Little Makes of Late

Lately, I've been crafting little things. Embroidering small motifs on tiny cotton bags, stitching felt brooches that give new life to snippets of op-shop doilies, making drawstring project bags and sewing tea towels into tote bags.

A tote bag made from an op-shop tea towel.

(I 💗 the bold Australian flowers!)

While I've been forced to 'downsize' my crafty project plans, thanks to bursitis in my right shoulder, I am actually enjoying the quick results and satisfaction that simple, short projects can bring. Many of these little makes will be gifted come Christmas time. From my hands into another's ...

A drawstring project bag made with linen I covered in 'olive twigs'.
(Bag pattern from Melissa Wastney's book, "Sweet and Simple Handmade".

Tiny cotton bags with embroidered motifs.

(Motifs by Melissa Wastney & Charlotte Lyon.)

A little felt brooch became a gift for a very generous lady.

(Thank you, Maria, for your gorgeous linens!)

These little makes mean some bigger projects ...  a knitted shawl, a linen dress, a larger leafy applique and a few more besides ... are waiting idly for me to get back to them. Soon, I hope! 

What crafty projects, little or big, are you working on right now?

Meg

Tea Towel Drawstring Bag

A old and soft linen tea towel and a cross-stitched rosy doily, both costing just a few dollars each, have been re-purposed into a sweet little drawstring bag. 

A sweet bag made with re-purposed linens.

I had been wanting to sew a bag like this one ever since I came across Jude Van Heel's easy instructions in an issue of Grass Roots magazine (No. 244 Dec/Jan 2017/18). I found these beautiful linens quite a while ago and finally sewed them up in a project that took less than an hour to make. 💗

A vintage doily to decorate an old towel.

The colours in the rosy doily, the pinks and the browns and the greens, match in with the stripes of the tea towel so I think they go together quite well.  

Simple stitches sew the doily onto the tea towel.

Sewing the doily onto the tea towel was very easy. I used simple running stitches, sewing in and out of the little holes of the doily, all the way around until it was secure.  Then it was just a matter of sewing up one side and across the bottom of the folded tea towel to form the bag. A simple casing at the top, leaving room for a drawstring to run through it, and it was time for a ribbon. A lovely long blue satin ribbon, that came tied around a recent birthday gift, was perfect and so it was reused as the drawstring to finish off this sweet and simple project.

A satiny ribbon for a drawstring.

A tea towel drawstring bag like this could be used as a project bag, to hold a knitting or stitching project, or as an alternative to wrapping paper. Ours will be used to hold the gentle goat milk soaps we have collected to give to a special Grandma celebrating a birthday not far away.

What have you been making lately?

Meg

p.s.  You can visit Jude Van Heel, who lives in a sweet cottage in Tasmania, at Instagram:  @fairywrencottage

A Different Kind of Chocolate Cake

From a tin of red kidney beans, found floundering in the pantry and not quite out-of-date, came this scrumptious chocolate cake. Gluten free, moist, dark and chocolaty! The red kidney beans replace the flour one would normally incorporate into a cake batter. After it's been baked though, you'd never know!

Different but soooo good!

The recipe for this different kind of chocolate cake was developed by Sarah Wong over at Clever Cook.  I'm not sure what inspired her to make chocolate cake with red kidney beans ... perhaps she had a tin of these beans that needed using up too! She calls her creation the Magic Bean Cake. I think that's an apt description of the alchemy that happens while this cake bakes.  There's no trace of those kidney beans (and believe me, my son would soon uncover them if they were there).  

While her recipe is written for the Thermomix, it would be very easy to make this cake with a food processor. The red kidney beans just need to be whizzed up well with water, egg and vanilla until smooth. The butter and sugar can be creamed with a simple hand mixer or by hand. And a bowl and wooden spoon would work just as well for mixing in the dry ingredients.  Add a luscious icing, like this easy and velvety Chocolate Fudge Icing, and you have a cake worthy of doing birthday cake honours!

Adding the finishing touches!

(With candles it was even more special!)

I hope there's a piece of cake waiting for you somewhere in your weekend. I'd share a slice of this one with you but the only evidence left by birthday boy and his friends were their smiles ... and a few crumbs!

Meg

Strawberries and Roses Bag

In quieter moments last week, I made a special gift for a lovely girl having a birthday.  A re-usable calico bag, a pretty vintage doily, some soft lace and a fabric printed with little red strawberries sewed up into this  sweet project bag:

A little love heart button. 💗

 Cross-stitch roses.

Sweet strawberries.

A pink ribbon for a drawstring.

The crafting book & a little bundle of supplies to put inside.

I made this bag in the same way I have made others using the calico bags I sometimes buy my flours in. It's a very simple way to re-purpose a bag. It can then be reused over and over again as a project bag that holds a little craft or knitting project OR it can be passed on many times over as a gift bag.

Inside this particular bag, we put a wonderful craft book with many project ideas very suitable for a young girl learning embroidery and a little bundle of craft supplies to get her started. I can't wait to see what she makes! I hope too that her special bag will hold many craft projects over the years to come.

Meg

Flower Pot Hearts

Pretty beads and some thin, flexible wire is all you need to make whimsical flower pot hearts. (A pair of pliers comes in handy too!)

A flower pot heart ... in a flower pot!

I came across this tutorial, for Whimsical Floral Sticks, when searching for something my son could make for his Grandmothers for Mothers' Day with materials we already had here at home. 

The pretty beads we used for our flower pot hearts.

We made our flower pot hearts with beads, rescued from broken bracelets and last Christmas' fancy bonbon ties, and some wire from hubby's stash. (Pliers came in handy for cutting and twisting the wire.) This is the result of our crafting:

Two pretty flower pot hearts. 

This is a very simple idea that is easy for a child to make with minimal help. They make a sweet little gift and add a touch of extra love to a potted flower or herb. 

Meg

A Simple Birthday Tradition

My husband loves cheesecake and each year, on his birthday, I make him some version of his favourite dessert. This year, it was cheesecake slice.

Strawberries, cream and one candle...instead of 44!

Donna Hay's recipe for this slice can be found here:

https://www.donnahay.com.au/recipes/sweets/slices/passionfruit-cheesecake-slice

Her recipe was easy to follow and the slice was creamy and moist, not too dry like some of the other baked cheesecakes I've attempted before. I reduced the sugar content and only used 1/3 cup of raw sugar instead of the 1/2 cup of caster sugar in the original recipe. I just blitzed the raw sugar in my Thermomix before blending with the cheeses. Instead of folding passionfruit pulp through the cheese mixture before baking, I simply topped the slice with strawberries from our garden and fresh cream before serving. 

A very simple recipe for continuing a special birthday tradition. There were leftovers too for prolonged indulgence!