Monthly Archives: December 2012

WiP Wednesday: Children’s Cushion Part 2

I have one late Christmas gift I am finishing up. I started it last week in this post, and I am almost finished it. It is a 32 in. x 16 in. cushion.

The front is almost done, I have sewn all the squares, added the center white Kona cotton center and started quilting using a dragonfly template. The quilting is changing color as it progresses – white –> pale pink –> pink.

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I have finished the back – I have added an additional fabric from Heather Mulder Peterson from Anka Treasures (the teal/aqua fabric).

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I still have the quilting to finish, sew the sides together and add the invisible zip. I am hoping it’s all done by Friday.

Christmas Stocking complete – one more to go

My husband’s and son’s stockings are now complete. I had previously posted the pattern I was using and the top part of my husband’s in this WiP post. I got lots of great comments about the non-traditional color selection; thank you to all those who commented. Here are the finished two stockings hanging above the fire-place.ChristmasStockingsx2

Here’s the final top view of my husband’s stocking. Most of the fabrics were from Joann’s premium quilt fabric section, except the yellow chevron (zigzag) which is of course from the Riley Blake collection and the orange chevron no. 2 (zigzag) fabric which is from Misstina at Spoonflower.comFinishedTop

I used brown checked fabric for the backing: BrownCheckedBacking

The lining of the stocking was a brown and white polka dot fabric and to finish it off I used orange binding: StockingLining

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it Friday and

My Christmas pineapple fruit cake

I am not a big fan of fruit cake however, I love this pineapple fruit cake.IMG_0674 I make it every Christmas – and I get a lot of folks wanting the recipe. This recipe is all made in one large pot so clean-up is also really easy. So, here it is – it is one of my Mum’s recipes.

Ingredients

1 can of pineapple – crushed or chunks (~450g) including the juice
12 oz mixed fruit
125 g butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs

1. In a large sauce pan, place the first seven ingredients.
NOTE: I use pineapple chucks as I prefer the bigger pieces of pineapple – I do cut them in half though.
NOTE: For the mixed fruit I use 1/2 a container of mixed peel/glazed cherries, 1/2 – 3/4 cup of raisins (golden raisins + raisins). You can include currents if you want.
NOTE: For the mixed spice, if you do not have this I use 1/4 tsp ginger, a pinch of nutmeg, pinch of cloves and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon.

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2. Heat, and boil for 10 minutes. As the mixture rises, stir and to ensure no boiling over occurs.
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3. Take off heat, allow mixture to cool. Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees F (106 degrees C).

4. Grease and line a cake tin.
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5. Add the two cups of flour, baking powder and 2 eggs to the fruit mixture, mix with a metal spoon until just blended.

6. Place into the mixture into the cake tin. Put into the oven and bake for 1 hour.

7. Take out of the oven and let cool for 10 minutes, remove from tin and place on a cooling rack.