Mandala? Doily?

Ah, the best laid plans of men and mice!  I was going to complete my ‘Olympia’ bunny for my grandniece Kendal this week.  But this happened!

I managed to do the body of the bunny (by the way my first toy ever!) And while I was doing the pink and white dress realized that it and the ecru colour of the rabbit didn't match.

The pattern was in white, I had no white so off to the wool shop (any excuse!).  So I got started on a new bunny.  You can’t see in the photo that the pink and white dress has glitter, just right for a princess. 

I decided that the ecru rabbit would be great for Kendal’s brother, dress him in a baggy top and shorts.  So while in the shop I kept an eye out for suitable wool.  In the discount basket they had just the job – variegated 4 ply.

Ah, it tantalized me all day, and next for some reason I was crocheting mandalas.  Where did that come from!  Could it be from the Simply Crochet Magazine I had just brought with a Mandala tantalizing me (we get the magazine about 2 months behind here in NZ). Or was it the lovely mandala Chrissie had last week, or the tutorial by Lizzie here…. Whatever the reason the bunny has been abandoned and I am playing with the variegated wool.

 I have been so inspired by this wool that I went to the wool shop today and brought all she had of it - 14 balls.  I am thinking a shawl? Perhaps a baby’s blanket – there is a new arrival soon in my extended family.

I think I was inspired by my garden.  This miniature rose has had a new least of life this autumn.

One question, to me these are doilies, so what makes a mandala –is it when you add the different colours yourselves and not the lazy way I did relying on luck making the changes for you?  Whatever, I do know that I will be doing more of these!  I am trying to stop my hands going to my stash and picking out colours, well at least till I finished the kids bunnies!  So hopefully I will show the bunnies next week.

Today I am linking to Yarn Along link up.  Why not head over there and see what other lovely yarny stuff is being created.

A hat, an apple cosy and a rhubarb and custard crumble tart!

I am very pleased with the hat I crocheted this week.  I got the pattern from a library book called Hooked Hats.  This is a cloche style; I like the slight brim as I don’t suit beanies.  What is cool about this one is that you can crochet different colour trims to suit what you are wearing.

It uses two stands of double wool so I decided to use different colours giving it a tweedy look.

There are a couple of hats that I like the look of and I have a request to do a beanie for a young friend.

Another library book I got out on Monday was very inspiring

The author is a blogger from Dorset – Sara Sinaguglia. I was very taken with the apple cozies, they make me smile and have a very useful purpose – protecting the apple from bruises etc. when you want to put one in your bag when you are on the go.  I had to have a go.

Sara has make very pretty apple blossoms in fine crochet cotton to attach – don’t think I am up to that yet

Another project that I have started is this gorgeous bunny, will suit my grandniece Kendal!   She is three and very much into fairies and princesses and this bunny is certainly a princess with her beautiful dress.

Now a recipe, that I made up yesterday.  I had seen a recipe for rhubarb and custard cake, but it looked very complicated.  I have a lot of rhubarb to use up as it will start to die down soon.

I picked a bunch and was going to give them a blast in the oven but suddenly thought why not the microwave, so I sprinkled sugar on the chopped up rhubarb covered with cling film (used no water) and cooked for 8 minutes at 50 per cent power.  I t was good as the oven and used less power.

Next I made some custard up, but you could use readymade, it needs to be fairly thick.

Then I made some short crust pastry but quite short so that I could reserve some for the crumble topping.  I baked the pastry blind as I didn’t want the bottom to be soggy as I was going to serve it up to some dinner guests.

Then I put spoonful’s of rhubarb and custard in the crust.  I wanted there to be distinct patches of custard and rhubarb.  Then I scrunched up the reserved pastry added 2 sppons of brown sugar and I half tsp. ginger to the crumble.  Then I baked it in oven till the crumble was brown,  I also used up the rest of the custard and rhubarb and crumble mix in little dishes.

It was delicious and my guests all wanted the recipe!

