Incomings & Outgoings

I received a big box of snaps in the mail yesterday from here..... so now I can finish off a couple of works in progress....

.....and I sent off my package today to here.....

In other news, one of my nephews is turning 1 on Saturday. So to mark the big occassion, I thought I would make him a big boys blankie. The front is just patchwork using some camouflage drill, some light denim, some stripey cotton and some navy and white gingham...

He loves the Wiggles and I just happened to find some Wiggles polar fleece in the remnants bin at Spotlight on the weekend - so I used it for the backing fabric (I know it looks a bit pinky in the photo but that's just my bad photography - it's actually purple).

We are having an afternoon tea birthday party on Saturday so my job tomorrow is to make chocolate crackles, lemon slice, chocolate rum balls (some with, some without rum), and caramel gingernuts. Yum, can't wait to do the taste testing afterwards!

One last work in progress project that I finished today - another collar for my sisters dog. This one's for some nightime glamour or a special occassion that she might attend. She might even be able to model it at the birthday party.

I sewed a piece of felt on the inside so that it would be comfy and it now has a lovely snap to complete it.

Final Hearts for Mirabel

I thought I would try something different to send in so here they are:

A small bag with a heart pocket....

.....and a small wire beaded heart

More Hearts for Mirabel

I've made some more hearts to send in for the 'We Heart Mirabel' appeal over at Meet Me at Mikes.

I have another couple of crafty hearty things that I would like to make, and then I'll be sending them all in together. Hopefully somebody will like them enough to part with their hard earned cash. It is for charity after all!

I need to make my luggage tags to add to the hearts thisafternoon and then they will be all ready to go. I also need to clean up all the mess I've made as I've migrated from the sewing room to the kitchen table.

This is.....what scares me

Continuing on with the meme from Three Buttons, this weeks theme is 'What Scares Me'.

What really really really scares me is spiders. They scare me so much that I can't bear to put a photo of a spider on my blog. It would freak me out to much every time I saw it.

So my answer for this week is PEAS. Yes I know it sounds weird but peas are really scary. If I had to look at peas and then tried to eat peas, I would vomit. Even the smell is gross.

I didn't have any peas in my house to take a photo, so I googled a picture instead.

Now it's time for a BBQ (pea free of course)!

We heart Mirabel

I am joining in the fun of 'We Heart Mirabel' over at Meet Me At Mikes.
I have made 2 hearts thisafternoon.....



This first one is a little wonky but hopefully that adds to the charm.....

For this one, I went through my scrap drawer and sewed some of my offcuts together. I like this one better and it was much quicker to make.

It's a bit hot in Melbourne today so it might just be time for a break and a nice cool drink...

Mmmm.....Cookies

Found these cookie cutters at Highpoint yesterday.....at a shop called Socrates

Thursday Night Dessert

We had some bananas that had seen better days so this was what they became....

Bananas in caramel sauce.... served with vanilla ice cream.....yum!

Sorted.....Continued.......

As per my previous post, I am still on my de-cluttering warpath. Maybe I should re-name that to dawdlepath because I'm not setting a very fast pace! So far I have managed to start with my bedroom. Two garbage bags full of clothes went to St Vinnies and half a bag went in the bin. I have three pairs of shoes that I have never worn so I listed them on Ebay. No bids yet but I do have some watchers. I also listed my exercise bike that never gets exercised. It just manages to collects dust in my loungeroom.

Couldn't post without a photo. This is the kitchen apron that I made for myself last year. I just traced around an old plastic apron to get the shape, and then added some pockets at the front. The pockets are also very handy when hand sewing on the couch (to hold scissors, cotton etc).

Smoked Chicken and Bacon Lasagne Recipe

Zoesquid has requested a copy of my lasagne recipe. It's really simple to make because I don't really make it the same each time. It's just one of those recipes that you can throw together without measuring etc but I'll try to include proper measurements as I type it up.

The recipe will feed at least 4 adults. I usually serve it with some simple salad & garlic bread.

You will need:

2 Smoked Chicken Breast Fillets (you can find these vacuum packed in the meat section at Aldi or Safeway).

250 grams rindless bacon

1 large onion

1 jar sun dried tomatoes / or fresh tomatoes if you wish

1 jar roasted capsicum / or fresh capsicum if you wish

2 packets instant lasagne sheets / or fresh lasagne if you wish

2 garlic cloves (or 2 teaspoons minced garlic)

Bechamel Sauce (you can make this any way you wish - I use the simple flour / milk / cheese recipe)

Dice the onion and the bacon. Add the garlic and fry together in a little butter and olive oil. Drain on paper towel.

Slice up the smoked chicken fillets into thin slices.

Slice up the sun dried tomatoes and roasted capsicum into pieces (these may need to be drained on some paper towel also). Don't use the whole jar - just use as much as you need as the flavours are quite strong.

Make the bechamel sauce.

Put a little bechamel sauce in the bottom of the lasagne dish.

Place a layer of lasagne sheets.

Cover in bechamel sauce.

Place a layer of sliced chicken.

Place a layer of lasagne sheets.
Cover in bechamel sauce.

Place a layer of the onion, bacon and garlic.

Place a layer of lasagne sheets.
Cover in bechamel sauce.

Place a layer of tomatoes and capsicum.

Place a layer of lasagne sheets.
Cover in bechamel sauce.

