Fresh French Inspired Lunch!!

Do you find that sometimes our winter food ends up being a bit stodgy? Or full of very strong flavours? Don't get me wrong ... I don't mind some stick-to-your-ribs stews and soups that have lovely deep flavours ... but sometimes in the middle of winter I kind of go into denial ... you KNOW how much I LOVE winter ... NOT!!! :0) ... and I want something a bit ... FRESH ... ZINGY ... LIGHT ... something that brings to mind sunshine and picnics and ... OK ... so I'm getting a little delusional now ... winter is getting to me! :0)

So ... today I decided to do a little bit of kitchen experimenting ... play with some flavours. And I was feeling a little FRENCH inspired. (Do you ever wonder what style of decorating French people aspire to? Or what inspires French people's cooking?? I do! But I digress! :0) ) Step one was to dig this out of the cupboard ...

When I think of French flavours, I think of olives, cheese, fresh herbs ... and yummy bread. So I decided ...

... to combine all three elements! :0) I got the ol' breadmaker whizzing with a wholemeal sourdough mix ... YUMMY! Then added some grated cheese and chopped olives ... DOUBLE YUMMY!! :0)

OK ... bread on. Hmmm ... who can I share this yummy bread with? I decided to "phone a friend". Just one problem ... the friend's tummy hasn't been enjoying bead. Uh! Oh! Thinking cap on ... I decided to experiment some more with a nice, light chicken soup. So I chopped up some onions, finely diced some chicken breast, bashed and crushed some garlic (makes me sound violent!!) and tossed them all in to get cooking. I then added some chicken stock. Hmmm ... good start ... but it needed "something".

Out to the garden I headed to harvest some fresh parsley and rosemary and pick a lemon off my overloaded little lemon tree. Finely chop the herbs, grate in the lemon rind, squeeze in the juice ... We're really cooking now! :0) My kitchen smelled HEAVENLY!! Although ... I forgot to take photos - too busy dreaming of promenading along the River Seine or gazing at the Eiffel Tower. :0) But after the bread machine beeped, the soup had bubbled away for a while, been lightly 'whizzed' with the barmix and my lovely stitching buddy, the Fabulous Fiona, arrived ... we were ready for a French-inspired lunch ...

Both experimental dishes were a SUCCESS!! The bread wasn't too heavy and had just a hint of cheese and little chunks of olive adding to the sourdough flavour. The soup was fresh and herb-y with a lemon-y zing to it. I REALLY liked the lemon flavour! :0) I can see that I will be making both of these French-inspired treats again. Maybe they will help me enjoy winter a bit more ... Hmmmm ... probably NOT! :0)

Thanks for coming for a spontaneous lunch/stitching playdate, Fiona and sharing my experimental soup! Always fun to hang out stitching and chatting with you! :0)

Do you experiment with different flavours in your kitchen? Are you inspired by the flavours that remind you of a special place? I'd love to hear if you have some more not-too-stodgy winter recipes to help me make it til spring. :0)

I'm linking up with the Sweetly Shabbilicious Kerryanne over at Shabby Art Boutique for ...

Pop over to give Kerryanne a big Bear Hug and peek at some other people who are being inspired by all things French, shabby and vintage ... make a cuppa first, cos you might be there a while ... there's a LOT to see! :0)

Hope the end of your week is about to herald a relaxing weekend for you. I'm playing catch up after last weekend's road trip and HOPEFULLY doing some stitching. Til next time ...

AU REVOIR!!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Aussie Priorities Make Me Giggle!

Tonight there are two major events dominating our television viewing. The first is yet ANOTHER leadership squabble and challenge within the Federal Labor Party. (seriously ... these people we PAY to run the country act more like spoilt 5 year olds in the playground when the teacher has her back turned than the leaders of our country!!) The second is game two of the biggest Rugby League football competition of the year ... State Of Origin. What does it say about Aussie priorities in life that the event of more interest to most people is ...

I had a bit of a giggle to myself. Our politicians take themselves so very seriously (even if their actions mean nobody else does!!) and while they're bickering and fighting like a mob of galahs in a gumtree, most Aussies are happily watching a football game. :0)

I'm not much of a footy fan usually, but it sure beats politics! Not to mention our lounge room, in front of the gas heater is a very cosy spot to sit and stitch to counteract out record breaking cold weather this week ... -2 at 6:45am yesterday when my alarm was urging me to get out of bed and go to work ... EEK! It's enough to make this summer gal go into hibernation until spring!! I'm meant to be a bear, really I am! Give me a nice snuggly warm cave, a stash of stitching and the odd tasty snack and I'm set for the winter. :0)

OK ... I'm off to play Polly and help the Maroons win ...

QUEENSLANDER!!!

Til next time ...

MAROON BEAR HUGS!!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Whirlwind Weekend!

Yep ... that's what we had. You know ... one of those action-packed weekends that happen when you're planning a quiet stay-at-home weekend!! :0) But I'm getting ahead of myself ... let me start at the beginning ...

