It's all about me me me!

Yep folks, the theme of today is.... well... me! Starting with a couple of my fav birthday presents that I've been meaning to show. My very lovely in-laws gave me a voucher to spend on Etsy for my birthday, so I decided to try and find myself some clothing. So much beautiful stuff on Etsy I tells ya, but with the AU dollar crash everything seemed to be just outside my budget. And then I discovered Victoria n' Bird.


I can't tell you how much I love this dress - I've tried it on with just about everything I own and I love how I can dress it up or dress it down. Oh, and it's got pockets (and I'm sure I've mentioned before how much I adore dresses with pockets).

Another favourite present is this gorgeous cookbook that I got with a book voucher (one of the gifts from my lovely husband).


I'm sure I'm probably the only person to not know about Frankie Magazine's Afternoon Tea, but hey, even if I'm late on the bandwagon, I'm so glad I got there eventually! Not only are the recipes drool-inducing (I'm busting to make:

Nelly's apple shortcake..

...as well as


Pip's Best-ever choc chip cookies) but the photos are just divine, in that wonderfully stylish, crafty, vintage way that Frankie has. And the recipes are all old-fashioned, simple treats.

They remind me of the big morning tea spreads we would have at our outback country tennis tournaments, where all the local mums would try and outdo each other with their home-baked treats. Morning tea was always my favourite part of weekend tennis :P

Lastly, a little present from me, to me.


After making countless market totes for other people, I finally got round to making one for myself, and I love it. I used some gorgeous organic cotton/linen blend fabric from Duckcloth, with a piece of vintage linen tablerunner across the front, and orange homespun on the inside.


And the wooden buttons seemed to go with the natural fibre feel of the bag. It has been getting quite a workout lately, and not only at the markets!!!

And so what would a post about me be, without a meme all about...well....me! Lin from Paper Doll tagged me for the 6 unspectacular things about me meme some time ago and I've been super slack in getting it done. I know I've done this a couple of times already so I've been wracking my brain for some new and interesting mundane facts about myself. So anyway, here they are (feel free tune out or wonder away from the computer now....)

1. I get nervous about memes. I like reading them, and I don't mind doing them, but I worry about passing them on. Like really worry. So my solution is to leave them as an open invitation (so play if you like - just let me know and I'll edit this post and link to you :))

2. I love the smell of mangoes but don't like the taste or texture of them. Blurgh!

3. My favourite time of day is late evening, just before twilight, when there is a sepia toned glow to everything and sounds travel further and have a certain echo to them. If someone is cooking something yummy for dinner and the smell wafts over then even better. The ambiance of it always makes me feel like all is right with the world. Unfortunately, since having kids I rarely get to enjoy this time of day. Usually I am doing the dinner/bath/stories dance with the kids, who at that time are tired but fighting it so it's all kinda manic....*sigh*

4. I think one of the most useful things I learnt in High School was touch-typing. It is a skill I use every day :P

5. Speaking of touch-typing, I got through a whole year of typing class in high school, only to find out at the end that the teacher didn't even know my name. She actually asked me what "Bet' was short for - she thought it might have been something Norwegian. When I said "No, Bec - short for Rebecca" she was genuinely astounded. She was pretty old I guess, and probably a lifetime spent around manual typewriters did nothing for her hearing!!

6. If I was rich I would only ever buy ethically made fabrics. I come close to this by mostly only using salvaged and reclaimed fabrics in my sewing, but I would love to use more new organic fabrics, and fabrics made from hemp and bamboo. Sewing with the organic cotton/linen blend fabric I got for my bag was SO satisfying (in fact, I think it may have been the most beautiful and pleasing fabric I've ever sewed with). I'd love to do more of it.....just have to find the $$$$

Ok, so enough about me - I promise I'll keep myself out of future posts...for a while anyway:)

This is...what makes me happy

Thanks so much to Jacinta from One Little Acorn for a brilliant This is... theme this week. So. What makes me happy? My goodness, so many things from the huge stuff to the tiny little things I am lucky enough to take for granted every day. But to keep things simple, here are just a few things that have made me feel very happy lately:


Kate's second birthday. With eighteen extended family members. Watching my kids feel so happy and loved, surrounded by both sets of grandparents, and all the people who love them best. Oh, and seeing both Granddads wearing birthday tiaras to please the birthday girl - now you don't get much more happy than that :P


Yummy pudding made by my sister, with beautiful crispy-on-top meringue...


