Hurray! Completed project.

From Surprisingly Domestic

This is the first time I've made a mei tai with a sleeping hood, and I'm really happy with it. I bought some foam to use in the shoulder straps instead of fleece scraps, and it feels nice. I need to make myself one to test though, because this is a gift for someone else :(

From Surprisingly Domestic

All nicely rolled up with a BCDU postcard for information.

I am learning patience in my sewing - I pre-washed everything and even ironed as I went along.

Oh, and I made banana icecream today. It is soooo yummy. Tomorrow I think I'm going to make a pumpkin chocolate cake.

I am sewing. It's slow going *sigh*

Fair trade coffee

Since I never get to finish craft projects at the moment, I thought I'd better post about something - how about a product review?

I've found it really difficult to find decent-tasting fair trade instant coffee. Yes, I know that "decent-tasting" and "instant coffee" should possibly not be in the same sentence, but I am just far too lazy to make 'real' coffee every day, particularly for my morning cup, which is usually made with a baby in the crook of my arm waiting for her own morning feed. Anyway, the last batch I found was in the Oxfam Shop but I rarely go past there and it's really difficult to go anywhere out of my way right now (three kids on the bus - it's a challenge).

When that ran out I looked at Woolworths. The closest I could find was this organic stuff:

From Surprisingly Domestic

Nature's Cuppa Organics. Not actually fair trade anyway, but free of slave labour as part of the organic certification process. [Eilleen is a bit of an expert on this.]

It looks somewhat like dried animal droppings. Unfortunately, it tastes similar to what I imagine dried animal droppings would. However, my caffeine addiction won out and I drank it anyway.

When I was in Coles a week or so ago, I saw this:

From Surprisingly Domestic

Robert Timms 'Earth Blend'.

The coffee bags are an excellent idea; made from a mix of instant and ground coffee for a bit more of a kick. More expensive, though. The jar of instant was $7.99, which isn't bad - and it really is a decent-tasting instant coffee. Hurray!

And again ...

... poor neglected blog.

I did eventually have the baby - at 43 weeks and 1 day (July 29). Her name is Evelyn:



The birth didn't go as planned, and it's taking me a while to get back on my feet.

But here's a quick deer costume I whipped up for Emma for Book Week, on 24 hours' notice. (She's Bambi.)





I didn't even get a chance to go to the fabric store, so it's made from an old quilt cover :)

Yeh, I've been slack again. I'm now nearly 41 weeks pregnant and today finally got the motivation to do some sewing. Most of my fabric is packed away (again), so this was all made from scraps - hence the slightly odd fabric choices!



Post-partum pads (backed with ProCare, core of bamboo terry, one has a scrummy cotton velour top, the other has the Elmo flannelette), and 2 pairs of breastpads (backed with PUL - I'm not prone to getting sweaty/heat rashes and I tend to leak through non-waterproofed ones quite quickly in the early days). The overlocking is way dodgy, but hey, who cares?



Fleece liners for that meconium stage, and some scrap wipes (the strange shapes being to get the most out of my fabric scraps).

I feel very thrifty!

Oh, and here's a hat I knitted up and took forever to seam up:



Ear flap!

Pan-fried potatoes with spinach

In the absence of anything interesting on the crafting front, I thought I'd share this rather yummy side dish I made with dinner tonight. Of course, I ate it before I thought to take any pictures :P

Ingredients:
------------
Potatoes, scrubbed, skin on (or peeled, if you prefer)
Handful fresh spinach leaves, shredded/chopped
1 stick celery, leaves removed, sliced finely (an onion would also go well, I think, but I didn't have one, and I have too much celery in the fridge)
Dried thyme, or other herb of choice
Handful grated cheese
Salt & pepper
Oil - however much you feel you need for the amount of potatoes you have.
1 clove garlic, crushed (again, more if you're doing lots of potatoes)

Method
------
Chop potatoes into bite-sized pieces; par-boil for about five minutes and drain.

Heat oil in a decent-sized frying pan on high heat. Add garlic and celery; cook, stirring until celery is soft.

Add potatoes to pan, sprinkle with thyme. Toss quickly for a few minutes, then turn the heat down.

Add shredded spinach, toss through. Cook for about 10-15 minutes, stirring/tossing regularly.

Season with salt and pepper, and add cheese. Continue to cook until cheese has melted.

I have been a bad, bad blogger! I am 38 weeks pregnant, if that's an excuse ;)

I pretty much lost the creative urge again for a while, due to lack of energy and a tonne of other stuff to do. I still have a tonne of other stuff to do (!!), but in the past few days I've been attacking my mending/half-finished projects pile.

Way too boring to take photos of, but I fixed the elastic in a couple of nappies and a pair of pants, mended some socks and a teddy bear ... I have a cute little baby beanie with ear flaps nearly finished that I must get on to next, and some PUL covers for Alastair that I cut out ages ago and never sewed the FOE on to.

That's about as far as my 'nesting' urge goes, although I guess I've decluttered a lot of clothes lately (about 6 big garbage bags of clothes and toys off to the op shop).

I'll take a photo of the birth pool once I've got it set up (soon!) - that's domestic enough :)