Fabric and Muffins

I knew it was going to be another hot day when Miss M and I went for our morning swim at 8am and the water was very lukewarm (ugh!) so I decided to spend the day in the Creation Station with the Air Con to keep me cool. However when I got home, I got caught up in some other activites and found that time races by when you are making the bed, going through your blogs, washing towels, hanging towels on the line, having a little play with the dog and making sure they have lots of fresh waster etc. ect. and by midday, I still hadn't made it into the said room. A quick look at our weatherman gauge and my mind was made up.

There is so much to do in the Creation Station at the moment. More blocks to make up for my NewFO and the binding to put onto my UFO. I could also be preparing the next blocks for my BOMs but I thought I would take the time to do some tidying up.  And what better way than to make up some more mini bolts for all the fabric I have bought lately.

 Oh goodness me, I really do have a problem when it comes to fabric.  I have been looking at some of this fabric today and realise that I have no idea at all what I am going to use it for.  This one, for instance,  that I fell in love with last week and brought home all that was left on the bolt (2m).....where or what will I use it for?

It took me quite a while to make the mini bolts up as I was getting caught up in drooling over my own fabric stash.  After lunch I decided it would be nice to have a little sweet treat so (even though it is so hot) I set to making some date muffins.

I am on a bit of a health kick at the moment so didn't want anything too rich and these date muffins are enough to just hit the mark.  I make them with wholemeal flour just because it sounds healthier

Date Muffins (makes 6 generous muffins)
2 egg whites
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup self-raising wholemeal flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2/3 cup skim milk
1/4 cup chopped soft dates ( I like lots of dates so I add a few more than this)

Lightly whisk the egg whites till they look frothy and then add all the other ingredients and mix just to bind together into a smooth batter.  Divide into 6 muffin cups and bake at 160 degrees C. I bake for about 15 minutes and test to see if they are cooked through.  (sorry I am not too precise on the time but it does vary on how big your muffin cups are)

Enjoy with, or without, a dab of butter.....

Oh yummy, that his the spot

 

Ooooh, my favourite topic for Chat 124......Dogs!

 I don't have any blog planned for today so how about joining me and Patrice on the Porch for Chat 124. There is a question about Dogs.....I will try and keep it short!

 How many seed catalogs have arrived at you home? Never seen a seed catalogue arrive at my house EVER but I would be so interested to read them.

Will you be learning to do something new this year? I don't have anything planned but that doesn't mean I am not up for it and if the opportunity arises, I will certainly add my name to the list.

How many pair of boot do you own?(This can include casual, dressy, hiking, farm, riding, snow, or any other kind of boot.) Suprisingly, even though I live in Queensland and don't have a real use for boots, I do have some dress boots which I bought to wear with skirts a few years ago.  I also inherited some floral gum boots from my daughter.  I plan to use them for garden work when I move to a colder climate......Yes, I am moving to a cooler climate...one day!

Valentine's Day is just around the corner. There are decorations in the stores. Do you have anything planned for Valentine's Day? I just checked my calendar and I will be travelling from York to Edinburgh on Valentines Day.  No specific valentine plans though.

Please tell me your favorite breeds of dogs. If you don't like dogs, tell me something about a favorite animal. (Please. :) Oh Dogs are definitely one of my favourite animals and my favourite breeds (if I really have to pick)  are Golden Retrievers, Labradors (like Callie) and most recently, because I am lucky enough to have one of my own, Labradoodles (like Lila)! I also love all of the spaniel family and any of these mixed with poodles.  My last post was about Golden Retrievers and the only reason I do not have one now is that I feel the weather is too hot for them here in Queensland. Another reason to find a cooler climate to live.

 

.gorgeous Clover, in the middle, is a cross between a Staffordshire Terrior and a Kelpie (I think) she is definitely loveable too

Well there you go, I did try to not rave on and on about dogs although I could easily do so.  All the dog photos where taken by Samantha of The Wanderes & the Wolves Photography for our pet photoshoot late last year.

 

For the love of Goldies

 

I once had a Golden Retriever.  She was my golden girl and I miss her so very much. Today something arrived at my house that will help me remember her and at the same time help (just that little bit more) a wonderful organisation that takes care of abandoned Golden Retrievers.

Amber and little baby Callie

 There are no other dogs like Golden Retrievers (in my book). They are gentle, family orientated, friendly with other dogs, easy to train, eager to please and just gorgeous to have around   Maybe because I am so biased I imagined that everybody would feel privilaged to have a GR so why do some people give up on them so easily?

I found out about GARA (Golden Ark Rescue Australia) through my sons friend, Samantha, who is a permanent foster mum to a GARA dog, Sandy. Anyway, GARA rescues Golden Retrievers, sometimes paying 100s of $s to get them to their property south of Brisbane, from all over the country.  They look after them and bring them back to health and then find them furever homes. They have very strict policies regarding the new homes for the dogs - which is why I will never be able to adopt from them (no dogs allowed inside our home - by order of my Hubby).  If you want to learn more about them, you can find them via facebook  . Since they are a non-profit organisation, they rely on donations from the public and recently opened an online store which you can access via their fb page.

I was reading Sandy the permanent foster dog's facebook page when I saw that the online store had something that I just loved. I put in my order and it arrived today.....via Red.....via Sam.

A little pewter pawprint that I can wear on my lapel and remember my Amber, angel in disguise.

my girl Amber around 12yo

Another BOM Block Bites the Dust

Thursday is my sew with friends day at Quiltessentials so I decided to take block 10b of Edwardian House along while I chatted along with all the other ladies.  I was very diligent and finished off the block so another BOM block is out of the way for the month.

