A flower?

Just playing again. The framing always helps...and I quite like things that are almost escaping from the frame.

Lime Muffins Recipe

Lisa wanted the recipe for the lime muffins, so here it is. I can't claim credit for the recipes, only for thinking of combining the two.

The first is a microwaved lemon butter, or curd, that I have been making for years in my 650 watt microwave (but for this I use limes). It's from the Margaret Fulton "Microwave Cooking" book. If you're using a more modern, more powerful microwave, just be careful that you don't overcook it!

Lemon Butter

125g butter
1 cup sugar
¾ cup lemon juice (I used lime juice)
Grated rind of 3 large lemons (or limes)
4 eggs

Place the butter, sugar, juice and rind in a large bowl. Cook uncovered for 3 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking.
Beat the eggs into the mixture. Cook for 5 minutes or until the mixture thickens, stirring every 30 seconds.
Allow to cool before spooning into clean, dry jars. Seal.


This muffin recipe also uses lemons in the original recipe. Again, I just substituted limes.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
(from Muffin Magic – Diana Linfoot)

Wet Mix
½ cup margarine (I use butter or oil)
½ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup milk or yogurt
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind ( or lime)
½ cup lemon juice ( or lime)
¼ cup poppy seeds

Dry Mix
2 cups self-raising flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 200C and grease the muffin tins. Blend the butter and sugar and beat in the eggs, milk, lemon and poppy seeds. Fold the dry mix into the wet mix, spoon into the muffin tins and bake for about 20 minutes. Makes 12.

To make Lime Poppyseed Muffins with Lime Butter -
Let muffins cool a little, then make a couple of slices into the top of the muffin, joining the slices at an angle (Make a “V”). Remove the slice and fill with lime butter. Replace the slice on top.

An answer for Sheila

Sheila had a look at the coffee cuffs I made in January, and asked what they're used for.
Well, my favourite coffee shop makes great take-away coffees, but the cups they use are far too thin and I burn my fingers while carrying it back to the office. The coffee cuff adds that extra insulation. So, they're practical as well as pretty. Here's how it looks on the cup -

Inspirations

A trip to Western Plains Zoo yesterday provided some much needed inspiration although, in most cases, it wasn't the animals that provided it. It was the trees and plants. The eucalyptus bark in particular. As eucalypts are evergreens, many of them shed their bark in autumn, rather than shedding their leaves. This can give some great textures and colours. Here are a couple -


No, the next one isn't tree bark. It's giraffe skin! Western Plains Zoo is a large open range zoo which features endangered plains animals from all around the world, and some of them come quite close to the edges of their compounds, resulting in some "up close and personal" encounters. Not quite this close, I must admit, but the zoom lens on the camera came in handy...

Sunday Treats

It must be autumn - the weather has finally cooled down, and the persimmons have appeared. The hardest part is waiting for the persimmons to be ripe enough to eat. But when they are and I cut them open, they're almost too pretty to eat.

Limes are in season, too, and they grow locally. At 3 for $1.00, I overindulged myself at the Farmers' Market, and bought far too many to use up in gin and tonics! So...


I used up some of the wonderful farm eggs, as well! Lime Poppyseed Muffins with Lime Butter were a lovely treat on a cool Sunday afternoon. No wonder I didn't get near the studio...

Silk Paper Inspiration

A piece of silk paper that had been moulded into shape while it was still wet was the inspiration for this. The colours remind me of the sea, and coolness.

I must need another trip to the coast. We're 400km inland, and the temperature is still hitting the mid 30s C everyday, although the nights and mornings are starting to cool down a little - a promise that autumn is on its way. We seem to look forward to autumn as much as those in the Northern Hemisphere look forward to spring. It's the relief from extremes of weather, I think...and I've had enough of summer and heat.

Bookmarking again

I run a school-based mentoring program which trains and employs community volunteers as mentors. These wonderful people donate so much time and energy to the program that I can never thank them enough. Like all community programs, it also runs "on the smell of an oily rag" - never enough money to go around.

So, as a gift for my volunteers, I decided to make some bookmarks. All it takes is some watercolour paper, some paint, the use of some wooden stamps that I have, some cords, and some of my time. I can afford that! These were done with a leaf shaped wooden stamp, and the cord is one I made with some wool, a zigzag stitch on the machine and some gold thread.

The ones below are similar to the blue ones I made a few weeks ago, but this time I used a pink painted background, then orange paint on the stamp to start, waited until it dried and slightly offset the stamp the second time, using purple paint. I think they look a little Indian...

Let's hope my volunteer mentors like them!