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Weekend Sewing Project: Pincushions

July 8, 2017 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

When I was twenty-one, I worked part-time in a little cross stitch shop called Topiary Lane during uni holidays. While I was there, lovely Rhonda taught me to make these pincushions.

I’d completely forgotten about them until I came home with my pile of Japanese cottons recently. Some of the pieces were too small for furoshiki and as I’m not a quilter, I was keen to find something else to do with them other than juggling balls. These little pincushions are quite easy and quick to assemble, they make a fabulous gift, and if times get tough, you can sell them for $10 each like Rhonda used to!

Start by tracing and cutting two circles of fabric. I used a small side plate as a guide which resulted in a large pincushion, but I was keen to keep as much of the pattern as possible. A small tea cup saucer produces a more standard size…

With right sides together, join the two pieces together, leaving a gap.

Edit: Margo suggested clipping the seam carefully at regular intervals to prevent puckering. It works! There are some great instruction son how to do this here.

Turn right side out, stuff firmly (but not to rock hard), then turn in the open edges and whipstitch closed…

Thread a large needle with embroidery cotton in a matching colour…

Start in the centre of the base with a few backstitches to lock the thread in place…

Push the needle through the middle of the pincushion to the front and through a small button…

Repeat at the base – it’s a bit tricky to line up the buttons, so watch your fingers. The aim is to pull the centre of the pincushion in slightly. Sew through both buttons a couple of times to secure, then tie off the thread by wrapping it a few times around the bottom button…

Cut a long piece of embroidery thread (from memory, Rhonda used thin ribbon but I didn’t have any on hand) and tie it around the bottom button. Wrap a couple of times to secure, then bring the thread to the front and wrap it around the top button. Pull gently to form “petals”…

Continue wrapping the thread from front to back, going around the middle button each time, until you’ve divided the pincushion into six sections…

I went around twice, resulting in a double thickness of embroidery cotton at each divider. Finish by tying the thread off around the bottom button, wrapping the loose thread a few times more, then trimming carefully…

These are great fun to make and a good way to use up the big bag of polyfill leftover from my sock toys. The only tricky part is getting the needle through the middle buttons, but once you’ve managed that, the winding bit is easy. I’m going to make smaller ones next for Christmas presents! ♥

PS. Here’s the one I made this morning, using a smaller template and following Margo’s suggestion in the comments below to clip the seams every 2cm or so. It worked a treat! I’ve used a scrap of Japanese woven indigo and sashiko cotton this time, and made eight sections instead of six. ‘Tis a cute wee thing!

pincushion

Posted in Food & Friends, Frugal Living | 19 Comments »

Granola and 21st Century Public Libraries

July 5, 2017 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

I’ve never been much of a book borrower, that’s about to change, because Ashfield Library has entered the 21st century!

I walked into the main branch and sheepishly asked Cathy and Gina, the smiling librarians, for a new card, much as a six year old might (“Please ma’am, may I have a library card?”). With it, I was able to download the Overdrive app on my iPad and immediately borrow a book on furoshiki. I was so excited that I had to try the watermelon wrap straight away, only I didn’t have a watermelon, so I used a pot instead…

The books automatically disappear at the end of the selected loan period (7, 14 or 21 days) and the interface works in a similar way to the Kindle app, minus a few bells and whistles.

Then I discovered that the library also offers Zinio for Libraries, which lets me download and read e-magazines like the National Geographic. Remember when we all had piles of old copies on our shelves? What a joy to be able to borrow, read and delete, without the paper waste and space! I’ll never pay for a magazine subscription again…

Finally, there are a squillion free comics available for loan via the Comics Plus service that our local library now has available. I’m catching up on old Peanuts and Doonsburys, not to mention the enormous Archie catalogue…

peanuts2

Heaps of public libraries all over the world now offer these services, so if it’s been a while since you joined one and you’re an e-book lover like I am, then I highly recommend you check them out again (no pun intended). You’ll be able to access a world of reading without paying a cent or ever leaving your house again!

