Friday, November 11, 2011

Friday Photo



top • making and enjoying celery salt using leaves normally thrown away • thrilled to be receiving fabric from partners in the handprinted fabric swap • studying, roasting and eating this beauty

bottom
• nervously but excitedly printing for the swap • the lovely scent of spring in the breeze

Have a lovely weekend!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Black Spinel trousers



Hankering after a new pair of skinny cargo-ish pants this winter, I jumped in and bought this pattern from Japanese company Tamanegi-kobo after seeing them here and here.

I finally got around to sewing them recently. They came together well using a cheapy bit of synthetic fabric ('sharkskin'?).



This pattern is available with English instructions and the only problem I (almost) came up against was my hip measurements going off the chart of the much slimmer built Japanese woman. I used the biggest size and I'm normally an Australian size 10.

I'm really happy with my new trousers and would definitely make another pair: love their 3D knees, top stitching detail, comfy design and styling - just enough attitude without looking ridiculous on a 40 year old mum (depending on your opinion!).



The only problem is... summer seems to have hit us early here, so they'll have to languish in the cupboard til they meet my boots and jackets next autumn/winter. I'll be looking forward to them ;-).

Monday, November 7, 2011

Chocolate pomegranate gift biscuits


My big girl has 2 teachers this year and they're both great. So I didn't want to miss the opportunity to show a little appreciation when I found out that one of them was celebrating their birthday. I wanted to cook something... considered making a jar a homemade harissa, but suddenly had a vague memory of him saying once that he loved chocolate. Perfect! I can do something chocolatey...



While searching for inspiration I saw this blog post about Chocolate Pomegranate Biscuits. I put this on the mental shortlist, along with chocolate biscotti and truffles.



When, just a few hours later, totally unprompted, the Mr bought home not one but three pomegranates, I knew I had to try it!



Instead of using Dana's recipe though, or the original one, I used this egg-free recipe (out of habit/so my big girl could try them). The pomegranate seeds were added last along with the choc chips.



And I used this technique for de-seeding the pomegranates - it's effective and fun!



Of course making a pretty parcel is half the fun of giving home baked gifts. I stamped my kitchen stamp onto a piece of metallic card and wrote our message.

Hopefully the teacher will like them, it's always hard to guess other people's tastes. But for me, crunchy biscuit, gooey chocolate and little bursts of fresh pomegranate juice are a pretty good combo ;-)

Friday, November 4, 2011

Little felt purses for the fete



Amongst all of the sewing I've been doing for the school fete tomorrow (tote bags, zip purses, tissue holders), these little felt purses for girls have been my favourite to make.



They're a simple little design, totally ripped off from this great tutorial I found via Pinterest.



To each one I've added little flower embellishments with more felt, buttons, embroidery and a few little beads here and there.



Wool felt is so lovely to work with, it irons well, is easy to stitch and the thicker weight is quite sturdy.



I can't make up my mind if the purses are sweet or a bit twee and naff. But no matter, judging by my girls' reactions they will hopefully sell: "pleeease can you make me one mum, pleeease!"



And hopefully the pile below will sell too... wish me luck ;-)

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Simple pleasures

Hi! We're back from our time away and I'm feeling ready for the run up to Christmas and all that that entails (deep breath).

While we were away we saw lots of whales swimming in the sea, which was definitely a highlight, and all from my mum's back windows! The kids were constantly squealing "whale!! whale!!" and it was amazing to just look for a few seconds at almost any time and see a whale or two or three playing. Unfortunately I don't have any photos (no zoom lense), but here are a few of my favourite other shots:

Nature as inspiration for the printed fabric swap:





Though the weather was a bit rainy, there was plenty of gazing into rockpools and trawling beaches for shells and treasures...




And as usual there was plenty of time spent in my mum's garden...




Plus there were some sooky-la-la moments of course (hopefully she won't hate me later for posting this, I like the shot ;-)...



and plenty of posing. Gotta love a boy who happily wears mama's creations!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Last minute frenzied behaviour


True to form, I have done my usual panicky running around trying to get all sorts of things done before we head off for a short break.

For instance... that tunic seam that's been needing to be mended for weeks - it needs doing now!... the seedlings that have needed tending for days - let's do it now!... form to fill out... photos to take... what is it about going away that gets me running around like a headless chicken? Do you do this, or is it just me? It drives me bananas (and the Mr too, I'm guessing, but he's too polite to say ;-)



Needless to say I had several blog posts in mind this week but none of them saw the light of day... however I will leave you with some pics of a much covetted piece of Nani Iro fabric that arrived in the mail this morning, yay! I hunted high and low for it (it was last year's design so not readily available now) and felt like I'd won the lottery when I finally tracked it down on Etsy. Good old Etsy.

Now I just need to find the perfect summer dress pattern for it. Any suggestions welcome.



OK, there's time to squeeze in just a few more things before we head off ;-) See you some time next week, have a great weekend!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Instant sewing gratification: "The Perfect Shrug"



Last week when I should have been sewing for the school fete I suddenly got inspired to sew something that has been on my to do list for a while now - and you've got to strike when the inspiration hits, right? Otherwise that list will never come down!



This can't really be called 'sewing', there's so little sewing involved that I found it quite amusing... I spotted this shrug pattern (free) on BurdaStyle a while ago and it appealed to me. It's just a cleverly folded 'T' shaped piece of fabric, sewn together in 2 places...



...and your arms go through the small openings. As I made it in jersey and the edges don't fray, I didn't hem it, just sewed the 2 seams and it's done. Feels like cheating.



It folds into a rectangle (pic no. 2), then down again into a very small parcel, so it would be a great one to keep in your bag for when there's a chill in the air.

I haven't been a fan of the shrug in the past, thinking it's a kind of mutant looking cardigan, but this pattern appealed, so I'll see how it goes. And if it's a no goer then there's not much lost... and a bit of fun had ;-)
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