She sews!

i recently came across a tutorial for folded fabric ornaments so I thought it would be the ideal project for me as I am not a very good sewer, but I love it!

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I purchased some fabrics from Spotlight (thankfully out for half price!)...

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Following along on my trusty iPad, I cut then sewed the circles...

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Followed the directions...

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Wow, I think I have actually made one!

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Tah dah!

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I like this one...

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These really are fun to make and take probably 10 minutes tops!  Nice little
things to include with a Christmas card or your homemade gift...have a go!

Folded Fabric Ornaments



Cheers - Joolz xx

Pudding capers...

Apologies for my absence - still having trouble posting sometimes.  Very frustrating when you sit and upload

several photos then it just crashes or refuses to publish said pics.  I'll try and get some posts up today of what I've been up to - nothing that rivetting but  I have plenty of pics to share. 

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I have had my pudding fruit steeping in brandy for about 2 weeks now so it's time to make the Christmas Pudding!

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First, I whizzed up 2 cups of fresh bread crumbs...
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Add in the flour, mixed spice and ginger...
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Four cups of fruit...
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1/2 cup of almonds...
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Suet and brown sugar and salt...

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Give it a really good mix to combine all the dry ingredients...
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I grease the pudding basin with butter and I line the base with baking paper so we don't

have any tears on Christmas Day when it won't come out of the basin it doesn't stick!  :)

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Add in the wet ingredients - 4 eggs, brandy (although this is really already in the fruit - a bit extra won't hurt!) and boiling water with the bicarb soda...Mix, mix, mix...

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Place it in the basin and smooth it out...
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I make a cartouche to cover the pudding then place baking paper on top of the

basin and tie with string - not an easy task if you are home alone and need another

pair of elbows and hands!  My struggle is real!

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Now, if making one pudding isn't enough for today, I thought I'd make another batch and make

two smaller ones.  You know when Christmas has come and gone and you have a hankering for

pudding, say in July when the weather turns cold...frozen pudding!  Whip it out of the freezer, grab some custard and cream and voila! Christmas in July!

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So here are my darlings, all slowing bubbling away on the stove steaming for 5 hours.   I hope they are good puds!

Cheers - Joolz xx

Hotch potch 2

I made this very yummy chicken dish.  Marie never disappoints with her scrummy recipes...

Maple & Mustard Chicken

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Those same roses, two days later...
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My uncle and aunt (who live in Melbourne) made their way over to visit my mum, who is in a nursing home here.  We put on afternoon tea for them after we'd visited mum.  I made Anzacs...
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Jam coconut slice...
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I had some very dead bananas so I made banana bread too!
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The deader the banana, the better the flavour!
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The best Banana Bread recipe from Hannah at Honey & Jam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We had a lovely afternoon...
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Saturday 5/11 - Gus was off showing cars at our local country show so I pottered about and made a loaf of Chadd's bread.  This is so easy if you have a stand mixer with a dough hook.  I mix and knead it for about 5 minutes, let it rise and double, gently tip out onto a floured surface, shape and plop it into the tin then bake. 
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You end up with a nice soft loaf which is lovely and really nice for toast.
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Gus requested Thai Green Chicken Curry for dinner so that's what we had...
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One small hiccup - I didn't have any white rice (I usually have Basmati or jasmine) so I had to use Arborio.  It was a little stodgy but it did the job!

Well, that's me up to date up until last weekend...

Cheers - Joolz xx

Hotch potch...

...of what's been happening in my corner of the world... (28/10/2016 onwards)

We've been having some pretty skies, not that I've been able to capture many...
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Our spring has been so long in coming, my roses are slow to bloom...
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This is a beautiful rose but I cannot remember the name of it...

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I attempted peanut choc chip cookies but I had an absolute disaster.   Long story short, I heated my oven up while I was preparing the cookies.  I turned around to see sparks and smoke inside my oven!!!  OMG!  I quickly turned it off and let the smoke dissipate.  The sparks were coming from the element in the fan part of the oven.  I set the oven going again, thinking I could still bake the cookies using just the oven elements and not the fan...

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I used the pizza bake setting (top and bottom elements) but obviously I had the cookies too low in the oven and this was the result!  I tossed them out in disgust and I froze the remaining dough to use another day... Grrrr!

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I didn't let the oven beat me - I mixed up a date, apricot and prune loaf and baked that in the middle of the oven and it turned out perfectly!
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Now I must say, sometimes we are disadvantaged living in a small country town but we do get quite good service from our tradies.  I rang our electrician on Monday about coming out to see what was needed to fix my oven.  They came at 1pm and diagnosed the blown element.  He said if the part arrived, he might be able to fit it on Friday.  On Wedesday, they rang to say the part had arrived and could fit it at 3.30pm.  He arrived on time and 15 minutes later, my oven was working again.  Yay!
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Four years ago, I took a pic of this lovely pink rose in my garden and four years later...

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...it is still going and producing beautiful blooms...
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We had this simple pasta dish one night.  First, I oven roasted a punnet of cherry tomatoes, halved.  I  browned about 250gms mince in the pan with half an onion.  When the tomatoes were soft and well roasted, I tossed the mince, tomatoes and a handful of basil leaves through some egg noodles, gave it a slosh of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and topped with parmesan...

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My sister was having visitors and asked me to make her some scones.  Lucky my oven was working again!

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I picked all the buds on this rose bush, they are the most stunning shades of pink through to purple...
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I'll leave you here, to continue on with Hotch Potch 2... (I find if I load too many pictures, Blogger has a spak attack and won't post them at all~!)...

Cheers - Joolz xx

Overnight at McIntyre Beach...

We had a nice camp this past weekend.  Check it out at Camping Adventures of Ruby and Pearl