Fitted Cot Sheets

Jack graduated to the cot, but being the middle of winter that meant we needed more flannelette cot sheets. I remember that ages ago I had found a tutorial online to make a fitted cot sheet....and then lost my favourites. So I began the search again, and found this one over at made. I don't think it was the original one I had but its even better because it has measurements, and they are perfect for my cot mattress.

I set about cutting out my sheet - easy. And then remembered that my sewing machine is having a bit of a problem with zig zag stitches at the moment grr so called mum to try fix it, and she couldn't. I had to use a straight stitch on the whole sheet, but she taught me a new way to do neat seams that fray less. I've got another sheet to make when the fabric arrives so I'll show you then.

Threading my elastic through I found that my machine had also missed some straight stitches! Guess where its going on Monday??? To the shop! Hope the bill isn't too big.

Anyway,  my simple sheet turned into an all afternoon affair because of a bung machine - but it turned out really well and I'm happy with it. I'll make a matching flat sheet down at mum's this afternoon.

The Best Ever Anzac Biscuits

I really felt like biscuits the other day, and they had to be quick, I didn't have much time. I was flicking through my biscuit recipe book and came across an Anzac biscuit recipe and remembered that last time I had made these they were really good.

The last time I made anzac biscuits I was rather disappointed with them, I used the Edmonds recipe - won't be doing that again. This recipe is THE best. They're best slightly cooled from the oven when they're still soft and chewy. They get harder and good for dunking as they get cooler....of course they don't last longer than a few hours in my house so there's no point even putting them in a container.

The Recipe:

125g Butter
2Tbsp Golden Syrup
1Tbsp Water
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 cup Rolled Oats
1 cup Dessicated Coconut
1 cup Flour
3/4 cup Brown Sugar

Heat butter, golden syrup and water in a saucepan gently until smooth.
Remove from heat. Stir in baking soda.
Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
Roll tablespoon full balls of mixture and place on a baking tray. Flatten slightly.
Bake at 160 degrees for 20min.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy!

Design Your Own Baby Tee

Mum brought me a kit similar to this one by Seedling for my birthday. At that stage we didn't know whether Jack was going to be a boy or a girl, so the kit has been sitting waiting for me to do something with. He's now 8 weeks old and just going into the size clothes that are in this kit. Time to do something with it.

I racked my brain to come up with a couple of ideas for boyish t-shirts for him. And came up with this so far:

A tie. Not overly original, but it turned out great. I made the hubby tie one of his ties for me so I had something to look at while I created it, then decided that blanket stitch was probably going to be the best hand-stitch to hold it on. And it looks like Jack approves.

I've got an idea for the other one...and I'll do it today if I get the chance...its going to have a dump truck appliqued on and I'm going to use buttons as the load in the trailer...wish me luck!

Number Sugar Cookies

A while ago I pinned a dough recipe for sugar cookies that won't lose their shape. I was in the mood for baking and thought why not try something I've pinned to Pinterest...after all, that is the point of it.

So I looked at the recipe and halved it, it was a HUGE recipe, and then spent most of a day rolling, refrigerating, cutting, baking,  re-rolling, refrigerating, cutting, baking...you get the idea. It took forever. I'm not sure these are going to be a regular. So the icing stage was put off til the next day.

I thought William might want to help, but all he helped with was sticking his fingers in the icing I had already put on the biscuits...so he got to eat one, and then he helped by pulling the uniced biscuits out of the container. As you can see I thought it would be cool and maybe a bit educational for him to cut the cookies into numbers and ice them in 3 colours.

He had fun, they taste good, and I might repeat the effort again one day.

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

I've been trying out a Gluten Free diet, and now I've decided to try reduced gluten, so about half my baking is gluten-free, that means finding good gluten free recipes that don't have that gluten free taste. I found it with this cake.

