Summertime?

Having had recent Tuesdays dominated by work it was wonderful to reach the holidays and be able to host a Tuesday again. We had hoped to number five today but Amanda was poorly and had to cancel:{

Caroline kicked off the day with show and tell, a beautiful baby quilt with her first prairie points, which we are sure will be much loved and appreciated. Alison had been making the most amazing cards but for some unfathomable reason I didn't take any pictures - doh! Sorry Alison.

The colours were chosen to be gender neutral but the photo does not do the colours justice.

I had baked on Monday and the cookies were made from store cupboard essentials lefotovers which needed using up - a handful of museli, porridge oats fom the winter ... you get the idea! The recipe that follows is an approximtion of what I threw into the mixing bowl if you want to have a go.
4oz butter, 6 oz sugar, 1 egg, 2 tbsp water, 4 oz SR flour, 9oz porridge/museli etc, 4 oz fruit (raisins, cranberries) and a few stale pecans. Baked at Gas 4 until they looked cooked - about 20 minutes. We also had beetroot brownies from a Harry Eastwood book which came highly recommended but I am not sure they are destined to be as popular as the traditional variety, not in my home anyway.


As usual, we had a very productive morning chatting. It is an essential part of our Tuesdays that we cherish. By around midday we are all laughing having shared the highs and lows of our lives and worked up an appetite for lunch. I had prepared a very simple chicken and chorizo Nigella recipe which can be found on the internet, (hope the link works but google will help if the link fails!) Pudding was the result of another raid on the store cupboard. Meringues from the surfeit of eggs, blackcurrant jelly, strawberry mousse and fresh strawberries.

I'm wondering if our Tuesdays should also include a session on the wii to shed the pounds we gain each week!

 We did sew during the afternoon - our Farmer's Wife blocks which are making progress. The Marti Michel templates have been a great success. Our books are scribbled over as we make notes and discuss the merits and inconveniences of our fabric choices. Some of us find it awkward to work with directional fabrics! We have also found the smaller rotary cutters and revolving cutting mats useful in the preparation of our blocks. It was good to chat sew to the hum of our machines.

Looking forward to next Tuesday ...

Tea, Rain and Planning

Alison was the first to arrive this morning, from Hampshire.  We were soon indulging our first cup of tea of the day together with banana and chocolate chip muffins which Alison had kindly made, and chocolate and hazelnut cookies. 

Amanda arrived and we had more tea and when Chris arrived again more tea!! Caroline is still teaching this week, but this is the last one before the summer holidays.

We did very little sewing this morning, we spent most of the time catching up on news and things we had been doing.  All of us are doing the Farmers' Wife blocks and we hope to do them next week.

After a salad lunch of chicken and mackerel with a summer fruit dessert, we carried on as much as we did this morning.  We planned a couple of sewing days for the autumn/winter.

Alison did manage a little sewing, stitching together diamonds into stars.

We had afternoon tea with the muffins and cookies from this morning.

I had a 'show and tell' I had finished the quilt top of the  paper pieced Christmas trees that I was doing a couple of weeks ago. 

As Chris and Amanda planned to leave we had a heavy downpour after a few minutes they made a dash for their cars, Alison waited for the rain to ease off before she left.

Another Tuesday over, a relaxing few hours with friends, looking forward to the next one.

Paper Piecing Tuesday!!

-Just a small gathering today - Janet arrived for tea and cake & Chris timed it perfectly for our second cup - no, we did not have a second piece of cake!!

Lemon Drizzle Cake


4oz Butter/marg
4oz Caster Sugar
4oz SR Flour 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
2 eggs
Rind & Juice of 1-2 lemons

Combine ingredients & put into a 2lb loaf tin (liners from Lakeland are easy & quick).
Lemons are to taste but it is really good with more lemon.
Bake in pre-heated medium oven 180*c (less for fan oven).  Bake for approx 25 mins until tester comes out clean.
Meanwhile, add rind & juice of another lemon to 2oz sugar (any type) & heat until syrupy!
Once  cooked, poke holes all over cake with knitting needle or cake tester & pour syrup over the top whilst still warm.  Leave on wire rack to cool.
Can be served warm with greek yogurt for a change.

Sewing projects this week seemed to have a theme - paper piecing¬

Chris is still going with her 1" hexagons.






                                                                          The pile is growing!!

                         

Janet is also continuing with her paper pieced
diamonds.

