our quilting day for Dandelion Support Network

March 25, 2013 By 24 Comments

What do you get when you come together for a good cause? Well you get 45 quilts, 1 crocheted blanket and over 10 embroidered singlets and onesies for charity. That’s what you get. In the lead up to our quilting day yesterday I was collecting parcels from the post office from a few lovely readers who had made quilt tops and quilts and popped them in the post.

On Sunday I was up early and met up with 15 ladies, 14 sewing machines, a plate of food and a lot of enthuisiasm. And we got to work. Here is the before shot when I arrived and retro daddy was unloading the car with me.

And when everyone arrived and was working

The great thing about a craft day is that you get a day out of the house (always a bonus), it’s free (another bonus), you get to chat to whoever you are sitting next to and you get a day of craft.

We sorted out quilt tops and matched them up with backings, polar fleece or batting and that pretty much kept me busy the whole morning. I think it was about 2.20 by the time I set up my machine

and I had a bit of machine envy with Missy one of our gorgeous ladies – her hubby did all the research on a new machine for her and she went to the store to check them out and the lady at the shop said here is your new machine!

Turns out her hubby bought it for her and she just had to collect it. Nice one. We like him already.

And we talked about everything – sewing machines, school, ballet classes, houses, family, food, blogs, crafts, markets,

and of course we worked hard…..in between hot drinks and food of course. Bring a plate is always something special…and overcatered. I came home on a brownie/m&m/lindt ball high with a bit of caramel slice and chicken finger sandwiches too.

And it wasn’t all quilting with the lovely Leonie bringing a crochet blanket to donate

and doing some sweet embroidery on singlets and onesies for us

and Lisa also joined in on the embroidery – and poor Lisa we kept running out of desks and being moved off. I’m so sorry Lisa and hope you’ll join us again! I’ve decided I’ll do a table for the non quilters to share and they won’t be turfed off! Promise.

and our youngest quilter was a doll! So happy to be playing with her little leapfrog. Thanks Sunny for being so great and coming along.

And that was that! More photos to come when I lay out all the quilts and show them all to you! I had visions that I’d lay them all out on my front lawn this morning – it’s more of a vision than a reality as they are cutting down the hugest tree I’ve seen in my neighbour’s yard and I’m staying inside and watching from here!

Now if you want to donate a quilt top or a quilt or even some polar fleece or binding just drop me an email at retromummy@hotmail.com . We’ll be donating quilts all year to Dandelion. And if you’re inspired to run your own quilting day for a charity close to your heart well just do it! What’s stopping you…………

a big thank you to Lisa, Kate, Cecilia, Faye, Sophie, Sunny, Dimity, Sachiko, Marilyn, Stephanie, Fiona, Leonie,  the 2nd Lisa, Amy, Missy and kate. I think next time we might need more tables as we ran out! And a big heartfelt thank you to those ladies who sent me things – Tracie (8 quilts, thank you!), Karen, Maddy and Anne. Thank you ladies. So kind of you.

Filed Under: craft, quilt, quilting, quilts for dandelion

Digital Parents Conference – day 2

March 23, 2013 By 17 Comments

Day 2. Nothing like having your alarm go off before 5.30am so you can get ready, do makeup, make lunches and get out the door at 7am for the conference. And I love that my alarms always wake retro daddy first who then has to yell out ‘Corrie, Corrie, turn off your phone and get up’. And he has to do it a few times. I was dealing with a lot more nerves on the 2nd day because I knew I was getting up on a panel after lunch.  I always say beforehand why did I sign up for this and then when it’s after I’m all like ‘wow that was great I’m so glad I did’. Funny that.

So I arrived, grabbed my coffee (very important, I live on coffee), hot breakfast and new people came to sit at our table which I always love because it’s great to meet new faces and find out their story. Cindy came and sat with us and turns out she is the Cindy Luken behind Luken & May the cookies. Cindy sold the business and has a new business luk beautifood and the products are gorgeous – they smell and look beautiful and it was great to chat business, blogging and mum stuff. That’s the great thing about a conference with lots of women – you talk everything! And Cindy let me know about Pedestrian TV and finding interns if you need a bit of help with your business/blog then you can help a uni student with their work experience. I had never heard of it before but it’s a pretty awesome website.

First session of the day ‘The Myth of having it all’. Moderating was the very funny Penny of Working Mums Masterclass and on the panel we had Karen Andrews of Miscellaneous Mum, Sophie Bone the owner of Big 4 Bellarine and Kerri Sackville of Life & Other Crises who always has everyone laughing. They talked about their stories and how they came to where they’re at. Penny pointed out that mothers now choose to leave the workforce with more information. And despite goverment policies and support the same number of women leaving the workforce to have their families is the same as it was 10 years ago. But there has been a real upsurge in the number of women who are creating their own businesses from home.

We watched a great little video from an episode of The Project but there was a bit of eye rolling from everyone about the title of the segment ‘mummy wars’. Why do they do that? Say its a mummy war? It isn’t really. I have friends who work and friends who stay at home with their children. We’re still friends. And it was great to hear from the guys in the audience because men never get asked can they have it all? That is so true. Men would love to spend more time at home with their children too but there are pressures and financial responsibilities too. It’s hard for a working dad and it was great to hear from the dads.

Kerri talked about how women relied on their mothers groups and once upon a time it was tough if you didn’t get along with yours but now with the internet you can just find a blog just like you. And connect. Hello, why did I set up this blog? Because the mums around me at the time didn’t love craft, being at home, baking and just raising a family. The panelists were then asked what would they tell their daughters/daughters in law – Sophie said ‘stand up and be counted in anything you do’. Kerri wanted to teach her son to respect women and her daughters to have good and healthy relationships. That was a great session and kick off to the day.

