UFO sightings

(Not of the extra-terrestrial type.)

In some sort of autumn-cleaning madness I remembered I had three boxes/tubs of unfinished sewing and knitting projects that were packed up when I moved house. That's just disgraceful. Suffice to say, I've vowed to get rid of at least one tub ...

... first on the list is a shrug I started knitting in summer. I think I said at the time I'd aim to have it finished for winter, and laughed. Ha ha. It was maybe a third done when I took it out, and I'm 2 rows away from binding off the body. The sleeves are only 4 rounds of ribbing each, so I'm nearly there. I haven't knitted in months; it's a good recreation for those cold evenings. The laundry, where my sewing stuff is set up, is absolutely freezing in winter (think old house with nice thick brick walls except in the lean-to extension where the laundry is!!)

Photos to come when it's finished. Perhaps next I'll pick up the sock that was started two years ago, when I was pregnant with Evie. That's a bad case of second sock syndrome!

Pyjama pants and a cardigan refashion

The cold nights of autumn have come upon us suddenly and the kids needed some new pyjama pants. I've got loads of printed flannelette so off I went:



Pirates for Alastair



Duckies for Evie and a girly print for Emma



Puppies for Evie (I cut them upside down to fit into an oddly-shaped fabric remnant. Still, they'll be right way up to her, when she looks down at them!)

Alastair's and Evie's were made from a basic pyjama pants pattern I copied out of a friend's magazine a couple of years ago. Oddly enough, the two of them are about the same size except for leg length (Alastair is 4 and Evie is 20 months)! They both fit in a size two and I just lengthened the leg a lot for Alastair. Both of them still need room for a cloth night nappy, but these are a loose-fitting style.

Emma's I just made by tracing around a pair of her old ones and adding leg length, which is all she ever outgrows. I only JUST squeezed her pair out of a metre of flannelette; she is TALL.

They all wanted to wear them right away, which is always a good sign.

I also took two items off the alteration pile (trackpants for Alastair that used to be Emma's, just tightened the waist elastic, and took the legs up a couple of inches with a long stitch length; easy to let back down as he grows), and accomplished a refashion for myself.

I bought this cardigan (Millers, size L) in an opshop for $5. The chunky knit was what I'd been looking for, and I liked the huge collar thingy and the batwing-style sleeves, but it was too big and bulky. You can't really see all the extra fabric on the sides in the photo. If it had been wool, I'd have shrunk it a bit, but it's acrylic.



I took it in at the sides on an angle, so that instead of fastening all the way down it fastens at the top and then flares out. I've seen cardigans like that in the shops this season and I really like them (but not enough to pay $40 or $50 for one). I took off the extra buttons/press-studs so it looks like it's meant to be like that, and not like it's just too small for me ;)



It still doesn't sit quite right when it's on; I'm considering sewing the little pockets shut to see if that helps. But I'll wear it, and I wouldn't have before. This is the first winter in a while that I'll be really wearing cardigans/jackets, because I don't wear Evie everywhere anymore (winter '06 and '07 I wore Alastair everywhere, winter '08 I was hugely pregnant which kept me warm, and winter '09 I wore Evie everywhere), so my wardrobe is sorely lacking in them.

Daggy dress --> swingin' 50s

OK, OK, long time no post!

I finally cleared myself a craft area and did a little refashioning project. I was after a 50s dress for a themed hen's night this weekend; I scoured the opshops and even the more expensive vintage stores and didn't really find anything. Then I saw this spotty dress calling me and snapped it up without trying it on (because I was sweaty from going for a run, and had Evie with me).

Weeeell, the 'before' pic isn't very promising:



But I noticed the skirt had a decent 'kick' to it down the bottom and thought I could make it into a swingin' 50s rock-and-roll style dress.

I chopped it in half at the weird elasticated waist, and then cut about 4 or 5 inches off the top of the bottom section, keeping the bottom hem intact. I kept the shoulder seams and the neck facings intact (because I hate sewing facings), cut the sleeves off, and cut the top part into a basic darted bodice shape.

First mistake: I cut the back on the front and the front on the back. That's why it has the slightly weird collar - otherwise it was choking me!

I had to add a zip, too, so I cut down one side seam of the top and part of a side seam of the skirt section. The zip was nearly the death of me, and I'll not be lifting my arm much tomorrow night, so no-one can see the mess I made of it!

Added some more darts on the skirt so that it matched up with the width of the bodice, and then joined them together and added the zip.

