the beach

A week ago we took a break at 'the beach'. This spot, Riversdale beach, is on the coast of the Wairarapa. My grandparents bought the section 29 years ago (so I've been going there all my life). For 20 years it was just a couple of caravans. In the 2000s they started building a little village comprising of a bigger sleep-out and a wendy house and a couple of sheds and what not.
Goodbye long-drop (yes!) and hello mod-cons. But not too modern - my family are habitual collectors of old things and cannot, no cannot, throw anything away. So it goes to the beach.
Occasionally someone will splurge and buy something new for 'the beach', and that's nice, but actually I relish in the hodge podge of stuff still to be found there, from 1970s swimwear and shoes and sunhats, to vintage tennis rackets and badminton shuttle cocks, to a 1990s kitchen of hideous colours, and an old formica table and chairs and a pull-out couch with musty old mattress and squeaky springs and beds pushed together that don't match up - that sort of thing. It feels like me, it feels like a permanent memory. Quite simply, it is my favourite place in the world. (Not that I've travelled!)

This holiday we found the kids were a perfect age together. Our little Laidey slept or lay on the beds, the other two explored safely within the watch of two relaxing parents. Sometimes we played on the beach.
Sometimes we searched the property and found things like bird nests and pine cones. These we took home for the fireplace. They make excellent kindling!

We have a large patch of tussock grass on the way to the beach. This proved to be the best fun of all, Hugo and Georgia falling down into it for fun. I used to despise the grasses for prickling my feet and legs and harbouring katipo spiders (which I now know don't live this far down the North Island.

The kids topped and tailed in a bed. So much better without a cot!

These wild lupins were Chris' nemesis. As he hacked them down I rescued a bunch of flowers and took them home for Oma. 

Then he cut me a bunch of these geraniums, which also grow as weeds there.

We treasured each moment and felt so grateful to have this place to escape to.
It's lovely to think of Georgia gaining her first memories of the beach. I remember being her age and being afraid of sharks in the sea but going in all the same and getting dunked by the waves and walking the endless 1km to the shop for an ice-cream. Bliss.

Russian doll invitation inspiration

Mum's turning 50 and I wanted to create something special for her invitations.
Several false starts later I fell upon the idea to use my Russian dolls (and they are the real deal from a Kyrgyzstani friend for our Wedding) as a backdrop for photos of Mum.

One doll for each decade.
The hardest part was finding the right photos, scanning and resizing and even colour-setting them to fit.
Tracing paper for sizing, masking tape for sticking.

I photographed them - was quite hard getting the light right to stop a reflection interfering with the images...
Tomorrow we'll be printing them and sticking to orange cards with message inside. Then sending them immediately as the party's a week away!
(I am in two photos, middle and second from right)

Breadmaking

I've been making this bread for a few months since seeing it on a few blogs, firstly at Tiny Happy (thank you so much for posting about this!) then at Angry Chicken. The master recipe is available here (the authors have two great looking books, one is for gluten free recipes!) and it makes a good amount - 3 or 4 small loaves and, here's the trick, it needs no kneading (love that phrase) and it keeps in the fridge for up to 2 weeks!
It rises once then it's ready to use. I generally make two small loaves then use the last of it up in a batch of fruit buns by rolling in some raw sugar and some currants, sultanas, raisins and peel.
I have found that it keeps rising in between uses though. I'd like to use a smaller container to keep it in the fridge to take less space, but it's burst out of ice-cream containers on several occasions with only half the dough remaining. I reduce the salt to one tablespoon too.
I've also tried keeping a little dough to incorporate into the next batch to give it more of a sourdough flavour - it got a little too sour, or bitter in fact, so have gone back to clean starts.
Using wholemeal flour has been ok. I started with that, then have gradually used more and more plain (high grade) flour as it makes a softer and more raised bread.

And sometimes I like to make traditional bread. Using Jamie Oliver's Naked Chef basic bread recipe (and look, there it is online) I made Foccacia the other day. I even used his strange topping suggestions - potato and rosemary, and fried onion. Both were exceptional. Here are two with the potato topping, one with kalamata olives added and parmesan. Better than pizza? Depends how hungry you are. Why did I not photograph the onion Foccacia? We were too busy eating...

a bean bag for the little ones

I made this bean bag a few months ago when I found the kids needed a chair of their own for lounging on.

There was a good tutorial on the net. I followed the instructions pretty fully. Had to copy and trace the pattern onto newspaper. I liked the idea that it has a lining, for strength and safety. There is also a nice tutorial and pattern in Kelly Doust's new book, the Crafty Kid. It has more of a 'back' to it and a traditional bean bag shape.
So mine was easily sewn together with a good spout in the lining for filling with the beans. Boy was it a prick to fill though - the beans went everywhere and on our wooden floors they resisted the broom with static electricity, went under the bed. Had to be vacuumed up in the end. (I was terrified of leaving any trace of them around as I understand they are a pretty bad suffocation risk if inhaled by small children!)
All in all, it's sturdy, attractive, useful, can be tucked away behind a chair easily enough.

