Happy New Year.

It's almost 2009 and we are spending it at home, just the 4 of us. So far we've played a game of Cluedo, I won .It was Rev Green in the Study with the dagger. We've also watched the 9pm fireworks in Sydney Harbour on TV, now am watching Kitchen Renovations on the How to channel. Not a very exciting New Year's Eve, we didn't want to risk taking the car out.

Jogirl has a wonderful giveaway that finishes in just under 2 hours. What a great way to end the old year and to start the New Year. If you are like me and browsing the net this New Years Eve, head on over there to leave a comment to join in on the fun. Thank you to Jogirl for being so generous. Check out her made it shop as well

I wish everyone a Happy and Prosperous New Year, may 2009 be the best year ever.

All at once!!!

I'm hoping that 2009 starts better than 2008 is finishing. \

To start with the other day we noticed a whistle coming from the passenger side of the car, it stops when the brakes are applied. Maybe the calipers need adjusting, the brakepads need replacing or there is something caught there. I've had that happen before. Then today I had to use the car and had great difficulty in starting it, finaly it blew a big puff of smoke and after that I was able to get it going without stalling. It ran ok afterwards but it means we have the expense of getting it checked out and having the brakes done.

2 nights ago my oven timer stopped working, it's a digital display and it suddenly went blank. Not long after that the oven stopped as well! Again more expense of getting it seen to or having to purchase another.

To top it all off (this is the reason I had to use the car) I was having an icy drink when I noticed something that was hard in my mouth, harder than the ice chips I was crunching on. Spat out part of a tooth - hmm great!! I ran my tongue around my mouth, hoping it wasn't one of the "good" ones. Happily it wasn't one of those but a molar that had already been chipped before. Now I have an entire side gone leaving a rough filling behind and a sensitivity to cold. Neither of the local dentists were opened, I wasn't risking driving further so I'll have to wait til after the weekend if they don't open on Friday. Another expense I could do without, I'm hoping the dentist can pull it without too much fuss.

From Scratch: Easy Quche and dishwasher powder.

Last week .Rhonda Jean wrote a post about the best fast from scratch meals, perfect for those days when you don't feel like cooking. Today was just one of those days for me (I have many of them). I found this recipe over at Best Recipes which fit the bill exactly. In less than 10 minutes it was in the oven. Vegies could be added to it but I only added bacon ( trimmed and chopped 4 rashers) that I fried for a few moments to melt off the remaining fat. This got a definite thumbs up from my family. Even though we had it hot, I had Thomas put together a quick salad.

Easy Quiche

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
3 tablespoons butter or marg, melted
1/2 cup of Self raising flour.
1 1/2 cups grated cheese
2 cups of filling of choice.

Preheat oven to 180 oC
Whisk eggs, milk, butter, flour together until well combined. Fold in cheese and fillings.

Pour into 24 cm quiche dish and bake for 40 minutes or until set.

Can be eaten hot with vegies or cold with salad

I finally got down to my last dishwasher tablets so I tried out a recipe I found at Towards Sustainability. I've been really pleased with it and even tried firmly pushing a dose into a small medicine cup to see if it would hold together as an tablet. So far the couple I made have stayed together, this way they would be easy for the kids to put in, instead of over or under dosing.

Dishwasher Powder

1 cup Borax
1 cup bi-carb soda (baking soda)
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup citric acid
30 drops citrus essential oil (I used lemon)

Mix thoroughly and store in an airtight plastic container. Use 1 tablespoon at a time.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year. It's already Christmas Eve here, I'm pretty relaxed this morning. Still have a little to do to get the house ready for guests tomorrow. We host an open house breakfast, I will be making bacon, eggs, muffins and pancakes - sounds so healthy doesn't it? I will also make up a fruit platter.

I baked Gingerbread yesterday but haven't yet built the houses, it's a bit humid here so the pieces are a bit softer than I like. I find that putting them back in the oven not long before I plan to decorate helps firm them up, they need to cool before trying to glue them together. Will decorate them this afternoon. My husband likes to build a Gingerbread igloo each year and will be doing that after he gets home from work so I'll leave my houses til then.

I still need to make labels to go on my quilts, I just need to transfer the design into my sewing machine and stitch them out.

I have been very good this year, usually I buy several decorations to add to my collection but this year I only bought an Angel. The only other new thing this year was bought by my husband, it's a little village scene, it's part of my Christmas gifts.