So as you can see a busy few days.  Tomorrow will be busy too as my grapes are ready and I have to pick them before the birds get them!  I will make grape cordial for the winter.

Have a great day everyone see you soon.

Linking today with Chrissies Crafts

Store Cupboard Yuminess - Vegetarian Moussaka

Eating alone tonight, just the two of you or no time for fiddling with lots of ingredients.  There is no need to have toast and beans!  With just a tin of that and a jar of this and a vegetable that needs to be used up you can prepare very quickly a lovely meal.

I was very tired a few nights ago and didn’t feel like cooking; on the bench was an eggplant that was screaming at me to be used.  I had brought it at the local car boot market a well over a week ago!  I am a sucker for their lovely purple hues. I love eating them any which way.  Perhaps my favourite way of all is Moussaka.

I looked at it felt it, I couldn’t leave it any longer!  I opened my cupboard and looked.  Ah ha!  Vegetarian moussaka flashed into my consciousness, I discovered this a little while ago, very quick and sumptuous. With a tasty side salad from the garden, just what the doctor ordered.

Vegetarian Moussaka

1 tin beans (any type, I used cannelloni, I have used all sorts, a tin of mixed is very good).

Third jar of ready-made pasta sauce (one with chunky vegetables is ideal but not essential, I used plain above).

1 eggplant

1 egg

Cup plain yoghurt

Cup grated cheese

Heaped tbsp. s/r flour

Drain Beans put in casserole dish, Add pasta sauce , may need more but don’t make it too soupy.

Slice eggplant and fry in oil, use the oil very hot so it doesn’t get suck up by the eggplant. (I don’t salt eggplants as the varieties we grow today are not bitter.  It may differ in various countries)

Layer the eggplants on top of bean mix.

Beat egg in a bowl, add flour and mix well.  Pour in yoghurt and add cheese reserving some to sprinkle on top of casserole.  Mix well and pour over the eggplant layer.

Bake at 180C. for ½ hour or till golden and bubbly.  Take out of oven and let sit for 10 minutes.  Just time to make the salad!  Serve with salad and crusty bread.

Note: I have used slices of cooked potato when eggplants are expensive in Winter

My Salad

Toss together:

Buttercrunch (Tom Thumb) lettuce,

Leaves of rocket, sorrel and coriander

Chopped yellow or red capsicum

Segments of mandarins (I find if I use fruit in salads, a dressing is not missed)

Freshly ground salt and pepper

Enjoy.

Recent photos – magenta love

 The above is the start of a jumper I am crocheting , the stitch pattern based on the cal blanket I am doing. (see last post) .  Today I finished my hat from the library book, it is very nice, I kept up with my theme of magent and crochet the trim in hot pink.  The hat uses two strands, one navy and the other purple.I might do another from the book before I return it.  Will show photo next post.  

Got a couple of more books on crochet out of the library this morning and found a rabbit pattern that I will do for my grand niece, Kendal who lives in Perth WA.  Also some other lovelies that I will no doubt start in the coming weeks!!!

It has been rather humid and hot here today the after effects of the cyclone Lucy.  Luckily it missed my region but Northland and Auckland got hit quite bad.  

Have a great day!

Pink and Cozy!

Now I am not a pink girly girl, I am more into bright colours and zany.  Well I thought I was.  Last week I noticed that pink has started to creep into my life!

It first started with the trio Colclough china set I found in a local op shop.  I just had to have it!  In the same shop I found a tray cloth (I adore vintage table settings and china).

I have a pretty teapot and for a while I wanted to do a tea cozy that matched it prettiness.  Most of the tea cozy patterns on the net are for rounder pots.  I eventually find a couple of sites that showed you how to make a cozy to fit the shape of your pot.  So, grabbing some very pale pink I started.

It needed some flowers, so I visited Attic 24 and learnt how to do some roses and other open flowers

As you can see it is starting to get rather pink and girlie!  More so when I decided to add some pearl buttons and do a scalloped edging!  At this stage I started to giggle at myself.