Next up was working with brands. Moderated by the lovely Lorraine of the Remarkables and the speakers were Alex Brooks of Kidspot, Melissa Gassman of Digital Parents Collective and Joy Toose of World Vision. This was something I know a lot about and went to support Lorraine. It’s great to hear questions from people who want to work with brands or are starting out. One of the key things out of it was do it if feels right. Woogsworld also said don’t do it if it gets too hard. We’ve all had at least one post that has been ripped apart or a huge chunk of marketing stuff has been written in. The thing to remember is that you are the boss, it’s your blog and you set the terms of the blog posts. If it still doesn’t work then better to say no. We are always asked early on if we want to do a post or with work a certain brand before we are even put forward. Yesterday there were a couple of brands put forward by the Remarkables and I said yes to 1 brand and no to 2 just to give you an idea.

After a jump on the Springfree Trampoline (only because you had to jump on it and be photographed in order to win one) so I was doing it for the kids! We ducked into the session on Media Kits and Journalists. We had a media training day with the remarkables last year and it was great to hear Lisa Lintern repeat something that really stuck with me – nothing is off the record. Lisa gave some great tips on what to do when you get a call for an interview and I think they were great for anyone. I’ll share them in another post because they were really great.

Lunch for me was light. There was some wine tasting going on thanks to De Bortolli but I was staying right away from that table. One little glass and I’d be talking about everything and anything on the panel coming up so best to stick to the soft drink.

lunch was 2 hours but all I could think about was my panel after lunch and making sure I said what I wanted to say, didn’t overshare and wasn’t too quiet up there. It was only the last 5 minutes before the panel that my heart was racing and I was getting all fidgety. Nerves. Thankfully I was on the panel with some pretty funny people like Woogsworld, Reservoir Dad and Glowless and talking about something I know a little bit about – negative comments, online trolls and haters. Shame I know about it. I basically said I don’t read the stuff that is written about me on other sites. If I wasn’t making money or growing my blog I wouldn’t get any negative comments. My motto is keep being fabulous. I don’t worry about the haters otherwise I’d ignore the lovely readers. And I know one of my trolls and I could have said exactly what Glowless said about hers. They just know too much and were once friends. Sad but true. When it comes to your blog and facebook page, YOU set the tone of your page and it’s up to you what you accept and don’t accept on the page.

The session almost ended when Clint aka Reservoir Dad needed to duck to the loo. I thought he was joking. He wasn’t! But we kept talking. If you ever need a funny guy at your next conference, he’s your guy! Anyway I managed to say bye to a few people, grab some afternoon tea and duck out to the car where retro daddy was waiting for me with my favourite little guy. It’s a really long couple of days and with Sunday coming up I couldn’t do the dinner afterwards but after hearing about all the fun I might have to next year.

and I spent the night working through a few days of washing which is always fabulous! I will never ever escape the laundry in this house. Ever.

But it was great to wake up Friday (end of the working week) and just get back into my mummy wardrobe of jeans, tee and a cardy and get back to the school run and usual life.

I must admit though by lunch time I had a bit of the PCB – post conference blues – as there was no buffet style morning tea, lunch or afternoon tea going on and no one to talk to.

 Next week I’m going to do a big post on my top tips for blog conferences, why you should go and the key points I got out of it and am going to put into action! Don’t miss it……….I’m off to get ready for our quilting day tomorrow……………….

Filed Under: blogging

Digital Parents Conference – day 1

March 21, 2013 By 23 Comments

I love blog conferences. I probably always start my debrief posts with that line but it’s true. I just love them. New bloggers, faces to put to blogs, old friends, lots of new things to learn, great speakers, good food, a precious day or two away from the usual routine and fun. I always leave with a real buzz and new inspiration to blog. This year’s Digital Parents Conference  was no exception. You can follow the fun on twitter, facebook or instagram by searching #dpcon13.

There are always a few nerves beforehand (what to wear, who is going, make sure I say hi to lots of people) but they always go away once I’ve found my buddy (golden rule of conferences, have a buddy!). I never do one without a buddy and then we make new friends along the way.

Lisa has been my helper at markets and now helps me with spreadsheets and some of the admin stuff on the blog. She got us a great table and we sat with Jenn Unger, Lorelei of Craftmumship (you should see photos of her gorgeous house and alpacas), Wine Muse (yes, she’s a wine blogger! I’m sure some of my readers would be loving that idea!), Always Lauren (I love that we’re the same height Lauren!) and Take Charge Becc. The great thing about these conferences is people walk in, join a table and you get to start talking. There is no real seat saving or table hogging. And it’s a fabulous way to meet new people.

I remember Darren of ProBlogger giving us some advice of quick things that you can ask people at a blog conference and it’s always stuck – just turn to someone and say hi I’m corrie of retro mummy, what’s your blog? What’s it about? and that leads into a great little discussion and it’s a great way to meet new people. And the great thing about blogging here in australia is that there are always new faces to meet and new blogs to read. A couple of new ones for me are Katie 180 (she is so cute! ), Tackle Nappy, luk beautifood, danya banya and more I’ll share tomorrow! Oh and Daisy, Roo and Two who is just gorgeous and I got to meet in real life. We could have talked for hours!!!

