say boo (please)

maggi salad dressing

2012-01-31T08:30:00.000+10:00

when we were kids, our family was often invited to our neighbours house for dinner. they were a grandparent-aged german couple who loved to fatten us up with delicious food. i have very distinct food memories linked to elvira and dieter warmbold.

one of my favourite dishes is a salad they made us, more specifically a salad dressing whose main ingredient is a seasoning called maggi. that is all i know about it. i guess maggi is actually a brand of seasonings but this particular seasoning came in liquid form and as far as i know it was called maggi and that is that. it is a dark liquid, very salty in a vegemite, umami sort of way. it also has a bit of acidity.

i found a bottle in a chinese grocery store a while back and re-discovered my love for this salad dressing.

the salad itself was just iceberg lettuce, cucumber and tomato and maybe a bit of onion. all ingredients were shredded using a mandolin.

to make the dressing, i took a clean jar and used vegetable oil (not olive as you don't want to mask the lovely maggi flavour!) white vinegar and maggi, 3 tablespoons of each. last i added a tad of worcestershire sauce and a tiny teaspoon of raw sugar.

i didn't mandolin my salad but just used whatever was on hand. what i love about this salad dressing is it is so different from other dressings. it isn't subtle. it makes your mouth kind of water, much like eating salt and vinegar chips.

very tasty! and with a hint of childhood nostalgia!

hetzel family

2012-01-29T10:30:00.000+10:00

a couple of weeks ago i got to take some photos of a sweet trio of a family, sarndra, shane and little alex.

alex is such a sweet little one. he has amazingly wide eyes with gorgeous lashes and a very easy going nature. i am sure a lot of his temperament comes from having very loving and attentive parents. babies truly respond to having their needs met! it sounds simple but in reality it is so much harder than it looks. they made it look pretty easy though over at the hetzel's.

i arrived at their place mid morning on a sort of drizzly day. i was a bit nervous, as i usually am when i am going to take people's photos, also because it was my first time trying a really informal, unplanned style of capturing a family, inspired by the amazing tim coulson. his documentary style approach is the direction i'd like to head in, as that is how i like to photograph my own life and family. i think it is much more relaxing for all involved, much more real, and just plain beautiful to have a record of the everyday.

i ve had this sort of 'fake it 'til you make it' refrain running through my head as of late - i LOVE taking photos, but am a relative new-comer as far as things go. i honestly had only the foggiest idea of what an slr camera was a year ago. and i guess in the quest to be inspired into finding my own style i did a lot of photography blog reading and a lot of trolling online and it seemed as though the only way to make a living taking photos was to polish them. don't get me wrong, i still do love a polished photo - but if you know me, polished is not a word that describes me very well!

where am i going with this? ah. yes, i think i am much more of a fly by the seat of my pants type, rather than a chart the sun and tides and locations type. no pocketful of poses here. and i am relieved that i have come to this conclusion so that i know where to direct my effort in the future.

i loved having a peep into what sarndra and shane and alex get up to when his daddy has a sunday off from his chef-ing and were just banging around the house and neighbourhood. and i super enjoyed just taking photos and talking to these people who were really interesting to chat with rather than telling them where we were going to sit and trying to get them to act natural. goodness, it was so much easier capturing people acting natural when they were actually acting natural!

so, thank you to sarndra, shane and alex for letting me into your home 2 weeks ago to drink coffee and take pictures of your life. it truly was a pleasure.

lamingtons & white nectarines

2012-01-06T21:58:00.001+10:00

2012!

holiday season and pre holiday season flew by in a lovely blur of birthday party-ing, panicked wedding quilt making (in a good way, i kind of like a time-crunch, photos to come one day), campervan-ing, wedding watching, sugar cookie baking, pumpkin pie making, eating, engagement cake baking, beaching, bonfire at farm-ing, more eating, and general family festivities. a VERY lovely few weeks i must say.

i couldn't resist a little blog post writing time tonight although after packing our townhouse for the past few days i should probably be still packing or sleeping or something remotely constructive towards the cause, but ah well i think a moment to document our last days here is a must instead.

yesterday i took the little people down to the waterfront for the last time! crazy. we have lived 400 meters or so from moreton bay for the past 3.5 years or so in a little townhouse that we've sort of scrounged into a home. it is too dark in here. the next place i live i will not be using iso 3200 indoors i'll tell you that much people (well, people who know what i'm talking about anyway)!

wynnum itself has definitely been lovely in its own way and it has been the perfect place to live with kids. that said, we have never felt very settled here in wynnum and whether it be moves to melbourne or canada, the discussion about where to leave to was ongoing. i just can't believe it took 3.5 years to come about.

we took a break from the house and the packing and bought some lamingtons and white nectarines down to the bay for morning tea. it was one of those hazy sunny days of a queensland summer. all sparkling water and hot sun. juicy fingers with sand stuck to them.

snail found

banned from snail farming

re-instated at snail farm

bayside

dinner

dinner was a strange but satisfying cupboard and fridge clean-out mish mash of barlotti beans (i always keep a pre-cooked bag of previously dried
beans in the freezer for handy use of dried beans), sauteed with a bit of jap pumpkin, cumin (my go-to spice) and onion. Then i boiled a bit of pasta and decided to make the pumpkin and bean mixture a bit more saucy by adding. . . coconut milk. Then it turned into something that would have been much better suited to eat with rice, but personally i quite enjoyed it with pasta.

moves

2011-12-08T18:56:00.001+10:00

i have a stack of things i have been meaning to do. instead, i decided to have a play with imovie.

i've been making an effort to take a few more moving pictures of the kids, they love to watch themselves. i am not a huge lover of video but my camera is making it fun. i like using the manual focus, it makes me feel like i'm doing something other than just aiming a camera.

new, additional goal is to compile the little movies at the end of the month using imovie - the application is super intuitive, you can literally make something up as you go without really needing to learn how to do it.

if you have imovie, seriously go and have a play if you haven't already!

November 2011 from Hsu-Yin Boo on Vimeo.

5

2011-11-24T06:47:00.001+10:00

a few party preparations have been underway this week, including birthday party dress sewing.

i used a pattern from ottobre summer 3/2011 but added the lace to the sleeves and skirt.

instead of an invisible zipper i decided to use an exposed metal zip to give this very airy fairy dress a bit of an edge.

i think i'm going to have to make something like this next. i particularly like the yoke she constructed. most likely i'd like to see reao shorts with this future hypothetical romper and probably just straps instead of sleeves but that petal sleeve is very pretty. mainly, i'm a sucker for any fabric anna maria horner designs.

in fact, there could be an adult sized romper on the cards, i wouldn't be surprised. . .

fabric balloons

2011-11-22T21:36:00.000+10:00

last week i was in a toy store and came upon a toy that i could 'totally make at home'

you know when you see something in a store and you say to yourself 'i'm not buying that i could just make it!' but then you never do?

well, this time i did.

this little invention is a fabric cover that you blow a balloon up into. it is essentially a balloon cozy. i know, sounds pointless and strange but hear me out.

it looks so much nicer than a balloon. it feels a million times nicer than a balloon and masks the latex smell. it makes the balloon bounce like a proper ball and it loses that floaty sort of problem when you throw it.
lastly, it does not pop straight away like a balloon.

i used this pattern for a fabric beach ball from the purl bee, but any ball pattern would do. i'd like to make a slightly larger one.

savouring

2011-11-21T20:41:00.001+10:00

with the move to canada slowly approaching, i'm beginning to take stock of all the things i will miss. and when i say things i mainly mean people. oh, and the beach.

friday, the entire livelong day (that's right, a whopping 11 hours) was spent out at our dear friend julie's house. julie and simon's house is the kind of place that is immediately homely and welcoming and full of offers of food and drink and general feelings of good-will. bea would like a house 'like julie's'. enough said.

as usual, the day passed in a blissful combination of tea drinking, chatter, a bit of pattern cutting/sewing plan talk, eating, parenting, and drinking more tea. all this was followed by the dads joining in after work and bbq-ing, having a nice cold apple cider, eating some more and bathing the kids.

although there are still 4.5 months left, these sweet afternoons are numbered and lovely and they are to be savoured.

i know you are reading this julie - believe me when i tell you i don't know if i would have made it here without you. i'm going to miss you something fierce. i wish i could move you with us, somehow.

ok, i just cried my eyes out writing this post. i love you my friend, you will be missed.

xoxo

vegemite

2011-11-15T08:14:00.001+10:00

there was a lapse in parenting yesterday afternoon when i left B in the kitchen to fix her own vegemite cruskits. of course little ruben was keen to watch so we dragged over a chair for him too. i went off upstairs to do something and returned to this:

his tongue must have been shriveling with the saltiness of it all. for those of you who don't know, vegemite is the beloved australian condiment akin to marmite and promite and is best used as a mere scraping, as opposed to a peanut butter-like blob. my mouth is shuddering just looking at those photos. the poor fellow had a mighty drink of water afterwards. i did feel a bit wrong photographing him while he burned off his taste buds, but the photographer in me took over the mother in me, what can i say!

on a completely unrelated topic, alli has been talking about lurkers, and enticing us out of the shadows.

i am such a lurker. i honestly can't remember the last time i commented on a blog. mostly it is a time constraint thing i think? every blog loves a comment here and there so we don't think we are writing into cyberspace. of course i see stats that tell me someone is reading, and of course i force my family into reading by delivering straight to their mail boxes. so although mainly i tell myself my blog is just for me, i do like to know someone else is lurking out there. . .

so, i suppose i should stop doing so much lurking and write nice things on people's blogs. i will try.

trambampoline

2011-11-12T22:31:00.001+10:00

recently, b has been trying to start up her career as a trampoline gymnast, and we decided this thrifted pink and red stripe stretch stuff would be just the ticket for a bit of leotard action. for some reason i am drawn to the sewing of leotards. maybe because the stretch fabric fits so snugly, you kinda feel like you have mastered the fit without actually tailoring anything.

so serious.

and here, the jig is up.

self portrait.

that's my shoulder, blurred in the background. a very abstract cameo appearance. i'm rarely found in photos anymore, dontcha know.

until next time!

quinoa burger

2011-10-25T14:17:00.000+10:00

recently i made some quinoa burgers after hearing somewhere, somehow about a food van making them (san fran? craftzine?).

for these ones, i used 2 cups of cooked, mixed quinoa (a combination of white, red and black quinoa varieties). mixed in 2 eggs and probably about 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour, plus salt, pepper an fresh dill (thanks carol!).

then, i shallow fried them in vegetable oil and made them into veggie burgers. they were really yummy! sometimes i make patties with split red lentils but that can get a bit stodgy and dry. not so the quinoa patty!

sisters

2011-10-23T14:42:00.000+10:00

a few weeks ago I took some shots of these sisters at a local park/skate park. their mum chose their little skater girl inspired outfits and it definitely suited them.

they are so sweet with each other and i had an awesome time deciding what sort of feeling i wanted to give these photos. in the end i sort of went with a clean, lofi vintage sort of thing, inspired by the lords of dogtown.

i am using a trial version of radlab by totally rad! photoshop actions, and i must say it is pretty addicting. i didn't even really know what photoshop actions were 6 months ago but i am definitely seeing how nice it is to be able to consistently and quickly give images a particular look and feel. this week i watched this video my elizabeth halford and i was really inspired to treat editing as a special part of the process.

how to make kettle corn

2011-10-19T15:42:00.000+10:00

Oh, the sweet and salty addiction that is kettle corn. if you make it yourself, it is one of the cheapest snack foods around. you can make a big bowl of organic kettle corn for pennies.

Use a large, heavy bottomed pot on medium heat. coat the bottom surface with a thin layer of oil, then add the popcorn kernels and a couple of good pinches of sea salt. don't bother with preheating, just whack it on and in all at once.