Cake:
1 1/2 cup gluten free flour
1/2 cup gluten free cornflour
2/3 cup cocoa
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb soda
1 tsp xanthan gum
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
50g margarine, melted
200g vanilla yoghurt
2/3 cup Milk

Icing:
1 cup Icing Sugar
1 Tbsp cocoa
30g Margarine
1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence
1 tsp boiling water

Cake1. Sift the flours, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb soda, and xanthan gum into a large mixing bowl.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, mix eggs and sugar until thick and foamy.
3. Add melted margarine, yoghurt, and Vitasoy Soy Milky Vanilla into egg mixture, stir until well combined.
4. Pour this mixture into sifted flours. Beat with a metal spoon for 1-2 minutes.
5. Pour cake batter into greased pan, bake in pre-heated oven for approximately 40 minutes or until firm to touch (a skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean).
6. Allow to stand for five minutes. Remove from pan and place on wire rack to cool. Top with icing when cool.
Note: Xanthan gum can be purchased in the health food aisles of major supermarkets, or health food stores

Icing1. Into a small mixing bowl, sift icing sugar and cocoa. Add margarine and vanilla essence. Add water a little bit at a time, mixing until smooth and thick with a knife.
2. Use a knife (dipped occasionally in warm water) to spread over cooled cake.

Scented Bunny Sachet

An Aunty of mine has a birthday coming up very soon, and she has been very good to me (and my boys) since they've both been born in the past 18 months. So I thought I'd make her a nice card and originally thought I'd buy her a smelly sachet to pop inside it to post to her...then I found these on pinterest

I thought they looked cute, and better than a boring sachet bought from a store. So set about making one. Its made out of a small corner of a fat quarter that's been sitting in my fabric drawers for about 6 months, and filled with dried lavender heads gathered from mum's garden this afternoon.

It ties in perfectly with the card I made her

To make your own scented bunny sachet follow this link

Fatty Bum Pants Revisited

So I used the same pattern, but sliced it in half lengthways and put the two pieces about 10cm apart on the fabric and pinned them on, then thought hmmm they probably need to be higher to get over his huge nappy. So I added about 5cm to the top of the pattern, and cut it out in one piece.
Then I got sewing and ta-da

As you can see, they fit my big nappied boy, with lots of room to move and grow....I decided that elastic round the legs wasn't going to work with his super long feet - too hard to get them through, so that went out with the old model.

Pants for Jack

Ok so those pants I was talking about? Well I decided I had a couple of flannel sheets that were getting a bit thin to use on the bed anymore and they'd make really cool pants. Great idea by the way.
I hunted and hunted and hunted for a newborn-3mth fatty bum pant pattern (free of course, I hate paying for patterns). Struggled to find one. Found a great one for size 2year, and one that would cost me. So I got mum to play around and work one out. She got there, after playing for about a day and a half, Jack got 1 pair of pants that finally fit.
You see he has to wear double nappies at the moment, so he needs super fatty bum pants.
Then I found that the blog I found the size 2 year pants on, had a scaled down version of the pattern in size newborn! Perfect I thought. So I printed it out.
Here's the link for the pattern - it would have been perfect - if I had used knit fabric like they suggested http://fromanigloo.blogspot.co.nz/2010/06/newborn-one-size-fit-many-pj-pants.html  silly me though, doesn't listen. So I'll be re-working my pattern tomorrow to accommodate the fabric I really want to use. Hopefully by the end of the weekend Jack will have more pants.

Here's a sneak peak of the pants that don't fit...they probably would have fit the day we brought him home, but he's growing too fast.

Front of Pants

Back of Pants

Projects On The Go

I've got a few projects on the go at the moment...its just about finishing them! I'm half way through knitting a jersey for Jack, he'll probably grow out of it before I finish it, I better get a move on with it.
Jack also needs some pants, so I must work out a pattern for him and sew some up over the weekend.
For the last couple of weeks I've had some fabric out to make William a bow tie. The suspenders are done, now for the matching bow tie...
And I've got a few cards to make, starting with a birthday card, using my new stamps tonight. Then I need to start working on a wedding card.
So I suppose while the house is quiet I should get to starting...or finishing....something!

Apple & Strawberry Crumble

I was talking to someone earlier today about apple crumble and decided right that's it! We're going to have to have Apple Crumble and whipped cream for dessert tonight! So I started hunting down a recipe to use and found one that used condensed milk - of course I HAD to try that. It is delicious! But don't go serving yourself a too bigger serving of it, word of warning - its rather sweet.

Here's the recipe:

3 cups stewed apple
2 cups frozen strawberries
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cup crumbled cornflakes
1/2 cup condensed milk

Stew apple and strawberries together.
Place into an oven proof dish.
Mix all other ingredients together, and spoon on top of stewed fruit.
Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 30min.