Hello again

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I have finally emerged from 4 days of celebrations with family and friends (probably a little heavier than 4 days ago!) and am about to embark on our New Years celebrations! It doesn't stop! But we have had a wonderful time in Melbourne catching up with everyone - I don't really want to go home at the end of the week. But all good things must come to an end as they say...

I am not able to upload any of my Christmas photos at the moment, so I will have to share them once I return to Sydney - but I can share one present I recieved this year

A Pink Cupcake Courier!

This came from my husband's brother and his wife and is very much appreciated! Now I just have to figure out how I am going to get it home along with all my other baggage!

Merry Christmas!

I am currently in my hometown Melbourne about to head to the airport to pick up my sister and thinking about tomorrow - Christmas carols, morning tea with mince pies, roast lunch And(!) dinner and the prospect of a good bottle of red and some card games late into the evening... I can't wait for tomorrow to come!

Wishing you all a fabulous Christmas filled with love and laughter!

Last minute Christmas gifts - pistachio and cranberry chocolate bark

I am still frantically trying to finish off my Christmas gifts before we leave for Melbourne tomorrow (yay!), so I knew I wanted something quick and easy to make for my husbands and my work colleagues, but still nice enough to give away as a present.

This 'bark' definitely filled those criteria - it was extremely quick to make. I didn't use a recipe - so I can't give you exact measurements - but it won't matter because it is so simple!

Pistachio and Cranberry Chocolate Bark

1 pack of chocolate melts, or 1 block of chocolate - I used white chocolate because I thought it would be a nice contrast to the other colours - but you could use any chocolate you like, or even swirl together white and dark/milk chocolate too
a couple of handfuls of shelled, unsalted pistachios
a couple of handfuls of dried cranberries

Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over hot water or in the microwave. Allow to cool a little.

Meanwhile, place pistachios in a plastic bag and lightly crush with a rolling pin

Mix half the pistachios and half the cranberries into the white chocolate.

Spread the chocolate mixture on the baking tray. Then sprinkle with the remaining pistachios and cranberries. Using a spatulata, lightly press the nuts and fruit into the chocolate so that when it sets they won't fall off.


Place tray in the fridge and allow chocolate to set.

Break 'bark into pieces, wrap it up and present it to your friends (or eat it yourself!)

I also got another present finished last night - some recipe cards to go with another larger present for the kitchen!

Thankfully there's not many left to finish now as we leave very early tomorrow morning!

And - a big Hello to anyone who has made it here from Rachael's gorgeous blog "Four Wise Monkeys ". I hope you enjoy my blog.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Christmas sewing...

There's only 2 days until we leave Sydney for our long awaited 2 week holiday in Melbourne with our family and friends. I can't wait, we have been looking forward to it for so long. The only tough thing about being away before Christmas is that all of our Christmas presents need to be organised before we go away - including all handmade presents. I finished a couple of presents today - only a couple more to go! Phew!

The first ones are for me! There is a free pattern here

Tiny embelished singlets for my newborn cousin - Belle.

Crayon rolls for my gorgeous cousins - Bonnie and Yasmeen

The mushroom print linen is a favourite of mine and I really like it alongside the polka dots

The first of the edible gifts are dressed, but there are still more to do!

Happy Belated Birthday Mum!

This weekend was spent almost entirely struggling with the quilting of the quilt top I put together for my new baby cousin Belle. It seems that it could not be quilted parallel or perpendicular to the edges of the quilt but only diagonally. I tried machine quilting it with 3 different feet on my machine, with different thread tensions and stitch length, I pulled the 3 layers apart, pulled the pieces of the backing apart, re-cut them and then re-stitched it together, then re-basted the 3 layers and tried quilting it again… Nothing I did would help – the back kept bunching up underneath my quilting stitches. Boy was it annoying. There was a lot of swearing and stamping of feet that’s for sure. I have no idea why it wouldn’t quilt in straight lines – perhaps the fabric wasn’t 100% cotton and possibly had some polyester in it? Or maybe the fabric was placed on the bias? I have no idea. All I know is that I was mighty annoyed! It is quilted now, just not in the pattern I wanted. Oh well! Hopefully I will be able to bind it tonight and send it off before Christmas.

It was my Mum’s birthday last week – Happy belated Birthday Mum! I made her a journal cover, based on the patterns by Janelle Wind, but with some changes. The butterfly is placed on the cover with raw edge appliqué – which I think turned out pretty well. I like the way the edges frayed a little.

And of course, I had a little helper while I was taking my photos! It's a little dark, but he's there!
I hope everyone had a less frustrating weekend than I did with a bit more sewing!

Could I win?

I doubt it - there are 48 (yep, 48!) amazing looking chocolate cakes in Not Quite Nigella's Ultimate Chocolate Cake Challenge! Make sure you have a look through them all (and vote for me if you like my cake!) - although, I will warn you - you will definitely need some chocolate afterwards! They all look scrumptious!

7 things...

Recently, my sister Annie, tagged me for a Kreativ Blogger award! Isn't she lovely?

This award came with some lists that each required 7 answers, so without any further ado - here are some strange things about me!

Seven things I say most often
1) Be careful (to my husband as he leaves on his bike)
2) I’m hungry
3) Sampson, please be good, just for a change
4) Ow (after being clumsy!)
5) Hey Monkey (to Sampson)
6) this house is a mess
7) I hate Sydney weather (too muggy for a Melbourne girl like me)

Seven things I did before
1) completed a PhD
2) lost 20kg (and next week I will have kept it off for 5 years!)
3) climbed Mt Kinabalu in Sabah
4) flipped burgers at McDonalds and worked the checkout at Coles while at school and uni
5) lived in Melbourne
6) trekked in Northern Thailand
7) flew business class to Malaysia (a special upgrade on our honeymoon!)

Seven things I do now
1) sew too slowly to be able to tackle all the projects I want to
2) kiss my cat many many times each day
3) work in medical research
4) not eat enough meat
5) constantly think I don’t have enough clothes
6) get frustrated while watching the evening news
7) never miss an episode of Project Runway!

Seven things I want to do
1) Have children (no Mum and Annie – not soon!)
2) travel through areas of Asia that I haven’t yet visited – Vietnam, Cambodia and India in particular
3) more volunteer work
4) visit my brother in Perth
5) learn to sew clothes
6) more exercise
7) walk to Machu Picchu

Seven favourite foods (in no particular order!)
1) chocolate ice cream
2) hot chips
3) lasagne
4) red wine
5) coffee
6) Chicken with moughrabia, made by my Aunt
7) wonton noodle soup

Of course participation in this is completely up to you, but here are 7 blogs that I think are deserving of this award.

Seven people I am tagging
1) Rachel at Four Wise Monkeys
2) Nicky at The Little Needle Case
3) Sheryl at My Upstairs Sewing Room
4) Sarah at Sarah's Prim Treasures
5) Sarah at If only I had Chocolate
6) Stephanie at A Whisk and a Spoon
7) Kel at Sweet Treats