.A New Afterglow.

More AQM sewing sharing today.  Have you tried an Afterglow dress yet?

If you are unfamiliar with Afterglow, it is a carefree little dress which can be worn as either a nightie or an everyday dress.  Also VERY easy and quick to sew!  Did you know that Afterglow is my second highest girl's sewing pattern?  (After Uptown Girl, of course!)

The problem with asking Lil to model my samples is that she decides they belong to her and will not take them off.  This one made it to the dinner table and managed to get smeared with avocado!  Thankfully with a bit of stain remover it all washed off okay!

So I am officially all ready for Quilt Market...now to start on the Christmas present sewing!
I'll be sharing two new patterns this week as well as my first book review, so stay tuned :)

SUPPLIES
Make It Perfect, Afterglow pattern
Erin McMorris, Summersault, Pinwheels in Blush

.Homemade KFC.

This recipe is seriously good!  

I should start off by making it clear that I didn't make it up myself.  I came across it on Pinterest (proof that I don't just pin...sometimes I make stuff I pin too!), and the original recipe comes from Our Life Uncommon.

We've eaten it two times in the last two weeks and it gets the big thumbs up from all 5 members of the family.  Aussie readers might find this version of the recipe easier as I've clarified things in our measurements.

Should also note that the kind of butter/margarine you use will make a difference in the end result - I used salted butter the first time and the whole dish was really salty, so next time I used unsalted butter and left the salt out of the coating, but it could have done with a little more salt.  So, if you are using salted butter, leave salt out of the coating...unsalted butter, add salt to the coating - got it?!

Anyways, we don't eat takeaways very often, but I think everyone loves themselves a bit of good old KFC chicken.  I always feel gross after it though, this chicken tastes just as good - and even better knowing that you are using lean chicken breast with no skin and no gristly bones to battle with either.

I've rambled long enough...let's get onto the recipe!  And if you don't have plans for dinner over the weekend, give it a try - it is sooo quick and easy and I can guarantee there will be no leftovers!

 

HOMEMADE KFC

500g chicken tenderloins or chicken breast
milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs season all
3/4 tsp pepper
1 cup plain flour
2 tsp paprika
70g butter

Take 500g of chicken tenderloins or chicken breast.  If you are using chicken breast, cut up into strips or chunks.  Place in a bowl and cover with milk.  Leave to soak for at least half an hour.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.  
Place butter in shallow baking dish and put in oven to melt. 

While butter is melting take plain flour, pepper, season-all, paprika and salt (if using)...

...and pop it into a big snap-lock bag.  Seal and toss to combine.

Remove chicken from milk and add to seasoning in snap-lock bag.  Seal and shake to coat.  I use my hands to gently squish everything around and make sure that all of the chicken is well coated. 

Remove tray from oven.  Tilt tray to make sure that butter is evenly distributed over the base.
Place coated chicken strips in a single layer onto the tray.
Put tray in oven and bake for 10 minutes.  Turn chicken and cook for another 10 minutes or until cooked through.

And there you have it!  We like to have ours on some flat bread with heaps of salad...delish!

.A New Bloom.

I always like to re-make a few of my samples for each market I attend to freshen things up a bit...I'm sure that no one else really notices, but I like having new stuff around!

It's been a looong time since I last made a Bloom tunic and shorts set and thought it would be nice to update this sample.

 I still can't get enough of Umbrella Prints new quilting cotton weight range and thought it would make a cool Bloom set.

 

These colours are so lovely and fresh together.  Not your usual aqua/red combo - this combination is modern and spunky.

I'm thinking Lil might need some new shorts for summer after seeing how cute these look on her.  And can you believe she doesn't have a pair of shorts that fit her?  Time to get sewing Mum!

This was a fun, quick sew.  I got the shorts and the tunic cut out and sewn in one evening - that's my kind of sewing project!

