Coming over all sentimental

This grand old Japanese lady departed our family this evening, making way for a suave middle aged German gentleman. She's lost some of the lustre she arrived with 12 years ago, but has served us well with loyal service and hardly a complaint, being passed from me to the Mr at a point in our lives when we needed to plaster the back seat of a car in wall-to-wall baby seats and she couldn't quite cope (who'd blame her?!). She even dealt with a run-in with a bus with grace, and took a skirmish with a Woolworths delivery truck in her stride.



I felt extremely sentimental watching her drive away, I think because of what she represents to me: a time in my life when I was independent, I earned and spent my own money, I serviced a loan by myself, I was just me. A relatively carefree time. Before I had a mortgage, a marriage and 3 children. Before we lost my father, and my father-in-law too.

She's seen me through more than a quarter of my life, with its ups and downs. Goodbye old friend, I'll miss you.

Birthday girl dress - Simplicity 2909

My big girl turned 6 last week and I made this dress for her as a present from Simplicity 2909.



I am always amazed at how different patterns can look in different fabrics. For instance, I wouldn't look twice at the pattern cover, pictured below, put off by the fabric and colour scheme:



But seen in this post in a review of the pattern on the Tessuti blog looks lovely.



And different again in the denim, which I'd used in an attempt to downplay the girlyness, seeing as she seems to be going away from girly and on to tomboy. I am pleased with how it sits, as I thought the denim may be too stiff to work. And it looks good with a long sleeved t-shirt and tights underneath. So I would recommend it if you're after a cute dress.

Shame about the posing but hey, whatever goes on your birthday! (more birthday sewing pics to come)

Weekend cooking - the pumpkin challenge

This rather majestic looking pumpkin appeared on our front doorstep recently, and turned out to be a home grown present from friends. I hesitated to cut it open until I could think of enough different ways to use it so that none of it goes to waste (impossible to tell from the pic, but it was about 40cm high). Part of the challenge, of course, will be to vary the recipes enough so that the family are not put off pumpkin forever by the time it's all eaten!



I thought it might be fun (in a cooking-nerd kinda way!) to see how many different ways we can use it and to show you what we come up with.

1. OK, first up, after hacking into it I enlisted my big girl to take out all the lovely seeds and we roasted them with a little soy sauce and olive oil (see this post). This is a really popular snack in our house and a bowl full of these doesn't last long. I only wish pumpkins yielded more seeds!



2. Also tonight I made a roasted pumpkin soup, based on this recipe.



And can I call on you to help by letting me know of any favourite pumpkin recipes you'd recommend? Something I've always been curious about is pumpkin pie. I've never even eaten it, let alone cooked it, but I'm intrigued, so if you have a reliable recipe, please let me know and I'll make it and report back.

Hope you've had a lovely weekend.

Stitches of a different kind

I've been a bit unwell this week and so decided to get out the hooded scarf knitting kit I won recently and finally start! This is my progress so far. I think I'm about halfway through the hood section, and I'm really enjoying it so far.



The boy is also enjoying it - a little too much actually, we've had a few tantrums where he's held it then wanted to pull all of my hard work apart! Do your kids want to play with your knitting? I do have an extremely inquisitive 18 month old, but then, maybe he'll enjoy knitting when he's older. Anyway, so far it is relaxing and satisfying and all the things I'd hoped it would be.



The other type of 'stitch' that this post's title refers to is of a kind I don't want to have again soon. I've recently been guilty of doing that mother putting the kids first and not attending to herself syndrome. A strange thing on my face that started changing (I meant to ask the doctor about it one day) ended up being one of these little beasties. I had it cut out this week, and all's fine, but maybe if I'd put myself at the top of the list I'd have spared myself some pain and a small chunk having to be taken out of my face. It's a bit of a wake up call not to get too wrapped up in daily life and look at the bigger picture. Sometimes being a stay at home mum feels like I'm living in a bit of a fog, but I've got to remember to put my head up out of the clouds from time to time. Know what I mean?

