Well Hello! Did all you invisible friends have a good weekend? Mine was pretty busy with activities that ranged from some cleaning, knitting and then ripping out that which was knitted, and stripping wallpaper. Good clean fun! In the middle of it all I had a wonderful day with my quilty peeps (we missed you Gurney!) We like to get together every now and then for a sewing day, and Saturday was the day.
We started the day off by teaching the peeps how to make soldered pendants. I’m paying forward the skills that Beckie taught me just over a year ago. I sure wish Beckie had been here though — I think I’m not quite up to Beckie’s standards. The pendants I made at Beckie’s are still my best ones. Anyway, Junie and Jewels did a great job — I hope they’ll try them again.
Shortly before lunchtime, MeMum joined us which added to the fun. We stopped soldering so that we could make an appetizer (more on that later). Then I made lunch while Junie finished up her pendants, Jewels started sewing and MeMum got her project unpacked.
After lunch, it was back to work. Junie worked on an Amy Butler bag. This is the lining. I forgot to get a shot of the rest of the fabric — I think it was Amy Butler fabric and I loved it. The handles were big blue/gray polkadots.
Jewels worked on a bunny pincushion. She’s a HUGE I Love Lucy fan and she decided to use some of the cute new Lucy fabric in her bunny. This is going to be one adorable bunny!
And MeMum worked on binding her flying geese quilt. She hand quilted this quilt, which as you know, takes a long time, so it will be fun to see this quilt finally finished.
And I worked on….puttering. Didn’t get much done. I had a hard time deciding what to do and finally just ended up cutting out some blocks. Not much exciting to show there.
So … back to that appetizer. MyDadLovesMeBestSister is the queen of fabulous Brie recipes and she made some last year for SweetiePie’s wedding shower. I liked one of them so much I made it for my book group in December and it was a big hit. Junie hosted a wedding shower last weekend and she used it too. Since she had some extra ingredients, we decided to make it for our sewing day and take pictures for all of you invisible friends — you know, just in case you need a great appetizer recipe to add to your repertoire.
You will need:
1 package frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 Small wheel Brie Cheese (the one pictured here was perfect for the four of us, but I used a bigger size for my book group)
1 small jar apricot preserves
1 bag slivered almonds
We debated about whether to trim the crust off of the Brie or not. MyDadLovesMeBestSister and I didn’t trim it and it was fine. But Junie did trim it, so she showed me how she did it. I’ll probably trim the crust from now on — I think it makes the finished brie easier to cut into and it’s good to make things easy on your guests.
The package of pastry should have two sheets in it. Place one sheet on top of the other one and roll them out into a 14 inch square.
Take the cover of the Brie and press it lightly onto the puff pastry. This will give you a guide for placing your ingredients.
Sprinkle a layer of almonds onto the puff pastry.
Spoon some apricot preserves onto the almonds. We made the layer about 1/4 inch thick.
Place the Brie wheel on top of the apricot preserves.
Pull the corners of the puff pastry up around the Brie. Trim off excess dough and then put a bit of water on your fingers and then onto the dough to help seal the seams.
Flip the brie pastry over and place seam side down onto a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Brush the top of the pastry with an egg wash (one egg whisked with a tablespoon or two of water) and place some decorative cutouts (from the leftover puff pastry) onto the brie.
Finish by brushing the entire puff pastry with the egg wash. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 25 minutes. To keep from browning too much, we tented aluminum foil over the Brie for the first 15 minutes. After 25 minutes, I thought it could use a little more time, so I bumped the temperature up to 400 degrees and kept an eye on it for another 5 to 10 minutes. I really don’t think 25 minutes is quite long enough to get the brie nice and soft.
Remove from oven and Voila! Serve with crackers while still warm. This is YUMMY, Yummy!!! I promise, your guests will love it.
Thank you, Thank you Junie, Jewels and MeMum for spending a fabulous day together (and for being the hand models in my pictures LOL.) A day spent with the quilty peeps and MeMum is the BEST! I hope we can do it again soon.
XOXO,
Anna
oooh, am I first? Sounds like a fun and crafty weekend. I’d know those stunt-Jewel hands anywhere.
Still stalking the new cat, trying to get a photo. It’d be more exciting if i could show everyone my surprisingly timid seven-year-old trying to catch little miss Lola.
I have to turn thirty-nine in a week…bah! If you could just stick a candle in one of those brie-jobbies, I’d much appreciate it.
p.s. bought a size L coat today… from ‘Target’, of all places. This WW thang be working!
I am so moving next door to you. For knitting help AND appetizers.
Oh yum yum yum – that appeteaser looks warm and scrumpshish. Yes I want to move next door to you as well – always fun things coming out of thimbleland. A day spent with peeps is always a fun day isn’t it and yours sounds like it was “tops”.
