made my first insulated bag

finally, i made my first insulated bag!

i was making a lunch bag for my hubby a couple of weeks a go, post the finished product at my facebook page, and a friend commented that it would be better if the lunch bag is insulated. well, my hubby workplace has microwaves and he can reheat his lunch meal anytime so i did not see the urge to make insulated bag. but then, summer is aproaching, and it means picnic picnic picnic or strolling strolling strolling and we'll be need cold/chilled drink.. and i determine to try make insulated bottle bag/carrier to fit 1,5 ltr bottle.

i bought outdoor furnishing fabric (from remnant basket), insulate batting with foil, color coordinating nylon strap and set of buckle. i sketch the bottle carrier and figure how to sew it as i go step by step.. it's hard to sew on hard/thick fabric like this, especially on the bottom binding. this is a succeed (yesterday) naptime project, i did this while i cooked rendang. a bit in a hurry, but in the end, i am very happy with the result eventough the insulate system has not proven yet.

my hand aching to make another one!!

my fave rendang recipe

here's my favourite rendang recipe.. it's such a lovely dish, a labour of love's product :D the meat will be so tender, some still intact in pieces, some will shred from repeatedly stirring in the pot. my mom made rendang with pressure cooker, sometimes she add small red beans, and tiny potatoes. some people prefer the rendang has thick oily sauce, some prefer dry rendang. i love rendang with a bit of sauce, but hubby loves dry rendang, there's no compromise here.. today i cook rendang and nasi uduk (rice cooked in coconut milk+bay leaves+chopped galangal+bruised lemongrass+salt). no veggies to cooked today but i promise i'll put steamed carrots and broccoli on our plates :D

preparation and cooking time 3-4 hours

ingredients :

2 kg lean beef, cut 3X3X2cm

3 stalks of lemongrass stics, washed, bruised with mortar

2 pcs turmeric leaves (if you can’t find this, omit it from the recipe)

5 pcs lime leaves

4 pcs bay leaves

1 tsp tamarind paste, dilute with 2 tbsp water

500 ml mixture of 100ml thick coconut milk+400ml water (or beefstock)

500 ml mixture of 400ml thick coconut milk+100ml water (of beefstock)

3 tsb grated palm sugar

salt to taste (saltiness of each brand is vary, sometimes i put 3 tsp)

100g desiccated coconut toasted in a wok until golden brown (optional)

grind :

20 red chillies

fresh ginger as big as your thumb

fresh/frozen galangal as big as your thumb

15 shallots/brown onion

6 large garlic cloves

5 candle nuts

1 tsp pepper

method:

- in a pot, heat a little bit of oil (3-4 tbsp of vegetable oil or olive oil) saute the ground ingredients, lemongrass, turmeric leaves, bay leaves and lime leaves until fragrant. pour 500ml mixture of coconut milk, add tamarind and salt, set on low to medium heat, bring to boil for a couple of minutes and the milk thickens and becomes oily.

- add beef, desiccated coconut and palm sugar, cook until the meat becomes tender. stir occasionally in low/medium heat, beware of the bubbly sauce. add the thick coconut milk and salt that suit your taste, cook in low heat and stir occasionally until the sauce reduced and the color turns brown.

note :

- it's best if you use high pot (because in this cooking proccess, the boiling coconut milk tends to bubbles and splatered everywhere and messed the stove, you or whoever the stirrer and sometimes the kitchen floor) and preferably pot with thick base so the meat wont get burnt easily just in case you forgot to stir.

- my friend makes rendang with slow cooker, she said it turns OK without the fuss of stiring occasionaly, now i got the urge to buy a slow cooker too!!!

happy 22 month, kiddo!!

noelle turn 22 month today.. trouble two is approaching!!! her personality shown day by day, she's an outgoing person, loves to dance, talk to stranger, loves to "help" mama, and she made me smile by just looking at her. i love you, kiddo!

here's what i made for her today, another pillowcase top and puffy pants. she's a tomboy girl (everyone can see that) and this combo is just perfect for a tomboy girl! i love the top because it's so carefree and easy to put on her despite her big head (and easy to make too); and the puffy pants is perfect because she loves to sit on the floor with split style, or squat to admire something in the grass, or messing with the dirt.

red and white polkadot crepe (remnant basket, $0.60), cotton irregular red spots on white fresh from the bolt, cotton red and white stripes for the waistband (remnant basket ($0.30)

spotty wot!!

citrusy attack!

what's not to love?

especially when you get these darling fabrics from remnants basket for less than a dollar, and you have a tot to dress in this, and turns out you still got scraps left for other projects?

me - loves - this - !

happy birthday, hubby!!

the birthday boy (who never like to pose)

my husband turned 33 today, but in my eye, he is still the same person i met in year 3.. yes, that's the downside of being a childhood sweetheart couple, too much memories from the past :D he's still the smart guy, a bit shy in new surroundings, easy going, caring, willing to work hard for his family, and he keeps me smiling in Hi and Lo..

