playing along

Wow, okay... trying to contain myself... but just SO excited... squealing with delight and jumping up and down excited.

You Go Girl is holding a 4 week tutorial on how to make pillowcases with pretty crochet edging.

Hers look so gorgeous, i'm hoping i can make an eqaully gorgeous/funky boys style too.

Again the twin boy/girl thing kicking in... everything has to be equal and fair so neither feels less/more spoilt than the other. Mind you, i may need therapy for this, but for now i'm going with it! lol

This is SO fun... i'm off to get my supplies ready for next week. I Hope you have a lovely day today too x

PS It's not too late to join in the fun if you want to.

super sunday

My new love...



Last year a lovely cousin gave me her mother's sewing machine & overlocker. My Auntie went to heaven couple of years ago & she wanted me to have them because i guess she new i'd use them.

I call the sewing machine the fancy pfaff because it is compared to my $50 janome oppy find from 10yrs ago.

I didn't get to use it straight away because the manual was missing in action. I was getting around to ordering one when out of the blue my Uncle called to say he'd found it... woo hoo.

So, today was the day i finally got to have a go. And suprisingly easy to use ... now i know what all the buttons are for.

I can not tell you how excitied I am about this machine, she is just beautiful and has a lot more control than the janome.

From now on in, sorry Janome, it's going to be Pfaff all the way...

Iv'e been looking for a good time to make this cute drawstring bag from the Meet Me At Mikes craft book. so today was the day. Not sure if i read the instructions wrong but mine turned out quite small, i'd recommend adding 1cm to the entire pattern and go with that. My pocket turned out very small and i had to cut a new pen holder piece with the extra allowance for seam as my original would never have fit a pen.




Anyway, i think the bag is really cute so I will make one for myself next time to keep my crochet gear in for on the go.

Hope you had a super Sunday x

My creative space

This week has been very slow but with lots going on and doctors making more money out of us.

I've been working on a blanket for my little sister, it's going to be for xmas, early i know. I started making the blocks while we were travelling but ran out of yarn.
She doesn't have any kids YET and it seems to be that i am only making things for the kids and I didn't want her to miss out on some handmade goodness this year.



I couldn't decide on the pattern so fox decided it should be like this...



So I had to do more cream blocks. They are finally done and i'm now piecing it together.

But not finished yet...

For more creative space's tootle on over HERE.

My creative space

This week i've been making capes for some special boys.
I bought some magnetic clasps to use as the fasteners but they ended up being so strong i couldn't pry them apart. SO i had a change in tactic and put a piece of elastic at the front.
It was hard trying to get a pic of the cape in action... dman was running so fast so his cape would fly and looking backwards so he could watch it! A disaster waiting to happen, but so much fun :)

Living GF

I'm sure iv'e mentioned it before but incase you didn't know I have coeliacs and can not eat gluten at all. I just found out last year and was very unwell with a few hospital stays and many many tests until finally the penny dropped and a diagnosis was reached. Since excluding gluten from my diet my whole life has changed. No more pain, reflux, tiredness etc.

Lucky for me it's not as hard to go gluten free as it was a few years ago. There are many yummy gluten free products and really i don't feel like i go without at all. I know how bad those krispy kreme donuts make me feel up to a week after consuming them and so I don't crave these foods at all.

The hardest part of having coeliacs is trying to get a good gluten free meal while out and about.
Have you noticed that all GF food in cafes and coffee shops is nothing but friands and orange/almond cake? Not so good when you're trting to go low GI and lose weight on this seemingly high GI diet and all you want is a good salad with protien or some vegie risotto. Iv'e also found that a lot of places will just tell you the food is gluten free but really they have no clue that the salad dressing has a wheat product in it or they simply don't care and will tell you what you want to hear.

But it's not all bad really, you just need to be super organised with meal planning and make sure you have snacks on hand to tie you over if you happen to be out when the hunger strikes.

Being new at this game Iv'e had to educate myself in how to produce good healthy GF foods. Joining the coealiacs society has been helpful too.

The 4 Ingredients gluten free cook book has been pretty good. I thought it would be a little dodgy but suprisingly my very fussy 3 year old has enjoyed everything from that book.

Another great book is Low GI gluten-free living . This is the book I prefer to eat from as it has balanced low GI foods as the title suggests. However, the littlest one is not so keen.

I don't cook 2 meals for dinner, we all eat GF . Brekky & lunch is whatever the family wants so they still get to eat their sandwiches and weetbix if they like.

Anyway, I thought i'd show you some pictures...



THIS salad is delicious! I had to try as soon as I found it, it has sardines & pear, a strange combo but delish. I used baby cos instead of spinach. It's an awesomly filling lunch.



Baked Ricotta & Thyme Pie from 4 Ing - yum



Nachos 4 Ing style. not my favourite only because i'm not a cheddar fan, but the kids requested it and of course they loved it.



Sweet potato & fetta frittata again from 4 Ing. and with that yummy salad.