Leave uncovered until the first kernels start to pop. Then, quickly sprinkle kernels with a couple of tablespoons of sugar and cover the pot with a tea towel instead of the pot lid (this keeps the popcorn really crisp).

Shake and shimmy your pot as the kernels pop until rapid popping ceases. At this point, remove from heat and dump the popcorn out of the pot, i usually dump it onto a clean cutting board or straight onto the same tea towel i used to cover the pot. Do this last bit quickly because the sugar will burn given the slightest chance at this point.

et voila!

you have kettle corn.

watch the snack munchers devour it.

hunting and gathering

2011-09-27T16:38:00.000+10:00

we've been doing some pretty serious foraging around these parts - upon discovering an unspoken for mulberry bush and a rather neglected grapefruit tree our forays into urban foraging have been plentiful and fruitful, so to speak.

currently we are accumulating frozen mulberries for use in pie and jams - the bush looks like it will be producing for the next few weeks so a new routine involves walking to our bush with a couple of pails and having a little pick at the ripe berries. it is so fun! the kids love it, little Ruben even gets in there and picks (and munches as he goes).

our other abandoned fruits of the neighborhood are a very very sour variety of grapefruit - i think! they are full of seeds and require doctoring with a simple syrup. we use it as a sort of cordial and have also made popsicles. i like the thought of getting free vitamin C!

any abandoned bushes ripe for the pillage around your parts?

teagan and zac are getting married

2011-09-27T10:13:00.000+10:00

last weekend i took some engagement photos for a super couple, Teagan and Zac. i was really excited to take some photos of adults instead of kids for a change! wow, adults are so obedient!

teagan and zac were very natural in their photos - they have been together for ages and their photos clearly show how much they love each other. it was truly inspiring seeing them together and hanging out with them for a couple of hours.

thanks for the lovely afternoon teagan and zac! i think you two are going to make an amazing partnership - you already are.

summer making

2011-09-12T10:55:00.000+10:00

i had an extremely productive sewing weekend after a client had to re-schedule.

i've been away from my sewing machine for too long, and this weekend i cracked into the fabric stash, the ottobre mags and made some summer stuff for the kidlets.

for bea: she is allegedly making a switch from exclusive skirt wearing to choosing pants/shorts more and more (phew!)

ruben, still wears just what i want him to.

which in this case, includes fun print shorts with side-vent sort a of vintage board-short look, and harem-style jean shorts (made from the cut off legs of my jeans, from which i acquired a pair of jean shorts). lastly, a little rocket ship t-shirt.

i am loving the harem pants/shorts thing for babies - it looks super comfy and fits cloth nappies with no problem whatsoever! i'm debating making myself a pair of harem sort of shorts. hmm. not sure about harem bum on grown person. i'll get back to you on that one.

inspired by

2011-09-09T20:36:00.000+10:00

this little session from Monday was inspired by this song by gotye. specifically the video clip. bea especially likes the idea of body painting. she decided we should do something like it and take some photos.

all photos were taken using a tripod and timer, or by bea herself. she was quite the little director.
all the colour is crayola washables. we love those. they are super fun to draw all over yourself with, and wash off with just a rinse.

afterwards, we enjoyed watching the colours go down the shower drain.

ice cream sandwich

2011-09-02T07:53:00.001+10:00

soft chocolate cookies + ice cream = yum

my address has changed!

2011-09-01T15:02:00.002+10:00

Oh hi! i've just changed my blog address to saybooplease.blogspot.com in an effort to streamline my photography business blog into my personal blog as well. If you need to, please change the address in your reader! I didn't happen to see a note that mentioned my gingerbooandpickles address would redirect automatically. if it does, yay! thanks! i hope you do keep me!

if you go into the woods today

2011-09-01T14:55:00.000+10:00

2 little girls named beatrix and lola went out into the bush, to do a bit of camping and gathering. bea was the bigger girl, and lola was the smaller girl. they were a little worried about witches and bears and snakes and zombies, as the day was a bit dark, and the clouds a bit ominous.

the bigger girl, (beatrix) decided to go and gather some herbs for their decorating, and she reassured her little friend that she would be safe in the tent.

lola stayed in the tent. she was feeling a little scared, but she tried her best to be brave.

beatrix literally ran to the clearing in search of their favourite little flowers. she was a little creeped out.

she had the distinct feeling that she was being watched.

she brought back her flowers and herbs and told lola that there may be something lurking in the trees. . .

the girls stayed in the tent, where they felt safer. but they still couldn't shake the feeling that something was coming. lola kept her ears pricked for any suspicious sounds.

they were most pleasantly surprised to find that it was only their little toddler friend, ruben! he must have followed them through the bush. everyone was most relieved to be together again, so they all relaxed and hung out in the tent. they felt much more cheerful after finding out the scary noises were only the sounds of a toddler bustling through the underbrush. the end!

play

2011-08-25T15:25:00.000+10:00

bea, is very good at playing. she has the capacity to shut herself up in her room and play for a couple of hours without a break. she makes up little stories amongst her little bits and bobs.

the capacity for play is really nice to have. it means you will never be bored.

i've been playing with photos and playing at making a website.

here are the recent fruits of my creative play.

the photos are over exposed photos of the kids layered with 'bokeh' photos.
i kind of like the surreal feel to them.

B and K decided to have a tea party photo shoot.

2011-08-18T15:07:00.000+10:00

last week. on tuesday morning, bea decided that what she wanted to do was have a tea party. photo shoot. i had to chuckle. she claims she is starting to believe me when i say taking photos is a job. maybe this photo shoot idea was her way of saying sorry for laughing in my face when i told her i was starting to take pictures for people as a job. she literally scoffed and said 'that is NOT work. where is your office?'

so, we dutifully rounded up some items that would be suitable for a tea party. in the end, it had to be watered down quite a bit from her initial ideas of tablecloths and cucumber sandwiches. in the end, she settled for neenish tarts from the shop and apples and pears in a pail. water in the teacups instead of honeyed tea, as she'd originally thought.

here is their little story.

two girls decided to have a picnic tea party in the field. so they packed their snack and ran off together.

they found a spot that was just right and set down their things.

they had a spot of tea (ahem, water).

and a lovely chat.

until the sun was low in the sky (and the baby brother was too cranky for anymore photos to be taken).

the end.

.

late afternoon and evening, the other day.

2011-08-04T14:14:00.000+10:00

tea leaves // a short sleeved version

2011-07-27T12:11:00.001+10:00

hooray! i finally finished my first ever hand knit adult garment. i actually finished it quite a while ago and did some fine tuning (frogged about 4 inches off the bottom, moved the buttonholes a bit and shortened the sleeves). And now, i'm more than happy with it. i love the short sleeves and it is perfect for the weather here (and will be perfect for all year round in Canada I'd say).

i had been wanting to make a tea leaves cardigan for awhile - tiny tea leaves originally, and i probably will eventually make a little version for my little daughter. but no more wool will be purchased this year, so tiny tea leaves will have to wait!

i used a somewhat rough yarn, cascade sport weight. after blocking it did soften up quite a bit. I'm not really affected by the itch of wool luckily, so this cheaper 100% wool did the trick.

Wool from here.

Pattern from here.

bird feeding

2011-07-18T19:00:00.003+10:00

the little folks out feeding a little magpie the other day. i believe it was ritz crackers.

a daily event - running out in the paved area outside our townhouse for a bit of a let loose turned a bit special with the arrival of an inquisitive young maggie.

feeding birds is actually really fun! i'd forgotten. . .

i thought they looked cute in their home made head and tail zebra fit outs. although i'm pretty sure ruben isn't the 'head' of this duo.

bokeh // camera play

2011-07-05T19:59:00.001+10:00

recently, i had a little foray into bokeh, a japanese term for blur pertaining to photography.

fun! and super easy. tutorials here and here.

these were all taken in the backyard and in a dark bedroom, using pink fairy lights as the light source.

i like the one at the bottom left, the hearts look a little like fluttering white butterflies.

pinterest // a new place to squander time

2011-06-24T10:43:00.000+10:00

oh dear.

Source: remodelista.com via Tracey on Pinterest

OH BOY! this is just one little pin up from one little pinspiration board on pinterest.

you can browse boards by subject matter, but mainly it is of the home/diy/art/design/scrumptious food persuasion.

a good place to start, if you want to be inspired.

what we ate

2011-06-20T13:46:00.000+10:00

we ate some yummy things this weekend. there was healthy stuff involved (rice bowl, tuna salad) and there were some not to healthy things involved (ahem, peanut butter cookies, sticky date pudding, fish and chips).

LUNCH//

lemon zest and parsley tuna salad on fig and caramelized onion crackers with organic cherry tomatoes

this is often what lunch looks like for me and the kiddos. i don't love sandwiches so i often struggle to figure out easy lunches.

TREAT//

peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies.

oh geez. these cookies turned out really well, not surprising considering their ingredients. i'm eating one right now actually. they have a very sandy texture, and a short-bready sort of feel. mmmmm.

here is the recipe.

DINNER//

red jasmine rice bowl with grated veggies, deviled eggs and nutritional yeast dressing.

inspired by the growing season's rice bowl, we ended saturday on a healthy note! organic red jasmine rice with some chickpeas thrown in and grated raw seasonal vegetables. sprinkle black sesame seeds, pepitas and sunflower seeds, and add deviled eggs and a delicious nutritional yeast-based dressing for your B-vitamin fix (notoriously difficult to find in vegetarian diets). mmmm, umami overload! you feel healthy just eating it! here is a rough recipe for the dressing, although i am not known for accuracy in these matters - i tend to make salad dressings by taste. you may want to taste and adjust the balance of sour and savoury on this one according to your own tastes!

buttons and bottle

2011-06-14T19:00:00.000+10:00

this game, requiring only buttons and an old bottle has really captivated him. he is pretty good about small things. although he thought the bottle looked ready for a sip once full of buttons. ahem. luckily it was an adult supervised activity!

Bea goes to a montessori preschool, and there is an emphasis on giving children 'real' versions of adult objects as well as avoiding having all toys with the same plastic texture.

i love how he concentrates hard on new tasks, honing new skills. he loves to put things into containers. he still thinks tidying up is an exciting activity - one that requires clapping and rejoicing. not so his big sister. each object placed within another punctuated by a definite 'there'! (although to my mummy-ears only, non-mother ears may here something that sounds more like 'deh')

he is a very active little guy - i definitely notice a difference between him and his sister at this age. i'm just learning he might need to be directed into quiet activities more than she ever needed it. for the moment, this bottle and buttons are holding him captive.

chocolate wafer yoyo cookies (aka diy oreos)

2011-06-02T12:45:00.005+10:00

i made these 'oreo' style cookies recently. i found them at smitten kitchen. mine didn't look the way they were meant to, but still, were pretty impressive really. sort of looked like what macarons would look like if macarons were cookies. which is a roundabout way of saying they turned out macaron shaped.

however, i felt a little confused about why i decided i needed to make oreos from scratch. in retrospect, i don't even really like oreos that much. i would probably never buy oreos from the shop. i think i was simply seduced by the photos and the idea. she smote me with her scrumptious description and pristine stacks of perfectly formed chocolate wafers with icing betwixt.

i am happy with the inspiration though - i think i will definitely be on a quest to make my own sort of wafer-icing combo, perhaps a nice spicy gingerbread with cream cheese icing. i LOVE cream cheese icing, probably a million times more than regular icing.

do you ever wonder why you are making something when it is easily accessed at a shop?
the short answer is that the food made from scratch in your own kitchen often cheaper, healthier and tastier. you know exactly what went into it (grubby kids fingers included).

further points in favour include (but by no means are limited to) less packaging, less brand recognition and associations taking up precious space in your kids and your own brains, the resources saved by shipping bulk items rather than value added products and the pure satisfaction of smelling the heavenly scent of cookies wafting through the house and out the door into the neighbourhood and down the street (wind providing).

