A week of lists: 5 foodie delights for those with allergies or intolerances

Decorated cake from "Just Yummy"

I am joining in with Meet Me At Mike's lovely Week Of Lists.

This particular list is a bit less about craft and bit more about scrumptious eats ... and who doesn't love those? If you have a food allergy or intolerance - or know someone who does - then I hope you find something handy on my 5 foodie delights list.

1. Just Yummy
   A Melbourne-based bakery who know a thing or two about turning out delicious gluten and allergen-free breads, cakes and a host of baked treats. They didn't bat an eyelid when I recently ordered a fancy birthday cake that was to be nut, egg and fructose free ... and diabetes friendly. You can order online, visit their shop or find them at various craft markets.
   13 Meadowgate Drive
   Chirnside Park 3116
   justyummyglutenfree.com
   


2. Allergy Block
   An online and brick-and-mortar shop stocking huge range of allergen, preservative and colouring-free products. Allergy Block supply over 2000 lines and are fabulous for children's treats.
   220 Elgin Street
   Carlton 3194
   allergyblock.com.au
   


3. Cusine.com.au
   A mainstream recipe database with a difference. Fairfax media's recipe repository includes some special diet options in the search criteria. Choose from wheat/gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free and egg-free. I love the beautiful photographs that accompany the recipes.
   cuisine.com.au
   


4. Orgran
   An Australian manufacturer of over 70 gluten and allergen free products, including a good variety of convenient treats. Orgran's products can be found on the shelves of health food stores and supermarkets alike and are also exported to countries round the world. I am a huge fan of the egg-replacer No Egg.
   orgran.com.au
   


5. Well And Good
   This manufacturer of allergen-free baking mixes, has created the most decadent chocolate mud cake you could imagine. As well as cake mixes, you will find cookies, muffins and bread. The products are available in health food shops, selected supermarkets, online and internationally.
   wellandgood.com.au

For more lists, head over to Meet Me At Mike's.

A week of lists: 5 places to buy interesting dress fabric in Melbourne

Italian stretch fabric from Carmel's

I am joining in with Meet Me At Mike's excellent Week Of Lists.

This time I am listing some of my favourite places to buy interesting dress fabric in Melbourne. If you're not local, then you might like to check out the websites, as some of these shops sell online too.

1. The Cloth Shop
   A beautiful shop filled with thousands of bolts, including a really wonderful selection of stretchies and some divine evening fabrics. There is off-street parking behind the shop.
   47 Lower Heidelberg Road
   Ivanhoe 3079
theclothshop.com.au


2. Carmel's Fabrics
   A shop like they used to make them. The service is fantastic and the store is jam packed with gorgeous fabric. Carmel's is a 45 minute drive for me ... and worth every bit of the time it takes to get there.
   11 - 13 Como Parade (West)
   Mentone 3194
   carmelsfabrics.com.au


3. Clegs
   I remember how I used to love visiting Clegs with my grandmother when I was a little girl. Its lost none of its allure. The selection of special occasion, eye-candy fabric is just gorgeous.
   60 Elizabeth Street
   Melbourne 3000
   clegs.com.au


4. Tessuti
   The new kid on the block (for Melbourne, that is), Tessuti is laid out like a beautiful boutique and filled with stunning colour-sorted designer fabrics. If you live in Melbourne and sew and haven't been yet, you really must!
   Ground Floor
   141 Flinders Lane
   Melbourne 3000
   tessuti.com.au
   


5. The Sydney Fabric Warehouse
   Huh? Sydney? Admittedly, a little bit on the outskirts of Melbourne (by 963 kilometres) but this shop does fabulous stuff. And as a bonus its online. I have bought a number of pieces of fabric and despite the ability to oooh and ahhh and touch, I haven't been disappointed.
   Sydney Fabric Warehouse

Do you have all-time favourite that belongs on this list? Is there somewhere I need to visit??

Later: more lists, including my favourite sewing tools and publications.

For more lists, head over to Meet Me At Mike's.

My creative space

I am joining in with Thursday's My Creative Space at Kootoyoo.

Clockwise from top:

• Flour
• Milk
• Vanilla
• Cream
• Baking powder
• Sugar
• Lemon
• Scone cutter - from Bisk-Art at the Mornington Racecourse Market
• Pastry brush

This week my creative space is in the kitchen. I am boring everyone to tears with scones, scones and more scones, as I try and perfect a recipe and technique.



You see, there's just over two weeks to go until I submit my entry for Class 240 - Scones (4) in the Cookery Competition at the Royal Melbourne Agricultural Show. In the unlikely event I make the grade to go on display, my scones will be Exhibit No.1944.