And because I've updated this sample, I have a couple of older Bloom samples for sale in my MIP Samples Sale album on Facebook....and hurry, because everything is 20% off - but only until 7:30pm tonight!  Might be a quick and easy way to get some of your Christmas shopping ticked off!


SUPPLIES:
Make It Perfect, Bloom pattern
Umbrella Prints, Floating Flowers
Umbrella Prints, Raindrops

 

.Things I'm Crushing...Salted Caramel.

Ever since having a salted caramel macaron at the Lindt Cafe in Melbourne last year I haven't been able to get the flavour out of my head.  Before tasting the combination of caramel and salt, I would have thought it to be quite gross but it is actually delightful.

Pinterest, being full of all sorts of wonderfully tempting photographs has opened my eyes to a whole assortment of recipes of the salted caramel kind.  I am desperate to dive in and start cooking up some delicious sweet treats but will refrain until I've finished this flamin' diet I'm on!  (I'm 3/4 of the way there and I'm desperate to get to my goal weight before we head off to NZ!)

So, while I can't cook any of these at the moment, I'm pinning them so that I can find them easily when baking time strikes next!

Salted Caramels (these would make a great Christmas gift)

Caramel & Sea Salt topped Shortbread

Salted Caramel Frosting

Salted Caramel Cookies

Salted Caramel Sauce

Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Vanilla, Salted Caramel & Chocolate Mousse

Salted Caramel Corn

Salted Caramel Shortbread

Salted Caramel Yummies

Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Is your mouth watering?  If you do try any of these recipes, please have an extra piece for me!  I'll let you know when I'm baking again :) 

(To find recipes, click on link underneath picture, it will take you to the pinned image on my Too Cook Pinterest board.  Then click on the image and you will land at the recipe.)

.Family News.

I'm starting to feel as though we are racing against the clock at the moment.  We have a few big events coming up over the next few months and I feel like I don't have a lot of time to do all of the things that I want to!  

Australian Quilt Market is two weeks away.  Thankfully I'm feeling prepared for that, I have two new patterns ready to release which I'm sure will come in very handy for you this Summer.  While I'm in Melbourne for AQM, I am throwing a Bridal Shower for my beautiful sister-in-law who lives in Melbourne.  We only decided to do it about a week ago so I need to get myself organised with games, entertainment and food for that and hope that her friends (whom I have never met!) don't think I'm a total loser!!!  It's much easier planning a shower when you know most of the people who are going to be there!

Two weeks after I get home from AQM we are all flying off to New Zealand to spend the festive season with my in-laws.  We are all soooo excited (especially the kids!)...I haven't been to NZ since I was a little girl and Jaron was born in NZ and most of his family live there still so we will have a lot of catching up to do with family members and visiting places which are special to him.  We were planning on staying in NZ for 2 weeks, then my sister-in-law and her fiance announced their wedding to be held in January in Melbourne so decided to stay in NZ for a bit longer and stop in Melbourne on the way home for the wedding.  So we will be away for 4 weeks...I'm sure we will be busy little beavers the whole time but I'm already preparing myself with things to do in case I start to get itchy feet from sitting still for so long!  Today I made a Countdown to New Zealand poster for the kids to cross off every day...

And we finally got our passports lodged and are waiting for them to be returned to us now - tell me, why do passport photos have to be so unflattering?!! 

In other family news...Oscar very cleverly finished his massive Lego Technic that we got him for his birthday today - he got half way through and realised that he had made a mistake, so put it away for a couple of weeks.  This week he started from scratch and finished it in "one night and two days"!

Today we finally had a lovely, sunny Saturday.  Warm days have been few and far between around here lately...mixed with a LOT of rain.  We ventured out to a strawberry farm at lunch time and did some picking (and a bit of eating) then headed off to the beach for a play this afternoon.

Oscar practicing his Milo Cricket bowling skills...

 

 

Lil decided that she might go for a quick dip...and changed her mind when she dipped her toes in the freezing cold water!!

