Cookie Frenzy

I've been a little bit obsessed with cookies, and with trying new recipes. I made Sugar Cookies (massive batch) and Dark Chocolate Bars. The latter were dipped in Lindt 85%, because it was all I had, but the balance of sweet and bitter works out beautifully.

This is small selection I took down to a friend's place, when I went to say goodbye - he's now in Perth at uni.

Coming up - Late Night Cookies!

Alice's skirts

I made two more skirts for Alice to remedy the issues with the first one. They both have the elastic sized to her hips (where she likes to wear them) and the waistband done more carefully.

This one is simply four tiers instead of three. Each tier is narrower than the original, but still 1.3 times the length of the previous tier.


This one is three tiers like the original, but this time each tier is 1.5 times the length of the previous one.
I didn't give them to her directly, instead leaving them at Andrew's parents house - sooner or later, everyone passes through the parental home. We saw Andrew's youngest sister, Ashley, yesterday, though, and she tells us that upon being given them, Alice walked around telling everyone "These are MY skirts"!

Winter dress for Alice

When I returned home from travelling, I heard that my 2.5 year old niece, Alice, loves wearing skirts, and dresses, but only owns summer and won't wear tights or leggings with them. So, I offered to make one (or two). A month and a half later, I finally finished this dress out of pinwale green cord, with pink gingham piping. Personally, I think it's adorable. Alice says "it's too big" *sigh*


I also made this skirt. Thankfully, it only took a couple of hours, and I have heaps more fabric, because she wears it lower than I had anticipated, and it needs to be fuller at the bottom so she can play. Two more experimental versions coming up.

A perfect Winter's day

Yesterday was spent doing craft (and talking about craft, and just talking) with friends. Bliss! We're making it a monthly thing, and I got to play first hostess - at least two more friends have volunteered to host. I made a big pot of minestrone soup for lunch, and bought a loaf of pasta douro (I don't know how to spell that) to eat with it in big chunky slices. It was so delicious, I forgot to take photos! I also made my choc chip cookies again, at Andrew's request. They're disappearing fast. Then, just to top the day off, Mum made a lamb roast for dinner. Yum!
Yesterday was also the first day of a Week in Feminine Dress, over at the Sense and Sensibility Forums (technically historical sewing forums, but for some reason filled with devout Christians), so I spent the day in a skirt
The dress I have been making for my niece is now almost finished. Pictures in a couple of days.

Honey and Nutmeg cupcakes

I made these last night, from a recipe in last week's Sunday Magazine (Sunday Herald Sun) and iced them this morning. Mum requested them to take to school today, though I don't know what she did for icing as she left before I got up. They're quite tasty - the nutmeg flavour really comes out during baking - but I won't make them again until I get my benchtop mixer set up (which won't be until I have my own home) because they need to be beaten for ages. I also want to come up with a different icing recipe, as this one is too buttery, and makes me feel ill. I'm wondering how my lemon icing would go.

Knitting

I'm not much of a knitter, but I bought two skeins of yarn while I was in Ireland (in addition to the two lots I have in my stash) and now I need something to do with it. Part of my problem with knitting is that I get bored knitting plain scarves, so I'm looking for something more interesting to do. With this in mind, on Tuesday I bought this:
I don't actually have enough of any given yarn to make anything out of it at the moment, but they sure are pretty!

The joys of fabric

I've finally started making a Winter dress for my 2.5 year old niece who doesn't want to wear pants. I'm altering a pattern from an Australian Smocking and Embroidery magazine (issue #74 "Little Bo Peep") so that the dress isn't smocked because I want to get it done quickly. I'm making it from a gorgeous teal green pinwale corduroy, which is so soft and pretty. I can't wait to see it on her. I just have to decide what colour piping to use on the collar, and figure out where to get mini piping.
Also, Mum took me to visit an old friend of the family yesterday - who still thinks of me as "little Katie" even though I'm much taller than her - and she gave me a whole pile of fabric! There's whole rolls of it, quite nice, and a lot quite expensive.

Jill's birthday

Sunday was my best friend, Jill's, birthday, and she had a high tea in celebration. To help limit costs and stress, she asked her guests to contribute. She specifically asked me for my chocolate chip cookies, and cinnamon honey cake for her birthday cake. Then I couldn't resist and had to make chocolate butterfly cakes too.
It was a lovely afternoon. We stuffed ourselves silly on sweet things, and had hours to chat. I can't think of a better way to spend a birthday.
Oh, and this blog has already inspired someone! It inspired my friend, Sally, to start her own blog. Check out Earthbound Shaman in my blog list.

My chocolate chip cookies!
Brightly coloured patty pans. Andrew laughed at me when I got him to take a photo of these "because they're pretty and they make me happy"
Cinnamon honey cake, with lemon icing
Butterfly cakes - samples for Mum and the neighbours. I put the rest together at Jill's place as they were easier to transport that way.
The tea table. Doesn't it look pretty?