I feel excited about participating in such a Melbourne institution.



There is however, a little bit of me wishing that I hadn't so rashly also entered Class 227 - Cup Cakes and Class 196 - Landscape Photography. What on earth was I thinking? I have neither a prize-winning cupcake recipe nor a photograph in mind. Its probably best I don't divulge the exhibit numbers!

Thank you very much Kirsty for hosting My Creative Space. Its great fun seeing what everyone is doing. To see who else is showing their creative space (or to join in), head over here.

Tutorial: 3-by-3 kiddie canvas

This is the "pretty craft" fix I was craving last week. There's not even the merest hint of blue ... or a racing car ... or a muddy digger in sight. Flowers and pink fabric: just the tonic for the mother of two small boys!

The picture is a gift for my 4 year-old niece, Miss Pink. Yep that's her in the middle; in all her pixelated glory.



The picture is designed to be either free-standing or hung. The nine squares are individual canvases padded with batting and fabric. The corner designs are appliqued and the little girl's photo is inkjet-printed to a special cotton fabric. The canvases are secured with a plastic backing and then again around the perimeter with satin ribbon.



I loved using all the girly fabric and doing a bit of pretty applique. Please excuse Miss Pink's photo (I can assure you that in real life she looks a lot less pixelated) and the embroidery (which is so bad, that it should be pixelated).



If you would like to make something similar (or better!), I have posted a little tutorial.



It has additional applique ideas, including those that would be suitable for a boy.



You can view the tutorial online here (where there is also a PDF download available). Have fun - I'm sure your embroidery will be better than mine!

A week of lists: 5 consumables that make sewing easier

Do you like lists? I love them. The ever delightful Pip at Meet Me At Mike's is hosting a Week of Lists and I am jumping right on board.

Here is my list of 5 consumables that I find make life easier when I am sewing.

1. Tracing paper
   Save your expensive original patterns printed on that perilously thin paper ... trace and alter your pattern pieces using sturdier tracing paper. lf you live in Australia, Spotlight sells well-priced rolls of a medium-weight tracing paper. I also like Burda's lighter-weight Tissue Paper (pictured), as its sold folded and easy to store.



2. Fusible webbing
   Iron-on fusible webbing which is very handy for fabric crafts such as applique. I was previously a fan of Vliesofix's Wonder-Under, but am a recent convert to Applifix after picking some up at a craft show. Its by far the best webbing I have tried. It handles so well - the paper has a really nice weight and the webbing does not flake away from the backing. Its manufactured in Australia by applique specialists The Craft Cubby.



3. Seam sealant
   Liquid adhesive that permanently binds fibres. I use it to secure the ends of overlocking. Its also great for preventing fabric edges and ribbon ends from fraying. I use a Australian-manufactured brand called Helmar's Fray Stoppa, but have read excellent reviews of the USA-manufactured Dritz Fray Check.



4. Quilt basting spray
   Spray-on adhesive that can temporarily be used to stick layers of fabric together while you are sewing. As long as you are not overcome by fumes, this is a very effective way of stopping layers from shifting. The adhesive can be laundered out. I use an excellent odourless spray - Helmar's 101 Quilt Basting Spray.
   



5. Tailor's chalk in a pencil
   It has to be Clover brand Water Soluble Pencils! You will generally find these sold with quilting supplies. They are available in white, pink and blue and have a pleasingly soft lead that won't brush off before you have finished sewing. You just need to make sure you don't drop these pencils too often as the chalk tends to break throughout the pencil. I have found that the light blue pencil is a pretty good universal colour (except on some blues of course!).

Do you have all-time favourite that belongs on this list? (Maybe there is something I need to go an buy!)

Later in the week, I will add more lists, including my favourite sewing tools and publications.

For more lists, head over to Meet Me At Mike's.

One step* closer to self-suffiency

Today was the winter carrot harvest at Chez Hoppo Bumpo.

Excitement abounded.

Until we saw the carrots.



Are there any keen gardeners out there who could help explain what went wrong?



* We clearly have many steps to go.

Eye spy ... something I want to try

I am playing along with Bug and Pop's "Eye Spy" meme each Sunday. This week's theme is from the gorgeous Melanie of Kimono Reincarnate: Eye spy ... something I want to try.

A-ha! How timely.

After some shambolic, hack stitching this weekend (a rather dodgy blanket stitch on some applique) I would really like to try embroidery.

Proper embroidery. The real deal. Even stitching; recognisable stitches with proper names. Less snags and tangles and more knots (French ones, that is).

