A slice is nice

I've made this slice around about 100 times. It's my go-to recipe when the kids say "can we cook something?" or I feel the urge for something sweet and homemade that can be thrown into lunch boxes for the kids' morning tea (or mine, for that matter).

I've also taken it to a few afternoon tea gatherings and am often asked for the recipe. So here it is, super easy - even if you have less than an hour, you can easily whip this into the oven and go and paint your nails, if you're into that kind of thing. I'm not. I'm more likely to go and hang out a load of washing. Or pet some fabric while I wait for the oven to beep.

Jam Slice (the coconutty kind)

For the base:

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup rolled oats (I like to use oats when I bake because it makes me feel like what I'm baking is full of healthy goodness).

1/3 cup caster sugar

125g butter, melted

Mix everything together in a bowl, then press into a lined or greased slice tin (not too big, mine is around 18 by 28 cm). Into a 180C oven for about 10-12 minutes or until it is just starting to go golden-brown.

For the topping:

1 cup coconut (shredded or desiccated - shredded gives a nice, chewy texture - or you can use a mix of both)

1/3 cup caster sugar

1 egg

your favourite jam or whatever is in the fridge (for us it's always strawberry or raspberry, nothing too fancy)

Once you've taken the slice base out of the oven, let it cool just for a few minutes. Then spread it all over with jam, about the same thickness as you would spread on a piece of toast. This probably uses 3-4 tablespoons of jam.

Mix the coconut, sugar and egg together in a bowl with a fork. Then use your fingers to drop it all over the jammy slice. Aim for even coverage, but leave a few holes here and there for the jam to peek through.

Back into the oven, this time for around 12-15 minutes. Once it goes nice and golden-brown on top, that's enough. Allow to cool then cut into squares and watch it disappear.

And then you can go and bake something with this!

Yummy, isn't it?

This is why it's called Swoon

If you've been paying attention, you'll know that I'm a big fan of Ruby (and it seems that a lot of others are too!)

When Camille's beautiful Swoon pattern came out in May last year, I might well have been one of the first people to buy it. But I wanted to wait for Ruby to come out, because I just absolutely adored her version of it (you can see it here). As luck would have it, the clever people at Fat Quarter Shop put together a kit for Swoon in Ruby, and I snapped it up late last year and got to work.

Individually, the blocks are beautiful. I've enjoyed every single one of them.

But together, they're something else again. This is why this quilt is called Swoon, because that is what you can't help doing when you see it. (By the way, it's a mahusive quilt - around 80 inches square, requiring furniture to be moved...)

Thanks Camille, for an awesome pattern, and beautiful fabrics. This is a very special quilt I'll treasure forever.

Linking up today to Lee's Work-in-progress Wednesday and Our Creative Spaces.

Fat Quarterly

Have you seen me? I'm on the Fat Quarterly blog with my curvy cushion. Please pop in and say hi and check out some of the other curvy projects too.

Here's something new!

It's about time this quilt saw the light of day - it's been complete for quite a while now and just waiting for its moment with the long arm quilter! Only the other day I realised with a slight sense of horror that it's almost a year since I started it - in May 2011 to be exact. Sherbet Pips was one of those fabric lines that I waited on with great anticipation and chopped into almost as soon as it arrived in my letterbox.

The pattern is one I came up with myself, and I even went the whole hog with the pieced back (which took pretty close to forever, by the way), and which I think makes the quilt as close to a double-sided quilt as you're ever going to get!

It's destined for my little girl's bed, just as soon as the long arm has done its work - which will hopefully be within the next couple of week! I'm really not sure why, but this quilt makes me think of a box of chocolates... Or maybe that's just because it's Easter this weekend. Anyhoo.

If anyone is interested in a tutorial for this pattern, please let me know! It's really quite a simple pattern and very quick to throw together.

In other news... I've been busy Swooning. This is block number 6 and could be my favourite so far. Block number 7 is nearly finished and then we're a cool two blocks away from completion. Hoping to finish up pretty soon so that this can go to the longarmity place together with Miss Pips up there.

Linking up today to Our Creative Spaces and Work-in-Progress Wednesdays.

Happy Easter everybody if you're celebrating. Don't eat too much chocolate :)

PS Have you seen this? I love fabric, but this one has got my heart racing. Very excited - only another 6 months to wait...

Curvy

A little teaser - I was lucky enough to try out the 'Quick Curves' Ruler for Fat Quarterly magazine, and this is the result. It will be featured on the Fat Quarterly blog in the next little while - I'll be sure to let you know when it's up!