The Nesting Instinct

(Image from TimTim)

I'm now 19 weeks along in my pregnancy. (Aaaghh, where has the time gone?) The nesting urge is really kicking in, and have a million and one projects on the list to get the house perfectly organised before our family expands, and life gets a little crazy for a while.

With that in mind, I thought a nesting theme for the coming months, with craft and cleaning projects focusing on the theme:

• June - Bedrooms
• July - Living/Dining
• August - Kitchen
• September - Storage and Decluttering
• October - Baby items (and maybe some special stuff for Little Big Bro too)

By then, things will quieten down on the blog front as I deal with sleep deprivation and poo-wrangling, with a bit of toddler taming on the side!

I'd love to spread the blog love as well, and feature projects from other blogs each month too. Let me know in the comments or via email (CookCleanCraft AT gmail DOT com) if you'd like to be featured.

Apple Puff Squares

We don't have dessert in our house very often, but sometimes we feel like a special treat. This is a really quick and easy recipe that can be made from a few stock ingredients. It looks a bit fancy (I've used it for dinner parties too), but is quick and easy to put together.

Ingredients
1 sheet puff pastry
60g (2 oz) butter, melted
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground mixed spice
2 medium apples (I used Granny Smith)

Procedure
1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. Cut pastry into 4 squares and place on an oven tray (I lined the oven tray with baking paper, just in case)

3. Mix together butter, sugar and spice, and brush half the mixture over the pastry squares.

4.  Peel apples, cut into quarters and remove core (if you look at the pictures, I got lazy and didn't peel the apples. This was a mistake as it was difficult to bite through the apple skins). Cut into thin slices and lay on top of the pastry squares. (It's nicer if the apples are a bit smaller than the ones I used, so you can leave a small border around the edge, but make do with what you have!)

5. Brush apples with remaining butter mixture.

6. Bake for 15 minutes or until apple is tender and golden.

7. Serve with a dollop of cream or ice cream (or nothing if you are trying to convince yourself you're being healthy)

What are your quick and tasty dessert recipes?

Cut Your Laundry Time in Half

My cleaning posts seem to be a little obsessed with laundry at the moment (see here and here) - probably because it's one of those tasks that I dread. With sorting, washing, hanging out on the line (or putting in the dryer), bringing in, ironing/folding up and putting away, washing your clothes is one of those jobs that takes all day. It's short bursts of effort at a time, but the very thought of laundry fills me with dread. Luckily, I had a large washing machine, so I can get away with only doing a load a couple of times a week.

This article on cutting your laundry time in half on Kidspot caught my eye. Most of the article is common-sense, but I hadn't heard this tip before:

“I never iron. I just mix a teaspoon of lavender oil – the cheapest kind available – in a litre of water and mist it over the clothes before wearing them or hanging them in the wardrobe. Lavender oil is a fibre relaxant...you see the creases disappear before your eyes.”

 I'll be buying lavender oil the next time I go to the shops to give this a go!

Have you tried using lavender oil? What are your tips to minimise ironing? Let me know in the comments!

New Blog Design

For the Ultimate Blog Party at 5 Minutes for Mom, I actually won a fantastic prize of a Deluxe Blog Design, by Diana from The Girl Creative. Today is the official launch of my new design, and I am so happy with the result (much nicer than the standard blogger template I was using).


Working with Diana has been fantastic - we've only communicated via email, but she has somehow deciphered my dodgy explanations of what I wanted, and created this beautiful blog. If you're looking for a change for your blog, I'd definitely recommend her. She also has an excellent blog, The Girl Creative, with lots of link parties and featuring some great blogs and creative ideas - check it out!

All of you reading in a feed reader or via email, stop by sometime to check it out. Please grab my new button (I have a button!), and let me know what you think!

Blog Swap - MommasKindaCrafty

I'm pleased today to host my first blog swap, and introduce you to another great blogging Mom/Mum - Joy from Mommaskindacrafty - lots of crafty inspiration to be found there. Over to you, Joy:

 

I am so excited to be blog swapping with Narelle today!  She has such a fun blog and I look forward to meeting her readers.

My name is Joy and I am the creator of Mommaskindacrafty!

A little about me- (Yes, I do collect thimbles.  Have since I was very little.)

I started blogging to have a place to store all the wonderful projects I was finding online. I am amazed at all the talented ladies out there! I also wanted to share some of my projects with my family and friends.  I do a weekly thursday post where I feature projects I find that I love.    