Top with a mixture of grated tasty and grated parmesan cheese.

This can be cooked immediately at about 180 degrees celsius for about an hour. You will need to stick a knife in to see whether the lasagne sheets have softened.

This can also be pre-made and left in the fridge overnight and then cooked in the oven the next day.

This is my favourite cup

I am playing along with the 'This is' meme which has been created by Three Buttons (click over to her blog to see who else is playing along). This weeks theme is 'My Favourite Cup'.

This is how it works!

Every Wednesday a theme is given for finishing the sentence 'this is...'

And on Sunday you post a photo of that theme.

Examples are

This is my favourite cushion.

This is the oldest thing I own.

This is my kettle.

This is what I collect.

My favourite cup is one of these Maxwell Williams mugs that I received for my birthday last year. I have a set of eight (2 in each colour - red, yellow, blue and green) which is fabulous as I can drink tea and coffee all day without having to wash up! Wow, that sounds really lazy but my excuse is that I am trying to save water. I have a double drawer dishwasher which uses less water in a full load than washing up my coffee and tea cups after each one.

I love the mugs as they are really pretty with the flowers and butterflies, are a really good size (not too little and not too much) and they work equally as well as tea cups or cofffee mugs. I love both tea and coffee so I usually alternate between the two during the day.

.

.

Ponder this - why is it a tea CUP and a coffee MUG???

Caravan Finito

This is the finished product. The cushions covers were a bit tricky because I'm not a fabulous sewer but I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.

Caravan Cushions

I finished the seat cushions for the caravan yesterday and the throw cushions thismorning.

I really like the combination of colours - it should be much more bright and happy inside. Now I just have to deliver them to my sister thisafternoon. I'll try to get some photos of the final products all together.

Decorative Dog Collar

This is a quick 15 minute project that I whipped up tonight.

I had lunch at my sisters house today and her Spoodle (cross between and Spaniel and a Poodle) has just been clipped. The dog groomer clipped her in a traditional poodle manner and she looks really funny now.
So, with a bit of inspiration and to go with the new hairdo, I thought I'd make her a decorative necklace / collar. This one is definitely just for decoration - the snaps won't hold a leash.
This is not an original idea - I saw a similar project on Martha Stewart.

Step 1 - Measure the dogs neck circumference and create a tube by cutting rectangle piece to correct length and sewing right sides together.

Step 2 - Thread a piece of ribbon down the middle and tack to the inside of one end.

Step 3 - Pull the ribbon to scrunch the fabric to turn inside out.

Step 4 - Halfway inside out.

Step 5 - Once fully inside out - turn ends in and sew seams to make flat.

Step 6 - Add snaps at either end.

Step 7 - I used fabric glue to glue the sequins onto the collar before sewing.

Step 8 - I sewed the sequins onto the collar using a small bead in the centre of each one.

Step 9 - Finished! This is a terrible photo but my dog Albert was not a very willing model!

No sewing today

But I did make Smoked Chicken and Bacon Lasagne for dinner.

Ten Curtains and Tiebacks - Done.....

I've been working on these in bits and pieces over the last week. My sister and brother-in-law bought a second hand caravan just before Christmas. It is very 1970's inside - if it was cool retro 70's then it would be ok but this one is just ugly brown 1970's. Anyway, while they are working on updating the inside of the caravan, I have been busy making new curtains. The material is actually from the kids curtain material section at Spotlight. My sister couldn't find anything she liked in the adult curtain material section. We decided bright and pretty would be best in a small dark space. So ten curtains and tiebacks are now done.

Old Ugly Curtains

The curtains were really simple - I just hemmed the edges and then turned the top over and stitched it to make a pocket for the curtain rod.

New Pretty Curtains

For the tie-backs, I used a nifty little trick. I'm not sure whether I saw this on tv or read about it on a craft blog. I cut a rectangle piece, placed the long sides right side together and then sewed them to make a tube. I then put a long piece of ribbon inside the tube from top to bottom. I sewed one end of the ribbon to the inside of the tube. Then I pulled the ribbon and this made it really simple to turn the tube inside out.

I should have taken photos to explain!

I used my Snapsetter to attach snaps at either end of the tie-backs.




Next job is to start on making new covers for the existing seating area inside the caravan. Then a couple of throw cushions in another contrasting fabric.

I've got mail

I ordered a book online Saturday, and lo and behold, I checked the letterbox yesterday (Tuesday) and it had arrived. How's that for speedy service! The book is called 'Sorted' and was written by Lissanne Oliver.

I really want to start the new year afresh by de-cluttering everything in my house. For just two people, we have a lot of stuff. I'm hoping that the book has some good tips to make it easier. I've read half of it already and my favourite tip so far is to have a 'go' box at the front door. This means that every time you find something that you don't need, don't want, doesn't fit etc, you put it straight into the 'go' box. Once a week, the 'go' box is emptied (recycling, rubbish, freecycle, op-shop etc). I ordered the book directly from the website - sorted.net.au

Hello!

Hello there and welcome to my new CurlyPops craft blog!

I've been addicted to reading craft blogs for about 6 months now so I thought I may as well join in the fun.

As I am new to this, I have no idea what I am doing so please bear with me as I try to work it all out.

Of course, I must post a photo. These little fuzzy creatures are the softies that I made for Christmas pressies.