Followed by gooey meringue underneath, with lemon curd, blueberries and custardy filling....mmmmmm..... happiness in a bowl!


Making puppets of our family with the kids (the puffy white-haired person is apparently 'Dad'...he he he... and for some reason, the 'Kate' puppet had to be a 'superhero baby', complete with a cape!).


And then, of course, sitting back and enjoying the puppet show. Kate and I were the audience, and Kate sung along and clapped with gusto. And at the end the puppeteer came out and took a bow. And that was ear-to-ear happiness my friends.


Finishing a project.This particular one is for the shop, but really, it doesn't matter if a project is for the shop, for myself, or for someone else - just 'finishing' something always feels so great. There are not a lot of jobs involved in a stay-at-home mum's role that ever get 'completed'. Raising happy, healthy, beautiful kids, doing housework, cooking food....these things are always 'works in progress'. Which is fine. But it's also nice to be able to tick things off a list sometimes and get that short-term sense of achievement. It makes me feel happy :)

Thanks again Jacinta for reminding me to walk down happy lane and appreciate all the good things along it. And now I'm off to enjoy more happy moments from everyone else's blogs. Cheers!

One for the boys, one for me, and one for Sharon!

This is my latest new creation. After making a few 'Little Lady bags' for little girls, I decided it would only be fair to have a crack at doing some boy bags too...or as I like to term them - 'Little Man bags'. He he he, always makes me think of Kel from Kath and Kim.


So here is Jack. A mini-messenger bag with a velcro flap closure, made with vintage denim and vintage airplane fabric, and he's currently sitting in my shop.

On an entirely different note, and with no groany segue whatsoever (and as sighs of disappointment echo all over the bloggersphere...) I have a lovely award to pick up. Just let me sashay down red carpet and pull my speech out of my cleavage (yeah right...as if I have cleavage)...


"Ahem...the lovely Sharon from Iris and Lily has very generously bestowed upon me a lovely blog award, which is very flattering coming from such a talented sewer, crafter and blog-writer. So firstly, I'd like to thank my Mum and Dad..and oh I just can't believe I'm standing here...and oh my goodness I'm so not prepared for this, um....oh yes to my husband, thank-you...and oh oh, the wind-up music already..just one more thing...um my kids ....um....can you shut that damned music up?...."

Sorry about that - I think I fell into a 'Scrubs'-like daydream sequence there...

OK, so I am in turn passing this award to the following blogs:

1. Charlie and Grace - because I love reading about all the wonderful creative things Ali has been up to. And she has just done a great tutorial on making a book/journal which has me all inspired.

2. Hey Harriet - because it is always an entertaining read, and Tracy is the founder of 'Shadow Shot Sunday' which is a very inspiring meme where participants take photos of cool shadows.

3. Great stories - because it always takes me at least two days to compose my comment for each of Paula's posts. This girl really makes me think....and I like it!

4. Hot Fudge - because her blog is so full of colour and beautiful things...and I don't just mean the photos. Robyn describes her sewing exploits (which are stunning) and her family life so well - everything is always so vivid. And she makes me look forward to one day being a grandma!

5. Kimono Reincarnate - Not only does Melanie's creative talents appear to know no bounds (her bags, her jewellery, her paper/fabric folding - all beautiful) but she writes as an Aussie living in Japan, soaking up all the cultural goodness that is to be had there. Always inspiring!

6. Stripy Sock Studio - Helen's posts are honest, raw, and ridiculously beautiful. She is a writer and poet who also knits and crafts, making endless beautiful things. I like that I feel transported to a different world when reading her blog.

7. Fabric Fantastic - Kara Smith is an amazing designer, and also a really nice person to boot. I always love reading about how her business is going (and booming) and about her idyllic life in the Blue Mountains. And of course, her design aesthetic is to die for!!!