I am privileged to be a SAHM to 4 great kids! 3 boys and 1 girl. I have a wonderful husband of almost 15 years! Most of my crafting gets done during naptime while the older 3 are at school. Today is the last day of school and since we are moving this summer I am afraid my crafts will be put on hold for a while.  I love to sew and create all kinds of fun things.  Mostly things for my kids and stuff for my home.  Most of my projects are simple. After all, I'm only kinda crafty!

Here are some of the projects you will find over at my blog

TUTU BOW HOLDER

Color Matching Game 4 Toddlers

Altered Clipboard Teacher Gift

A HUGE THANKS to Narelle for swapping with me today!  I hope you enjoyed this small preview of some of my projects and will hop on over to my BLOG and say hi!

Felt Corn

After successfully making such delicious-looking Felt Strawberries, I decided to challenge myself and moved on to Felt Corn. I liked the way Homemade by Jill used a basket weave approach for making felt corn in this post, but I preferred the more three-dimensional style of corn created here at Just Stuff. I decided to combine the two ideas to create a tutorial all of my own!

Straight from the vegie patch:

 Into the hands of a hungry hoard (OK, toddler):

Look at those sweet, tasty kernels:

Just peel away the husk, and sink your teeth in:

You can find the complete FELT CORN tutorial here:

Sewing Myths Debunked

I never know how to respond to comments saying "I can't sew" etc. If all the spotty-faced 13 year old boys in by high school Home Economics class you sew a somewhat wearable T-shirt, in my opinion anyone with a few hours and a bit of patience can sew.

Deborah from Whipstitch Fabrics has put together a great post debunking the myths of sewing over at Simply Modern Mom. The full article is here, but a couple of quotes really struck home with me:

We are the product of a sometimes subtle, sometimes overt message that crafting and sewing were ways to repress women and prevent them from achieving success in other realms of life. Also that domestic creation was inferior to corporate creation.

To me, sewing, cooking and other crafts were something that women who could have been engineers did when they were unable to be engineers. I love making stuff, and I'm actually happier sewing and crafting at home because I chose the projects and create items for my family and friends. Working as an engineer, I was making for other people at the direction of other people - not really as satisfying!

Do I need to make every stitch of clothing my family owns because we live on the prairie and the General Store over in Mankato doesn’t sell RocaWear? No. Do I need to make the linens for my home because they are so pricey that they are beyond the reach of all but the wealthiest citizens of fair Verona? No. But I do need to look in my closet and see a reflection there of who I am and who I want to be.

There is definitely a feeling of satisfaction when you make an item of clothing that fits perfectly, that you just can't find in the stores (although I have put quite a few of my clothes sewing projects in the Goodwill bin because they were too big/too small/ too big and too small!).  I love it when my husband smiles as he puts on his "pyjamas made with love", or when my son toddles about in his one-of-a-kind pants. It's a gift to them that keeps giving back to me!

What motivates you to sew? What's stopping you from giving it a go if you don't? I'd love to read your comments.

Time to Sort my Clothes

The time has come. My belly has grown to the point where it's started to either poke out of or dig into my clothes. I'm sick of opening my tops drawer only to see tops that I no longer look decent in, and the couple of maternity tops that have made it into the drawer are making it overflow.

I pulled out my box of maternity clothes a couple of weeks ago. Each morning, I open my tops drawer, get depressed about what I no longer fit in, and then rummage around in the box beside my bed for something to wear. Then my toddler comes along to help rummage around in the box, and clothes end up everywhere. This system was not working for me, so two coffees gave me the motivation to sort it out!

(Look at that ugly hand-written label - must have been in the newborn haze when I did that!)

All my tops got pulled out of the drawer and out of the box, and put into 5 piles:
1.  Tops I can't fit in at all, and are not suitable for breast-feeding
2.  Tops that look slightly indecent, but can still be worn with a belly-band and/or are ok for breast-feeding
3.  Breast-feeding tops
4.  Non-maternity tops that still contain my belly
5.  Maternity tops

The reason I included the breast-feeding categories was so I don't have to hunt for clothes during the newborn haze. I then put all the tops in category 1 into the box that formerly held my maternity clothes - if I won't be able to wear them in more than a year, I don't want to see them. All the other tops got put into the drawer, in neat sections. I shoved at the back of the drawer the clothes in a couple of the categories that I don't really like, but still want to keep for those days when I'm not leaving the house and am a bit behind in the laundry. I also packed away the business shirts in my wardrobe, since I won't be heading back to work anytime soon. I did keep out a couple of shirts, just in case something crops up and I have to attend an interview.

