Travel jacket cover, a tutorial

So, it is day one of our family road trip.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to the beach….now we are in the bush!

We have driven with 2 chickadees & 1 very spoilt dog in the backseat.

 

We have driven through bush fires….

We have had to stop for sheep in the middle of the road….

We have seen some things that you just don’t see in the city…

And we have had a great day being a family….

One thing that I really do not want to do on holidays is….iron!

So when I was packing for our road trip, I  wanted to be able to hang my blazer jacket up & not have to shove it in the suitcase.

I always take my black blazer jacket as it goes with EVERYTHING! Wear it with jeans, t-shirt, a bangle or 5 & ballet flats for a casual lunch or with jeans, a nice big necklace, sparkly top & high heels for a lovely dinner date.

It also looks great over a dress or with a skirt.

My black blazer jacket has a little stretch in it so it keeps it shape really well & can be washed in a washing machine on gentle so it does not have to be dry cleaned.

I don’t like your regular suit bags as the smell a little too plastic for me & you have to air your clothes before you can wear them.

I wanted a jacket bag that let my clothes still breathe while protecting them.

So this is my alternative…

I had 2m of this beautiful Pretty Bird by Pillow & Maxfield for Michael Miller Fabrics.

It was so easy to do.

I just laid the jacket on the hanger on top of the folded material.

I traced around the jacket to make the pattern.

Sewed around the curved edge of the fabric, making sure to leave a 4cm opening at the top so that the coat hanger can fit through.

You should be left with an opening that looks like this…

Fold the edges over & pin them then sew around it to keep it stable.

You can then hem the bottom of the jacket bag.

I chose just to use the rolled hem function on the overlocker.

I also made a matching draw string back that is big enough to fit my ballet flats, high heels & sneakers.

Asparagus, tomato and fetta tart

What do you make when you only have asparagus, tomato, fetta & frozen puff pastry?

A tart of course!

This is what I made for my lunch the other day. I wasn’t planning on sharing it on the blog as it was just a throw it all together & hope for the best lunch.

Well, it worked & it was delicious!

Very simple & it would be great to throw together for when someone arrives at your front door step around lunchtime.

It is also perfect to spoil yourself as well!

I do really love cooking with fresh produce & the tomatoes & asparagus were both purchased from my local markets. Fruit & veg tastes much better when brought from a local market as you know that it has not been sitting in storage for weeks or months.

So, this is how easy it was……

I thawed on piece of frozen puff pastry.

Cut 4 x 1cm wide strips along the top.

Finely slice 2 tomatoes, snap the woody ends of a bunch of asparagus & crumble about 100g of Danish fetta.

Line a baking tray with baking paper & place the large piece of pastry on the paper.

Place the 4 x 1cm strips of puff pastry around the edge of the large piece of pastry.

Lay the sliced tomatoes on top & sprinkle with a little ground rock salt & black pepper.

Place the asparagus on top of the tomatoes & crumble the fetta on top.

Place in a hot, pre heated oven (200 degrees) for around 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden & puffed up.

Cut into 4 squares & serve.

My mouth is watering just thinking about how yummy this was!

I hope you enjoy it just as much as I did!

Keep calm & shine on! A bedside reminder.

I had been looking for a nice, sweet message to put in a photo frame on Georgia’s bedside table. I found it over at Crafts & Sutch 

I printed it out & here is the finished product.

I found some old photo frames in the linen cupboard (yes, I am a hoarder!)

I put a few coats of white paint on them.

(this is after the first coat)

Printed the Keep calm & shine onto some matt photo sticker paper. Found some pretty scrapbooking paper in my stash.

Stuck the print on to the paper.

Using the glass from the photo frame as a guide, I traced the glass to make the picture fit perfectly.

And there you have it…..

Festive Friday #1

Due to popular demand (giggle!) I will now be doing Festive Friday blogs on handmade Christmas gifts, ornaments, decorations, clothes, etc.

Now, did you know that there is only 99 days till Christmas?

(thank you to my friend Tasha for reminding everyone daily!)

Christmas would have to be my favourite time of year!

I go a little overboard with decorating & even find it hard to let the kids help because everything has to be perfect.

Sometime I even let them decorate the tree then when they are at school, I redecorate.

It is the obsessive compulsive side of me.

I love the happiness that is Christmas.

Everyone is happy, everyone gets to give & receive gifts, & everyone gets to relax & spend time with family.

What could be better than that!