It is amazing how different they look.  Not sure how large either of the finished products will be but they are a great way to spend an evening & are very addictive!

Diamonds by Janet

Not much new this week.  Alison is helping her mother in Scotland & Caroline is working hard as usual.
I have been away on a photography course for the past few days so not much time for any extra.
I am, however, continuing with my felt candle mat, another enjoyable hand project.

The pins are getting fewer!!










Lunch was jacket potatoes with coronation chicken and/or prawns.  Raspberry mousse to finish.

Another lovely day with friends.

Two Plus One

It would be just Amanda and I until lunchtime, when Chris would be with us after her course had finished.  Caroline will be teaching until the end of tern, so will not be with us on Tuesdays until the summer holidays.  Alison was hoping to be with us, but had to travel to Scotland to be with her Mum who had a fall last week.  We all hope your Mum makes a speedy recovery.

It was very hot today, Amanda and I sat outside on our deck under the umbrella, having the first cup of tea of the day, together with Chocolate Chip and Double Chocolate Chip muffins.  (Again from the Susan Reimer book).  There had been a rebellion in our house, over the which flavour of muffins there would be this week. "We never get Chocolate Chip muffins anymore"  was the cry!!

With the French Doors wide open and with our second cup of tea, we settled down to do some sewing.  Amanda was hand stitching a wool felt candle mat, that she had for her birthday. 

I was paper piecing Christmas Trees (yes I know it's a bit early for Christmas), using a range of fabric called Jovial by Basic Grey from Moda Fabrics.  This is a sample quilt for Needle and Thread, to be taken to the Festival of Quilts (11 - 14 August, NEC Birmingham).

Chris arrived for lunch and as it was still hot, we eat outside, today we had BBQ Chicken, (sauce from Delia Smith's book The Complete Cookery Course),  salad and new potatoes, with meringue, summer fruits and fromage frais for dessert.

After lunch Amanda and I continued with our sewing and Chris cut out more of her Farmers' Wife blocks.  With our afternoon tea we had a Banana and Walnut loaf also from the Delia Smith Complete Cookery Course.

By mid afternoon the skies had clouded over and it was raining when Amanda and Chris left for home.

And for its back to the Christmas trees.

Delicacies, Doctor's and the Odd Deluge or Two!'

Well, today (it being my turn to be hostess), might have been somewhat difficult due to a range of very minor incidents.  Having got up at 6.00 to allow plenty of time to do chores, I arrived home from shopping to hear the tail end of a message being left.  I grabbed the phone and found out it was MIL's best friend saying... " Not to worry, it isn't an emergency but....!"  After a quick chat, I then found out it wasn't an emergency, but... I needed to make a call to MIL. 

Three quarters of an hour later, and with the imminent arrival of the Tuesday Girls, I had yet to get the cakes made and in the oven or lunch unpacked and placed in the fridge or various cupboards.  So setting to, I put things away, mixed the cakes and put the kettle on, MIL complained about the 'noise' and "Just what was I doing?"  At this very point, Amanda arrived with apologies for being early.  Now, I do get on very well with MIL so appreciated her saying she would speak to me later, and at least she was laughing by the time the conversation was finished, so with the promise that I would speak to her later, that was that. Phew!  One miracle pulled out of the bag! The muffins were in the oven! The brownies soon followed after adding some pecans to the mix.  Thank goodness for Betty Crocker!  I just didn't have time to experiment... far be-it for me to be organised!!!  The word is just NOT in my personal vocabulary.

Feeling just a tad stressed, Amanda encouraged me to take a moment to go and sit in the garden with her as it was very warm and as the cakes were fresh out of the oven and Janet had rung to say she wasn't going to come until nearer 12.00, we did just that.  It is amazing how soothing a cup of tea is, accompanied by a plate of cakes, especially warm chocolate cakes. :-))  We chatted about family dilemas, how we might overcome them and just how pleasant it was to sit outside, where it was at least 5 degrees cooler due to a slight breeze.  Amanda was quite content to just play with the dog, who kept dropping a perfectly grubby tennis ball on her lovely fresh, white-linen skirt!  Hmm! Not sure I would have been so accepting.