I got a bit carried away and added a tiny flower and pearl button at the button where the bottom is attached.

Attaching the flowers was fun and by this time I was chortling loudly, Tada how girly is that!

Actually, I was rather pleased and proud of it, and had to go rushing out to show my neighbor it.  Result she wants one for her teapot!  Yesterday showed my bestie and she wants one!  I have been told in no uncertain terms not to call it girlie but romantic.  And this setting does look romantic.  My two buys at the op shop. (Tray cloth and china trio, plus the scarf I crochet over the last two days.

The scarf is actually a peach colour and the pattern was a fancy trellis  pattern from a library book on vintage crochet.  It will be ideal for the cooler nights we are now getting with the arrival of autumn.  Got to be cozy!

This pretty and feminine stuff is starting to scare me, think I will get back to my CAL blanket from Little Woolies blog.  So far its taken me about 3 months and I am about 2/3rds through.  That should stop the urge I have to crochet a lacy shawl.  But don’t be surprised if you see one soon, I think I am fighting a losing battle!  Because as you know we all have a little bit of romantic girlie stuff inside all of us.

Anyway that has been my week crochet wise. 

PS I have asked one of my friends to slap me if I start to wear pretty pink dresses!

I am linking this to Annemaries Haakblog weekend Link your Stuff.  

What I love most about Autumn - Pumpkins

First of all welcome to Pam of A Good Life in Tydd, and Blondie. 

 
The vegetable garden in autumn is a busy time, produce to be picked and stored for winter and plots ready for winter crops.  In this part of the world, that is mainly brassicas, especially the kales and broccoli’s.  Oh I forgot Leeks and Celery.

Yesterday I tidied up the pumpkin patch and added three more to my pile hardening off.   I noticed one buttercup had cracked skin from where the sun had burnt the skin.  That would not keep, so I took it into the kitchen to use straight away.

My vegetable cool box in the fridge is chocker full, so I needed to use it all up straight away as this variety is prone to mould if left out for more than a couple of days when cut.  Not a problem!

 First make some vegetable soup to freeze.

Then bake some spicy pumpkin scones to freeze to have with soup meals.

I was making bread for the week so pulled of some dough and used it to make a pumpkin, chorizo and feta pizza for dinner.

The rest I will puree and freeze ready for pumpkin bread or for a recipe I am dying to try pumpkin spicy muffins.

Of course I had to taste test the scones for lunch, yummy.  Here is the recipe.

Spicy Pumpkin Scones

• 50g softened butter
• 1 cup mashed pumpkin
• 1 tsp. dried coriander and1 tsp. cumin or ½ tsp. curry powder
• 2 tbsp. chopped coriander or parsley
• 1 ½ tsps. Salt
• 2 tsps. Baking Powder
• 2 ½ - 3 cups s/r flour (depends on the water content of your pumpkin) 

Cream butter and spices together. Whisk in all other ingredients except the flour. Fold in flour with a knife.  You may need to add more flour or a little milk depending on how watery the pumpkin is. Turn out on to a floured surface and lightly knead, just until the ingredients come together. Make a roundish shape circle with the dough, and roughly divide or use round cutters to cut out rounds.  Place on a floured baking tray and bake at 210C for about 10 - 15 minutes.  They last longer than ordinary scones and in fact taste better the next day.  For keeping longer than 2 days I would freeze.

( I have used mashed sweet potato and even parsnip!  All delicious) If you don’t like spice leave it out however they do need the herbs).

The weather here is glorious at the moment, cold first thing, but lovely and hot during the day, perfect autumn weather. Today I am going to get stuck into some preserving - zuchinni pickles and chow chow as I have a glut of zuchinnis, cauliflower and beans!  Of course I will do some crochet during my breaks.  Will blog about that tomorrow.

Have a great day!

Serendipity

I have just had one of those days where everything goes perfectly.  It didn’t look as if it would go that way as there was a heavy mist/fog and made me almost change my plans of going to the local car boot market.

