I've been making Chutney.....

The drawback to being home alone when you are cooking is that there is no one here to share the guilty pleasure of sampling the brew straight from the pot - while it is still hot...... ;-)   Their loss!

We have our Veggies delivered each week by the very nice Nick from Aussie Farmers Direct.  It is often a Mystery Box Challenge to make something special with the contents.  Last week I opened the box to see, along with the standard winter veggies,  an enormous Beetroot.
Now beetroot and I are Summer friends, I enjoy a slice in a salad sandwich and an Aussie hamburger would not be complete without some.  So what do you do with this salad veggie in winter?

Trawl the Internet for a suitable recipe!!

 I found this one at Australian Good Taste and although I didn't have the required quantity of beetroot it was no hassle to adapt.  I weighed my beetroot, found it was about 1/4 of what the recipe needed (I did say it was enormous) and then just quartered the rest of the ingredients.  I had already boiled it the day before, so jumped the bake in foil bit.

It proved to be very tasty on crackers with some vintage cheddar, and I can see it disappearing quickly once the rest of the family find it.

I think I may need a design wall.....

I have an Eye Spy Quilt in the design process at the moment

and not having much room to sew, my placements 

have to be done on the floor.

Which was perfectly fine.....

Until .....

Spike decided to help.

Being part of something special

Aussie Hero Friends
(I'm the one behind the camera!)

This week I have had the opportunity to meet and chat with Jan-Maree from Aussie Hero Quilts, over Hot Chocolate and Coffee when she was down in Melbourne for her MIL's 80th Birthday.

We stayed at the Cafe so long, enjoying several coffees and some very nice muffins, the waiter eventually asked if we wanted the lunch menu......or the bill!

It prompted my DH to quote his favourite saying - Hmmmm -
"Can I get you anything?  Tea?  Coffee?  Hats?  Coats ???"

It was a valuable time to connect with Internet friends, and catch up on some of the finer details of Aussie Hero Quilts that don't get into print.

I have been working on 2 special request quilts over the last week or so and finally have sent them off to their new homes.
One via Jan-Maree and one is in the post today.  It was a challenge to get what was a Fat Quarter Bundle into a quilt without chopping through the pattern.  My DH suggested it would look good if I could quilt it so that it had tractor tyre tracks running over it.
Hmmm - maybe I should teach HIM to quilt!

QAYG - Attempt No 1

QAYG = Quilt As You Go.  Well, it certainly has been the theme of this week!
It is that time of year when Monash University hosts their annual Computer Games Boot Camp over in their Clayton Campus, which means A LOT of going and not much quilting, as I play Chauffeur for DS#2.  (900 kms since last Thursday morning with another 4 days to go, and no souvenirs to show for it - I am mighty tired.)

 - BUT - when I was not going I was Quilting (and, OK I admit - snoozing).
I was able to turn my QAYG Challenge piece for the Janome group into a quilt for an Aussie Hero and do something worthwhile with what would just end up as another quilt for the pile.
The challenge for me was to try a method that I had never done before and QAYG this Quilt without any sashing/joining fabrics.
It worked out OK, I don't think I will bother with doing it this way again, unless I had a lot of left over batting to use up, as I think it was just as long to quilt as the conventional way.


The block, for those of you who may be interested
was a 12" block called 'Squares upon Squares' and you can find it at www.quilterscache.com/S/SquaresUponSquaresBlock

Getting the hang of it....

It's grey and white and so am I..........
so it must be mine......... yes?

Sorry Spike - no it is not for you, but I am glad that you have finally realised that there are responsibilities to being a Quilters Cat!

The week that was....

Monday was my Birthday and I was totally spoilt.
DH bought me a birthday cake - so I didn't have to make my own (wasn't that sweet?) and then he booked a restaurant for dinner - so I didn't have to cook my own party....or wash up after it!
Being a Monday night it was VERY quiet and the staff enjoyed my 'party' as much as we did, ending the evening with an attempt to sing Happy Birthday whilst encouraging me to blow out the candle on my desert!

The Kids gave me a new toy to play with - OH MY Goodness!

It is an ASUS tablet with a detachable keyboard - It came with the instruction that "NOW you can Blog on the Road".  I have a lot to learn as it is not quite the same as a laptop.  It will be interesting to be able to pull it out and write up posts for my other Blog while I am actually in a Cafe!

It also has Kindle and came pre-loaded with a copy of Alice in Wonderland... Hmmm I wonder why the  programmers chose that book?  We refer to those little side trips and detours along the way when we are travelling as "Going down Rabbit Holes" - just like Alice, you never know where you will end up or what you will encounter - or now, what I could blog about - once you get there!
If my Sat Nav is called Myrtle I wonder what I should call my new tablet?
  Alice perhaps???

On the sewing front - I have been making a Special Request quilt for one of our Aussie Heroes.  It was supposed to be a "Simple Beginners Block" - fantastic nice and quick, that was until BOTH my machines started playing up and decided they were not going to sew scant 1/4" seams!  So I have been doing more un-sewing than sewing, which is a tad frustrating as I could have had the top finished by now - I am sure I have sewn enough seams for it!  And I think I am going to have to make it reversible with something bright on the back, as it it a little too close in colour to their uniforms to make it fun!

A Mouse Ate My Handbag........

Seriously!
We have had a mouse in the house for a couple of weeks now.  The first we became aware of his presence was when I moved the little bear that sits on the TV cabinet.  We brought 'Little Bear' home from the Haigs Chocolate factory which is why he had a couple of Chocolate Hearts in an Organza bag tied around his neck.... That was until Mouse found it!

OK so they were very stale bits of chocolate and should have been thrown out years ago and we thought it amusing that the 'little mouse' has eaten his way through the bag and the foil to get to the chocolate, and delicately dropped the chewed pieces of foil in the lap of Bear as if Bear was the one to blame....
So I cleaned the house from top to bottom - plugging any hole that may have let him in.  The next morning we woke to find a Caramel Bunny (left on the bench overnight) with a rather large bite out of it's middle.  OK so this mouse has a passion for chocolate.

The kids wouldn't let us set a traditional trap and so we bought the "Catch Him Alive" model.
Oh Yeah THAT was successful .... Baited with chocolate - it took the bait and said 'thank you very much' by leaving a "calling card" on the floor instead!
Then DD found evidence it had sniffed out her 'Hypo Stash' in her handbag - and helped himself to half of a Confectionery Company Dinosaur......
Mouse is no longer amusing....

Time for a better Mouse-trap!  Enter Spike.  .......This also doesn't work. Cat is scared of everything that moves and spends most of his time hiding under beds or in his basket in the laundry.

So DD cleans up her room convinced that she had been kept awake all night with scratchings in the wall.  A suspicion that was proved with the discovery of............ (see photo)
well this is one VERY determined Chocoholic Mouse.
[I must point out at his stage that no other food left out has been touched - the traps set with other mouse tempting tidbits were ignored.]
The only thing this mouse will eat is Lollies & preferably Chocolate!

Then Tuesday I picked up my handbag - only to discover......

OH NO!  It had smelt the chocolate my Mum had given me when we went for coffee the other day, got into my bag and when it discovered that the chocolate was in the zipped section - promptly ATE his way through not one but TWO sections of my bag lining and a layer of foil to get to the 'prize'.....
And then proceeded to chew it's way back out via a different route!

And as Bugs Bunny said...."Of course you know that This Means WAR"......

.... it also means I need a new handbag!