Summer Holidays coming to an end

Time sure does go fast! 

I'm enjoying the last week of our summer school holidays, 

attempting to bring the very thirsty garden back to life and get the house back in order. 

Our eldest has had rowing camp which means 6am starts every day for the last 4 days (only 2 more to go!)

Its actually been lovely to get up early with him and then go walking before the sun and heat hit. 

Clearing my mind and helping me plan the next 12 months - also trying to not get so far ahead of myself......... BALANCE is the key

Australian Flowering Gum tree

February can tend to be one of the hottest months of the year in Sydney - just when your trying to get back into routine with school and work the hot still nights kick in, at least I know that nice cool March is only around the corner.

before I know it, it will be Autumn......

with the cool crisp mornings and bare tree's

no more mangoes, watermelon & swimming everyday

Over the Summer I haven't blogged as much as usual, I have however been very active on Instagram!

my handle is

@Beaspokequilts

Its nice to look back over our trip away and see all the lovely colours of summer

I have managed a very limited amount of time in "The Shed" in the last 6 days home.

I finished a single bed Denim quilt much to my relief! Its so nice to finish something....

I also laid out all my unfinished bits and pieces 

from left to right

- A basic squares quilt for a tutorial I'm late with (sorry)

- Two blocks from the swoon quilt pattern by Camille Roskelley made out of my Spoonflower fabrics - another 7 to go.......

- A applique pattern I started on my summer beach holiday, inspired by Kim McLean here is a look at some of her patterns (I couldn't find her blog or website sorry)

- A test block for a pattern I made for Windham Fabrics (free PDF download)

- The Owl Block which is to become a big quilt (pattern being created)

- lastly down below we have a very long over due project made using a template that I have created and really should be finished and listed in my ETSY store ASAP!

and I also became slightly side tracked this morning sorting through my scrap basket and started putting fabric aside to make a Scrappy Trip along Quilt, Its all over Instagram at the moment and its been very hard not to start one!   

I'm off to enjoy my kids company and eat an ice cream :)) & swim in the pool 

Xx Siobhan

Seasonal Cooking - Fig Tart

On arrival back home after nearly three weeks away on our Summer Holiday up North I set off to do some grocery shopping and came home with copious amounts of Fruit.

In summer the kids basically live in the pool and feast on Mangoes,Bananas,Watermelon & lots of stone fruits. 

To my surprise the fruit shop also had lots of locally grown boxes of Figs at a great price, I tend to think of Figs as an Autumn fruit... I looked it up and I was very surprised to see Figs had two seasons of produce a year. 

One in Autumn and one in late Summer.

You learn something new every day...

anyway

I love figs

Savoury or sweet and they always photograph beautifully!

We have been living off them (40 in the box)and the last of the figs started to ripen quickly.

Sydney has been a strange one in the last few days or so with its weather.

 Our second day home (Friday) saw the hottest recorded weather in Sydney's history!

The inside of our house was 40c at one stage.

Thankfully that evening a lovely cool southerly change came through.

which meant come saturday I could bake and use up the last of the ripening figs.

Fig Tart Recipe 

Set a fan forced oven at 170c

Short Crust pastry

I have used a very high quality store bought shortcrust pastry that I try to always have in my freezer. In this tart I used a combination of two flavours.

1 sheet of Dark Chocolate short crust pastry

1/2 a sheet of Vanilla bean sweet short crust pastry

prepare and cook the pastry shell to store bought (or your own recipe) instructions.

I used the dark chocolate short crust on the base and the vanilla short crust on the sides (refer to picture below)

Tart Filling

1 cup hazelnut meal

300g double thick cream

1/2 cup plain flour

6 table spoons brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla paste

3 teaspoons *fig Vino Cotto

mix all the above ingredients together in a bowl until it forms a paste. Spoon into the prepared tart shell and spread out evenly.

*instead of Vino Cotto you could use any liquids from water to a liquor such as Frangelico.

13 Figs

wash and cut the figs in half and place on top of tart filling, pushing down slightly.

Bake in a fan forced oven at 170c for 45 minutes or until the filling is set and browned (make sure to turn the tart for even browning). Take the tart out of the oven and let it cool before serving.

Serve with a dollop of vanilla bean ice cream 

I unfortunately didn't get a chance to take a proper picture of the finished result as the tart was taken straight from the oven to a friends house :)

here is my average Instagram photo below.

Happy Baking 

Xx Siobhan

Fairy Off Quilt

Howdy !

I finally have Internet and posting a quickie.

Its summer Holidays here and life has been nice and relaxing, lots of beaches and swimming with little to do but eat mangoes.....

If you have emailed me or commented on my blog in the last 3 weeks and I haven't replied - I apologies! 

I've been on a beach holiday with my family and had limited internet and no computer.

I'll slowly over the next few days catch up and reply :)

I love all your emails and comments.

anyway

I have a quilt in the latest Australian Quilters Companion :)

A nice simple one for a little (or big) girl. It could be made more masculine by using different colours of course, or different types of printed fabrics.

I used Heather Ross's Far Far Away print as my base and for the theme.

Its in the January/ February 2013 edition of The Australian Quilters Companion magazine 

Sorry about the wonky picture - its from my ipad :(

and I have also designed a quilt pattern for Windham fabrics - a new fabric range called PHOEBE

(the pattern is a free download)

I'm off for a swim :)) 

Xx Siobhan