MAUREEN THE BALLERINA

My little corner of the world is never dull - one week whales, this week a Ballerina.....

Her working title was "Maureen always wanted to be a ballerina but her boobs got too big"!  

Maureen is designed for the 200 x 300 hoop (that's 8 x 12)......and there is hand sewing to put her together, and some sewing machine work to get some clothes on her.     Maureen can be found here.

She measures about 54 cm.   

She has ballet shoes

 

 

 

.....and bloomers.

 

 Bye for now!
Sue xxx

Whales

 

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Just finished a couple of weeks at the beach.   Weather pleasant enough although a touch windy.   Boating takes on a whole new challenge when trying to drive said boat on to a trailer with strong wind sending the boat in circles.......  So feeling all beachy and inspired, here is the latest batch of designs to hit my little corner of Etsy.   (This link will take you to the whole set, but all designs are available separately).  Designs come in 4x4, 5x7, 6x10 and 8 x 12 -appliques and there is also a whale toy/pincushion for the 8 x 12.   I have also included a 4x4 filled whale design for those with a small stitching field.  



 

 Filled design 4 x 4 size only:

I must be well rested, I managed to make these frames up in Paintshop Pro and......save them for further use without having to change all the colours every time.   Then as the final bit of non blondness, I saved the watermark in one go!   By the way, when you need that little "c" in a circle, simple hold down the alt button and type 0169 on the number pad on the right of your keyboard (the numbers along the top don't work for this) - so there you have it, if you don't know how to do the little copy write symbol - © .   ALT 0169.  

Now I can't do a trip to the seaside without O'Reilly pictures......

 

An evening stroll on the beach as the sun starts to disappear for another day.   Evenings were a bit cool!

 

Heading back after a chase of the birds wading in the shallows.....

 

Our evening meals are often of the barbecued variety.   Know what this is?      If you want the most tender calamari whether it be tubes or rings, this is the secret.   Not a chewy piece to be had.   Take a couple of kiwi fruit - those hairy things in the fruit section.   The only preparation I do is to remove the sticky label!   Now, pulverise, either in a food processor or with a stick blender, whatever is to hand, the entire fruit.   Don't waste time peeling it.   It wont be eaten.   Put your calamari into a container with a lid or even a plastic bag.   Pour the fruit over the calamari and make sure the pieces are all nicely coated.   Squish the bag or shake the container once or twice during the marinating process.    I like to leave the calamari soaking for at least two hours.    ALWAYS MARINATE IN THE REFRIGERATOR....   When the time is up, rinse the calamari to remove all the kiwi fruit and pat dry.   If you want to add some salt and pepper seasoning and flour do this after the pat down.   Now cook how you like.   Don't overcook -  I promise you will not be disappointed!



 

Now because I am a little strange, I find it hard to keep the mind off all sorts of craftiness even when on holiday.    I needed a coffee table that could double as extra storage  for those platters and things that take up space in cupboards that are already bursting at the seams.   So, how to get my able assistant into the same mindset?   I bought two cheap coffee tables from Crazy Clints.   I asked my assistant to cut them down and whilst he was doing that, I went to the hardware store and got the extra supplies.    A bit of ply, some edging timber and some paint.    Mr Underenthusiastic  was cajoled into finishing the shell and then I set to work.    I did find mirrors hard to come by, so had to travel a bit to get those.    Next I smashed them, as you do and set to work putting a mosaic together.  My assistant marvelled at my patience over a couple of evenings but I had to do something to drown out the 20/20 cricket games that were on every damn night!     

I had to work out the sequence, do I paint, do I mosaic, but in the end I decided to mosaic first and then the paint could be easily scraped off the mirror, I would put the grout in last.    I bought a slightly off white paint and whilst waiting for it to mix, I saw the sample tins of miss-tints.   Perfect, a blue for the undercoat for $2.   Bargain.     So, two coats of blue and then a rough coat of white paint, a bit of sanding and waxing and I think the coffee table came up very well.   We put wheels on the base so it can be manoeuvred  as necessary.  I borrowed a sewing machine for an afternoon and made the curtain - I think it has a nice beachy feel - and is perfect.   Somewhere to put the coffee cup and it means I can buy a few more dishes for serving!

 

Have a great week.   Sue xxx
 

Merry Christmas

Hope you all have a lovely merry Christmas and a happy New Year.  

See you soon!

Sue xxx

Recycling the Silver!

It has been a busy month or so since my last post.   Lots of stuff happening, keeping this old girl busier than a one armed fan dancer in a windstorm!!

