GF Gingerbread House

I often read out things I find on blogs. Usually nobody’s really interested in the great new bag tutorial I’ve just found or how beautifully someone has decorated their tree, but sometimes they take notice. Ds Rowan does enjoy the cute pics of people’s pets, so do I, & the other day dh Paul was impressed with the idea of baking a gingerbread house & here are the results. All his own work & it’s gluten free. We’ve never had a gingerbread house before that I could eat. :-)

 

There was some mixture left over so he then made some mini gingerbread cookies. We’ve eaten quite a few of those so I can state they are yummy. More cakey than biscuity & very moreish!!!

The recipe came from here, he simply substituted White Wings Gluten Free flour for the normal flour.

http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/better-homes-gardens/diy/pattern-sheets/article/-/8412299/template-gingerbread-house/

Sewing & Antiques & Bears, Oh My!!!

Well I did intend posting earlier but I got caught up with last minute gift shopping & gift sewing. I’d love to be one of those people who are organised but it seems I only get ideas at the last minute, so then I have to rush around in a mad panic to make it all happen.

We have been working on the new verandah area, it’s still a work in progress but here is a sneak peek.

Before!!

After :-)

Here’s a close-up of the tablecloth top. I planned to quilt in the ditch but have decided to simply tie it & do some hand quilting. I’m finding it harder & harder to sit for long at the sewing machine, it kills my neck & shoulders.

I have several cushions planned & look forward to getting started on them.

I’m also working on this lap quilt as it’s been quite chilly here lately so I’m sure it will be put to good use. It looks a little insipient in the pic, it’s not quite so pastel.

Close-ups of the stitchery panels.

Antiques

Last Saturday dd Emma came down & we checked out another antique centre. WOW it was great, we were there for hours, just ask Rowan, lol.

I found a few treasures I had to have.

This lovely little embroidered doiley, complete with cute little black dog.

A pretty little pink Meakin bowl.

I couldn’t resist this beautiful blue & white chenille bedspread. I had a pretty pink floral one when I was a kid & I loved it. We finally have a warm, sunny day today so I washed it this morning. It was clean but I just love the look & feel freshly laundered bedding.

I even picked up some quilt magazines & an Ondori bag book. We also bought a beautiful cupboard, pics when it is delivered.

Bears

I found the perfect pressie for Mum yesterday, I’d bought her a range of dvd’s & a pair of jammies but needed that special thing. Then I spotted this little handmade bear. Isn’t she gorgeous??? She even has her own little teddy.

Kirstie

I’ve been watching all the Kirstie Allsopp shows on the  Lifestyle Channel lately, I LOVE Kirstie. I noticed she had a pretty garland in her kitchen with red & white decs. I remembered I had a garland I hadn’t put up, so while her show was still on, my garland was up & decorated. :-)

Gluten Free Date Scones

Another recipe from the Commonsense Cookery Book. These were very successful. Next time I’ll add a lot more dates, the recipe said 1/3 cup but I think maybe 3/4 would be better. I love dates. :-)

I’ve also been sewing. I’ll post some pics tonight, the rest will have to be after Xmas, as they’re gifts.

Today I hope to finally get my Christmas cards in the post, I’ve been very tardy this year.

I Cooked!!

I rarely bake so I thought I should mention it. :-)

White Wings now have gluten-free flour which has been designed to simply replace the flour in any recipe. This makes life so much easier. One of the reasons I stopped baking was because when you cook gluten-free you have heaps of failures, so after a while it’s just not worth the bother.

  Gluten-free cupcakes.

I got the recipe from this site:

http://katieskitchen.wordpress.com/2007/10/07/gluten-free-vanilla-cupcakes/

It says it makes 18 cupcakes but in fact it makes 30. You can even get gluten-free icing mixture now which is so much easier to work with than pure icing sugar.

Gluten-free scones.

I used the scone recipe from The Commonsense cookery book.

The first batch I made I left in the oven to brown, they didn’t, they just ended up a bit hard to chew. This is the 2nd batch they were much better.

I know these don’t look fantastic but they taste great. When it comes to gluten-free cooking it’s a whole new ball game. It’s all about the texture & the flavour rather than the appearance.

Thanks Linda!!

Lucky me, I won a bag pattern on Linda’s blog.

http://flourishingpalms.blogspot.com/

The hardest part was choosing which pattern I’d like!!!

http://www.pursestringspatterns.com/

There were so many lovely bag patterns to choose from. :-)

I ended up choosing:

Annabelle

Thanks Linda, it’s inspired my first New Year’s Resolution. Next year I’ll be having some giveaways on my blog. :-)

Easy Peasy Mug Rug Tutorial

This mug rug is even quicker & easier than the first one I did the tutorial on.

Cut a 6 1/2” x 9 1/2” piece of medium weight iron-on pellon. Cut strips of your chosen fabrics 6 1/2” x anything from 1 1/2” to 2 1/2” wide.

Lay the pellon glue side DOWN.

Lay your first strip on the pellon.

Lay your 2nd strip of fabric on the 1st, right sides together. Stitch.

  

Flip the 2nd strip over & continue adding strips in the same way until the pellon is covered.

Trim the rug back to 6” x 9”.

Cut an 11” x 8” piece of fabric for your backing.

Centre the rug on the backing & pin in place.

Turn the rug over & iron to glue the pellon to the backing, remove the pins.

Turn back over & bind as shown on the original tutorial.
(I’ve reposted it below).

BINDING

Cut a 5/8” square our of each corner to cut back on the bulk.

Turn the binding in half, then half again over the front of the rug. Pin in place.

Turn the corner over 45 degrees.

The pin is so I could take the photo as I didn’t have a third hand. :-)

Fold the hem in half.

Finally fold it over again & pin. You might have to fiddle a little to get a neat corner but it doesn’t take long.

Hand or machine stitch the binding in place & enjoy your mug rug. :-)

Two more I need to choose backing/binding for.

You’d never think I had a sewing room, lol. I’ve taken over the dining room table to make a few things for the verandah area we’re working on. I’m just cutting squares for a tablecloth for the cane coffee table.

Christmas Tree Voting

They’ve changed the system overnight, all the trees were on 1 page, now we are on page 6 of 7.

Thanks!!!!