Some Dollies For Some Precious Little People

You might remember me mentioning my amazing friend Jo, cake decorating extraordinaire, and my lovely friend who taught me everything I know about cake decorating, runs an amazing cake business called The Cupcake Gallery, has written 2 self-published cake decorating books (they're amazing by the way) and a children's book.  She is definitely THE most creative person I know.  

Well, almost 2 years ago she and her husband moved themselves and their 3 kids (who were 5 and under at the time) to Malawi in Africa where they work as missionaries among the local people.  Amazing huh!!  I still gasp at the thought of packing up a whole family to move to another country where the language is foreign, water and electricity very unreliable and with no one familiar around.  Amazing faith is all I can think of that would make someone do that.

Through the miracle of today's technology (Facebook, email, text messaging), I've been able to keep totally up to date with Jo and her family and see first hand what they've been doing ... and let me tell you, they've been busy.  While Jo's husband works in local and regional youth ministry, they have also managed to get a grasp on the local language, get involved in their kid's school and start up a fortnightly Kids Bible Club at their home, where they often get more than 100 local children attending.  They've also started up a "Garage Friday" at their home and they welcome any local kids who want to come and have help with homework, play, draw or just generally hang out.   So a couple of months ago, Jo put a call out for some help with supplying some handmade dollies for the little girls to play with during their time at Jo's house.  I think it took me all of about a millisecond to respond and raise my hand.  Who could say no to supporting this beautiful family and the precious kids they're working with, but when it involves sewing too ... I'm there!!

And here's what I made.  3 of these gorgeous little ones using the free pattern from Girl. Inspired. which I've made a few times before, and which I really love.  It's a great sized doll, and super soft and cuddly.  Hannah loves the one I made for her last year and still takes it to bed with her every night.

Oh, and about a millisecond after I volunteered, my Mum (aka Nanna) was on the phone to me saying that she'd love to send over some of her knitted dolls too.  She made these beauties ... aren't they cute.  She used the Duduza Doll Knitting Pattern.  My mum has knitted a tonne of these over the past year or so to donate to kids in need, and they are just adorable.

So we got our dolls together and sent them off with plenty of love attached, hoping they would get there OK.  I was so super excited when Jo contacted me via Facebook just a few days ago (you might have seen her post on the What's Mummy Up To facebook page) to say that not only had they arrived, but that the little girls had been excited to play with them.  

She even sent me this gorgeous pic of the girls putting the dollies to "bed".  Oh, aren't they the most beautiful little kids.  Look at those smiles ... it's enough to melt this Mummy's heart!

Another project Jo has been working her tail off on lately has been a new idea she's had for helping the local women learn to sew.  Jo has found that many of the local women are lacking skills that they can use to help support their families financially.  She's found that if they were to develop a skill such as sewing, they could help to support their families by making even a small amount of income.  Jo has spent days, weeks and many sleepless nights sewing beautiful goods lately to sell at a market store to ex-pats and visitors, and has raised enough money to buy a few treadle and hand-cranked sewing machines (they have to be manual machines, as many of these women do not have electricity at home).   

And aren't they just the most stunning machines.  Jo has found a space in her home to set these machines up and has already started giving lessons to some local women.

Anyway, in case you might want to learn a little more about what Jo and her family are doing, or if you would like to help, follow this link to their website.  And if you'd like to make some dollies to send to Jo, it would be so appreciated.  You can send them to: Kids Bible Club, SIM Malawi, PO Box 136, Blantyre, Malawi, AFRICA.

Jo's photos have been used in this post with her permission.

Recipe: Winter Perfect Pumpkin Soup

Each spring we plant a little vegie patch in a purpose-built garden bed in our back yard.  I just love my vegie patch ... it's great education for the munchkins, a great outside activity for them with the weeding, preparing, planting, watering and then harvesting and it's such an achievement to grow something yourself that can then be fed to the family.  While we're by no means self-sufficient on the vegie front, it is nice to think that at least for one season of the year our vegie supply is well-supplemented from our own garden.  Here's a little bit of what we picked from our garden last summer.