Finished result:



If only I had the waist of my dress form!

Homemade dishwasher powder (no nasties)

The other night, we ran out of dishwasher tablets. Eeep! I really didn't want to make a special shopping trip for them because I knew I'd end up buying other things, even if only something my three-year-old wanted.

So I did a web search and looked in my pantry and worked with what I had. I mixed together:

1 tbsp citric acid (I originally started keeping this in my pantry when I did the FAILSAFE diet, but as someone without a citrus tree in my backyard, it sure comes in handy)
1 tbsp iodised cooking salt
1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda

I used about half a tablespoon of that mix in the dishwasher. I've used it for three nights and the dishes are CLEAN (and not salty). I use vinegar in the rinse aid compartment, always have done.

I don't think I'd mix up a big quantity of this, as it's already starting to clump in the container. Nor do I think I'd use it every night - most reviews of homemade dishwasher powder I've seen claim it works for a while and then a cloudy residue forms on the dishes. But I might start alternating it with the expensive eco-friendlier tablets I normally use, and it's DEFINITELY good stuff to have on hand in a pinch. Otherwise I'd have had to hand-wash the dishes until I got to the shops. Shock, horror! (Seriously, I hate doing dishes.)

Photo licenced under Creative Commons, taken by jbcurio

Carrot, orange and date loaf (Thermomix)

From the original recipe here. I tried this at a Jamaica Blue cafe the other week and it was delicious, so I came home, searched for the recipe and tried it in the Thermomix. Then tweaked it a little.



Carrot, orange and date loaf

Ingredients:

100g wholemeal spelt flour
180g plain (all-purpose) flour
2tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
120g raw sugar
4 eggs
1 orange
70g canola oil
130g plain unsweetened yogurt (mine was home-made in the Thermomix)
1tsp ground cinnamon
280g carrot, peeled and cut into large chunks (that was 4 carrots for me)
100g dates

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C (170C fan-forced) and lightly grease a loaf tin.
2. Grate carrots for 5 seconds on speed 5. Set aside.
3. Chop dates for 5 seconds on speed 7. Add to carrot.
4. Peel orange and grate the peel (minus pith if possible!) for 8 seconds on speed 7. Add to carrot and dates.
5. Quarter the orange, removing remaining pith. Juice for 20 seconds on speed 8. Pour into a cup.
6. Add remaining ingredients and orange juice to TMX bowl, mix for 20 seconds on speed 5.
7. Add carrots, dates and orange zest. Mix for 20 seconds in REVERSE on speed 4.
8. Pour into prepared tin and bake for about 45-60 minutes until cooked through. It will still appear a little moist on the skewer, I tend to listen to it, if you can hear it bubbling it's not finished yet. Cool for 10 minutes in tin before turning out onto a wire rack.

--
Tip: Don't worry about cleaning the Thermomix bowl out in between steps, scrape it down as much as you can and leave it at that - it's all going in together.

12 challenges in 2010

Carolyn over at My Favourite came up with this one. January's challenge is something for myself. We're moving in a month, so this WILL be a challenge as the sewing room is kind of buried right now. BUT I really need some new pyjama pants so I'll give it a go early in the month before I pack my stash away.

On a totally unrelated note, last month I bought a Thermomix. I love, love, LOVE it, and hopefully I will post some recipes I've converted for it, soon.

The colour blue - a themed post

Why not? Emma over at My House Smells Like Vanilla came up with this (the "Joyous Blogger" refers to the homebirth site/forum Joyous Birth. The colour blue ...

(I know there's a typo in the button! It should read Jan '10. ;))

So I present, five random things that 'the colour blue' brings to mind.

1. The ocean. I live in Perth, we have gorgeous beaches lapped at by the Indian Ocean. Despite that, I'm really not a beach kind of person. Too sandy, too much sunburn for my weak British skin. It sure does *look* beautiful, though.

2. The song 'Tangled Up in Blue', which is a Bob Dylan song, but is covered by Aussie band The Whitlams on one of their albums. The Whitlams are my favourite band, and I love their version. My partner's a music buff and laughs at me because I'll know the cover versions of songs and not the original (sometimes not even realise they're covers!)

3. Feeling blue. Hmm, doing a bit too much of that lately.

4. Cookie Monster. Told you it was a random list.

5. Blueberries, which of course, aren't really blue. I always thought they should be called purpleberries. Yum. Now I'm thinking I should have bought the punnet of blueberries I decided against at the markets today.