Mother guilt grass heads

So, this is what a hefty dose of 'mother guilt' produced in our house this week.

At the end of last term the big girl proudly bought home a small bean seedling that she'd been growing in class. It had been tended and loved for weeks, and we'd had regular updates on it's progress. It even survived being pulled out of it's soil by one extremely competitive classmate - he pulled ALL of the classes out except for his own so they wouldn't grow. Lucky I'm not his teacher, I'd have gone in with the weedkiller for his (hee hee). Once it was home, the big girl kept reminding me that she needed to water it, and couldn't do it herself as it was on a high shelf (to avoid the littlies destroying it). "Yeah, yeah" I kept saying, but obviously left it too long as when we did water it and transplant it to the garden it died :-( I even tried to revive it with extra water, fertiliser etc, but to no avail - it was knackered.

In true gen X style I felt I needed to fix this for her, or as I couldn't do that with the thing being totally had it, compensate for it. I'd seen some kinda cute heads with grass growing out of them and thought it might kill three birds with one stone - satisfy the big girl's urge to "grow something", redeem my reputation and also give us a craft activity one afternoon. And they looked dead easy to do...



For once I was stumped as to what words to Google so just tried "children's grass head" - lo and behold that's what they're called - grass heads. So after a few minor (or not so minor) setbacks:

1. Sawdust, you fill it with sawdust? Who the hell has a bag of sawdust lying around? OK, something loose & organic that will allow water to draw up to the seeds easily. So I mixed a loose soil with some crunched up dried leaves and stuff.

2. Grass seeds. OK, none of those lying around either, off to the supermarket... what, I don't need a kilogram! And $15! Right, some spring onion seeds will do. We can mix them with the old carrot seeds at home.

3. Old stockings... hmm, haven't worn them for ages, I'll get a packet of knee-highs at the supermarket... Forgot all about it so have to use a weird browny pair, frugally cut into 4 (the big girl had a friend over for a playdate)



Anyway, it all worked out OK. The trusty hot glue gun came through and did the sticking of features and all was well. One girl satisfied... for now. And one mum just a teensy bit nervous about the *%#@&! things sprouting!! :-)

Da da di da

There was a lot of wedding talk at our house on the weekend. It was mine and the Mr's wedding anniversary on Saturday and by coincidence my big girl was looking in a box and found the very kitsch bride and groom plastic figurine that we had on our wedding cake. We got married in Thailand and had a buddhist blessing. Most of the ceremony was lovely but there were a few funny bits where the people who'd organised it were obviously trying to add some western touches, like the bouquet of dying roses (but the local flowers were stunning!) and a traditional cake with this figurine on top.

The big girl asked if we could make a cake for the anniversary and "put some flowers on top" so we had fun doing just that. We were going to make sugared violets with these sweet native violets from the garden until my Googling revealed that egg white is used. So that of course was out with her egg allergy.



I tried making a sugar syrup to get the sugar to stick, but it didn't work... so I ended up making some little sugar spirals. They turned out a bit like thicker fairy floss (candy floss) and were a big hit. So the cake was decorated with fresh flowers and more sugar!




In other wedding news my brother is getting married just before Christmas, which obviously provides an opportunity for some serious sewing! I've ordered this Japanese pattern book (which has apparently just come out in English for the first time) for some inspiration to make myself a dress. Can't wait to receive it!



Happy weekend everyone.

Bread of the week - potato focaccia

I've loved potato pizza since the Mr and I visited Rome way back in about 1996. Eating a big slice of it (which was sold by weight, as the pizza bars there do) along with some marinated artichokes, standing on the street, is one of my strongest memories of Rome. All that history and culture and it's the food I remember the most!

Whenever we make pizza at home I make a potato one, sprinkled with fresh rosemary and salt flakes. This is a heartier version of that, as it has a much thicker base and more potato on top than I'd put on the pizza (the pizza gets too weighed down with too much topping).



I didn't photograph the process, but it's pretty simple:

Start by taking out about a third of your container of dough*. Using heavily floured hands, shape it and pull into about a 30cm diametre round, placing on your baking paper. It should be around 1cm thick. Let it sit until it comes back to room temperature. This is really important as you want it to have as much air and lift as possible, otherwise it will be heavy and doughy and just not great!

Meanwhile, slice 2 large potatoes (I used washed ones and didn't peel them) as thinly as possible so you end up with large thin rounds. Then either steam or microwave until just tender.



When the dough is back to room temperature drizzle it with extra virgin olive oil. Then add a layer of potato, sprinkle on some fresh rosemary and sea salt flakes. Add more layers until you have used up all of the potato. Finish with the rosemary and sea salt and another drizzle of olive oil.

