Spring Time

Yesterday was the 1st of September which is the official start of Spring here in the southern hemisphere ..... We still seem to be getting frosty mornings!  With clue 3 of this MKAL completed (yes, its another one of Laura Aylors - now known as Fogbound Knits) .......

I was pleased to join in with Cheryl who hosts Friday Night with Friends!  Having yesterday off work, I got going in the morning with my main plan to work on the crochet flower and plain blocks  for the Flower Garden Blanket I'm making for granddaughters birthday.  I managed to get quite a few done and only have 1 left to go before I finish the borders on them and join them together.

I've been thrilled to see some of you have joined in with me on this project and I've managed to get a couple of photos from some of you to share your progress!  These are from Lin  and Janine Don't they look great?

This morning I decided to take a break from the hook and work with some of the produce that's filling my kitchen benches.  From our compost pile we managed to get 4 large pumpkins and so I'm using one of those to make up Pumpkin and Ginger Soup - It's simmering on top of the wood heater as we speak and I kind of made up the recipe so I'll let you know how it goes - I added the juice of a lime (I was given a few of these by one of the ladies at work who has a lime tree in her back yard). 
So while the birds might be busy nesting young chicks, the chooks

have started laying and the citrus trees around the district are putting out plenty of Vitamin C!  Pete brought home  a handful of lemons the other  night and it was met with such delight by me, that the next night 2 bags full were brought home!  That's a lot of lemons, so I'll be juicing most of them and freezing the juice to use later, and I also need to freeze some of the peel while I think of it!  Actually, I wouldn't mind having a go at making some crystallised lemon peel ??? hmmmm, I'll have to think on that ..... but in the meantime this morning the kitchen has been humming as I turned some of them into Yummy Lemon Butter (or Lemon Curd as it's also known); our favourite Lemon Drizzle Cake (recipe from Attic 24); and I experimented with a batch of "Lemon Cookies" - only making the one tray as I wasn't sure ........ BUT .....YUM!!!  We will be having more of those in the future ...... I took a recipe from the web and changed it a bit to suit me:

Lemon Cookies:
100 gr unsalted butter softened
50gr caster sugar
150g self raising flour
approx. 1/4 cup lemon juice
zest from 1 lemon
 
With a wooden spoon beat the butter and sugar together, add the lemon juice and zest and beat till well combined.  Now gradually beat in the flour.  Roll into small balls and place on a greased tray. Using a fork dipped into flour, press the fork down on each of them and sprinkle a tiny bit of sugar over each of them.  Place in a moderate oven for approx. 15mins or until they look done.   Enjoy!!!

Hopefully we begin to see some warmer days soon - a work visit the other day  had me driving down past Mansfield and took me past the views to Mount Buller  ...... Still snow capped for now, and the weather forecast seems to hint at a bit more cold weather and rain over the weekend!  So since I'll be spending the rest of the day inside, I might take a look at what pincushions I have here ready to take part in The Pincushion Parade that is being hosted next week by Ida.   Enjoy the rest of your weekend ...... I'm off to get a slice of Lemon Drizzle cake to have with a cuppa ...