cast off, cast on

2011-05-29T22:17:00.000+10:00

cast off: one not so little baby sweater. it should do him for a couple of years and i've some yarn leftover stored in a zip lock bag for future addition of more stripes to elongate the arms and body length.

i'm pretty sure elizabeth zimmerman gave me the idea when she discussed unravelling entire sweaters and knitting them again to accommodate growing children. i'm more than sure that a few extra stripes on this sweater will stretch it to at least half a decade of use, which is more than i can say for a lot of my clothes. choose colours wisely and this approach really validates purchasing good quality, natural fibre yarns for kids knits.

i used noro cotton/silk blend (the grey-black stripes) and some sort of merino wool sock yarn. the sweater was meant to be a stash buster which is why these yarns were never meant to be together - the sage green wool is probably a third of the thickness of the noro in some places (the noro is quite variable in gauge) so the finished stripes look a little wonky together, but not too wonky. it certainly won't be mistaken for a store bought sweater let me tell you.

cast on: organic cotton sweater for myself! i must admit i am a bit daunted by the sheer size of, well, myself and the seemingly endless number of off white stitches this involves my fingers knitting. but i've got these really clicky and slide-y metal needles going and the sweater is meant to be a loose and drapey knit, broken up with tiny noro stripes, so i'm hoping it won't drag by too slowly.

i will keep you posted, now that i'm posting again.

holy smokes, i'm posting

2011-05-26T19:45:00.000+10:00

oh my. i haven't posted anything for 4 months! i have been making, and i have been commemorating things made in photos but i haven't been posting. some of this can be explained by an increasingly active boy babe and a sewing project i've been putting off (therefore rendering myself unable to start other projects without feeling guilty, resulting in a strange avoidance of sewing and fabric stash perusal). happily, i've (more or less) finished the dreaded sewing i'd been dreading, and done heaps of yummy kid stuff sewing.

blogging i guess has taken a back seat, for many reasons in addition to the ones above. but recently a few things have happened which converged to increase my chances of blogging. i got a comment from the daughter-in-law of a blogger i really like, i joined photobucket (ran out of free space on flickr) and i read a really good post accompanied by amazing photos.

and so, my inspiration cup runneth over and i had the photos taken (with a new amazingly beautiful camera) and therefore, i had to post something. i think my stalemate with blogging might be over for now.

without further ado, here are his and her new pants. his are cut from an old striped t of mine, and have a sort of harem pant cut. hers are tights made from purple bamboo stretch-velour. i know! i actually also have made myself a pair. i think velour could be a new tights fabric of choice for me - sometimes tights aren't quite as warm as you want them to be in the winter and the pile of the velour really contributes to the coziness factor.

the location is the wynnum croquet club. it was really fun to shoot.

seriously, i am going to be posting again. soon. i have things to record, including my very first ever pieces of clothing that match my daughters (gasp! i know, i've reached a new level. i'm not sure where that level is though. higher? lower?).

how to make snowflake god's eyes.

2010-12-09T09:20:00.010+10:00

this week i made some christmas decorations. i'm not really a christmas decorator, although i would like to be (on my terms!) but i was really happy with the way these sort of god's eyes inspired snowflake decorations turned out. the kids love them too, bea insists that they are actually dream catchers.

it was a good way of using up bits of yarn and they are really quick and easy to make. plus god's eyes are so hot right now, you know?

bright colours keep them from venturing into blair witch territory, and the pom poms give them a sort of gypsy circus feel.

how to use a magnifying glass as a pretend camera lens

2010-12-08T11:02:00.000+10:00

i've been mucking around with our camera lately, mainly because i am kind of jealous of all the big lenses i've been seeing around lately. i used bea's plastic kiddie magnifying glass to macgyver some fun effects instead of doing them 'artificially' in photoshop.

the images on the left were taken with the canon G11 only, and on the right with added magnifying glass held over the lens. bottom right, looks like i used a macro lens kinda, middle right, like a fish eye kinda and top right like a loma kinda something

maybe i'll find myself a nice glass magnifying glass and play around some more.

luvinthemommyhood

2010-11-02T15:23:00.000+10:00

Hey! guess what? my draped cardigan tutorial was in yesterday's comfy sews VS cosy knits clothes and hats round-up over at luvinthemommyhood!

Thanks to Julie for making my day by specially calling me to let me know :)

There i am (top, right) in all my 9 months pregnant glory! wow i really wish i'd taken more care with the photos in that tute as at the time i was rushing to get it done before the baby arrived. ah well, lesson learned. note to self - in future tutorials take photos as though someone is actually going to view them. The one luvinthemommyhood chose isn't so bad but the rest of them in the tutorial are!

spring sprung

2010-10-27T21:35:00.000+10:00

jacarandas in the evening light.

spiral shaped vine.

i love her fascination.

a big chat under the playground.

big spin.

big bubble bath.

sweet sleep.

big chalkboard!

Baby Bum

2010-10-20T20:13:00.000+10:00

here i must tribute Rae and Anna (we're on a first name basis now, at least in my one-sided dialogue with these talented ladies). Rae for her inspired development of pants that fit over cloth nappied bums, and Anna because i adapted her quick change trouser pattern in a sort of 'RaeAnna' hybrid pant of my own for little Ruben's little bum. well, big cloth nappy butt as the case may be. I'm planning on pumping out a few more pairs of these puppies before the week is out. maybe some big butt baby shorts too for the queensland summer.

oh wow these photos are looking a bit patch-work heavy. the bib, play mat and patterned cuffs on the pant legs are all a bit too much for me, when seen all in one place like this. and this was not a planned photo shoot, it just so happened that all 3 elements were together by happy accident.

note to self, take it easy on the patchwork. it is a slippery slope my dear. kinda like having too many cats.

aubergine

2010-10-19T09:46:00.000+10:00

little jumper with simple lacework for bea. finally got around to fixing up the neck, which became hugely massive after blocking.

i used white baby merino and dyed it with kool-aid after it was knit up.

the neck ended up so massive after dying/blocking that it fit me, and i am nowhere near the size of a 4 year old. lessons in swatching needed perhaps?

my new wallet. it has its problems, but i was happy overall with how it turned out. it is a little floppy (needed stiffer interfacing i suppose).

homemade ketchup recipe

2010-10-18T08:06:00.000+10:00

last week we ran out of ketchup. i've known for ages that making ketchup is super easy, but i didn't realize just how easy until i did it the other day.

so here is the thing. what things are 'pointless' to make by yourself? i mean, why make such standard items as crackers and toothpaste? well, because you can. and it is one less thing you are buying from a conglomerate grocery chain and food corporation. plus with items that come packaged in fancy squeeze bottles such as ketchup, you are cutting back on packaging. i saved a couple of ketchup squeeze bottles to store our homemade stuff in. consider also that raw materials are more economical to transport, so instead of buying a value added product that has had the raw materials transported to a factory, produced, and then transported elsewhere to sell, you are making something directly from raw materials, thereby cutting out the middle man.

anyway, the point is that ketchup is super easy to make. if you have ever made pasta sauce then why not make ketchup?

it's all about the ratio of sour and sweet.

i used 2 parts tomato, 1 part vinegar and 1/2 part sugar.
(for example, 2 cups of tomato, 1 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup sugar)

this will vary depending on your tomatoes.

as extras, i added some salt and some powdered mustard, then let it cook down on low heat for about 45 minutes before whizzing it with a hand blender. then let it cook down a bit more until it reached a viscosity similar to bottled ketchup. i took a last taste test and added a bit extra vinegar and sugar then cooked it a bit longer

let it cool and then pour into washed and sterilized recycled ketchup squeeze bottles.

some things just don't taste the same without it.

pinch me

2010-10-13T21:29:00.000+10:00

i've been seriously distracted from most aspects of life right now due to an impending trip to tokyo! i am super excited. it was a last minute sort of deal, brett is going to a conference with work and we found a cheap flight for me and the kiddos. i am busily trying to begin to fathom tokyo before we go in two weeks.

small image below sort of describes my excitement. FABRIC TOWN!!! 80 fabric stores all located within a 7 block radius for my convenience. i am sort of freaked out. it is going to be insanity and it is going to be insanely hard to contain myself in this neighbourhood. luckily none of them take credit cards apparently i will have to set a cash budget and stick to it.

eep!

4 dresses and a circle skirt

2010-10-06T15:00:00.004+10:00

i've made headway into making clothing for myself that fits and that i actually wear. i feel like a real sewist, because i have actually fitted these clothes to my body, adjusted darts, added darts, stay-stitched armholes, taken in bits and all that fitting clothes involves. these four dresses are the products of about hmm, 4 months of sewing. the two darker dresses were made a couple months ago and the two lighter ones just last week.

i love love loved sewing with anna maria horner's cotton voile (pale green with little stags jumping about the cottages). i am highly recommending voile to myself next time i am anywhere near it. and her little folks range really did it for me. in fact, i have just barely halted myself from swathing my wardrobe in things made out of the little folks/good folks stuff.

i also had fun taking photos of the dresses today. our place is really dark and i generally struggle to get a clear, bright shot of anything at all. therefore i decided tinkering with them on photoshop the only way to make it all look half decent. next time we are finding a new place to live i want it to be bright bright bright.

well. anyway, i am excited about spring sewing at the moment. light dresses are the perfect thing in queensland's summer so there will be a few more where those came from i think. i've had some other successes lately as well, namely making dana's circle skirt and i've had a wee dabble into swimwear which has gone way better than i ever imagined it would.

also i must add that i have a little pet. it is making me very excited about bread. my pet is wild yeast and i am building its strength for making some sourdough. i am hoping by the weekend i will have made my maiden loaf. anyway, that is just a little tidbit of extra fun around here.

the geometry of pasta

2010-10-05T08:29:00.002+10:00

The Geometry of Pasta from Pan Marketing on Vimeo.

the perfect shape+the perfect sauce=the geometry of pasta.

i am coveting this book.

homemade graham crackers

2010-09-28T20:46:00.002+10:00

graham crackers.

best cheesecake crust crumb ever. loved by children everywhere accompanied by chocolate and melted marshmallow. sort of healthy due to whole wheat content and possible raw sugar content.

unavailable in australian supermarkets, and to be honest i would probably have forgotten all about them if i hadn't seen a snippet somewhere, sometime, sorta recently, featuring homemade graham crackers with dark chocolate and homemade marshmallow. wow.

that got me thinking about (actually, obsessed with) making graham crackers and all of a sudden there i was on google, in the kitchen measuring squares and pricking them with a fork to lend them a suitably graham cracker-esque look.

this is loosely based on a recipe somewhere on the internet, but wildly adjusted as the original didn't seem to work. funny how that can happen with internet recipes sometimes.

1/2 C unbleached, stoneground flour
1 1/2 C whole wheat flour (if available, graham flour)
1/2 C other flour (ie rye, rice, buckwheat etc.)
1/2 C raw sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
100 grams of unsalted or salt reduced butter, cut into small cubes
2 T honey
2 T molasses

a bit of ice water

preheat oven to 180 degrees (375 degrees farenheit)

i used a food processor, but that is unnecessary. blend all dry ingredients, followed by the butter. combine until the mixture is a sandy texture, then add the honey and molasses. now is where you'll have to drizzle in the ice water, until the mixture comes together and you can form a ball of dough. it will sort of feel like pastry.
if it seems to 'short' (ie as though there is too much butter) add a bit more flour.

shape the dough into a rough square and refrigerate for 20 minutes or so.

cut the square into quarters and work with one quarter at a time to roll out a thin sheet of dough. it should be fairly easy to handle. cut it into whatever shapes you please and put it on a sheet of baking paper in the oven. continue with the rest of the dough. this is the most time consuming part, i used multiple racks and plenty of baking paper (reuse any baking paper that can be wiped clean).

i'm not sure how long each sheet of graham cracker took to bake, but i removed each sheet before the cracker was completely hard, and once they cooled they hardened up considerably. i've been storing mine in the fridge to keep them fresh.

delicious with coffee and tea :)

food for thought

2010-09-22T08:32:00.000+10:00

i have been absolutely devouring food-related books at the moment. clearly.

a few seen below already have a home on my bookshelves. the rest are on borrowed time from the library, however i'd be more than happy to let them all live with me, especially that delicious cookbook.