As I really needed some eggs and other bits and pieces I girded my loinss and set off, (shanks pony style!) along the drive against the fence I have a grape vine and in the four years I have been here it hasn’t done very well.  However I had high hopes this year as it was heavily laden with pump fruit.  I just had to have a peek and a taste, bliss, lovely and sweet, Yay!  Enough for eating, giving away and grape cordial!

First I decided to go to the supermarket and pick up a back of kitty dry food as it was on special $7 as opposed to the normal $11/12.  While there I glanced in the meat section think of buying a small chicken for dinner as a treat.  But hey there was some rump steak on special – about $8 a kilo normally it is about $18!  Well my dinner was decided and the cats could have the trimmings as a treat.  Enough to freeze for another day also. 

 On to the market.  While I was buying my eggs from the egg lady I noticed that she had packets of Ernest Adams slices on her table, and my favourite ‘gooey caramel’!   They were only$2 or 3 for $5, normally they are about $5 a pack.  So guess what, yeah they were near their best before date.  But I am sure they will be scoffed well before that.  I have a few elderly shut-in neighbours, who love cake!

Then on to the nursery man to buy some purple sprouting broccoli seedlings (I forgot to sow the seeds).  He had some lovely begonias for $1.50...Isn’t it beautiful!

I was about to wend my way home when I espied a stall selling handbags etc.  Now I have been looking for a circular bamboo handles for a project for ages and no such luck.  Well my luck had changed, there was a hag with exactly the handles I wanted and only for $2.  This project will no longer be an UFO!

Later on in the morning I was tidying the dining room that acts as my craft/art room I saw my stack of fat quarters for a quilting project.  I wonder I thought ….. Yes!  There was matching material for the handle project.  Isn’t that a great match?

What is the project you may ask.  It is a carry bag for my Mum.  She is in a rest home in Perth Australia,(she has Alzheimer’s) my sister works at the Rest Home and tells me that she gives everything away, so it is difficult to find things to send her.  However she has one thing she will not give away her handbags or totes.  She will carry several on her wrist everywhere. 

When I was browsing the crochet sites a while ago I saw a wonderful pattern for a handbag at  colour in a simple life this one was made with waterlily flowers, absolutely beautiful!  It had bamboo handles and I thought that would be great for Mum!  The flowers were puff stitch and I thought it would be too bulky for Mum so I decided to do the African Flower pattern from Heidi Bears, which is hexagon shaped like the lily flowers.  

So I spent a pleasant hour or so getting the crochet side finished – mainly tidying all the ends, tomorrow I will cut the lining out and start on fitting it. 

Now I am as waste not want not person and I was looking at my pile of trimmings, um, they would make great stuffing for toys etc.  So out comes a bag to collect all future ends.  While on this bent I had a great idea for the scraps that are starting to build up with my crochet obsession.  I had really wanted to crochet my Mum a lap blanket, but my sister said she would only give it away!  I will crochet her a lap blanket, out of scraps and if she gives it away, it is no big deal, it probably would adorn some other souls lap. So I did a few, just tiny plain grannie squares.

The rest of the afternoon I finished reading David Baldacci’s novel, One Summer.  You need a hanky for it is a real tear jerker.  Totally different from his usual style, that man can write.

Just before I sat down to do this post I went out to pick some beans for my dinner, and thought I had better check up on the strawberries.

They have been cropping all summer – just enough for dessert or to have with cereal for breakfast.  I thought they surely would be finished now with cold nights.  But no, a bowl full for my dessert, with cream of course!

Well that has been my day, very pleasant with lots of savings to be had to boot.  Now I am off to cook my dinner, steak with mustard cream sauce ( deglaze the fry pan while the steak is resting, with seeded mustard and when the seeds start to pop add cream and cook till the cream is thick, pour over the steak) it is to die for. With potatoes and pumpkin and beans from the garden and strawberries after.  Now, isn’t that heaven!