Completed Projects June-December 2018

I thought I would put the rest of my completed projects for this year in one post seeing the year is over tonight!!!

In June I completed a little Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched Needlecase

Inside

and the back

Very cute even if I say so myself

In August I made a Book Cushion cover for JoJo for her Birthday with a Christmas theme

You can tuck a book in the front part

For December I trimmed some tea towels for gifts

 And here they are all rolled up
Tutorial for tea towels at Elefantz
Thank You Jenny for this excellent Tutorial
I find I have made quite a few of these!!!

One more Shepherds Bush stocking

to hang with all the others!!!

And to finish off this year I came across a lovely idea at Made in the Monaro which is a little hand made shop in Cooma

Simply get 2 pages from a magazine

Stitch them together and leave an opening at the top

and voila there you have a little gift bag to pop your gift in

Sure uses up some of those magazines!!!

On that note I would like to wish my readers a very Happy New Year

All the best in Health and Happiness and World Peace for 2019

Dzintra xo

~OPAM......One Project A Month, November 2016~

Two tea towels for OPAM this month which is all I managed!!!

Thank you to Sweet Peg and Kris for hosting OPAM again

I know that sometimes I wouldn't even finish one item without it!!!

A Happy Weekend to you all dear Readers......Dzintra xo

~Floriade Canberra and Tuliptime Bowral~

We recently took JoJo to Florida to see Rick the Organ Man at Florida

Rick is the Proprietor of and operates the Australia Fair Organ 

JoJo is fascinated by this Organ and she talks about it every day even down to the drum on it

Here she is with Rick after she handed over a drawing of the Organ to him

He was tickled pink and is going to put it up in his Workshop

She has built up such a lovely relationship with him over the years

Helping Rick hold up one of the books for playing

Rick kindly gave JoJo a printed Tea Towel and she was just so stoked about this

Thank you so much Rick!!!

You are her Hero!!!

Watching the Organ in action with her Dad

Rick's little Tea Corner which JoJo had me asking him what he has in his Tea.....what he has for lunch etc.....

We took a trip up to the Southern Highlands and also saw Tulips in Corbett Gardens there

All so very, very pretty

down to the Tulips in the bricks!!!

Dzintra xo

~Cook Up for my Dad~

It's been ages since I've done a Cook Up

This time I did one last night for my dear Dad/mīļš Papiņš

 who is no longer here on Earth with us

It just felt the right thing to do and complete with a Birthday Cake to boot

But first, and very important...which Apron to use

Just this week I received this apron from Trish who recently went over to Provence, France

I already had bought one from there but of course I needed another lol

I also used a Tea Towel with Provence embroidered on it that I purchased whilst over there

Thanks so much Trish......much appreciated!!!

I chose the brown one to use on this Cook Up

My Menu from donna hay magazine Issue 87 Jun/July 2016

(this is why I needed the Quince Paste Annette (no blog))!

Pork and Sauerkraut Meatballs with Quince Glaze 

Savoy Colcannon

Marble Chai Bundt Cake with Maple Syrup

Mr Armchair set the Wine scene

Adding Sauerkraut to the Meatballs gave a real depth of flavour

Next time I'd like to double the Glaze......it was delicious

I'm a bit like Manu Fieldel (French Chef in Australia) and love my Glazes/Sauces lol

The Meatballs here with the Colcannon

Colcannon (Irish: cál ceannann, meaning "white-headed cabbage") is a traditional Irish dish mainly consisting of mashed potatoes with kale or cabbage. It is also the name of a song about the dish.

(from Wikipedia)

In this dish I used Savoy Cabbage, Leek and Pure Jersey Cream from Tilba

And here is part of the verse.......

Did you ever eat Colcannon, made from lovely pickled cream?

With the greens and scallions mingled like a picture in a dream.........