'eat food. not too much. mostly plants'. simple enough, no?

revisited this wedding gift the other day. it makes me love food and food lovers even more.

a quarter acre isn't too much to ask, is it?

remove yourself from the extractive economy.

beautiful book, beautiful food. seriously mouthwatering cooking tome.

loved her other books. i'm partway through this one, and it is super duper too.

really inspirational little read, full of great resources and ideas.

log drivers waltz pleases girls completely

2010-09-21T08:08:00.003+10:00

i have very poignant memories of watching this canadian vignette in primary school. i think we watched it during recesses that were spent indoors due to inclement weather. it was always a treat. i loved thinking about floating down the river on a log.

for some reason this song popped into my head this morning, probably because of the drizzle. today is looking like it will be one long indoor recess.

crackers from scratch

2010-09-20T13:00:00.003+10:00

continuing with my current 'make from scratch' theme is a little gem from this weekend. i've been wanting to make crackers for ages because they are one of the only items we are still buying from the grocery store. i will possibly still buy crackers occasionally, but they were super easy to make and endless variations are possible. i'd like to incorporate some whole wheat or other types of flour next time, and remind myself to bake on a lower temp for longer.

here is the basic recipe i used

2 C organic stone-ground flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
a bit of sea salt and pepper
1/3 C olive oil
2/3 C warm water (approximately)

optional toppings included sesame seeds, grated parmesan and sumac

preheat oven to 160 c.

i used a food processor with a dough blade, which i use to make all bread/pizza dough and pasta dough. add dry ingredients, excluding toppings. slowly add the olive oil through the top hole while running on low, then slowly add the water while the machine is running. add just enough water for the dough to form a ball. take the ball of dough out of the machine and kneed a little to get it nice and smooth, then cut it into 4 sections and work with one section at time to roll it out until it is as thin as you want. personally, i liked the thin crackers a lot more than the thicker ones i made.

put the rolled out dough on some baking paper on a cookie sheet and sprinkle it with your topping of choice then cut into shapes with a knife or a pizza cutter. you could be methodical and measure your 'crackers' so they are all uniform but i like the rustic look.

pop in the oven until crisp.

peppermint tooth scrub

2010-09-20T12:10:00.001+10:00

i've been loving making things from scratch lately. last week i found an idea for homemade toothpaste and decided to give it a try. after further research, discovered using baking soda daily on teeth may not be a good idea due to abrasion of the enamel, but boy are my teeth feeling clean since using a couple doses of this simple, scrubby, minty paste. i love it. tartar begone. i am going to try and restrain my use to bi-monthly.

2 T glycerin
1 T xylitol (available from sweetener section of healthfood stores, it is a natural fluoride-like substance)
1/2 tsp salt
3 T baking soda
1/4 tsp peppermint extract

mix all ingredients until well incorporated. you may have to add a little more glycerin or a little more baking soda depending on how you want the consistency. mine turned out a little less pasty than normal toothpaste.

my efforts towards making toothpaste aren't over. i've been reading about safer abrasives to use, and i haven't read anything conclusive as of yet.

happy scrubbing!

5 things i will never (never?!) buy again

2010-09-10T22:25:00.000+10:00

image via flickr

last week one of my favourite bloggers, rhonda jean over at Down to Earth wrote a post about the 5 things she would never buy again.

i could not get this topic out of my head. five things i will NEVER buy again? never is a long time. never is forever. and what is the point, besides saving money/consuming less/being green etc? i've been thinking a lot recently about how to opt out of our disfunctional economic system in small ways, and i think this is one of them.

so, without further ado, here are the 5 things i will never buy again.

1. paper napkins. i've never been a big napkin user and have never bought paper napkins for personal use before. but then i started thinking, what about kids birthday parties? then what? i think in the past i have (ahem) 'borrowed' paper napkins from my mother in law for said birthday parties. this year i am seriously making a large number of fabric napkins. i am not joking. watch me.

another point about napkin use. what about using paper napkins? i may use them at restaurants but shall not use them excessively.

2. pizza bases. again, never been big on buying pizza bases, so i think it's safe to say that i will not in the future. they are way too easy to make and way too tasty.

3. deodorant after a recent foray into making my own

4. commercial cleaning products. all baking soda and vinegar from here on in.

5. factory farm eggs. hmm. i am hoping i can fulfill this fifth thing. could there be a moment in my future where i am so desperate for eggs that i will buy anything less than free-range or organic? possibly. but i don't see it as likely, so here is my fifth. factory farm eggs.

i suppose there are plenty of things i will never buy again because i have never bought them before, but those things don't count. i'm thinking that things i am consciously choosing not to buy are the only things that count. i am hoping to add to this list. currently i am on a no clothes diet. no store bought clothes, although i can buy second hand. i'd like to try to make all my clothes this year, excluding underwear, hosiery and shoes for now.

there are lots of things i hope never to buy again and will be trying hard not to buy again. canned beans and baby wipes are definitely on my radar at the moment, but i'm not ready to say never quite yet.

i think i would like this list to a habit, a sort of bi-annual vow. maybe even a quarterly. 2o things per year i will never buy again.

what things will you never buy again?

shot this week

2010-09-08T13:02:00.003+10:00

sleepy 4 month old

daddy love

bea hijacking baby toy at the gallery of modern art

is that a happy meal toy she's playing with?

'painting' with a flashlight. bea loved this activity.

silly serious tableau the other night

my creative space

2010-09-02T10:16:00.003+10:00

there's been a bit of quilt mania over here as summer threatens in queensland. folks have eloped, babies are about to be born, and i have secured a tentative affirmation that a quilt may be welcome on our bed.

i'm pleased to say that i completed one picnic quilt on sunday. it is meant for a family of four who sneakily snuck off to secretly seal the deal and probably didn't receive many gifts as a result.

also, i completed the top piece of a baby cot quilt, made for future third baby of a family. he is probably going to have a lot of hand me downs from his older brothers so i thought it might be nice for him to have something of his own. it is a brick sort of style pieced quilt, which works well for my gift of imprecision. in the photo above it is falsely seen as complete as it was placed on an already existing cot quilt for folding and photographing.

the main quilting excitement for me this week is that my man has possibly given me the go-ahead to make a quilt for our bed. this is a big deal. he has very strict standards? stipulations? style requirements? so that is why i say possibly. the condition/s is/are that the quilt must basically be one colour. i'm allowed to do various squares but must use one colour (preferably white or off-white, ideally unbleached organic cotton or something). it may have some colour details such as a few patterned posts and borders and maybe little reverse appliqued circles. it must be subtle. i am to submit my design and then i may or may not be able to start.

to see what others have been making, visit kootoyoo.

homemade deodourant

2010-08-30T15:47:00.005+10:00

image from here

we've been off the commercial deodorant/antiperspirant bandwagon for a while now, as the knowledge that standard brands include aluminum, pthalates and fragrances linked to neurological problems (including Alzheimer's), cancers and reproductive toxicity (see this cosmetic safety database). plus those roll up roll on spray on type bottles contain a lot of unnecessary plastic packaging.

we've both been using the salt crystal type deodorant which neutralizes odour causing bacteria. it generally works, however lately it has been heating up here in Queensland as winter comes to an end and i'm not always getting a shower every day (due to baby and 3 year old intervening in my ability to tend self) and i was finding the salt crystal was just not neutralizing those odour causing bacteria enough for me.

happened to read this post over at soozs and she mentioned making her own deodorant and that it really really worked (i, like others it seems, find the 'natural' brands just didn't cut it) and it piqued my interest. so i found my way to the original source and made some of my own. i must say, i am very impressed thus far! no smelliness after full two days with no re application. wow. that seems better than store bought. also although it turns out as a white paste it doesn't leave actually white marks on clothes as long as it is rubbed in properly.

here is what i ended up adding, slightly different from the original recipe and slightly different from the sew green recipe it is based on.

1/8 cup cornstarch
1/8 cup arrowroot flour
1/4 cup baking soda
5-6 tablespoons of coconut oil
some essential oil for scent
enough witch hazel to make mixture into a paste

then mixed to form a paste. i wanted a really pasty paste (ie like normal deodorant but a bit softer so it would be easy to rub into skin) so i ended up adding the witch hazel to moisten it a bit further.

i'm more motivated to try more home made cosmetics now. i've never been a bit fan of shampoo, i use it as little as possible, so that might be the next item to try.

zoom

2010-08-25T10:53:00.003+10:00

for more see here

fish

2010-08-23T09:45:00.005+10:00

we've been mildly obsessed with fishing around our place. B is into play games about it and i've been fantasizing about catching our own fish from the shore for a while now.

this weekend it all came to fruition.

all except for the 'catching' the fish part.

finished magnetic fishing game. its a pretty big hit.

more magnetic fishing games here and here

'ted the head'.

he was my secondhand fishing rod dealer. he straps a multitude of rods and reels onto his triumph and peddles them at the chandler markets on sundays.

fish and chips at the esplanade yesterday afternoon.

not caught by me.

me, on my maiden cast off the jetty.

i didn't catch anything! can you believe it? i had the right bait, waited til the tide was coming in and had it on good authority that it was going to be a good evening for fishing, but it got so dark and cold and my baby was coughing up his poor little lungs. and i didn't know that you should hide the hook. i swear i could feel them biting and at one point i sweat i had something big on my hook but it got away.

i will be catching fish in the near future though, and i will let you know when that happens.

creative space

2010-08-19T08:50:00.005+10:00

we painted some wooden family members the other day. i ordered them a coupla months ago from goose grease undone on etsy. i've been saving them for a rainy day.

it hasn't rained this week, in fact the weather has been perfect, but we've been cooped up with colds. the kitchen counter looks like a chemist. there's paw paw ointment under the nose and euky bearub in the air. i bought one of those syringes that you can use to suck snot out of babies noses. my 3 year old a red raw mustache under her nose from wiping and my 3 month old has lost his voice. his squeaky attempt to cry is the saddest thing i've ever heard.

but we're coming out of it. and most importantly, i'm coming out of it with my motherly virtue unscathed. yay for me! i didn't even have to get the Mr to come home from work. i survived my first all-of-us-sick episode, and it wasn't that bad. i mean, the TV has been on a lot but it hasn't been on all day and we did manage to do some crafty activities and cook dinner 2 out of 3 times so yeah, i didn't completely wuss out.

the experience made my heart go out to those who have truly sick children. from that perspective, we are so lucky to have had just the sniffles. lucky doesn't even begin to say it.

to see what other folks have been up to this week, visit kootoyoo.

wordless wednesday

2010-08-18T04:53:00.002+10:00

join here

kiddie canape

2010-08-17T11:54:00.006+10:00

yesterday we made these yummy and fancy looking canapes for our morning snack. they were a big hit! we used banana slices, nutella and a mixture of cashews and frozen blueberries. any nut and berry combo would be good though me thinks!

with a dusting of confectioners sugar, they were gobbled up by B. she had to make another plate. fruit, nut and a bit of hazelnut spread to sweeten the deal. healthy? well, it involved fruit and nuts and really nutella isn't that bad if you look at the label. i'm going with healthy treat.

for more easy peasy food ideas, see here

mini quilt #2

2010-08-16T10:24:00.003+10:00

i made another miniature quilt this weekend, inspired by the flickr group mini quilt monday, I am sort of getting obsessed with miniature quilts. they are so cute and easy to make, being so small and all. when i woke up to do a night feed all i could think about was schemes for mini quilts.

this little star hexagon didn't lay flat in the end, but still looks OK, i think. i might actually quilt it a little more to try to get some of the puffier sections to lie flat. again i am guilty of being product focused rather than process focused.

what will i do with such a small quilt, you may ask yourself. well, i have asked myself the very same question. of course, many mini quilts are used for playmats, doll blankets, wall hangings or table runners (umm, not really the table runner type) but i must admit a 'modern' mini quilt might not be so bad as a trivet of sorts i suppose. but my actual plan for this mini quilt in particular came to me last night. i will be sure to share when the plan comes to fruition. . .

oh, the things they say

2010-08-14T08:49:00.002+10:00

lying in bed together, B is on her way to sleep

B: mummy, are there germs in toots?