(With nicely-printed label)

I know this post only applies to a very specific time in one's life, but the system is the same really for sorting and storing clothes between seasons. Hopefully now, I won't feel so down when I look at my clothes!

A Little Ray of Sunshine

I got this little surprise in an email this week:

Jill at Frugal Plus was kind enough to send it to me. It's my first award and I'm over the moon! Jill has a great blog with lots of giveaways, so check it out!

Here are the rules for the Sunshine Award:
* Nominate 12 other bloggers
* List the award in either a post or on your sidebar
* Link your nominees within your post
* Let the nominees know you have passed this on to them by commenting on their blog

So, here are 12 bloggers that I love to read (in random order):
Making the World Cuter
Make it Perfect
Elsie Marley
Brassy Apple
Whimsy Couture
Sew Spoiled
The Train to Crazy
Subtle Tee
Snuggly Monkey
I am a Lazy Mom
Activity Mom
Teach Mama

I hope you like the links!

Chocolate Choc-chip muffins

Making muffins is so quick and easy, and so rewarding in yumminess. All you need is a mixing bowl, a measuring jug and some measuring spoons, and you're ready to go. This is another recipe from Nigella Lawson for Chocolate Choc-chip Muffins. I whipped these up in next to no time when I was hosting Mothers' Group (I know I'll get told off for baking, but I do love it!).

Ingredients
250g (9 oz) plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarb
2 tablespoons cocoa
175g (6 oz) caster sugar
150g (5 oz) chocolate chips (I used coarsely chopped dark and milk chocolate - I love big chunks!)
250ml (9 fl oz) milk
90ml (3 1/2 fl oz) vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Procedure
1.  Preheat oven to 200°C
2.  Line a 12 cup muffin tray with papers
3.  Mix dry ingredient together in a large bowl
4.  Mix wet ingredients separately (I used a measuring jug) and then add into dry ingredients. Mix until just combined - don't worry if it looks lumpy .
5.  Cook for 20 minutes or until dark, risen and spongy.

Eat them while still hot from the oven. If that's not possible, I recommend 20 seconds in the microwave to get those chocolate chunks oozing before you eat them.

What are your favourite muffin recipes? I'll be adding this to Simply Sweet Home's monthly Sweet Thursday event next Thursday (May 27). This month the theme is Cupcakes/Muffin, so check it out!

Kids Clothes Week - Day 7 and Summary

I had a great time with Kids Clothes Week last week - 7 days of sewing at least 1 hour a day, and 6 new items of clothing in my son's winter wardrobe. I've tried my best at getting my little man to model all the clothes, but it's a bit like herding cats with a 16 month old. Here are the best pictures (apologies for lighting/blurriness/not particularly good poses etc):

(Note: I definitely did not make the pants in the first image, but I made everything else!)

What a successful week! A big thanks to Meg at Elsie Marley for hosting the week. Check out my previous posts: Day 1 and 2, Day 3, and Day 4, 5 and 6.

For Day 7, I made another long-sleeve 90 minute shirt, this time matching the flat-front pants I made earlier in the week.

I decided to try my hand at machine applique while I was at it, with adding some simple squares - it turned out OK for a first attempt, but I think I need a lot more practice!

I think the green-striped pants and matching top look like pyjamas when worn together, so I think he'll be wearing them with other outfits.

 I was also a bit worried that the first two 90-minute shirts were a bit snug around the belly, and over-compensated for the third one. Oh well, I'm sure he'll grow into it!

Finally, here's my little man's "Blue Steel" runway walk - maybe we'll make a male model out of him yet!

I've got a few more clothing projects for my son's winter wardrobe piled up in my sewing room, but I don't think I'll be rushing into it. I've got a heap of housework to catch up on! Plus, I'm feeling the pregnancy nesting urge coming on, so there might be a few homey projects on the way!

Kids Clothes Week - Day 4, 5 and 6

It's Kids Clothes Week at  Elsie Marley. The challenge is to spend an hour a day for the week making clothes for your kids. Here's my Day 3 update. You can find Day 1 and 2 here, and Day 3 here.

