RAINBOW CAKE RECIPE

Nanci thought she might like the recipe for my mum's rainbow cake, so here it is.  Definitely not recommended if you're wanting to lose weight!!

Ingredients

1/2lb butter (225g according to my scales)

2 cups castor sugar

6 eggs (hope your chooks are laying)

2 cups flour

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons cocoa (for the chocolate layer)

3 teasp baking powder

Vanilla Essence

Pink Colouring

Method

Beat butter and sugar, cream well

Add 3 eggs and a little flour to prevent curdling

Add rest of eggs and essence

Add milk and sifted dry ingredients (not cocoa)

Divide evenly into 3 bowls.  Add cocoa to one bowl and colour one pink, and leave one as it is

Cook 20-25mts in 400 degrees oven (that's about 200 Celcius, but I didn't have it quite that hot)

Layer the cakes and join together with icing.

A FAMILY DAY

A family day today for my Dad's 95th birthday.  He's not been feeling very strong these last few weeks and walking has become quite difficult for him.  Please spare me from being so old!!
My mum.  She is an amazing lady.   She has now lost nearly all her sight.  How she remains so bright and cheerful is a mystery to me.  I know I would never cope so well in her circumstances. She has such faith.  She hates being blind, but says if God needs her blind for whatever reason, she is happy to be blind.  I know I wouldn't be quite so accepting.

This was taken at the nursing home today.  I am here with my second daughter, Amanda. We took over the dining room for our little gathering.  The staff there at the nursing home are just the best and always seem so willing to go out of their way to make life easier for others.

RAINBOW CAKE FOR MY DAD

Today is my Dad's 95th birthday. I drew the short straw for making the birthday cake, and I decided to make him a Rainbow Cake.  My mum used to make this rainbow cake when I was a kid as we loved it.  I thought a bit of nostalgia was in order so a rainbow cake it was.  I got up with the chooks this morning and here is the end result.  I know I wouldn't go straight to the final week on Master Chef with it, but dad won't be such a harsh critic.  It's a bit wonky, but I'm sure that along with a cuppa nobody will notice.  

THE HANDMADE EXPO

These are just a few of my bags that I'll have for sale at the Handmade Expo on Saturday. I love the fabric I've used from the Vintage Homestead range. If you want to go to a great market be there:-

Handmade Expo

Ipswich Show Grounds

Saturday 27th June 09

8am til 2pm

Only $2.00 entry and Kids are FREE

I'll be sharing a stall with Tanya from Tanyas Prim Thyme Designs. You'll love her prim dolls and craft.  Come and say hello.  

LOVE YA AWARD

Last week I got a Love Ya  Award from Miriam from Bubba Chenille.  Because I'm really new to blogging it was a lovely surprise.  I really still don't quite know what I'm doing!!  The idea is that I have to pass on the award to others.  I'm having so much trouble deciding who the 8 should be that I just can't choose at the moment.  Sorry if this seems like a cop out, but there are so many blogs that I enjoy following.  I have made up the list of 7 things about myself though.

1. My first patchwork quilt was a handpieced Grandmother's Flower Garden.  Because I'd never actually heard of the quilting process, I just put a backing on it.
   
2. The first "proper" quilt that I ever made was pink, blue and white.  Wow - have my tastes changed!!  It was queen size, all needle turned applique and all hand quilted with beautiful tiny quilting stitches.  Today I wouldn't even dream of taking on such a project and my quilting stitches have grown considerably larger.
   
3. My favourite TV programme at the moment is Master Chef which is a bit weird as I don't even like cooking.
   
4. I had 3 babies by the time I was 24.  My oldest daughter doesn't like people thinking I'm her big sister any more than I do.  It happens all the time.
   
5. It also happens that people get Janet from Gottabee Country   confused with me all the time.  People insist that we're sisters if not twins.  We're not actually related at all.
   
6. One time I accidentally wore odd shoes to church.
   
7. I was brought up on a dairy farm, but have never liked to drink milk. 

KEEPING TRACK OF BLOGS

How do you keep track of blogs?  I like to follow them along for a while before I list them on my own blog as blogs I follow, and I've been doing that with Google Reader. And I find this works well for me as I can see at a glance if there's any new posts.  Fine - except that every now and then Google Reader decides to delete them all.  It did this AGAIN on the week end, and I spent ages trying to remember which blogs I've been following so I could put them back again.  But today guess what - they all appeared again.  Has Google Reader done this to you too or am I just missing something.  I could well be the problem.  Some computer stuff  just eludes me completely.

OLD SUITCASE FULL OF RAG BALLS

I love it when I have my old suitcase full of big rag balls.  It means I can get going on on the best part of making up my rag rugs.  That's the crochet bit.  I'm not quite ready for more rag rugs just yet though, so I will enjoy my old suitcase of rag balls for a bit longer.

MY SELVEDGE BAG

I've been hearing for some time now on my favourite Quilting forum about saving selvedges and making them into projects.  The idea certainly isn't anything new, but this little bag is my selvedge project.  I'll be keeping this one for myself as it kind of takes a while to save up enough selvedges to actually make something worthwhile. But I love this bag pattern because it feels just  right tucked under my arm, so I've made other bags using this pattern and using some of my favourite fabrics and I'll be selling them at the Handmade Expo in Ipswich on 27th June.  

SPECIAL POOCH

I'm sure I'm not the only person out there who is a little dog crazy.  Today I've finished the quilt I've designed for my "special pooch" and I'll be getting the pattern written up as soon as I can. It's actually made up in fabrics a little darker than they appear in the photo.  I'm thinking of showery days like today when we sometimes forget to wipe our feet.
They get to look a bit like this.  
This is the big test.  YAY - he likes it!!!

Did your Country Threads Vol 9 No 10 come this morning?  Check out page 22 to see our Out to Pasture cushion submitted by Sam.  She designed this one a while back and it's perfect for their Country Style Edition.  This latest magazine will come to bed with me tonight, but just glancing through it this morning, it looks like there's lots of great projects.  I'm inspired.

A NEW BAG

Sam recently had an urgent call from Homespun to do a project for them in a hurry.  I can't show you what she did or Homespun might get a little upset, but I can tell you that it is in the form of bags and they look great, and we'll see it in the November issue.  I'm a little jealous that Homespun got some of her ideas that I missed out on!!!  Anyway, she got on a bit of a roll and did a new one for Apple Cottage too.  She's in the process of doing the pattern right now.  It's nothing like the Homespun one, but it's a lovely big bag and I love it.  Might have to make one for myself I think.  It will go on my website as soon as she's finished writing up the pattern.

MRS CLYDE AND MY PRIM CAT

Mrs Clyde must have been feeling a little neglected this morning.  She certainly got my attention when she decided to sit on top of this prim cat near my computer.  Sam made me this cat for Christmas one year and I've always loved it.  Mrs Clyde obviously didn't recognise the danger involved in choosing to sit right on top of a cat!!!

MORE RAG RUGS FOR THE HANDMADE EXPO

My pile of rag rugs to take to Ipswich for the Handmade Expo on 27th June has grown.  My old suitcase full of big rag balls has dwindled to almost nothing, my fingers are numb from crocheting and I know all the best TV shows for late night viewing.