Me: no, why? (stifled laughter)

B: oh good. i just didn't want to get germs in the bed.

Me: hehehehehehehe

making

2010-08-14T08:31:00.003+10:00

daddy chair.

fabric drying on the line. love the possibilities running through my head at the sight of all the purdy colours together. i'm surprised i ever cut into any of it.

slightly wonky fabric tent. must make alterations but that is a boring sewing project so have been putting it off. harumph.

chopsticks and buttons and egg carton. go b!

about to be creamed. into spinach soup, that is.

my creative space. . .

2010-08-12T09:13:00.006+10:00

have i really been meaning to join this thursday ritual for nearly a year? today is the day!

and i'm feeling so pleased to be adding this to my list of things done this morn, which already includes packing child's lunch (including making egg salad) 2 loads of laundry cleaning out the fridge having a shower feeding and changing and putting a baby to sleep hanging out 2 loads of laundry chalk drawing outside plucking my eyebrows having a cup of coffee making a grocery list and now writing this post.

please be advised the above is not a normal sort of list of things done, just a freakish one. but i'm feeling a little smug with myself after looking at that list. if i accomplish nothing else today i'll be happy.

on my sewing table i have little fish, cut from hand screen-printed fabric by Thea and Sami.
i bought some scrap packs from her ages ago and have finally cut into them. we're making a fishing game, involving magnets and nuts and doweling and string.

because we love to play fishing at our place.

for more creative spaces, visit kootoyoo. . . .

wordless wednesday

2010-08-11T17:07:00.005+10:00

join here

i heart canon G11

2010-08-07T20:07:00.003+10:00

muffin batter licking munchkin.

finger licking muffin.

mini quilt (possible new craft addiction).
with food face (bea's new fixation).

beach sunset worship.

car park chalk drawing.

byron bay lunching.

byron bay sun catching.

baby sleeping.

new man in blog-town

2010-07-29T11:22:00.003+10:00

i have been loving a newly discovered blog called made by joel. he's a part-time stay at home dad/artist with twins who makes them toys and posts lots of download-able arts and crafts on his visually stunning blog. no big deal. ahem. a craft blog being written by a man is rare and truly, the little games and toys he comes up with for his kids are both creative and often so aesthetically appealing that the adult in me likes the look of them lying around the house. in fact he is allegedly working on a book, which is probably going to be awesome.

recently we cut out his paper city and had fun colouring in the little people. B arranged them into couples (she is obsessed with marriage at the moment, embarrassingly). we were just getting over a spate of illness and had multiple boxes of toddler panadol lying around which reminded us a little of big buildings so we made some tea light candle holders with them by turning the boxes inside out so the writing was on the inside and cut some holes in the sides to let the light through.

colourwheel quilt

2010-07-15T14:34:00.009+10:00

i have a big project queue at the moment due to the tiny guy who seems to be nearly permanently fastened to my front, either feeding or in his wrap/carrier. i can get some sewing in if i bounce on the fit ball at the same time (not great for precision, but most of my sewing is pretty basic stuff) but cutting is a no go. i have actually made some things for myself, including a few dresses which has been pretty exciting. haven't photographed due to aforementioned tiny person blocking the views of said dresses.

anyhoo, one thing i do do on the fit ball is bounce in front of the computer while poring over various pages online, daily. as a result i find i am adding more to my to do list
(ahem, and virtual shopping carts) than usual. i'm convinced that i need to make a queen sized quilt. i'm quite sure that normally the man in the relationship isn't all that keen on the same sort of quilts his mate may be, but how can you not love this stack:

via PurlSoho

some colour wheel quilt ideas via flickr

I like the colour wheel effect against black. a quilt with a black background is appealing, don't you think? if this colour wheel ever happens to me, i think i will stick with squares instead of the wheel design. i think.

i did do one thing while bouncing on the fit ball on the computer today which was fun and constructive. i downloaded a couple of issues of Parasol, which is a digital magazine featuring crafters and each issue includes some downloadables such as prints to use with photoshop or illustrator. so i did some mucking about with photos of our new baby in an effort to get together a little thank you photo type thing. OK, i know this is getting dangerously close to digital scrapbooking, but isn't it a cute thank you photo? i like that it allows space to write a little personal message to the thankee. . .

back from the abyss

2010-07-04T09:10:00.003+10:00

hi! i have a new baby, well he is now 2 months old and not brand new any longer but still tiny i have been so happily engrossed in him that i haven't been blogging. i have been crafting in spare time but blogging has gone by the wayside. understandably.

lately i have been looking at lots of fabric online because it is an easy thing to do while bouncing babe on the fit ball while getting him off to sleep. i've been back onto the lovely spoonflower busily filling up my virtual shopping cart and then emptying it out again as we are back to one income. that aside, check out this super amazing apron pattern! i think i might actually wear an apron that looked like this:

and here is the yard of fabric that you make it with, complete with instructions.

is this not the most amazing apron/apron project you have ever seen!? check out the rest of Cean Irminger's work via spoonflower. i like a lot of the prints, including this kitty...

could make quite a nice softie/pillow doncha think?

Ruben and Bea

2010-05-07T08:55:00.003+10:00

A safe and lovely arrival in the early hours of May 5th. El Cinco de Mayo for our new little guy Ruben!

Yay!

Draped Cardigan Tutorial

2010-04-28T14:00:00.003+10:00

I have a favourite cardigan that was looking a bit rough around the edges. It's a very basic design in a light knit jersey. Now that I have my serger I felt I should have a try at making a reproduction. The basic design is a wide strip of stretch knit jersey fabric with raw edges and sleeves set into it. Kinda like a jersey pashmina with arms.

Below is a whole range of photos showing how I like to wear it. Sorry ahead of time for the awful bathroom mirror photos but I really felt like getting this tute done today as it is my due date so who knows when my next post shall be. And aren't thin stripes terrible to photograph? Kind of makes for an optical illusion that hurts the eyes. . .

It's the perfect Queensland cardigan because it is so light and versatile. You can just let it drape naturally or you can pin up one or both sides. I often tuck it up and inside the shirt I'm wearing underneath for a sort of scarf-like effect.

Also, it's the perfect pregnancy/breastfeeding cardigan because you can wrap it around your growing belly or around a baby in a carrier or around a nursing babe who is easily distracted by wind or other action in the surrounding environment. I'm not the type to worry about 'hiding' my breastfeeding baby but if that is something that makes you more comfortable about feeding in public, the cardigan makes a nice tent for breastfeeding under.

Here is the pdf tutorial with measurements etc. for making the cardi. It is meant to be custom fit so you will have to do a bit of measuring of yourself. I think it is all fairly self explanatory in the schematics but here is a little breakdown.

1. Measure your armspan and cut a piece of stretch knit jersey to this measurement wide, by half this measurement long. Therefore if your armspan is 160 cm you would cut a piece 160 cm x 80 cm. A lot of bolts of jersey are 160 cm wide which is the size I cut. If your armspan is a lot wider than 160 cm you may need to cut your fabric differently.

2. Find a long sleeved knit jersey top that fits you nicely in the arms. Trace this onto your fabric along a fold such that you will only have one seam on each sleeve. Remember to leave a seam allowance. The first sleeve I cut was a little tight as the stretch in the fabric I was using wasn't as 'stretchy' as the sleeve I used as a template, so I would recommend trying the sleeve for size before cutting a second one. Sew the arm seam shut, leaving the cuff raw.

3. Trace and cut a slit in your fabric about 14 cm from the top edge and approximately as long as the opening in your sleeve. This will be where you will set the sleeve into the main fabric. I didn't worry about shaping the slit to the arm sleeve opening at all as the stretch of the knit was enough to accommodate the small difference. If you don't have a serger you will have to use a zig zag stitch for this part I suppose. If you do have a serger, take care to start at the armpit and sew your way around to avoid any accidental mangled cutting when turning the corner of the armpit. For the top of the shoulder I just ignored the top of the slit and curved around it with the serger as well as I could and it worked without a problem. Also take care to note which is the 'right side' and make sure you turn your sleeve right side out before setting the sleeve in to pin and sew.

That's all. I hope it all made sense. It is a pretty simple thing to make but that doesn't mean I explained it in the simplest way.

Salut!

Anna Maria Flannels for Baby

2010-04-22T19:17:00.005+10:00

I had some lovely lovely Anna Maria Horner flannel sitting around which i didn't know what to do with as i thought about making some pajama pants for my little one but didn't want to 'waste' flannel in Queensland.

Luckily i felt like practicing some rolled edges with my new man Sergio and had some minkie fleece waiting around to be edged with something. . .

The flannels are so soft! i think they will be the sweetest little washers for our new little guy. It's nice to have some special things that aren't just hand me downs, don't you think?

Thrift Shop Finds

2010-04-20T21:52:00.005+10:00

I've made some nice thrift shop finds lately. This chair, which will be eventually re-finished in some fashion, and a cute plate and tea-cup which i super-glued together to fashion a little cake platter of sorts. I've seen a few lately in craft blog land including a 2 tiered version and think it is a cute idea. An alternate base could be an inverted wine goblet.

In other news, i have recently acquired a serger (overlocker)! It is a Husqvarna Viking Huskylock 910. It is quite a manly machine, his name is Sergio. I'm super excited about it and it is taking up a lot of my spare time, as I have been so busy playing with it that any blog updates have taken a serious backseat. So the long and short of it is I have a big backlog of things i'd like to blog about that have been made by Sergio, but can't bring myself to sacrifice precious time with him for posting about it. I think i might have to do a largish serger project related post soon.

OK, I'm off to do some rolled edge Anna Marie Horner flannel washers and burp cloths!

I could really spend some time. . .

2010-04-16T09:46:00.006+10:00

. . . fiddling around with these two sites, Spoonflower and Zazzle. Seems there is a bit of a Zazzle epidemic in the blog world at the moment - who wouldn't want to design their own sneakers? I know i wasted a good 45 minutes today messing around with colour ways.

As for Spoonflower, it's been around for awhile i guess but i've never paid much attention to it. However, with the newly made purchase of a whizbang overlocker (ahem, Husqvarna Huskylock 910 - more on that later) I am finding a new penchant for jersey knits and dismay at how hard it seems to find any nice prints around. Other great thing about Spoonflower is they have organic cottons available, which is super duper. Constant battle I have within is the fact that i like to make things therefore I am consuming albeit not in the typical manner - trying to salvage fabric second hand and finding ethical fabrics is really the go so I can still feel good about making more 'stuff'.

Anyway, below are some fabrics found on Spoonflower today that I am coveting. They are embedded from the site so ignore (but heed if you like the designer's work and want to see more) the designers name printed across the images. . .

i'm sure there are millions of prints i could love on there. They are a bit pricey (starting at $18 per meter) but for custom organic prints that isn't much. Plus I am finding if I use a 'better' fabric i am less likely to be sloppy and finish my projects with a lot more care.

what fabric have you seen lately to inspire you?

mini quilts

2010-04-12T08:25:00.007+10:00

my favourite mini quilts.

for sources see whip up's mini quilt month. . .

reused t-shirts

2010-04-07T11:47:00.006+10:00

Projects involving reusing t-shirts have been catching my eye lately. Brett actually did the i heart tree frame of his own volition (being a bit crafty he was!). i found the embroidery hoop above the books at an op-shop and added a bit of old fabric from a t-shirt a la soulemama.

a few more reused t-shirt ideas. . .

