Spring Swap Sign-Up....

SIGN-UP'S NOW CLOSED

Can you believe that Spring is only 6 days away, that's right, 6 days!!!! September 1st marks the start of Spring so I thought it was high time I had another little washer swap...

For this Swap you will be making 1 x washer (out of cotton) and posting it off to your partner accompanied by a yummy handmade soap and some seeds (saved from your garden is fine as long as it's something that can be planted as soon as it's received)...

Sign-Up's close Wednesday the 1st of September and you'll have until the 15th to get your parcel in the post... If you'd like to join just leave a comment, I'll email everyone interested with more details when sign-up's close...

Also, just a quick reminder that my giveaway closes this Friday... After fondling many skein's of yarn I finally decided that this gorgeous one, 'Iro' by Noro, will be the prize for the giveaway.

So pop on over and leave a comment to be in the draw, that's if you haven't already... ;)

Lemonade Scones

We're busily building fences here on 'Darling Downs' at the moment and our favourite 'go to' arvo tea would definitely have to be, hands down, Lemonade Scones....

They literally take less than 5 mins to whip up the dough and a max of 10 mins in a really HOT oven to cook...

My girls love them smeared with a nice thick layer of last seasons 'grape jam' and Brad (DH), as crazy as it sounds, loves them with Vegemite... What's going on with that????? He puts Vegemite on just about everything; eggs, crumpets, scones.... Crazy, right????? Well with all of the crazy food cravings aside I thought I'd share my never fail 'Lemonade Scone' recipe with you all.... Here goes.....
Jelly's Lemonade Scones....

ingredients : : 1/2 cup cream, 1/2 cup lemonade, 1 1/2 cup flour.

Method : : Sift flour into a large bowl and pour the cream on top. Now for the tip I was taught to keep the scones light and fluffy; grab a knife stick it into your mixture and slowly add the lemonade. While it's bubbling stir your mixture with the knife. Once all combined it should be sticky.
Lightly flour a surface (I just use my bench top) and turn your mixture out on to it. Sprinkle some flour on top and lightly knead, and I mean LIGHTLY!!!
Press the mixture out with your fingers until it's about 2cm thick and cut with a glass dipped in flour. I usually get 9 large scones per mixture. Place scones on an aluminium tray and bake for 10 mins in a VERY HOT (210'c) oven. Scones are cooked if they sound hollow when tapped on the top...

There you have it, super easy scones that are a crowd pleas-er each and every time....

What's your favourite baked arvo tea recipe????

Dreaming of Spring.....

I'm still knitting away like a crazy woman but with the days slowly starting to warm up and the nights gradually becoming shorter I'm finding myself drawn to projects with Spring in mind.......

These little flowers (pattern coming soon) are made out of some scrap 8ply wool and a 3.5mm hook. They're going to look just perfect sewn onto a little light weight top for one of my girls...
Or even attached to a headband would look super cute too....
Are you dreaming of Sunny Spring days where you are???
Hugs......... Jodie xx-xx

Chance Meeting......

A couple of weeks back a gorgeous lady, Penny, happened upon my shop.... We talked like old friends and before I knew it were planning for a meeting together the very next day...

You see, Penny is an amazing photographer and that meeting that we organised was for her to come back and take 'random' shots of my shop....

Watching her tinker around, clicking away, really sparked a passion in me to learn more about my camera....

So as of this week, after a quick google search which led to finding my original manual, I've started reading it, cover to cover... I'm amazed at just how much I really never knew about my magical camera...

So thank-you Penny!!!! Thank you for happening upon my store that chilly Friday morning, for being inspired enough to want to come back but most of all for inspiring me!!!! Your photos are amazing and your passion is contagious, I'll always remember our 'chance' meeting.......

Hugs................ Jodie xx-xx

Good Recommendation.....

I love a good music recommendation.... A couple of weeks back after reading a blog post by local girl Ellie I knew it would only be a matter of time before I bought this CD... Having listened to it quite a few times now I can definitely rate it right up there with a 10/10!!! This is the solo CD of the 2 back-up singers from the country music trio 'Dixie Chicks'. I'm a huge fan of the Dixie Chicks, I really love that twang-y thing they have going on but let me make this clear, these girls are a new quirky sound all together, much, much more mellow. I'm finding it the perfect background music while tinkering around the house....

Well, Ellie has another CD recommendation up on her blog this week for these guys...

Lady Antebellum.... Have you heard of them before??? I have a feeling it won't be long before it's added to my collection also.... *^_^*

Have you had a good recommendation lately??? I'd love to hear about it if you have...

Instant Gratification.........

I'm loving using super chunky wool this Winter....