Thank you to Cindy for hosting Eye Spy and to Melanie for the theme. To discover what other people would like to try, head over here

My creative space

I am joining in with Thursday's My Creative Space at Kootoyoo.

Clockwise from left:

• Calico - a special square



• Moleskine - containing sketches



• Dupion silk



• Threads - embroidery floss and spool of silk



• Buttons - shimmery red shell



• Zipper - chunky open ended

The Regency-era Empire dress of the several weeks past is on hold. I had been sewing the gown for another mum at Argy's kindergarten and the fitting was going a little ... ahem ... pear-shaped. So it seemed an exceptionally lucky break (for me), when the costume ball this Saturday was postponed at short notice. Being a hobby sewist and not a dressmaker, the fear of not getting the dress quite right .... or worse, ready in time ... was starting to make me panic a little. OK ... if I am truthful ... there was actually quite a lot of panic involved. Disaster loomed.

Now there's time to take a breath, regroup and get it right.

So this week its all about red. I am working on the design for my square of this red-work quilt. It will be an applique, as my embroidery is generally a complete dog's breakfast. My sketches are leading me to cherry trees. I think I have been influenced by all the early blossom that has magically appeared this week.

The red zipper pictured, is making a sneak appearance and is completely unrelated. Its for a bit of mend and make do. The zip broke on Bargy's favourite red jacket yesterday. I have never tried replacing a zip ... or unpicking industrial stitching from a fleece fabric ... or shortening a zipper (which I will need to do for this project). Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have ourselves the makings of another disaster.

Thank you very much Kirsty for hosting My Creative Space. Its great fun seeing what everyone is doing. To see who else is showing their creative space (or to join in), head over here.

Playing cat and mouse

A mouse, you say? Oh goody, goody.
I wonder where it is?
It sure must be good at hiding.

It was a very one-sided game.

Vacancy - enquire within

• Do you like rubbish truck spotting?


• Do you laugh at burps and farts?


• Are you in the habit of making sounds like rarrrr or hrrrggghh at 100 decibels or more?


• Would you say that by-and-large most lawns just don't have enough holes in them?


• Do you consider a headlock to be a perfectly valid problem solving technique?


• Have you ever worn your undies on your head?

If so, we'd like to hear from you.

The position of Mother is temporarily a bit vacant in our organisation. The current incumbent has taken leave of her senses absence to daydream of sugar and spice ... and pursue some pretty experimental experimental, pretty craft.

Experience preferred, but not essential ( ... in fact, probably better that you don't know what you are letting yourself in for).

The Pretty Craft Experiment comprises nine miniature canvases, inkjet printable cotton, batting, embroidery floss, pink and green fabric and the sewing machine. Depending upon the success of my recruitment drive, I hope to be able to show you more later in the week.

Stand-back-and-throw: a super-easy fudgey chocolate cake of short stature

Do you know that feeling of pushing your luck; going a little bit too far?

I do.

Especially in the culinary department. I sometimes wonder whether my epitaph will read:
Here lies Hoppo Bumpo.
She couldn't leave well alone.

For example, last week I tried a new chocolate cake recipe (found at http://www.taste.com.au/). It was a perfectly good recipe: I had all the ingredients to hand; the method was simple; the cake rose nicely; and it was quite tasty. I served my baked treat for an afternoon tea and it seemed that it was indeed acceptable.

Most right minded folk would be be happy with that. The recipe would be filed away; followed again. Not me. Oh no - I had to meddle. I suffer from a touch of the old one-step-too-fars.

It started as: maybe a bit more vanilla might be nice. And moved on to: would it be fudgier if I used brown sugar? Seemingly innocuous ingredient changes. That was until I spied the food processor out on the kitchen bench. Suddenly it was a lot less about making the cake taste better and more about speed, as I was overcome with the urge to stand-back-and-throw.

So here's how I opted to dispense with all that careful sifting, making of wells and cautious mixing and instead, blend the living daylights out of the cake batter. The preparation was very short ... and so was the cake.

Super-easy fudgey chocolate cake of short stature

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F)


2. Melt 125 g (4½ oz) butter and allow to cool slightly as you complete the following steps


3. Grease a 20cm (8") cake tin and line the bottom with baking paper


4. Get out the food processor


5. Throw 1⅓ cups of plain (all purpose) flour, ⅓ cup cocoa, 1 cup (loosely packed) brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda into the food processor and blitz


6. Chuck the butter in with the dry ingredients and blitz


7. Hurl in 2 eggs (I use an egg replacer), 1 cup of milk, 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of vanilla and blend until nice and smooth


8. Pour into the cake tin


9. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a cake skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean


10. Cool for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a rack

This version gives a low cake with a fine, dense texture and a sweet crust. I topped mine with a combination of white and milk chocolate melted together with a teaspoon of butter. If you fancy a cake of taller stature (and a little more work), please see the original recipe here.