 

 

Tommy started to occasionally string two words together this week!  Alleluia!  He is 2 1/2 now and still not speaking well at all.  Funny how we can totally understand everything he is saying (or trying to say) though as we are so accustomed to his way of communicating - need to make a more conscious effort to help him along though.  He still seems like such a baby to us and just doesn't feel like we should be celebrating his third birthday in 6 short months!

 

And that is where we are standing at the moment!  I'm not even going to apologise for my boring blog of late... I'm sure it will pick up again soon though!

.Book Shelf.

Sewing books.  Do you have many?

As you can see, my sewing book shelf is well endowed.  (I have more tucked away in other places around the house too!)  My collection of sewing books grew considerably when I started to write my own book.  I needed to do some research and work out what I liked/didn't like in a sewing book and see how others went about their books.  So books started steadily streaming into the sewing room and, as with all of my "sewing collections" I can't stop adding to it!!!

Previous to doing my book research, I was always a little apprehensive to purchase a sewing book without having a good look inside though.  I had made some not so good purchases and forked out money for a book I thought was going to be lovely and full of lots of great things to make, only to be disappointed when it arrived when I realised that the only decent project in the book was the one featured on the front cover!! 

With little ones in tow, I do most of my book shopping online...I don't have as much time as I would like to stand in the aisles of a bookstore flicking through pages - usually I've got children in hand or under careful, watchful eye making sure they don't escape/destroy anything or make a spectacle of us all!!! 

Inspired by one of my Facebook followers I'm going to start a regular (but not committing to weekly!) "BOOK SHELF" feature on the blog - each Book Shelf post will give you a detailed look into a sewing book from my ever growing collection with lots of information about the kinds of projects the book holds and a little review on the book to help you make purchases that you will be happy with!

Coolies?  I'll be back later in the week with my first review!  In the meantime...if you've got a book that you are particularly interested in (whether in my photographs here or not) let me know and I'll pop those ones at the beginning of the list :)

.A+ in Echino.

A few months ago, when I was preparing for the Sydney and Melbourne Craft & Quilt Fairs I needed a few new skirts to wear (really, I did - the 15+ Make It Perfect skirts hanging in my cupboard were not enough!!).  Nothing helps you feel prepared for an event more than a new outfit to wear, right?!

Echino was my fabric of choice.  I hadn't sewn any clothing with Echino previously (shame, I know!) but had seen a lot of other people make lovely skirts/tunics out of it and was inspired.
So three new skirts were sewn!  If you haven't sewn an A+ Skirt before, I'll let you in on a little secret...they are really FAST!  And all you need is to choose a fabric you love - whether you want to make a statement or use something a little more subtle - and you've got yourself a one-of-a-kind skirt to prance around in :)

I wasn't completely won over with this jungle scene fabric when I first made it, but after a bit of wear it has turned out to be one of my favourite skirts ever.

I decided to break up the business of the patchwork of the green one with a contrasting band around the top - well, maybe that makes it look a little more busy?  Whatever, I'm still happy!

Echino fabrics are just gorgeous to wear, they are made from a blend of 55% linen/45% cotton so have a slightly heavier weight to them than regular quilting cottons.  Because of this, they drape beautifully and wash really well...coming out soft and slightly creased rather than a crinkled mess that needs fighting with the iron!

You may have noticed on my website that A+ Skirts has had a little makeover...it was very handy to get in touch with the "public" at the Melbourne and Sydney Craft & Quilt Fairs and see how different patterns were received and we came to the conclusion that the previous A+ Skirt cover photo wasn't doing it justice.

My cute little sister modeled for me and brother-in-law took the pics.  The one above is the new cover photo (also in Echino fabric).

 

So there you have it!  If you're looking for some satisfying summer sewing, have a go at A+ Skirts!

SUPPLIES:
Make It Perfect sewing pattern - A+ Skirts
Echino, Quiet Ground in Green
Echino, Story Patchwork in Blue/Green
Echino, Bonbon in Green
Echino, Woodland in Natural/Black