Leaves on Linen Project Bag

A scattering of embroidered leaves, stitched upon soft and worn linen, becomes a sweet drawstring project bag. 

A handmade project bag.

This is the first project bag I have made after admiring for so long those stitched and sewn by the very talented Melissa Wastney of tiny happy.  While my stitches are nowhere near as fine or as tiny as Melissa's, I am happy all the same with my simple leaves on linen. 

 Pieces ready to be sewn up into a project bag.

The pattern for my project bag came from Melissa's book, Sweet and Simple Handmade, which I borrowed from my local library. The fabric came from my stash: with the leaves embroidered on the aging linen of a very old tea towel; the lining is a very soft cotton printed with tiny fruits; the casing made from scraps of silk that I dyed in a workshop on natural plant dyes. I used a sheer gold ribbon I had here too for the drawstring though I think I will replace this with a much narrower, silk ribbon to make the bag close more readily.

A handmade linen bag lined with a soft printed cotton.

This project bag is large enough to hold a small knitting or craft project, a gift for a dear friend or a good novel and one's reading glasses (if, like me, you need them). I plan to make several more, just like this one, but instead of leaves I want to stitch feathers and flowers, berries and butterflies, maybe even mushrooms!

Meg

Little Fruity Cupcakes

My favourite cupcake recipe is one I've been making since my boy was very small indeed. I first made them to form the "body" of the cakey caterpillar that was his first birthday cake. I still make them now and they are a lovely treat.  

Sweet, fruity cupcakes with a swirl of white chocolate on top!

The recipe for these fruity cupcakes comes from Lizzie Vann's "Organic:  Baby and Toddler Cookbook". The pages of my copy are a bit "splattered" now as it's been open on my kitchen bench, in the midst of cooking and toddler mayhem, many a day. And, while my boy is much older now, I still cook a few of the recipes from its pages.  

As is my way, I have tinkered a bit with the recipe though very minimally by adjusting quantities slightly, leaving out the sultanas (as no-one in my family eats sultanas) and adding tinned pears as well as banana for the cake batter. This fruit takes the place of refined sugars in this recipe which is one of the reasons I like it. (Less guilt when adding that swirl of white chocolate on top!)  Here's how I make them:

Little Fruity Cupcakes

80g softened butter

1 ripe mashed banana

6-8 slices of soft tinned pear

1 egg

1 Tablespoon honey

100mL milk

200g plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1.  Preheat oven to 180C.

2. Cream the butter with the banana and the soft tinned pears. (I do this in my Thermomix 

     but any food processor should do the trick.)

3.  Blend in the egg.

4.  Mix in the milk and honey.

5.  Sift the flour and baking powder.

6.  Gently mix the flour into the wet ingredients until the batter is just combined.

7.  Spoon the mixture into small cupcake cases leaving a little room for them to rise

     while baking.

8.  Bake for approximately 15minutes until a skewer, inserted in the middle of a cupcake, 

    comes out clean.

9.  Cool on a wire rack. Enjoy fresh for morning or afternoon tea or freeze them for later!

These little cupcakes can be iced very simply. The original suggestion in the cookbook is to top them with some fresh fruit, like sliced strawberries or kiwi fruit. I melt a little white or dark chocolate and swirl that on top. You could also make up an icing, tint it with a little food colouring, and even add a flurry of sprinkles, if that were your preferred cupcake style. 

Enjoy!

Meg

Common and Beautiful

Resting upon a leaf, of the star jasmine that runs itself rampant along one of our fences, was this brown-winged butterfly. It is a Common Australian Crow Butterfly (or Oleander Butterfly).

 Common Australian Crow Butterfly rests on our star jasmine.

While not as colourful and boldly patterned as its showy cousins, and a much more common sight in our garden than some others, it is none the less beautiful. Fine and delicate with white spots that look like a painter has dabbed them on, oh so precisely!

Flying away.

It might be common but, like so many things, very beautiful too when one looks closely and with wonder.

Have a lovely weekend. 

Meg