Meet me at Mike's softies

A few months ago when my friend's baby boy was about to arrive, I decided to make him a softie so that the first time I met him, I could give him something cute. So of course I turned to the Meet me at Mike's book (which I've blogged about before). At first, I made him the Udderly lovely cow from some old jeans and other small pieces of fabric laying around. When she was finished, I thought that maybe giving a baby a stuffed cow was a bit weird so I decided to make Zing the polite cat. And then when Zing was finished, I thought that she looked a bit too much like E.T. It was all very troubling. In the end, I decided that I liked the cow best so that's what I would give to Lucas. A few days later, we headed to the hospital to meet the baby with an udderly lovely cow in tow. Hopefully he likes it, and doesn't think that a stuffed cow is odd.

A mellow weekend

It rained this weekend here in Sydney, which was a welcome relief from last weekend and a perfect excuse to spend most of the weekend at home being mellow. Friday night, we did what we do most nights: make and eat dinner. But I decided a bit of romance was in order so I got dolled up (see crap iphone photo above) and then we made the delicious No Butter Chicken from the cookbook Everyday Indian. This is such a good cookbook, filled with really healthy recipes.

We also drank Tooheys from the can, because we're bogans like that. Husband thought "It's not a moose you goose" was hilarious because I'm Canadian.

Sunday morning I put on my most ruffly apron and made chocolate chip cookies. I think it's best to wear pink and ruffles while making cookies, don't you?

Finally, I shared those cookies with my gorgeous friends who helped me with a little project. What did you do this weekend?

p.s. Happy Valentine's Day!

Sydney love: the Blue Mountains

Top 2 photos from my first trip to Sydney. Photo on the left was taken by my friend, Ness.

I'm afraid you're going to have to bear with me on this edition of "sydney love" as there are going to be a lot of photos because the Blue Mountains are a very special place to me. That's because it's where my husband and I started spending time together, which eventually led to a relationship, a move and a marriage. But first, let me backtrack a bit... The first time I ever went to the Blue Mountains was when my friend and I were living in Sydney for the summer. I had hoped to find someone to rock climb with, but no such luck. We had also hoped to actually see the Blue Mountains, but again, no such luck. It was incredibly drizzly and grey when we were there. Shortly thereafter I met a handsome Aussie at the rock climbing gym in Sydney, and I kind of invited myself up to the mountains with him. He took my friend Vanessa and I, and we all got along so well that the three of us spent all day climbing, and then all night pub hopping. The Aussie and I started climbing together regularly, at the gym and in the mountains, and eventually all of that climbing led to us dating. And then all of that dating led to us thinking that we should get married. So we did. Sydney has been home ever since, although the mister and I love the Blue Mountains so much that we sometimes think of moving up there. I mean, just look at these photos, it's a pretty special place.

photo by husband

Me resting in the sun, in the middle of winter. I love Sydney. Photo by husband.

Photo by husband.

Photo by husband.

My creative space: votives

This week my creative time has mostly been taken up by an exciting project that I'll share more about soon. But I also managed to slip in this little project, because it takes all of 2 minutes. Christine from Lavender and Limes posted a tutorial a while back for making votives out of old glass jars and doilies, and I've been meaning to give it a go ever since. I'm so glad that I finally did, because now these little candles are fancying up my table, which is especially nice since I mostly seem to be eating alone this week while husband's hard at work. Pop on over to Kootoyoo for more creative spaces. x

Banana muffins

I hate wasting food, so this weekend when I noticed that all of my bananas were quickly going bad thanks to the heat (when will I learn that this isn't Canada and I can't leave fruit outside in 40 degree weather?) I knew it was time to make some muffins. I've tried a lot of different recipes for banana muffins, some healthier than others. The recipe that I'm sharing here is one of the semi-healthy ones. It's adapted from Katie Lee Joel's The Comfort Table, a cookbook that I turn to pretty often. So, want to know what to do with your overripe bananas?

Banana muffins

2 cups whole wheat flour (or white flour)

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup rapadura (or white sugar)

1/2 cup coconut oil (or canola oil)

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk

3 medium bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius (350 degrees fahrenheit). Grease a muffin tin; this recipe made 12 regular size muffins and 4 mini muffins. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In another bowl, beat together the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla until well combined. Alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk in three additions. Gently stir in the bananas.

Pour the batter into the muffin tin and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy your muffins with a cup of tea!

Some Meet me at Mike's Bags

Two of my cute-as-a-button vintage clutches. The one on the left was made from an old tea towel and a pillowcase, and the one on the right was made from some Anna Maria Horner scraps.

My super-cute tote, made from Anna Maria Horner's Good Folks line.

When I first started sewing about a year and a half ago, the first craft book that I bought was Meet me at Mike's by Pip Lincoln. And boy oh boy has that book served me well! At this point I've made at least half of the projects in the book, and I've loved each and every one. After I tried my hand at the simple coasters, I turned my attention to some of the gorgeous bag patterns. At first I tried the Cute-as-a-button vintage clutch, and after sewing the entire top shut and unpicking more stitches than I care to recall, I finally had something that resembled a clutch. And that's the pink bird clutch you see in the top photo. Since then I've made so many of these, both to keep and to give away. They're simple to make (now that I'm not such a novice ), don't require much fabric and look pretty darn cute hanging off your wrist. Once I had that mastered, I moved on to the Super-cute tote. Again, I had some problems that were mostly to do with being a brand new beginner. But I did end up with a bag, and a huge sense of accomplishment at having figured out another pattern. So if you're new to sewing but you want to make cute things, I can't recommend this book enough. Happy sewing!

In the garden

After making it through this last week, I think I can safely say that I'm a "real" Sydneysider now. For those of you who don't live in Sydney, let me bring you up to speed... For the last 7 days it has been over 30 degrees (86 degrees Fahrenheit) each and every day. Saturday night at midnight it was still 33 degrees (91.4 degrees Fahrenheit). At MIDNIGHT! You can read more about this record-breaking heat wave here. Husband and I have a few coping mechanisms to get through heat like this, but the one that we rely on the most is heading off to his mum and step-dad's place. They live in a great house that happens to have the best garden and a pool. Heaven. I went there every day this week for a swim to cool down. One of those days, I also took some photos of their beautiful garden. Want to look around?

It's official

some of my yoga "textbooks"

It's official, come March I will be starting yoga teacher training at the studio where I have been practicing since I moved to Sydney. Becoming a yoga teacher has long been a secret dream of mine, but I always convinced myself that I wasn't good enough, I wasn't ready etc. etc. And then over the last couple of weeks all of the pieces have fallen into place to give me this amazing opportunity. Yesterday I went to the studio to pick up my books, and I felt this surge of giddiness like this is real, and it's actually happening. As always, I am so grateful for my husband without whom I probably would not be able to do this. He makes my crackpot schemes possible and I love him for it. This year feels really big for me; I'm making lots of changes and while it's scary, it's also super exciting. Any words of wisdom for me as I get ready to begin this journey? I'd especially love to hear from any yoga teachers!