Eye spy ... something red

I am playing along with Cindy's Eye Spy meme each Sunday. This week's theme is Eye spy ... something red and is courtesy of the delightful Ellieboo.

My something red is a beautiful handmade Venetian glass necklace - a gift from my mum and dad. The satiny beads are heavy and cool and the colour is intense. Seams of red within red.

I love this special colour. Its always a good day when I am wearing it.

Thank you to Cindy for hosting Eye Spy and to Ellieboo for the theme. To discover more red, head over here.

Save the date

I am very excited. I have fulfilled a dream to be a calendar girl.

Yes, really! I am Miss 25 March 2010.

Would you like to take a peek?

Oh wait .... no .... before you panic and run screaming from the room ...



... its not that kind of calendar!



My gratitude to editor Megan Smith for including my project in the 2010 Sewing Calendar. Just quietly, I'm very excited seeing my name in print for the first time!

Megan has produced a beautiful collection of more than 100 sewing patterns. If you enjoy reading sewing blogs, you will recognise contributors such as The Long Thread, Elsie Marley, Skip To My Lou, Pink Chalk Studio, Rachel Rabbit and many more.

Each project is accompanied by beautiful photographs and there are terrific instructions. There's enough to keep you busy for a whole year!

Sewing: 2010 Day-to-Day Calendar
Edited by Megan Smith
Published by Accord Publishing
ISBN 0740783955

My creative space

I am joining in with Thursday's My Creative Space at Kootoyoo.

Clockwise from top right:

• Calico toile - sewn from the Folkwear 215 Empire dress pattern


• Paper, pencil and tape measure - for redrafting pattern pieces


• Fabric - brushed back satin ditsy for the final garment

This Regency-era gown project has been so very Jane Austen. Girl meets sewing pattern; girl falls in love with pattern; girl encounters show stopping obstacles which make her despise and loathe pattern.

Now this girl is waiting for the bit where she is swept off her feet again.

You see there was a dress fitting earlier this week. It was a stretch to get ready - I have been sewing one-armed, after dislocating my shoulder 10 days ago. We fitted the calico toile. I held my breath. It looked ... er, how should I put this delicately ... absolutely hideous. Harsh but true. The bodice was all wrong. Despite doing a full bust alteration on the pattern, the bodice was still too shallow making the skirt hike up higher than a climber on Kilimanjaro. And much to the poor wearer's discomfort, the neckline was p-l-u-n-g-i-n-g.

So, its back to the drawing board.

Thank you very much Kirsty for hosting My Creative Space. Its great fun seeing what everyone is doing. To see who else is showing their creative space (or to join in), head over here.

Episode II: The Empire Dress Strikes Back

Episode II
The Empire Dress Strikes Back

It is a dark time for
Hoppo Bumpo. Although the
Death Star has been destroyed
and the Folkwear pattern redrafted,
the dreaded dress fitting on
the remote ice world of Hoth
did not go as well as expected.

Rebel forces made the neckline
too low and the bodice too shallow.
Evading the dreaded Imperial
Starfleet, a group of freedom
fighters led by Fluke Fast-talker
has established a new secret
mission to redraw the pattern pieces.

Meanwhile the evil lord Darth Vader,
is finishing some invisible mending
on his cape after a bit of an incident
in the far reaches of space...

Calling all Melbournites ...

My wonderful sewing teacher, Sue Schulz, would really appreciate your help.

Sue - who has designed amazing creations such as the one on the cover above - is opening a beautiful new ready-to-wear boutique in Melbourne's outer east. Ahead of this, she is conducting market research into the needs of women who experience fitting and style challenges when buying clothing.

Can you spare a few minutes to complete her (anonymous) online research survey?

Find the survey here until 18 August 2009. Oh ... and make sure you see the end of the survey for details of a special thank you gift - a 10% discount voucher valid at Sue's new boutique until June 30th 2010!

Windy day

Caused by the watercolours ... or the beans?

Eye spy ... inspiration

I am playing along with Cindy's Eye Spy meme each Sunday. This week the theme is Eye a spy ... inspiration.

My inspiration comes from ... vacuuming. No, really. It does. Hear me out.

You have to agree that the repetitive action and the din gives the perfect excuse for tuning out. Huh? You need whaaat? Sorry I can't hear yooooou. Vacuuming provides a little bit of mental space; an opportunity to retrieve creative snippets from memory.