8. Leni and Rose - If you haven't checked out Michelle's posts on technical bloggy tips and tricks then you are definitely missing out. Not only that, but you are missing a whole lotta crafty inspiration too, as Michelle knows her way around a sewing machine as artfully as she does a computer!


Whew!!! OK, now lastly.....these were baked a long time ago, so I'm sorry Sharon, they may be a bit stale by now - but these are for you :) In honor of the gorgeous apron you sent me the kids and I whipped up these yummy afghan biscuits, and the aprons are all nicely christened with butter and chocolate stickiness.

And for everyone else - if you got to the end of this long post and you're still awake - then you deserve a bikkie too! Oh go on, have two. The ARE really yummy :)

Pass the tea, bag!

I remember my Poppa Fred used to always tell this joke: Three men were having dinner with their wives, and the first leaned over to his wife and said "pass the honey, honey", the second then looked at his wife and said "pass the sugar, sugar", and the third looked at his wife and blurted "pass the tea, bag"....aaaahhhh that one just gets better with age.

Anyway, the relevance of this joke? Well for starters, I'm about to rave on a bit about last night's tea (dinner). My brother-in-law (the amazing chef) got his hands on a whole kingfish, so he and my sister came over to our place and cooked it up with a lemon, fennel and dill risotto and a fennel/orange salad. The fish was so huge, we had my mum, dad, and aunty over as well, and between the seven of us we couldn't finish it. It was sublime.


And my mum (the amazing baker) made Impossible Pie for dessert. All this gorgeous food, and we didn't even leave the house (our lovely and understanding family all came to our place so we could partake without having to keep the kids up late - how considerate is that!!!).


It was by far the loveliest Monday night meal we have had in a long time. Great company, great food, can't ask for much more than that eh?

OK, and the bag reference in the joke comes in here - I finally added another bag to the shop today. This one is called the Cheery Tree slingback bag.



Anyway, stay tuned for the next exciting episode of Poppa Fred's jokes!!! (sorry, only joking....no really...)

Love potion number 10 (otherwise known as Lemon Meringue Pie recipe)

For all those who asked for the recipe for the yummy Mini Lemon Meringue Pies my mum made for our lunch last Sunday, here it is...

And for those who are looking to woo someone on valentines day, I would highly recommend baking some of these and giving them instead of roses. They are guaranteed to make anyone who eats them fall in love with you !!!!!!!

Sorry, just realised this sounds a little wrong after mentioning that my mum made them....but just pretend you didn't know that. They really are THAT good!!!

***
LEMON CURD

4 egg yolks
3/4 cup caster sugar
100ml lemon joice
80g butter
zest of 1 lemon
1 vanilla pod


Add the egg yolks, caster sugar and lemon zest to a bowl and start to beat. Scrape the vanilla pod into the mix, and keep beating until light and fluffy.
Put into saucepan with the lemon zest and butter and stir over medium heat until it coats the back of the spoon (this is usually when it is just starting to boil).
Allow to cool.

****

MERINGUE
4 egg whites
1 cup caster sugar
pinch of salt
2tbsp cornflour
1 tsp vanilla essence

Beat the egg whites with the salt until they stiffen and start to form peaks.
Slowly add the caster sugar and beat until it is all dissolved. The meringue mixture will become smooth and thick.
Fold in the cornflour and vanilla essence.

Note: this makes a lot of meringue (more than you'll need for the tarts) but it's worth making the whole batch as you have all the whites left over from the lemon curd anyway, so you can just make a mini pavalova out of it or something (my son loves 'wiggly worms' - just swirl the mixture into a wormy looking log, then add two smarties for eyes on the end!).

***

MERINGUE PIE SHELLS

You can use either pre-made pastry shells bought from the supermarket, or use store-bought (or homemade) shortcrust pastry, added to a tartlet tray/tin thingy (like muffin tins but shallow and rounded) and baked until brown and crisp. If baking the shells, don't forget to prick them a lot to stop them from puffing up.

***

MINI LEMON MERINGUE PIES

Add a spoonful of lemon curd to the pie shells, then top with a big dollop of meringue mixture.
Bake in a moderate oven (about 180 degrees celsius) until the meringue is browned.

Put on a saucy apron and serve to those you fancy!

(or if you're me, scoff as many as you can before your husband comes home so you don't have to share them!)

