More new shoes for the boy

You know how kids lose shoes... all the time! Well we lost one of the little leather soled shoes I made recently and so I made another pair on the weekend.



I used the repurposed leather from an old op-shop skirt again for the sole, lined them in beige linen, put some felt lining for cushioning between the outer and inner soles, and got to use some of this fantastic Echino japanese linen/cotton for the uppers.



They are a bit hard to get on his feet at first, as all the fabrics are woven so there's no real stretch, but otherwise they're going well. I can't wait to use the Echino fabric again maybe as trim for a pair of shorts for summer.



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I'm so pleased to see that Dana from Made is going to again be running "Celebrate the boy". I'll definitely want to join in to give me the incentive to make some clothes for my boy. I'm relieved it doesn't start til February though - after the silly season and hopefully a little rest in January.

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On that note about trying to get too much done, I have shelved plans to make the fabulous Heidi & Finn hoodie that I'd had in my "next on my sewing machine" column over on the right. Though the weather has been cool lately I hear some warmer weather is coming and I don't want to make something the boy will grow out of before next autumn... so it's on to a dress for the big girl (hopefully ;-)

Egg-free pancake teddy faces

When we first found out our big girl had an egg and nut allergy I scoured cookbooks and websites for some basic recipes for cakes, biscuits, muffins etc without eggs. In the process I came across a pancake mixture that we've been cooking since, based on this one.

Then whilst on our holiday in Fiji I noticed that the resort breakfast buffet chefs made pancakes in the shape of teddy bear faces. I felt sorry for my big girl that she couldn't have them so when we came home I tried making them and they were a hit. On mornings when the kids are not interested in eating much or are tired of the usual breakfast foods these are a welcome change. I usually cook some small circles out of the batter after the faces are made and send some with the big girl's school lunch and take some to the park as snacks for the littlies, as they're great snacks.



The absence of eggs does make for a different pancake texture and I don't think they'd work well as large pancakes or crepes, but in small plate or pikelet size they're good.

Egg-free pancakes

1 cup self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bi-carb soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup milk
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

Sift flour, bi-carb soda and salt. Add sugar and whisk together.

Add vanilla and oil and half the milk. Whisk together, then gradually add the rest of the milk until thick pouring consistency. I find a whisk much better than a wooden spoon for the whole recipe even though it gets a bit stiff to whisk as lumps are less likely to form.

Heat frying pan to about medium heat and grease with vegetable oil spray. Pour in enough for the 'head' (I do about 12cm width) and then add the 'ears' with a tablespoon of batter added to each side of the head. Cook until the edges look dry and bubbles start to form on the surface then flip over, cook a few minutes and take out. Spray the pan before each pancake – they do stick otherwise.

Then decorate with jam, fruit or whatever you and your kids like.

Makes roughly 6 bears.

Neeext...

The school fete that I have been sewing for was on the weekend, and I must say I'm glad to be finished with that project and on to others! It rained heavily on the day, which was a shame, but hopefully they still raised a good amount of money overall.



I packed up my contributions to the craft stall on Friday to give to the coordinator. I ended up with a couple of teddy bears, some baby slippers, a few headbands in school uniform fabric, some adult wrist cuffs and some kids wrist cuffs. I forgot to photograph everything but kept aside the kids cuffs pictured above and below. My big girl had been asking me to make her one after seeing mine, so I made her one in a bright cotton print and added embellishments in ribbon and felt, backed it in a re-purposed pink velour (from an old skirt of mine) and put a velcro closing on for ease of use by little fingers.

She very sweetly took it to 'show and tell' at school last week which resulted in her classmates wanting one. My little marketing manager in training! So at least I knew the kids cuffs would be popular.



So... on to other projects now. My head is extremely scrambled with all I would like to do and make between now and Christmas, as happens every year. I think some serious list making is in order, then a talk with myself about expectations and what is possible!!

Hope you had a great weekend and your list is not too full :-)

Cheese biscuits

I get quite obsessed with cheese biscuits and finding just the right recipe. This is my latest attempt and I'm pretty happy with them. They are very buttery of course, but not greasy like others I've tried.


And I love that the dough is one of those that you can freeze then use at a later stage, like when you have guests coming and don't have time to cook, or have something more important to do - like sewing!


They're great on their own or with cheese. Cheese, cheese and more cheese. I don't see a problem, do you? :-)

Cheese biscuits

1 cup plain flour
2 tablespoons cornflour
1 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon paprika (sweet, not the hot variety - don't want to scare off the kidlets)
125 grams butter, chilled
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Pre-heat oven to 180C.

