Sale at Handmade Heaven

Starting tomorrow, and running until end of trade the 15th of September, all my chenille quilts in Handmade Heaven will be 20% off. As of the 16th of September they will be pulled out for the Spring/Summer season. So go and grab a bargain while you still can!

PMC workshop

I was invited by the lovely Kylie of Chasing Purple Dreams to attend a workshop for PMC on Saturday. PMC is precious metal clay and it's fabulous stuff. A lot like plasticine in that you shape it any way you want and then allow to dry. It works much like clay that you can then use an emery board filing off rough edges and finishing off your piece. The exciting part happens when you fire it in the kiln. It burns the extra moisture and clay particles off and you are left with (in our case) fine silver. Wonderful stuff! And oh, the possibilities! Kylie took heaps of action shots, so I'm sure she'll do a better job of explaining the whole process. Anyway, it was a fun day, and we came away with a unique piece of jewellry. Thanks Kylie! And thanks Miss 13 for modeling my piece so well!

To check out more info on PMC head over to May Bartrum's website, the lovely woman who taught our workshop.

Week 3

Week 3: Enthusiasm wearing thin. Suck it up Selina.

*** STOCKING SWAP UPDATE ***

I am still waiting on details from 11 of you before I can go ahead with sending out partners. I have received word that at least 1 of you did not get an email. If you did not get an email from me, please check your spam to see if it's there. If not, please let me know and I can send you that email again. Thanks everyone!

**** Swap Update ****

So the sign ups are closed and the email asking for your details has been sent out to everyone who joined in. If you have not received that email , please let me know. Also, if you have received that email, and no longer wish to join in, please tell me as soon as possible. Thanks!

Another swap

I came across this magazine swap in my blog travels and thought it was a fabulous idea. I've signed up for it, check it out here and see if it's your cup of tea too!

my creative space...

I am up to my ears in chenille this week, and loving it! I've got that many custom bunny orders on the go I've had to put all the cut pieces in little baggies to keep them in order. I do love the challenge of custom orders, having to put colours together that someone else wants rather than what I would do myself. Makes you see things differently.

Check out other creative spaces here.

Oh, and have you signed up for my stocking swap yet? Go here for all the details. Sign ups close tomorrow.

**** Stocking Swap ****

Have you signed up for the Great Stocking Swap yet? Go to this post for all the swappy details. It should be lots of fun! Sign up closes on Friday the 27th of August, so get signing!

For those that have signed up and haven't sent me your email address, could you please do so, so I can get details sent out to you as soon as the sign ups close. Thanks.

Randall

I am so in love with this bear! I'm very tempted to keep him, but really, how many chenille bears do I really need? So Randall is heading off to Handmade Heaven. He would make a fabulous Christmas gift, don't you think? Did you also know that Handmade Heaven has layby? Just perfect to start putting all your handmade Christmas gifts away now.

My domestic weekend

I seem to have found a bit of an energy boost from somewhere. Maybe the regular exercise last week helped? Anyway, I found myself getting all domestic over the weekend. I made jam. I made homemade baked beans in the slowcooker. I made a batch of lemonade scones to go with the jam. I made homemade laundry powder (more to come on that one!) and I made one of my childhood favourites, date cake. I think I have altered the recipe over the years, because I was sure the recipe came from the Bundaberg branch CWA cookbook, but when I looked in there yesterday, it was vastly different from how I have been making it.

Oh well, this is now my version,

Selina's Date Cake.

preheat oven to 180c (or 160c for fan forced)

2 cups SR flour
250 gram bag of dried dates, chopped
1 1/4 cup boiling water
1/2 cup raw sugar (I have always used raw sugar in my baking unless caster sugar is called for)
3 tbs butter
1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda

Put chopped dates, boiling water, sugar, bicarb and butter into bowl, mix and let sit.
Allow to cool.
Add flour and mix until combined.
Pour into prepared loaf tin and bake for 45 to 55 mins.
Enjoy warm with lashings of butter.

Let me know if you give it a try!

Also, have you signed up for my Stocking Swap yet? Go here for all the details. I'd love for you to join in!

Week 2

Week 2: The shine has yet to come off the nikes. Still hanging in there though, that's got to be a good sign.

Flea Market finds

I am proclaiming this weeks find to be my find of the year. I have been literally searching for months for a warm coat to take with me to France next April. While we are going in spring, I have been told the mornings can get quite cold early April and since we will be doing quite a bit of walking around, I thought it best I get a nice winter coat to take. Now, living in Queensland of course means you have very little use for a big winter coat, so I didn't want to buy a new one. I had almost given up hope until I saw this beauty. It was everything I was looking for, and fits like it was tailored for me. $15.00. Yep, find of the year.

