Sunday's Simple Sewing: Little Linen Bag

Simple projects, in these complicated times, seem to be what I want to lean into. I want to make things that don't require too much "figuring out" but rather things I can relax into because they are easy or repetitive or I've made similar before. Perhaps, there's a comfort in a familiar process and a reassurance that it will all turn out fine. So it was with this little blue ribbon bag.

Little blue ribbon bag.

This sweet little bag is the first in a set I am going to make from an unfinished and beautiful vintage tea cloth. A tea cloth gifted to me, amongst many other linen-y treasures, by the lovely and generous Maria. The tea cloth is embroidered with swirling ribbons tied in bows, twining green stems and lazy daisy flowers. 

Vintage and antique linens are my favourite fabrics to sew with. They are often soft with age and use and embroidered with sweet motifs. They often come with stories! Sometimes, their motifs may be incomplete or the fabric may be threadbare or stained in some places. So, choosing what to make will often depend on how much of the fabric can be salvaged and re-purposed into something new.

I made this little blue ribbon bag using the instructions detailed by Jude Van Heel, of the utterly gorgeous Fairy Wren Cottage, in the latest issue of Grass Roots magazine (#257). It was so very simple to make:

I made a template and cut out the pieces for the bag.

I stitched tiny french knots for flower centres.

I mended a few flowers as their centres had frayed.

I sewed it together and threaded through a blue ribbon. 

(It had to be blue!)

A project like this embodies a simplicity that gladdens my heart. I 💙that it makes something new from something old in a world where older things are sometimes just discarded. 

More of Maria's pretty tea cloth.

I am looking forward to sewing up more of these little bags, with the fabric from Maria's gifted tea cloth. I think I should be able to make at least three more. One with an orange bow and purple flowers, one with a purple bow and orange flowers and one with blue flowers tied with a pink bow. More simple sewing ahead!

I'd love to know what simple projects you are working on too.

Meg

Simple Carrot Cake

I think I baked this cake just so I could have cream cheese icing! I wasn't thinking about the orange carrot-y goodness or sweet local honey or the crunchy crushed walnuts. What I was thinking about was that creamy, tangy icing that makes any carrot cake complete (in my opinion).

Carrot cake with cream cheese icing.

My carrot cake craving began when I was leafing through an old copy of Backyard Farmer magazine, issue No. 12 to be precise. There was a recipe, submitted by Lisa Walker, for an 'As Simple As It Comes, But Oh So Delicious' Carrot Cake recipe from a cafe called Bruce's at Wynyard in Tasmania. I adjusted the recipe a bit, as I wanted to use spelt flours, so here's how I made it in my kitchen:

Simple Carrot Cake🥕

Ingredients:

1/3  cup brown sugar
1/2  cup wholemeal spelt flour
3/4 cup white spelt flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 large carrots, peeled & grated (*I coarsely grated the carrot but think finely grating it would be best.)
1/3 cup chopped toasted walnuts

1/2  cup vegetable oil (*I used macadamia nut oil.)
3 large eggs
1/3 cup local honey

Method:

1.  Preheat oven to 170C.  Grease and line a cake tin.

2.  Whisk flours, baking powder, bicarb soda, cinnamon and sugar in large bowl.

3.  Blend oil, eggs and honey until creamy and frothy.

4.  Make well in centre of the dry ingredients. Pour in blended wet ingredients.

5.  Mix gently and, just before all the flour is incorporated, add in the grated carrot and 
     walnuts and finish combining cake batter. Do not overmix!

6.  Fill prepared cake tin with the cake batter. 

7.  Bake, on middle rack in the oven, for around 45mins. Cake should bounce back when lightly touched.

I didn't follow a recipe, like this one, for cream cheese icing. I simply beat together  1/2 tub of softened cream cheese,  a tablespoon or so of lemon juice and then added some spoonfuls of icing sugar until it tasted just right.

Wholesome ingredients.

This cake was oh so simple to make and it did taste oh so delicious....especially with that creamy, tangy cream cheese icing on top.

I've been thinking that I may just bake another carrot cake soon.  (After all, I do have half a tub of cream cheese left over so could make more icing.😉) Perhaps, I will try this recipe for the carrot cake that was judged to be Australia's Best. Apparently, the judges had a debate about whether carrot cake is really carrot cake without cream cheese icing! 

