Maitland aroma festival part 1.

Today was the annual Maitland Aroma Festival, and since we are now Novocastrians (and Jamie is addicted to caffeine) we figured we should attend.

The weather was kind to us as we walked to High Street sampling coffee, wine, chocolates, jams, oils and spreads. We are actually really lucky where we live now, as we are so close to the most amazing wineries, cheese makers, and condiment makers in New South Wales. We were quite good and only purchased some little jars of jam.

There was a great turn out of people considering the weather threatened rain most of the day. Jamie and I had a most enjoyable afternoon together!

I have broken the blogging of festival into parts for two reasons. Firstly we are still running out laptop off iPhone internet which is very slow and painful. Secondly there would be too many photos for one blog post it would be a bit much really :-)

Here is your own little tour of my favourite parts of the Aroma Festival...

For medical reasons I can't have caffeine... but I can pose with a coffee though!

The most beautiful store selling handmade half aprons. The fabrics were mostly vintage, or vintage inspired, and the finishing of them looked very professional.

A Turkish food stall. It smelt amazing.

This guys crocheted beanie was super cute!

I never realised how old Maitland actually is.

That's right, an 1836 building by our standards is old.

This guy knew his coffee!

Newcastle is beginning to feel like home for us now. We are truly spoilt up here with the beautiful beaches, countryside and towns we have to discover. I am enjoying sharing these little places with you all, and I hope if you do live in, or ever come to, New South Wales you take some time to come and visit this area, as it is just beautiful.

Sam xox

Nested bibs.

This week I was lucky enough to meet my friends newborn baby boy. He is super cute and super tiny! I decided to give a handmade baby gift, and settled on making the Nested bib pattern. I really like Nested patterns, I have used them a few times now for baby gifts and they work really well and have a nice finish. This bib pattern is free and can be downloaded as a PDF. The printable size is best suited to a new born baby, but you can enlarge it on a photocopier for a larger bib.

For these bibs I used some blue and white striped fabric that I thrifted from a men's shirt. I like business shirt fabric from the thrift store as it is so much softer that shirt fabric purchased new. I am even making an entire quilt from vintage men's shirts. Click here to check it out.

I decided to sew the front and back fabric wrong sides together. I trimmed the edge to within 1/8" of the stitching line, then sewed some bias tape around the sides (the corners were a touch tricky). I decided to use buttons as a fastening rather than snaps as I think they give a nice touch.

I backed the bib with some plain muslin.

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Life has finally settled down for us. After six weeks of living in two different cities, and only seeing each other on weekends, I have now finally moved into our new place in Newcastle and begin my new job tomorrow. I interviewed for two positions a couple of weeks ago. One with the organisation I am currently working in, another with a similar community services organisation. My organisations position was the same as what I work now, as a support worker working with people living with mental illness. The other organisation role was as an early intervention worker working with people who are, or are at risk of, homelessness. I was totally shocked when I was offered both jobs and felt really chuffed. It gave me a confidence boost knowing that I am doing well in this field, as it was only this time last year that I jumped into community services work from previously working as a primary school teacher! Although the early intervention role was a tempting one, I decided to stay with my organisation and accept the role within their Hunter Region. I am excited to start tomorrow and meet the new staff and consumers I will be working with.

This weekend has been lovely. We are in the middle of winter here in Australia, but you wouldn't guess it, as it's been so warm lately. Yesterday Jamie and I packed a picnic lunch and headed north to a beautiful secluded beach. We ate lunch on our towels in the sand, and I even managed to have a quick swim (the water was a little cool though!). I think I am going to get use to this beach lifestyle.

Now my sewing machine is (finally) unpacked, I will get back into my regular blogging.

Glad to be back!

Sam xox

Chicken, grape and champagne pie.

It has been so cold here! We have been having a bucket load of rain. Which is not very common for us in Australia. It has literally been raining non-stop for the past week. This sort of weather cries out for warm, hearty, comfort food...