Put flours, cheese, salt and paprika into food processor. Chop butter into big chunks and add to the food processor while it's going. Process until the mixture becomes crumbly. Add lemon juice and the mixture should form a ball in the processor. Stop the processor once this has happened.

Take the dough out and lightly knead it, then roll into a log. This should make two logs, about 20cm in length each.

Wrap the logs with plastic wrap and chill. Once the log is solid, cut up into slices about 3mm thick. Logs can be frozen for a long time, if you don't want to cook the whole lot. Just let the log thaw out a bit then slice them and bake.

Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake for 15 to 20 mins or until light golden brown.

Sewing with 'help'

It seems as if I've been sewing like mad for the craft stall at the school fete this coming Saturday, but when I look at my pile of things to donate it's not that big!!

This is due in part, I think, to:
A. my habit of daydreaming whilst sewing
B. too much blog surfing in between sewing - you people are too interesting and therefore distracting!
and
C. very limited kid-free time...



Which brings me to the art of squeezing in a bit of craft/sewing/anything whilst keeping an eye on the kids. You know how it goes... "stop fighting!", "turn the TV off!", "you've just had a snack!", "leave the cat's tail alone!" etc etc. Until a little person comes up and wants to help and everything comes to a grinding halt...



We ended up making these felt heart mobile things together, which I'd been wanting to try for a while anyway. The boy decided they'd make a good scarf. They do look pretty, but that pile of donations for the fete hasn't grown too much in a week :-)



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In other news, the kids' grass heads have sprouted. Phew! My reputation is restored :-)

Softies for Mirabel

I stumbled upon the "Softies for Mirabel" project recently while reading the Meet me at Mike's blog. After checking it out I very much wanted to contribute. The Mirabel Foundation provides support to families affected by substance abuse and the softies project aims to give the children a toy, handmade made with love. You can read more here.

I think this charity particularly struck a chord with me as I'd recently been thinking about how very difficult parenting must be when someone has a substance addiction problem. Parenting can be hard enough for anyone, let alone someone with extra challenges.



And then I saw the harrowing and very sad Australian short film "Polly and Me" about the abuse and neglect suffered by some children in our communities. The film aims to raise awareness for this very important issue.

Something I took away from the forum hosted on the ABC after the screening of the short film was that it's OK to look and think and check to see if a child is alright. The paediatrician at the forum heart-breakingly told of how widespread abuse and neglect are, and urged people to get involved if they suspect a child is in danger. For so long our society has had a 'don't get involved' attitude when it comes to domestic violence and child abuse.



I made an extra bear while making a couple for the school fete, especially for 'Softies for Mirabel'. I hope this sleepy bear made with love brings a little bit of comfort to a small person.

My little ghost

When I was growing up Halloween was not (I think) widely celebrated in Australia. So I admit that it's taken me a while to get into the spirit of it, but this year I really enjoyed it. The girls dressed up and I took them first to a party, which was raising money for a fabulous charity to build a children's hospital in Sierra Leone, and then on to a little trick or treating. We also made spooky cupcakes to take to the party (no pics sorry) and put a few decorations at the front of our house to signal to children and their parents that we were in on the fun and games. And of course we prepared a basket of lollies to offer to trick or treaters!



My small girl wore this ghost costume that I made last year for the big girl to wear to a party. The big girl had let me paint her face too so looked the part, but the little girl is not so keen on face paint, so I let that one go (reluctantly :-)



I knew exactly the design I wanted to do and it actually came together well so was a real joy to make. I cut 2 almost full half circles from a piece of white cotton...



then added a hood (taking the shape from a hoodie pattern I had)...



put a velcro closing on one shoulder for ease of dressing...



and sewed some elastic into the arm bands to help keep them down. This also meant that when her arms were raised it lifted the sides of the costume out creating a more ghost-like shape.



The I painted the 'boo' on freehand in black fabric ink, and attached a plastic bat and spider with a few stitches so they could be removed for washing.



I also had to include a pick of one of the big girl's classmate's lanterns. It was so pretty that I'm inspired to make one for next year.

So apart from having 3 small children restlessly sleeping with piles of sugar in their bodies by the end of the night (the baby got into the lolly bananas while we weren't looking), it was a really fun evening and I'm so looking forward to next year! Hope you had fun too.