Because I don't have enough projects already..........

Another purchase

Some beautiful projects to create.

And another one.

Lovely photos of quilts, beautiful fabrics, yumm.

Another crafty day

I have been busy but not an awful lot to show for it.
I have lots and lots of fabric that I have purchased in the last few months, and I have been having lots of trouble trying to decide which project to tackle first.  I have finished machine quilting the Japanese fabric quilt, but still need to do a little bit of hand embroidery and hand quilting before I reveal it.


I chose to make this quilt next as I needed something that was easy, straightforward and hopefully foolproof, otherwise I could feel my quilting mojo going down the proverbial drain. The pattern I used is Lazy Daisy with Rosie by Penny H Designs, at  Patchwork Angel.

Firstly this

became this,

and finally this.

These are the first few of 35 squares. I still have about 25 to go.

I am trying to figure out how on earth I am going to make myself a design wall, so that I can play around with the design. The squares will be 9"x 9" and with 35 of them it will be quite big, too big to lay it out on the floor and have the cats playing with it.  The only wall that has easy access is right outside the bathroom and toilet.  I am not sure whether I want my quilt pieces to hang there, it is a narrow hallway too, so people will quite possibly brush up against it. All the other walls either have large windows or furniture placed in front of them. So I have my thinking cap on.

Weekend breakfast

Sometimes I feel like something a little different for breakfast, and I don't want to go to too much effort, and involve too many skills and ingredients. This fits the bill perfectly.  This is flexible and you can add more or less as you like.

Bacon and Egg Tortilla 

Ingredients for 1

2 rashers of short cut bacon, diced

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tortilla

smidgin of butter.

I use 2 non stick fry pans. In a small fry pan cook bacon.  Heat a larger fry pan, I use one that just fits the tortilla, when hot add tortilla and heat. Warm both sides.

Remove tortilla, and place on plate.

Grease pan with butter and then add beaten egg. The aim is to make a basic omelette. If using only one egg, it is quite thin and delicate.  Cook egg. remove from pan and place on tortilla.

Add cooked bacon to tortilla and egg.

Roll up, and enjoy. 

Of course, you can always use 2 eggs, more bacon, make more than one.  

Friday flowers

On my dining table, some Kalanchoes

I found these at the supermarket, they must have been in for Mother's Day.

I haven't seen hyacinths for ages. I love their perfume.

A new poinsettia, 50% of the proceeds goes towards a Breast Cancer charity. 

I just love the colour of this one

Just because I love lillies.

Ricotta and Spinach Cannelloni

We often have vegetarian meals here, and I always try to cook healthy options, regularly using Weight Watchers recipes. This one has been adapted from WW Family Faves Cook Book,  Ricotta and Spinach Pasta Shells.
Not the best photo, as I almost forgot, and once it is served on the plate it isn't photogenic.

This is a generous serve for 2 people

INGREDIENTS

cannelloni shells
1/3 cup shallots diced
1 clove garlic, minced
english spinach
225g ricotta, I use the brand, Pantalica, smooth light ( I highly recommend this particular one as it is really creamy and very smooth, and doesn't have that icky texture of some of the other ricottas)
1 cup bottled tomato pasta sauce
1/4 cup plus another 1/2 cup stock ( I use chicken stock, which technically isn't vegetarian)
provolone or mozzarella cheese thinly sliced

Preheat the oven to 200C.
Heat a pan and add 1/4 cup of stock, cook the shallots until soft, add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Make sure most of the stock has evaporated. Chop spinach and add to onion and cook until just wilted. There should be very little, if any, liquid in the pan.
Combine spinach and onion mixture with ricotta in a bowl. Place it in a plastic bag and snip off the corner so that you can pipe into the cannelloni tubes. Fill the cannelloni with the mixture. This amount filled 8 tubes.
Place the cannelloni in a greased shallow ovenproof dish. In a pan combine the pasta sauce and stock. Bring to the boil. Pour the sauce over the cannelloni, cover and bake for 30 mins. Remove cover and place cheese over the cannelloni and cook for a further 5 minutes until melted and bubbling.

Me + Exercise is not a good equation

Do you remember this life changing..... disastrous...... little incident with exercise a couple of weeks ago  here. You might need to read this first, before you read further.

So, after THE unfortunate incident I took it upon myself to continue exercising, by walking on the treadmill in the safety of my own home. It was enjoyable to be able to walk for 30 mins without falling over, tripping up, being savaged by wild beasts or injuring myself. This has been a nice, safe form of exercise for me.

Until Monday morning.  

Unfortunately my treadmill died a very quick and unexpected death................while I was on it.  It could have had disastrous consequences, fortunately for me, I was not running.  I think I would have ended up going through the wall like a bullet, as it stopped instantly, without warning.     The only unusual sign, that things may have been not quite right, was, the electronic read out told me after 10 mins of walking, I had burned 350 calories, woo hoo, and I had covered 6 1/2 miles, wow! I was in the middle of celebrating this awesome achievement when it died.

I am now going to attempt to go walking outside, in the sunshine, with awesome views and hope like heck I don't fall over again. I haven't been able to find a sumo costume so, please keep your fingers crossed for me that I stay upright. BTW I am still waiting for my bubble wrap helmet, Mrs P.

I am also not taking Mr Innocent out for a walk either.

Now that I think I may have found my crafting mojo, I don't want to be savaged again by this gigantic fierce hound.  

Poor boy. 

Finished!

Finally finished this throw, each square is 4" and it is 10 squares x 11 squares.

I was going to make it bigger, but it doesn't get very cold here and it is more than big enough for a lap size throw. 

It is acrylic, which normally I wouldn't use, but I loved these colours and couldn't get them in either wool or cotton. 

It is the first time I have made something in acrylic and it was surprisingly nice to crochet with. I hope it stands the test of time. 

Another thunderstorm yesterday afternoon, look how dark it turned!  These were taken just after 4pm and it doesn't normally get dark until just before 6pm.

If you click on the last photo, you can actually see the rain drops, they were huge.