Bean Bag Chair (CRAFT)

Baby Tights (Made By Rae)

Toddler fold-over Yoga Pants (Samster Mommy) note: uses old adult pants, but could be done with any jersey clothing item

Grocery Bag (Between the Lines)

Extended Kids T-shirt modification (Dabbled)

little stitches

2010-04-03T09:48:00.004+10:00

I've been busy lately making tiny stitches. My first even cardigan! Its a teeny tiny one, so it wasn't too daunting. I must say I am a little enthralled with the raglan sleeve shaping if i do say so myself. It isn't perfect, but as it was without a pattern I feel pretty pleased with the results.

As you can see the button hole side is a little shorter than what will be the side with buttons. Why? Probably because I am not a diligent stitch counter and therefore picked up more stitches when doing the front placket ribbing on one side than the other. Oops! Never mind. Gives it that handmade 'look' right? Must sew on the buttons, maybe today.

Other little bit of knitting above, completed a while ago but i had trouble figuring out what to lace these little booties with. Settled on golden yellow felt. The booties are made with cotton so as to be relatively cool and made using my own half-hazard pattern once again. The cabled top of the boot is an XOXO cable, which doesn't really show in the photo but is cute in real life.
The booties are perched on a piece of super duper soft 'minkie' fleece - plans are underway for a sort of pram blankie with pretty border. New little baby will have some hopefully cute things to be swaddled in if i can get it all done in the next few weeks. . .

In other news, i noticed today that there is a new follower on this blog which is a pretty big event around here as I am not the sort of blog to get 'random' followers. Anyways, I clicked on the link to her blog and imagine my surprise when i found she had just posted about one of my previous posts! Weird! In a good way. Thanks for linking to me Ali Foster, whoever you are! You should visit her, she has a very pretty blog.

Well, I'm off to do some floor moping and scavenger hunt map making.

multi-crafting

2010-03-29T17:13:00.005+10:00

this bunny basket has tickled the fancy of others as well, as seen here, here and here. how can you blame us? they are sooo super cute! and not so Easter-y that you can't envisage them sitting around the traps year round. obviously if you omit the ears and bunny face embroidery, you've got yourself a perfectly adorable tote type basket.

i made the one above as a birthday gift for one of Bea's friends. complete with food colouring dye play silks and fabric covered eggs. actually, Bea helped with the activity of covering the eggs with fabric strips, which was kind of our first major foray into 'real' crafts at home and i was very excited that she loved doing it so much.

kokka and echino. . .

2010-03-29T16:31:00.003+10:00

OK, here they are - the 4 half meter pieces of fabric that have had me tossing and turning at night. Seriously, what am i going to do with these beauties? I am not a regular user of 'good' fabric so i am a little daunted. I actually washed them today, in preparation for sewing. i know all proper sewers wash their fabric, but i'm not really a proper sewer so this is probably a first for me (except for the time i made a quilt).

julie called me to let me know about a 30% off sale of quilting fabric at a local shop that stocks Kokka and Echino fabrics. If you've never heard of them they are imported from japan and a 50 % linen/cotton blend.

Bea actually picked them out, except for the brown (which she approved of after some thought). Surprisingly she didn't choose the pinkest things (well, they are pretty pink but don't have ballerinas on them or anything) and even picked out the wizard of oz print on the far left. She felt they were 'hers' and carried the little packet of fabric around quite proudly. We arrived home and she took them out and spread them on the table happily chatting to herself about making some skirts. I went outside at this point to get everything else out of the car and had a passing flash of an image of her actually making something out of the precious kokka. Came back inside to see her posed with scissors ready to cut into this $30 per meter crisp cotton/linen. Time stood still. I ran in slow motion, half yelling half moaning 'NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!'

Pretty funny huh?

She didn't cut into the fabric at all, but has been hounding me daily about 'her' fabric being 'ready'. As in ready for her to cut? i'm not sure. but i have carefully kept it out of sight just in case. . .

Embellish

2010-03-23T15:17:00.008+10:00

There seems to be a bit of an embellished t-shirt craze going on at the moment and i'm thinking this would be an easy thing to acheive at home, with my sewing machine and a pair of scissors. Especially as I'm looking forward to ending a wardrobe dry-spell of pregnancy limited clothing (probably have about 5 things i can actually put on my 8 months pregnant body at the moment). So. I am looking forward to wearing some other clothes soon. Added to the excitment is the fact that we are coming into autumn/winter here, so I can wear jeans possibly and t-shirts instead of tank-tops at all times. And, I'm pleased to be thinking about re-fitting some old t-shirts i have that i may be able to give new life to.

Anthropologie. All of a sudden all the american bloggers are talking about anthropologie. Never heard of it until maybe yesterday? but after a quick look at their online shop i may be browsing it again for future inspiration. Not really for shopping, as it is a bit pricey for my likes, but plenty of nice colours and ideas for things that 'one' might possibly be able to mimic at a lower price-tag.

I like these ones. . .

Also saw some good ideas for dealing with stained or bleach damaged t-shirts, via Elsie Marley

Cool, huh?

a tisket, a basket

2010-03-17T15:25:00.008+10:00

hi! wow i almost felt like i couldn't remember what it is to write a post anymore, it has been a while! having company certainly cut into my crafting/blogging time but the upside is that i have a gazillion little projects on the brain and will be on maternity leave soon . . . although this doesn't necessarily equate to having more time at least once the new one is born! but for the month that I am just waiting around twiddling my thumbs i will be doing lots of stuff i hope.

on friday me and 2 other crafty mama types (blogs here and here) are getting together to make some crocheted baskets out of t-shirts. the one below was inspired by one spied on Etsy and i was forced to retrieve my rusty crochet hooks and start hooking. it was a satisfying project because i feel like it only took a few minutes (well the cutting of the t-shirts took awhile, but we won't count that). next basket will include a cute handle to make it more Easter-y.

i am kind of excited about Easter this year because i used to LOVE doing scavenger hunts when we were little, and i think Bea is old enough to do a little chocolate egg hunting. and although i'm not a hallmark holiday kinda girl, i like eggs and bunnies and chocolate, plus there are quite a lot of crafty things one might accomplish involving all of the above. I'd like to do this, this and this especially, as it is the cutest basket I have ever seen!. Baskets are so useful don't you think? We are going though some massive reorganization at ours, and I am thinking many baskets are going to be pivotal in getting the job done. Plus little Bea so loves putting bits and pieces into baskets and containers of sorts.

Back to scavenger hunting though - I am thinking maybe taking photos of the house and marking spots she might find a treasure, as she is probably a little young to figure out schematic drawings. My mum used to write these amazing rhyming couplets sort of riddles for us to puzzle over before the answer revealed the hiding spots, but i don't think Bea is ready for riddle-ry yet.

What kind of Easter activities do you do?

Leslie's Gas Oven Yogurt

2010-03-04T06:51:00.027+10:00

For all you potential yogurt makers who don't have a yogurt maker, and who live somewhere cold where it can be hard to maintain a warm enough temp for your bacterial culture here is a nice post for you. This will also be a good option for the downunder winter (we don't have indoor heating and things can be a bit chilly).

This post was all exciting for me because it was written by a GUEST! Her name is Leslie, and she was my friend in high school. I don't think I have actually seen her since then, but luckily for facebook she piped up and said 'hey i make yogurt too! but in my oven'. i thought it might be fun to have someone else post something on my blog, and to learn about another way of making yogurt. . .

So, without further ado, see below for Leslie's Gas Oven Yogurt (although i am assuming you could also use an electric oven as long as you can get it to the right temperature. . .)

Thanks Leslie!

You will need. . .

a large pot/sauce pan

1 gallon of milk (you can use any kind of milk depending on the fat content you desire- I use whole milk/Homo for yogurt)

a whisk

a thermometer (I use a hot drink thermometer ie. for latte making)

3tbs of a good plain yogurt with live bacterial cultures

metal spoon for mixing

gas oven or an electric heating pad/blanket.

STEP 1:

Fill your large pot with some water and bring to a boil (this ensures that your pot is clean). Once it has come to a boil you can dump out the water.

Pre heat your oven to 150 fahrenheit or as low as it can go.

STEP 2:

Pour your milk into the clean pot and place it on your stove at a medium/high heat.

Keep a close eye on it and whisk often to avoid any milk burning to the bottom of the pot.

You will need to keep track of the temperature using your thermometer. The goal is to scald the milk and get it to 180 degrees fahrenheit. When its almost at 180 it will start to froth.

STEP 3:

Once it has reached 180 fahrenheit remove the pot from the stove and submerge it in a sink full of cool water

You now want the milk to drop to 110 fahrenheit. Continue whisking till it reaches 110.

STEP 4:

Once the milk is at 110 fahrenheit add the 3 Tbs. (aprox. its Ok to add more) of yogurt directly into the milk.

Whisk in the yogurt so that it is nicely mixed with the milk

STEP 5:

Place the pot in the middle of the oven and cover with a lid ( the lid should not be too tight- I use a clay baking sheet placed on top of the pot) (note: I'm guessing this is because you don't want condensation to form and drip into the yogurt, making it more watery? -Hsu-Yin).

If you cant get your oven temperature under 120, then try propping the door slightly open.

The Heating Blanket method requires you to place your pot on to a heating pad on high heat and cover it with a clean dish towel.

STEP 6:

Set your timer for 7hrs and head off to work,school or go do what ever you do.

STEP 7:

Take the pot out of the oven and stir up the yogurt. It should be starting to look like yogurt at this point and should have firmed up a bit. You should also see a watery film on top (this is good).

Mix it all up till it looks smooth

STEP 8:

Pour the yogurt into some containers ( I use glass mason jars, and old yogurt containers- make sure they are very clean first).

STEP 9:

Place the containers in the coldest part of your fridge over night.

STEP 10:

Add your flavourings of choice - honey, jam, vanilla, stewed fruit etc, or leave plain. We like ours with peanut butter! (sorry leslie, i lost that last bit about your preferred toppings in an editing error!)

What have you been up to lately?

2010-02-24T19:31:00.003+10:00

We've been doing some stuff here. Boy, having a visitor at ours really cuts back on blogging/crafting time! Not a complaint at all, merely an observation. I often wonder how a lot of prolific bloggers i know of manage to constantly post while simultaneously looking after 4 kids under ten, harvesting apples and knitting a jumper. I suppose that when you want to, you can make time for anything if you manage time with a stern hand.

Above is a semi food related craft project, involving using KOOL AID to dye silk. We dyed some play cloths from Dharma Trading Co. over the weekend with some kool aid packets my dad sent over with Jonathan.

It worked so much better than i expected! And it was really easy and non-toxic seeming (although one does wonder how good drinking kool aid can be if it dyes fabric so well? Kind of creepy! Glad we didn't drink any while growing up!). You can only dye wool and silk with kool aid, but as you can see the colours come out really vibrant. Since the weekend i've found a colour chart with all the flavours and what colour you can expect to get out of them . . . looks like i might be putting in another Kool Aid order to Canada!

Basically, all we did was soak the blank silks in hot water and vinegar for about 20 minutes. In a pot, we sprinkled 1 package of kool aid onto the silk. That was the part Bea helped with. Then i added a little hot water and let the pot simmer over low heat for a few minutes. Gradually, the colour is absorbed by the silk and you end up with relatively clear water residue in the bottom of the pot. At that point i set the silk aside to cool before rinsing it. It required very little rinsing once the colour had been absorbed (so much easier than dying with fabric dye! i hate rinsing and rinsing!).

