Apple roses

A while back, a post featuring these apple roses did the Facebook rounds and this week I decided to try them out.

Photo by Sarah Ryan

 They're apple slices rolled in puff pastry- a very pretty dessert and yummy with ice cream.

Fabric storage basket using recycled denim

A quick and interesting way to use an old pair of jeans - and a cheap source of fabric.

Photo by Sarah Ryan

Start with an old pair of jeans and cut off a portion off the bottom.

Bag: re-using a woollen blanket

I love the old check woollen blankets, and I have been stashing a few. Last week, I discovered that my every-day bag was disintegrating, and new ones that I looked at were so expensive! So I got to, and decided to put one of my old blankets to good use (this one I'd picked up for $2 at an Op Shop in the doggy blanket section).

Photo by Sarah Ryan

So I made a template from my old bag, and cut out two on the bias (diagonally), and two from a contrast fabric for the lining. Then I added an extra piece to make an inside pocket. 

A cookbook from 1871

This post isn't giving ideas...it's just something interesting!
Mrs Beeton was a famous English cookery writer from the Victorian era (mid to late 1800's).
I found this book, All About Cookery, when poking about in a little shop in Cygnet and I couldn't pass it up.

Photo by Sarah Ryan

It's like a dictionary of recipes, arranged in alphabetic order. Given it was from 1871, I was surprised at the range of quite fancy French recipes such as souffle or beef ragout.

Upside-down quince cake

The humble quince...looks like a cross between a pear and an apple. And not nice to eat raw.

 

Photo by Sarah Ryan

But make up a nice vanilla bean sugar syrup and poach it for a few hours...and watch it change to a glorious jewel-like ruby pink-red colour.

 

                                    Photo by Sarah Ryan                                          Photo by Sarah Ryan
I was making an upside down cake so I sprinkled some brown sugar on the base and lined the tin with the sliced poached quince.

Decorated biscuits: using stencils

Two occasions: My great-niece's Georgina's 1st birthday party as well as Mother's Day....so some heart shaped biscuits were going to be fitting on both accounts.

Photo by Sarah Ryan

I usually use gingerbread biscuits for decorating as they keep really well, but this time I used a vanilla shortbread (they'd be eaten pretty quickly and the kids would like vanilla biscuits better, I reasoned...)

Little crochet storage basket

I haven't crocheted anything, ever, other than crocheting a chain when I was a kid. But I was tempted to have a go at this simple looking little basket...good for storing bits in the bathroom, or sitting room, or full of felt pebbles like mine here!

Photo by Sarah Ryan

A workshop was advertised at "Gather Handmade", a giftshop in Liverpool St, so I went along to have my first real go at crocheting.