Saturday 22 November 2008

ALQS2

A lovely bit of post this week. My much awaited little quilt from Kates swap. And here it is



Gorgeous ! As my favourite block is log cabin and I love blue and yellow together this suits me down to the ground. The maker of this little beauty is Sharon from Canada who did a fantastic job of this. Perfectly sewn with amazing hand-quilting. A couple of extra gifts of a great notebook and some Laura Ashley sticky notes too. Thankyou Sharon - another successful swap. I have some lovely little mini quilts now and I absolutely love them all.


I have done a fair bit of sewing this week although I have been naughty and not done any quilting on the sampler. I will try harder next week. I would love to have it gone to it's owner by Christmas. I have been sewing a new project and an old one. I want to do a bit more before I show photos though. Next time . .


By popular request here is the recipe for the chocolate beetroot cake. Measurements are in metric as that is all the recipe stated. I usually use imperial ( pounds and ounces ) and I know US cooks use cups. I think there are probably conversion tables lurking about on the net somewhere. As promised the cake was very moist and although you could not actually taste the beetroot it had a slightly earthy taste. Very good cake and if you make it I'm sure you will enjoy it.

Chocolate Beetroot Cake
125g butter
100g dark chocolate ( at least 70% cocoa solids )
250g beetroot - cooked and obviously without vinegar
3 large eggs
100g cocoa powder or hot chocolate drink mix
225g self raising flour
200g caster sugar

1. Preheat oven to 180c/160c fan/Gas4 and line tins. I used 2 8 inch square tins.
2. Melt chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Leave til melted and stir to mix. Remove the bowl from the pan and set aside.
3. Puree the beetroot. Beat the egg and stir together. Sift the chocolate powder and flour together into a large bowl and stir in the sugar and beetrrot mixture.
4. Divide mix into the tins and level out.
5. Bake for about 35-40 mins until cooked through i.e until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool.
6. Make some filling. I made a fudgy chocolate crean with some melted chocolate, a little butter and some icing sugar. Sandwich cake together with this and dust top with a little icing sugar.


Our weather has been very cold this week and my cats have stayed in a lot.
Here are Marley and Tizer giving my new quilt a try.


And here they are a couple of hours later.


Tizer ( the tabby ) loves Marley and follows him around like a shadow when he is in. I thought this was so funny. Seems like he's copying his sleeping positions too - lol !
Have a great weekend !








26 comments:

Unknown said...

I love your mini quilt too! I have to laugh at your kitties and the way they swapped places on your beautiful quilt! They are just like my cats. They lay next to each other without touching. Very cute!

Darcie said...

lol Love the kitty pictures! Aren't furry friends just the most fun!

That's a darling swap quilt. Very sunshiny. Perfect for the winter doldroms.

Sew Create It - Jane said...

Love the twin cat pictures...aren't they cute!

Paula said...

Great little quilt. I laughed out loud when I saw the cats. Too funny.

Brenda said...

A wonderful quilt to receive, the colors are great together. Your two cats are adorable and so peaceful, made me smile.

heather said...

Those quilts are lovely!

Libby said...

I'm laughing out loud at the cat pictures. Call it synchronized sleeping :-)

jovaliquilts said...

Love your new quilt, so cozy with cats! The cake sounds interesting -- I really enjoy using secret ingredients.

loulee said...

What a beautiful little quilt. You are lucky.

sewkalico said...

Everytime I see your Carolina Crossroads I wish I had done one too!
What cute (lazy LOL) cats and a great mini!

Ali Honey said...

Love the wee mini quilt and I love those lazy cats.....they do sleeping so well1

Unknown said...

Oh yes this is funny. The miniquilt is beautiful.

Helen in the UK said...

Love those kitty pictures. Looks like they are enjoying the quilt ... how funny that they mimic each others' sleeping poses :)

Donna said...

Love the mini and the cats are equally as cute.

~Bren~ said...

Beautiful mini. I too love log cabin blocks.
The cats are adorable, but the quilt is spectacular!!

meg said...

Those cats look so cosy on your lovely quilt.
I wish I lived next door to you, so I could share your brain. I have been trying to make a quilt from a picture. That must be easy, I stupidly thought. Hah!! I have a headache, & just cannot fathom how to work out my setting triangles.
I love your little log cabin quilt, well done Sharon!

Angela said...

Tizer and Marley are sooo cute!

What a lovely swap quilt!

Quilts And Pieces said...

Oh your little quilt from the swap is wonderful! What a treasure! Your cats are just too cute!

OzRose said...

Love all three, cats and quilt!!

Kieny The Dutchlady said...

Nice cosy pictures of Tizer and Marley looks like they love your quilt! No chocolate beetroot cake for me I put myself on a diet;-(.

Froggie said...

What a great quilt to receive! I tagged you. Come see...

Lynda said...

The miniquilt is gorgeous! I like the use of the blue fabric with cicles on it -it gives the quilt some movement.

meili_lo said...

the cats look so comfy! =)

saw you on meggie's blog and thought of inviting you to my site.

hope to exchange links with you if it's ok.

http://any-some-every-thing.blogspot.com/

thanks!

Roslyn said...

I like your new quilt as much as your kitties seem to!
I copied put the cake recipe-I love beetroot.
Congrats on your stellar effort at boosting the economy!
Roslyn

Anonymous said...

Cats know the best place to be when the weather turns cold. Beautiful quilt and being cat inspected makes it special!

Wendy said...

I love your cats, they must be good friends. The quilt they are sleeping on it lovely, I like the pink and the design.