Hey do read Kiwi Mummy Blogs?

I’ve been on there for a while and I have the honor of doing a giveaway!  Wohoo!  I have one of my new Hanging Strawberry Sewing kits to giveaway to some lucky punk, and that could be you.  You could sew up your own string of strawberries or give it as a gift to a keen craftsy type.  This kit is for a small string of three strawberries.

You just need to visit the giveaways page, over here, post a comment and you’re in, you have until Dec 11th, so get on over there!

You’ve seen my festive little Hanging Strawberry Sewing Kits already?  The kits come complete with all you need, including soft corn fiber stuffing, but did you know I make kits without stuffing, to save you on postage?  These are great little gifts, and post well, I will be listing them on Felt and Etsy over the next couple of days…

Of course, you can still buy the cool noodle box kits too!  That’s them up there..

Can you imagine some of these hanging around your place?  They look so pretty…

I will have these little treats available at the next couple of markets, the Gladstone School Christmas Market, Thursday 1st December, from 5 pm – 9 pm, address: 8 Seaview Terrace, Mt Albert.

And at the Auckland Art and Craft Fair, Saturday 10th December, 11 am – 3 pm, Aotea Centre, THE EDGE, Auckland Central.

Here’s my artists interview!  Here!

I have a new sun hat!  Made up using a variation on a 1993 pattern for a fold up brimmed hat, using a beautiful piece of a vintage sheet, it was another fun experiment…

It’s all cut out here, I made no major alterations to the pattern, though I used felt to reinforce the brim and in the end the entire hat is lined or backed with felt.  I was after a really wide brimmed hat, and I did not hem the edge as directed, planning to use the bias binding as the edge.  Which was fine, only the pattern had not allowed for my extra width of brim and so I had to add an extra section of binding at the end.

I used a small section of a vintage sheet, which was getting a little worn, but is such a pretty and summery print.

Here’s the picture from the original pattern…  (not so into the massive bow and rose look).

And here’s the finished deal, I love it, but it is really quite floppy, so will make another with a firmer brim.  I will also make it more circular, Audrey Hepburn styles.

This is my current we sew retro project, it’s a bit scary!  I hope the fit is good, and I’m a bit worried because I don’t look like one of these women, what with those skinny ol’ legs and red lippy.

Here’s the fabric, which, I’m sorry to have found to be a bit of a slippery kind of poly cotton, it looks lovely, and I think I’ll be ironing it every time I wear it.  I chose a pink zipper, because I’m going to ace this invisible zip again, and it was in the stash that came from my nana too.

I’ve been extra carful about the notches and ironing this baby with almost every stint of sewing, and I’m backing all the facings too.

I’ve had this pattern kicking around for ages, and with this dress, I now know I don’t really suit the shift style…

Here’s all the bits, this one even had a punch card, how old school is that?  First time I’ve pulled one out before.  This was a new/unused pattern that I found in an op shop.

I chose version three, the center one, and it was only after I found the perfect fabric that anything happened…

I was unsure about the sizing, this pattern is size 12 and my measurements placed me somewhere between size 12 and 16, so I added 15 mm on both the front and back panels, and lengthened the facings.

Making darts is very exciting, for me, it starts to take share pretty quickly!

One other reason (besides being a fairly straight forward dress to make up for a beginner sewer) I chose this dress is that it would be simple to modify to allow me to breastfeed comfortably.  I just lowered the front opening a touch, extending the facing too.

Once I tried it on I decided to add a couple of darts in the front, it was a bit too boxy on me, mybe it would suit someone much thinner!  So I added a dart on each side under the bust, all by eye and while wearing it – so I also discovered I could really really do with a mannequin, or a sewing buddy…  Here it is all darted and pressed, but not hemmed…

Oh and I did end up not needing the extra I had allowed for, taking about 15 mm off either side seam, but it was probably what gave me fabric to pay with for the additional darts.

And the reverse, with the not-quite-invisible zip…

I also was a bit slack and did not using any proper facing, mostly because I could not find my stash.  I managed to use one of the zips mum gave me from nana Shirley’s stash and so it was very economical…

All in all I love it, it was a big confidence booster for dressmaking, it feels very summery and I made myself!  See how happy I am?

Here’s that fabric again…

The last visit to my mums, my nana gave me some small pieces from her fabric stash, she’d heard from mum that I’ve been making purses and so wanted to share some of her fabric… and oh my, it’s a dream come true is it not?