Anyway, each year we seem to have one type of veg that does better than everything else.  Last year was definitely the yellow zucchinis ... check out this whopper that Bethany picked.  It weighed over 3kg!

This year, it's been the season for pumpkins.  Thankfully most of our vegie crops have now finished for the season, because Mr Pumpkin has decided to take over the whole garden, and our investment into 1 tiny pumpkin seedling has now multiplied into about 20 or maybe more pumpkins, at different stages of readiness. And with winter here and the weather cooling significantly over this last week, what else to do with pumpkins than to make Pumpkin Soup.

My soup recipe is based (albeit loosely) on the soup I've watched my Mum make as long as I can remember.  Here's how I do it:

Ingredients: (Serves 4-6, depending on how big-a-bowl you eat!!)
- 1 fresh pumpkin - any variety will work.  My pumpkin was about 10" in diameter.  If yours is much bigger than that, maybe add an extra stock cube for a bit of extra flavour.
- 1 tsp (small dash) olive oil
- 1 onion
- 2 chicken stock cubes (salt reduced) or 2 cups of liquid stock if you prefer that
- 1-2 cups of skim milk
- Ricotta Cheese / Sour Cream / Labna to serve

Method:

1.  Roughly dice your onion and place it in a large saucepan with a dash of olive oil and fry it off quickly, just until the onion becomes transparent.

2. Remove the skin and seeds from your pumpkin and cut into an even dice, then add it to your saucepan with the onion.  I cut mine in about a 1 inch dice ... it cooks nice and quickly.

3.  Add some water, until it just starts to cover the pumpkin like this, then also add 2 salt-reduced stock-cubes (If you prefer liquid stock, just use 2 cups of liquid stock, then top up with water until there is enough liquid to almost cover the pumpkin).

4.  Place the pot over high heat until the water starts to boil, then put the lid on, turn down to medium heat and cook for about 20-30 minutes until the pumpkin is nice and soft.

 It will start to break down a little and look something like this once it's cooked.

5.  Remove the pot from the heat and allow the soup to cool for about 5-10 minutes,  then blend until it's smooth.

 I like to use a stick-blender, but if you don't have one, a regular blender will work fine.  You might need to blend it in batches to avoid an overflow!

6.  Then add your milk, and mix well until the milk is completely combined.  You can adjust the milk quantity based on how thick or runny you like your soup.  I like mine reasonably thick!

7.  Now to decide how to serve it ... take your pick from some sour cream, ricotta cheese or my new favourite, some labna.  Daddy and I had a recent weekend away to celebrate our 10-year anniversary.  We went to the Hunter Valley, a beautiful wine region of NSW, and we came across this amazing Labna at a local cheese producer.  'Yum' doesn't even cover it ... it was so good ... yep, WAS ... it didn't last long in our house!

Anyway, to serve, heat the soup for a few minutes over low heat (don't let it boil) then ladle it into a bowl and top with your topping-pick and a sprinkle of freshly chopped chives.  A crusty bread-roll or a generous slice of sour-dough bread really completes this too!

Yum ... I might just pick another pumpkin and get another batch of this loveliness underway!  Oh, and this soup freezes fantastically well.  I love to freeze it in single portions, then simply heat it on the stove or even in the microwave for a quick, yummy and healthy winter-warmer lunch.

Hope you enjoy!!

Baby gifts - Because they're just plain fun!

I love a good baby-shower ... well, any excuse for putting together a little gift of teeny-tiny cuteness, huh!  I know I'm biased, but I especially love teeny-tiny goodness for little GIRL babies.

So, when my sister-in-law's sister .... (what do I call her, there's got to be a better name than "sister-in-law's sister" ... does anyone know?)  Anyway, she's a lovely, and when she invited me to join her for her special baby shower earlier this year, I was stoked.  As my mind often does these days, it went straight to ... ohhhh, what can I make?