. . . . .

One thing that has me particularly excited is the wide selection of e-cookbooks that our library has on offer. I was delighted to find Greg Malouf’s The New Feast on the list…

His granola recipe is easy to make, uses just a tiny bit of added oil, and was very popular with Big Boy, the toasted muesli eater in our house. I’d advise sizing up, as the quantity we made lasted less than a week!

Base:

  • 250g rolled oats
  • 60g sunflower seeds
  • 60g sesame seeds
  • 150g almond slivers (original uses blanched almonds)
  • 60g brown sugar (we used dark muscovado)
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • 100g apple purée (we used homemade apple sauce but it was a tad too sweet, so next time I’m going to try tinned apple baby food)
  • 50g honey
  • 40ml pomegranate molasses (we buy ours from Harkola)
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Add-ons:

Malouf recommends pistachios, sour cherries and currants, but we used 100g of roasted blanched hazelnuts and 100g of cranberries.

. . . . .

Step 1: Preheat oven to 150C. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, sunflower and sesame seeds, almonds, sugar, salt and spices.

Step 2: In a small jug, whisk the apple with honey, molasses and oil, then add the liquid ingredients to the dry ones and mix well with your hands.

Step 3: Tip the mixture into a large baking tray and spread out evenly. Bake until deep golden brown (45 – 60 minutes) stirring every 20 minutes or so to prevent burning.

Remove from the oven and stir in the hazelnuts (or whatever nuts you’re using – add them in the last ten minutes of cooking time if they need toasting), then allow to cool before adding dried fruits. Store in an airtight container, although it’s so delicious that it probably won’t have time to go stale.

. . . . .

This tangy and spicy granola makes a nice change from regular toasted mueslis. What a treat to be able to borrow such a gorgeous cookbook, full of photos and hyperlinks, and not have to worry about returning it on time, as it disappears automatically at the end of the loan period.

Hooray for 21st century public libraries! Are you a library user as well?

Posted in Cool Things, Recipes | 40 Comments »

Bobby II, The Adventure Begins Again…

July 2, 2017 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Old Bob, our 90cm freestanding Smeg cooker, has been replaced.

After sixteen years of faithful service, working above and beyond the temperatures and hours he was rated for, Bob finally wore out. One of the back fan elements stopped working a month or so ago and it wasn’t going to be a simple fix.

Now, as you know, I don’t like replacing appliances, but Pete the electrical engineer pointed out that we’d run Bob so hard that we’d started to melt the insulation off the electrical wiring. Once something becomes a fire risk, it’s time to upgrade…

. . . . .

The problem was…I didn’t want an upgrade.

According to Pete, Bob’s longevity was due to his old school construction. Unlike newer ovens, he operated solely on fuses and mechanical switches – there were no electronic components or circuit boards to break down. And because he was a commercial model, his parts were easily replaceable – over the sixteen years that we had him, we’d changed both rear elements at least three times, the fan motors twice, the door seal once, and the lights half a dozen times. He was going to be a hard act to follow.

It took a bit of research, but we finally found our replacement cooker. The problem was that the model we wanted (Smeg SA9010X) was now a “commercial only” product, which meant we weren’t allowed to buy one new.

Thankfully, we were able to find a seconds model (dented but otherwise new) at Home Clearance in Auburn. Hooray! The online advertised price was $2,200 (full commercial price is close to $3,000) but when I rang, their end of financial year sale was on and we were able to get Bobby II for just $1,700. He came with a one year manufacturer’s warranty, the company was happy to take our credit card over the phone, and delivery was free. We were thrilled.