Seats two (they're under 15kg each)
or one baby (supervised)
and is Dad's favourite footrest too.

The fabric was a mix of found materials from the op-shop and an auction.

a little gardener

 Georgia made these practical garden labels. We have the vege patches weeded at last, ready for planting. But no plants! Packets of seeds (I spent $100 last year on seeds!) and a sudden urgency to have them growing.

She found sticks in the garden, some of them were hardened flax cut into strips. With cellotape she connected the labels to the sticks and stuck them into the pots.
She enjoyed making these and it was great to have her to something useful and for her to see her contribution to our business of growing our own food. We'll see if anything's ready by xmas.

doorstops

These have been really handy.

 

 I made the smaller two for myself about a year ago when I had the use of my aunty's machine. I didn't use a pattern, and alas found two problems with what I'd done. Sewing was fine, but I filled one with sand and now it leaks sand dust every time it's moved. The other was made partially with vinyl, it's stretched and sagged a little and won't last more than a couple of years.

So this time I went with a pattern and followed the directions (almost). The book Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter has a great pattern for a doorstop. It sews together great, no problems with it. Perhaps it's a little large? This one's for my Mum who has two doors and three dogs who need to come and go without a shut door getting in their way, and a fully opened door might be too much some days. Needless to say another doorstop is also needed. She'll be getting two for Christmas.

I used some nice upholstery fabric and some excellent lacquered hardcore waterproof stuff I got from a designer sale years ago. Here's where I varied from the directions - I filled it with whatever dried goods I had on hand. Pearl barley, lentils, dried beans and also some synthetic stuffing to give it some shape up top.
These are such a nice way to show off some favourite (hard-wearing) fabrics. We should all open doors sometime during the week to let in some fresh air. We all need doorstops. Doorstops are great. Hee

Rag quilt

Phew, done. This beautiful 'rag quilt' for Hugo.

Easy as, simply cut squares of fabric, either two or three layers depending on thickness, I was told a layer of cotton, flannel in between, and cotton again on the back is recommended. Don't use stretch fabrics, I tried some stretch merino wool and it was a mess, the quick-unpick ripped out some tangled seams.

Quilt with an X.  

then stitch together in your desired pattern. I found it easiest to complete rows first, then sew rows together. If the corners were too thick (or not matching up as well as you'd like) I suggest doing what I did sometimes - stitching square by square, reinforcing seams with backstitching. Otherwise, if things were looking good I'd lay the top seam facing forward and the underneath seam facing backward and push it through the machine. The fabric caught by this needs to be snipped out to freely fray, if you get what I mean...

 Now down to business. Trim the sides into fraying notches. If you have spring-loaded scissors, use them now. I didn't, and it wasn't bad at all using regular sewing scissors (they must be sharp though).

Throw into the washing machine, then the clothes dryer (regular cycles).

The more you wash the greater it looks (more frayed).

[with flash]

[without flash]

Some details:
Fabric is by Heather Bailey, her Nicey Jane line. The lime green with birds and flowers is by Patty Young for Michael Miller (Hummingbirds in Lime, some available here on NZ site trademe). Love these fabrics, the colours are sorta juicy, edible, and they go so well with the walls. Tried to choose boy colours, but young boy colours and they had to please me and Georgia too (who shares a room with him).
The size is for standard (American) cot size, 1300mm long. The squares are 20cm with 1.5cm (1/2 inch) seam allowance. I used 48 squares (8x6), so used 5 colours, 40cm (1/2 yard) each with one colour using only 8 squares while the rest used 10.



The backing is some micro-fleece I bought to make Hugo a dressing gown. The grandies bought him one so I didn't need to make one. I had nearly enough, so made up the rest of the squares withe some vintage blue felted wool and I cut up a yellow baby's sleeping bag I didn't use. I laid them using a quick sketch plan of colours, randomly placed with an attempt to have one colour each row somewhere. Didn't look at the back, but I knew it would work out ok because the fronts were planned and mainly used just one colour for each different coloured backing fabric. But really, was just random.


Can you believe I almost cut up this  cutie little vintage yellow baby's coat? I didn't use it for Georgia and it's been stored away since, but actually I think Adelaide will be the right size for it next winter. So glad I kept it.