Let's make it official!

****** the sign ups are now closed ******

Well, I've decided to make it official. The Stocking Swap is on! I'll make this post the official one, so anyone that expressed interest for the Christmas Stocking swap, if you could just add another comment to this post, that would be good. If your comments are set to noreply, could you please leave your email address in your comment so I can contact you with all the details.

So, the rules. Basically you will make a Christmas stocking for someone, and you will receive a stocking in return. I thought I would open this up to anyone in the world. I have posted things overseas that would weigh approximately as much as a stocking, and it is usually no more than $10. If that is too much, you could think about making a nice thin stocking that could post flat and be sent as a letter. That would only be a few dollars. I just didn't want to leave anyone out.

I'll make this swap a secret one, just because I love those ones. Once I have everyones details I will organise partners and let each of you know who your secret partner is. I would then ask you go and check out their blog, get a feel for what they might like, and make your stocking just for them.

I'll leave sign ups open until next Friday, the 27th of August, so that I will have time to contact everyone to get their postal details and arrange swap partners. Hopefully I will get your swap partners details out to everyone by the end of the month. I'll then leave the deadline for posting your stocking until the 1st of November, so that gives you plenty of time to make your stocking. That way if you are a knitter, crocheter, stitcher or sewer, you will have lots of time up your sleeve to get it done.

I would ask that if you sign up it might be an idea to follow me (if you don't already) so that you can be kept up to date on all matters regarding the swap. Most of all I would ask that you have fun! Be mindful of what you are signing up for, I wouldn't want anyone disappointed by not getting their stocking.

I have found quite a few websites with patterns for all sorts of stockings, like this one here. I also think I might do up a tutorial for one as well. I do love me some Christmas Stockings!

If you would like to spread the word on your blog, it would be much appreciated, the more the merrier I say! Also you can take the image I made from this post, add it to your side bar linking back to this post. If you are not sure how to do this, just ask, I'm always happy to help.

Hopefully I have covered everything, if there is something I forgotton, please don't hesitate to let me know and I'll fix it up. So, what are you waiting for, lets get swapping!

*EDIT: To add the picture from this post to your side bar:
1. Right click on the image and select save image as
2. Save the image to your hard drive
3. Copy the link for this post
4. Go into your blogger dashboard and select add a gadget
5. Select Picture. Click on the browse button and find the picture you saved in your hard drive
6. Add the link for this post then select save
And that should be it.

Wanna swap?

image found here

I was just wondering if anyone might be interested in a Christmas Stocking swap? I figure it may be a good way to start to get in the Christmas spirit. I'll leave it until mid November for everyone to get their stockings out, so you would all have plenty of time. Let me know in the comments of this post, and if there are enough interested I'll make it official.

Cheers!

my creative space...

Ever since this gorgeous red and white chenille arrived the other day it was calling out to be made into a Christmas bear. There are so many other things I should be doing and finishing off, but he just won't be quiet. So, today I'll finish him, just so I can get some peace and finish off the 101 other things I should be doing.

Other creative spaces here.

The laundry love is consuming me

I. Can. Not. Stop. Googling. Vintage. Laundry. Ads.

I am becoming quite obsessed.


But just look at these ads.


Are they not the sweetest ads ever?

And I also think I have found what I want for Christmas. On ebay, this gorgeous personalised sign for your laundry. So no, it won't be Linda's. It will be mine. All mine.
found here.

Excuse me, but isn't this meant to be a craft blog?

Why yes, it is. You would be forgiven lately for thinking otherwise. So here, for your craft enjoyment, a peg bag.


Made today in celebration of this glorious perfect laundry day. You like?

Week 1

I'm on a mission to get fit. With my health issues and my age it's time to really take control of this. I've been told by my health team it's not too late. I've got time to turn myself around and keep on top of this. I just need to work at it. Something I have tried my whole life to ignore. Now I'm terrible at keeping any kind of a diary or journal, so I am going to document my success (yes, I said success) here. Not going to bore everyone with the details. Just once a week post a photo of my shoes. I figure they are going to show best of all how I'm going. The dirtier they get, the fitter I am. Make sense?

Week 1: Brand spanking new nikes.

Flea Market finds

To end out "The Week of CurlyPops" I'll show off my flea market finds for the week.

Mum and I, with Miss 13 in tow, headed off to an antiques and collectables fair that was held in Ipswich yesterday. What fun! I really was looking for any vintage laundry related stuff but came up empty in that department. I did however find some other things I never knew I needed!


