Bargains, Giveaways and Zucchinis

The week has started off at a galloping pace. First of all, I have listed these three items on my Etsy shop at 20% discount for the month of March.

It's all part of the Etsy Dust Street Team's March sale theme of Green Dreams.

That takes care of the bargains - now for the giveaway.

The very talented girls at Embelish are celebrating their 100th post and you could be the winner of these delightful goodies. Why not pop on over and enter the competition? On second thoughts maybe not. The less entries, the more chance I have of winning!

And last but not least, the continuing adventures of the giant zucchini.

The first cut is always the hardest. You can see (l) what an impression it made. However, the results were well worth it (r), as the drooling Mr Fudge can attest to.

So it was time for the second cut - this time for the zucchini slice.

By now the pumpkin which had been cowering away in the corner was feeling a little more confident, in fact, he was feeling quite perky. Little does he know what we have in store for him!

And this is what still remains of the giant zucchini - still enough to feed a village. Maybe I could get it on the plane and take it down to the wedding ...

Shadow Shot Sunday # 13

It's March - who would believe it? And what a busy month it will be. We fly down to Sydney on Wednesday for our daughter's wedding the next day. We'll be there for a few days, catching up with family and friends before flying home to be welcomed by several deadlines. The weekend following our return will be the first anniversary of BrisStyle. Our little band of artisans has grown from about a dozen members who attended the first meeting to the current membership of nearly 60, and new applications arrive on an almost daily basis. So for our anniversary meet-up, it has been decided that we make will a small gift to be won by another member in a lucky dip system. Eek! I'll only have a couple of days to get my mind around that one. As I make children's clothes, I can hardly take something from my stock. Still, I'll worry about that one next week.

Today it's Hey Harriet's Shadow Shot Sunday and here are my contributions for this week. Both shots were taken in the back yard yesterday afternoon. The first shot of the garden table and chair produced a shadow which reminded me of a bicycle.





This is our bougainvillea which we keep contained in a pot, otherwise it would take over the whole yard. Mind you, I have deep suspicions that the roots have found their way out of the bottom of the pot and are roaming the neighbourhood, scaring little children and dogs.

Anyhow, do yourself a favour and hop over to Hey Harriet's blog and feast your eyes on some truly beautiful shadow shots.

That's not a zucchini ...

Well, Mr Fudge came home last night after spending two days on a friend's rural property. He was not alone. He had a box of goodies.




I know, it's just a zucchini, isn't it? Take another look ...



That's a reasonably sized pumpkin trembling away in the corner. This is not a zucchini to trifle with. It measures 19 inches (48 cm) and I am assured by Mr Fudge that it is organically grown - no nasty hormones to beef it up. The farmer simply left it for a few days before picking and was staggered when he discovered how much it had grown. Jack and your beanstalk, eat your heart out.

Which brings me to a dilemma - what to do with it? A quick scan through my recipes came up with a highly recommended zucchini slice, which I have made before, so I know it will work just fine. Here's the recipe:

Zucchini Slice - serves 15 (!!)

Ingredients

5 eggs
150g (1 cup) self-raising flour, sifted
375g zucchini, grated
1 large onion, finely chopped
200g rindless bacon, chopped
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
60ml (1/4 cup) vegetable oil

Method

Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease and line a 30 x 20cm lamington pan. Beat the eggs in a large bowl until combined. Add the flour and beat until smooth, then add zucchini, onion, bacon, cheese and oil and stir to combine. Pour into the prepared pan and bake in oven for 30 minutes or until cooked through.

So that takes care of about a quarter of the zucchini, and the rest will go into some sort of ragout, along with the other vegetables from the farm.





But not the figs, of course. We had some last night with ice cream and honey. Died and went to heaven. There were about a dozen large figs, so there are plenty left to make a fig tart. Obviously I'm going to be busy little cook this weekend!





This afternoon I completed a peasant dress, size 3. Again I used the beautiful Anna Maria Horner fabric from her Good Folks collection. I really enjoyed making this little dress which I will be putting it up for sale in my Etsy shop tonight.

What a glorious mess!

After viewing a member of BrisStyle's pristine work room on her blog, I foolishly suggested that we should drop everything, pick up our cameras and take some shots of our work areas, regardless of the terrible mess it may be in. No cheating, no sweeping piles of fabric behind the door, etc.

Well, at least one person took me seriously and posted up an image of a very respectable work area. Considering she does beautiful woodwork, this is pretty good. If you don't believe me, go and take a look at Eliza's blog. Or take a look at Ali of Charlie and Grace's room - spotless.

I, on the other hand, am in serious need of professional help, as you will observe.