The thread is this Metler poly sheen multi, 100% polyester, Japan made, no.40 - and it changes from blue to gold to brown as you go. It added interest and something special to the handmade appeal of making your own quilt. If nobody else notices it, at least I'm glad I used it.
Apparently these quilts are popular at the moment. I can see why. They look snuggly, they ARE snuggly! They are beautiful, they show off your favourite fabrics. Quick and easy to make (mine took approx two mornings plus cutting time) and they are a good introduction to quilting. You can use a regular sewing machine, and you don't need to quilt the thing in its entirety, just square by square.
This is my first quilt. I think I'll be making more of these, in girl colours. I can't wait!

Fabric coming out my ears

It's been stashed away in cupboards, drawers, and most recently the garage, for what seems like years. Actually, it has been years. I've dabbled in sewing over the last decade. When I was a teenager I sewed some gorgeous things. Some I made without patterns, others using ambitious vintage patterns. All this increased my sewing skills until I felt quite confident. Then my old 1950s machine broke and I never got a new one. Until last week. A 1987(?) Husqvarna Prisma. Just in need of a service, which it got, and also needs the zigzag function fixed (yet to happen, gonna cost a bit of $$).
I tipped out the fabric stash to air in the sun - here is about half the pile. I feel guilty and inspired.

Some of it is beautiful and some just functional. I have books by Lotta Jansdotter, Ana-Maria Horner and various vintage patterns ready to go. All cut-out, and now I'm too blimmin tired to sew! Needless to say, watch this space.

A fresh start

Most mornings lately I've been starting the day with one of these smoothies.

Made from banana, gold kiwifruit, frozen blueberries and cranberry juice (all in varying amounts, depending on what I have and what I happen to slosh in). Whizzed up for a minute or so it turns this beautiful shade of pink. We all love it. The kids have theirs with straws.  I really want one of these old fashioned milkshake straw holders.

Healthy, wealthy and wise. At least I'm making inroads to getting the first one covered...

a kiwi tradition - pavlova

I made my first pavlova. Finally! 

Our 1970s oven is substandard (the swing door is broken so it doesn't stay closed, the temperature gauge is off so I don't know what it's set at, the gauge is in old gas marks too to make it harder, the oven cavity is small so standard trays don't fit and I have to use roasting trays for baking...) but if it can cook a pavlova then it can cook anything I think.

This was nice with whipped cream and fruit on top.
The recipe, from this book, tells you to put all ingredients in a bowl at once and set them mixing in the machine for 10-12 minutes. Could it get any easier (except the part where you have to separate the eggs, groan).
With three egg yolks left over it had to be poached eggs with Hollandaise sauce.

beurre de Paris

This handy butter creates a French flavour in an instant. I make it up as a batch and keep it rolled in waxed paper in the fridge and just slice a bit off when I need it.
Use it to serve with steak and potatoes, use it to season vegetables as you cook them (especially good with mushrooms), use it to bake fish in the oven wrapped in tin foil (aluminum foil).
So, so good. Every time. In an instant!

Here's how to make it:
Sauté a sliced shallot or two in some butter, add a clove or two of sliced garlic. Throw in a handful of chopped parsley (Italian flat leaf or the curly variety), a teaspoon of whole-grain mustard, then cook this until the shallots are turning transparent, about 3-5 minutes.

Add the mixture to about 150g of softened butter. Stir it together, form into a log, wrap in waxed paper and keep in the fridge. I don't know how long it keeps, probably best to use it up within the month...
Your family and friends will think you are an amazing chef. ;)

a special cake

 I'm making this cake for my mother's 50th birthday, which is coming up in a few weeks. The cake improves with keeping so I thought a good 6 weeks would do nicely. This is the third time I've used a Christmas cake recipe from this book and it's a good one! (Just discovered the author has provided FREE recipes online). It makes a huge cake (fits a 10 inch tin well) as it uses a pound each of flour, sugar, butter, raisins, sultanas, currants and a whole lot of extras.

I adjusted the ingredients slightly, substituting fresh NZ walnuts and some pistachios in place of the almonds. I also used some glorious huge golden raisins, some raz cherries, goji berries, cranberries and various other types of raisins. Yep, the ingredients for this cake cost a lot, including the 9 eggs (yes, 9!) but I think my Mum's worth it.

You can see some of the brands I used here:

I especially love the Angas Park brand, the figs I used here, but all their range is fantastic, juicy, yum.

Did I mention it makes a big cake? I had to borrow my aunty's baking bowl again. It's so tough to stir at the end they recommend using your hand, and that was truly the only way to get through it.

Cooked for 4 hours.

 My handy helper, he actually cracked every one of the 9 eggs himself, without spilling.

Smells amazing. The odours emanated from the cake the next day, then I wrapped it up in waxed paper.
I'll post again when I ice it - the usual almond paste icing topped with white butter-cream. I need to get creative with the decoration, perhaps fresh flowers for once, or some pearlised icing balls around the base...