Friday dawned dull, grey, rainy and FREEZING here on top of our 'hill'. I hate winter!! I know that doesn't surprise you to hear. :0) What better way to spend the day than curled up in a comfy chair in front of a heater with a friend ... STITCHING! :0) I rugged myself up and set off to stitch with ...

... the Fabulous Fiona! Here she is showing off some lovely redwork that she was working on. We had a very enjoyable day of relaxing, chatting, lunching and sipping cuppas ...

And I could feel nothing but welcome when this is what my cuppa looked like! :0) Thanks for a lovely day, Fiona! 

Now, my stitching time at Fiona's place was well spent, stitching down the binding on the "Wrapped In Love" quilt that I made for my Mum's friend. It was all finished ...

Here it is ... with my little fingers gripping the corners ... but at least you can't see my ugg boots peeking out the bottom! :0) 

And it was fortunate that I had finished this special quilt, because I received an email from Mum first thing Saturday morning to say that her friend, Pauline, was to start her chemotherapy this coming week ... a week earlier than originally planned. I REALLY wanted this quilt to be ready for it's comforting duty. How were we to get it to Mundubbera before Tuesday ... mail wouldn't do the job. My Beloved Geek Boy just shrugged and said ... "Road trip." Have I mentioned that I really love my man! :0) So ... a few things got tossed into overnight bags and we hit the road on a four hour trip at lunch time Saturday. Nothing like long-term planning for a trip ... and this was NOTHING like long-term planning! Tee! Hee! Hee!

It was nice to catch up with Mum and Dad ... and it was lovely to see Pauline's face when she received her quilt ...

She loved the quilt and the thoughts behind it. Pauline is the lovely blonde lady in the floral top ... there's Mum on the right and Rosalie (left) and her daughter Cara helped hold up the quilt for a photo. So ... there will be a couple of days for friends and family to sign this quilt with messages of love and encouragement for Pauline to take with her this week when she starts chemo. I'd really appreciate it if you'd keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers in coming weeks, as they have a hard road before them. And thank you all, too, for your lovely comments and feedback on the making of this special quilt. I'll be catching up with my emails and blog comments this week now that we're back from our impromptu road trip. :0)

But ... right now ... I'm a tired little teddy bear and think it's time to keep a date with my neglected pillow. I hope you all had a weekend full of time with family and friends ... don't forget to tell your special someones how much you love them. :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Blessings!

Most of you would be familiar with the saying ...

"When I count my blessings ... I count you twice!"

Well ... I've been counting my blessings this afternoon after catching up with my sweet Angel friend, the Fabulous Fiona. Do you remember that I talked in my last post about a very special quilt I've made for my Mum's friend who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer? I finished the top in record-breaking time (for me anyways!!) and handed it over to Fiona to quilt for me. I think Fiona must have been taking her vitamins this week, cos yesterday she sent a few sneaky peek photos to my phone of my QUILTED quilt. WOW! What a Speedy Gonzales she is! :0) The peeks were fantastic and I couldn't wait to see my quilt in real life. I didn't have to wait long, as it turns out, cos Fiona was playing at my Home-Away-From-Home today too ... everyone knows I play there on a Thursday afternoon! :0) AND ... she brought my quilt ... SQUEEEEEEEL!!!! How EXCITING!!!

So when Fiona handed over my quilted quilt, I very excitedly unfolded it ... and was BLOWN AWAY!!! Oh my goodness!! She has done a FANTASTIC job of quilting my sweet stacked coin quilt!!! I won't show you the whole thing until it's finished but I really wanted to share some little sneaky peekies with you so you can see what a BLESSING my sweet friend has been in helping me make this a very special quilt.

Can you see this GORGEOUS quilting?! I gave Fiona very little instruction about the quilting ... just told her to quilt it like she would quilt her own! :0) WOW!! She's done the most gorgeous wavy feathers in the sashing and sweet hearts in each of the 'coin' blocks, as well as a wiggly border in the signature blocks. Remember ... those light tone-on-tone dotty blocks are for the recipient's friends and family to write a message of support, encouragement and love. The appliqué hearts represent the lady, her husband and two kids and on the bottom of the quilt ...

Fiona has quilted echoes of the top hearts. When I decided to make this quilt, my thought was that Mum's friend could spread the quilt over her while she's having her treatment and that she would be reminded that when she's wrapped in this quilt, she is wrapped in the love of family and friends. Now, with Fiona's gorgeous quilting combined with that thought, this quilt can't be called anything else but ...

"WRAPPED IN LOVE"

Thank you SOOOOOOOOO much, sweet Fiona!!! Not only are you a blessing to me to have as a stitching friend, you have helped me to make a very special quilt to be a blessing to someone travelling a rough road. Big Squooshy Bear Hugs to you, my friend!!! :0)

Right now, I'm off to sew the binding on this blessing quilt so I can spend tomorrow's planned sewing session with the Angelic Fiona stitching it down ready to be posted off first thing next week. Have you been counting your blessings this week? If you're like me and fortunate enough to have wonderful friends around you ... you get to count them TWICE in your blessing tally! I have to say ... I don't like to boast, but after counting my blessings ... I feel pretty darn RICH! Tee! Hee! Hee!  Enjoy your weekend!! Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS

Busy Bee Weekend!