Tootles – Mrs. Farmhouse :)
What a GORGEOUS appetizer! I don’t think I’ve ever used that adjective for an appetizer, either, so feel special, LOL! :)
It sounds like a lovely day! That’s so cool that you are teaching others to solder! I wish you could teach me!!!
I love the saying in that charm!
Sounds like a great weekend to me — everything from sharing with friends to sewing, quilting, making jewelry, and even a delicious recipe cooked to perfection. It does seem a tad odd to me reading about another Junie, but a fun odd feeling. Anyway, thanks for sharing all this with us. I’m going to try that recipe — you know I will.
I have made the brie using apricot jam but not with the almonds, that would be a wonderful addition. And then to share it with friends and sewing; you did have a lovely weekend.
I did have a nice weekend – though nothing like yours :) too many little people to really enjoy sewing with brie! Can’t wait to see what you cut. . .
What a fun day you had on Saturday. Wish I could have been there… especially with food like that! Another recipe to try!
Your baked Brie looks wonderful!
Thanks for the recipe – Brie is my favorite! I have a recipe for Brie with brown sugar and pecans that I’ll have to post.
Another “Best Days Ever” with my quilty peeps! Can we do it again this weekend? ;-) You forgot to say that the reason you didn’t get much done was because you were hosting and teaching and cooking and waiting on us hand & foot! Thanks for everything. Love ya! Junie
Hi Anna,
It sounds like you had a fun weekend with all your friends and spoiled them too! Your Brie appetizer looks so good. And …….. tell your Mom her Quilting is so beautiful and absolutely perfect, I can never seem to get my stitches that small. That’s OK because I totally don’t mind spending the rest of my life trying. Have a great week.
I love that AB bag… In fact I’m getting fabric for it today. Yeah!
It looks like you had a wonderfully fun weekend with your peeps and your MeMum. The Brie looks especially yummy! Hugs, Kim
I remember soldering in Art class in High School…I think I still have the rings and necklace that I made somewhere around here. What a fun day and that appetizer looks wonderful it’s making my mouth water.
Sounds like a great day was had by all! That brie looks yummy. What are you reading for your book club? Anything good? Or did I miss it when you told us?
looks like a fun day! and the brie! yum! loved those photos from the how-to! :)
Oh that does look yummy. I have a meeting tonight with some of my quilting buddies and I think I will try and get one of these made up and take it there to bake. I’ll let you know how it turns out!
Looks like you had a fantastic weekend! I did as well, thank you for asking. I cleaned the house, which is always gratifying, and did about 5 loads of laundry and ran the dishwasher. I guess that sounds mundane but my house is clean and smells good now, so I’m super happy.
Also, I love the snowmen with thimbles for hats! Great banner!
Oh yum. That sounds really good. My husband really likes brie . . . I’ll have to show him.
my mouth is watering!!! that brie appetizer looks wonderful! i think i’ve had something similar except with dill and some other spices rather that the apricot jam. it was tasty, tasty, tasty!
Oh man, I am starving just looking at your baked brie. My yogurt will just not cut it today. Looks like you had a great time.
OMG!!! I love brie! That looks so awesome!
i’m soooo jealous about the pendant party!!! i’ve wanted to learn to make those for years. i may have to fly you out to disco bay for a lesson or two!!
sounds like you guys had a wonderful time together, i can’t wait to see your mom’s quilt when it’s finished…
and i’m MORTIFIED the brie was trimmed, but i’ll make fun of your friend for that later… we make a similar one with pine nuts, fresh basil, sundried tomatoes and olive oil. (sounding a bit Pesto-y?) Yours would be more sweet/savory and i’m sure it’s wonderful(brie-trimming aside), and i’m going to make it soon. it’s also good with pecans and brown sugar, just fyi.
have a fun day.
:waves madly
What a fun and productive weekend. So nice to get your hands on a little bit of everything.
Oh how very fun…a day with the Peeps…I love Brie…I’ve done the same thing with raspberry preserves and it’s very yummy too. Tell the girls Hi for me please.
What a fabulous sounding day and what a delicious recipe!!!! Lucy x
Everything looks good…especially the food! LOL
I love the soldered pendants! I’ve wanted to learn how to do that for a while now, but I heard it’s not that easy to do.
The appetizer looks delicious.
You should never go grocery shopping or read blogs when your hungry. YUM!
S.W.A.K.
You are so talented! And I’ve never seen a more beautiful appetizer than this, not even in France.
By the way, there’s something for you on my blog today.
That brie looks amazing!
This looks like great fun. Abi and I had a crafternoon this weekend too. Can I come to your next one? x
Try it with apple butter or, better yet, pear butter! So good!
that looks sooooo yummy! think I might have to try that one. Gorgeous hand models by the way!
