Things to Remember: Priorities and Opinions

"Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their opinion"
Diameter: 17 cm (6.75”)
Upcycled doily with cotton hand-embroidered message.
FOR SALE HERE.

Chewy Chocolate Caramel Cups!

You asked! Here's the recipe for these bite sized deliciousness!

Ingredients:
1 cup plain flour
90g butter, chopped
1/4 cup caster sugar
400g can sweetened condensed milk
30g butter, extra
2 tablespoons golden syrup
100g dark chocolate, melted.

TO MAKE!:
First start off with the base.
Preheat the oven to moderate (180-200 degrees C). Grease two 12-hole mini-muffin pans. (or cupcake size if you want bigger ones, but I recommend mini size!)

In a processor, combine flour, butter and sugar until ingredients just come together, it'll look a bit like breadcrumbs. Press roughly a tablespoons worth of the mixture into each hole in the muffin pans being sure to stamp in firmly to create the cups. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes until browned lightly.

Meanwhile in a saucepan, combine the condensed milk, extra butter and syrup over medium/low heat; stirring until smooth. Be sure not to heat it to the boiling point!

Pour the hot caramel filling into the hot biscuit bases; return to the oven for about three minutes or until caramel begins to brown around the edges.
My tried and true cooking method involves having the radio on loud; so this point is roughly the length of one good song on the radio, have a REALLY good dance and then take a peek into the oven to see how things are going.
Pull them out of the oven if they look good and let them stand for two minutes; (another song!) afterward take a knife and gently remove the tarts from the pan, putting them someplace to cool completely. By now they should be looking like this!



Resist the urge to gobble them up right away! Trust me on this!

After they're cool, melt the chocolate using your favourite method (either the bowl-over-boiling-pot-'o-water method, or in the microwave which is my personal fave) and then spread across the top of the cooled tarts. Stand until the chocolate has set (I tossed them into the fridge for an hour or so)



You can see here I experimented with both the mini-size and larger normal-cupcake size tins; they are VERY rich so I recommend going with the smaller, bite-sized versions.



Oh my..



Oh goodness!!



YUMM!!!!

Things to Remember

This was a particularly special one for me. It's also the first handkerchief I've done so far.

The sentence comes from a close friend of mine who I've been having lots of discussions with of late, some of them philosophical in nature. Often the best sayings need no explanation at all.
It was advice given to him, which in turn he had passed on to me as I was dealing with some frustrating moments in life.


"Everything will work out in the end"
Not for sale.

Originally I had planned to give this to him as a gift which is why I chose the more masculine colours and the handkerchief (rather then a doily.) When talking about it to him though, he told me that I should hold onto it. The message is meant for me after all. He suggested that if I wanted to make something for him, I should come up with a message that -I- thought -he- should be reminded of.
Well, to me a message to him would be very simple to come up with. What is it? Unfortunately that's going to have to be a bit of a secret for a while; he reads this blog you know. And it's a surprise.
So if a certain Viking is reading this; do try and curb your curiosity and have some patience! Just remember; everything will work out in the end. You're just going to have to wait!

Things to Remember

A saying that particularly stands out to me because I am a procrastinator and a worrier. I have countless of times let opportunities pass me by because I was too busy trying to work out all the "what if"'s.


"We will not know unless we begin"
Diameter: 18 cm (7”)
Upcycled doily with cotton hand-embroidered message.
FOR SALE HERE.

Sometimes it's easier to remember that everything doesn't need to be all planned out and put into place before it is begun; it's okay for things to evolve and to go with the flow.



Once again, the only part that's by my hand is the lettering. All other embroidery and design was already done before the doily came into my hands.
I find myself reflecting not only on the words I'm adding, but also of whoever embroidered these designed originally, as the delicate little flowers and edging were all handmade as well; far too delicate for machinery.
I wonder what they were like. I wonder how old they were when they stitched these. I wonder what they would think of the words I'm adding.

A Dusty Day

Ever since the BIG dust storm that happened several weeks ago we've been getting other, less dramatic, smaller ones around our way.
They usually take us by surprise.
In the span of just hours it'll go from this:



to this:



Just enough to make you itchy and your eyes dry. Just enough to bring all that fine dust in the air into your house no matter how much you try and seal up everything.



Just enough to dirty your white car which you JUST CLEANED YESTERDAY.
*grumpy face*

At least it wasn't coupled with the smokey smell of bushland fires; that came later in the week.

Things to Remember

I've been collecting these fantastic, vintage doilies and handkerchiefs from op shops. I just find them very beautiful and wanted to do something with them.
I've been doing a lot of self reflection. A lot of reading about philosophies, mantras, and "self-help" books. I've been having a lot of discussions with willing friends.
I've started writing down quotes that speak to me. They are motivational, inspirational, philosophical or ponderable.


"Things Can Change"
Diameter: 16.5 cm (6.5”)
Upcycled doily with cotton hand-embroidered message.
FOR SALE HERE.

"Things can change" is the first of the Things to Remember series; an ongoing project embroidering inspirational, thoughtful and/or quirky messages on upcycled linens.

I've been enjoying the reactions to this one the most out of all the pieces so far. Do you find this as a positive, hopeful message? Is it perhaps a bit more sinister for you?

Page One, Post One... Once Upon A Time...

Welcome!
This is a beginning.



May not be a fancy one, but it is mine.
My hope is that this blog will bring others smiles, beauty, inspiration and perhaps even something to think about every now and again.
I hope this blog will bring me creativity, friendship, adventure and a sense of pride!