A bit of cheer

My zygo flower is finally open and it is beautiful! 

And look, there are heaps more flowers on the way...

The bag workshop at Ballarat Patchwork was heaps of fun and my little bag is looking pretty cute (even if I do say so myself!).  There were some lovely ladies doing the class and we had a fun day - ripping fabric (such a satisfying sound!), plaiting fabric and stitching it back together again!

Progress...

Here is a photo of a memory quilt that I finally finished recently (the dark pink is the binding).  It was made for a friend in memory of her Mum who died nearly 2 years ago. 

It is mostly made from her clothing, the butterflies in each corner are made from folded hankies, that corgi applique has over 30 pieces and it is only a 9" square block.

My friend has seen the quilt and she LOVES it - I feel all warm and fuzzy when I think of her face when she saw the quilt.

I just have to attach a label and organise a hanging rod and it will be going to live with my friend at her new home.

I managed to FINALLY get my "Summer Lemonade" quilt top pinned and ready for quilting, the quilting pattern has already been decided and I just need to find the time to DO it!

Bits and Bobs

A little bit of everything in this post!

The zygo cactus that I inherited when my Granny died early last year is thriving.  I re-potted it, gave it a light trim and fertilized it, it has been growing nicely but I was starting to worry that it was never going to flower.  But look at this photo, my little zygo is covered in flower buds.  Thanks Granny!

I stepped out of the car the other day and was greeted with these cute little guys on my fence....

And lastly, proof that I have been working on making that multi-tasker tote that I wrote about not long ago...

Mmmm, cake

I have been doing some sewing (I promise!) but today there was a slight detour to my Mum and Dad's place for a roast lamb lunch.  I volunteered to make dessert -  there is a dessert that I have wanted to make for a little while now and this was a perfect excuse.

I saw it at Kraft Foods a couple of weeks ago and then recently at Patchwork Times. I ended up using Judy's recipe with a couple of alterations...

Cake:
Green's Moist Vanilla cake mix (470g)
2 eggs
2/3 cup (150mL) milk
60g soft butter

Jelly:
85g pack of passionfruit jelly crystals
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup cold water

Icing:
90g instant vanilla pudding mix (a bit less than a full pack)
1 cup milk
splash vanilla essence
1 1/4 cups cream (full fat)
1/4 cup icing sugar

**  I had plenty of the icing left over, so next time I make it I will halve the ingredients.

**  also, I will whip the cream then mix the milk/pudding mix together.  When I made it today I did the milk/pudding mix first and it was already starting to set by the time the cream was whipped

I served it with a drizzle of passionfruit, and it was YUMMY!!  I will definitely be making this recipe again, maybe next time I will make a chocolate/strawberry combo

Renovations

Do we like the new color scheme?

I think it will be nice to have some cheery colors in the middle of this dreary winter!

I've been shopping

Another cool parcel arrived from Pink Chalk in the USA last week. The first two (blue print and red paisley) are laminated cottons, they are soooo soft and feel lovely, nothing like those stiff old fashioned plastic coated fabrics.

I have plans to make a multi-tasker tote from the blue print - I'm going to combine it with a print that I found at Ballarat Patchwork a few weeks ago