Enjoy!

This is...Sunday lunch!

This week's This is... theme is Sunday Lunch. So this is 'kind of' what we usually have for Sunday lunch. And I'm probably really stretching the definition of 'kind of' here...

Usually Sundays consist of Matt and Kym going mountain-biking in the morning, while Jade and I bake something yummy to have as snacks for the coming week, while watching the kids. The boys then pick up a few meat pies from the local bakery on the way back from their ride, and that's lunch! But.....well, I am just a bit too proud to stick a photo of a takeaway meat pie as my Sunday lunch, and yet I'm not good at out and out lying...so.....


I made homemade pies for lunch! Yep, I figured, why not have the extended family over for a 'typical', and yet 'not so typical' Sunday lunch. It was actually a really lovely day. I made chicken and mushroom pies, and made the mixture the night before (yeah, party animal that I am - this is what I did on my Saturday night!!!). I didn't really follow a recipe as such, but this is how I made them. I think half the reason they were so nice was because we bought all the ingredients fresh from the Rocklea markets on Saturday morning, and you just can't beat good quality fresh produce.



****

Chicken Pie Mixture

1.1kg free range organic chicken thighs
700g button mushrooms
6 leeks
1/2 bunch of flat leaf parsley
3 tbsp cornflour
1 massels chicken stock cube
A sprinkling of dried thyme
White pepper
Salt

Cut chicken thighs into 2cm cubes and brown in a large pot.

Chop the leeks and saute them with the chicken until soft, then stir through the button mushrooms (I left the small ones whole and the bigger ones I chopped in half).

Just cover with boiling water, add stock cube and thyme, and simmer for about 1.5 - 2 hrs (until chicken is REALLY tender).

Mix cornflour with water and add to simmering mixture to thicken. Chop parsley and stir through. Season with pepper and salt. Allow to cool.

****

Next morning, Lee and I cut out some shortcrust pastry to line the individual pie tins, added the mixture, put a puff pastry lid on top, then stuck a pastry shape onto this (this was Lee's forte, and everyone had a different cut-out on their pie - mine was an 'M' for Mum, and Matt's was the truck). We then brushed the tops with an egg and milk mixture, and baked on a pretty high oven (about 200 degrees celsius). Boy were they YUM!!! Matt made a lovely fresh salad to go with them, just to lighten the meal up a bit. Perfect!


So that was one of the triumphs of the afternoon! One of the not so triumphant aspects was Brown Betty, which was a recipe from Net's 120 Ways of Using Bread recipe book . I'm so sorry Net. I have no idea how I stuffed this one up. I really wanted to like it. But, although it looked quite good...


It just tasted like a big bowl of yuck.

Could it have been because I made my own breadcrumbs using wholemeal spelt sourdough bread?

My poor aunty insisted it couldn't be that bad, but when she tried it the smile froze on her face and she gave my husband 'that look', before discreetly spitting it into the bin....oh well...you win some you lose some... On the plus side, Lee and I had great fun using our new apple peeler/corer/slicer thingy that we had been given for Christmas. This was the first time we'd used it, and it was heaps of fun making apple slinkies!


Luckily, my mum (as always) came through with the goods. I hadn't asked her to bring anything, but Mum being Mum, of course she turned up with something...and boy were these something...


Mini lemon meringue pies - oooh la la! Now these were every bit as good as they looked, and went perfect with an after-lunch cuppa. Very civilised really. And so now I don't feel so embarrassed about showing you this Sunday's lunch. It wasn't perfect. But it was pretty damn close! Many thank to The Lark for inspiring us to have such a lovely day :)

PS. If anyone would like the lemon meringue pie recipe just let me know and I'll ask mum for it and post it here. Cheers!

'C' is for COOKIE

Ok, so perhaps I've been watching too much Sesame Street lately, but these biscuits really do look more 'cookie-ish' rather than 'biscuit-ish. And unless you have watched the show lately and seen Cookie Monster's rendition of "'C' is for COOKIE, is good enough for me, oh cookie cookie cookie start with 'C'" then this whole paragraph (and title) probably makes no sense at all.