First up:

I have been making pin cushions with bling.   Most of these are made from silverware I have collected.  Some have already sold, but if you are interested in any that are left, contact me (address on the sidebar) and I will get a postage price for you.    These were a lot of fun to make.  All have been given a couple of coats of clear lacquer so should not tarnish.

$15au plus postage

$15au plus postage

$15AU plus postage

 

$15AU plus postage

 

 

$25AU plus postage. SOLD

Handle detail below - fairy and a ladybug.

Top view

 

$15 AU plus postage (note - this one is not silverware)

 

This one (below) is my favourite.   I have only added a couple of bees - it didn't need anything else!

$30 AU plus postage.

Even has the scoop which hangs from the handle!

 

SOLD

SOLD 

SOLD 

 Next on the show and tell list is this little beauty.....first we had to dig through all this......

and then ta da.....out she came! 

Don't look too hard - the background is a disaster and it hasn't got any better!

Miss Sweet 16 travelled the roads from Rockhampton to Melbourne via Mackay. 

She has been service and is all ready to go.....tragically, with Christmas upon us, she is not likely to start work immediately.   Bit like this one below........

This bundle of happiness turned three.   He was very underwhelmed by sparklers.....

 

 

 My son finished high school and we now await exam results.   Valedictory Night was a formal affair that sent me in to a tail spin - I live in jeans and windcheaters.   Everything was black or didn't fit.  My son on the other hand looked a million bucks, here he is in his slim fit suit with 'lavender' bow tie and his gorgeous girl.

The young ladies of today seem to know how to dress, how to stand, they just look elegant - I have never been able to carry that off.   I spent ages getting my hair to a point where I was happy with it, and in the mere 500 metres we had to walk from the car to the venue, we found the windy spot in the city and my hair was all over the place.   Back to jeans for me!! 

I have found and made a super dessert that I need to share - it is so easy and looks delicious.   I will admit that the photo does not do the final product justice. No doubt it will be made again before Christmas so it is possible a better photograph will be forthcoming. 

I came across this in a magazine whilst waiting in the doctors surgery.   Gone are the days where you would try and rip the recipe out of  the magazine,  hoping no one noticed ( what you mean I was the only one.....).   Now I just take photo's with my phone.   A couple of people were looking at me oddly, but.........

I promise this easy.    You will need:

Filo Pastry.   (Follow the instructions about damp tea towels etc cause this stuff dries out quick)
Butter - Melted
Caster Sugar

Line your baking trays with glad bake or the like.   Pre heat your oven to about 190 c.   I put a clean tea towel on the work surface.   Lay one sheet of filo pastry on the tea towel and brush with melted butter (don't drown it in butter) then sprinkle generously with caster sugar.   Place another sheet of filo on top of the first and repeat with butter and sugar.  Place a third sheet into position and butter and sugar.    You are now going to cut this rectangle of pastry into 8 smaller rectangles.    Place on the baking tray and pinch and scrunch a little.   You want it to look a bit like a crumpled tissue - sorry, best description. Bake until golden.   Repeat with another three layers of filo.   You will need three of these baked rectangles per stack.    Do the math as to how many you are going to need and butter and sugar away  until you have enough.      Let them cool on a cake rack, so they stay crisp.  

To fill each stack, I used whipped cream, strawberries and frozen raspberries.   Take one rectangle, place cream and fruit.   Put a tiny bit more cream on top of the fruit and place second layer of pastry. Repeat with cream and fruit.  Place the third piece of pastry on top.   Dust with icing sugar.  You could also add another piece of fruit for decoration if you wish.    I usually mix my cream with custard for a lovely filling.   And that is it.   Really easy.  I wont say really quick because you will need to bake the pastry in batches and that takes a bit of time, but you can make the pastry rectangles the day before.  I would be inclined to reheat them through and re cool just to make sure they are crisp. 

I have been sucked in to the vortex that is Face book and have put lots of magazines, patterns, fabric and stitched designs up for sale.   I am trying to destash.    If you are interested in anything on my Tiramisue page, just write "sold pending" in the comment box of any item (do make a comment for each item) and I will be in touch.   If you aren't on Face book you should still be able to "see" this page.   Just send me an email - tiramisue at bigpond dot com and I will be in touch.   All prices quoted are for postage within Australia.   I am most happy to send anywhere in the world, just understand that postage will have to be re-calculated for each particular destination.    I have lots of Australian quilting mags, a number of Sew Beautifuls, and Inspirations Magazines, oh and lets not forget, Cross stitch books, leaflets and magazines...............I am happy to haggle.    You can find the destash folders here!, here!, and  here!

Sue xxx