Birthday week!

Well, I didn't do much last week. It was my birthday you see. Being outside was not an option as it was cold and wet. In fact, some days it was raining sideways! Our paddocks are already sodden. Good for the pasture. 

Back to my birthday... I was spoiled! Frans cooked a delicious dinner for me. We had our friends John and Norma around to share his culinary efforts. Jamie Oliver to the rescue! We had rolled fillet of beef wrapped in herbs, mushrooms and proscuitto, served with roast potatoes and creamed spinach. And I have to add, that he cooked this meal on the wood fire stove. Genius! Norma provided dessert. Wonderful sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce. Not a calorie in sight of course! Thanks to everyone who called, emailed, FB'd and sent cards! Half way through the day a little car drove down the driveway and a lady hopped out with a big basket of beautiful flowers. What a lovely surprise. Thanks Sara and Stephen! Sara gave me the cutest little egg cosy; the little chick below, and the sweetest little heart pins. I put them to use immediately to block a woollen jumper that I'd finished for myself.  My dear mother in law, Riet, sent me a surprise box. It was filled with old wooden cotton reels. What fun!

Frans loves his biscuits. Last night he opened a packet of Tim Tams. It felt rather light when I picked it up. He assured me he'd only had a couple. Try six! He also loves Anzacs. I make them for him often. I thought I'd make something different last week. Sara has been talking about peanut butter cookies for a while so I gave them a whirl. Mmmm...... my efforts are visible below. I'm not fond of making sweet stuff. Can you tell?!



I've just completed a couple of knitting projects. This one is for me. Pattern can be found on Ravelry. I liked this pattern as it stated it was 'made to fit a grown-ass woman'! My kind of pattern!  

Another little project that has just come off the needles is this little jacket below. Another Ravelry project. If you're a knitter or love to crochet, then this site has oodles of great projects. Many of them are free. Patterns are simply downloaded. I'm not sure who is going to get this one yet... 

My next knitting project is a jumper for Frans. He's been asking me for ages to knit him one. My objection has been the long sleeves I'd have to knit! However, I gave in. The yarn was purchased.  I had been collecting mens jumper patterns from everywhere thinking one of them would be fine. But he is a fussy man!Didn't like the rib on one, didn't like the collar on another. These sleeves are too 'floppy', these shoulders too droopy! Oh boy. We finally decided on a pattern. I am now knitting at every opportunity to get this one done. 'Man' knitting takes a lot longer! Here is the pattern.

Knitting in the car. This is the main road going through Colac. As you can see it's very busy! Not...

And now for the next BIG project. I offered to make Sara and Stephen a wedding quilt. I took her to a lovely quilt shop in Melbourne. Actually, it's my favourite shop. It's called Patchwork on Central Park in Malvern. Sara spotted a quilt that Lyn had on display. Of course she fell in love with one that is going to take a long time to make! Below are some images I gleaned from the internet of English paper pieced quilts made with a diamond shape. I don't know who made them unfortunately. But arn't they stunning? This is what she wants. Just as well I have a year to make it!

While we were at the store we picked out a bunch of lovely fabrics. I ordered the papers from Brigitte Giblin who does beautiful stuff with paper piecing. The papers are 1". Slightly smaller than the images of the quilts above.  

Here are just some of the lovely fabrics Sara picked out. She doesn't want the quilt to be too 'girlie'. So there are some blokey designs scattered amoungst the fabrics.

Sara had fun grouping her fabrics and sorting them by colour.

The sun is shining today. The garden is calling. Have a good week, what's left of it!