Recently I joined our local library. As we live in a (very) small town now, the local library is one of only half a dozen facilities here. I found a number of cookbooks and gardening books though, and have spent many nights curled under a blanket reading through them.

My favourite book discovery has by far been Maggie Beer's "Maggie's Kitchen". Seriously, where has this cookbook been all my life? Her recipes are brilliant, slightly complex but very achievable, and after cooking this incredibly delicious pie, and am having a difficult time deciding what to cook next.

So I thought I should share this recipe with you. However, be warned, it is amazing. You will end up with a pie that people would swear came from a gourmet pie shop. The combination of flavours and the sour cream pastry really is that good!

Chicken, Grape and Champagne Pie

Ingredients

40g butter
extra virgin olive oil, for cooking
3-4 large chicken thigh fillets with skin-on (about 770 g), cut into 3/4" square pieces
sea salt
2 leeks, white parts only, cleaned and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup Champagne or sparkling white wine
1/4 cup plain flour
1&1/2 cups chicken stock
1&1/2 tablespoons finely chopped French tarragon
1&1/2 tablespoons finely chopped thyme
225g seedless green grapes (to yield 1 cup picked grapes)
1/2 preserved lemon, flesh removed and rind rinsed and finely chopped
2 tablespoons verjuice
freshly ground black pepper
olive oil spray, for greasing
1 egg, lightly beaten

Sour Cream Pastry
250g plain flour
200g unsalted & chilled butter
120ml sour cream (approx)

Method

Heat butter in a large frying pan over high heat until nut-brown, then add a splash of olive oil. Season chicken with salt, then sauté in batches until lightly coloured. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add leeks and garlic to the pan and cook over low heat for 5 minutes or until soft. Increase heat to high, then deglaze pan with Champagne or sparkling white wine and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes or until wine has reduced by half. Sprinkle in flour and whisk in well to combine, then add stock and bring to the simmer. Add chicken, and thyme, stirring gently to combine, and then cook for 4-5 minutes. Add verjuice and simmer for another 2-3 minutes. Add Tarragon and preserved lemon, season with pepper and add salt if needed. Remove chicken from heat and when cooler add grapes and then pop into the fridge to chill.

Meanwhile, make sour-cream pastry. To do this chop all the butter into small cubes. Weigh flour and put into mixer. Blend flour and butter until it resembles a large breadcrumb consistency. Add 2/3 of the sour cream. Then continue adding slowly until dough forms a ball. Turn onto a floured bench and pull together with your hands into a rectangle shape. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 20 minutes before rolling out and lining your tin.

Preheat fan-forced oven to 220 deg C. Now grease either one large pie tin or four individual ones, depending on how you want to make this pie up. Roll out pastry, line the bottom of the tin, but remember to keep enough pastry to cover the top of the pie too! I like to brush the tops of my pies with some egg, and then sprinkle over some herbs. Don’t forget to make little slits in the tops of your pies with a sharp knife too. Bake for 25-35 minutes (until top is golden).

If you would like to learn more about this amazing cook, you can visit her website here.

Let me know how you go,

Sam xox

Cherished collections.

Casey from Elegant Musings is running a blog tour, and I am lucky to be part of it. The theme Casey chose was "cherished collections" and bloggers were asked to show collections that are precious to them - whatever the items might be!

I thought this would be a good way to get myself back into the blogging grove after our move. Today I am only able to show you one of my collections, as I am currently using my laptop through the internet on my iphone - not a lot of data and a pretty weak signal :-(

Once we have internet (and I am able to upload lots more pics) I will show you the others.

This is my Royal Doulton Tea Trio's collection. Most of these I have purchased through eBay, both Australia and internationally. I adore tea trios. I think they are soooo feminine and I love the vintage designs.

c.1933

c.1927

c.1980's

c.1980's

c.1936

'Royalty' c.1942

'Showers' c.1935

c.1936

Sam xox

Sea glass.