OK, so after breakfast and chit chat it was straight into the welcome and opening address by Jono of WakeUp Sydney. He shared a bit about his former corporate life and leaving it to find something more fulfilling. He became a male nanny to twin boys and remembers clearly the moment one of the boys said ‘I’m so glad you’re here’. He went on to stay 5 years with the same family before setting up WakeUp Sydney which is all about kindness! Jono was a fabulous speaker who spoke from the heart and had a great sense of humour. He had everyone listening and we got some little cards to give to people anonymously. I loved his idea of removing our egos from the giving. Jono also talked about how society is so preoccupied with working hard and buying things and how all of this hasn’t corresponded to an increase in our happiness. I’m so glad I got to hear from Jono and discover his great website.

Next up saw some of my favourite bloggers take to the stage for state of the aussie blogosphere. Styling You, Edenland and Darren Rowse aka ProBlogger and David Lee from Nuffnang was up there too. It was great to hear where we’re at, why some bloggers are stepping back from writing daily and just trying to find the balance of blogging and life. And a great little observation and new way of doing things by Darren was rather than abstract blog posts each week and lots of them to do more indepth, tutorial style posts on a theme in the same week. I know crafters love their tutorials and he’s just shared a great series of Pinterest posts on ProBlogger and who doesn’t love pinterest.

Darren also said that there has been a shift for bloggers and how they earn their income with more bloggers looking to develop their own products (ebooks, courses, apps and so on) to complement working with brands or as an alternative.  And some bloggers are starting out and realising that they want to just create their own products and this is a shift away from where we were at at the first Digital Parents and ProBlogger conferences.

morning tea (aka find the coffee and toilets) then back for a session on blogging through adversity. Lori of RRSAHM, Tiffany of My Three Ring Circus (whose little girl Ivy has totally captured my heart for a few years now) and the very brave Rachel of My Mummy Muddles. This was a tear jerker if ever there was one and hats off to these brave ladies for sharing their stories. I was so proud to be in that room when question time commenced with praise for these ladies on their blogging and courage to get up there. It was a beautiful session and I think so important for a blog conference for mums (and dads!) not just to be about the business end of things. But about the heart of blogging.

Lunch time – nice healthy salad and some sandwiches, we watched an interview by Edenland with the PM. Oh yes, just the Prime Minister of Australia. It was nice to see her much more relaxed than usual. Thank you Eden.

OK after lunch it was time to listen to Nicole of Planning with Kids talk e-books. I once drafted an ebook then set it aside but now I might just open it up again. Nicole went through how to look for what to write to write an ebook about by using Google Analytics and your top 100 blog posts and key search words. Google Analytics is amazing and my only regret is that I didn’t get into it earlier. If you haven’t signed up and got it on your blog then do it now. Nicole had mentored Nellbe Gluten Free and helped her with her ebook on Glugten Free Kids which you can find here . Thank you Nellbe and Nicole for sharing with us. I wrote copious amounts of notes and will share some more later.

By this time I realised I might be smelling a little less than fresh as my fabulous Zara dress which I love is also made of polyester. Sweat and polyester aren’t the best combination. Quick freshen up, coffee and carrot cake and a chat. I met the lovely Seana Smith and her gorgeous scottish accent, realised we live in nearby suburbs! Then it was back to the next sessions – Fe Lumsdaine (the gorgeous photographer who did my cousin Matt’s wedding) and getting to know your DSLR. For someone who still mostly shoots in auto this was what I needed…………until retro daddy called from the carpark to let me know he was waiting for me.

And that was a highlight of the day, getting back in the car to see my little guy. Oh I missed him. He always comes everywhere with me and being apart from him for a day was tough. Retro daddy had it all under control and elodie called out for the first time ‘Daaad, where ah ooo’. He’s feeling pretty special that Elodie went from ‘gaggy’ to ‘daaad’ with one day at home with him. Yes, my mind is ticking over at opportunities I can leave home for the day and let the bonding continue…..

Oh and I have to share this. The old problem of running out of iphone or ipad power half way through a blog conference was solved with these cute recharge stations. No need to bring your charger just find the right one for your phone, plug it in and come back when it’s done! Genius. Thanks to one of the sponsors Belkin for this.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a full debrief of day 2. Another day that flew by with things to learn, more new faces to meet.

Filed Under: blogging

gone knitting

March 20, 2013 By 4 Comments

Well I haven’t really. I wish. I’d quite like to shut up shop, put a sign on the door of the house and say ‘gone knitting’. I’m just so busy this week getting ready for our quilting day this Sunday (still time to say yes and join us for a day of quilting), the everyday stuff with school and activities and I’m attending Digital Parents Conference for 2 days this week and leaving retro daddy in charge. Something that is easier to do as the years go on………but he does have a timeline left out on the table of essential pieces of information like what time to leave home, what time to feed emerson and naptimes.

I’ll  be bringing the shawl with me to the conference and hopefully can squeeze a bit in during taxi rides and lunchbreaks. I really have enjoyed knitting this project and have 30 rows to do and I’m done. And so many people have commented on how gorgeous the yarn is and it’s just so funny that it’s nothing fancy and just one of the special releases from Bendigo a few years back. Probably cost me $12 for the 200g ball but the colour is pretty special.

Anyway, bear with me if I’m a bit quiet this week but I promise to report back from Digital Parents (DPCon13 if you want to follow the conference on twitter) each night and hopefully have a finished shawl to show you all.

Filed Under: kniting

super quick + easy baby quilt

March 17, 2013 By 23 Comments

Last week I received my favourite kind of mail – fabric mail. The lovely Sarah of Quilt Fabric Delights had sent me a gorgeous box of fabric and it’s lovely to welcome another fabric store onboard as a sponsor. I know the joys and the hard work involved in running an online fabric store and just a small business full stop.

