Just recently I discovered the Sorbetto Top via the TAM discussion at Stitchers Guild.  I was impressed with the variations that had been made.  The top looks like it would be a very versatile garment for my wardrobe. I downloaded the top and stuck all the A4 sheets together.  The first thing that struck me was that I am not a size 18 the largest size this top goes up to - I did not measure to check.  So I looked in the collection and came up with a top from New Look 6920 

I love the jacket in this pattern but have yet to try it out.  I copied out a size 22.  Next I also copied out a top from a Burda Plus Magazine from Summer 2007  - although not exactly like the Sorbetto I thought I could alter it if it fit.

 

I discovered that the Sorbetto top was around the same size as these two so I made all three up in some ghastly polyester (I cannot wear polyester - I turn into a static light bulb!!)

Here are the results :-



New Look - too big under the arms but

the darts are nice (hard to see here)



Burda fits much nicer in the underarms
and has a closer fit compared to the New Look,
but needs a swayback alteration as shown in the next photo.

Finally the Sorbetto Top

Front

Back
I had some concerns about the fit of the Sorbetto - the armholes were a little loose and the shoulders had a tendency to fall off - I changed the slope of the shoulder seam and adjusted the armhole a little. 

I dived into the stash and found a beautiful silk crepe remnant from Donna Karan via the heavenly Global Fabrics which had been aging for an number of years and made it into this...

I had lots of fun with this fabric - not only did it have the normal vices of silk crepe but it was from the beginning of the roll and so was off grain which resulted in a scalloped hem which the photo does not really show well.  Here it is on me -

It looks ok - but I do not think the shape of the armhole is correct for my shape - it has a tendency to "flip out" so I had to fold the binding inside and stitch down - it still is not perfect but doesn't look too bad.  I am going to remake this pattern using a Burda top from Burda Style 2/2011 140.   Compared to the Sorbetto, Burda's armhole shaping is much more sloped rather than straight up and down.  So onto the next challenge!!  The good thing about this exercise is that I am now down 4 bits of fabric from the stash!!!



Jam jam jamming!

Great fun in the household - son #2 had a friend over and they grabbed the Apple and the guitars keyboard and spent the time creating - I have yet to hear what they ended up with - I went to bed with earplugs but they were very happy with themselves.  I am happy as with all the money we spend on music lessons its nice to see it alive and well.  I do not think #2 should give up his day job - the White Stripes he is not but he loves his guitar and jamming.

Jamming of another sort was today when I cleaned out the freezers and boiled up all the berries I have been saving for Three Berry Jam.  A favourite with #1 son always turns out well.  I made a large quantity - 2.5kg Strawberries, 2kg blackberries and 1kg raspberries, juice of 2 lemons and 5kg of sugar -  which takes a long time to boil to setting point.  I find that smaller quantities help preserve the wonderful flavour of fresh fruit but just wanted it over and done.  Three Berry Jam is a family favourite only topped by Raspberry Jam which has to be guarded.

It is very satisfying to enter the kitchen and see all the filled jars waiting to cool on the bench - I have plans to bake Louise cake with one jar of the jam from the Edmonds Cook Book.  This is my husbands favourite treat and he is returns from work on Friday.

Louise Cake


Ingredients
75 g butter
2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 1/4 cups Edmonds plain baking flour
1 teaspoon Edmonds baking powder
1/4 cup raspberry jam
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup coconut

Method
Cream butter and first measure of sugar until light and fluffy
Beat in egg yolks
Sift flour and baking powder together
Stir into creamed mixture
Press dough into a greased 20 x 30 cm sponge roll tin
Spread raspberry jam over the base
In a bowl beat egg whites until stiff but not dry
Mix in the second measure of sugar and coconut
Spread this meringue mixture over jam
Bake at 180°C for 30 minutes or until meringue is dry and lightly coloured
Cut into squares while still warm.

Makes about 24

Shirt a Month Club - Stitchers Guild

This year I have decided to become a more active participant in things I enjoy doing.  I am very involved in my children's rowing, as a committe member and camp mum but have let slide things for myself personally.  I love sewing but really spend little time for myself on this.  My space allocated for this shifts around the house depending on season and family activities.  My husband is finally converting his shed into more than a storage area and is spending time and money so he can finally work on his beloved motorbikes.  I have one bay in the shed but this has also become a storage area with the intention of walling the area off for a craft room and an upstairs teen room.  Money pressures have put these plans on hold but I need to stop waiting for the upgrade and just set up and SEW out here.

As a result of these thoughts I have joined the shirt a month club or SAM http://artisanssquare.com/sg/index.php/topic,16492.0.html.

