Dolls house

I've been working on this dolls house for a long time and it's nice to finally see it being played with!

I bought the house renovated and furnished for $59 from eBay. The woman I bought it from had done a great job painting the outside and collecting furniture for each room, but I had plans to renovate further, and some of the furniture was in quite a different scale to everything else. 

I painted the inside white and wallpapered each room. I also made some pieces of furniture, and painted a lot of what came with the house. 

Here's a quick walkthrough, starting from the top:

The kids bedroom. The baby furniture came with the house and was pretty new so I didn't do anything with it. The beds I made from balsa wood (painted with leftover house paint), with cardboard and batting mattresses. I made little patchwork quilts and pillows for the beds. The rug is a coaster I crocheted but never got around to crocheting more...

A pretty basic kitchen and dining table. I added the felt rug as the room was looking a little too white. 

Probably my favourite room. I made the lounges using cardboard, quilt batting and fabric, using dimensions from a lounge at home (I went with 1:15 scale so it wouldn't look out of place with 1:12 furniture/people or 1:18 - like Lundby and Sylvanian Families). 

I made the coffee table from balsa wood and the lamp using the bottle Hoyts brand if Saffron comes in. I also crocheted the cushion to match one in our living room, and painted the bookshelf. 

Parents' bedroom, featuring another balsa bed and a double sided quilt. 

And finally the bathroom, with freshly painted furniture that came with the house. 

I'd love to add more miniatures, but with a two year old I know that whatever is not broken or lost I will constantly have to put back in place, so I'll save it for another time!

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Slab Cake

I made a cake for church morning tea and before I forget the recipes I used I thought I'd collect them all here so I can make it again!

I did the cheesecake layer first, from the taste website:

• 2 x 250g packets cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon rind
• 3 eggs
• Preheat oven to 160°C/140°C fan-forced. Line a baking dish, approx 18x28cm, with baking paper.
• Process cream cheese, sugar, sour cream and vanilla until smooth. Add eggs, 1 at a time, processing until just combined. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until just set and centre wobbles slightly. Allow to cool in oven for 2 hours, with door ajar. Refrigerate.

And then the apple cake, recipe from pies and plots (Australianised)

• 2 cups plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon bicarb soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 250g butter, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ⅓ cup milk
• 2 ½ - 3 cups apples peeled, cored, and chopped finely (any variety)

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line the same dish you used for the cheesecake with baking paper.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, bicarb soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.
3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add vanilla and milk and beat until fully combined and light and fluffy. Stir in apples and flour mixture. Mix until just combined.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 35-45 minutes, rotating halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs. Cool cake completely in pan. Cake may be made one day ahead of time.

And cream cheese frosting:

• 2 x 250g pkts cream cheese, at room temperature
• 300g (2 cups) icing sugar mixture
• 120g butter, at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

1. Use an electric beater to beat the cream cheese, icing sugar, extra butter and extra vanilla until smooth.
2. Smooth a thin amount over the apple cake and carefully place cheesecake on top. Cover the sides and top edges with frosting.

And finally, the caramel, from Mum what's for dinner? (I love this recipe because it isn't too runny or too chewy, but has a ganache-like consistency)

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup cream
  1.  Combine sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a medium, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until sugar dissolves, stirring gently for 3 minutes. 
  2. Stop stirring and continue cooking 10 minutes or until the color of light brown sugar. Remove from heat; carefully stir in butter and cream. Place pan over medium-high heat until caramelized sugar melts. Bring to boil; cook 1 minute. 
  3. Remove pan from heat; cool caramel in fridge for 10 minutes before spreading over chilled cake (any longer and it will set too quickly on the cake).
  4. Pipe cream cheese frosting around the edge of the cake (I used Wilton tip 1M for the top and #12 for the base).

Mixed Stripe Blanket

My first two children missed out on having nice things made for them as I didn't know the sex until they were born and time for such things was gone. I'm confident enough that Baby #3 is a girl that I've started a blanket for her. A ripple blanket had been on my mind for awhile, but I don't cope well with doing the same thing over and over again. I had remembered seeing a mixed stripe blanket on Pinterest. I didn't repin it at the time, but it obviously stuck with me. Eventually I found it, and some others, for inspiration and have begun.

This is the other one I found, by Little Woolie

Mine is different to these two. I'm going for more textures and less pattern, so trying to have more open bits, but sticking to straight lines...
I will post soon with some pictures of how it is going!