Saturday 20 October 2012

Quilter's Fun Run

Last weekend I went on a Quilter's Fun Run with a couple of friends. There were ten shops on the Fun Run. At your first shop you received your passport. At each store you got your passport stamped, a pattern for a quilt block, an entry for a door prize, and an entry to win your purchase. At the final store you received two extra quilt block patterns plus your packet of fabric for making the 12 blocks. 

For the most part the stores were in surrounding communitys with three stores being in town. We started at the store that was farthest away and worked our way around till we got back to the city.




It was a fun day. We even visited a couple local roadside attractions along the way. The Vegreville giant Pysanka, Ukrainian Easter egg. 


We also saw the giant Ukrainian sausage in the town of Mundare.


We made it to seven quilt shops on Saturday. Bought a lot of quilting fabric and had a great day. Over the last week I made it to the last three stores so now I have all my patterns and fabric.


The fabric is Stonehenge by Northcott.


So now there is quilt contest in April where you can enter your creation. It must include the 12 patterns made with the fabric provided. After that you can add anything you want to it. Should be interesting to see how different everyone's designs turn out.

Friday 19 October 2012

Halloween Wreath

I made a Halloween wreath for our front door. I got the styrofoam ring from Michael's. The boas are from the dollar store, I used six of them. They were a little bit on the thin side. The Trick or Treat sign is also from the dollar store.


I wrapped the boas around the ring and tacked the ends in place with straight pins. Then I tied the sign on with a ribbon. Quick and easy.




Tuesday 9 October 2012

Mostly Homemade Mondays

Check out Mostly Homemade Mondays Frugal by Choice, Cheap by Necessity.

Chocolate Mousse

One of our family favourites is Chocolate Mousse. Its really easy to make and is extremely delicious. 

200g of Milk Chocolate
6 egg yolks
500g of whipping cream.

First you whip the cream with an electric mixer until stiff.

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Next you want to separate your eggs and have the yolks ready to go


Melt your chocolate in a double boiler. I just use my small pot over a larger pot of boiling water, stirring the chocolate constantly. My preference is Cadburys milk chocolate even better if its imported from England.


Once the chocolate is melted remove from the double boiler and add egg yolks, quickly stir them in before they set.


Then add the chocolate egg mixture to your whipping cream.


Fold it in with a spatula.


Then pour your mixture into bowls or glasses for serving. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.



Monday 8 October 2012

Meringues

We had a sewing day on the weekend so I decided to make Meringues and homemade strawberry "soft serve" ice cream to take. My one friend had a lot of food allergies and as the two items only have three ingredients total its was a good choice.

For the meringues all you need are 6 egg whites and 1 1/2 cups of sugar. Pre-heat the oven to 230 F. Beat the egg whites till stiff. Then gradually add the sugar till its all mixed in.


I placed aluminium foil shiny side down on my cookie sheets. Spoon about two big spoonfuls of meringue for each one



Then bake for about an hour and a half. Be sure to keep an eye on them to make sure they don't over cook. You want them to brown just slightly.





For the soft sever I just put frozen strawberries through my Yonana machine, it can also be done in the blender or food processor. 


Wednesday 3 October 2012

Backyard

Our backyard is finally complete.The grass is in. All the planters are built and filled with dirt. We're all ready for spring planting.