Sew vintage pt 1

I finally got around to something I have been meaning to do for ages... figure out how to wind a bobbin on my singer 201K. Thanks to YouTube and a print out of the original manual, I managed to wind not 1 but 2 bobbins!  

I also puzzled out how to cut a skirt from a lovely scrap of plaid fabric I found at an op shop years ago, and had stored in a box labelled " Outlander fabrics". But really there was not enough of this fabric to make an Outlander length skirt. But there was just enough to make a past knee length skirt, based on a green plaid skirt I found in my abandoned projects box - another op shop find, but the skirt was slightly too small. I finally figured that by unpicking and widening the pleats, I could add in a little bit more width to the waist. Of course I added in a pocket too. 

So using the green skirt as  pattern inspiration, I cut out the brown plaid. There was just enough for the skirt and pocket, with only a bookmark sized scrap left over! 

Since it was a sort-of vintage styled skirt - inspired by Bernadette Banner's modern day Victorian walking skirt - I thought it would be  the perfect first project to sew on my vintage singer!

The only modern day sewing was that since I thought the wool fabric would fray like blazes, I overlocked the edges of the 2 skirt pieces & 2 pocket pieces ( the skirt is basically 2 large rectangles). 

The singer is a dream to sew with! I love love LOVE the speed control I have with the knee lever, I can sew soooo slowly if needed, like the tricky bit around a zip. And it is much more quiet than my Janome. I even like the smell, which is probably mostly machine oil. I read that they use a bit of oil & that it is recommended to oil the machine at the start of each new project. I figured since mine has bwen sitting there unused for a year since I had it serviced, a few drops  of oil wouldn't go astray. 

I just have to finish the hem of my skirt tomorrow & it is ready to wear. It should be lovely and warm in this chilly weather!

Home Made Muesli Bars 1

I often get requests from workmates for my home made muesli bar recipe. Here is one of favourite go to recipes. Another post found lurking in drafts!

The super seedy bars are from " River Cottage Light  & Easy". They take a little bit more work because you have to lightly fry all the nuts/ seeds first. But they are sooo good! Mind you everyone else at home says they are too seedy- so all the more for me to eat! You can see my version on the post it, plus I sprinkle salt on top, and leave out the rosemary & chilli.

one cake to rule them all

( of course if I had baked it in a ring tin then the title would have read " one ring cake etc". Which would have been a better play on words, if I thought of the title yesterday before I baked the cake and decided to write a post about it...)

Anyway- I have been baking this cake, from the Family Circle Kids' Cookbook for years. Like waay before I needed to bake allergy friendly egg free dairy free cakes. 

I have a couple of good gluten free cake recipes, but they have eggs in them. So I wondered if I could use gluten free flour in the recipe and pretty much cover all bases.

The result - yes! Chocolatey fudgy yum! Mixed in 5 minutes, baked in 35. Chocolate fudge cake for the win!

So what have I been up to lately...

Making cheesecakes- especially since I discovered Woolies sell Philly cheese at the deli, I can get a 500g block cut. Saves on all the excess packaging. I really only discovered cheesecake as an adult, and have only recently discovered how super easy it is to make. Remember those Philly cheese recipe books I found on a front fence a while back? Great basic cheesecake recipe! Made one yesterday for our team.leader's birthday today. I used gluten free gingernut biscuits for the base, lemon rind & juice for flavour, and decorated with frozen berries and fresh mint.

Cook book find, cake baking, and current sewing projects

The JediKid (also known as "The Tall One"; or " Shorty" courtesy of my Dad!) turned 15 last week. So I baked a cake, & my H decorated it. Perfect for a geek/ nerd teen...



( shown with an actual controller for scale & design!)
The tradition in our house is that the birthday person gets to pick where to go for dinner. The birthday boy did suggest Vue de Monde (as if!) ,... but settled for curry at Kake di hatte in Lygon St instead. We parked in a side street and had just started walking to the restaurant, when I spied a pile of books on the front fence of a small block of apartments. A sign on the fence said something like " try a new recipe - free cookbooks, please take". How could I resist?



The cupcakes book is really just fancy smancy ideas for decorating cupcakes, so I might donate it to the opshop. A couple of recipes in the Philly cheese " simply heaven" books look good. Always looking for a new cheesecake recipe to try!
I finally got some sewing done this week, first time in ages the overlocker has been out. I picked up this little retro sewing table a while back, and although I have to store it outside ( in the outdoor loo in fact!) and bring it in the house to use, it is the perfect height for sewing, I don't need to have an extension cord across the floor, and it frees up the dining table for cutting out etc. The bracket for the other side table bit (on the right side) is missing, but I don't have the space to put that bit up anyway.





And what did I sew? - three more scoop tee's of course! i love my last stripe/ print combo one so much, I made a spot/ stripe one, shown in progress here. Will have to remember to take photos if the 3 new tees for next time.



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Sour cream and ginger cake

Thanks to seeing a recipe over at The Second Hand City the other day ( from a Kyle Kwong cookbook) we have been eating this yummy cake for dessert -


Super easy to make, and all stuff I already had, with a couple of shortcuts like finely chopped buderim naked ginger instead of grated raw ginger, and cream soured with lemon juice instead if sour cream. I was fascinated to see how the cream poured on top of the cake mix before baking would work out, it kind of sinks to a lovely gooey centre in the bottom centre of the cake.

Ginger & sour cream cake
185g butter
1 cup muscovado sugar
3 eggs
7cm piece of ginger, grated OR 6-8 pieces of naked ginger
1 1/2 cups SR flour
2/3 cup sour cream
1tbspn raw sugar

Preheat oven 170.
Line 22cm round tin with baking paper.

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs 1 at a time.
Add ginger, blend til smooth.
Fold in flour, mix well.
Pour cake mix in tin, make indentation in top of mix.
Pour in cream, sprinkle with raw sugar.
Bake 50 min or til cooked.

Enjoy!

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