Actually I do have a few large granny square blankets that my mum made for them when they were babies, which I plan to hold onto forever :)

For the star blanket I used Lincraft Superwash Wool in blue, lime and cream. I used about 2.5 balls of each colour, which was enough to make all 36 squares, join them and add the border around the blanket.

I just love these colours together - so... well so boyish! Time to restock so I can start on my son's blanket. His is going to be a little different. For starters, MUCH bigger as he is almost 8yrs old! The stars are only going to be an accent on his and there will be a few more colours - red, a couple of different shades/tones of blue, stone/beige... I can't wait to get started on it. But it will have to wait just a little longer. First I need to get through a week of prac teaching this week for uni (one day down, four more to go), as well as write a 2500 word essay due next week! Bring on uni holidays :)

African flower

I have been admiring this gorgeous flower pattern for a few months now. But until last night I hadn't attempted it because I thought it would be a bit tricky plus I wanted to finish my other projects first. Well they are super easy - if you can crochet a granny square you can do one of these. I've come across a couple of online tutorials and patterns and so I've kind of combined them so will share the way I've done them. I'll be using English/Australian terms as I haven't been able to find a tutorial for these that doesn't use American terms. You can find a tutorial with American terms here and the original pattern written in Afrikaans is found here .I hope my instructions are easy to follow. If you need further help, just add your question in the comments section.

Pictured below are three finished African Flower Hexagons. I prefer the one at the top where the two rows that make up the petals are the same colour. But to make it easier to see each row,  I'll be showing a step by step of one of the flowers using a different colour for each row. Excuse the quality of the pictures - I used my iPhone to take them all and haven't edited them at all.

I have used a variety of 8ply wool that I have in my stash and a 4.5mm hook

With your first colour, start with 5ch, then join with a slipstitch to form a ring.

First row: ch 3 (which will count as your first treble {tr}), 1 tr, 1 ch into the ring (2 tr, 1 ch) 5 times until you have 6 x 2 tr clusters (as pictured below). Join with a slipstitch through the top of your first ch3.

Row 2: Join 2nd colour in any of the ch1 spaces. Then ch3 (counts as first tr), tr 1, ch 1, tr 2 all into the chain space where you joined. Continue around (tr 2, ch 1, tr 2) in each chain space.

At the end of the round join with a slip stitch to the top of your first ch 3. Fasten off if you are changing colours for the next round, but you can continue with this same colour if you wish.

Round 3: join 3rd colour (if changing colour for this round) into any chain space.

Rnd 3 cont: ch3 (counts as first tr) and tr 6 all into the same chain space. Then tr 7 into each of the 5 remaining chain spaces.

Join with a slip stitch into the top of your first chain 3 and fasten off. You will want to choose another colour for the next round as it helps to define the flower petals.

Round 4: join next colour. Ch 2 (counts as first double crochet (dc) ),dc into each tr stitch from previous round. When you get to the space between the petals, treble right down through to the space in the second (light pink) round. You will end up with a long stitch, but this is what defines the petals. I've tried to show how this is done in pictures below.

So to do this treble stitch, as usual, yarn over hook but instead of inserting hook into the space in the dark pink round, insert it into the space in the light pink round. Then yarn over hook, bring it back through, yarn over hook and bring it through the first 2 loops on hook, yarn over again and bring it through the final 2 loops on the hook. Hope that makes sense! It really is just like doing a normal treble stitch.

Above - bring the hook back through and yarn over, ready to bring it through the first 2 loops on hook.

Above - the completed treble stitch. Continue around with a dc in each tr, and a tr between each petal as shown.

Join with a slip stitch into the top of the first ch 2 and fasten off.

Round 5: Join final colour and ch 3 (counts as first tr), tr into each dc. When you reach the centre stitch of each petal, (tr1, ch 1, tr1) all into the same stitch then continue with 1 tr into each stitch. This helps to form the hexagon shape. The (tr1, ch 1, tr1) into one space is also known as a V-stitch.

Above - first v-stitch.

Above - second v-stitch. In between each of the v-stitches I ended up with about 7 trebles I think. Continue this pattern all the way around.

When you reach the end, join with a slipstitch into the top of your first ch3. You can fasten off here, or add another border round if you wish - in either the same colour or a contrasting one.

I hope my instructions are all clear. Please feel free to ask any questions by commenting on this post and I will do my best to clarify. I love these flowers - I can't wait to get started on another blanket now! There goes my self-imposed rule to only work on one project at a time!

