Would you like a slice

Would you like a slice ??

of my Cherry Cake ? Yes, I've made another one and it tastes just as good as the first, so I thought I would share the recipe.

Here goes:

Cherry Cake from the W.I.recipe book

Ingredients:

4 ozs glace cherries, 4 0zs butter, 4 ozs margarine( I used Weightwatchers Canola Spread),8 ozs castor sugar, 3 large eggs, 4ozs ground almonds, 8 ozs plain flour, 1tsp Baking Powder, 1 tsp almond essence,1 tsp demerara sugar for sprinkling on the top of the cake.

Method:

Heat oven to 140 degrees C and prepare and line a deep round tin. Wash and dry the cherries and cut in halves. Cream butter, sugar, and margarine together. Whisk eggs and gradually add to the creamed mixture. Add almond essence and cherries. Fold in gently the seived flour and B.P. and the ground almonds. Put mixture in tin and sprinkle demerara sugar on the top of the cake. Bake for 2 1/4 hours at 140 degreesC or 275 F.

Good luck!!!

Blanket for Billie

I have two dogs Basil and Billie. Unfortunately they are not the best of friends. Basil is nine and Billie will soon be two. I had to pose them for this shot because they don't usually even sit or lie down together.

Yesterday I decided to make a new blanket......I thought that perhaps they might share it happily

But no, Billie claimed it for his own and Basil raced off to the bathroom to zealously guard his faourite spot on the heated tiled floor, along with my slipper.

Simple Pleasures

The importance of taking time to stop , smell the flowers, enjoy a cup of tea, knit a few rows and delve into the latest knitting book from the library cannot be underestimated !

Listening to the latest CD from Dave Dobbyn...Anotherland

lifts my mood a lot. So does this book

A Fine Fleece..knitting with handspun yarns by Lisa Lloyd. I think I shall probably have to buy this book from here, because I cannot have it on permanent loan from the library. On every page of this book there is something I would like to make...now...today !!!

Needlework and Stitchery

Recently I was given a little book full of needlework, knitting, crochet, and sewing patterns. It is missing it's cover and the first few pages, but the rest of the book is complete and transports me back to 1914, with patterns from a ladies camisole to the latest fashion in headgear......an inexpensive motor bonnet !

This book is a dear little gem, full of ideas, suggestions and instructions on needlework and stitchery. It also has lots of advertisements for all manner of goods that you could buy in 1914.

The caption under this one says...Under these circumstances knitting progresses slowly.

I was so thrilled to receive this book, it even has some poetry and quotes.
I rather like this one :
He who is silent is forgotten, he who does not advance falls back, he who stops is overwhelmed, distanced, crushed; he who ceases to grow greater becomes smaller; he who leaves off, gives up....H.F.Amiel

New Life

We had a happy day on Sunday visiting our son and his family on the dairy farm he manages.

They have struggled through three snowfalls over the winter months, which is highly unusual for this province, but now there are signs of spring everywhere.

This little puppy is almost two weeks old and has eight siblings.

Storm, the proud hard working Mum.

These are a few of the many calves that our daughter-in-law Sylvia has been hand rearing. They are just beautiful, and their shiny coats prove the loving care that they receive from her.

These two are both friesan calves but the one on the right has a special gene..the red factor.

Number 10 became very curious. I think she rather liked my knitted jacket, she might have been hoping that I would knit her something stylish too.

Perhaps a warm bonnet, with openings for the ears, a fetching little number in red. That would make her stand out from the crowd !

Magnificent Magnolias

I thought I would share some images of the beautiful magnolias that are in flower this month.

This gorgeous gem lives in my garden,
I love it's blowzy, rosy, pink softness.

The furry, outer casing protecting the buds, then opening out to the sky above.

This is a stellata magnolia

These beauties are growing by the roadside

And I couldn't resist adding this picture.

Lost and Found

In the Autumn of this year I attended a mini quilt symposium at Picton. Because of my stress levels at the time, I didn't want to be loaded down with sewing machine, cutting mat, masses of fabric and a head full of instructions, so I chose to attend a class for three days with the tutor Donna Stewart who works in merino wool and dyes the colours herself, working her quilts from the native flowers and fauna she sees around her. Her class was all handstitching and all we needed to take was scissors, a ruler and some hand sewing needles.

I came home after that time, relaxed and happy that I had completed a project , with another one of botannical native flowers almost finished, and lots of inspiration.

My little quilt sat around for a few days and then just as I was trying to decide whether to frame it or not, it completely disappeared, and much to my astonishment and annoyance I was unable to find it again.

That is until last night when I was browsing my bookshelf and espied an old gardening book that had been given to me by Uncle Allan, with appropiate pages marked very carefully. Taking it down and leafing through it I was delighted to find my little quilt that I had made at the symposium. There it was tucked up and folded inside the middle of the book.!! I have no idea how it came to be there, so that is even more scary!

This is the rata flowerand this the kowhai.

The little bird in the quilt is the fantail.

This week I collected my new glasses from the Optician, and I rather think that they might be responsible for some of the things I have been finding.

Maybe they will help me to find other important things that I have missed along the way.

Perhaps I will find my figure that has been missing for the last year or so....I am certainly seeing more clearly!