What do you think? Is carrot cake really carrot cake without cream cheese icing?

Meg

This Weekend's Days

The weekend is dawning here. There's a soft orange glow warming the horizon and soon the sky will deepen to its daytime blue as the sun follows its well-worn path from the East across to the West where it will set beyond the tall gums that line the ridge.

Stretching out ahead of me are weekend days at home; days where there are no plans to venture beyond our blue gates. I plan on doing some gardening, cooking, washing, sewing, perhaps some knitting and most definitely some reading. I may or may not dust the piano. There is no doubt I will be called upon to rub a certain Labrador's tummy and scratch behind his ears too. There's homemade carrot cake with cream cheese icing to have for afternoon teas out on the verandah. (I'm looking forward to that!) And there'll be split-pea soup, with sourdough toast, for the evenings when the daytime sun has dipped below that tree-topped ridge.

Onions & garlic for split pea soup.

(I love this little fluted bowl...even if it's only meant for Christmas time.)

 The book I want to read over the weekend.

(Another wonderful library find!)

Pieces for a dusky-pink top.
(Sewing for a sweet girl I know.)

Some Autumn seedlings for planting this weekend.

(The promise of homegrown food to come.)

 Homemade carrot cake with cream cheese icing.

(No, I didn't eat the other half...it's in the freezer!)

In the peace of these weekend evenings at home, when it's just the three of us and one adored Labrador, there'll be time together. Perhaps a board game, a movie or an extra episode of a favourite show before bedtime under an extra Autumn blanket. 

I wonder what you are doing with your weekend days? 

Meg

Autumn Beckons

Autumn beckons; later sunrises and earlier twilights bookend days that are cooler now and do not carry the weight of Summer's humidity. A gentle breeze has been whispering thoughts of longer sleeves and lightweight scarves, of house socks and ballet flats, of toasted cheesy sandwiches and homemade pies and of warming throws for reading an evening away. 

Autumnal Apple Pie

Autumn feels like it is here in the air around me, in the fading Summer flowers of the garden, in my thoughts of sewing a simple tunic for wearing over those aforementioned longer sleeves and of returning to the knitting of the deep bottle-green wrap that I began last time Autumn visited us here.

 The last of Summer's Zinnias in a posy.

 Sweet fabric and a little vintage doily for a dress.

Autumn is present too in my more reflective mood; in the thoughts that come while rolling pastry and catching scents of cinnamon, in not-necessarily garden plans made while spreading compost over Summer-spent garden beds and in the quiet daydreams that form while looking out to a gentler blue sky from my spot on our long verandah.  

Earth & home & resilience on my mind...

Autumn is my favourite time of year and I am so very glad it's here. Are you looking forward to the change in season too?

Meg

Gorgeous Ginger Flowers

Last Sunday, we took ourselves off on a family outing. We drove up to the sunny Sunshine Coast, our new-to-us ute loaded with a basket of swimming togs and beach towels and an esky packed with picnic food and lots of cold water. One of the places we visited was The Ginger Factory. We took a ride on the old sugarcane train, spotted turtles in the little lake, had a picnic lunch of salad rolls, homemade slice and fruit and wandered the beautiful tropical gardens. Of course, at a Ginger Factory they grow lots of different gingers which means many gorgeous ginger flowers. Here are photos of my favourites:

'Cream Shell' Ginger

A vibrant Heliconia.

The little 119 year old 'Moreton' train.

A beautiful Beehive Ginger.

Pretty 'Red Stem' Ginger

I particularly loved the 'Red Stem' Ginger (Cheilocostus speciosus), in the photo above, for its tall red stems and frilly white flowers. I would love to grow it in our garden here for I think it's quite stunning. 

We drove on, after our time at The Ginger Factory, to Noosa where we watched the annual Surfing Dogs Spectacular, swam in the calm waters of Little Bay and saw a beautifully-patterned goanna (and quite a few scrub turkeys) while finishing off the last of our packed picnic in the Noosa National Park. 

Such a contented way to spend a Sunday visiting places we haven't been for a while.  I hope your upcoming weekend offers you some contentment too.

Meg