(hat made using cascade magnum - $22 per skein from my shop)

It works up so quickly which makes it perfect for those instant gratification projects....
(fabric covered button by me *^_^*)
From 1 x 250g skein I easily get 2 hats for my girls.....

This one is destined for my shop though....

I'm hoping it will be the perfect fit for a gorgeous little girl who lives just down the road from my shop...

Hugs........... Jodie xx-xx

If you had to choose..... *giveaway*

If I had to choose between crochet and knitting for a favourite I think I'd have to pick 'crochet'.....

(new hat for my shop)

I don't know what it is, maybe the fact that it was the first yarn-y craft I learnt all those years ago...... Or, it could be all the memories that come flowing in every time I hold a hook in my hand and start creating, those gorgeous memories of my late Nanna peering down her nose through her square framed glasses hooking away at yet another 'granny rug'.... That woman was amazing!!! A blanket in a day was nothing for her in her 'hey day'.....

You know, I often laugh with my Mum about how things have turned out... Who would of thought when I was never able to start any of my own projects (let alone sew them together) that I would have a knitting/crochet shop of my very own... And you know what, I'm actually teaching people too, who would of thought..... LOL!!!!!!! *^_^*

So what about you, what's your favourite, knitting or crochet??? I even have a super delicious yarn-y prize in store for my favourite story as to why you love your craft......

It feels like for-ever since I posted some garden pics..... The broccoli are flowering..... And some blood oranges are almost ready to be picked, destined for a batch of delicious 'blood orange butter/curd' : : YUMM-O.........

What's in season where you are????

Mandarin Butter

Yesterday I decided to bite the bullet and make a batch of Mandarin butter/curd... I used the same recipe as I do for my Lemon butter/curd (thanks Mum) I just omitted half the sugar and replaced the lemon juice and zest with mandarin juice and zest....

(the jar on the left is the lemon and the one on the right is the mandarin)

My lemon butter is always perfect.... Right texture, colour,

consistency and most importantly, TASTE.....
The mandarin butter on the other hand, while it tastes ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS, tends to look more like a thick syrup than a firm butter....

I'll play around with my recipe a little before my next batch and see if I can get it a bit thicker...

Here's my recipe if your wanting to give it a try before then (add a few more eggs if you're wanting it slightly thicker)....

Mandarin Butter/Curd

Juice of 14 Mandarins and the zest of 2.

2 1/2 cups of sugar

350g butter

12 eggs

Combine all ingredients in a double boiler and stir over low heat until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon (this can take quite a bit of time, plan for 30-60 minutes stirring time). Strain thickened mixture through a sieve and then pour into sterilized jars... Your Butter/Curd should keep indefinitely if bottled correctly.

This amount of mixture made 8 x 250ml jars (2 litres) of butter/curd.

Mother Load.....

Most of you already know that I have chooks but what you may not know is that my girls are allowed to range freely 100% of the time.... After all of the devastation I've had with foxes in the past I decided to 'teach' (in a fashion) my girls to roost up high and ever since I've not lost a single 1 to the dreaded fox... I love seeing them too-ing and fro-ing in amongst my garden as they scratch about helping with the weeding, adding a little fertilizer (poop) as they go...

The 1 disadvantage to having my girls so 'free' is that they often change their laying spots... This morning while I was out picking some lemons I came across a mother load of eggs, 42 to be exact, all underneath an old kerosene fridge in the garden.... So after testing them, to my surprise they were all fine and with that said are destined to be added to a batch of lemon butter this afternoon.... Yumm-o!!!!

I'd love to have a go at mandarin butter/curd too, have you ever tried it before? What's a good recipe?? I was thinking of using my normal lemon butter/curd recipe and just substituting the lemon juice for mandarin juice, what do you think???

On another note, a couple of weeks back we welcomed yet another cat to our ever increasing tribe (now totaling 7, OMG!!!).....
Millie has claimed this little girl and so far so good she's settling in just fine... :)

I Love Sunday...

It's my day to chill-out and it's also my cleaning day...

Don't get me wrong, I hate cleaning as much as the next person, don't you??? But I just love that feeling you get when it's all done... So right now I'm sitting back sipping on a cuppa', enjoying my nice clean house even if it is only for just a brief moment before the kids trash it again... But before they do we're heading to town for the afternoon....

With DH away for a couple of days carting stock we've been invited in for a 'play date'..... So after a quick ride around this morning with the girls......

We now have a couple of dozen goats all loaded up, ready to drop off at the depot in town....

This little mob should help pay the next fuel bill, if we're lucky....

What's your favourite day of the week???

Hugs.............. Jodie xx-xx