So many gorgeous fabrics and trims rolled into one. Look at the little wooden bobbins. Adorable.

I even got some Tilda fabric and if you’re a Tilda lover then you’ll love this section in the store.

Now with my charity quilting day next weekend and a pattern I wanted to test out before our day I took these two fabrics out today. London Calling by Robert Kaufman and Chevrons by Riley Blake Designs. When you’re making quilts for charity and want to make as many quilts as possible then making them as simple as you can is a bonus. Pretty fabric makes a simple quilt look fabulous!

And the pattern I wanted to use was the super quick + easy quilt from Last Minute Patchwork & Quilted Gifts. Basically you take 2 pieces of fabric and a piece of batting all cut to exactly the same size.

Pin the 2 pieces of fabric right sides together with the batting underneath the fabric. I used a walking foot to sew around all sides leaving a gap of a few inches. Trim corners and turn right side out. Now I top stitch all around the quilt. The pattern doesn’t but I just love the top stitching and keeping it all together.

And the fun bit…..on your machine find a little satin stitch and do them all over the quilt. If I was making this quilt for an older child then I would probably tie it with little bits of perle cotton but that wouldn’t be safe for a baby so this is lovely. And you can go with a contrasting thread on your machine too.

I’m still going with the little stitches but already think this makes a great present for babies and toddlers AND a great way to show off fabulous fabrics like these two.

Thank you so much Sarah and I can’t wait to use the rest of my fabrics.

 

Filed Under: craft, fabric, fabrics, quilt, quilts for dandelion, sewing

what we’ve been reading this week

March 15, 2013 By 20 Comments

Although I’m not so much of a ‘read a novel’ kind of person anymore, I do love to read. Craft books, cookbooks, magazines and the newspaper that retro daddy brings home after he’s read it. Oh and kids books. Plenty of kids books.

I was buying a couple of felt craft books for myself and the book ‘Extra Yarn’ came up as a suggestion that other people had read (always dangerous as they must be cool people if we’re buying the same books). I bought this book for the little ones and they are just loving it. Keira keeps taking it up to bed each night to read it and just loves the illustrations. It’s about a little girl who just keeps knitting and it’s just gorgeous.

I also picked up the 3rd book from Soulemama which I’d been wanting for a while. It’s really lovely and you just remember to not follow the months of the american year but go by our seasons. Gorgeous book and I love blogs that are books because it’s like having a little bit of the blog here to read whenever I want to. And keira has enjoyed reading it to me and picking out what we’re going to make first.

And Denyse Schmidts Modern Quilts Traditional Inspiration is from the library but going on my wish list. I must buy this book.

I love going to the library but we had to take a little break because a certain little person was always losing their books. I had to pay for two because we just couldn’t find them. Of course we found them later on after we move house. Anyway, keira is down at the community centre 3 times a week for various activities so we are spending a lot of time there. Thankfully that means books aren’t staying in the house too long and not getting lost in bedrooms.  And I can usually negotiate a few minutes to pick out some books for myself.

Anyway back to the book. I often like to borrow the books that I’d been wanting to buy and I can check it out and see if I ‘need’ it in my library. Yes. It’s a big yes for this one. Not too modern for me, just my style and beautiful photographs.

I’ve also been padding out the craft room and finding homes for things. The 2nd expedit is starting to fill up but I just know it won’t stay this tidy for long. But I love having everything on display and having all my books together is a dream!

So what are you reading? Got any great tips for not losing library books?

Filed Under: books, craft

Do you need an overlocker?

March 11, 2013 By 69 Comments

I was thinking what I’d write about today and then noticed that 3 people had asked about overlockers on yesterday’s blog post! Problem solved! let’s talk overlockers! Do you need one? Are they worth it? Should I just use a zig zag stitch?

Ok so I got an overlocker probably after a year or so of sewing. I was doing a lot of clothes for keira and I wanted to be able to do edges more neatly. I do think the edges on the overlocker are amazing. My first overlocker was about $200 second hand on ebay. People often buy overlockers, don’t use them enough so sell them. So picking one up 2nd hand (if you’ve asked the right questions like how old it is, was it bought new, has it been serviced, how often has it been used) can be a smart move.

Now the first overlocker I bought had big dials on it for threading the machine up. Unless you can afford an ‘air overlocker’ (which pretty much threads itself) then get ready for the worst part about an overlocker…………….threading. You are threading 4 threads and you have to go through this loop, and down this little piece and through the eye of this and out and through the back of the machine. You need a bit of patience to do it but it’s always worth it. The newer the machine or the more expensive it is generally the easier it is to thread.

Do you need one? If you are making clothes and selling them then I kind of think you do need one. It gives you a professional finish to your seams and makes them look amazing. If you’re a home sewer and just getting a bit sick of the zig zag or don’t think it’s up to scratch then you’ll love the finish done by an overlocker. And if you’re sewing with stretch fabrics then you can do whole garments on the overlocker because a stretch fabric seam can be done on the overlocker. You can also do a beautiful rolled hem finish on pretty clothes which is lovely for ruffles and bloomers. I also use the overlocker to make quick cot sheets, face washers and muslin wraps as it gives a nice finish.

For me an overlocker has always been worth it and when I was making and selling dresses it certainly made them look fabulous. If you’re hardly ever sewing or just starting out then spend your money on a good basic machine and keep using the zig zag and see how you go or perhaps borrow one for a week and see if you like it. I ran upstairs and quickly grabbed a few things I had made to show you an overlocked seam. So this is done with 2 needles and 4 threads and will not fray, not even a teensy bit which I notice when I do a zig zag.