(Wikipedia)

It was very delicious.......together a lovely tasty combination

I ground up Spices for Chai Tea to put into the Cake

And here 'tis

Happy Birthday mils Papins/loving Dad

And to top it off.......Warm Maple Syrup

Also ideal to have with some Cream, Custard or even Ice Cream if you so wish

Recipe for Marble Chai Bundt Cake with Maple Syrup over here

And to keep it all real

Mr Armchair as I sat down took a photo

no make up, no hair neatly done lol!!!!

Lab Apptit......Bon Appetit

Dzintra xo

~OPAM...... (One Project A Month)~

2 small offerings for OPAM this month

2 Tea Towels.......or as I like to call them, Stitching Towels

(Pattern by Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched......part of Angel Story)

A Stitching Towel is a towel you take with you when you are off to do stitching

You lay the towel out on the table in front of you and your work, threads etc sit on it rather than the table

Pretty neat I think!!!

Thank You Sweet Peg and Partner in Crime Kris for running OPAM again this year!!!

~~~~~~~~~~

My 500th post giveaway is still on

See post under this one

Good Luck......Dzintra

OPAM (One Project A Month).....March 2015

One small item for OPAM this month for the Girls Day in the Country (GDIC) Swap

A little stitchery was provided for us, by Lynette Anderson,  to stitch up and turn into something 

 

I used a tea towel......added a piece of linen and put the stitchery on to it and added some ric rac.

Tutorial for the towel can be found
at Jenni at Elefantz

Thank you Jenni!!!

Only thing is I called it a Stitching Towel.......
a towel one can take with them to lay on the table to protect their work from any sticky marks etc that may be on the table

The back

Kate was the one who received this Swap gift........so pleased it went to a fellow Blogger!!!

Thank you so much Peg and Kris for hosting OPAM!!!

~Friday at Nundle (Girls Day in the Country)~

This is the view outside our cabin

Lovely rolling hills with a creek out the front

JoJo on the verandah

Of course we had to go shopping

My purchases were beaded wooden bracelet and hat from Sac's on Jenkins

Thank you Teresa.......you make us feel very welcome!!!

And next was a wicker basket........'real' shoe brushes and not plastic

some bouquet garni bags and even a little cotton bag to put leftover soap into and use again

Some enamel plates........and the most divine smelling Lavender soap

All from Odgers & McCLelland Exchange Stores

JoJo's choice......a tea towel.....we pay her to wipe the dishes from the dishwasher lol

she then puts it in a purse and saves up for a big shopping trip

some little Cup Cake bases and soap

We went up to The Cottage on the Hill and were greeted by these brightly coloured table and chairs

The Cottage on the Hill is a Patchwork Shop at Nundle which Kerry runs

Kerry also hosts GDITC every year and does an amazing job

Thank you so much Kerry!!!

Every year the gorgeous Chooky aka Donna organizes a Swap with Drinks and Nibbles on the lawn

Chooky and JoJo have a little private swap going on between them

which JoJo just loves being a part of

Thank You Donna for doing this with JoJo!!!

(Love this pic)

JoJo's swap gift from Chooky

 JoJo gave Chooky a jar of her favourite Strawberry Jam which I didn't take a picture of

All Swap gifts together

complete with Shez checking them out lol

I received this Primitive Pear pin cushion from Jan along with a pear fat 1/4......a pattern and a little peg holder 

JoJo was double lucky along with Chooky as they both received 2 gifts

JoJo's gift here

mmmmm might have to snaffle that fat 1/4

Peg and Dale posing away

The papparazzi were out in full force lol

Now they're checking it all!!!

The food at Mt Misery for dinner that evening

Sea Scallops Mornay (unfortunately I couldn't eat them but they looked good)

A Salad

Prawns

A Tomato and Olive Salad

As part of the dinner we were able to go down into the Gold Mine Museum

This has been build over the years but there were some double metal heavy duty doors inside that blocked off the original gold mine which has caved in

Totally awesome

I'm a bit of a sucker for a bit of gold and fell in love with the Golden Horse Shoes so I purchased the bottom ones!!!

So sparkly!!!

I'll be back with Saturday's pics and our day with Lynette Anderson!!!