This is my sewing area and I have become adept at not getting tangled up in all the electrical cords on the floor. So far, it doesn't look too bad, does it?

Here (above) is my cutting table - quite long - with a good 30 inches of space left free to cut out garments, quilts, etc. Still looking not too bad. But lurking under the table ...

... lies all this. My philosophy is out of sight, bla, bla. And lastly,

inside the built-in wardrobe lies my quilting fabric stash, or part of it. The rest is somewhere in the garage, still waiting to be unpacked after our move two and a half years ago.

I am so relieved to have my dark secret out in the open at last. I daren't do the big clean-up, because I know exactly where everything is and I love being surrounded by my lovely, familiar mess.

Trish of Trishalan Designs has entered into the spirit of the untouched home studio with vigour, although her very tidy shop studio lets her down a little, I'm afraid. And Miriam of Bubba Chenille gets bonus points for moving some of her work out into the dining room. Well done!

Shadow Shot Sunday # 12

I missed my dose of Hey Harriet's Shadow Shot Sunday last week, so I have some catching up to do.

This is a shot taken early on a Sunday morning at a friend's beach house, way before the activities of the day began. Early morning is my favourite part of the day, when the air is still and the birds sing their welcoming songs.

Now hop over to Hey Harriet to see some really beautiful Shadow Shot Sunday images.

How many Surprise Birthday Parties can a girl have?

Now, I have a good friend who had one of those Big O birthdays way back on 2 January. Around that time her husband threw a surprise birthday party for her at their beach house, but being the holiday period, many of her friends were away, including us. From all accounts we missed out on a magnificent day.

So on Tuesday our little group of eight quilters (Loose Threads) who have been together for many years now, decided to throw her a surprise lunch of our own, as it was the first time we had met as a group since before Christmas. The guest of honour had brought along an apple and a few cracker biscuits for lunch, so she was quite chuffed when she saw the spread set out on the table. Who needs cracker biscuits when you can have this?

By now Birthday Girl thought she had seen the end of her prolonged birthday celebrations, but little did she know that the very next day yet another surprise birthday lunch had been organised by a larger group of quilters (30). Our friend was the founder of our group, Jems Quilt Sitters, so at our first meeting of the year we could not let the opportunity of a party slip through our fingers. I am kicking myself that I left my camera at home, because each member had created a fabric postcard for the birthday girl and some of them were little works of art. Other members took photos, so I'll get some copies and post them in a future blog.

But it hasn't all been parties and celebrations. I have managed to make a couple of dresses for my Etsy shop. I received a shipment of the latest Anna Maria Horner fabric line, Good Friends, and was absolutely delighted when I opened the package and saw the beautiful colour range. So I made a knot dress.

I had been procrastinating over a little dress I had cut out last week, so I decided it was time to get it put together.

And so another year begins in earnest - can it be almost the end of February already?

A catch-up and a christening

Most Saturdays are busy times, but yesterday was particularly so. The much anticipated meet-up with members of BrisStyle was organised for 11.00 am at the Pandemonium Cafe at Paddington in Brisbane. When a group of like-minded creative people get together, the air is filled with friendliness and enthusiasm. The group is expanding in leaps and bounds from our first meeting almost a year ago. About ten people were at that first meeting and now our membership is heading towards 70. There amongst the familiar faces were scattered some new members, but in no time it was as though we had known each other forever.

I always look forward to seeing first-hand the beautiful works created by our group and I was sorry to have to leave before many had arrived.

However, it was time to get home to quickly change clothes, make a final check of the christening gown and drive to our latest grandchild's baptism. The gown was made by my mother for our own children and now it has been worn by her great-grandchildren. She would have been chuffed.

The number one lesson learned was that perhaps I should have had my glasses at the ready before I attempted to undo the tiniest buttons it is legal to sell.

Excuse me, Father, you're going to do what?

I don't believe he did that. Look at my hair - it's ruined!

There was time enough afterwards to chase some birds ...

before Miss G was arrested ...

and grounded.

It was then time for some celebratory food, so it was off to the children's favourite eatery.

I know as a child I had some pretty peculiar food fetishes, like peanut butter and Vegemite sandwiches - mixed together. But nothing prepared for the sight of our nearly four-year-old granddaughter continuously taking spoonfuls of chocolate ice cream, alternating with sips of pumpkin soup.

It was compelling, in a horrible sort of way. I suddenly lost my appetite.

It didn't seem to affect Miss G who was on a chocolate high, but the guest of honour was far from impressed and took to her stroller, fingers firmly in place.

It was the end of her Big Day Out.