no big celebration, and since our Touareg still in the service shop, we got to go everywhere with public transport (buses and trains), and we planned to go to Subiaco to have lunch at Wagamama and treats at San Churro Chocolateria, and a bit of shopping in the famous shopping strip. I got teriyaki chicken complimented with japs style rice and western style salad, hubby got beef teriyaki steak on stirfry soba. We shared calamari and edamame, turns out noelle loves edamame!!! i guess, because it tastes sweet :)

and the lunch make us feeling full, even after strolling from one shop to another, we still didnt feel for a treat and suspend the san churro treat for some other time.

chopstick (pretend) master

naptime sewing

noelle doesn't like to nap, while i want to sew when she nap. but in the end, i managed to sew something for her in the past two days.

refashion from my old mooks tee, i need to make a matching diaper cover/bloomers because this as a dress was a tad short..

sakura pants with waist tie, cost 0.60 because the fabric from remnant basket. elastic was my saviour of the day because i made a tad long pants and she almost tripped on it, so i fold the hem and insert elastic and it become a puffy pants, a bit harem pants isn't it?

refashion from my old ripcurl tee to toddler maxi dress. i love this tee because of the birds so colourful, so summery. but since it's a bit thin i dont like to wear it anymore. binding and tie from scraps, the nautical red white armpit binding from my FCUK daydress leftover.

mini alterations

wow, this blog change from my blah blah blog to sewing blog.. mmm i should back in writing my blah blah then..

finished yesterday afternoon, alteration for my FCUK jersey dress. it was a 3/4 sleeves boatneck dress, and i love the style but it look bad in my body because i got this swimmer shoulder, broad and flat (not steep) so the boat neck kinda fighting to stay in the boatneck shape and tend to scoop make it a bowl shape, and it look worse when i bow because everybody can see my boobies then. :( this image i stole from FCUK site, mine was exactly the same but it's red. purchased last year worn about once or twice and i almost forget about it because i shoved it deep in the drawer. but it's spring, and i love nautical vibe from the stripey dress, so i dont want it sit in the drawer again, and finaly i did something to fix it.

i just cut the upper body to make a raglan bodice, and add the sleeve from other old shirt and to make the sleeves had the same vibe with the bodice, i just sew binding (i made from the sleeves) as well as for the neck. i heart my "new" dress.. throw in my white birkis, slouch bag, wide hat and sunnies, i am going to the beach..

attack of the skirts

i've just realize that making toddler skirt with elastic is the easiest sewing ever. no brainer!! just rectangle, sewing casing for the elastic, thread the elastic in the casing, sewing shut the casing and you're done.

i was making 3 skirts, so i had 3 elastic, the bottom part of old tee/tank top (one is pink with butterflies and the other is stripey blue) and 57cmx57cm bandana (plus coordinate fabric to make the elastic casing). then, sew! it took only 20 minutes to make three skirts, i made them after dinner and noelle can't stop twirling when she tried them on.. silly!

I save the legging..

Been doing nothing much these days as I've been to busy with my usual chores, but I managed to save this legging from being thrown away.. It's from Mothercare, size 3T, color : salmon, bought in June, sooo it's still considered new. Noelle wore it almost everyweek, and we brought it on our vacation in Goldcoast early Sept 2010 because it's hot during the day and cold at night. Then, the disaster happened.

The accomodation we chose was apartment with one king bed (for me and noelle) and one sofabed (for hubby). After he set his bed, I immediately told him to cover the metal base with bedcover because I spy some sharps edges and springs underneath the mattress. But hey, my hubby is world's NUMBER ONE PROCRASTINATOR and mostly it took about one hour or two before he did whatever I asked (if I was lucky) or he fell asleep/completely forgot and not doing what I asked at all.

So, he kept watching the TV while lying on his sofabed, and my girl climb down from our bed and joining her father and then it happened. I saw a small tear and thread pull in her legging, left tigh to be precise, and it happened because she climb up the sofa bed, and then I got upset. Not because of the clothing got ruined, but because IT happened. Things that I already anticipated, but still happened because of PROCRASTINATING.

And to make things more interesting, my 21mth old find a way to amuse herself during the car trip (still on the vacation) i.e : poking the small tear with her finger and make it even bigger. DOH! I saw the tear become a big hole when I took her out from the car. It was huuuuge! And I give my husband the nastiest glare my eyes could make, which screamed "It's all because of you!!"

So, we got back home, but the legging never seen the day until I took it out from the drawer. I sigh deeply, and took it to sewing room and decided that I could do something to save this legging. A small patch to cover the hole so my baby can not poke into it again and making a pocket out of it. There you go, star applique (from scraps of rainbow tee and rainbow skirt) to save the legging. Hopefully it will survive till the next winter.

sailor dress

my first attempt of making a sailor dress, pretty rough i think.. this dress just got out from the dryer

so it added the roughness and i dont feel like ironing the dress or anything at the moment :D

as usual, i made my toddler dresses without pattern, i just sketch roughly in a paper and transfer to the fabric with a chalk. i tried to make a v-neck but that means a serious cleavage showing (for a little girl thats means business).. and i put a V cover but since it's a scrap fabric, it pulls the left and right sides :(.. not to mention my original sketch of sailor cape in the back was not happening because i have no leftover.. huhuhuhu.... no pat in the back but i said to my self, "better luck next time"