Anyway, these biscuits are a mash-up of a couple of different recipes, but they turned out pretty good (Lee has given them his seal of approval by demolishing two in quick succession). I ended up putting crushed cornflakes, oats, walnuts, and dark chocolate in them. A yummy combination I must say!

And now, unfortunately, 'C' is also for CLEANING. I wish it was for CRAFT, as I've been having fun making felt hair clips (I'll post pics next time). But I can ignore the rising mess no longer, so I'd better get onto it while Kate is still sleeping.

Oh for a cleaning fairy right now.....

Making and baking

Finally managed to grab myself some sewing time, thanks to Kate having magnificent daytime sleeps, Lee being very good at playing next to me in the Rumpus room while I sewed, and me ignoring a decent portion of housework! Although, in fairnes to myself, I did spend the first part of the week cleaning the house like a demon, as we had Mother's Group at our place for the first time in months and months, so I was maybe just a 'bit' obsessed with having the place looking nice. But for the rest of the week I decided it was going to be all fun stuff. Big crayon murals and playing on the swings for the kids, and sewing and baking during naptime for me. Fun fun fun!

I have decided I LOVE our new oven - I even made scones this week that wouldn't break a window if hurled at it. And for Mother's group I made these mini quiches:


They were YUM, and I froze a heap which I've been eating for lunch all week. I also had time to sew this up - I've had the pieces all cut out for ages:


It is the "Charming Handbag" pattern from Amy Karol's "Bend-the-rules Sewing" book. It didn't quite work out as it was supposed to, so it's a bit wonky, but I've still been using it. I love the fabric which was an old pillowcase I found in an op-shop. I think it's from the 70s. Reminds me of something I might have worn as a child. And I used old plastic buttons from my Grandma's button tin, which I was lucky enough to inherit. So I figure what this "Charming Handbag" lacks in finesse, it makes up with charm!

I then had another crack at a bag, combining the Tote style (from the same book) with the Charming Handbag pattern, to come up with this:



It is closer to what I would like to create, but still not quite what I'm after. I think next time I might try using either pleats or gathers in the top so it 'scrunches' a bit more. And using linen was maybe not the smartest move, as the crinkled look is not so great. I do like the yo-yo flower brooch pinned on it though. I made it ages ago but didn't really have a use for it. Now it has a home!

And lastly, today I noticed Kate's only hat is now too small, so I made this:



I used some of the lovely Heather Bailey fabric from her Freshcut line, which I've been saving to make something for Kate. The pattern is just a New Look one from Spotlight. It turned out ok, although I think it is a bit high - would be a good fit for Bert, but I think next time I might try and make it a bit more "Ernie" shaped, if you know what I mean. Also, it only JUST fits Kate - wwwaaaaa. So I guess in about two weeks we will need another one. Oh well, a good excuse to perfect the pattern I guess. By the way, does't Humpty look particularly pleased wearing the hat? Maybe when Kate has grown out of it she will hand it down to him.

Another flying week

Well things haven't become any less busy since my last post, so here's a quick snapshot of my week:

Project of the week was making a pinata with Lee and Kate for my sister and her husband's joint birthday party. Didn't really know what I was doing, but we had fun, and it all worked out well. All the kids got a few good whacks in before it cracked. Watching them all scrambling down on their hands and knees gathering up lollies brought back lots of lovely childhood memories.

I also made Jade and Kym a chocolate heart-shaped birthday cake. It wasn't my finest work, but considering I decorated it with a massive hangover (yes, first one in about five years), I guess it was ok. I did have to serve it up to a host of executive chefs and foodies though, which was a little embarrassing!!!

And the reason for the terrible hangover? Let's just say old workmates, a Hollywood hen's night (congratulations Andrea - I had a great time), and four glasses of bubbly (which was about two too many). It was fun catching up with a whole heap of people that I used to work with, many of whom I hadn't seen in about three years. It was also fun dressing up. Just not so fun being so sick after only four drinks in five hours - and I was home by 11.30pm. So not fair!!! Anyway, I went as Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany's. This is the best pic I'm going to post of myself, as I like to think this is how I looked to most people who were wearing their 'beer glasses' (or equivalent).

Bit of a 'Monet' really.....best viewed from afar...