Along came Day 4 of the challenge, and I decided simplicity was in order - plain, boring navy blue tracksuit pants. Every boy needs a couple of pairs of tracksuit pants to get them through winter, and what an easy thing to make. I bought the fleece from my local fabric shop, made a pattern from another pair of pants and here's the end result:

I cut the pieces on a fold, so there are no side seams, resulting in it being super-quick to make the pants with my serger/overlocker (except for the seam that I sewed with wrong sides together, instead of right sides - out came the seam ripper again. I was wrong - I do make the same mistakes twice!).

Day 5 was spent hemming. I double-hemmed those tracksuit pants. I deliberately made them way too long, so that when my little man's legs' grow, I'll just unpick the hem, and there will be a finished-off hem underneath. As this made the pants pretty bulky at the bottom, I blind-hemmed the second hem by hand. I did the same with the Green-striped pants from Day 3 (and got lazy and decided not to add a cuff at the bottom). No seam ripping today - woo hoo!

For Day 6 (wasn't sure if this was a 5-day or 7-day challenge, but I had more to do, so why not keep going!), I made a fancier pair of tracksuit pants, this time in dark green fleece with a white panel down the sides - all I did was cut the main pieces about an inch narrower, and added a rectangle of white fleece. Still really quick and easy to make!

I decided they needed a little bit more embellishment, so I cut a star from the white fleece (using the star from our Tupperware Shape Sorter), and used fusible webbing to stick it on the back:

I'm really happy with all the outfits so far. I'll try to get some photos of my little man modelling the clothes tomorrow. Not sure if I'll keep going with Day 7 - wait and see how I feel in the morning!

Thanks for creating this themed week Elsie Marley. I've really enjoyed the week and seeing all my creations!

Savoury Scrolls

I like making something a bit different for a weekend lunch, so I thought I'd make Savoury Scrolls. I found this recipe from one of my favourite on-line recipe sites Taste.com.au, but didn't have the ingredients for the filling, so decided to adapt it to what I had in the pantry.

Ingredients
2 cups self-raising flour
30g (1 oz) butter, chilled, chopped
3/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons pesto sauce
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes
1 cup grated tasty cheese (I threw in a bit of mozzarella as well as I didn't have enough tasty)

Procedure

1.  Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F). Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
2.  Sift flour into a large bowl. Add butter. (Remove any rings you may be wearing, unless you like dough being smushed into them.) Using your fingertips, rub butter into flour until combined. Make a well in the centre.

3.  Pour milk into well. Using a flat-bladed knife, stir until mixture is almost combined.

 4.  Using your hands, bring dough together into a ball. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. I had to add a splash more milk here as it was still quite dry and powdery. You may need to add a bit more flour if it's sticky. Gently knead dough until almost smooth. Using a rolling pin, roll dough out to a 24cm x 36cm (10" x 14") rectangle.

5.  Spread pesto sauce over dough, leaving a 3cm (1 inch) border along both long edges. Sprinkle cheese and sun-dried tomatoes over sauce.

6.  Roll up dough firmly like a Swiss roll. Cut into 12 slices. Arrange scrolls close together on prepared tray, ensuring join is turned inwards so scrolls don't unroll while cooking.

7.  Bake for 16 to 20 minutes or until light golden and cooked through.

The end result was a fluffy scone with a pizza filling. The whole lot was devoured in a matter of minutes.

Other options for the filling are:
- Vegemite and cheese
- Ham, tomato/pasta sauce and cheese (as per the original recipe), maybe even with some crushed pineapple
- Capsicum/Peppers
Really, any pizza-style toppings would work.

Kids Clothes Week - Day 3

It's Kids Clothes Week at  Elsie Marley. The challenge is to spend an hour a day for the week making clothes for your kids. Here's my Day 3 update. You can find Day 1 and 2 here.

Another day at the sewing machine and serger/overlocker, another day getting the seam ripper out! I really should concentrate a bit more, I think. At least I don't make the same mistake twice - I find completely new ways to stuff things up. Enough of that for now...

Today, I started on some flat-front pants for my little man, in green striped material (Garden Magic twill in sage, from Moda to be exact, purchased from Whipstitch). I drafted the pattern from a pair of jeans, and am hoping the fit turns out ok! I spent the first 10 minutes of my sewing session debating whether I should try flat-lock seams for the side seams. After much to-ing and fro-ing, I decided I should get some more practice in with the overlocker before I venture into "decorative" work. I did a test run on an off-cut, and was pleased with the result, so started doing my first side seam. IT WAS TERRIBLE! The stitching was loose, all over the place, and the fabric wasn't feeding through properly. After a minor freak-out and more disastrous test-runs, I discovered I'd left the foot up. I swear it's much more obvious on my sewing machine!