Now, I have been coveting this absolutely adorable babushka fabric for the longest time, just waiting for the perfect project.  Nothing had seemed cute enough to warrant cutting in to this beauty.  Anyone who has known me for more than 5 minutes knows that I love babushkas, and although my heart breaks to admit it, I think Bethany is getting a little old for babushkas, now that she's 6 and all *sobs uncontrollably*.  Anyway, when pondering something cute for this new little person I couldn't resist the teeniest tiniest little pair of bubble shorts ever made, and the look was completed with a matching teeny tiny appliqued singlet.  Given this bub was born in the height of the summer heat, I thought these would be practical as well as cute for her.

I used the MADE Kid Shorts pattern, which I purchased a while ago, and I love.  The only problem is that the pattern starts at a size 12-months, and obviously this gift was for a newborn.  So, I fiddled a little with the measurements (basically just removed the seam allowance all the way around), and cut the waist elastic a little smaller to fit a newborn.  To pretty them up a little I also added an extra row of stitching at the waistband to make a small ruffle at the top, then used 1/2" elastic instead of 1" elastic in the waist.  This is the same way I did the waist band for Bethany's Princess PJ's last year. 

Then, and because there's really nothing cuter than newborn chubby thighs, I inserted a little piece of 1/8" elastic into the hems of the short to make them bubble-style.  I then grabbed a little Bonds baby singlet, cut out one of the tiny babushkas and appliquéd it to the front.  I was super happy with how these turned out, and I think the Mummy-to-be liked them too!

Then, with how super-quick the first project was, I decided to knock together a girl-toned version of my Baby Change-mat Clutch.  Not bad in the brighter girly colours, hey! Oh, and a little tip .... if you're making one of these change mats, make 2.  You can get 2 out of a yard of each fabric.  And boy I'm glad I did, because before I knew it another friend had a tiny baby girl, and sitting right there was the perfect gift!  

Anyway, I had so much fun putting this gift together, and I thought someone else might be interested in a similar gift, so I've added a babushka outfit and a girly-coloured change mat clutch to my Etsy shop.  Take a look ... 

Oh and if you were shocked at the postage rates last time you looked at the shop ... Australia Post really is ridiculously expensive ... I did a little more research and found a cheaper way to send things, so you should be pleasantly surprised at the MUCH more reasonable postage rates ... still Australia Post, but just packaged a little more economically.

Tutorial: Disco Diva Skirt

How much fun are kid's birthday parties? .... I know, I know, there's a tonne of them to get to, and it's tricky to choose a present, especially when you're not all that familiar with the kid or their family, and, well, there's a tonne of them to get to ... but what I love is seeing how creative people are with their party ideas, and how excited the kids are to be invited.  Bethany was recently invited to a little school friend's party and the theme was Disco!  Ohhhhh .... I just couldn't resist .... so when Spotlight literally fell on top of me one day and forced me to buy fabric ... it's true, it really happened ... I went a-huntin' for some disco'esque fabric.

I found this cute black and silver sparkly number in the "dance fabrics" section.  I'm not entirely sure what it is, to be honest, but it has a stretch in one direction, the sparkles are printed on one side, and the back is plain black ... it's Fairly light-weight and almost feels like lycra, but not as stretchy as that ... anyone know what it is?  Anyway, I loved it and started designing a little skirt right there in my mind.  I also grabbed some 1 1/2" wide black elastic, and off home I went.

This is how it turned out, and Bethany was so excited to have a "sparkly" skirt.  It's getting a little chilly here in Sydney now, and on the day of the party it was absolutely freezing, so we coupled the skirt with some tights and boots, and a long-sleeve tee.  Photo-shoot day was a little warmer, so we ditched the tights and added a short-sleeve tee.  I think it works both ways.

Anyway, seeing as this was such a simple yet effective design, I thought I'd share in case you want to make one too.  

Oh, and I made an extra Disco Diva Skirt so that I could take pics for this tutorial.  This one's approximately a size 2/2T (it fits Hannah) for a waist size of 16 1/2".  Do you want it?  There's only one, so first in gets it ... Take a look at My Shop for a bargain Disco Diva Skirt for the little Diva in your life.

