The Craft Room

Last month I attended a beginners sewing class at the craft room in Sydney. It was perfect for me because they went right through the basics, even showing you how to thread a machine, cut out patterns, etc. I walked out of the class having finished a little skirt for Sophie and feeling very proud of myself.



Since then I have been hooked. I now spend as much time as I can behind my sewing machine or cutting out patterns or in a fabric store. And I love the thrill I get every time I finish a new project.



Yesterday I finished a few projects I had been working on, including this little pinafore dress for Sophie. Now, if only I could get her to stay still long enough to take a photo..

Round and round the garden..

I have been so busy lately (sitting behind my sewing machine) that the garden has been a little neglected. So yesterday I was determined to spend the day in the garden weeding and planting..







Today, It is pouring with rain outside and Sophie has a little cold, so we are going to spend the day inside all warm and cosy. I plan to get a couple of sewing projects finished so that I can show them to you tomorrow, and I promised Sophie that we would make gingerbread men this afternoon.. Yum!

Mathilda's Market and Mad Men

Yawn. Why does doing so little make you so tired?



The weather has been beautiful in Sydney the past few days. It has been cold but really sunny and if you sit in the sun long enough you can almost convince yourself that spring is here.

On Saturday we had some friends over for 'Saturday roast'. Tom woke up early and slow cooked the lamb for 4 hours, then we all had a lovely lazy lunch in the garden.

On Sunday we headed over to 'Mathilda's Market' in Riverview. I met my lovely friend Bron (from Baby Space) there and we wondered around the markets while Tom looked after the little ones (Thanks Tom x).





The markets were excellent.. full of beautiful hand made things for kids. I loved so many of the stalls, like this one and this one and this one. It was very hard not to spend my monthly budget in one go.



We put a very tired little girl to bed that night and snuggled up on the couch to watch Mad Men. We had been waiting for series 3 to come out for a while and I am not going to tell you how many episodes we watched in one go.. let's just say that Tom and I are a little tired today..

A frock by Friday.. (almost)

I am feeling very pleased with myself today.. I just finished a dress that I made for me! I have only made clothes for Sophie so far and this was my first attempt at adult size clothing!


I decided to participate in Grosgrain's 'A frock by Friday' where Kathleen (from Grosgrain) chooses a pattern and then shows you how to make it over a week, and then by Friday.. you have a frock!




I must admit that I found 'mummy-size' clothing to be a little trickier than 'Sophie-size' clothing, but I got there in the end...


P.s I am wearing the dress in our garden and its the middle of winter.. it was freezing.. can you see the goosebumps?

EDIT: My 'frock by Friday' has been featured on Grosgrain.. check it out!

GUEST POST: Baby Space pudding..

Hi Grow. Cook. Sew. readers! Thanks for having me over from Baby Space. I got so excited about a pudding I made that I asked the lovely Katie if I could hijack her blog with a guest post.

This past weekend we were lucky enough to make a getaway to the Blue Mountains, to our cousin's house complete with a wonderful old kitchen with rows of blue and white Cornishware and gleaming pots and pans hanging from the ceiling and an old Aga cooker. Bliss.


I'm not much of a cook but this is the kind of space you want to hang out in all day long – the Baby Space toddler amused himself pretending to be a scarecrow with the washing-up gloves and the grownups got busy preparing yummy snacks on the scrubbed wooden counters.

Jamie Oliver's Bun and Butter Pudding according to Baby Space

1) Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius /325 degrees Fahrenheit

2) Cut one vanilla pod in half and scrape out beans
3) Chop a handful of dried apricots
4) Cut six fruit buns in half
5) In a large bowl whisk 4 free range organic eggs with 170 gms of caster sugar until pale and set aside
6) Bring 600ml low semi-skimmed (low fat) milk and 600ml double cream to just below the boil on the stove, stirring constantly
7) Pour egg and sugar mixture into the milk and cream mixture and whisk together
8) Scrape in the vanilla beans and pod and whisk
9) Take saucepan off the heat and remove pod shell
10) Place fruit buns into custard mixture to soak then place in an ovenproof dish
11) Sprinkle with chopped apricots, the zest of 1 orange and 3 tablespoons of Bundaberg Rum (supposed to be Cognac but we just used what we had handy)
12) Pour the rest of the custard over the buns and let sit for 15 minutes
13) Place dish in a roasting tin filled halfway with hot water then bake for about 45 minutes
14) Serve alone or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream

The verdict: I can honestly say that it was delicious - rich mouthfuls of spongey fruity custard goodness. My friend's highlight was the caramelised apricot bits on top, my fave was the creamy bread part on the bottom. The Baby Space man felt that the chopped apricots and alcohol could be omitted. And I only noticed later that we forgot to add butter. Oops. But I think it's flavourful enough without.

