Macaroni Beef

Here is one of my first Thermomix Conversion.  Macaroni Beef from bk5 of the Symply too good to be true cookbooks.

Enjoy!

A Perfect Fit

My dear sister in AU send me these lovely photos of the ironing board cover and table cloth I sewed for her recently.  She even went as far as setting her table for the photos :)  

The colours match perfectly with her tableware!

Sewing Lesson #1

My dear sister in AU has this sewing machine at her home that she's never or barely ever used.  So, as we were trying to keep her awake for the remainder of the day (after a whole week of a nursing night shift) I gave her a quick sewing lesson.  Nothing better than to sew a cute little bag.  I think the hardest part was picking the colours from the stash I have at home!  Any beginner could sew this bag!!

A Travel Chair

Never mind the look my little muffet is giving!  She's not happy that she is tied down on the chair!  I have been trying out the Travel Chair pattern from this lovely site.  Unfortunately the sizing is a bit out of wack for it to work on my little chubby girl....so I am going to have to find another little girl who could try this one out, just a girl who is littler than mine!! 

She never figured out how to undo it all

and she also didn't get out, despite it being too small!

The photos where done in a rush due to the grumpiness, therefore a little dark and blurred.

Meal planning

Meal planning is important in our home.  Every week I make a plan on paper as to what we will eat for dinner.  Lately, meal planning has been left somewhat to the last minute, so, I have made a meal plan, a big one....for 4 weeks, with shopping lists attached for each week.  I plan to re use this meal plan every month, and then I don't have to rewrite the meal plan every week again.  I only shop at the big grocery stores once a fortnight - it saves lots of money that way!!  I think this way I could even shop once a month, knowing in advance already what I am needing from the big shops.  Dear hubby does visit our local fruit & veg shop every week for fresh bread, milk, vegies and fruit.  My meal plan is done in such a way, that some recipes I double (ie bolognaise sauce), so that I can put the extra batch in the freezer and make a lasagne or shepherd's pie the following week with it!  I have made wednesday our fish day (its mostly Tuna so very easy!)  and made it so we never have the same type of meat twice in a row... This past week it worked great, and tomorrow, all I need to do is check my list of with my pantry and fridge and then pop by the local fruit & veg shop.  Simple!  I am off now to make some homemade chocolate paste in my lovely thermomix :)

Tablecloth

An easy project.  My big sis in Australia had this fabric laying around, and when I asked her what I could sew for her she asked me to turn this piece of fabric into a tablecloth for her.  It was very simple hemming all the edges, a quick iron and voila... a new tablecloth for her lovely dining table :) 

Job List

We've been working on some routine with the kids.  To help us with that I created a job list for them to do each day.  Just the simple tasks such as getting dressed, eating breakfast, brush teeth, put schoolbag away after school, help set the table, put your pjamas on etc.  We then laminated the job list so that the boys can tick of the list with a whiteboard marker when they have completed a task.  We can then wipe it clean again for the next day.  I just need to add a magnet to the back so it can hang up on the fridge. 

They have been having fun with it already, they like to tick things off so things have been getting completed soo much faster :)

A Passport Cover

I have siblings all over the world.  I asked my little sister in Canada what I could sew for her.   So here it is....a passport cover.  I used the tutorial from here, and made a few changes.  I used interfacing for extra strength, I added a velcro tap so it could be closed (and so the pages won't get crumbled in my sister's over full bags ;) ) Instead of sewing around the whole rectangle thing and have two lines of stitches on top of each other, I did the two small sides, and then I folded it and then stitched the longer lines.  I also embroidered 'sweet home', the arrow and the little cross.

I thought the fabric was rather fitting :) and with the words "sweet home" it was intended to make my little sister homesick and return home ;)

I thankfully remembered to take dear hubby's passport out...I used his as it had the most stamps!

Treasure Bags

Little chatterbox had a birthday and invited all the boys (all 5 of them) to his party.  I know how much my boys like collecting treasures and keeping them in all sorts of boxes and bags, so I sewed a treasure bag for each of the boys.  We then held a treasure hunt, so the boys could find all their own treasures for their party bag.   We had fun :)

I made the bags with the help from this tutorial. 

A WHOLE MONTH!

Can you believe it?  Us, a whole month and more without eating Takeaway?  We've reached a milestone in our household!!!  

Don't worry we still ate food....healthier than ever food!  I have never bought parsley and celery in 4 consecutive weeks before....my vegies didn't go off...
Homemade pizzas (incl the bases), cakes, scones and cupcakes, sausage rolls and party pies, homemade jam, steamed & poached eggs, salads, delicious meals (with left overs for hubbies lunch!), breakfast smoothies, drinks, potato patties and much much more.

We're enjoying our new machine - our 'Thermie' :)

Here's to the rest of our lives!!!

PS: we did eat out once...but for a special occasion....at the Dome for chatterbox's b'day...he chose the place.... (when we asked why not McDonalds - he said because it was not healthy :) and....he chose to eat spaghettie :) )
PSSSS....yes we did have a few nights where we wished we could have hopped in the car because we were tired...but we held it out...we had poached or steamed eggs on bread instead (always an abundance of eggs with 5 chooks)

Appliqué

Here is a little shirt I appliqued for my little miss Muffet.  I picked up a plain tshirt from target for $6.00. I used google images for a owl picture, which I traced from my computer screen (as I am out of printer ink).  She has already worn it... I forgot to take a photo...

the letter K

Our Mr Quiet's teacher got married this past saturday.  So last week the class had a Kitchen Tea Party.  Each child had to bring a herb or spice starting with the first letter of their name.  We could not think of any herb or spice starting with the letter K, so.... we made up our own.  