How lovely is that print?  As I was calmly looking through when I got home (actually I was having some flashbacks of couches and cushions from the family bach all those years ago, and random curtains and bedspreads from the old family house here in Auckland) so it was a bit overwhelming all the same.. I found this cut and pinned skirt, pretty exciting, it looked close to my fit and was basically pinned and pressed ready to sew..  Well, I couldn’t pass it up could I!  Today I almost finished it while the kids were sleeping, just need to sew in the zip and decide on the hem…

Some of the pins were a tad rusty and oh my!  When I ironed it was like going back in time, I wanted to assemble it before washing, to preserve the pinning etc, it had also frayed somewhat, so I raced around the edge with a straight stitch too, but it smelled of my grandparents old house.  Which is a bit kind of spooky too.

I tried it on after sewing all the darts, and pre-zippering, I’m going to ace this invisible zip.  I am.

(And please excuse the filthy mirror!  I suppose that’s what happens when I walk into the sewing room when the kids are napping…  I will sort this out maybe tomorrow, at least before the next photo!)

I think I’ll shorten it quite a lot, but I’m undecided.  It’s a good weight for winter, but I’d like to wear it as soon as I can, but then I don’t want to lose any of those flowers either, well not TOO many.  I also wish I had enough to make a bag…

Had a few early starts this week with Blake, I’m cool with post 6 am but anything before then feels too much like night time has been lost too soon… but on the other hand I always enjoy opening the curtains on those mornings.  I had some extra special treats, check these out…

A massive rainbow, we seem to get some real stunners out here, and many double rainbows, the intensity of the small slice at the base was incredible, and was what first caught my eye.

So beautiful, what else have I been missing?

I never liked tomato soup until I made my own, and it’s so easy!

This recipe is vegan and can be adapted to make a tomatoey base for pastas, pizzas and other soups like minestrone.

The ingredients are basic, you need olive oil, a couple of cans (maybe about 2 – 4 small cans 400gms or there abouts) or a couple of kilograms of fresh tomatoes – you’ll need to skin them (perhaps by dropping them into a large pot of rapidly boiling water to loosen the skin) a half or cup or so of tomato paste (but this works ok without it) and vegetable stock.  You can use garlic, onions and spices, I like to use garlic and some cumin.

I add red lentils to this (along with a slash of molasses and some salt) and use it as a base for pasta sauces, soups, pizzas.  If you blend it all up it’s a great tomatoey lentiley paste/sauce if you prefer a smooth texture, or have people who are scared of lentils.

Sometimes it’s more practical for me to start these meals at lunch or earlier if I’m out for the day.  I just chop all the garlic (or here I’ve left them whole as we are getting to the smaller bulbs now..) and drop them in to a pot which has some olive oil (enough to generously cover the bottom of the pot).  If you are leaving this for the day or even and hour, put a lid on it!

When the time comes to prepare you’ll swoon over the deliciousness of the garlic as the infused flavours waft out when you lift the lid…  I added my spices, about a teaspoon of each?  As much as I can grab in a few fingers, cumin seed and red mustard seed.  I like to cook the garlic slowly, so it sweats and the spices eventually start to sizzle.

All the while get some water boiling for your stock, if that’s how yours comes, I use a powdered stock and tend to add it to taste, maybe about 4 cups goes into this soup.  Pour in to the garlic and spices your tomato paste, stir it through, add your canned or fresh, skinned and chopped tomato mix, I like to heat it through and reduce it a bit.

But you don’t have to, you can just put it all into the big pot with your stock, warm it through, cook for a few minutes, gently stirring while you find some pretty bowls to serve it in, and pull out the fresh baked bread…

Taste it and maybe season with a little salt, sprinkle on some fresh parsley or other fresh herbs, maybe some cracked pepper…

And enjoy!

Oh and this freezes really well, so fill your freezer and forget about the tinned stuff!

This was ages ago!  But it was cute, remember when I made Luna her felt letter set?  They were fun, then I decided she needed to see the whole alphabet in order, and made this cushion.  Well a while back, Luna had a go at laying out the letters, she did this herself and sang along her abc’s as she went.

Some were a bit back to front, but we sang it together when she had finished and she sorted them out.  I remember writing my letters back to front for a while when I was a kid.

It was nice to see her working this out, she actually knows many of her letters and we do read words together.  I also talk about how m-o-o-n spells moon and so on (we have many books about the Moon) all pretty low key, she seems to be grasping little things like that and enjoys pointing out signs that have the alphabet on them while we drive around.

I thought this was very Abbey Road.

Above the girls/kids as Luna calls them are relaxing on their beach towels, the beach is a piece of felt, and there is a piece of ocean near by, but no-one is swimming just now…

We had a few days of stormy weather after we had started heading out to the beach ourselves, so this was nice for Luna, I hemmed up some ‘towels’ for them and we packed their bag.  Kept Luna busy for ages.

Then everyone got tucked into bed, more cuteness.