So many leaves

A little clutter of pieces cut and ready to sew.  I seemed to make an awful hash of cutting one of the blocks - the bouquet of flowers.  I don't know what I was thinking but I certainly wasn't concentrating! 

So - clearing the decks a bit, the last quarter of the quilt is ready to be sewn

It's so important to test the blocks before I print them out.  I often find silly mistakes which slip through the design and print process.

So this is the last quarter pieced.  The little vine is not sewn down but needs to be in place before the next leaf panel is sew on.

So now there are  42 more leaves to make - slight groan. I'm not sure how to treat the centre - should it have a little group of flowers to connect the vines? I'll get the leaves on first.  Then the flowers. I haven't decided whether to put another vine border on yet. 

The quilt is 62" square now but I feel it could do with some more on the length, but not the width. Possibly a panel of little blocks and vines would look good.  I'll have a play on the computer first. After the leaves and flowers are sew on though!  

I was looking through my old posts and realised there was one that was still in the draft box.  It is out of date now but I thought I'd put a couple of the pictures on. Both photos have rather gorgeous subjects!

Will and Alex just about to go to a wedding party in Northumberland, looking very smart.

and carrot cake - moist and spicy, nestled in the tin ready to go to work. I don't often use nuts, but you can't make authentic carrot cake without nuts can you?

Anyhoo. Something with less sugar.

A neighbour gave us some kale this weekend - a rather large branch.  Scruffy the Rabbit likes kale, but so do we! Alex and I had some kale crisps - torn into little pieces, sprinkled with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, baked in a medium hot oven for a few minutes - yum.  The difference in time between crispy and burnt is very small so it's important to keep any eye on it, or you have kale cinders.  I like kale cut into little ribbons and added to stews and soups too.  I find it a bit strong for eating as a stand-alone vegetable - unless it's cavalo nero, which is not quite so bitter.  I like to juice it too with apples and cucumber.

So - back to sugar. I made an experimental brownie this week with 'biscuit butter' - like peanut butter but made with caramelised biscuits instead of peanuts.  I think I baked it a bit too long because it wasn't quite a fudgey as it should have been.  Full of butter and chic chips it's not for the faint-hearted. I might make another batch for the ladies at the class. Although the coconut flout brownie is excellent too. Decisions, decisions.  if you want the recipe: http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/desserts/cookie-butter-blondies/ - for European tastes it's probably better to leave the cinnamon out or use half a teaspoon. I sometimes use cups and sometimes convert to grams - for instance 6 tablespoons of butter is 85g and it's much easier to weigh it than scoop it in and out of a tablespoon measure! I used my set of cup measures for the rest of the ingredients though.

As Easter approaches a girl's thoughts turn, naturally,  to quilted egg cosies.  I'm experimenting with some designs on the computer first - learning to 'paint' with my design programme - the first attempt at making a plaid is a bit rough to say the least but it's coming on. I'm quite proud of my bunny drawing though.

This wasn't done on the drawing tablet - just the track pad on the lap-top.  I class Wednesdays as my creative day off, so this afternoon will be spent on making leaves and maybe tonight playing with plaids on the computer.

Until next time...