My Creative Space

I won't hold back:  I'm feeling really proud of myself.  Know why?  I followed a sewing pattern!   I did everything -- the measuring, the finishing of edges, the pocket.  Everything!  I know it probably doesn't sound like a big deal to you veteran craftsters, but for me, this was huge.  I only figured out how to thread my sewing machine about a year ago and during my short history of sewing I've mostly had what a friend described as a "rip sh*t and bust" attitude toward projects.  I am both impatient and very stubborn.  I'll finish a project no matter what (and usually as quickly as possible) even if it's a total disaster.  Funny, the contrast between my take on sewing and my approach to print-making (where I'm incredibly slow and detail-oriented.)  Anyway, using a pattern and actually reading the directions took a little while, but hey -- look!  Something we can actually use!  And it (probably, hopefully) won't disintegrate in the wash!  Who would have thought?

This is the "Simple Dress" out of Lotta Jansdotter's lovely Simple Sewing for Baby.  Next, "Simple Pants."  There's no stopping me now.

(Full disclosure -- this is actually the second time I managed to follow a pattern.  The first was a few days ago, with a much simpler pot-holder pattern:

On the left, my own version, sans pattern.  On the right, pattern followed -- this little comparison was enough to convert me.)

What else?  I've done some work refurbishing a child's art desk that I found the same day I found the doll's house at the flea market.  The two cost $20, combined.  I do love the flea market -- and clearly it loves me back.

And finally, some baking.

Pumpkin ginger cake,  Anzac biscuits, and no-knead bread -- our starchy mainstays of the moment.

 Do pop over and see Kirtsy at Kootoyoo to find many more creatives and their spaces.  Just follow the link here.

PS Everything is still on sale in my shop....  Take a gander here if you like.

PPS  100 readers, yay!  Giveaway coming over the weekend.

Wordless Wednesday

Spring Cleaning: SALE!

 In the spirit of spring (cleansing, renewal, growth) I've decided to have my very first sale.  Absolutely everything in my shop is reduced by 15 to 20%.  Yay!

I think the sale will go on for about a week.  I'm excited to make room for some new stock!

At My House....

We've been in the garden! 

We've planted lettuces and spinach, a second grape vine, and our strawberries (in the guttering.)  The guttering is a new thing for us this year (as are the strawberries, actually.)  Not too sure on the spacing, but I suppose we'll figure it out.  I love that this uses otherwise unusable real estate along a very sunny wall - - we could have tier after tier of these!  We're waiting a few more weeks to plant tomatoes and such.  This is only our second year in this house, but we've been busy improving corner by corner....I think this summer's garden is going to be awesome.

If you have the time, stop by the fabulous Buttons By Lou Lou blog and see what everyone else is up to at their homes this week.

Thank Goodness It's Sunday

Sunday seems as good a day as any (perhaps even a better day than most given its slow, laid-back nature) to reflect a bit on some of the little things I'm grateful for.  Of course there are the big things (clean water to drink, my wonderfully supportive husband, a healthy family....) but the minutia of the day to day are also worth pausing over and giving thanks for.  Here are some of the small things I'm grateful for today....

:: Pancake breakfasts and the rare chance to sleep in (thank you, wonderfully supportive husband.)

:: Our first monthly menu plan and monthly grocery shop, completed.   There's something very survivalist and satisfying about attempting a monthly shop -- it feels reminiscent of time spent playing "Oregon Trail" in grade school.  Will we lose our oxen?  Get dysentery? Run out of pasta spirals?  Hard to say, but to be sure only the most resourceful and thrifty survive.

:: An afternoon spent planting and weeding.  It felt so good to get outside and put my back into some heavy work.  Thank you to Aya who slept, making the garden work possible. And thank you to Solomon, who played beside me, befriending a family of snails and making "building sites" in the dirt.  Hooray for dirt!

:: Our first bbq and evening meal outside.

 :: This great project, commencing on 10.10.10.  "One Day on Earth"  -- I'm so excited to see some of the footage.

::  You!  Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to read what I write here.  I really really really appreciate you.  When I began the Seedling blog last February, it was purely as a link to my business.  But in the past months I've learned an incredible amount and I've come to really value the community that's available here.  Thank you for reading and thank you for occasionally talking back via comments -- it's wonderful to know you're here.  As a token of my appreciation, I'm planning an exciting giveaway; just waiting for the magical numbers of 100 readers on the blog and 150 likers on Facebook.  Soon!

Hope you've had a fabulous weekend with much to be grateful for as well.

No Rest For Blogtoberfest

 

This post was very nearly about how I'm taking the weekends off from blogging, Blogtoberfest be darned.  And then I realized I had already pretty much done my post for the day, and an idea for tomorrow (to recur on Sundays) had come to me while writing too.   If I need to take weekends off in in the future, that's fine.  Good enough is good enough.  And short and sweet is good enough too.

Inspiration came to me today in the form of baking.  I love these Anzac biscuits -- comfort food of my adopted home. In most ways, this is a traditional recipe, but I bake them in muffin tins rather than on a baking sheet, which creates a really nice crunchy outer and a beautiful soft middle.  Plus, they're big -- and bigger in this case is definitely better.  I made some for us and some for the kids' great-grandfather up in the North Island.  They'll have to weather a few days drive with my cousin-in-law, but I figure that's what they were originally designed for -- to travel well.

Ingredients:
3/4 c flour (I usually use white, but whole-wheat works as well)
3/4 c sugar (any type really -- up to your preferences)
1 c coconut
1 c oats
1/2 c butter
1 Tbs golden syrup
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 Tbs boiling water

Mix together dry ingredients.  Melt butter and syrup.  Dissolve baking soda in boiling water and add to butter mixture.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add wet ingredients.  Press into muffin tins (I really love baking with silicone -- easy, not greasy.)  Bake for about 15 minutes at 180 C (350 F) or until tops just begin to brown.    

Totally delicious.  'Nuff said.

My Creative Space

Has looked a little like this....

But far more like this....

  It's school holidays, and even though neither of my little ones is in "school" per-se,  S does an afternoon Montessori program a few days a week, and all of our other potential activities (like music, library or gymnastics) are on hold during the break.  So we've had a lot of home time; I've intentionally let go of any print-making expectations, lest I get frustrated when they go unmet.  So we've colored, we've painted, we've play-doughed, we've baked, we've gardened, we've made little homes for the worms we've found, we've built train-tracks, and we've gone to the park.   I've really enjoyed creative playing without any focus on "making" or "getting done."

If you have the time, please check out Kirsty's blog Kootoyoo for many wonderful creative spaces.  Happy to be joining in....

PS, still ticking along with Blogtoberfest!  So far so good....though I may sit down tonight and do a little planning to keep the momentum going.  Have already found so many amazing blogs through the sign-up list; if you have time, take a gander.  Find it here.