Thrifty Tasty

In my last post I mentioned that I'd been cooking my way through some of Jamie's 30 Minute Meals.  Yesterday I tried out "Pregnant Jools' Pasta", which is basically a delicious pasta sauce made by blitzing some vegetables together with some sausages, fresh chilli, and dried oregano and fennel seeds.  It's amazing!.  Really easy and absolutely delicious.

It's also a super thrifty meal to make.  I got a pack of sausages on offer, substituted an onion for a bunch of spring onions (fridge running low on general veg) and didn't add a carrot as we had none in stock!

We also had some slightly stale bread maker bread to use up, so I sliced it, and added a little home made garlic butter and mozzarella to the top and whacked it (Jamie lingo...!) into the oven whilst the pasta and sauce were cooking.  It made a brilliant accompaniment to the dish.

Delicious!

Another one that I tried was the Tray baked Chicken with squashed potatoes.  This is possibly one of the nicest chicken recipes I've ever cooked.  It's wonderful- do try it! (I've not managed to find an on line copy of the recipe as yet, but I highly recommend getting the book and having a peek as the recipes are easy, tasty and not at all pricey to make).

I am looking for some nice vegetarian recipes to try out as I think we eat rather a lot of meat in our daily diets.  Does anyone have any recommendations? Nothing majorly faffy (not the time, with two littlies around and about) and, if possible, not containing lentils- not a family favourite!

I got home from a morning out with the small ones to find a parcel waiting for me (always exciting!).  My husband had ordered for me as a surprise, a DVD I have had my eye on watching, called The Concert.  I had in fact, just been looking on line at copies this morning.  It's nice to see how well he knows me after a few years of marriage, and particularly lovely to be treated to a present!

Have a happy Wednesday!

C x

A Warm White

We have been decorating. Hence the slight shortage of posts.  We had a loft conversion recently, and we are repainting a room which used to be a guest room, but which is shortly about to become E's room.  He doesn't know this yet, and it's been really fun dreaming up a fun first proper room for him, because his current room is pretty tiny, so he can't do much in it.  This new room will have a little reading corner, and plenty of space for his trains and diggers...

I'm delighted, because when we moved in, the guest room was really quite a bright yellow and purple, and it is now a warm white and (soon to be) corn-flour blue.  Much Better.  I am just getting a bit of a headache trying to distinguish between the white emulsion and the "Cotton White" which is much warmer and nicer.

In other news, the dress is still getting knitted... just a little more slowly than I'd like...

I've also been cooking through some of Jamie's 30 Minute Meals.  A particular favourite is the Frangipane tart. It's quick to cook and very tasty- try it out!

Have a lovely weekend.

C x

Summer Catch Up

Posts have been a little sparse recently.  We had a lovely holiday in Cornwall, and this has been followed by a few days staying with family.

A few photo highlights...

I also got a bit of crafting done.  I have been working on something I'm doing for myself (more in a later post) and P's "Charlotte dress".  I have finally reached some more interesting knitting having completed a knit, knit, knit marathon of 10.75" in 4 ply yarn, with about 230 stitches per 'row' in the round! Slightly dull! Still, Now I am onto more interesting bits and I am really pleased with how it is going.

Fun.  I will be back home in a day or two, and I have a few things I need to get to on my sewing machine.  That, and there's a whole lot of tidying and cleaning to do...

Are you having a nice summer?

C x

His and Hers.

Another of E's little friends has a birthday coming up.  I decided I wanted to make something again, and settled for some summer trousers from this book. It's such an easy little pattern, they didn't take much time at all.

I used a lovely blue and white striped cotton (a remnant from our local fabric shop), and then did the pockets and tie with a little of one of my lovely Cath Kidston fabrics.  Suitably girly I hope?

Upon seeing these, E decided he rather liked them, and so I thought I'd quickly sew him up a pair, as some holiday trousers.  I left the pockets off his ones, and, needless to say, did not use my pink Cath material for his! I love making something the second time from a pattern, as it takes so much less time.  They were done in about forty minutes.

I'd made his a little loose, so just needed to tighten the elastic and sew up the waistband.  He was delighted, and so was I!  I think they make a nice little pair!

That then got me thinking that I hadn't made anything for P for our little summer holiday, so, using a pattern for a smock top from the same book, I adapted it to make her a little dress.

Again, this was incredibly simple (I love my new sewing machine!) and I just waited for this morning to measure it against her before I hemmed it and added the straps.

Voilà! Two little summer outfits for the small ones.  I shall use our time away to catch up on my knitting, which I have been neglecting a bit of late.

