Baking success and visitors

 Since this mornings post I have made the following. Looking at the instruction manual over the last few weeks had me a bit worried about using the cooker. But if I just concentrate on the function I want to cook on and forget the rest, it is not so complicated. There are a few beeps happening that I am not sure of, but time will tell.

I guess that what goes around, comes around, and a "friend" used my camera. I like to be on the other side of the lens.

This couple were my lunchtime guests, and it was great to catch up with Michele and Larry, who were travelling home from Victoria. They and Pat were the first guests to eat in the new kitchen.
 Those eggs that were boiled were added to a chicken salad, and the apples were made into an apple crumble. And Michele is not actually holding a tea towel in the photo, although it looks like that. We were auditioning fabric, (as you do), for a cover for my Kenwood mixer which is in the corner behind. Michele found the perfect piece in my stash.

When I knew that I did not have burnt offerings, I sent out the message to some friends to come for scones and bikkies for afternoon tea. It was a lovely day spent socializing with friends and trying out the new cooker.

The scones were very yummy, and I only needed a piece of fruit tonight.

This morning's church service was a celebration of Palm Sunday, and the church was decorated with palm branches which was a graphic reminder of that day when Christ rode the donkey and was hailed as a King. Now we head into the rest of the week leading up to Good Friday and Easter.

I know I promised a report on the kitchen, it will have to wait for another day, as I am far too tired and need some "beauty" sleep. 

Blessings, From Jude

Boiled eggs and stewed apples...

Just a quick blog post this morning, before I go to church. I have spent all the time since my last post sorting, moving stuff and CLEANING! Amazing just how far the dust had spread. I have most things where I want them, for now, except the drawers that are not done yet. I have one bedroom full of "get rid of stuff", and will need to deal with this before someone needs to sleep in the bed next weekend! And my pergola looks like a building site, with "stuff".

I had intended to master the new stove yesterday, but that did not happen. So this morning, it was time. I have some special people coming for lunch this afternoon. This morning I have almost worked out the hotplates and managed to boil eggs and stew apples. 

Who knew that it would be exciting to boil eggs and stew apples? As I have had hardly cooked anything since September, this has been a big event, and I will explain that more in another post.

And after I get home from church, I hope to work out how to operate this oven, and to bake something with those stewed apples in it! All this touch control stuff is a bit more complicated than turning a dial. I do hope that lunch is not burnt, but I do have a backup dessert in the freezer.

Better go and get ready to walk out the door, and hope to be back later tonight with a report on the kitchen reno and photos of the process.

Blessings, From Jude

I'm moving in!!!!!!!!!!

Just a quick post while I am having a cuppa, before I get out the cleaning gear and do a deep clean and move into my new kitchen. The tilers finished this morning, and the plumber has been this afternoon to finish the taps and hook up the dishwasher. Not had a dishwasher here in this house before! Still a little stuff to sort, and some decisions to make about where to put things, but most things are in the kitchen cupboards. Now it is time to get rid of the grime on the outside of them and the floors etc. The dust has spread everywhere. The table is back in the dining room and I have my lounge back. Tomorrow I need to master the new cooker.
Be back sometime on the weekend for a more comprehensive report with some photos. Have a good weekend,

Blessings, From Jude

Still sorting "stuff"

Instead of "baring" the contents of my cupboards in this post as I did awhile back, this time it is the contents of "those" drawers. I had a cutlery drawer here, plus the drawer with all of those other things you "need"! And at The Sanctuary I also had a cutlery drawer and one of those other drawers! And the kitchen dresser that has now been consigned to the shed, also had a drawer, with "good" cutlery things, that were wedding presents all those long years ago.

Yesterday the guys were here tiling, and also the plumber fitting the kitchen sink and taps. The power was on and off during the day, which meant that quilting was going to be a bit difficult. So I took the opportunity to do some more sorting. The first photo shows the contents of all those drawers spread out on the dining room table! I might add that the "good" cutlery from over the road was not in this photo, as it is already in it's new drawer in the kitchen. But I was still left with all of this!!

How many can openers does one need, and how many of them even work well??

And this little pile of stuff, and I did not even know what that lime green thing was for! Until one of the tiling guys happened to walk past and recognised it. Apparently this was a project in the year 8 plastics class, and is a can opener. Who knew? I shall pass this on to DS for him to add to his collection.

And all of these wooden spoons. Obviously some have been well used, and others not at all.

And plastic spoons? I do use a few of these when serving meals at retreats.

My collection of knives is a bit sad. I mainly use 3 of these, one is small, one is a bread knife and the other is that large one in the centre. That was a wedding present back in 1973, and came with a carving fork, and a bread knife, which sadly was lost in the paddock years ago when DH was using to cut the strings on the hay!!

The collection of tongs, which I shall mostly keep.

What about all of these souvenir teaspoons?? They all come from places that I have never been to, but were given as gifts from others who had been. They have been put into their own container and will be dealt with "one day".

My collection of bottle openers, which I have little use for, and the cork screw which is hopeless to use, has been culled.

Another wedding gift of  silver dessert forks and spoons, which has languished in the drawer for 42 years, and had little use. And you can see that they have not had much attention either, because they are very tarnished. Must be time to polish the silver!

 My parents gifted us a cutlery set for our wedding present, and this is all that remains! Where has the rest of it gone to? Is there a cutlery heaven?

More wedding gifts, which have not had much use. I have kept some and culled the rest.

Rolling pins, of which the only one I use is the tupperware one at the top. The little ones were for the children to use, and had some use over the years and the other large wooden one was from a friend  who moved into aged care.