How much to spend and what brand is always up to you. The easier to thread the better which is why I would personally stay away from the thread around the knob machines (like the older janomes) if you can BUT in saying that I’m also not sure how reliable the cheap overlockers from supermarkets are as well. If you can stick to a brand you know like janome, brother, babylock (which is the same as brother – NO I got this wrong, Babylock USA make the Babylock embroidery machines but overlockers are made by Babylock. I stand corrected!), bernina etc then you’re doing well. It’s easier to find parts, get it serviced and just more reliable. For me I’d always rather buy a second hand one from a good brand than a new one from the supermarket eventhough it’s nice to get the impulse buy at the supermarket.

So do you have an overlocker? What do you love or hate about it and what brand are you using? I use a Brother 3043d and love it. Very easy to use, comes with a DVD and have had it for over 3 years without a problem.

Filed Under: overlocker, sewing, sewing machine, sewing room

my craft room takes shape – part 2

March 10, 2013 By 26 Comments

Nothing says dream weekend more than a trip to Ikea on a Saturday morning with half of Sydney. It’s just not that fun. So retro daddy decided he’d get the rest of my birthday present (a 2nd expedit unit) on Friday night and put it up on Saturday morning. It was all going to plan until he opened the last box of the unit on Saturday morning to discover 2 broken shelves. Broken almost right through to the other side. Sooooo annoying.

So back to Ikea he went, waited for them to find another box, did a few things and came home 3 hours later with one new box of expedit shelves to finish the unit (it comes as 4 boxes). I then got stuck into it finding homes for my wool and knitting and craft books.

I got a few baskets to pop into the cubes and hide things in and they don’t come cheap at $25 each so retro daddy (always the accountant) started me off with 5 and I can pick some up later. They are great actually and I’ll get some more for other supplies.

The wool won’t be too safe displayed like this although it looks AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! But I’ll have to protect it in some tubs and plastic but will get onto that. Until then I can just admire it all.

And it’s nice to have all of my craft books in the one room as I’ve never been able to fit them all in one place. These are my baby and kids knitting books and I’m creating seperate shelves for sewing, quilting, japanese craft books, other knitting books, crochet and a general craft shelf. It’s like a library and craft room all rolled into one. But it is so nice to have a room all to myself

And the way I see it is I don’t drink (a couple of champagnes a year), I don’t smoke, I’m not a shoe, gadget or handbag person…..I’m a craft person and I use everything. So if I’m happy and retro daddy is happy then everyone is happy!

And before you tell me that it’s so neat and tidy and you can’t even get into your craft room or find anything….here is the keepin’ it real photo! There is still stash in the garage and upstairs kitchen that has to be sorted and a home found for it all. But we’re getting there

and yes……retro daddy is adding the wall brackets today so cheeky monkeys can’t climb up on these units. Elodie already worked out she can climb into one of the lower units and these are super heavy. So don’t worry,we’re onto it!

Filed Under: craft, crochet, cross stitch, debbie bliss, homes, my craft room, sewing, sewing machine, sewing room

my easy Macro Vegetarian recipes for you

March 8, 2013 By 4 Comments

These recipes are brought to you by Woolworths

Here are the delicious recipes included in this post here. These are so easy, healthy and delicious. They have been taste tested in our house and I know they’ll be enjoyed at your house

 

Eggplant and lentil ball wraps
 
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Super easy to make and would be perfect in lunchboxes
Recipe type: Vegetarian
Serves: 4
What you'll need
  • 1 pack Macro Vegetarian Eggplant and Lentil Balls
  • mountain bread
  • Macro Vegetarian Hummus
  • spinach or lettuce leaves
Instructions
  1. Heat up a few of the Eggplant and Lentil Balls in the microwave for at least 1 to 2 minutes.
  2. Lay out a piece of mountain bread and spread in hummus. Top with lettuce leaves and some grated carrot if you like, top with the heated Eggplant and Lentil balls.
  3. Top with some dollops of hummus or sweet chilli sauce if you like something a bit more spicy.
  4. Roll up and enjoy.
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tofu, tamari and almond stir fry
 
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This is a great way to learn how to cook tofu and makes for an easy and nutritious weeknight dinner
Recipe type: Vegetarian
Serves: 4
What you'll need
  • 1 packet Macro Vegetarian Hard tofu
  • 1 red onion
  • 1 red capsicum
  • 1 carrot
  • handful of snow peas
  • baby bok choy
  • tamari (or soy sauce)
  • tamari roasted almonds (optional)
Instructions
  1. Wash and slice all of your vegetables. Try to keep your carrot slices thin so they cook as quickly as the other vegies
  2. Remove the tofu from the packet and slice with a sharp knife down the centre then into slices.
  3. Heat a wok with oil and when hot place the red onion wedges in, cook and shake the wok a few times to move the onions around
  4. Add in the tofu and fry for a few minutes turning the pieces of tofu over so they are browned on both sides. The wok should be really sizzling and add some tamari/soy sauce in too.
  5. When the tofu is brown and the onions are cooked gently slide the tofu and onions onto a plate and set aside.
  6. Add another dash of oil to the frypan and add in the remaining vegies except for the bok choy. Shake the wok a few times and make sure the vegies are cooking and the wok is sizzling.
  7. Add in the bok choy and some tamari and keep cooking, moving the vegetables around quickly.
  8. When the vegies are cooked through (you don't want them soft but still have a bit of a crunch) then add in the onions and tofu, some more tamari/soy sauce and shake around in the wok.
  9. Divide amongst bowls, top with a few almonds in each bowl and enjoy.
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vegie bangers and mash
 
