Isaac RATTRAY

Another grandchild born - Michael's daughter Beulah, gave birth to Isaac on the 18th of April and he's a big boy. 8lb all up and he just about covers the surface of the baby quilt cover that I made for him.
Will have to get cracking on the knitted blanket that I am doing. Nearly three quarters of the way through the pattern, and once the knitting is done, will crochet around the edges. That I will take a bit slower, as I am only a novice at the crochet.

RECYCLED DENIM

As I mentioned in the previous post, I made a small bag from one of the legs of an old pair of jeans.
Embroidered a design on the front and decorated with a shell ribbon band.
Used part of the side seams for the handles.

RARE FRUIT TREES

I attended the bi-monthly meeting of the Rare Fruits Council (Wide Bay) of which I am a member, and as usual came home with a few trees to plant. Some are still in the shade house, as they are a bit small to be planting out at the moment - these are a Japanese Lemon and a Peanut Butter Bush.
We did plant out, using a new method, a Cherry Guava, Drumstick Tree, Candlenut Tree, and another Saba Nut tree.
The method we used this time, is to place a cardboard box in the hole, fill it with potting mix, and then plant in the potting mix. As we are on sand, it is difficult establishing the fruit trees, and this sounded a good idea.
Well it seems to be working, as all of the trees are looking good and have new shoots appearing.
I have since used this method to plant out a couple of Bambino Bougainvillea plants, which are also doing well.

A new concept for planting pumpkin seeds -
While reading through a back issue of Earth Garden magazine, Jackie French had advised someone to reuse their old black compost bins to plant pumpkins.
This also works, as the photo shows.
I filled the bin with compost, straw, dried leaves, etc. and planted out the seeds.
The idea is that the pumpkin will feed off everything in the compost bin.

Lots of flowers on the vine so far, so hoping that will be a winner.

SHOPPING BAGS

The second image gives a close up view of the panel.

MACHINE EMBROIDERY

I certainly have been lax in posting the past few weeks - my only excuse is too many interest to occupy my time, and not enough hours to do everything that I want.
Since getting my machine, I have gained more confidence in tackling sewing projects, which before would have been put on the back burner.
Over the last couple of days I have made a shopping bag, and this morning finished a small bag for my grandaughter - this was made using the leg of an old pair of denim jeans.
The other bag is a very basic pattern, with an embroidered panel on the front, which is titled Shopping. Very cute and am pleased with the end result.

Will add the photos in the next post

PUMPKIN TEA BAG CAKE

Oops on the other heading that I started, Here is a good recipe for a pumpkin cake, and the recipe featured in the ABC Cookbook - "Homecooked".
I made this cake today, as I will be taking it along to the Rare Fruits meeting tomorrow. When compiling the latest newsletter, I put out the challenge for the members to share their favourite pumpkin recipes.

Ingredients for the cake:
1 cup boiling water
4 tea bags
125g butter (4 oz)
1 cup caster sugar
1 tablespoon golden syrup
500g mixed dried fruit (any combination)
1 cup cold mashed pumpkin (press out any excess moisture)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup plain flour - sifted
1 cup S.R Flour - sifted
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line a 22cm round cake tin with baking paper.
Pour the boiling water onto the tea bags. Stand until almost cold, then squeeze the bags to extract all flavours. Discard the bags.

Put the brewed tea into a saucepan with the butter, sugar, golden syrup and fruit and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer very gently for 5-10 minutes.
Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
Add the pumpkin and eggs, mix in well then stir in the flours, cinnamon and bicarb.
Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 30 minutes, then reduce the heat to 160 degrees C. Cook for a further 1-1 1/2 hours, until cooked when tested with a skewer.
Cool in the tin then turn out. The cake will keep for a week in an air tight container.

As I always have Earl Grey teabags, this is what I use, but you can use whatever tea bags you wish, which would no doubt change the flavour of the cake.

PUMPKIN FRUIT CAKE RECIPE

THE MAP THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

I have just finished reading this wonderful book by Simon Winchester. So much so, that I got onto the Bookmooch site to see if any of his other books were available.
Lucky enough to mooch The Surgeon of Crowthorne.
The story is basically non-fiction, and tells how William Smith was the founder of geology in England. Fascinating details of other people in that era, and lots of historical facts as well.
I was going to list the book on the Bookmooch site, but decided to keep it for a re-read.