Best of all, Bobby II is virtually identical to Old Bob, which means he fits perfectly into the space in our kitchen. We’ll be able to strip out the old cooker and keep the racks, trays, elements, fans, burners and trivets as spares. It’s as environmentally-friendly an upgrade as we can manage…

Big Boy and I have a grand plan to turn the stainless steel shell of Old Bob into a hot smoker – I’ll let you know if we’re successful. In the meantime, the kitchen is open again and the bread is baking! ♥

Posted in In My Kitchen | 20 Comments »

A Middle Eastern Vegetarian Feast

June 29, 2017 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

At the start of each season, we host a vegetarian dinner party for close friends. It’s a night we all look forward to with great excitement, and often the only times in the year when the six of us get together.

A couple of days before the most recent dinner, our dishwasher died. It’s only five months old and under warranty, and Andy, our fabulous Miele repairman has now fixed it for us. But that didn’t change the fact that we had two big dinners planned that week, and no dishwasher.

The next day, the fan elements in the oven failed. Thankfully, our large Smeg has top and bottom elements we could use as well, but we decided it was time for a new oven. Old Bob has worked hard for sixteen years, and Pete noticed that we’d started to fry the coating off the electrical wiring. More on that soon.

So…we were a bit scattered that week.

We’d decided to focus on Middle Eastern flavours for the dinner and thankfully, the Moro Cookbook came to our rescue. It was a 50th birthday gift from my wonderful friend Tanya of Chica Andaluza…

. . . . .

Then lovely Carol offered to host the dinner at her house, where the dishwasher was working perfectly. So Pete and I cooked all day, then wrapped everything up in furoshiki to transport it. Ha! That almost made up for the dishwasher and oven being broken…

. . . . .

This was one of the most enjoyable vegetarian dinners we’ve ever prepared and with a few minor changes, it could easily have been vegan-friendly. The Moro Cookbook has clear instructions and wonderful flavour combinations. We made fatayer (recipe to follow), chick pea salad, turlu turlu (roast veg ratatouille), walnut sauce and harissa, and accompanied it with Sawsan’s hummus and Barbara’s moghrabieh…

Fatayer are stuffed flatbreads from Lebanon and Syria, traditionally filled with spinach and cheese. The Moro version has pumpkin, fetta and pinenuts, but they would work just as well with other flavour combinations. As I’ve had some experience with bread baking, I abbreviated the dough making process a bit, and was very happy with the result.

Make the dough by whisking together 220g white bread flour, ½ teaspoon of fine sea salt and ½ teaspoon dried yeast in a large mixing bowl. Add 100ml room temperature water and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Squelch everything together, then give the dough a short knead in the bowl. Cover and allow to rest.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 230C and toss 800g of peeled and deseeded pumpkin cubes (about 5cm each) in a tablespoon of oil and a clove of garlic, crushed to a paste with a little salt. Season with salt and pepper, then bake for 25 minutes or until soft. Remove, allow to cool, then puree and adjust seasoning.

Divide the dough into four and roll each into a ball. On a well floured bench and using a rolling pin, roll each ball into a flat circle about 17cm in diameter. Put a dollop of the pumpkin puree in the centre, then top with a little fetta, oregano and toasted pinenuts.

Now here is the only tricky bit – moisten the outside of the circle with water, then fold the edges in to form a triangle. Press the edges tightly together…

Trim off any excess dough carefully, then pinch the edges together again to make sure the parcel is well sealed…

Bake in the hot oven on a parchment lined tray for 10 – 15 minutes until the fatayer starts browns, but doesn’t go hard and crusty. These were great fun to make, and a nice alternative to pastry wrapped pies and pasties.

. . . . .

To finish off, we served Portuguese tarts from the Honeymoon Bakery in Petersham – absolutely delicious and ridiculously good value at just $2 each. I’d bought them the day before and Carol crisped them up to perfection in her airfryer on the night. Mind you, Big Boy got to them before the dinner, so there was only enough left for one each!

. . . . .

If you don’t already have it, I’d highly recommend the Moro Cookbook. And you’ll be pleased to know that I have a fully working kitchen again. I can’t wait to tell you about our new stove!