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Quick, easy and very popular with the kids
Recipe type: Vegetarian
Serves: 4
What you'll need
  • 1 packet of Macro Vegetarian Vegetable and Chickpea Sausages
  • 1 large sweet potato
  • Tbsp margerine/butter
  • ¼ cup milk
  • jar of caramelised onions
Instructions
  1. Peel and cube the sweet potato and place in a saucepan and cover with water.Bring to boil and cook for about 10-12 minutes until soft.
  2. Drain, mash and add margarine/butter, milk and season well. Set aside
  3. Prepare the sausages according to the pack. I like to heat some oil in a frypan (about a Tablespoon) and cook the sausages so they are crispy.
  4. Divide the sweet potato between plates, top with a sausage or two and the onion relish.
  5. Enjoy.
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vegie and avocado burgers
 
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Recipe type: Vegetarian
Serves: 4
What you'll need
  • 2 packets Macro Vegetarian Tomato, Onion & Basil burgers
  • 4 hamburger rolls
  • 1 avocado
  • 2 tomatoes
  • lettuce
  • tomato sauce
Instructions
  1. Heat the burgers according to the packet. For a super fast dinner I microwave them.
  2. Slice each bun in half, place slices of avocado and lettuce, top with burger, tomato and tomato sauce.
  3. Enjoy.
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Filed Under: recipe, vegan, vegetarian

how do I find time for anything?

March 6, 2013 By 51 Comments

Yesterday a lovely reader asked how do I find time for craft with 5 little ones because she struggles to find time with 2? One of the top questions I get asked is just how do I find time for anything! To look at me when I’m out and about I look flat out and one very busy mum pushing a pram and surrounded by kids! And I am. I am looking after 5 little people who always need something.  But once we’re home and everyone is fed, bathed and happy well it’s all very relaxed and I get some time to myself. 

Here is how we do things and I find time to do the things I want to do

routine

This is very obvious and whether you call it routine or the rhythm of your day, keeping things working to the same time helps everyone. I know when it’s going to be quiet and when I’ll get things done and I try to plan out the week with everyone’s activities and see where I’ll have a free night or weekend and when I can fit in a sewing session.

take your craft everywhere

I do craft in the car, on the playmat, the swimming pool, library, in bed and on the couch. If I am sitting then I am knitting or doing some craft.

I don’t do phone calls

the only people I speak to on the phone are my nana, grandma, mother in law and telemarketers (but I politely say to those telemarketers please don’t call me again and quickly hang up). And if people come to my door trying to sell me something I make sure a few kids come with me so I look too busy. Except the people who come to talk about God, I always tell them I’m catholic and have 5 beautiful children and want more. And I smile sweetly (and look all holy!).

I don’t have time for complicated people

Some people love to create drama because you didn’t call them or you didn’t do this or you’re too busy for them. Um hello, 5 small children. Once upon a time I would waste my time and energy worrying about them and what they thought of me. And then I stopped. Sometimes someone will say ‘how is so and so?’ and I’ll say ‘oh I don’t know I haven’t spoken to them in ages’. Move on and make time for the people who love and care for you and help you out. You’ll do the same for them and be surrounded by nice people. I’m convinced we’d all be happier if we did this.

Ask for the time      

Retro daddy loves to go for big long runs. It makes him happy and he always asks when is a good time to go for a run today. I tell him what we have on and he works it out. I also say to him heh I’d like to do some sewing today or organise the garage (ha, just kidding! just checking you’re still reading!) can you mind the little ones! It might sound silly but otherwise you’ve got to the end of the weekend and you haven’t had a moment to yourself.

turn off the computer….sometimes

Sometime last year I stopped turning on the computer in the mornings. I was in the habit of reading it while eating breakfast, answering emails, updating facebook. Now I don’t turn the computer on until about 9.30 when I’m home from school and preschool drop off. I make sure the dishes are done, a load of washing is in the machine or out on the line. Toys are out on the blanket for elodie and emerson, I make a coffee and I sit down and start to do a bit of work.

Also at night time there are some nights where instead of trawling pinterest or ravelry or facebook, I get out my knitting and my peppermint tea and turn off the computer. You really have to do it and you’ll be more productive if you do. Promise.You will survive and you won’t miss out on anything.

we eat dinner early

this might sound totally crazy to some people but depending on what activities we have on we will eat dinner (well the little ones and myself) anywhere from 4.30pm onwards. Then it’s straight in the bath. Now last night we had an activity and I let the little ones eat dinner and play outside till 7pm so obviously we don’t do it every night. But if I’m running solo then we try to do dinner and baths early then time to play, read a book and wind down and be in bed at 7.30pm. We used to do 8.30pm bedtime but with all the bedtime shenanigans it could be 9pm before I’d make it downstairs. It’s not perfect here but we’ve found the 7.30pm bedtime is working well here.

book into a class or join a group

when keira was little she would go to a daycare centre from 9-2 once a week and I learnt to sew. I did this for about 6 months before we moved and I got pregnant with twins but it was a way that I could learn something new, get a bit of time to myself while retro daddy was working overseas and also have something that was my own. Booking into something or having a time when you leave the house  to do something for yourself means you get that time to yourself. It’s not a bad thing. When you have very small children you are their carers 24/7 around the clock. You need a break and you deserve a break. Other things I love to do is have my craft days, go out to a class and do something that makes me happy.

