Saturday 20 December 2014

FNSI and Pineapple tarts

Friday night saw me sitting at home sewing with my blogging friends on FnsI.

FnsI, hosted by Wendy
 
I had made this quilt over the whole year and I had received it back from the quilters about 3 weeks ago. It needed the binding sewn on. On Thursday, I machined the binding onto the quilt. On Friday night, I sat and hand sewed the binding. I was determined to get as much done as possible, but only managed 1/3 of the binding. However, I have since finished the binding and this is what it looks like on the bed in the spare room all ready for the guests just after Christmas.
Hexagon medley in Blues
 
I realise now that you cannot even see the binding in the photo-- believe me, it is there and my sore fingers testify to hand  sewing the whole thing.
 
 
I lived in Malaysia as a child, and loved the cakes and biscuits made there for the various feasts and festivals celebrated there. One of my favourites is the pineapple tart-- it has a pastry similar to short bread for the base and a pineapple jam topping. We adopted this as part of our Christmas tradition.
 
For years, my sister would come over and the 2 of us would cut the pineapples, grate them, squeeze the juice out and then turn the pulp into jam-- very time consuming and a sticky process. Then the following  weekend, we would all get together and make the tarts-- my children loved the get together when they were young and they were given different jobs to do-- and always managed to get some dough to play with. 6 years ago, my mum died and we made it just once after that. We thought that we would attempt it again this year. We had a lot more helpers this year--with extra ones including my husband, brother, 2 nieces, 1 niece's husband and the usual crew of my sister, daughter and myself. We also had this little chap watching-(ie when he was awake)- he is all of 7 weeks old.
My 7 week old grand nephew
 
 
I forgot to take photos of the jam making, (fingers would have been too sticky anyway), but here are photos of the tarts.


Tray waiting to go into the oven
 
Some of the cooked ones cooling on the wire racks
 
Close up of a pineapple tart
 
We made a total of 315 tarts, and we used 11 pineapples for the jam. At the end, we divided them all up and each family went home happily with their stash of the tarts.
 
We had so much fun together,we came to the conclusion that the tradition must go on and we will make it happen again next year.
 
I would like to thank everyone who visits the blog, and an extra special Thank You for the ones who take the time to leave a comment.  I would also like to wish all my blogging friends and visitors and their families a Very Happy and Blessed Christmas, and a Peaceful 2015.
 
Regards,
Yvonne
 

 

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Yvonne wow I love your quilt,you should be proud as its gorgeous.I love the story about the pineapple tarts ,it's special in so many ways,the best one is that it brings the family altogether,so awesome.Wishing you and your family a wonderful Xmas and a safe and happy new year.xx

barb's creations said...

I love your pineapple tart tradition and those tarts look yummy. WOW your quilt is just gorgeous and I can so sympathise with sore fingers while binding quilts but it's well worth the effort when you can step back and see it on your bed all done and dusted. I hope you and your family have a great Christmas and a happy and safe 2015 :) Barb.

Chookyblue...... said...

you quilt looks beautiful on the bed.......always great to have a finish.........

Merry Christmas.........OMG that is a lot of tarts...........

Christine M said...

Your quilt is beautiful, Yvonne. Those tarts look very yummy. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas. Hugs, Christine xx

Flickenstichlerin said...

Dear Yvonne,
the hexagon quilt looks stunning, very nice color match. Fine design, really beautiful.
Your tarts look very jummy, what a lot of work. Congratulations on the little one. You must have had a great time together.
Wishing you and your family a great holiday season and all the best wishes for the new year.
Greetings,
Sylvia

Houseelf said...

What a fun and wonderful tradition. I'm glad you and your family have decided to reinstate it.

The quilt is beautiful and restful to the eye, so perfect for a guest room. I hope your fingers recover soon.

Merry Christmas to you and yours too.

Abby and Stephanie said...

Really stunning quilt. Lucky are the guests who get to snuggle under that beauty. Wowzer...that's a lotta tarts! Many hands make light work. What a tasty tradition. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Susan said...

Thanks for not having the embedded box, so I CAN leave a comment. =) Those tarts look magnificent! I never heard of this before, but I'll have to search for a recipe, as it looks like a lot of work, but delicious. Merry Christmas! Love your hexagon quilt!

Maria said...

Your quilt is gorgeous, Yvonne! That such a lovely family tradition...the tarts look pretty yummy too...but it's that togetherness that's special :-)

Tatkis said...

Your quilt is gorgeous! Love the colours too :)
What a great tradition you invented, and those tarts look delicious!
Merry Christmas my dear friend!

Hugs,
Tatyana

Ondrea said...

Being a hexi lover I think your quilt is spectacular. It looks really lovely in those colours, very peaceful. An abundance of tarts! Yummy.