I am intrigued with your pendants too – can you show us some more photos of the ones that you made.
Pastry covered brie is my favorite, FAVORITE appetizer to bring and eat at parties!
Hmmmm… why do I crave cheese all of a sudden? That appetizer looks amazing! I can’t even remember what else you posted about today because I’m too fixated on that brie in pastry. Yummmmm.
Well, the secret is out. I take baked brie to almost every function and people LOVE it. I serve it with apples sliced to the same thickness as crackers. It’s a salty-sweet paradise!
I second Junie’s comment. What a fun day, it went to fast though. You can be my wife anytime, I love being waited on hand and foot. Just ask Kirb.LOL
Can you stand to hear, for the fortieth time, that that’s a great sounding recipe?! I even have some of that pastry in my freezer and all the other ingredients on hand, except brie, which is easily remedied…….Having my own little quilty morning tomorrow. Choc-banana bread in oven as we speak [so to speak!] Hope we have as much fun as you guys!
That’s it. You’re doing all the cooking. I will clean and do what ever duties need taking care of… as long as you cook!
Hey… for lunch today I had water crackers, grapes and President brie (with the crust)! And here I thought it was all great (and schwanky)… until I saw this post! I’m so going to try this!
Try this… slice up some of that brie (and crust), sprinkle with pecans and brown sugar. Bake. Eat with water crackers. It’s one of my favorite things on the planet. Oh. Oh. Oh. Mmmm.
I say you had a fun weekend. Love the pendant and yumy recipe. Thank you. Clarice
Hi Anna,
seems you had a wonderful weekend ~ to be with crafty friends is great. Initially I should have been to our monthly meeting too…but as many of my friends were ill the get together was cancelled ;(…*sigh*…second one in a row…
I love your pictures ~ they’re always eye candy!
Hugs, Julia
This brie thing looks wonderfull!! This is a recepie I am going to write down
Anna!
I would much rather have been soldering charms last weekend!!!
And Brie is my absolute favorite cheese.
oooh, brie…yummy…thx for sharing the details (and with photos)…sounds like a good weekend :)
I’m not going to be so invisible when I make that brie thing and then eat the whole thing, now am I?
Thank you :)
Ooohhh I wanna solder with you and the peeps. I’d love to learn that. The Brie looks delish. I’ll give that one a try. No onions anywhere!!! WOOHOOOO
Hi PEEPS!!!!!
where have I been? I am missing your lovely blog…yummy recipe which definitely needs me to have a go at! How could you buy cotton from Scotland? DOH! OK I’ll forgive you, I do lots of things like that, it’s me age!
I’m now off to look at what else I have missed on here..
I’m so glad I discovered your blog (thank you petitsdetails!) And I want to join the bunch that is going to move next to you. What fun would that be. For the rest of the evening I will have lots of fun reading the rest of your blog.
Warm greetings, Jeannette and thank you for your lovely comment on my blog
Thank you for stopping by and all the lovely comments on my blog! I will try to keep you updated on all things Scottish!
I love that cheese – I’ve had brie like that before but not with almonds and apricot jam – it sounds yummy and I love that you were soldering a Keep Calm and Carry On Pendant – true Britishness!!
First off I don’t think I’ve told you how cute the snowmen are with the thimble heads. They are darling. I love them. And this looks like the most fun weekend ever. Seeing the different hands working on projects was very sweet. Each hand has a personality and was doing something different. I was jealous of your wonderful weekend with family. Especially having your mom with you.
I wish I’d been at your house on the weekend! What fun and how busy. That appetizer looks delish.
your Brie looks so professional Anna, but thaaaat’s no surprise! It looks like it was a weekend to sew with friends for the two of us, sew much fun!!
Wow, you certainly know how to do the weekend in style!
Love the bunny pincushion!
Nice recipe! You all look as if you had a great time!xx
What a wonderful day with the quilty peeps! I am drooling just a tad bit over that brie appetizer, I’m ashamed to say.
I’m still waiting for adoption papers to come in the mail………..I know – I’ll pack my bags while I’m waiting!
Oh my goodness, that appetizer just looks like the best!! Looks like you and your peeps crammed in a ton of crafting fun…….sounds like a great weekend (well, maybe not the stripping wallpaper. That’s always been a nightmare when I’ve done it!)
I swear it is all in the gun. I mean it does take some practice. I don’t know if I have made another one since you came over. Isn’t that pathetic? I get too caught up in other crafts. LOL!
I will swap you your cooking skills for my machine quilting ones! Too yummy!!!!
Looks like such a fun crafty weekend! And that brie thingy…? OMG, that looks sooo good, I’m making it asap, yes I am. x