The best part about doing this project was the Bea could help quite a bit and it made the house smell like candy. She is very proud of her silks we dyed together and has been playing imaginative games, waldorf style ever since. . .

Making Yogurt is Easy, Yo!

2010-02-17T16:08:00.008+10:00

I've been making yogurt with success for quite some time and now that i'm good at it, it is just like making a pot of coffee, or something just as routine.

In principle, making yogurt involves giving a 'good' bacteria culture the ideal habitat in which to breed. In this case, they are a little colony of lactobacillus whose babies like warm milk. What baby doesn't like warm milk? So theoretically, infusing warm milk with bacteria colonies and maintaining an ideal breeding temperature for the little critters is pretty simple.

I used to make yogurt in a tupperware and then keep in in an esky/cooler packed with bottles of hot water to maintain the temp. I was finding that the results were a little irratic, depending on how diligently i was maintaining the temperature. There are lots of variations on the internet, using ovens, crockpots, piles of blankets etc.

I was originally turned off by the 'Easiyo' yogurt maker because it is actually meant to be used with prepackaged powder mixtures containing the bacterial culture and powdered milk - however these are not as cheap as just buying your own milk and reserving a little yogurt from a previous batch as a starter culture. Anyway, i invested $20 on an Easiyo yogurt maker a month or so ago - it maintains the idea temperature really well, and now that i know i can easily make yogurt without the Easiyo packets, i haven't looked back! Wow i sort of sound like an Easiyo info-mercial (except on the website they highly DO NOT recommend using milk in a DIY fashion, claiming you cannot guarantee product safety or something).

I've also read that your 'home' culture takes on a little identity of its own and is somehow better for you, but i haven't confirmed that scientifically. I do notice that if i accidentally don't save any yogurt for my next batch and have to buy a pot of yogurt it takes a few batches for the flavour to mellow. Usually the first few have quite a sharp sour flavour in comparison to yogurt made with the following 'generations' of starters.

After a day or so in the fridge i find the yogurt gets even tastier and thicker - we use it now instead of sour cream and sometimes i let it strain for a really long time and then add salt to make a kind of 'cream cheese' (quark). The best thing i think about making yogurt at home is that bea really loves it and is finally eating mainly unsweetened yogurt, which she's never liked before. . .

You really don't have to use an Easiyo maker for this 'recipe' (but you can order them online just google Easiyo). i think a really good substitute would be a thermos, cooler or 'esky' and jars or containers inside that contain the milk and culture. Then you can just add hot water straight into your cooler. I guess the problem with this might be finding a small enough cooler so you aren't filling your kettle a bunch of times to get the level high enough that it immerses the jar.

beetroot blush

2010-02-16T15:26:00.003+10:00

I don't really wear 'blush', but this recipe for beetroot blush/lipgloss looks fun to make and fun to use. . .

Chunky Crayon Muffins

2010-02-12T13:46:00.006+10:00

Hey!

I've been off the computer lately because my brother is visiting from Canada for the next month! He's already been here a couple of weeks. We've been having a lot of fun hanging out. The downside of Canada and Australia being so far apart is that there is not a lot of visiting happening - the upside is that when people do come to visit, they stay for a long time!

Therefore, I've been away from the computer and the sewing machine, but yesterday we did some fun things with broken crayons.

We made crayon muffins while it was too hot to go outside. We got the idea from Make and Take.

We had a marker and crayon throw out this morning - getting rid of dried up markers, we decided we don't love crayons anymore, especially decrepit broken ones. So we peeled and broke them up into little pieces and made mini muffin crayons, which was super fun! Bea loved organizing the coloured pieces into similarly coloured groups as much as she loved making random coloured muffins. . .

boy oh boy

2010-02-02T14:25:00.008+10:00

hey! have a look at this. . . MADE is teaming up with Made by Ray for the month of february and they are going to be posting all about crafty projects for boys! i'm supremely excited about this as we are going to have a baby boy soon (well, in 3 months) and to be honest i've felt a little lacking in 'boy' type sewing project enthusiasm, i must admit.

i do have one plan - i really want to make a little quilt using japanese prints . . . but otherwise i've had some baby boy project stagnation happening.

hopefully this months boy project theme will inspire me! i'm already thinking about cool onesie colour combos after reading the MADEIT tutorial from today.

how to reuse your bath 'pouf'

2010-01-25T19:05:00.005+10:00

isn't this clever? it caught my eye because a most recent bath puff only lasted a couple of months at ours, and that was after already fixing it with an elastic band on its 2nd week of life. maybe we are just really hard on our poufs? i don't know. anyways, salihan crafts has a little tutorial for 2 ways of reusing your pouf. the above image is of a knitted pot scrubber, but i think it would work equally well in the shower as a plain old body scrubber.

my thoughts lately have been on how to not buy too many new things. i was talking to fellow craft blogger kat about a blog she reads (note to self: must find out what blog it is she is actually referring to) about a woman who made a pledge not to buy ANYTHING new for an entire year! she could go to op-shops and she could buy some new things but they had to be ethical/sustainable/sweatshop free etc. it really got me thinking about how quickly i tend to rush out on a crafty whim and purchase things to make things with. it is so hard sometimes to be patient and wait until you can find the buttons in a thrift shop or consignment shop, or order and wait for ethically produced fabric to arrive in the mail. being mindful about where and why you are purchasing something takes a little more time and effort, but is so much better for both your budget and your ecological foot-print. and i definitely always feel better about things i've done that require a bit of an effort, don't you?

we did do something good over the weekend, which involved sewing new velcro on a pair of board shorts that were in good condition apart from the velcro bits, and we were quite happy with ourselves for doing that. it is so satisfying to salvage things, and definitely worth the extra time and effort.

ps: Down to Earth posted today about the hierarchy of food waste, and i can't seem to get enough of her thoughts, so for further reading see here.

2010-01-20T10:00:00.001+10:00

making plans. . .

the reason for all these shenanigans with a light box is that i'm getting my act together to open an etsy shop. as soon as I can! it's going to be called 'la fabrica', which means 'the workshop' in spanish. i'm just waiting (rather impatiently) for a few supplies I've ordered to arrive from the states. but look at what arrived the other day...

. . .these beautiful pieces of 100% wool felt in gorgeous colours came from feltonthefly on etsy. thank you Janet! and look at how beautiful her packaging is - something you don't see from commercial sellers.

i am actually a little reticent about cutting into it! the colours are s beautiful and the felt is SO nice to the touch. infinitely nicer than the acrylic felt from the craft shop. i'm also waiting for some 'ecospun' felt to arrive in the mail from feltorama, which is made from 100% recycled plastic bottles. i'm excited to see what this material is like to work with as i want to keep my made things as eco-friendly etc. as possible by using renewable, reused, and thrifted components. there are some great op-shops around our place and a funny little haberdashery with unused old-stock trims, buttons, zips etc. something about having a look around for bits and pieces sort of satisfies the hunter gatherer in me and makes pieces more special.

so to celebrate, i used some scraps of my old icky felt to make this miniature bunting flag. it looks cute, i think. one could go on a bit of a mini bunting binge and fix them onto windows, across wardrobes and along corkboards. it took just minutes to baste the triangles onto some thread. . .

2010-01-15T19:44:00.003+10:00

How to: construct a makeshift light-box for the photography of small objects

Materials

cardboard box
white piece of fabric (a sheet or cotton muslin works well for this)
a piece of white construction paper (large enough to fit in the box)
a fluorescent desk lamp

Cut the sides and top from your box - leave 'frames' of cardboard so that you can have something to drape the fabric over.

Cut the white paper to fit on a curve inside the box to create the solid white background. i guess the is fabric diffuses the light and it seems to make the light less yellow.
I'd like to get some black paper and maybe a couple of other colours to experiment with what looks best with objects of varying colours.

2010-01-15T13:56:00.005+10:00

i like this song. . .

hailing from the Blue Mountains, the first Cloud Control single is really turning my crank. . . time to put my christmas itunes voucher to use i think!

2010-01-11T15:56:00.004+10:00

here comes the sun

after a few weeks of humid, over-cast and wet weather we have finally had a sunny weekend and it does feel as though some kind of burden has lifted. apparently when it is really hot the crime rate goes up. i can definitely see how that could happen, as i know there have been a few short fuses around our place.

but the heat and humidity don’t seem as stifling against a backdrop of bright sunlight, and the past few weeks of rain has been great for greenery – everywhere is lit up in vibrant green. the water has been sorely needed around here.

we’ve been playing in the water a lot over the last few weeks – rain and shine!

. . . . . tugun beach – playing in the rain, au naturel

. . . . . kondalilla falls rock pool, near flaxton, sunshine coast hinterland

. . . . . coming off the slide at her friend Layne’s house, bea is already posed to swim to the side of the pool before she’s even hit the water

i hope you have been keeping cool/warm - whatever is comfortable in whichever climate you happen to be in!

2010-01-07T11:58:00.000+10:00

yippee!!!

i've been searching newsagents for awhile for this magazine! i finally found it the other day around the corner from my office. better late than never (would have been good to have before christmas as this issue#4 is fairly geared towards the festive season). the focus is on local, ethical/green/sustainable products with a strong crafty/fashion/artsy slant. right up my alley really, and probably yours too. if you haven't cast your peepers on this little gem of a publication yet, you really should!

lauded as a green fashion magazine, every page is a feast for the eyes and the mind - it gives a positive and inspirational slant on being more mindful consumers, and has just the right balance of frivolity and seriousness, (as in, it took me a while to read it as there is actual writing in it and not just glossy photos). in fact, the photos are not at all glossy (in a good way) as they are printed on crisp, FSC certified pages that do in fact make you feel as though you are treating yourself to something that is both delicious and packed with nutrients!

also, it is a brisbane publication! hooray for that! i'm thinking about getting myself a subscription - it is definitely worth its weight in inspiration.

peppermintmag.com

2010-01-05T18:24:00.007+10:00

how to make simple cheese

i've recently been on a dairy product making bender - mainly yogurt making but over the holidays i heard that you can make a ricotta-like cheese from milk and vinegar! i think i just really like using cheesecloth and having the smell of milk on my hands.

the cheese turned out really well - we used some on pizza the other night and it even browned up nice and golden! it's not true cheese or even true ricotta, as it doesn't use a culture or rennet and true ricotta is made from curds formed with whey (apparently). but it is quite tasty and quite fun to do.

because this was just an experiment i only used a liter of milk - i used the coles organic full-cream long life variety (it is just under $2 per liter). this yielded about 300 grams of cheese.

after the cheese is made you can mix in herbs and salt or honey/sugar, depending on what you want to use the cheese for. i ended up adding a bit of salt.

1 liter of organic full-cream milk
1/8 cup of white vinegar

and a large square of muslin, cheese cloth, or thin cotton. wash this with a bit of bleach or vinegar before using.

heat the milk until it is steaming (to the point just before it starts to boil). turn off the heat but leave the pot on the element.

add the vinegar in a slow stream and gently stir. the milk will begin to curdle and separate. cover with a tea towel and allow it to settle and cool for about 2 hours

dampen the muslin cloth and put it in a sieve, then pour in the milk and allow the liquid to drain through

tie up the muslin to allow the liquid to drain away from the curds and into the bowl. save the resulting liquid in the fridge (i think it is butter milk as opposed to whey in this case but i'm not sure) and use it in baking instead of milk or for soaking beans and grains to add extra flavor

once most of the liquid had drained, untied the elastic and just fold over the edges of the muslin to give the curds a nice shape. use a plate and a heavy jar to press the rest of the liquid from the cheese

leave the weight in place for a couple of hours, and then peel back the muslin and voila! a lovely looking soft cheese, mild and ready to be used however you see fit. the most yummy thing we tried was spreading it on toast with tomato, salt and pepper.

there is something so satisfying about making things from scratch, isn't there? you generally save money and use less packaged goods, therefore creating less waste. an added bonus is knowing exactly what went into the food you and your family are consuming. not to mention the idea that you are developing a variety of skills that make you more reliant on your own abilities and less on just being another consumer.

the other day i read a great little post from one of my favourite Queensland blogs, Down to Earth, on this very topic. how life affirming and inspiring to relearn lost skills and have the ability to be self-sustaining! i often feel that crafting and creating things with your own hands is so enjoyable because of the satisfaction derived in knowing that you were able to make something out of nothing. don't we all love that feeling?