Newborn set

I made this set for a friend Ally's  new little baby boy. It was pretty quick to whip up - it only took an afternoon & a night to do. I used Bendigo Luxury 8ply in Koala . I only needed one ball (200g) and still have about a third of it left over. I love the natural colour for a new little baby boy! I love Bendigo wool - such great value! Next time I'm visiting family in Echuca I'll be making a trip down to the Bendigo warehouse :)

I made up the pattern for the beanie off the top of my head as I went. How gorgeous are the little booties. You can find the pattern for those here .They were super quick and easy to make, I did need to look up youtube to figure out one of the stitches I hadn't done before.

The pattern for this cute little cardigan can be found here .I was a bit apprehensive about making a cardigan, but it really wasn't that hard using this pattern. I did need to use a larger hook than the pattern called for (I used a 6mm). I love that it's made all in one piece - apart from the collar which is done at the end, but joined on as you crochet it. If you've only ever made granny squares, but want to try something a little more challenging, give this pattern a try. You might surprise yourself like I did!

I'm excited to be starting a new project for my almost 8yr old. The star squares from a couple of posts ago are the first part. But there is a lot more to it than just those. I'll share more about that soon! I'm flat out finishing assignments as it is the end of semester at uni. I can't wait to have a bit of breathing space from the end of next week and get back into some serious (fun!) crafting :)

Apple Jacket

How cute is this? I made it last night from a pattern I found from a new craft magazine - Mollie Makes which isn't available in Australia yet. I think it comes out June 9. There is a link at the top of the Mollie Makes site with sample pages from issue one where you can find the pattern for this :) I can't wait for the mag to arrive here. After Notebook magazine finished up a few months ago, I haven't found anything else that compares. Mollie Makes looks great though!

Start & finish...

I'm STILL going on the granny square blanket. It's almost finished. Joining the squares is becoming quite tedious so I am only doing one row at a time - and not very often! I've joined all the vertical rows and half of the horizontals - so it's nearly there. I just wish I had more hours in the day - don't we all? We're just finishing 2 weeks of school & uni holidays today and I thought I would have had some nice cold wet autumn days to sit inside and happily crochet away. But we've had almost 2 full weeks of glorious warm sunny days. I'm not complaining at all - it was nice to be able to spend lots of time doing outside things :)

Here is another reason I've been a little slow to finish the granny blanket! I've learned not to have more than one big project on the go. But when I came across the pattern for these star granny squares I couldn't wait to give them a try. I found the pattern in The Art of Crochet. I'm really happy with how they are turning out. They are quite easy to do too.

Back to uni for me tomorrow which means a busy couple of months ahead. Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in a bit a creative time every now and then!

On the home stretch...

 I've finished all the squares for this blanket and have started joining them. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to join them so I googled "how to join granny squares" and the first link that came up was for one of my favourite crochet blogs - Attic 24. Lucy's instructions are so clear and easy to understand, so that's the way I'm joining all 96 of my little granny squares. Lucy's technique gives a nice neat finish. I'm joining them all in rows vertically - on the picture below the first to rows on the right have been joined. So I'll continue along each vertical join, then do all the horizontals. Lastly I'll need to add a border and an edge. I'm thinking of doing another couple of rows of white treble clusters (is that what they're called?) for the border and then a scalloped edge (also in white). I don't really want to add any more colour. Any other suggestions?

Here are the squares all laid out. I tried not to agonise too much over the placement - which is not easy for me! I didn't want to repeat the same rows and I also tried to make sure I didn't have too much of one colour clustered together. So this is it - I WILL NOT move the squares around anymore :) I'm so glad to have it finished. I don't love it as much as I originally did, mainly  because I have found so many colour combinations (and wool suppliers!) that I love more since getting back into crochet & knitting. But I have loved the process. It's so nice to sit and crochet when I'm stressed - I've realised that maybe I should use a larger size hook when I'm stressed though as it shows the tension of my crochet haha! So I can't wait to start my next blanket - so many colour combinations and patterns to choose from, but I'm thinking a boyish blanket is in order and I already have a plan for it. I will be finishing this one before I start another one though - I've always been great at starting things but moving onto another more exciting project before the previous one is finished. I don't want all the hours that have gone into this project wasted - each square took me around 20-30 minutes to do, so that's a LOT of hours! As you can see, I have a lot of loose ends to work in too - ugh! Next time I'll try to do them as I go - not looking forward to such a tedious job, but it has to be done :(

So I'll be back soon with a finished blanket to show - and some better pics. I've been using my iPhone to take most of my photos lately (like the ones in this post) because it's so much more convenient than my DSLR and sometimes convenience wins out over quality :)

Hummingbird Slice

I can't remember where this recipe comes from, but it's become a fave in our house the past couple of years. I've made it so many times now I can almost do it without looking at the recipe card. It's a great recipe if you have a couple of ripe bananas that need to be used. In fact I think that's why I first tried baking it - I was getting a bit sick of banana bread. Never thought I'd be sick of banana bread! Actually, I'm not sure if I've posted my recipe for banana bread here. I will check the archives and add it if I haven't already :)

Anyway, onto Hummingbird Slice!