When I developed a head cold the next day, the Mr insisted on taking the day off work to look after the littlies so I could rest. A morning in bed felt luxurious when there was all the usual stuff to attend to, but felt like the right thing to do. I think, as most mothers do, I put pressure on myself to be superwoman, but sometimes it all comes apart and I'm reminded to just take it a bit easier, let myself off the hook a little and take care of myself.

Have a lovely weekend.

More on Simplicity 3835

When I recently posted here on my new tops made with the "Made by Wendy" Simplicity 3835 pattern, Fi commented that she wondered what they looked like on (I'd photographed them on coat hangers). It got me thinking about how I enjoy searching the web for pics of real people in patterns I'm considering. I'd almost never choose a pattern based on the sleeve pic - they're never very inspiring. But I really enjoy seeing how others have interpreted the pattern, what fabric they've used and how it looks on. So this is my effort to reciprocate! To any non-sewers out there, I apologise for the tedium :-)



This first one is my favourite, though it's very plain. With all 3 I have made them as fitted as I could given that there's no zip - they pull over the head. I don't think it's meant to be a floaty, roomy design, and that's not the way I've made them as I feel they're more flattering on me this way. I could do with a bit of help in the curve department these days. The fabric seems to work here - not too light or heavy, nice drape. Pictured with my favourite skirt at the moment, these two get worn far too often these days, I'm sure people must think I don't own much else!



Next up is my japanesey Alexander Henry print. As my dress doesn't get out of the wardrobe often it's nice to use the off-cut for everyday wear. You can see here that I've added the back darts in, even though (I think) the pattern doesn't say to - they're meant to be for the dress. I found it added a bit more shape.


And lastly, the voile version, which is not my favourite but looks OK layered for cooler weather if I'm feeling like a burst of colour.

I took these pics over the last week as I wore the tops (not on the same day), so you can see that they're definitely getting lots of wear. This top with either jeans or an A-line skirt is a bit of a uniform for me lately. If I find that I like the dress too, this pattern will be well worth the money... but I think it is already anyway.

Simple family vegetarian meal - green pasta

Gratuitous pretty broccoli pic :-)

Another popular simple vegetarian meal here is a tasty green pasta, full of yummy healthy goodies. You can add a handful of nuts for texture and crunch (and protein), or leave it out. I sometimes serve this dish with a bean salad to up the nutrient content of the meal, and of course crusty bread makes a welcome addition.



For the kids I usually take some of the vegetable mixture and blend it with a stick mixer before stirring in the pasta. Less asthetically pleasing but makes the kids happy without being obviously heavily laden with broccoli: "I love the green pasta mum!"




Zucchini, broccoli and green olive pasta

400g spaghetti (or other pasta)
1 medium head of broccoli
3 tblsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic
4 medium zucchini
1 cup green olives, pitted and sliced
1/2 cup of toasted almonds, skin on or off
Parmesan cheese and chopped fresh parsley, to serve

Fill a large saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Salt the water to your taste (I add about a tablespoon), then add spaghetti. Cook until about 2 minutes before suggested cooking time is up, and at this point add the broccoli so that it cooks in the pasta water. Finish cooking then drain and set aside (reserve a little of the cooking water to use later).



Meanwhile, heat a large frying pan to medium heat, then add olive oil and garlic and cook for 1 minute. Turn heat down to low, add grated zucchini and cook until it is starting to soften.



Add green olives and almonds if using, then pasta. Toss it all together thoroughly. Add a little of the reserved cooking water if the mix needs loosening a little.



Serve with grated parmesan and sprinkle with some fresh parmesan.

Serves 4-6

Running before I can walk

I don't know about you, but when I come upon a new craft or hobby of some sort I start thinking obsessively about all the different things I could try.

I came across a lovely knitting book at my local library recently that's providing plenty of knitting/crocheting eye candy. There are many beautiful projects in it that I can only dream about at the moment, as I'm just learning, but it doesn't hurt to dream, and at the moment I'm dreaming of this beautiful grown-up poncho:



Projects for the home:



and for the littlies:



Of course it helps that they're all beautifully photographed in a well designed, contemporary looking book. Yep, I'm a sucker for a good looking book ;-)

I'm looking forward to making some progress on my hooded scarf on the weekend. Do you have any crafting plans? Have a lovely weekend everyone.