New new new!

1. CS230 - FloralBlush - ReviewedByYou, 2. CS228 - InTheFastLane, 3. CS230 RBY prize, 4. CSG letter prize, 5. CS230 - MetallicMayhem, 6. Ingredients, 7. Maltesers Cheesecake, 8. Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, 9. Ike 3, 10. Doggie 1, 11. Doggie 2, 12. Olga Cushion, 13. Olga Tidy, 14. Heart Shaped Strawberry & Yoghurt Cookies, 15. Heart Shaped Strawberry & Yoghurt Cookies, 16. Mars Bar Mousses, 17. Blueberry Muffins, 18. 20101015-WilfAndSuki01

 It has been well over a month since my last post, for which I apologise profusely. There have been a number of minor disasters in the house lately, with my motherboard failing, my backup being destroyed (over a year and a half's work lost forever), a health scare and the anniversary of my Dad's death being just a few. But lets move on to more cheerful things!

Firstly, I had letters and a kit review published by CrossStitcher magazine. I was very chuffed with myself. The prize that arrived was absolutely fantastic and I am overjoyed!

I have been in baking mode recently, and have tried a few new recipes (from BBC Good Food website, 1001 Cupcakes, Cookies and Other Tempting Treats by Susanna Tee and various other sources) such as Maltesers cheesecake by Jamie Oliver. I found this recipe on Facebook, I think, and would like to warn all of you tempted by this delicious treat that it would appear to be a catering sized cheesecake. It took us several days to eat it and a quarter of it still had to be thrown away because we were sick of cheesecake and it wouldn't keep any longer.

I found a recipe for Oatmeal Raisin Cookies on the Crafts Beautiful website here and it was so delicious that I made two double batches of them (I couldn't find the camera to take a photo of the first batch, so made the second so I could take a photo).They were every bit as delicious as they sounded, and were a huge hit with the hubby and kids. I would definitely recommend the recipe to anyone who likes baking :-). I believe Crafts Beautiful got the recipe from Bake by Rachel Allen.

I finally sewed up a couple of amigurumi animals I have crocheted; Ike the cat (who looks like a malformed bear to me) and Doggie Dog, and finished knitting Olga, the cushion/tidy that now rests over the arm of my armchair.

Yesterday I caught the baking bug again and made a quadruple batch of heart-shaped strawberry and yoghurt cookies, some blueberry muffins (recipe from 1001 Cupcakes, Cookies and Other Tempting Treats by Susanna Tee), Mars Bar Mousses (from the BBC Good Food website) and Maltesers ice cream. The muffins and biscuits are delicious, and we're having the mousses and ice cream for pudding tonight. I have three egg yolks left over from the mousses, so I'm going to make some Viennese fingers in a little while.

Also new, I bought a new book:

I just love this book and its 20 amigurumi crobot patterns, and I have been working my way through the book since I got it. I have now crocheted about eight crobots, and sewn up about five of them (it's so much work sewing them up!).

I hope to return next week with some more photos and crafting news from the Craftgirl abode, so until then, look after yourselves and your loved ones and keep crafting :-)