When I saw this little vase with the deer and squirrel on it, I was smitten! I mean, look at it! The little chicken egg cup I picked up on Friday at a little shop in Ipswich called Vintage Advantage. I totally love that shop.


I also found this 4 cup vintage measuring jug that matches my 1 cup jug perfectly. Like mother and daughter measuring jugs!


Then I found these retro tea and coffee canisters. $5 for the both of them. I have only ever seen them sold as a whole set with the sugar, flour and everything but I really only ever want these two, so I was very happy to score those.

I wish that I had actually taken my camera with me to the fair because there were some gorgeous things there. My Mum has a bit of a vintage rolling pin collection and we saw a beautiful one .....for $295.00!

Hopefully Sophie has the linky up today, so head over there to check out all the other flea market finds.

I hope I kept you entertained this week Cam with all my ramblings!

Success!

"The Week of CurlyPops" day 7.

So the dying was quite successful. I think I might have to find some more pieces to dye red. The colour is much richer than these photos show, a real christmassy red. The top zig zag one was actually yellow. I love dying this one as the fibre content is cotton for one lot of zig zags and rayon for the other, so the dying takes differently.

I'm off to an antiques and collectables fair today. Putting it out to the collectables gods that I'm looking for a vintage laundry sprinkler! Wish me luck!

Lucy

"The Week of CurlyPops" day 6.


I'm about to head off to Handmade Heaven to take in a new bunny and just had to share her with you all. Meet Lucy. Such a delicate little flower isn't she? She'll be waiting for you at Handmade Heaven......


I hope to be back later today to share the dying success/failure. Hopefully I'll get enough time this afternoon to get to it!

my creative space...

I'm hoping to not get too distracted today and finish off the few things I have to finish before I can get to play with this dye and chenille. I'm already thinking Christmas stockings and I'm sadly lacking in gorgeous reds. All the pretty red chenille can be quite expensive so I'm doing the next best thing. Taking some of my beautiful whites and making them red. Apparently this dye will dye around 1kg of fabric. Here's hoping!

More creative spaces here.

The left over yolks

"The Week of CurlyPops" day 4.


While making the macaroons I was feeling guilty about tipping the yolks down the sink so I decided to keep them for something else. Inspired by this lovely lady's mandarin curd post I decided some lemon curd was in order. I had seen somewhere a recipe calling for extra yolks in the curd, but then couldn't find it again, so I just thought I'd wing it.

I pretty much followed this recipe here, but altered a couple of things. I used 3 whole eggs and 2 yolks (after I tipped the first yolk down the sink I had my brainwave!) and I grated the lemon zest instead of peeling and I didn't blitz it in the food processor, I just strained the curd at the end. I also added about an extra 1/2 cup of sugar. And let me tell you, it's delicious! I love lemon curd slathered all over my toast, and that's how it was eaten this morning. You can see we already got stuck right into it yesterday, that jar was full to the brim!

Mmmmacaroons....

"The Week of CurlyPops" day 3.


Since my trip to France has been locked in and all booked (yippee!!!!!) I have been dreaming of all the yummy Frenchy things I will be consuming while there. Macaroons would have to be high on that list right? I admit, I had never actually eaten a macaroon, but if the ones I made yesterday are even half as good as the real ones in France, then I will be in for some gastronomic delights!

And in honour of CurlyPops, they had to be pink!

French macaroons

3 egg whites
2 tablespoons caster sugar
few drops Queen rose pink food colouring
few drops Queen almond essence, optional1¼ cups (200g) icing sugar mixture
1 cup (120g) almond meal (ground almonds)
2 tablespoons icing sugar mixture, extra

White chocolate ganache
150g premium white cooking chocolate, chopped
¼ cup (60ml) thickened cream
few drops Queen rose pink food colouring

Note: makes 16 macaroons.

METHOD

Preheat the oven to slow (150°C/130°C fan-forced). Grease two oven trays; line with baking paper.

Beat egg whites in a small bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add sugar and food colouring, beat until sugar dissolves. Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Fold in essence, sifted icing sugar and almond meal in two batches.

Spoon mixture into a large piping bag fitted with a 1.5cm plain tube. Pipe 4cm rounds, 2cm apart, onto prepared trays. Tap trays on bench to allow macaroons to spread slightly. Flatten peaks lightly with a damp finger. Dust with extra sifted icing sugar. Stand for 15 minutes.
Bake macaroons in a slow oven for about 20 minutes or until dry to touch. Stand macaroons on trays for 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool.