9 Sleeps til Christmas

I don't think I'm doing too badly - still have a couple of gifts to buy. I've started wrapping, the odd shape, larger gifts are being wrapped, the rest are going into gift bags. The bags were freebies, David brought home a couple of cartons of these bags from work, brand new with a chocolate companies logo on them. No one knew where they came from, so they were tossing them out, he managed to save me a couple of cartons, wasn't going to risk dumpster diving for the rest - not at a medical facility anyway.

I did add something extra to my parent's gift, I bought a picnic basket to go with the quilt (seeing as I was intending it to be a picnic rug). Bought it at the Reject Shop, thinking for the price it probably had plastic plates and cups, at home later I checked and found it had ceramic plates and wineglasses. I was sneaky and bought one as well for a family gift for us, but was so happy with the quality I went back and picked up another. This one will be a wedding present for our niece who is getting married next year, will be making her a picnic rug quilt as well. I'm glad I went back when I did, I got the last one.

I still have gifts which need to be made, Gingerbread houses to be made right before Christmas and am thinking of another quilt for my brother. I bought the fabric at the same time as the denim, think it'll make a great frayed seam quilt. I must remember to clean the washing machine filter out after washing it.

Who said it was too late to make a quilt for Christmas?

I've been working on this quilt this weekend, I saw it on an episode of Simply Quilts on Thursday, bought the fabric on Friday and started sewing it yesterday. It's such a quick and easy quilt, can be made from recycled jeans, but I bought new denim. Doesn't even have batting, though I thought the denim I bought was a little thin so added a calico layer along with the backing fabric. I am really pleased with how it's turned out even though the calico and backing shrunk more than the denim did, gives it a puffy look. Next time I'll know better. My son told me the quilt looked a bit ugly when I had all the stitching done, agreed it looked better when I clipped all the seams, he's gone to bed and hasn't seen the final product. It's not supposed to have a binding but I decided I wanted it slightly larger so added a border. Used a folded piece of denim, with a single layer of calico inside, topstitched 1.5cm from the folded edge, before cutting along the foldline and clipping the edge at about 1 cm intervals. It was alot of clipping, but well worth it.

Before and after washing and drying


Update: I just used my washing machine for the first time since washing the quilt, I found it wouldn't drain. When I pulled out the filter it was completely clogged with threads from the quilt. A quick clean out and it's back to normal. It's the same with the dryer - the filter needs to be cleared several times during the drying session

A few weeks back while at work I jokingly remarked that if they were ever getting rid of the shop's dress dummies, I'd like one. Was told they wanted to throw them out and how many did I want. I got 2 with stands. They were stained and needed repairs done. I did think about recovering them but decided to try cleaning them first. Ended up outside hosing them down, one came up really good, the other still has a stain but it has faded a lot. I decided to give one to Mum as part of her Christmas gift so today had my husband repairing it. The stand had been broken and replaced to the side of the original spot, the other day I cut the base out along with the connector. David put in a couple of boards to cover the hole and to recentre the stand. I found a painting I'd given up on and he used as one of the boards. He also turned a new plug for the neck, did a very good job. I think Mum will like her gift, we may have paid very little for it, but we've put our love into it.

Lazy Feeling

I'm so behind with Christmas - have done no decorating, usually am itching to get started by the end of November but not this year. I need to move furniture around, get rid of some pieces - just where do you stick a soccer (foosball) table? Thought it a great idea to buy for DH a few years back, it's only been used a few times and takes up room in my dining room. Thinking of sticking it in the front entry over Christmas, we don't use the front door.

The reason we don't use the front door is that the yard had been dug out for paving and for around 7 years have had a big water catching hole in the front yard - not veiwable from the street, we are on a battleax block. Well that hole is no more, last Friday we got a load of roadbase delivered, it's been spread and tamped down waiting for the next step. David joked the next step will come in mid December 2009. It looks so much better and we can even drive the car on it if we want - can only drive straight no turning. Won't do it just in case but it is walkable so now people can get to the front door without worry of tripping, getting stuck in the mud etc. It's a wonder how many outsiders make the treacherous trip across that mud, worried if they venture down the back there may be a dog, even though there is obviously no gates to keep a dog in. No dog for us until we get gates, pity because Thomas love dogs.

I've done barely any shopping or crafting, my craft room is an embarrassment, I am supposed to be in there now. I did get some things from a garage sale in the street on the weekend. The man who runs it is a wholesaler and sells his leftovers for bargain prices, I got 2 jewellery boxes for my nieces for $6 each. They usually sell for over $20. Also got a couple of bath lotion sets for $5 will wrap these up and put under the charity trees at the shopping centre.

Am going to head out looking for other gifts tomorrow, the rest of today will be spent in the craft room cleaning and pulling out a couple of cabinets so I can replace them with a larger one.