Put into the oven on the top shelf on a pizza stone if you have one (see my transfer method in this post). Bake at 220c for around 20/30 minutes. Have a look at the edges of the dough and when it is nicely brown you'll know it's done. Leave to cool a bit then cut into squares. I served this with baked stuffed capsicums (peppers), and I think it would be nice with any sort of braise or stew. Enjoy!

* basic recipe listed on this post

My 100th post! (and a giveaway)

Hey, this is my 100th post! Which seems crazy really, as it feels like I'm just getting started with this blogging caper... wasn't it just last week that I wrote my first post? Yeh, yeh, I know, I'm getting old - everything feels like it was 'just yesterday' these days.



So I thought I'd have my first giveaway. Occasionally people ask me why I blog (dunno, really), and a school mum friend recently said she showed her parents my blog as an example of 'a blog' and they asked why I do it (dunno, really). So why have a giveaway? Dunno, really, just kinda want to... which I reckon is as good a reason as any :-)




I made the pictured wrist cuff recently during my cuff making frenzy when I also made one as a friend's birthday gift. I chose the other one to give to her and this one got put in the sewing basket for 'another day'. It needs a home. It's made with some of my favourite Cloth horsey fabric, linen and wool felt backing, and closes with a wooden button.

If you'd like it, leave me a comment and I'll get the baby to point to the screen and choose a name on the weekend. I'll post it anywhere in the world, so don't be shy.

90 minute shirt

Now that my self-imposed sewing ban is over - the pantry no longer looks like someone has thrown the food in, our clothes are all folded and neat(ish) in the wardrobes and the mountains of washing are under control, I can get back into sewing - yay!

And just in time - I have volunteered to make some crafty things to sell at the big girl's school fete, so will be busy with that soon - once I decide what to make.



Sneaking something in before then though, I've been dying to do the '90 minute shirt' tutorial from Made, so tried this on the weekend. Did you spot my new "Next on my sewing machine" button over there on the right? I'm hoping to keep it updated and to streamline all of that stuff on the right. I now know why bloggers end up with lots of categories and sub-categories - there's so much inspiring stuff out there on the net!

Anyway, the 90 minute shirt came together well and I got to use a few funky colours together. I generally avoid re-threading my overlocker (serger) whenever possible. Last time it to 40 precious kid-free minutes to get the next colour working right - arghh! So I left the red on, which I was happy with as a little detail.



Now to get all the other red-friendly projects finished before I have to change the *%#@ thread again!

this moment (with food!)

I thought today I'd do a kind of 'this moment' (a la Soulemama's Friday tradition) but with a food theme. So these are some of our favourite food moments from the week (couldn't just choose one :-)

* Also just thought I'd let you know that I have sorted out the RSS feed thingey for my blog so you can now follow me in a reader if you like

Have a lovely weekend!


A 'freckle' almost as big as your face - a toddler's dream come true


A jar of dried fruit balls kept in the fridge to be snacked on, based on Innerpickle's post here


Lovely artichokes in season. Later cooked in the pressure cooker and served with a lemon vinaigrette. Heaven.

Shirring detail

I seem to have lost my ability to multi-task with the Mr away this week and have been choosing sleep over blogging and crafting in order to attempt to keep up with the littlies each day! But it's hard to ignore the sewing urge!

Today we had an unseasonably warm day and my little skirt and dress loving girl chose to wear this lovely dress from Australian brand Ouch. It reminded me of how much I enjoy doing a bit of shirring and how useful it can be.



The sewing I've been enjoying lately has made me curious about garment construction. A nice detail that I noticed on something recently was the use of a few small rows of shirring to pull in a section of fabric to give the garment a slightly more fitted look. I thought it might suit the top below that I made last summer with Make It Perfect's Shearwater tunic pattern (there's another that I made in this post). My aim was to give it a slightly more fitted look whilst keeping it easy and comfortable to wear.

So this is it before



and after with a little shirring added. Not great photos (set self-timer, run over and stand on a stool, try not to look wooden, etc etc) but you get the idea.



The first time I tried shirring I was amazed at how easy it was to do. I'm not sure if this is the best way, but this is how I do it:

Wind your bobbin by hand with shirring elastic (NOT hat elastic, which looks similar but is thicker), pulling the elastic slightly as you go so that it's taut but not fully stretched.




Load your bobbin, use ordinary thread for the top, then just sew normally using a very long straight stitch. As you sew the fabric will start to gather. If you want to do another row alongside, pull the fabric gently to stretch it out.



I tied the ends off by hand, which was a bit tedious. If you were shirring from one seam to another, rather than just a small section, you wouldn't need to tie any ends as they would be sewn in with the seams. A little bit on the sleeves might be nice too... I can tell this is going to turn into a 'tinkering' top!