For the white chocolate ganache, combine chocolate and cream in a small heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water; stir until the chocolate is melted. Tint with a few drops of food colouring. Cover. Refrigerate until mixture is a spreadable consistency.

Sandwich macaroons together with white chocolate ganache.

recipe from here.

And what to do with all the left over gooey pink ganache? Well, feed it to the dog!

(please don't get cranky at me! we don't normally feed the dog ganache, and white chocolate is not actually chocolate, so no dogs were harmed in the making of the macaroons)

Laundry love...

"The Week of CurlyPops" day 2.

I was in Best and Less the other day looking for a sheet and look what I found! I'm always checking out the double sided tea towels in there as they are perfect for those crochet top hand towel thingys, cut them in half and you get two for the price of one. These were only $1.66 each. I got heaps! My Mum makes them to sell at the craft shop at the place she volunteers for. My payment for getting all these for her is of course she makes a couple for me at the same time. Isn't she a great Mum?


I just spotted these little washers and dryers smiling at me and I was in love! I mean come on, how cute! Now to pick the crochet cotton to go with it....

Flea Market finds - this one's for CurlyPops

Poor old CurlyPops is back in the slammer. So I've decided to declare this week to be "The Week of CurlyPops". This week I will endeavour to post everyday in the hope that I can help to entertain CurlyPops while she is otherwise occupied. Feel like joining in?


I'm going to start with some Flea Market finds.


I managed to find some time to head out to the op shops this week, but only managed to get to one. But what a score I had! I spent in total $13 and came away with a very large bag of clothes, that I have some refashioning plans for, and some great vintage patterns. I also found a very pretty vintage sheet (the one in the background there, washed but not ironed). There were also a couple of vintage teatowels, this Australiana one I just couldn't pass up. And this very kitsch little toothpick holder that may become a tiny pincushion.

Had any good thrift scores yourself this week?

Jaffa in the limelight...

Look what my Mum stumbled upon while perusing one of her local Ipswich newspapers. A great advertising feature for the Top of Town, Ipswich. And look there, in the top left. That's my Jaffa. They certainly managed to capture her true beauty. She must be pleased. Jaffa is still residing at Handmade Heaven, Top of Town, Ipswich, just waiting for the right person to come and adopt her.


For all the Brisbanites getting a day off on Wednesday, did you know that Handmade Heaven is open? Seems like the perfect opportunity to go and check it out.

my creative space...

Hoping to get to have a chance to have a play with some vintage quilt pieces and other bits and pieces today. Wish me luck I'll get the time!

More creative spaces over here.

Plugging my wares...

I reopened my etsy shop a while back and forgot to put the link back up on my sidebar. All done now though, take a look to your right. See the new picture? The one with the cute vintage aprons hanging on the line? Click on it to take you to my shop. For now I will be selling some vintage linens and patterns and stuff.

Very soon I hope to have some other things happening with my handmade wares. I would love to be able to make some money out of this little chenille obsession! Currently my stuff is selling well at Handmade Heaven, but I think you never can have your finger in to many pies at once. I find the whole selling myself quite hard though. It's fine to have my things in a cute little shop and have someone else sell them for me, it's another thing entirely to try to do it myself. And I used to work in retail! I could sell you a camera, but sell you a quilt I made...that's too hard! Does anyone else in the handmade business have this problem? I'd really love to know how others deal with it.

Oh, and the super cute bunny at the top of the post? That's Marjorie Bunnikins. She's the latest custom order bunny who will be heading off on a really big adventure to America tomorrow. I hope she doesn't get air sick!

Heaven on a plate...

I've spotted around blogland lately lovely posts of scrummy meringues and just had to jump on the bandwagon. I whipped up these rosewater meringues yesterday and they are so delicious and light and airy, just had to share the recipe.

Baby rosewater meringues

You need:
3 egg whites
6 rounded tablespoons caster sugar
1 teaspoon rosewater

Method:
Meringues
Beat egg whites in a large bowl until stiff. Gradually add the sugar, beating continuously until mixture stands in firm peaks. Stir in rosewater. Spoon slightly rounded tablespoons onto a greased or baking paper lined tray. Alternatively you could pipe them out on the tray, as I did.

Bake in a preheated oven at 100degC; for 1 1/2 hours. Turn oven off and leave meringues in for a further hour. When cooled, store in an airtight container. Meringues keep well for up to 2 weeks.

recipe from here.

Put together with some chopped up strawberries macerated in caster sugar and you have heaven on a plate.

Enjoy!