Out came the seam-ripper, threads went everywhere, and I was back on track. After an hour and three quarters, here is the end result:

I still have to hem the legs (obviously), but need my little man to try them on to finish that. I think I will put a cuff on the bottom. When I cut out the pattern, I didn't realise that the stripes were actually going the opposite way for the waist-band, but I really love the look of it. I also used a decorative stitch on my machine to create fake pocket and fly lines - I was feeling brave and decided to get fancy. I've never actually used any of the decorative stitches before.

I also love the button that I found in a local craft store. Nice to have a decorative but boyish button.

I'm loving these pants already and can't wait to see them on my little man! If they fit well, I'll make another pair and create a tutorial.

Next up: Tracksuit pants

It's a Social Parade

I'm always on the lookout for more inspiring blogs to read, whether they are blogs about being a Mum, crafting, technology, recipes etc etc. So when I heard about the Social Parade at Smart and Trendy Moms, I thought I'd join in.



For those who have found me from the Social Parade (or any other way, for that matter), welcome to Cook Clean Craft. I'm another Mum blogger, living in Brisbane, Australia, with a 1 year old son and another baby on the way. As the name suggests, I cook, I clean and I craft, and I write about my successes and failures (yes, I'm not afraid to air my dirty laundry!). If this sounds like your kind of thing, have a look around and please subscribe by your preferred method (feed reader/RSS, email, Google friend connect etc) on the sidebar.

I look forward to meeting you all! Let me know in the comments that you've stopped by!

Quick Cleaning Tip - Laundry

Cleaning for me is a lot about doing the little things all the time that make the big jobs easier. That's what my quick cleaning tips series is all about. Some tips are obvious, but when these habits lapse, household tasks get more difficult and so are more likely to be put off for another day. Here's today's tip:

Prepare your clothes to go straight in the washing machine before you put your clothes in the washing basket/hamper/on the mountain of clothes in your laundry. It makes it so much quicker to just throw everything in the machine without handling every piece of clothing. For example:

• Empty all the pockets
• Do up any zips or clasps
• Unroll sleeves and straighten out socks

The hardest part is training your partner and children, and keeping up the momentum once you get in the routine. It takes next to no time, but will make a huge difference to laundry day!

Kids Clothes Week - 2 days down, 2 tops done!

As I mentioned last week, it's Kids Clothes Week at  Elsie Marley. The challenge is to spend an hour a day for the week making clothes for your kids. Time to dust of those projects building up to make sure your children aren't running around in the nude in the coming season (This would be particularly bad here in Australia, since we're heading into winter!).
Day 1
I managed to spend a massive two and a half hours at the sewing machine, thanks to a huge nap (and a small nap) by my little man (I even managed to clean the bathroom before I started - what a day!). This sounds like I should have made lots of progress, but not as much as I would have liked. I decided to start with a  90 minute top from a thrifted men's polo shirt, which I cut out last week, and to use my new overlocker (serger) for the first time. Overconfident me thought it would be easy, since I'd had a little bit of success in some trial sewing, but alas, no! It took me more than half an hour to get the machine set up to serge the ribbing. I did get there in the end so I should stop being so hard on myself.

I then had a minor disaster as I somehow managed to sew one sleeve with wrong sides together, instead of right sides together. I'd serged it, to make matters worse. Luckily, I've managed to operate the serger with minimal material cutting so it was recoverable! Out came the seam ripper (or quick unpick, as my Mum used to call it), and the offending seam was removed. Quick tip: don't unpick a serged seam over the top of other pattern pieces - it makes really annoying trying to collect all the thread-bits (what was I thinking???).

No more major disasters after that, and here is the before and after:

Day 2
Another day, another 90 minute shirt from a thrifted men's polo shirt which, once again, I'd cut out in preparation last week. One hour of sewing, one completed top, and only one minor disaster - the cuffs somehow got completely out of whack on one sleeve, and out came the seam ripper again! Not enough pins was my conclusion! Here is the before and after:

I haven't tried getting my little man to model - that will be a challenge for later in the week!

Next project: flat front pants!