My collection of biscuit cutters which have had a lot of use in years gone by, but not sure how much in the future??

 And this is what I have condensed it down too. They will stay in the these containers until  April 9th, when DS will be back to fix a few things in the kitchen. I mentioned there were a few problems, and one was that the backs of the large drawer units were cut the wrong size. There were a few other things, which will be corrected and will wait until DS is back in town.

In the next couple of days the tilers, and the plumber will finish their jobs, and by the weekend I will be in!!  I shall blog the construction photos and the finish (except for the drawers) sometime on the weekend. Then it will be time to study the new stove manual and work out how to operate it. Almost need a uni degree I think. I need to practice in preparation for the next weekend when I have the first group coming to try out the "new" house. I can see some new saucepans in my future, as the book says I need stainless steel for the ceramic cooktop. I did not know what my saucepans were even made of, but I am told a magnet will stick to stainless steel, and a magnet does not stick to what I have now! The Sanctuary saucepans are still almost new, so I think they might be getting sold. Who knew that a set of cookware could get so complicated!

Better get busy with Max, and finish this custom which has been on too long. 

Blessings, From Jude

Update

It's time for a few more quilt photos and a brief update on the weekend just gone.

First is Sam's quilt, which was quilted with an all over butterfly design. Very bold colours with the black and looks good.

This quilt was made by Louisa, and is her first quilt, and all hand pieced! Well done Louisa. This is to go overseas for a friend, and was quilted with 2 patterns, alternating rows of gum 

leaves and music notes.

And this quilt is Marie's one block wonder, all made of triangles, set into hexagons and stitched together. A few of the hexagons were dyed red, which adds that bit of interest to the quilt. Very striking, and quilted al lover with modern waves.

After a very busy long weekend, I now have an almost funtioning kitchen! I will come back with a more comprehensive report and photos of the process later when I have more time. There were quite a few errors made by the suppliers, and DS managed to fix some but not all. That means that it will be awhile before he is able to get back here with new sections. Hopefully the tilers will be here soon to do the wall tiles, and I shall be contacting the plumber today to let him know he can come and connect the water and install the dishwasher. I have been filling cupboards, and still have a few boxes left to sort, although as I have no drawers until they are fixed, I will be keeping some things in boxes for awhile yet. The power is all connected and I have a functioning stove. And I love my new kitchen. Thankyou to DS and DSIL for an amazing job.

This morning I need to get back to the quilting, and have a custom loaded onto Max.

Blessings, From Jude

A trailer load of kitchen

was delivered here last night.

Unpacking the contents of the boxes above.......

And stacking them in some sort of order......

in little piles according to upper and lower etc etc.........

and another section here......

And in the last photo are the some of the pieces for the corner pantry cupboard.

Today it is action stations and I am taking progress photos. I think I might need sunglasses in this new kitchen, it will be so much lighter than what I had before, although the splashback tiles will tone down the white. It seems to be a bit like making a quilt, trying to get all the pieces in the right place and sometimes they don't fit as they should! I was watching for awhile, but have made myself scarce now that the power is back on, until it is time to make lunch for my workmen. DS and DSIL are both busy out there. I am very blessed to have them do this for me, as it would not be happening if I had to pay tradesmen to do this job.

Have a good weekend, wherever you are.

Blessings, From Jude

Yesterday.....

.......was rather a busy day here with people coming and going all day. First thing in the morning at 7am it was our weekly KYB (Bible study) group. About 10am the Gumnut Angels starting arriving for our monthly day of making quilts for those who need to know someone is thinking of them, for whatever reason. Other members of our group donate fabric to us, and it is an interesting exercise to make scrap quilts with this. Especially when there are a few opinions flying around too!

This is a box where we have stored "partly pieced" donated items, and it has been sitting around for ages. It is usually easier to make something from the start, rather than to finish off what someone has started, or had leftover from a project. Sometimes we can easily see why it was discarded!!

This is what we found yesterday in the box, and ideas were soon flowing as to how to make use of these pieces. Bit of a jigsaw puzzle trying to work out what to do next, and then try to coordinate it with fabric that we have in the stash!

Early in the morning I received a message from my cousin and her husband who live near Melbourne to see if I was home, so they could call in on their way through town. So about 11am I fitted in a quick chat and coffee out in the pergola, and then a tour of the renos before they left.

I finished my custom quilt that was on Max,  loaded an Angels quilt on the machine and then it was lunch time.

And  mid afternoon, that bus load of about 40 ladies who were in town for the State CWA conference arrived to watch Max working and see what the Angels were doing.

Someone else had the camera for me, and it looks like I was busy telling them something in the photo below, and then below that Helen is explaining something else in the next room. We must have both been making a point with our hands up??

 And all too soon it was time for them to get back on the bus for the next stop. Thanks for stopping by ladies. I noticed CWA badges that stated they were from Tanunda, Ceduna, and Whyalla, so lots of them travelled a fair way for the conference. There were more towns, but I did not have time to catch up with them all.

This morning I have done some paperwork and loaded another quilt, and processed another quilt that was delivered, and been to the shops for food for the weekend.

I was a tad excited this morning about the weekend ahead, but then I received a phonecall with tragic news which has taken me down. The daughter of long time good friends, who has been battling cancer for 8 months now, passed away yesterday. She was in her early 40's, and leaves behind a husband and a nearly 3 year old son. I feel so upset for the family, and my prayers are for them, and it is one of those times when you have to ask "why". I know we can't see the big picture and I just have to trust and know that one day we will understand.

That's all the newsfromjude for today. I will be back with progress reports and a few more quilts soon.

Blessings, From Jude