Well, here it is, almost the end of the weekend (here in Australia, anyways!) and I have been buzzing around like a busy bee ... PHEW! It will almost be a rest to go back to work tomorrow ... ALMOST! Tee! Hee! Hee! Let's see ... what have I been up to?? Hmmm ... quite a bit, so perhaps you need to go and get a cuppa before you read on ... sorry Chookyblue ... NOT a short post today ... but lots of photos! :0)

Firstly ... yesterday was a horrible, cold old day here on top of our 'hill' ... the temp clawed its way up to about 13 before plummeting back down to 4 degrees overnight ... BRRRRR!! You KNOW how I feel about cold weather!!! :0( So what's a gal to do ... but lock herself in her sewing room ... which I did, cos I was a woman on a mission. Remember the green Moda Basics fabric and Beach House charm squares I showed you on Friday? They are now a finished quilt top ...

I'm pretty chuffed with how it came together. The green really shows up the dusty colours well.

And I appliqued some dotty hearts at the top of the quilt ... two larger ones overlapping to represent the quilt's recipient and her husband, with two smaller ones to represent their children. The light cream dot block you see under the hearts is one of the signature blocks I included so family and friends can write messages of love and encouragement so this lovely lady will know that she's wrapped in love and prayers when she snuggles under it. This sweet quilt came together pretty quickly (though I think it was about 1:30am when I finished the applique!!) and today it has been whisked off to the Fabulous Fiona of Bubz Rugz to be quilted. Thanks Fiona! :0)

Another task for today has been rearranging the dining room a little to properly show off ... our new table! YAY! It's taken a little longer than anticipated to finish giving it a facelift due to visitors, wet weather etc but it's been well worth it. Do you remember this 'before' photo ...

If I ever find the person who put the HIDEOUS varnish over the original finish I will do them a damage!! It took quite a bit of work to cover and/or get rid of it ... paint stripper didn't even make it flinch!! So it was back to old fashioned sanding to clean it up. And the after photo ...

Ta Da!! Hasn't it come up well!! We are so chuffed! And that's not the 'royal we' I might add ... both my Beloved Geek Boy and I had a hand (or two!!) in transforming this beast into a beauty. I love the contrast of the honey gold timber with the white and the original drawer handle has been popped back on. I would have liked to 'shabby it up' a bit ... but this tentative suggestion was met with growls from GB along the lines of ruining a perfectly good paintjob! :0) Here is the madeover grande dame in her new home ...

You can see the recently refinished kitchenette behind it ... they make a lovely pair, don't you think! :0)

So ... I then had to decide how to dress this pretty lady. I had a few 'outfits' to audition ...

I've had this vintage crocheted cotton tablecloth for a while but still haven't found the right home for it. I quite liked this look ... but GB grumbled that it covered up all the hard work he's done sanding and finishing the timber top ... not to mention the drawer. OK, OK ... next!

This is a lovely linen and crochet lace table centre that I rescued from an antique shop bargain table some years ago ...

It has a few holes in the crochet lace edging, looks like it has fallen on hard times and is a wee bit battered around the edges ... but who isn't:?! :0) But I love it ... it was love at first sight! :0) OK ... a bit of a favourite emerging from the field, but one more to audition first ...

This table centre is in pretty good condition and was embroidered by my great aunt who passed away last year aged 99. I was fortunate enough to be gifted with a small pile of her lovely linens and the white Dr's bag that's on top of the kitchenette. Most of the linens have age and storage marks on them ... any tips on how to freshen them up??? This one didn't have any marks, though. Hmmm ... OK ... this one was pretty, but after consulting the table's fellow-restorer, we decided on ...

... this look. You can see a few of the holes in the lace edge in this shot ...along with the gorgeous detail. So ... another project crossed off the ol' "To Do" list. :0) Now I just need to find new chairs to go with the table, as the directors chairs we've been using as dining chairs have handles that bump against the edge of the table when you sit down ... DEFINITELY a no-no in GB's eyes! :0) I know just what I want, though ... I found the perfect chair on the Ikea web site ... will have to schedule a visit, I think! SHHH!! Don't tell GB!! Tee! Hee! Hee!

OK ... that's finally it from me for today. I'm off to make a pot of soup for dinner and then I think it will be some hand stitching in front of the TV for this busy-but-tired little bee. What have you been up to over the weekend?? I hope there was some time to 'play' scheduled in. :0) Have a fantastic week ... and remember to appreciate the many 'everyday' blessings that your days contain! :0) Til next time ...

BUSY BEE BEAR HUGS!!

CHEERS!
KRIS