2010-01-03T07:57:00.010+10:00

felt florals. . .

well, i've had a little break from my little blog, which i think has done me well. i haven't been completely idle over the holidays. mainly making food-related stuff. i've done some serious yogurt making and as we like our yogurt thicker than possible with homemade yogurt without using cream, i have been letting some of the whey drip out by putting the finished yogurt in a cheesecloth for about 30 minutes before putting it in the fridge. it comes out lovely and thick like a greek yogurt. also, i experimented the other day with making a quasi-ricotta cheese. easily done, although apparently real ricotta is made from whey. but i am putting together a little quasi-ricotta tutorial and the end result is very ricotta-like and quite a bit cheaper for an organic product (probably about AUD $ 2 for slightly more than a cup of ricotta).

in crafty holiday endeavors, i tried to make a dress for myself which was very frustrating (how many times do i need to make something without a pattern and mess it up before i learn i ask you. . .) bea asked me if i was making a sack! i think i could fix it with some shirring, so i am holding out for that.

a more successful story - i made bea a felt flower embellishment for a hairband and it turned out better than i expected - quite a few people thought it was from a shop, which i will take as a compliment. i wanted to have the petals sort of lotus-like and i do like the effect. so, i had a little sojourn into the land of using illustrator! and it was fun and not as hard as i thought and i am pleased because now i have a pattern i can use over and over. normally i just have the one paper pattern that gets lost and or ripped and crinkled and subsequent reproductions just don't turn out the same as the original. so yay! this may be the beginning of a bit of experimenting with illustrator.

for the yellow flower i used a sewing machine and it came together so much more quickly!

I've taken the liberty of ordering myself some gorgeous 100% wool felt via feltonthefly on etsy which i'm very excited about receiving in the post sometime in the next couple of weeks. . .

2009-12-23T11:58:00.005+10:00

stocking stuffing

I’ve been feeling a bit guilty because I’m not hugely into Christmas – I do really like the gathering with people and eating of yummy things, but I think it will be a while until a Christmas tree makes it appearance chez nous. Outdoor lights probably will never make an appearance. Lucky for us, we have a mother in law here who loves her Christmas season (being born on Christmas day, perhaps has been imprinted from birth!) and when we do go to Canada for Christmas, I will have my mother to lavish all the excitement on the grandkids.

For me, a Canadian in Australia, Christmas sweltering in the heat just doesn’t feel right – probably this helps keep homesickness at bay. Can’t wait to have a white Christmas in Canada someday and neither can bea! She really would like to wear a snowsuit, she says.

This year I have tried to step it up as bea is at an age where she is really quite excited about the whole thing – mainly the idea that she has to leave some milk and cookies out for santa, and a carrot for his reindeer. We’ve been reading Christmas stories and I made her this quilted stocking for a few goodies from Santa.

Something i am liking this year are Christmas stories. These are our favourite Christmas stories at the moment:

This fun book was given to Bea a couple years ago by julie and simon. the rhymes are really well done and it is nice to read a christmas book that isn't about the north pole and all things non-Australian summer-ish!

The Polar Express was my favourite book when i was little. The copy we have used to be mine so that makes the book extra special. Chris Van Allsburg writes amazing stories and i like that the illustrations are all a little dark and kind of mysterious.

2009-12-19T10:05:00.005+10:00

porcelain doodling

again, accidental food related theme. i have had this porcelain pen for a while, and have been itching to try it out. . .the ink is food safe, after baking in the oven.

overall, the pen itself wasn't very fun to use - it has unpredictable ink flow and occasionally dries right up at which point one must shake it and tap the tip vigorously however this results in a super fast flow that is hard to control. is it just my pen? also, I'd like to see a more sepia shade, instead of black. i doodled on an op shop plate this morning and it looks terrible (it is shades of creme and little floral bits and the black looks really stark). i'm thinking maybe the porcelain paint would fair better.

but check out these beautiful ones by Netherlands crafter Nina Vorm. . . .
she screenprints vintage china - how gorgeous are they!? geesh they really make my efforts look amateurish.

2009-12-17T08:39:00.005+10:00

Julia Child

continuing with the impromptu culinary theme this week. . .

i suppose around Christmas minds turn to food and preparation for the season. it has been quite hot lately and i haven't really been so craft motivated. laying under a fan and reading has been a top priority in my spare time.

i must say if you like food and haven't read this book, you really should! it is beautifully written, portrays such an inspiring image of Julia Child's personality, and will make you feel it is necessary to acquire giant copper pots, the Larousse Gastranomique, and some escargots. . .

2009-12-14T19:50:00.005+10:00

fishnet coconut crepes with pear and green mango salad

there is a gigantic green mango tree across the street from our house in a vacant lot. Over the week we've seen lots of folks coming by to pick a few to take home.

i LOVE mangos in all their forms - but the pine-like scent of a green mango and its promise of a fresh and tart taste i find particularly alluring.

so I got out my basket and stick and went picking. bea came happily and picked them up for me where they fell.

for the crepes (will make about 10, depending on your frying pan size)

2 or 3 eggs
1 cup of plain flour
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (plus extra for cooking)
pinch of salt
1 cup coconut milk

a ziploc bag or milk carton

For the salad (enough for 2 or 3 people)

2 green mangos peeled and shredded (I used a julienne vegetable peeler)
2 ripe pears, julienned
teaspoon of honey
0.5 teaspoons of ground cinnamon

whisk all the crepe ingredients and put through a strainer to remove any
lumps.

mix all salad ingredients and squish it a little with your hands to get
the juices flowing.

to make the fishnet crepes pour your crepe batter into a ziploc bag or
old milk carton and cut a tiny hole in one of the corners (i like the
bag because you can pop it in a bowl with the hole facing up so the
batter doesn't leak in between crepes).

turn pan to low heat and drizzle in some oil. drizzle the batter in a
zigzag motion first up and down, then side to side, and finally in a
concentric spiral to link the mesh.

carefully flip using the largest spatula you own.

continue with the rest of the batter and top with the salad and maple
syrup.

we liked the fishnet effect of the pancakes because they felt very light
and the maple syrup was absorbed very nicely! they look a bit fancy but
really don't take much more effort at all.

2009-12-11T21:48:00.008+10:00

say it's seitan

image source

we have been known to be a little obsessed with masterchef around here, and today i took the first volume cook book out of the library. i found this recipe by the runner-up, poh, called buddha's delight, which was inspired by some of the buddhist vegetarian dishes of her childhood.

it uses wheat gluten, aka seitan in japanese/macrobiotic lingo (sounds much nicer than wheat gluten doesn't it?). wheat gluten is also the culprit behind creepy fake meat such as 'mock duck in a can'. google images will help you envisage just how creepy this is if you haven't been lucky enough to come across it before.

now, the ground breaking info for me discovered this recipe was that wheat gluten is a protein! what? am i just really behind in my vegetarian protein source knowledge? i always thought wheat gluten was an odd substitution for meat as i assumed it was more of a starch. now gluten intolerance makes more sense to me as usually allergies pertain to protein. . .

it has a sort of chicken-like texture in some cases, but can also be made a little spongier, like fried tofu to absorb sauces. actually, there's a chinese vegetarian restaurant in fortitude valley called kuan-yin tea house (the goddess of mercy) and i'm positive all their fake meat dishes must be made from wheat gluten - they have a large variety - it seems there is no end to the things one can do with wheat gluten!

the recipe for poh's buddha's delight gives instructions on how to make wheat gluten dumplings yourself from scratch, using plain flour, a bit of salt, and water. the idea is to make a simple dough and then massage and rinse the starch out of it until only gluten remains. in this case the dumplings are fried and added to the dish, where they take on the flavour of the other ingredients.

yum!

i also found some really amazing looking recipes using vital wheat gluten and nutritional yeast for making seitan from scratch via fatfree vegan kitchen. this doesn't require all the massaging and rinsing mentioned above as it has already been done for you. vital wheat gluten can be found in health food shops, as is ready made seitan, however the obvious advantage of making your own seitan over buying it prepared is that you can control exactly what is added to your food, and customize the flavours to your recipe.

i am hoping to get my hands on some vital wheat gluten this weekend sometime, so i'll let you know how i go. . .

2009-12-09T07:30:00.000+10:00

calico rabbit, a softie for bea and mirabel

this is a little bunny softie who turned out rather well! i'm a softie novice so any project that works out to being close to what i envisaged is a good project.

she was made by roughly using bits of the mimi kirshner doll pattern, namely the idea of using buttons as hip joints to give her legs a bit of swing and the dress pattern. this bunny also has button joint shoulders. she was one of bea's birthday presents and has been named melissa. funny, eighties inspired name choice huh?

PS i also made this rabbit but with a different dress (and named louella) for the softies for mirabel drive that ends tomorrow! i didn't get a chance to take a photo of her because i was embroidering her face features on the train and sent her off yesterday at lunch in a rush! i hope she gets there OK, i will be thinking of her. . .

2009-12-08T20:58:00.003+10:00

my place and yours : : wherever i lay my hat. . .

this week's meet me at mikes meme theme is 'wherever i lay my hat, that's my home' by tania from Myrtle & Eunice. lovely theme, and lovely blog tania i might add!

we do a lot of shifting around, and we have yet to settle in a 'home'. we also, until recently didn't have many things. i am originally from canada and have been living here for about 4 years - i must say that for me, canada is still home. for me, the notion of 'wherever i lay my hat, that's my home' rings very true!

my little family is my home here - bea and brett. when i get home from work to an empty house, it has no pull. the sounds of welcome from them makes me feel like i have arrived.

2009-12-07T18:56:00.013+10:00

things to do. . .

finish and send off my bunny softies for mirabel! preferably today, as they are due December 10th. yikes!

cast off and weave in then send off these fair-isle mittens. . .not telling who they are for! someone who is in a canadian winter, that's certain.

screenprinting class by Thea and Sami! so that i can join in the fun with making very nice linen tea towels (image from Spin Spin on Flickr)

make these recycled leather ballet shoes!

get my hands on some boy-ish fat quarters! boy baby quilt time!

make some things inspired by lotta jansdotter's book, 'simple sewing for baby'. . .she has some softie bookends in there which i think would be lovely filled with sand for fancy sandbag bookends or door-stops

2009-12-07T11:00:00.000+10:00

blocks and rubber stamps

i think i have some kind of craft genre attention deficit but oh my, don't you just really want to make some rubber stamps? i remember doing lino cutting in high school art and quite liking it.

add to the allure to stamps, this tutorial for transferring inkjet images onto wood blocks with mod-podge and you're (or at least I am) in trouble. you could glue your finished stamps to a wood block with corresponding image of the stamp, ooo lala!

2009-12-03T20:45:00.000+10:00

no.2 earrings

i made another version of these earrings but with black thread attaching the hoop to the hook instead of wire, and some pearl beads. i think it gives the fabric theme a little more continuity than wire. not quite as good to use super-glue as it is a little more visible than tarzan grip and also more treacherous on the fingers.

the more i wear these super light earrings that are also huge, the more i like them. normally big earrings are a little uncomfortable in high wind. makes you feel like there is some serious lobe stretching going on. but these puppies are light as a feather and flow with the breeze just as easily.