So, to kick off Festive Friday, I have made this…..

It is a present/Santa sack.

These are very easy to make.

You can make your own or decorate a pillowslip.

I used some of the leftover ,material from Georgia's chair

In Australia ( where I am lucky enough to live!) it is the middle of summer when we celebrate Christmas.

The traditional winter colours of red & green are not really the colours that match our season.

It is a little strange to be going through a heatwave & decorating with snowflakes & snowmen!

You could use traditional Christmas fabrics or colours for this Santa sack but we use the colours of blue, purple, pink, aqua & silver for our Christmas colours in my house, so this suits perfectly.

So here is how I went about it……

I folded the material in half & drew a Christmas tree on to half of it.

I did it like this so when you cut the tree, you end up with a tree that is exactly the same on each side.

I then cut 2 pieces of white cotton material that is about an inch wider than a standard pillow slip & about 3 inches taller than a standard pillow slip.

I made sure that the tree was big enough to “fill” the Santa sack.

If you make the tree too small then it will not be the main stand out feature, if you get what I mean.

As I said earlier, you don’t have to make the sack but you can use a pillow slip.

Pin the tree to one piece of the white material.

Make sure you use plenty of pins!

You can use Visofix as a bonding between the tree & the white material but as this is not going to be laundered on a regular basis & only used once a year, I didn’t use it in this project.

Using your straight stitch on the sewing machine or use hand stitching to stitch around the edge of the tree.

I love how the photo above picks up the sflecks of silver that are through this fabric.

Using some strips of the tree fabric, I made 2 ties to use to tie the Santa sack at the top.

You could use ribbon, rope or anything like that.

Pin the ties about 3 inches from the top of the sack & place the other white cotton back of the sack on top of the tree piece (right sides together)

Pin around 3 side leaving the top of the sack open.

Sew around the 3 sides

Turn it in the right way & overlock or zig zig across the top of the bag so it does not fray.

And there you have it!

One very funky Santa Sack!

I hope you continue to come back every Friday (well, everyday would be nice!) to see what I have made for Festive Friday!

R U OK?? Day

R U OK Day
 

 

 

Today is national “R U OK??” Day. Sometimes the stress & worries of day to day life can become all too much. We have all had those moments when it just feels like you can’t possibly take any more. Some even take it to the very extreme with depression & commit or attempt to commit.

 

What is R U OK? Day?

 

A national day of action that aims to prevent suicide by encouraging Australians to connect with someone they care about and help stop little problems turning into big ones. On that day we want everyone across the country, from all backgrounds and walks of life, to ask family, friends and colleagues: "Are you OK?". Because staying connected with others is crucial to our general health and well-being. Feelings of isolation and being alone are major contributing factors to depression and social issues that can ultimately result in suicide. Regular, meaningful conversations can protect those we know and love. It's so simple but in the time it takes to have a coffee, you can start a conversation that could change a life.

 

So why not ask someone todayy,

R U OK??

 

 

Even if it is just a simple text message, a private message on Facebook, a phone call or even a coffee date.

 

Make sure that you do not just do this today but do it everyday!

Light & luscious lemon tango muffins!

I got up at 5:30am to make these for my chickadees to take to school, well maybe also for my morning tea!

In hindsight, maybe I should have waited until I had my morning cup of tea so that I could see properly & not do this…….

Yes, I managed to drop an egg!

Well, no use crying over cracked eggs, so I continued on.

This lemon tango muffin recipe is very easy & as you can see by the picture at the top of this post, is is very light & not like the normal dense muffins.

So here goes….

Lemon Tango Muffins

2 cups of plain flour

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 cup of caster sugar

1 teaspoon of lemon zest

2 eggs, lightly beaten

120g of cooled melted butter

1/4 cup of lemon juice

1/2 cup of diet lemonade

Click here to go to the printable Lemon Tango Muffins recipe

In a bowl, put all the dry ingredients & the lemon zest.

Whisk it all together to remove any lumps.

Make a well in the centre & add the eggs, melted butter, lemon juice & lemonade.

Lightly fold with a spatula until the mixture just comes together.

Spoon mixture into lined muffin trays to 3/4 full.

Cook at 200 degrees (hot oven) for 15-20minutes or until golden.

Can be served cold or warm with a dusting of icing sugar.

These muffins also freeze well for up to a month so they are perfect for school lunches!

Well I am off to go & have one of these yummy muffins with a nice hot cup of tea!