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Make It Perfect

.Pretty Hats All In A Row.

WARNING TO CARLI: If you want your finished Christmas present to be a surprise then don’t scroll down and read this post!!

This week has found us homebound and busy. Our cars have both had a service so the kids and I have been car-less while Jaron has taken the other car to work. It has been rainy and cold and windy and I have been folding patterns and sewing!!

These 6 hats were finished last night. Four of them for Carli and the Clan for Christmas presents and two sample for one of my stockists in Victoria, The Patchwork Teahouse.

I love the fabrics and the bright, summery colours. I also love that I have finished them now and can tick them off my list of things to do!
The last few months I feel like I have only been getting “necessary things” done. Not much “just for fun” stuff and I am really looking forawrd to the end of this week – my deadline for getting the “necessary things” ticked off, then I’m going to give myself a break and start to do some of the things I have wanted to do for ages, like:

** get back into scrapbooking – I want to have Oscar and Lil’s scrapbooks up to date before the baby is born…I haven’t even started Lil’s yet!!

** make an advent calander. Too late for this year, but I left it until the last minute last year also so I figure if I get started on it now while I’m in the festive mood it can be ready for 2009!

** make Lil’s quilt – remember this fabric I bought awhile back?

** do some “just for fun” sewing…plenty of projects to choose from there!

** wash inside and outside house windows.

** start baking christmas treats.

** make chocolates with Oscar in chocolate moulds.

** Finish Christmas shopping/gift making.

** sew new cushion covers and quilt for the couch.

** visit friends – espeically ones with new babies I still have to cuddle and give gifts to.

FUN FUN! I’m off to finish the “necessary stuff” now!

December 3, 2008

Make It Perfect

.Recipe Monday.

I’m really hoping that this Brownie recipe isn’t top secret…it is so good that it should be though! Kind of like a cross between a chocolate slice and a brownie, although my version doesn’t taste anywhere near as good as Kit’s does. The best part about making it is that the whole thing is mixed and cooked right in the slice tin so hardly anything to clean up afterwards!

Kit’s Brownie
125g butter or margarine
1/4 cup cocoa
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup plain flour
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Chocolate Icing
1 cup icing sugar
2 Tbs cocoa
2 tsp soft butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbs water – approx

Melt butter over low heat in a lamington pan (if you want to make a bigger brownie then use a bigger slice tin and double the mixture).
Stir until melted and brush a little around the sides of the pan.
Stir in sifted cocoa and sugar.
Remove from heat, add eggs and beat well with a fork or whisk.
Stir in sifted flour and nuts. Spread evenly over base of tin.
Bake in moderate oven 25-30 minutes. Stand a few minutes and then top with chocolate icing. Cut when cool.

Chocolate Icing
Sift icing sugar and cocoa into a bowl. Stir in butter and vanilla and enough water to give a spreading consistency.

December 1, 2008

Make It Perfect

.Pattern giveaway WINNERS announced.

Are you ready for the winners…I used a Random Number Generator to help me pick the 4 lucky people, if someone commented twice then I only counted their first comment and disregarded the second to keep it fair for everyone.

So the lucky numbers were:

#10 – Lisa (are you laughing Lisa??!! I am!)

#15 – Bianca

#21 – Emmi (24 November 2008 10:34)

#33 – Michelle

CONGRATULATIONS! Email me (see my email address to the left) your postal address and I will get your chosen patterns to you ASAP!

November 27, 2008

Make It Perfect

.”bits and pieces”…aka “picnic”.

This is a regular lunch/dinner time event in our house. If you ask Oscar what he wants for lunch or dinner, 9 times out of 10 he will ask for a picnic.

A traditional meal carried on from our Mother for both my sister and I. It sure beats a peanut butter sandwich any day.

We eat it for dinner once a week – although the dinner version is a little more elaborate, catering for Mum and Dad too with some nice breads, cheeses and the sort. And it is eaten for lunch a few times a week.

I find it the easiest way to get the kids to eat anything healthy…dish it up on the picnic platter and they seem to eat it all!

Our favourite foods to include are apples, grapes, any fresh fruit cut up into small pieces, sultanas, dried apricots, crackers, dip (hummus or tatziki), cheese sticks, ham, cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, red capsicum sticks, fetta cheese, pineapple from a can and much, much more!

So, if you are sick of the same old sandwich for lunch or want a quick, healthy dinner, try some bits and pieces. The kids are guaranteed to be impressed!