OPAM finishes for January/February and FNWF!

 

Where has February gone? These are my finishes for January and February.

Tomorrow night is Friday Night with Friends hosted by Cheryll. Head over here to sign up. Hope you can join us.

One Sneak Peek Revealed!

 

You may remember this sneak peek 

from a few posts ago.

 

It was this table runner I made for Simone. Now that she has received it, I can show it to you. The fabrics are Central Park by Kate Spain.

I got lots of stitching done on the weekend but,

 of course, it is more secret sewing! 

So nothing else to show you at the moment.

But I can show you what I bought this morning. Fabric for a special project. It's not secret sewing, so you'll get to see it soon! Well, once I put it together anyway!

Friday Night Sew-In!

Last night was the Friday Night Sew-In with Heidi (Handmade by Heidi). The sign-up was a bit late this month. I wasn't even sure it was on but I still stitched anyway.

As it is secret sewing, I can't show you the front! Not very exciting, is it! That's the problem with secret sewing. But in the end you eventually get to see the completed project. Hopefully, it is worth the wait!

Choc Chip Biscuits!

At our blog get together last week, the topic of biscuits came up (not sure how or by whom). I had a couple of requests for my choc chip biscuits recipe. I thought others may like to have the recipe too, so here it is.

  

Christine’s Choc Chip Biscuits

1 cup sugar

125g butter

1 egg, beaten

1-2 tbs coffee and chicory essence (optional)

¾ cup dark choc chips

1¾ cup SR flour

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and coffee essence. Mix. Add choc chips. Mix. Add flour and mix together.

Roll into walnut size balls and place on oven tray.

Bake in moderate oven (180⁰C) about 18 minutes or until golden brown. Loosen biscuits while warm, cool on trays. 

** The Coffee and Chicory Essence gives a lovely flavour and colour to the biscuits. It doesn't have an over-powering flavour of coffee. 

Variation - Choc Choc Chip Biscuits

  

Replace dark choc chips with white choc chips.

Add ¼ cup cocoa with flour.

Our Mill Rosie Friends Get Together!

 I'm a bit late with my post about our wonderful day at Mill Rose Cottage with the Mill Rosie Friends but here it is! It was such a wonderful day catching up with everyone.

 

Our designer swap this time around was Rosalie Quinlan. Everyone had outdone themselves again. There weren't any duplicates!

I was lucky enough to get Sharon's swap gift. A bouquet of flowers made with fabric designed by Rosalie. They are so much nicer in person. The flowers are sitting in a lovely vase (which I've just realised you can't see). Sharon also added a box of Roses chocolates to go with it.

I made this door hanger which has dried lavender in it. It smells lovely! Barb was the recipient of my gift.

I think we all managed to get a little stitching in amongst the chatting! We had a wonderful Show and Tell.

 

Mel's sewing room hanging.

Sharon's beautiful Vignette quilt.

Barb with her crocheted blanket.

 Rosalie hiding behind her Sewing Room hanging.

This is also Rosalie's. I just love the old kitchen stove block (as well as all the other blocks).

Shez was starting to get hungry and couldn't wait for the waitress to bring her lunch. Here she is eating an agapanthus flower!

Aaahh! Shez is so happy now lunch is on it's way that she's singing! Or perhaps it has something to do with that glass of wine! LOL!

 The obligatory photo of Shez taking a photo of me 

taking a photo of her!

 Sharon gave me a little bag filled with these lovely goodies.

 I had admired Barb's tin like this last time and Barb got one for me. It's great as it has a hinged lid.

Shez gave me a jar of lovely homemade cucumber relish. There was also some home-grown zucchini and cucumbers.  I've just made a yummy zucchini slice for tonight's tea. It will taste so much nicer being home-grown! Thank you, Sharon, Barb and Shez for my lovely gifts.

 These are name brooches that I made for the five of us original Mill Rosie Friends.

 Thanks everyone for such a wonderful day of fun and friendship. I can't wait for the next one! If you head over to some of the other girls' blogs you'll see some more photos.

Mill Rosie Friends!

Tomorrow is our Mill Rosie Friends Sit and Sew Day. I'm so looking forward to catching up with Shez, Sharon and Barb plus all the other girls. I'll be picking up Mel and Rosalie nice and early and we'll be off for a lovely day of friendship, sewing, chatting and eating (in no particular order). 

 

I'm sure we'll all have some great photos to share afterwards. I'll finally be able to show you some secret sewing I have been doing.

 

Don't forget, if you are coming along to bring some 

Show and Tell.

Tuesday Treasures With Melody!

I'm joining Melody at The House at the Side of the Hill for Tuesday Treasures.

This photo was very recently given to me by my mother. Sitting is my Great Great Grandfather and Great Great Grandmother. The lady standing is my Great Grandmother.

Head over to Melody's to see what other treasures 

people are sharing.

Melody's Mini!

I've had some secret sewing finished and can finally show you one of the projects. Yesterday, Melody and I finally managed to catch up so I was able to give her her birthday present. A mini quilt for her stand. 

This was a fun little project to work on.

Recently, Mel won a prize from our friend, Michelle of The Raspberry Rabbits. The lovely Michelle also popped in a little parcel for me too. Some gorgeous felt with some chocolates. Mel was very constrained and didn't eat them before she gave me my parcel! 

Thank you for my lovely gift, Shell.

Our Mill Rosie Friends Sit and Sew get together is next Saturday, 16th February at Mill Rose Cottage in Ballan. If you'd like to come along, please let Mel know. Due to space, we will have to limit the number of people attending to 16. So it will be the first 16 to contact Mel. You will also need to let Mel know if you will be having lunch in the cafe so she can confirm the booking for there.

My Baby Is Off To Secondary School!

This morning Nelson headed off for his first day of secondary school. He was very excited. Our school goes from Prep to Year 12, so transition into secondary is very easy. Some of his footy mates are coming to the school this year, which he was very happy about.

Mitchell headed off on his first day at his new school. He wouldn't let me take a photo (I've done this every year for 11 years), so I got a photo as he was going down the drive. He is on the right. They go to the MCG for their first day and collect their uniforms.  We had to order them on line and I was hoping I had ordered the right sizes. Unfortunately, I just got an text from Mitchell telling me the shorts and pants are too small! What a pain. Now I'll have to find out how to change them.

Austin starts school tomorrow. Now I can get back into some proper routine!

I was lucky enough to win a prize from Tracee of Quilt Kitty Loves Life in her 100 Followers giveaway. Thank you Tracee.

My lovely friend Cheryll (Gone Stitchin') sent me these adorable fabric labels. mmmmm Now what to use them on! Thank you Chez.

Someone's Having A Birthday!

I'm a member of the Fat Quarter Birthday Club. 

Today we are celebrating Melody's (The House On The Side Of The Hill) birthday.

I know you usually have a cake with candles for your birthday, but I'm sending Mel some yummy scones with jam and cream and a candle instead. It is a favourite of both of us as you may have read in previous posts. We just can't go to a quilt show with having Devonshire Tea!

So, Happy Birthday Mel! 

Why not pop over here and wish Mel a happy birthday.