SKOW Quilt Top Finished

Seeing as one certain lady has been getting out the whip I thought it was about time to show my progress on the SKOW stitch-a-long.  After plodding along, I’m delighted to announce that the top is all together…. and on time.

The best bit is that this was finally put together on a recent visit to “The Chook Shed” and Chooky actually was present for the “Ta Da” moment. 

I think she is being a little cheeky here –pretending it is her finished quilt.

The worst part was all the “Pesky Petals”, as I called them, on the tree block.  There are 55 separate petals, all needing to be started and finished and then tied off at the back.  For once machine blanket stitch was not the easiest option.

Now I just have to trim all the loose threads and will be delivering the top to my friend Val on Tuesday for her to quilt it.  I can’t wait to get it completely finished. 

As I keep saying, I would never have tackled a project this involved without the encouragement and accountability of the stitch-a-long. Thanks Chooky for keeping us on track.

Farewell Dad

Things have been a bit quiet here in the last couple of weeks, as on Thursday 13th September my Dad passed away at the age of 93.  It was very peaceful, after a short battle with cancer.

He had been well and active right until the end.  This photo was taken on VP Day, only a month before he died.  He was the last ex POW in our town.

Dad was a keen spinner and the “Mr Fixit” for all the local spinning wheels.

We all miss him.  It won’ be quite the same without him around.

Missing Blog and a Recipe

This evening  I came home to a missing blog!  The blogger message said it had been deleted!  Oh No!!!

After a couple of deep breaths, I followed the prompts and my Google account said there had been abnormal activity.  After obtaining a verification code to enter, everything returned. 

Talk about a relief.

So, as promised, here is the recipe for the Banana Caramel Cake.  The original recipe creams the butter and sugar, but I am a melt and mix girl, so made a couple of changes.  It still worked fine and tasted great.

BANANA CARAMEL CAKE

Ingredients

110g butter

1 ¼ cups firmly packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons cold water

2 bananas, peeled and halved lengthways

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon golden syrup

¾ cup plain flour

1/3 cup self-raising flour

1/3 cup milk

Whipped cream, to serve

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180^OC/160^OC fan-forced. Lightly grease a 6cm deep, 9cm x 19cm (base) loaf pan. Line with baking paper.

2. Combine 10g butter, ½ cup brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of cold water in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 3 to 4 minutes or until sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and cook for 3 minutes or until thickened. Pour into prepared pan.

3. Trim banana halves to fit pan. Place cut side down over syrup.

4. In a medium saucepan, melt the remaining 100g butter. Let cool slightly. Add syrup and sugar and stir till combined. Add eggs, one at a time. Add flours and milk and mix until just combined. Spread over banana.

5. Bake for 55 mins to 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Stand in pan for 5 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Serve with cream.

NOTE: Mine rose a lot in the middle while cooking, so I had to slice a bit off for the cake to sit flat on a plate.

Let me know if you try it and have a success.

Spring Has Sprung

After my last post bemoaning the lack of spring like weather, Sunday made up for it.  It was still a cold start to the morning, but soon warmed up and not a cloud in the sky.  Perfect weather for drying the washing and Father’s Day.

After spending the morning baking again, I ventured over to Mum and Dad’s for afternoon tea.  Unfortunately, Mick had to work.

Instead of going through my old recipes, this time I tried a couple of new ones – both very successful.  I’ll share the recipe for this Caramel Banana Cake tomorrow.  Mmmmm Mmmmm!

The second recipe was for Hazelnut Chocolate Biscuits, shared recently by Tracy.  I didn’t have any hazelnut spread, so at Tracy’s suggestion, used peanut butter instead. 

Another success, although very rich.  You don’t want to eat too many at once.  Mick loves brownies, so is very happy with these. Thanks for the recipes Tracy.

It’s Spring, Squishy Mail and a Finish

Yes, winter is finally over.  Spring has sprung……

Doesn’t it just look so warm.

OK!  Who am I kidding?  It was minus 6.5 degrees C and the biggest frost.  The second coldest morning this year and the frost was accentuated by the fact that we had a shower of rain yesterday evening.

However, it is now a glorious blue day and should get up to about 14 degrees.

Yesterday when I arrived home from doing the groceries after work (don’t I have just the most riveting social life on a Friday night), there was a squishy parcel waiting for me.

I was strong and waited till after all the groceries were away and we’d had tea before opening it.

Inside were these lovelies.

You see, Lea and her hubby have just returned from participating in ***AND WINNING*** the bash for the Starlight Foundation.  Before she went she had a little guessing competition to see how many sewing notions were in a jar.  There were 152 and I guessed 153.  This is the prize.  Just lovely.  The zippy pouch will be very useful for small projects and the colours are divine. Thanks Lea.

Also, yesterday it dawned on me that it was the end of the month and once again I had no finish to share.  Can’t have that, so whipped up another bib for the gift stash.

I feel a bit of a fraud for OPAM by just doing a little something, but I’m determined to have no months without a finish of some description.

I’m off to my little stitching group this afternoon, so will get some more done on the “Stitching” block of SKOW.  On the down hill run now.