It was unfortunate that the only reason I could host the day was that I had a doctor's appointment slap bang in the middle of the day, so as Janet was going to be later (she was awaiting a delivery), Alison was busy and Chris travelling back from a visit to her sister's, Amanda 'had' to come to the doc's with me.  She is very good company and the hour wait flew by. My visit lasted less than ten minutes and soon we were on our way back.

During this time, the sky had darkened considerably and soon the lightning was flickering across the sky and the thunder resounding.  The rain deluged. Needless to say just as we arrived home and eased just enough for us to dive into the conservatory where we hold our gather when it is my turn.  At this very moment, Janet arrived and more tea and cake (small portions as it was very close to lunch).  Conversation and much experimentation followed as Janet had brought her new arrival (and reason for being late as she was waiting for it to be delivered,) to play with.  We all have cutting machines for our scrapbooking, but Janet is queen of the die cutters.  So the Cricut machine was the newest addition to her collection of die-cutters.  We had a wonderful time experimenting with the new cartridge she had bought for it.  Such a pretty set of words and cut outs... it will be a must have for anyone who has one of these machines!  The cartridge name was Paper Lace!

The rain eased and returned with gay abandon throughout the time the girls were with me.  It did nothing to subdue  our enthusiasm for lunch; herbed, garlic salmon with prawns, salad and a variety of  'extras'... followed by meringue nests, creme fraiche or greek yoghurt with mixed berries.  Of course more tea followed that plus the brownies.   Soon it was time to break out the sewing... Amanda made a quick needle case and I cut out a few more blocks for the Farmer's Wife quilt.  Janet, who carried on experimenting with pressure wheels and speed of cut,  had brough me her templates, as she knew I will be working for the next few weeks, so won't be at the next arranged FW cutting out session, planned in a few weeks time. 

Before we knew it, it was time to pack up as Janet had some fabric to iron ready for cutting, at work (and wanted to get it done as the two of us were meeting up with our Scrapbook group for dinner later)  Amanda had some bits and pieces to do.  Me, I carried on cutting out until I realised time was getting on and that I too had to clear up. 
So with dilemmas all safely forgotten or averted, another successful day was over.

A postcard

Dear Tuesday Girls
Having a lovely mini break, wish you were here!

 As you can see the weather is perfect and we have met some new friends

 

See you all next week xxx

Aren't birthdays fun?

Well the doorbell rang  before I expected this morning- the charabanc from Surrey had got to Hampshire in record time  - good job the kettle was full and the muffins were baked!! Banana, chocolate and pecan this week.

Amanda and I have birthdays a week apart so we often have a joint birthday on a Tuesday and today was it. There was a veritable pile of presents to be opened....so exciting....


We started with Amanda first as her birthday is the earlier - a clutch of sewing related goodies and books which of course we all had a good look at. The red spotty case contained supplies for a redwork project just in case she didn't have enough projects started. 
Take a good look at the wonderful chicken with its wings filled sewing supplies -isn't it a great idea.


We then had a quick tour around the completed building work that has been recently finished in the house, before the kettle was put on for a second cuppa.

Then it was my turn to open presents - it's always so exciting - does anyone get tired of birthdays do you think? 


 So many lovely pressies....things to do, to read, to make, to store things in ...thank you all so much. just noticed my chicken didn't make it into the picture -was obviously off scratching around.


Just wondered how many birthdays we have had altogether ... over 230 and counting!!! there's a scary thought!






One project we have all decided to do together is The Farmers Wife Quilt  We all have our books now and are using the From Marti Michell templates to cut out the various blocks. Marti has worked out which templates match up to the templates in the book so has made it very easy for us all. ( if you sign up for her newsletter you will get information about it)

By the time we had looked at the templates and talked about how to cut things out it was time for lunch - it's amazing that we get anything done other than eating and drinking tea on a Tuesday!


Being mid June I thought it was safe to have baked salmon and salad - had hoped to eat outside but it was too cold for that unfortunately. However it still tasted like a summer lunch. We followed that with individual pavlovas - well meringue nests with redcurrants from the garden, rasps and blueberries heaped on top.






The afternoon was then spent cutting out various blocks ready to sew when time permitted.




Chris, Janet and I have decided to sew the blocks on our featherweights so they were duly brought out and inspected. 


I wonder what the collective noun for a number of Featherweights would be? A wing of... 


Any suggestions?


... and here are the little beauties...

The afternoon was rounded off with more tea and  lemon drizzle cake before bags were packed, goodbyes said and another lovely Tuesday was gone.