I had finished off block 10a last night, so I am just about ready to sew the inside of the house together.

And since I was at Quiltessentials and Claudia had a gorgeous new range of fabrics called Ellie Ann for Benartex, I decided to purchase these for when I am ready to finish off the wall hanging. Aren't they absolutely mouthwatering?!

 

Fairies in my Garden.....Weatherman on my roof

 

Let's start at the beginning........What do you buy men and boys for Christmas? Well my boys are not too hard especially when I demand a wish list from them but Hubby? he is a different kettle of fish! Then it hit me like a 'bom' one night when I was watching tv. Hubby follows the B.O.M (Bureau of meteorology)site religiously and the household gets regular weather reports as the week progresses. Well, would you believe it, they sell weather stations at Bunnings (I had no idea such a thing existed).

He was so delighted when he opened his present  but on scaling the roof to find a spot to put it, found that a few repairs were needed before he could go ahead.  Yesterday, finally, was the day for the weather station to be mounted on the roof but first it had to be assembled.

First came out the little screwdriver set......I am not allowed to touch this set as I lost some of the last set *oops*

Reading the manual, very carefully........

Things are starting to take shape........

......and then up on the roof.  It was about this time that he came rushing inside to tell me about our little visitors on the front lawn. A little Superb Blue Fairy wren and his entourage of female followers were flitting about in the trees.  This was a very exciting moment for both of us as we have been spotting them all over on our dog walks but never this close to home.  My only thought at this point was 'where is my camera and do I have time to change lenses'.......good thing I know EXACTLY where my zoom lens is atm. They are such zippy little creatures and by the time I got my camera set up for a shot, they had moved further down the yard. I managed to get this shot of the little male before they were gone.

yes, I do believe in Fairies!

It is such a shame that you can't see just how brilliantly blue his feathers are so I have searched the internet for another picture

[source]

So, there you go.....Fairies in my Garden and you thought I was being fancyfull!

As for the weather man, this is the other bit that is in the house and displays everything we need to know about the weather and it is as local as you can get since it is set up on our roof.

Progress and Blog Parties

I am loving my new found motivation that the New Year has brought for me. I created my calendar last week for January and one of the challenges I gave myself was to finish a block of my BOM, Bric-a-Brac. I am happy to report that I have achieved this and I have the pictures to prove it.

 Here are some close ups:

Oatmeal Canister

Stacked Bowls

Eggcups

Milk Jug

I have just noticed that those little satin stitched beads on the milk jug cover are not very neat when you take a macro shot so I am going to back stitch around those.

I am preparing a couple of exciting posts at the moment.  One is for Barbara's NewFO Link Party which should be on the 31st January. There is no entry deadline for this party and if you want to learn more, head to her blog Cat Patches.....ps. say hello to Smitty and Gracie for me.....but don't wake Gracie up, she likes to nap!

The other post I am getting ready to blog is for the Grow Your Blog  Link Party at 2 Bags Full. This link will take you to the official sign up page.....but you only have today left to register. The Party is happening on the 25th January.

I am so excited to be taking part in both these Link Parties so I hope you will come back for a visit on those days.

Trudy's Finished Quilt

You might remember this post from last year when a dear quilting friend lost her battle with cancer. It has almost been a year since Trudy left this world and I have not shown you the finished quilt....shame on me!

Trudy loved flowers and  bright colours so Kaye decided to get everyone to do a flower block in orange and/or red. The flower and block design were up to us.  This is my block which as I explained in the previous post was nabbed from One Piece at a Time

 

I blanket stitched the flowers and leaves and needle turned the biased vine.

 Once Kaye had all the completed blocks, she started to arrange them into a pleasing design. Most of the blocks were either appliqued or stitched with only a couple of pieced blocks.

thats my block......far right, second from the bottom

Finally, late last year, the quilt was completed and will be donated to the Blue Nurses.  They cared for Trudy and rather than flowers be sent to her funeral, she requested that donations be made to the Blue Nurses.

my block has moved to second row, middle block

FNWF at Bits 'n Bobs

Did you sign up?....... for Friday Night with Friends over at Cheryll's.......there are quite a few this week and I can't wait to see what everyone has worked on.

Yesterday I went to Bunnings with hubby and picked up a few paint swatches in the colours that I wanted to use for this months NewFO and then went home to audition fabrics from my stash. Turns out I needed quite a bit more.  You would think that with all that fabric, I would have no problems but it turns that I don't have much grey stashed.

So  with these swatches in my bag, a trip to one of my local quilt shops was the order of the day today and I found some gorgeous fabrics to add to my bundle.

The pattern uses a grey dot  for the background of the appliqued penguins but when I saw the grey swirl fabric, I thought it was just perfect. Together with the other fabrics below, I could just about be there.

Am I working on this for FNWF?........no! sorry for being a tease but..........

.............my plan is to work on my BOMs tonight.....probably mostly on Bric-a-Brac but luckily I checked my supplies because there were quite a few missing colours from my embroidery threads. I was able to pick these up when I was out at my LQS. Actually that is the main reason I went to THAT particular shop because they are the only ones who sell my preferred thread....DMC.

It took me until midnight just to stitch the first section of  instructions for the block while I watched various shows on the tv.

but I was determined to get this done before I called it a night.

This is such a pretty block for Bric-a-Brac and I would like to get it complete before the end of the month.

Miss M was here too. Cutting out more blocks for her chevron quilt.