Ingredients
1 cup self raising flour
1/3 cup plain flour
1tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup dessicated coconut
450g can crushed pineapple (unsweetened), drained
2 large ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp finely grated orange zest (substitute for lemon, lime or a combination if you prefer)


Icing:
125g cream cheese
1 - 1.5 cups icing sugar mixture
1 tsp finely grated orange zest (substitute for lemon or lime as above)
2 tbs freshly squeezed orange juice (or lemon, or lime)


Preheat oven to 180 degC/160 C with fan.
Grease and line a 26x 16cm slice pan.
Sift flours and cinnamon into a large bowl. Stir in sugar and coconut then drained pineapple, banana and combined eggs, oil and zest.
Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Cool for 15 minutes in the pan then turn out onto a rack to cool completely. Spread icing on cooled slice and cut into approx 20 pieces.
Optional - sprinkle some extra dessicated coconut (or shredded as I have used) over the iced slice.

Icing
Beat all ingredients together until smooth. Adjust sugar, juice and zest quantities to taste.

Voila!

Happy New Year!

I always love the start of a new year - an opportunity to start over and make some changes. I suppose there's no reason you can't do that at anytime of the year. But there's something about having a fresh new calendar & diary - like a clean slate.

I don't do resolutions, simply because I'm lucky if I make to the end of January with them. I have set some goals for myself this year though - hopefully they are achievable and turn into lifelong habits, I think they are/will.

My main goals are to be organised, do more fun things with my children, and do something creative every single day - even if it is just one granny square for the blanket I started last year. Oh that's another goal - I want to FINISH that blanket so I can start some different ones :)

The first thing on my list is to be more organised. A few years ago after looking around the web at some "organisation" sites I came up with a cleaning routine that really worked for me. It involved writing each housework task on 3 x 5" cards. You can make them as simple (or complicated) as you like. First I sat down and made a list of jobs room by room. I categorised each task into daily/weekly/monthly/seasonal. To some people it might sound over the top, but like I said, this worked for me. I then labelled the dividers "daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal as well as each day of the week". I know this is sounding complicated, but stick with me :)

On the front of each card I wrote the category at the top (eg daily, weekly etc), as well as the room and task. On the back of the card I wrote a brief description of the job, including which cleaning products to use - which is really helpful when delegating jobs to other family members :)

I also had dividers labelled "week 1, 2, 3 & 4". On the first of the month I'd sort the monthly cards across these 4 weeks, so the monthly tasks would be spread across the month.

At the start of each week I would sort each of the weekly jobs into the daily sections (including any monthly ones in that week's section). Confused? It makes sense when you do it :) So each day I'd have my set of cards that needed to be done and as I completed each task, I'd file the relavant card back in it's original section - daily cards into the next day, weekly back in the weekly section etc etc.

It took a little while, but I did end up getting on top of the housework by using this system. I'd tried other methods in the past, but this one worked the best. I love the flexibility of it - eg if you have a busy day planned you don't put too many jobs in that day's section. There's also a sense of accomplishment as your daily section empties - often very quickly, leaving the rest of the day (apart from the after dinner jobs)  for more important (FUN) stuff! It also means that none of those annoying little jobs are overlooked. As long as you keep on top of your daily tasks, you never seem to have to have a massive spring clean - which is what I'm in the middle of doing right now - UGH!

It may not work for everyone. But I hope it might be a starting point for someone (or a few someones :) ) Change it to suit yourself. For some people it might be overwhelming to have the weekly & monthly jobs written down - so just start with a few daily ones and then add to your cards as you feel ready.

Since moving halfway across the country a couple of years ago I haven't used this card system - I haven't been able to find them either. So this week I'll be spending some time writing up a new set of cards.

I'd love to hear organisation tips from others - either yours or helpful links you've come across. I'm always looking for new tips to make life easier and function better :)