And that’s that! I’m not a particularly organised person, my house is never spotless, I try to be on time to things and just try to keep everything going. But I always find a bit of time for myself.

Filed Under: craft, large families

some of my favourite fabrics

March 5, 2013 By 23 Comments

Well first of all I have to say thank you! Wow your comments just blew me away. Thank you. I really am fine and keeping busy and grateful for everything I do have. Thank youxxxx

yesterday afternoon I grabbed a bit of time for some sewing in my new craft room! I even made retro daddy stand next to me and admire all the fabric…….and instead of saying I cant believe how much you have/you really are a hoarder/I can’t believe I’m married to you/how much do you think you’ve spent on fabric. He gave me a side hug and said it was looking really good. Nice. I married a good man because ‘accepting your wife’s craft addiction’ was not one of our wedding vows.  

As I was finding a home for everything (please note that I’m still waiting for a 2nd unit so some cubes have a ‘keeping it real’ look about them), I got to find some of my favourite fabrics and thought I’d share a few. These are generally the ones I’m a bit precious about. First up is a bit of Liberty fabric. This stuff does not come cheap but is just beautiful. I like to use it for cute hair clips

Now an all time favourite fabric that I am extremely protective of is this dear ‘little red riding hood’ fabric by Cosmo Fabrics from about 2008 when I was pregnant with the twins. I don’t have much of it left (maybe about 30cm) but it’s so cute and I might put a bit into some little quilts for the girls.

and you can’t go past some cute eskimo kids which I also find hard to use. I need to get a bit less precious about these fabrics

another oldie (well 2008ish) but a goodie is this russian doll fabric. This is great for little purses, tissue holders and small things. I really love this one and have it in red too.

and I’ve got a bit of cath kidston in there which I picked up on eBay from someone’s destash. I often tell people to look on eBay especially if you’re looking for something that might be no longer available or a bit harder to find. And make sure you include international in your search as often it might be in the US.

The other place is etsy where you have a good chance of finding something too. Just put in the fabric name or a few keywords to describe it and see how you go. Whenever anyone asks me for a fabric I no longer sell that is all I do or google it but eBay and etsy are your best bet. Not that I’d want to help anyone’s fabric addiction or anything.  

This is a new one to the stash and just gorgeous from the Simple Life by Tasha Noel for Riley Blake.You can find the range here and the lovely lady has offered 15% off to my readers by entering Retro Mummy 15 in the checkout until 8th March! Go crazy.

 

Filed Under: fabric, fabrics, sewing, sewing machine

well I was pregnant and then I wasn’t

March 3, 2013 By 124 Comments

Kind of ironic that when my infertility post went live this week that I was actually pregnant. It’s been quite a weird past fortnight. I’d know the nausea that is morning sickness anywhere. And when I started to feel it while we were in manly I started to think about dates and wondering was I pregnant. But I couldn’t bring myself to do a test. I figured I’d just wait for a few more signs or my period to start.Then it was my birthday but I didn’t want to do a test on my birthday and then retro daddy went away for a night or two and there was no way I was buying a pregnancy test looking like I already had 50 million small children with me.

Anyway, I got some tests, did one and it came up pregnant straight away. Just as I expected. But it was still a shock. But I smiled. I knew I wasn’t done having babies and I knew we’d make it work. When you find out you’re pregnant it’s exciting and scary all rolled into one. You start thinking about when you’ll be due, what season will it be, what have you given away and what will you need. And you get excited about when you’ll get to tell people. Although I was also worried about how people would react.

I rang ahead to make sure my nice friendly dr was working the next day, did my blood test, made the appointment for an ultrasound and still kept smiling to myself at my little secret. I was wishing I’d done a test a few weeks earlier but just thought I’d got my dates all muddled up. I’m so busy I never really pay attention to dates. Because of my history with an ectopic I always have 2 blood tests a few days apart and an early ultrasound. I still felt really nauseous but I had a great day thinking about a new baby. I picked up the kids from school, put them all in the car and got this terrible feeling. Oh boy, I needed to make it home and fast. I wasn’t even going to make it back around to the drivers seat before I started to bleed. I knew straight away was happening.

Of course I had absolutely no pads in the house. Poor men, I’m sure they just love going to the shops to buy super strength pads for their wives or girlfriends. Just hanging out in the sanitary products aisle. Anyway, it’s fair to say that I’ll keep a good supply of them in the bathroom from now on. I think that my body is pretty amazing and efficient and after 2 nights hugging a hot water bottle, a few nurofen and feeling a little sad and sorry for myself the worst of it was over. But now after 4 days of it I’m just feeling physically drained and exhausted and wishing that it was all over.

I still feel a little sad but am grateful that it happened early on. I’ve also had moments where I’ve  thought that maybe I had done something wrong. What if I took my vitamins earlier or looked after myself better. But I know that these things are out of my control and everything happens for a reason. This is my 3rd early pregnancy loss and unfortunately it can be part of the process of having a family. I can’t imagine the pain that some people go through the further along they are or have miscarriage after miscarriage or when you have your first one.

And I should tell you that I wasn’t sure whether to write this post or not. Yes it’s a personal thing but it happens to women all the time and no one really talks about it. But I know that sharing it would help someone else and also show that I’m just a normal mum going through everything that goes on in life. The good and the bad.  And I do try to show it all here on the blog. 

p.s the baby would have been conceived on Australia Day – retro daddy probably would have tried to use that as an excuse to use the name Banjo!!! 