Inspiration (n): stimulation of the mind to a high level of
activity

Its a time to ponder bits from creative books and magazines. From delightful blogs and craft websites. From clever friends and family. Its an opportunity for the grey matter to make synaptic connections throughout a dodgy filing system ... and maybe even come up with the small semblance of my own new idea.

See there's science behind my inspiration. And without doubt, questions as to why I don't have a much cleaner floor.

Thank you to Cindy for hosting Eye Spy and for the great theme this week. To discover something a little more inspirational, head over here.

Send in the clowns

A couple of weeks ago I made these experimental wide-legged baby trousers for a newly arrived bub. To be honest I'm not sure whether "wide" is really the look that well-dressed infants are sporting in Winter 09?

They should, however, be rather handy if the recipient decides to run away to the circus somewhere between age 3 - 6 months.

My creative space

I am joining in with Thursday's My Creative Space at Kootoyoo.

Clockwise from top right:

• Test run - bodice toile almost complete in calico


• Instructions - for the Folkwear 215 Empire dress


• Blank canvas - a very special calico square
  
• Luscious red - strip of shiny, slubby silk dupion

Its week two of the Empire dress and I am now officially in a hurry (as opposed to next week, when I will be either in a panic or in need a slap). A mishap involving a ball and socket joint briefly parting company has slowed me a little. The bodice toile is, however, almost finished and I will be able to check whether all the pattern alterations are a good fit. Then on to the real thing. I can't wait to see what fabric I will be making the dress up in. I am not sure whether the wearer (another mum at Argy's kindergarten) has chosen it as yet. I should be able to show you this time next week.

The calico square arrived from Kirsty in the post this week. I feel honoured to be taking part in her wonderful Quilt Project, which will produce a community redwork quilt. As embroidery is not my forte, I am going to try applique work with this beautiful piece of red silk instead. I can't wait to get started. Read more about The Quilt Project here: link.

Thank you very much Kirsty for hosting My Creative Space. Its great fun seeing what everyone is doing. To see who else is showing their creative space (or to join in), head over here.

Confucius says ...

... mother who cleans small mark off wall makes whole wall look dirty.

Yes, I can confidently reveal the magic in those Magic Erasers: you start with a one minute job and are still going at sundown. Next time I need to clean Argy and Bargy's grime off the walls, please remind me just to repaint.

She wore a halo of silver

The moon, 6.45pm Wednesday 5 August

The significance of pretend play

According to Bargy, baby here, is a boy who is 2.
And his name is Danger.

Should I be afraid?

At a stretch

I have the greatest admiration people who alter and repair clothes for a living.

You see there's a lot at stake with that kind of sewing. You are working with a garment that already has a history. A piece that someone loves and cares for enough to pay to keep wearing. And if you muck it up ... well who knows what might happen. That's a great deal of responsibility.

So, as you might understand, I felt a little nervous during the weekend's assignment: altering a friend's top from maternity to civvy. A favourite, treasured garment. A beautiful, fine wool blend stretch knit in a lovely colour.

If you think I was being overcautious, I should throw in that the fabric of course had a two-way stretch. With the crosswise stretch being 280%. Yup ... this top had more chance of ending up wavy than the Bells Beach Surf Carnival.

So I did what you have to do with stretch fabrics: stared it in the eye and tried not to show my fear.

The first part was easy - I used the overlocker to trim the excess length and overcast the new hem edge. The second part was a comedy of errors. A misplaced love of twin needles - and a unfailing belief in their magical properties on stretch fabric - was the source of much unpicking. Twice. There were ridges, puckering, waves and snapped thread. And swearing. So ugly.



Finally I tried fusing the hem turning with some stabilising Vliesofix tape, then securing it with a single line of lightening stitch (a little zig-zaggy stretch stitch that many machines have). Much better.



That said, I think we can safely assume that I will never work in a business that bears the word alter in its name.

Eye spy ... a collection

I am playing along with Cindy's Eye Spy meme each Sunday. This week the theme is Eye a spy ... a collection.



So may I present my (now vintage) swap card collection.



I wonder if you can pick which decade I collected these in?



Thank you to Cindy for hosting Eye Spy and also for letting me choose the theme this week. To discover more collections, head over here.

Objects in mirror are larger than they appear ...

... or your sons might be a little taller than you thought.



Mr HB: Those trousers you are making ... are they for Argy or Bargy?

Me: No they are a gift for newborn Baby A.



But honestly Mr HB, don't let the small matter of 50cm get in the way.

Baby trousers in avocado pinwale corduroy, with turn up cuffs and elasticised waist in polka dot.