Posted in Recipes | 25 Comments »

The Gloriousness of Being Alive and Living in Sydney

June 25, 2017 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Ha! I’ve just typed the heading to this post and I’m wondering if it will make it to the final cut. Maybe I’ll leave it – it’s what came into my head when I looked at the photos I wanted to share, plus it really is how I feel at the moment.

After six months of daily Headspace meditation and ten months of daily walks, I’m doing well and enjoying a sense of balance. In addition, I’m feeling much more resilient to stuff that happens these days, if that makes sense…

. . . . .

Serendipitously, Sydney has been at her most charming in the last month and it’s been a joy to get out and about, exploring all she has to offer. Pete and I caught the train to town for Vivid 2017…

The Opera House was transformed into a living coral reef…

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Pete’s cousin Richard did the electrical work on Supernova, so of course, we had to make a special trip in to see that…

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The MCA was again a canvas for moving light and colour…

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A small alleyway was turned into a sea of light and colour in Tidal…

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Pete and I try to visit a new precinct each year, and this time we walked through the Royal Botanic Gardens. The waratah light sculpture was a standout…

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Light of Thoughts – a stylised interactive “brain” – was made all the better by a chance meeting with the young Chinese artist who created it…

He was justifiably proud of his work!

. . . . .

While Vivid was on, we had family visiting from overseas.

Young Rachel, my nephew Nick’s partner, became an instant kindred spirit. She used to work as an assistant curator in Contemporary South-East Asian Art, so you can just imagine how excited I was to have someone to drag to art galleries with me! We visited the White Rabbit Gallery, then trekked over to the MCA. On the way, we stopped at Hat World in the Rocks to buy Rach a Breton, to protect her from Sydney’s occasionally terrifying seagull population. Naturally, I had to get one too (can’t resist a good hat!)…

The MCA is my happy place – I try to go whenever I can. At the moment, French-Algerian artist Kader Attia has stunning pieces on display.

This untitled piece, created from 116 stained glass fragments, was one of my favourites. It can be viewed from the front…

…and the back…

This interesting untitled work was created from an ancient sculpture combined with neon lighting. Both Rachel and I would happily have taken it home…

. . . . .

Sydney’s street art scene is growing, and we passed some fabulous works as we meandered through the city…

Aboriginal elder Jenny Munro, as painted by artist Matt Adnate, graces the wall of the Novotel hotel…

. . . . .

When I heard that a portrait had been painted of Fighting Father Dave Smith, I made a special trip to Martin Place to view it.

Dave and I go back a long way – I have wonderful memories of him sitting in my college room, decked out in his bike leathers, talking to me about God. Even in his early twenties, he was the least judgmental Christian I’d ever met. He’s spent the past thirty years fighting – in the ring, taking on churches and governments; always defending, always preaching, always faithful and always driven. Oh, and more than a little bit crazy. When I last saw him (it must have been ten years ago), he told me I was welcome to join the Fighting Fathers, but I’d have to get the tattoo.

It’s a joy to see him honoured for his enormous contribution to those in need. This artwork by Archibald finalist Luke Cornish aka E.L.K. has captured him perfectly…

. . . . .

Are you still reading?

Let me end this long rambling post with a couple of early morning photos.

The sun rises later in winter, producing amazing light which changes over the course of our daily walk. This photo captured every aspect of the weather that morning – the fluffy white clouds and blue skies reflected in the sea, the band of grey storm clouds looming in the distance, and the golden shoreline, lit up by the first rays of the sun…

And finally, a photo which provides an apt metaphor for where I’m at right now.

Big Boy and I were out walking in the drizzling rain last week and as we turned to head home, we saw this magnificent rainbow. I can’t remember the last time I saw one so complete. I’m always incredibly grateful for the time I get to spend with our eldest son and seeing such a glorious sight was icing on the cake. It only lasted for ten minutes, before the top of the arch started to fade.

Getting wet and cold? That was insignificant by comparison.

. . . . .

Wishing you all a very happy week, lovely friends! ♥

Posted in My Photos | 21 Comments »

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