But, if you're looking to sew it yourself, here's what you need:

- 1/2 metre / yard "sparkly" fabric - check out the "dance fabric" section of your local fabric shop or online to see what you can find.  Try to get one that's a little stretchy in one or both directions.

- 1 1/2" elastic - enough to fit your munchkin's waist, plus another inch for joining.

- Coordinating thread

- Scissors or rotary-cutter and cutting mat

- Sewing machine.

The How To:

1.  Measure your munchkin's waist - Bethany, who's 6, has a waist measurement of 22".  Multiply this figure by 1.5.  So for Bethany, it is 33".

2.  Measure the length from your munchkin's waist (where you want the skirt to sit) to the bottom of the knee - for Bethany this is 14".  No need to add any extra length for seam allowance or hem, because the elastic will add some length.

3.  Cut your fabric, (with the stretch running horizontally across the skirt) into a rectangle measuring (Waist x 1.5) x length.  So for Bethany, the rectangle was 33" x 14", with the stretch running horizontally across the long edge.  The fold this rectangle in half, with and cut to make a front and a back piece like so.

4.  Place your front and back pieces right side together and sew down each side seam, using a 1/4" seam allowance.  If you like, you can finish the raw edge with your overlocker (serger).  It's not necessary for non-fraying fabrics, but if you're like me and love to use your overlocker, go for it!!

5.  Decide which is the bottom of the skirt ... it won't matter if your fabric print is non-directional like mine.  Turn a 1/2" hem, then turn another 1/2" and pin all the way around.  Sew the hem around.  If your fabric is super stretchy, you might want to use a twin-needle, or even use a zig-zag stitch.  I didn't think mine was stretchy enough to need that, so just went with my normal straight stitch ... there's been no issues with the hem so far, so I think that choice was OK for this particular fabric.

6.  Now, cut your elastic to the waist measurement plus 1".  For Bethany's this was 22"+1=23".  Join your elastic to form a circle like so.  I folded each end of the elastic under 1/4", then tucked in to each other ... hopefully this photo is clear-ish - then I simply sewed, using my machine, 2 rows of stitching through all the layers across the 1 1/2" width to hold it all together.  I'm sure there's a million ways of joining this kind of elastic waist-band, so just go with what you know.

7.  Once your elastic is joined, measure 4 equal points around, and place a pin in each spot.  The grab your skirt pieces and place a pin at each side-seam, and half way along the front and back at the top raw edge.

8.  Then, put your skirt piece inside your elastic waistband, and match the raw edge of the skirt top with the top edge of the elastic.  Match up the pin markers on your elastic with the ones on your skirt and pin the skirt to the elastic in these spots.

9.  Sew around the top edge of the skirt/elastic, using a 1/4" seam allowance, and stretching the elastic  gently as you sew so that you make it to the next pin without any gathers.  Once you've sewn all around, you'll see that the elastic naturally and evenly gathers the skirt to the waistband.  I love this method, and think it's got to be one of the easiest ways to make a skirt!

And your done .... 

Now, what to do with your left-over sparkly fabric?? ... girls love to sparkle after all.  Well, how about my version of the Sequined Raglan Tunic Top from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom.  I mean, who doesn't love a free pattern, and this one sewed up so quickly and easily ... Bethany LOVES it, and I think I can see a few more of these tops in my future for this winter ... sparkly or not!

Or, maybe some sparkly leggings ... Too cute for words.  I made these in the same way I made my Sweat Pant Leggings last winter, except just turned a basic hem instead of adding a cuff.

Hannah was "Jumping, Jumping" for these photos ... she loves her "sparkly pants".  Someone tell me how to pause time ... this one is growing up WAAAAAY too fast at the moment!

 Anyway, hope you enjoy your Disco-Diva project as much as I did.  I'd love to see your creations if you make a skirt, or even some cute leggings like these .... email me a pic if you like!