Grey

Grey but happy, I love this quilt!

See how there are patches of flowers and writing in the trucks and cars? I wonder if each vehicle was hand-appliqued or created on foundation paper and then applied.

Gorgeous. Fun but not hokey. Just right.

Another bit of gorgeousness from Luana Rubin's photos of quilts from the 

Tokyo International Quilt Festival. One of these days I've got to go!

Turquoise green

More inspiration from summer holiday thinking.

I'd love to make a quilt with these colours, or to try to paint this vase.

Photo by Luana Rubin courtesy of her Flickr Japanese Textiles and Flea Markets collection.

I love the shape and how you know it would just be the right heaviness in your hands. Also, the mottled surface in each colour - it's old, perhaps not top quality. (The photo was taken in a flea market in Japan.) I even love the rectilinear lines at the bottom that at first read like Greek key designs (you know, square maze trails) but turn out to be irregular compartments.

I think most of all, I want to watercolour paint this image with wet swirly colours bleeding into each other. An inspiration - and a challenge!

Lilac

Last post was golden, this is a soft shade of cool lilac.

On a hot day before Christmas, off we went to Castlemaine to visit the excellent art gallery. I've been there before but like all of the best museum galleries, the Castlemaine gallery seems to reveal something new every time.

This is, if I recall correctly, a WW2 era bridesmaid's dress. I wonder, was fabric in shortage when it was made? If yes, then those bias-cut panels on the bodice must have been even more stunning: extravagance added to elegance.

Or maybe it was a refashioning of a pre-war dress? Something about the bias cut makes me think twenties, even teens - but not the colour. Maybe an old dress was reshaped, dyed, made new.

And as for the colour, that lovely cold shade of lilac. Summer skies and spring grass, tiny flowers and cool mornings.

I love to wonder about the hopes and thoughts of whoever made and wore it. I hope it was a magical wedding.

I can't decide whether I like the cut more, or the colour. They're both so fantastic, you just want to wear a dress like this and twirl and twirl and twirl...

Golden

A Big beautiful bag o lemons were given to me this week, each one perfectly yellow, fat and tight with juice. Smelling like lemon oil.

I'm going to want them in summer when all the lemon trees are sleeping, so here's what I did:

Slice clean lemons and layer in a sieve, with coarse salt sprinkled between the slices.

Leave overnight, over a bowl and under a teatowel.

Pack tightly in a sterilised jar, paprika sprinkled between the layers. Cover completely with olive oil.

And in about three weeks they'll be perfectly soft and not bitter. Amazing in salads and with roasted veg.

Time to plant some zucchini!

Breakfast beasts

First extra day off after a very long time of hard work and travel. Yes indeed, that means it's a long weekend for me! (chorus of angels) And how should we start? Why, with a large cup of coffee and a sit-down to check out all the yumminess of fabric that's out there on my favourite online shops. Yeeeah.

Truth is I can't wait much longer for the parcel winging its way to me from Sew Mama Sew. This breakfast fantasticness of munching beasts is by SammyK at Spoonflower. Roar.

Update: I ordered a fat quarter of this fabric - now what should I make with it? 

Promises to myself

There are things you promise yourself you'd never do.

You know, things like:
- If I were a teacher, I'd never give my class a quiz just to shut them up.

And if I were a parent I'd never give my kids sweeties.
Oh yeah, right.

And if I were a gardener, I'd never, no never, plant too many zucchini plants or fall into the magic land of the pump-action inflating summer squash. No, never that either.

Good thing Mom's zucchini bread recipe is so damn fine.

- - - - - - -
Ma's Zucchini Bread

(Makes 2 loaves)

3 eggs, beaten until frothy
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups loosely packed coarsely grated zucchini (about one zucchini or half a monster)
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Beat the eggs in a large bowl; stir in the sugar and vegetable oil.
In a separate jug or bowl, mix all the dry ingredients with a fork.
Add the zucchini to the egg/oil mixture, alternating with the flour. Stir to combine.
Pour into two lightly oiled loaf tins and bake at 350 degrees about 1 hour - when they smell so good you're eager to eat zucchini again....

What became of the pumpkin?

Well, we ate it, of course.

My goodness, we liked it! I was trying to think up a name for the recipe. 'Agent orange' is not appetising, neither 'Fromorange' - an unholy union between the words 'fromage' and 'orange'.

It's been a long week.

So when my tired stubby fingers hit the keyboard and typed "Pumpklin", I thought, hmmm...


Pumpklin - Stuffed

This is for a small pumpkin or hard-skinned autumn squash like turk's turban, Queensland blue or any of the others of that ilk.


1 small pumpkin, about 1 kg
1 clove garlic
a shred of bacon, about half a slice (only necessary if you live with a carnivore)
1/2 onion, chopped
silverbeet (chard) or spinach leaves, 2 or 3 large ones
1/2-3/4 cup chopped pieces of cheese - I used raclette and a bit of rock-hard parmesan. Needless to say it should be good cheese....the dry bit near the rind will melt nicely if you chop it finely
2-3 tablespoons cream
salt and pepper
nutmeg, for grating
1-2 potatoes (optional) 

• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (400 F).
• Wash the pumpkin and carefully cut a slice off the top at the stem end to make a lid.
• Scoop out all the innards with a spoon. (You might want to save some of the seeds for toasting, or even for planting in spring!)
• Put the pumpkin in a small baking dish so tht it sits firmly upright, pop the clove of garlic inside with the bacon (if using). Sprinkle in some salt and pepper. Put the pumpkin in the oven, its lid perched in place. 
• Warm a frying pan over medium heat, add some olive oil and saute the onion slowly 5 minutes, until soft and transparent. 
• Strip the leaves from the stems of silverbeet (chard) and slice them finely. Add to the onions in the pan, and stir.
• After 2-3 minutes, rip up the leaves and add them. Cook until softened, 2-3 minutes. 
• Tip the onion and greens into a medium bowl, adding a grating of nutmeg. Dollop in two tablespoons of cream, and add the grated or finely chopped cheese. 
• Remove the pumpkin from the oven, remove the lid and stuff in the onion and cheese mixture, pressing down with the back of a spoon. Pack it quite firmly and pile it up a bit, jamming the lid down when you're done - the cheese will melt and fill any holes! 
• Any remaining stuffing (I had more than I needed), can be layered with thinly sliced potatoes in the baking dish around the pumpkin base. They'll cook nicely and catch any sweet juices coming out of the pumpkin. 
• Put the whole lot back in the oven for almost an hour, checking regularly after 40 minutes. When the pumpkin if soft and yields easily to the tines of a fork, it's done. 
• Slice in half and serve half per person - or just a quarter if your pumpkin was larger and if you serve something else (or dessert) with it.