Green Tomato Pickles - mmmmm!

On Friday and over the weekend, I met with my fiance's mum and she showed me how to make green tomato pickles. I ordered 2 boxes of tomatoes from the green grocer in Cooma, along with some other special ingredients. We spent the weekend chopping, slicing, cooking, adding a bit of this and a bit of that, taste testing and bottling.

Now pickles in the Rankin household are like gold. Richard comes from a family of 9 and so there's lots of kids, grandkids and great grandkids who fight over them. They are just so yummy - nothing like a special recipe to zing up a good piece of meat. I've tasted other people's pickles and they are nowhere close to being as nice as Ethel's pickles. I feel so privileged to know now how to make them.

We managed to make three boxes full of pickles. Most of the jars went into Ethel's cupboards so that she's got pickles when the hoardes visit and took a box full home. This should last us til next year hopefully.

I'd been joking with Richard (who eats pickles like they're going out of fashion) that he'd need to pay me $5.50 for every bottle eaten. Well, I put the pickles in the garage for safekeeping and yesterday I was going to take a photo of them to put on the blog. I went into the garage and there weren't any pickles to be found! When I asked Richard what he'd done with them, he told me he'd hidden them and that I'd have to give him a dollar for every jar. Ha! He didn't realise that I was still $4.50 ahead!

I wonder whether you can buy a machine that chops onions and tomatoes? Does anybody know? It'd make the process so much easier and quicker.

Happy New Year

I've been very slack in the past month - no postings! I haven't had anything to add as I haven't done any patchwork (until the last week). Maybe I should have just added a post for the heck of it. I've been doing other wonderful things apart from patchwork - you know, the Xmas spirit, holidays and everything. I just haven't really found the time or the inclination to be crafty.

We were blessed to have our new grandaughter Grace, her mum Natalie and hubby Dave home for Christmas. I made 2 quilts for Grace when she was born. Natalie and Dave said they use them all the time. I was so pleased to hear that.

I made the cot quilt out of a jelly roll and whilst it was a bit fiddly to do with the square in the square, I loved how it came out.


The pram quilt I made out of the left over scraps, cutting them into 2 inch strips and using some leftover square in the square blocks. Both quilts are my favourite quilts to date.

Here's a photo of Grace not long after she was born, enjoying some giggle time on the pram quilt.


I didn't ever post a picture of Joy Bear hanging on our Xmas tree. Joy Bear was made by Dianne who is a member of the patchNquilt online group. Joy Bear was made for a Xmas decoration swap.


I thoroughly enjoyed putting the tree up and finding decorations for it. What was just as lovely was having Richard and his other daughter Catherine together to choose the tree.

Having a child in the house brought so much joy to both Xmas and the household. The house seemed so empty once everyone departed.

I can't wait until next year to add more decorations that I've found in both Dad's home and ours. I must post a picture of the beautiful decoration I received from my sister Tracey's family - brought over all the way from Paris!

Happy New Year to all readers. I wish you all the best for 2009!

Xmas decoration swap

Well, Dianne finally got her Xmas decorations so I can now post the pics. Here they are. I was in a swap with the patchNquilt group and had to send a Xmas decoration to my swap partner. She liked them, thank heavens!

They're actually supposed to be drink coasters. Do they look like they are? These took me for absolute ever! I cut the material out to the wrong size, then had to put on borders. When I sewed the back, the wadding and the front together and turned them inside out, I didn't know how to slip stitch so I machine stitched them closed. What a disaster! Oh well. They're done, posted and received!

100 Sunrises in 100 Days

Hi, I can't help myself. I've created another blog. I thought I should separate it from my crafty journey.

It's 100 Sunrises in 100 Days. http://100sunrises.blogspot.com/

I really must find a lovely sunrise background for it.

It's my quest to get off my a#$ and start moving. So by the time I get to 41, I'm not the naughty sloth that I have been. Am I being a bit hard on myself? You betcha.

Come and join me in my quest. You never know where we might end up!

Thank you for visiting my blog!

Daisy Quilts is Having a Giveaway!

Daisy Quilts turns 1 so to celebrate, Robyn's having a giveaway! Just click on the below link and tell Robyn what your 1 or 2 favourite things are to be in the chance to win (ends 31st December).

Thank you Robyn, it certainly looks like a wonderful giveaway. Congralulations on your 1st bloggiversary!http://daisyquilts.blogspot.com/2008/11/thanksand-giveaway.html

Xmas shopping

I always leave my Xmas shopping until the very last minute. What a stressful time it then becomes.

Yesterday I went to a local craft market in Jindabyne and bought a few goodies. There were certainly some very talented local people selling their wares! They do a wonderful job every year getting their goods ready for the Xmas market. Congratulations. You all excelled.

This one I love. I bought it for our granddaughter Grace though my fiance wasn't too impressed. It''s supposed to signify something rural/country - it's not meant to scare her. Maybe I have to rethink this gift. What do you think?


As it's Grace's first Christmas, I bought a couple of Xmas decorations as well...made by our dedicated ladies from the Country Women's Association...



and a couple for the walls. These were made by the ladies from Snowy Mountains Quilters. Some of the goods they had on sale were absolutely beautifully done!



And last but not least, I bought these Farmer's Daughter items. Kirsten is a very talented young lass indeed.

A couple of lavender wheat bags...they just smell divine!


and some jim jams for my lil sis. The photo doesn't really show what they're like but they are very groovy!

Spring has finally sprung in my garden!

I took these photos on Saturday morning. The 6th December and spring has finally sprung in my garden! Things have been so dry here and the 35mm we got the week before last is finally having an effect on my garden. We're on tank water so every last drop lately has been purely dedicated to our household use and the horse troughs.

This is part of our property. It was a dustbowl a week ago. It's amazing how a bit of moisture can make such a significant change.

Here's my Man From Snowy River riding his horse Charlie Brown. She's just recently been broken in.

I just love pansies. Every pansy has its own smiley face. Purple is my favourite colour so of course I had to buy the biggest purple pansies possible. They look fantastic! So do the crimson coloured ones.

Roses would have to be my favourite flower. Though I'm not much of a rose grower, I'm quite proud these have actually flowered given my poor attention. Thank heavens Dad's a green thumb! This climbing rose is currently in need of a trim. It's actually crawling along the ground at the moment.

I can't even tell you what this one is named. It's a small little bush. Hardly ever gets watered but is brimming with buds.

This is my Pierre de Ronsard - can't say this beautiful rose is flourishing in my garden yet.

Isn't this one a treat!