Filed Under: babies, baby

my craft room takes shape

March 3, 2013 By 26 Comments

Work is on go slow in other parts of the house. We are saving up to pay for the carpet (we are determined to pay cash for everything we do in this house and I’m learning patience and also the value of money) and retro daddy is soon to start doing a spot of painting around the place. But one space that I really want to get set up in the meantime is my craft room.

My vision is a place where I can sew, keep all of my stash, see and find everything easily, have my laptop set up for blogging, have the little ones play on the floor if I’m working, be able to lock myself away at night when little people are in bed and also have a few girls over for a spot of craft. The room is big enough.

Pinterest is always a huge source of inspiration (you can see my craft room board here) and I discovered that the Expedit unit from Ikea would be perfect. I don’t have the money to put built ins into the room but decided that 2 Expedit units (the largest ones here which cost A$299 each) would do an awesome job of holding everything. I’m normally a bit of a ‘shove the fabric where I can find a spot’ kind of person so this will test me.

I sent retro daddy to Ikea (he prefers to go alone as we usually lose each other plus he has more room in the car without us all) but he discovered that he only had room for 1 big unit in the car as it comes in 4 long boxes.

It was fairly easy to put together and he did it in an hour or so. I had a big glass of red wine, crackers and dip for him when he was finished and he’s now hurt his back and taking voltarin and hopes it goes away soon.I spent the next few hours bringing tubs downstairs and setting out the fabric. I’m going to have one unit for sewing supplies, fabric, patterns and sewing and quilting books. The other unit will be for my other crafts namely knitting and crochet.

I decided to put fat quarters and half metres folded up at the front of the cube with larger pieces of fabric folded up behind. I had colour coded most of the stash a few weeks earlier when I packed up the room for the floor guy and so glad I’d done it that way. Any fat quarter sets or fabric ranges that were altogether stayed together.

Now to set up my sewing machines. Oh and before you ask, no, this isn’t all of the fabric stash. There are still a few boxes and tubs in the garage and upstairs to sort through. The good news is I will be having a few destashes online this year. It’s all a bit out of control and I need to do a bit of clearing out. I’ve also now got 3 tubs of fabrics for our quilting day to make quilts for Dandelion and that is exciting to think about too.

Filed Under: craft, my craft room, quilt, quilting, sewing, sewing machine, sewing room

and I set up a ravelry group

March 3, 2013 By 1 Comment

One of my favourite online places to hang out is ravelry. In fact sometimes I start knitting or want to knit something and spend just a little too long on ravelry instead of knitting. Anyway I often get asked questions about kinas or a knitting question and I answer it and then it gets a bit lost in facebook or the blog.

So I’ve set up a ravelry group here where you can ask a question on a project, share what you’re knitting and we can keep track of it by having it all in the one place. It’s much easier to look back at the questions and answers. If you’ve got a question just post it as a new thread. It’s that easy. You can see what I’ve been knitting and become friends with other readers who are like minded crafty mums and grandmas. So come on over and join us.

Filed Under: knitting

what I knit with and how I care for it

February 26, 2013 By 17 Comments

I’ve been asked a couple of times recently what I knit with and how I wash my knitted things. Easy. Firstly almost everything I knit is made from 100% wool or cotton. I’m not a fan of knitting with acrylic as it doesn’t feel as nice as I’m knitting with it and there is just something about using natural materials that I like. But in saying that we have some gorgeous little knits that have lasted very well knitted by other people (hi Nana Shirley) that have been super easy to care for and lasted well and not been wool or cotton. So it’s up to you. I love everything my nana makes and she always picks up some great yarns when she is in Hawaii so it’s all personal choice.

Now when it comes to what brands I use. Well as you know I am a huuuuuuge fan of Bendigo Woollen Mills (and no they don’t sponsor me) and you can’t beat them for value. And if you’re ever in Bendigo (or the state of Victoria as I prefer to squeeze a visit in) then you really should go and visit the mills. Their back room is the best. THE BEST! I don’t know anyone who has come out of that room empty-handed. I love the place. Retro daddy does not love the place. He is probably doing the mental calculations of how I will find room for new purchases given the current size of ‘le stash’.

When it comes to knitting for babies and as gifts I love to use debbie bliss baby cashmerino and am also loving hand dyed yarns especially Little Plum Yarns at the moment and I also love malabrigo and madelinetosh. Baby knits don’t use much yarn so it’s always lovely to use something a bit more special and you can get more unique colours and just end up with something that really is a one off.

Now when it comes to washing my woollens I always used to be so precious and handwash everything. My nana tells me that my mum ALWAYS handwashed all the little knitted things made for us. Anyway now that I have 5 little ones and a never ending washing basket (I’m not exaggerating by the way!). Well, I found I never got to the handknits so for most of them I pop them in the machine on the woollens setting and they come out lovely.

I only put other woollens in with them and I lay them out flat on a clothes rack to dry. For my cotton knits I just chuck them in with the same colour and am a little less precious. I also prefer to put my Bendigo Cotton in the dryer as it tends to lose it’s shape easily and the dryer works a bit better.

Got a question just ask. Always happy to share the love. I’m also always happy to share baby photos. I like to squeeze one or two in there every now and then.

 this pattern is Jane by tiKKi (details on ravelry here) which I knit up in Debbie Bliss cotton dk. It’s beautiful and has kept it’s shape really well. Such a lovely pattern and I might need to make another one for Elodie as this one is getting a bit small now.

Filed Under: bendigo, bendigo woollen mills, knitting
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