We ate this pudding as a late night snack while sitting around the fire playing The Settlers of Catan. I think this would also be a great recipe for leftover hot cross buns at Easter.


Enjoy! (Bron from Baby Space)

Wishlist Wednesday

I really have to stop doing this post because it makes me want to buy more things and I am really trying not to buy more things. It's bad for the planet and it's really bad for my bank balance!

But, if I happen to find a few coins down the back of the couch this week I will promptly take myself to..

1. Gorman
I have always loved this Australian designer, and her new season range is one of the best so far.. (not that I can afford anything in the store!)


They are also selling these adorable limited edition Gorman bicycles in store.. I would love to be riding around town on one of these..



2. Trilogy
I have used Trilogy products for a few years now and I love them. Not only are they all natural, environmentally friendly and ethically produced they smell divine and work wonders..

Their pure rose hip oil is amazing. If you have never tried rose hip oil on your skin I highly recommend it.


3. Nikki Gabriel
Nikki Gabriel is a knitwear and textile designer, but she is more like a knitwear artist.


She recently developed her own bespoke yarn, collaborating with small farming communities and spinning mills in Australia to produce some beautiful wool and alpaca.


She also has these nifty little 'construction kits' that include patterns and wool..


Apparently its even suitable for beginners.. lucky me!

Mandarin jam

I had the idea a few months ago of making huge quantities of jam and giving them away in little jars as Christmas presents. I thought I could 'craftersize' the lids (as Tom would put it) with little pieces of cross-stitched linen.

So, on the weekend I got started on my first batch of mandarin jam. I am so glad that Tom decided to join me in the kitchen because it was quite a job.

We used the recipe from the book 'Apples for Jam' (appropriately).
The ingredients are 1.2kg of mandarins and 600g of caster sugar.



First you peel all the mandarins. Then you break the mandarins into segments.. (pretty easy so far.) Then you peel the SKIN off each segment of mandarin.. that's right, the actual clear film of skin off each piece. It was a bit like peeling grapes (not that I have ever done that) and it took ages.



The cookbook actually says that this is a good recipe to make when you have a load of friends coming over and you can all stand around the kitchen peeling mandarins and drinking red wine (obviously her kitchen is quite a bit bigger than ours!)

So while you are all standing around drinking wine and peeling mandarins in your Tuscan villa, you boil half of the mandarin skin, the sugar and 500mls of water in a saucepan and then simmer for 20 minutes..


Then you pour the contents of the saucepan into the blender and puree until all smooth and there is no peel visible..


By this stage the mandarin peel looks good enough to eat on its own..


You then return all the puree to the saucepan and add all the mandarins that you have just spent hours peeling and de-skinning..


Plus any juice that may have accumulated..


Bring it back to the boil and then simmer for another 30 minutes or so (although ours took about 45 minutes). When it is ready it should "slowly glide down a plate when you tilt it but not run off". When the jam has cooled a little you can pour it into sterilised jars..


And then please try not to eat half a jar within 2 days..

Sunday Mondays

Well, here we are.. It's Monday again.
They seem to come around way too quickly!

This weekend we went to the park..


I finally got around to making jam..

(More on this later!!)

Sophie did some painting..


I started a dress for Sophie..


We made dumplings..


Sophie got hold of mummy and daddy's expensive camera..


And we went to the park again..


I had such a productive Saturday, getting lots of little projects started. But in typical Katie style, got none of them finished.

Sunday went by in a flash. I woke up, had breakfast and then all of a sudden it was 4pm and I had not managed to do anything really.. But I guess that's how Sunday should be!