This week I discovered a little beach, tucked away in the tail-end of the Eastern suburbs. It is not one of the 'popular' beaches, it is not patrolled by lifeguards, and it is hidden behind some very steep cliffs. Standing on the sand, against the towering cliff walls, you are surrounded by an almost untouched piece of coastline.

Instead of the noise of city traffic, you hear waves crashing against rocks.

Instead of the smell of smog, you breath in the salty sea air.

Instead of walking on pavement, your feet sink into sand with every step.

This beach was perfect.

Along the shoreline I found some beautiful sea glass hidden under small piles of seaweed, broken shells and drift wood. I took it home, gave it a wash, and am letting thoughts run through my head with what to do with it...

For now it is home in a jam jar on my kitchen window sill. A daily reminder of a perfect walk along the beach.

Sam xox

French onion soup.

Jamie and I have both been struck down by nasty bugs recently, Jamie more so than I. He has been suffering badly from a flue that doesn't appear to want to leave his body. There seems to be a few nasty bugs floating around Sydney at the moment, and I think it might have something to do with the cold weather and rain we are having at the moment. For the past week I have left for work while Jamie makes his way from bed to couch where he curls up under a blanket. It is here that I find him, still lying, upon my return some 9 hours later :-(

By day 5 I decided to resort to a hearty home cooked soup that would warm his belly and hopefully encourage his body to finally kick that bug.

I made Donna Hay's French Onion Soup, and it turned out to be delicious! Her recipes never seem to fail me.

~ This soup made me cry - a lot! All those onions! ~

~ Donna recommends this soup should be served

with toasted cheese sandwiches ~

The verdict? Jamie is back to 100% health (though the jury is still out on whether this soup fixed him).

You can find the recipe here.

Hope you're all having a brilliant weekend!

Sam xox

One pattern seven bloggers - the big reveal.

It feels like only yesterday, when I sent an email out to a few fellow bloggers and proposed to them that we join together and do a sewing project - One Pattern, Seven Bloggers... and now seven finished dresses!

Today is the big reveal! I apologies for the bad quality photos (and in my kitchen of all places!) but you see, we are having some terrible weather here in Sydney.

So, without further ado, here is my version of the dress...

This was a very interesting sewing experience for me. Firstly, the pattern only includes the pieces for the bodice, which allows the sewer to make the skirt how they wish. I liked this idea, but felt a bit uneasy about doing anything too tricky due to my pear shaped body and lack of pattern-drafting skills. I decided as the fabric was light I would make a simple gathered skirt.

The most interesting thing for me however, was that I actually got the dress finished! No, not because I might have procrastinated slightly, but because almost to the very last stitch I just did not like it. If this had been a project I was making on my own, there is a very good chance it would never have been completed. About 1 hour into the sewing I decided I hated the fabric pattern. About 1 hour and 30 minutes into the sewing I decided I hated the pattern. What I had in front of me looked like a pinky-red, funny shaped pile of yuck.

But I persevered and when I put it on I thought "that actually doesn't look too bad". Granted it is not a dress I would wear out to dinner, but in the warmer weather later this year it might get a few trips to the beach or park. I am yet to decide if I want to make a belt for this dress, if I do decide to I will post a tutorial.

Pluses:

* Did not use a lot of paper to print on the home printer.

* The bodice was very easy to construct.

* I like that the skirt is not included.

* The bodice is simple and I didn't need instructions.

Minuses:

* The neckline is low - so would not suit everyone.

* I changed my zipper to a centre back one.

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I cannot tell you how great it has been to be part of this project. It has been fun getting to know the other girls and seeing their emails pop up in my inbox as we all share our trials and successes as we made our dresses.

And don't forget to visit their blogs to see the dresses they have made:

Marie from A Sewing Odyssey

Reana Louise from Curves, Patterns and Pins

Kat from Petticoats & Peplums

Rachel from My Messings

Jen from Pretty Little Pictures

Amy from Sewing Through the Motions

Sam xox