Broadstrokes

I was really humbled by the effort the others had gone to at our last meeting.  The secret squirrel emails by-passed me, and the theme was France, homage to the place we all love and to where I will be heading next week (NEXT WEEK?? Yikes!!).  The francophile spirit was in evidence everywhere - striped tops, Chanel perfume, Eiffel Tower jewellery, red white and blue serviettes - zut alors!!!

There were macarons - bought and home made - and other yummy things to eat...Plus Sue had made coasters - I bagsed the one with the French bird/word

As usual a lot of show and tell and inspiration and planning.  A wonderful day.

I Know...

...it's not about bodily fluids, but still...

Friands

Before macarons took over the world, there were friands.  They came on the scene while I was living in the US, and I never did figure out what they were - exactly.  I just knew that every self-respecting cafe had them at one stage.  Well, today I made some (only about 10 years behind the times) and I have to say - I like!  I used up bits and pieces from the fridge - no special shopping - and I ended up with 8 lemon friands.

If they look a bit like eggs - well, that's because I used my egg-shaped wilton cake pan to make them.  All in the spirit of the season of course.  They're packed ready for a delivery tomorrow.

Calling Cards...

Pam Holland made some business cards using old playing cards and I was intrigued.  I found some cards locally - $1 for a whole deck. 

The playing side has great photos that I didn't want to cover up, but I couldn't figure out how to use the back - it is a bit kitschy.  In the end I just left it as is.  There was lots of trial and error in this whole process, aside from what I go into below.  I will spare you all the details.

I found some left over blocks from a quilt

 

 which I cut down

 

 stuck on the back of a bright piece of paper

 

 signed the front and included my email address and laminated the whole thing.

The idea was to then use ribbon to attach it to the front of the card - but it looked lame.
So I pulled everything apart, recut the squares to 1" (!) and bought some blue card, and sewed the square and the paper with my email address to the blue card. 

 One stitching line attaches it to the playing card, so you can still see the pictures of Australia.  Done!

Luggage Handles

A friend gave me some fabric over Christmas.  In fact, it was the wrapping to the actual gift, but I didn't want to throw it away.  So I thought - aha!  Luggage handles!  They will make it easier on my hands plus will stand out on the airport carousel.  There was enough to make 2 -

 And look - they fit beautifully (I did tweak the original pattern you'll find here.)

I thought I'd make a spare set using this very special fabric from years ago - it's from the Oz Dye Art girls and I am eking out what I have left.  Isn't it great?

Fondue

A while ago I bought a fondue pot at a thrift store - totally new and unused - for $3.50.  What a bargain.  I thought it was time to "christen" it.  $50+ worth of ingredients later (now, not so much of a bargain) I had this:

It looks OK, but you can't see the hard bits of cheese that didn't melt (even after 40 minutes), that I had to scoop out.  You can't see the palish pink tinge to the mixture, because I put Cherry Brandy in, instead of kirschwasser.  You can't see the roaring flame underneath thanks to the methylated spirits in the burner - we had to replace it with a candle.  You can't see the sticky mess that was impossible to prise off the saucepan during washing up.  So, not a success, especially as James decided he did not like the cheeses I used (emmenthal and gruyere).  Oh well, it was all good fun...I guess!!!

Books for March updated

I've added all books read in March...here.