Kisses & Love tm

Our promise... 100% satisfaction guaranteed

I re-used a large spice jar.  Used my computer to wizz up the labels.  Printed and cut to size.  I laid my labels on a cut to size contact paper and rolled that around the spice jar.

I also filled the jar with some glitter which stuck to the inside glass.

Party Cupcakes

Our chatterbox turned 5 years old last week.  Here are the cupcakes that I made for the family party.  I usually use a madeira cake recipe for the cupcakes and just lessen the time in the oven a little.  For the Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream I used the recipe from Martha Stewart and added some green & blue food colouring to get it to turn out to this green.

I can't believe he turned 5 already!

SPIDERS

I called my mum the other day and told her I had a huge problem with spiders in my house.  They are very hairy and huge in size... Check them out!!

I made them for chatterbox's class for his birthday.  I came across the idea from this page a while ago and bookmarked it with it in mind for his birthday.  It's perfect for boys who love crawly things :)

You know he calls the millipedes at our house his 'fury friends', and if he had it his way they would be in his bedroom rather than in the bin.

Back next week

Our weeks have been crazily filled with meetings, swimming lessons and preparing for a birthday...   I've been exhausted but I will be back next week to show you some more from my craftroom :)

In the mean time... here is our playdough couple from the holidays

 

Holidays

I am planning to make the most of these holidays with my three kiddies. Lots of pajama days, a few outings here and there, swimming lessons, playing with my new kitchen machine... I'll be busy so I won't be posting here for the next two weeks or so :)

Overalls

This was a very simple project for me to do :)  The fact is, I created this over 10 years ago when I was still in High school.  The only thing that was missing was the two yellow buttons, which I had never sewn on the overalls.  I recall my sewing teacher asking me if she could have the overalls for her kids because she thought it was sooo cute.  Anyway, I never wanted to dress my boys in it, because of the flowery fabric.  I found it again when I was cleaning out miss Muffets wardrobe and going through the boxes of clothes.  There were some yellow buttons in my button jar, so now it is finally a completed project.  Now to find a red or yellow top for underneath and I can't wait to see my little Miss Muffet wearing it :)

It has pockets

Buttons

Pleads

and straps.

A sneak peak

Here is a sneak peak on a project that I am doing for my sister. Giving her doll pram a new look. It will take a little more time before it is totally completed as I am waiting on some time from dear hubby with some bits.

Kiwifruit and Banana Jam

My sister and I made some lovely homemade Kiwifruit & Banana Jam.  To sum it up in one word....delicious!!

Thermomix

Yes, we bought one and it arrived last week already!
We have made some lovely recipes already, meals in it every evening, yummy breakfast smoothies, porridge, cake, jam, butter, cappacinos, strong! irish coffee, hot chocolates, boiled eggs, foccacia bread, garlic butter, whipped cream and the list goes on... 
We also experimented ..if we steam really fresh eggs, they peel sooo much easier!!

To sum it up:  We love it...it suits OUR family situation to the brim!  We are looking forward to a more healthier diet from now on!!  The kids know that we will no longer get takeaway twice or three times a week, and they aren't too disappointed...they like getting to taste lots of different things, and take interesting sandwich toppings to school (more on that tomorrow). and I, well, lets just say, minimal preparations, and the fact that it cleans itself and so easy is just the tip of the iceberg.  Chatterbox....well...i think about the whole world knows now that we have a 'mysterious machine' in the kitchen which means that we are no longer allowed to go to the golden arches, the local DOME, the subway, the local Fish and Chips shop.  Dear hubby loves it, lets just say, he said yes, before I had made up my mind ;)

A Pillow

Remember the lovely fabric from this project?  I still had some fabric left over and I wanted to create a pillow for our outdoor setting.  I had bought a pillow liner at the RSPCA opshop in Port Kennedy for $2.50.  The pillow slip I created just like you would a normal bed pillow cover except the sizing is different.  Now, where to put it...it looks pretty on my favourite chair inside, it also looks pretty outside.   Where do you think I should display my cute little pillow?

Iron Board

My ironing board is over seven years old, the fact that I know that was because it was a wedding gift from some fabulous friends.   Anyway, the foam kept bubling underneath, the cover was dirty and getting old.  You're guessing already what I have made, havent you.  Yes, a new ironing board cover.

I laid my old cover on the ground, traced it, allowed some room for some cord casing, cut it out, and sewed.

I also stitched my foam to my board as it kept sliding around.  (not neat, but no one will see :) )

And voila, here it is, a new ironing board cover!   The fabric....the only piece that I had that was long enough to cover the ironing board!  I spend maybe just over half an hour fabricating it!  I even wipped down my iron (which I have never done before, but it was getting dusty)

Ironing

Now that hubby wears more 'business' shirts, it means I also have t o do more ironing.  I saw this product advertised the otherday, probably in a sideline on a craft blog :) .  So last time I did groceries, I bought one.    It is making my ironing a breeze!  Spray it on the shirt, and iron, and the iron just glides over it!  Love it!  It will make ironing maybe a tat more enjoyable :)  Tomorrow I will show you what will make my ironing even more enjoyable :)