Right. I must go and entertain my smallest one.  I always think I will get lots done when E has his morning with Grandma, but in reality, P misses him, and all the noise, and is much harder work!

Wishing you a lovely week.

C x

Nap-time upcycling and a photo shoot

I had a few minutes 'spare' whilst both children were napping today, and a little project beckoned to me.  I made an impulse buy in a sale up in a local town this morning (never a particularly wise idea, but not expensive!) and when I got home and tried it on (I was wearing a sleeping baby in the shop, so could not try on there) I was less than convinced...

To be honest, I was less than loving those frills... So. I decided to cut them off (to be used for something else when I get inspiration) and instead make a little binding out of a contrasting fabric (something I've been meaning to do for a while having seen lots of lovely on-line ideas) and stitch it on- much more simple, but hopefully nice!

I have a lovely Cath Kidston material that I have been eaking out due to it's general loveliness (and general expensiveness, let's be honest) and I used that.

It doesn't look bad at all now.  Certainly it's a bit more individual!

Early on in the year I knitted a lovely Debbie Bliss cabled cardi for the impending arrival (Poppy!).  Today I shot some pictures of her wearing it- I think both she and it look pretty good (to be utterly biased)...

Lastly I'd like to share with you one of my lovely birthday presents- a scarf! (A scarf in the summer? Yes, a scarf in the summer).  It's made from a beautifully cool (fair trade) jersey material and it is definitely summer colours...

Isn't it lovely?  I got one in two colours, and then ordered two more for presents.  I imagine it would be very warm in the winter, but it's also lovely for keeping you nice and toasty if sitting outside in the evening in the summer.  (On a practical note, it's also big enough to use as a snuggly blanket for a baby as I did with P when pushing her back from the park when it was a bit chillier the other day).

Enjoy your weekend.

C x

Bits and bobs

I have been doing a few bits and bobs lately.  Days seem to pass very quickly, and often there seems very little time for craft, beyond a row or two of knitting, or a stitch or two of sewing.  Still, a few little things I have been doing in the past week are....

Making a little gift for an upcoming birthday of a little friend of E's...

A little pinny for a pretty little lady

Making a sleeping bag for "Polly the Puffin"- E's favourite toy.

I  kind of made this up as I went along, but I have seen a lovely pattern for doing similar ones (but far more polished and pretty) on this beautiful blog.  Do pop along and have a peek.  E was absolutely delighted, and loves to pop Polly in her sleeping bag for nap and bed time.

I also found a fabulous recipe for raspberry and white chocolate muffins.

I had some lovely reading time...

And had a little go at free-embroidery...

That, and lots of trips to the park, nappy changes, laundry etc...

How's your week going?

C x

A Sewing Project

Last night I finished a sewing project I started over the weekend.  E could do with a few more pairs of summer shorts/ 3/4 length trousers, and I have a lovely little pattern in my book "Making Children's Clothes".  I have a lot of material in my stash, but unfortunately I didn't have anything that was particularly boyish, let alone some hard wearing fabric for something he'll be running around with.  So, with some birthday money, I popped along to our local(ish) fabric shop, and set about making some.

I found some hard-wearing khaki green material, and this fabulous car/digger/bus material for the contrasting turn ups and pockets.

I've not done any clothes making for a little while, so it took longer than I thought, but I bought some other material to make a second pair, so I'm sure they will take much less time, as the second time you use a pattern it always seems to go much more smoothly.

I love the contrasting waist band- it's a lovely attention to detail in the pattern.  The only place where I 'deviated' from the pattern was in using zig-zag stitch on the inside seams instead of pressing them open.  Given that it's clothing that I hope will last, I wanted to make durable seams.

By the way, is it just me, or is it not the most wonderful thing to iron the projects as you go along? It makes it all so beautiful to look at and work with. (I know that's what you are meant to do- it is just so satisfying though, and let's face it, it's one of the only time our iron gets used...!)

Fascinated by my shoes being washed!

And, despite the fact that the perfectionist in me keeps noticing all of the tiny things that didn't go perfectly, the boy seems rather pleased with his new shorts!

Next up... some little bloomers (from the same book) for the little Lady.

In other news, if anyone is into sewing, and wants some beautiful inspiration, check out this fabulous blog. I can't get enough of browsing the archives.  Right, I am going to make some muffins.  Does anyone have a good recipe for blueberry muffins? A friend made me some amazing ones recently, and I need to find a similarly wonderful recipe!

Enjoy your Wednesday.

C x

Yes, you would be correct, those are Cath Kidston sewing scissors!