 My first has been a shirt for my husband using the Simplicity pattern 4760 and some Kiwi themed quilting broadcloth we purchased last year.

Green is a family favourite for some reason and we both liked the pattern.  The pattern had a few glitches - I read the instructions wrong and cut off one of the bands so had to add it back on.  I decided to do it in the contrast colour and now wish I had done the same thing to the left side as well.  I have yet to add the buttons but now have them waiting in the wings.

I like the finished shirt and hopefully the husband likes it too.  At present he is working in Ethiopia but will return around the 20th of January.  I can not wait to see him again. 

Well thats enough for the moment off to complete the buttonholes and sew the buttons on.  I think it is a good start to the SAM and have quite a few more shirts on the design board.

Two years on - nek miunt 2012!

Once again I am trying to blog. Maybe I am more a reader than a writer, I keep up with lots of amazing blogs and feel a real connection with the writers as they share aspects of their lives.

Weather has been on my mind lately as we have had so much rain that in some areas of our beautiful country the hills have been sliding down. In my neck of the woods the rain has turn our picturesque valley into a garden paradise. Trees, shrubs and flowers look freshly minted like a enchanted forest. The vegetable garden is full and all the plants are flourishing. Unfortunately this also means the weeds are giving their best, but I console myself with the thought that they will help the next years crop as compost!

With all this rain the Christmas Plums have been slow to ripen and are full of juice and splits. I have given up trying to get jam to set from these fruit and have made Plum Butter. This is a wonderfully rich and lucious tasting spread but with less sugar than jam. It is wonderful on vanilla ice cream and a friend is going to use his pot as a base for his famous Hot Plum Salad (no he won't give me the recipe but has promised to cook it for me so I'll construct my version then). Next up in the kitchen is some Plum jelly as I think by adding lemon juice I might be able to get this to set. Plus we have plenty of Plum Jam left from last years crop.

Plum Butter

 

This recipe is very simple but time consuming.

Wash and sort plums - if they are large enough, cut up and take out pips. If not just put in pan. Quantity does not matter but the butter keeps its beautiful colour if made in smaller quantities (max 3-4 kgs). It is best to use a heavy base pan to stop the bottom catching.

Do not add any water other than what is clinging to the plums from washing - slowly sweat the plums to bring out their juice, once there is some juice at the bottom turn up the heat and bring to the boil mixing the plums up to cook them all. Stir frequently to stop the bottom plums catching and burning.

When they are all soft and pulpy either push through a sieve to separate stones and break up the skins or if no pips blend. Measure the sieved pulp and for every 2 cups of pulp add 1 cup of sugar. ( I prefer this lower amount of sugar but you can add up to 1 3/4 cups of sugar for every 2 cups of pulp).

Return the pulp and sugar to the pan and bring to the boil stirring until all the sugar has dissolved. Boil the mixture for another 15-20 minutes stirring regularily until the mixture is thick and gluepy ( the more pulp you have the longer this will take and can result in caramelisation of the sugars and changes in the taste.) To test if the butter is ready have some small dishes in the freezer - take one out and carefully drip a small quantity onto the plate. If it is ready it will cool to a thick gel and hold its shape. My children always seem to appear at this stage and love to be the taste testers.

Bottle into sterilised jars and cap with lids or covers.

To sterilise jars wash them and rinse, invert them but leave them with a film of water. Place jars in an oven set to 120C for 45 minutes. I place lids into a pot of water and bring to the boil for 10 minutes.

I store my preserves in a dark cupboard and have had no problems with spoilage following this method but if you are unsure you can keep this butter in the fridge. It is necessary to keep the butter in the fridge after opening as the sugar content is low.

Cows

Its been a bit of a day as they say starting with... a very loud pounding on the door at "sparrowfart". The neighbour came to tell us 89 and 90 had left the paddock and were playing chicken with the trucks on the road. Before I could blink 4 teenagers had gone from slumbering to running down the road - amazing what they will do for pets! We maneuvered the beasts into a new paddock and the teens returned to their slumbers. The 'boys' were very happy,not only some attention but a new paddock. These two have been hand reared by the children, and they love lots of attention and pats. 89 has a habit of coming up behind you and resting his head on your shoulder. If you do not pat him he puts more and more weight and pushes down - they both are bullies and 'Bobby' the next years calf had to be sent on 'vacation' to friends as they so terrorised him that he did not eat. A 'pansy' as my daughter calls him - it will be a different story when he (Bobby) comes home as he is now almost double the size of these boys! Whose the bully now?

After this energetic beginning the teens slowly got going and were happy to consume the extras from baking Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins to say thanks to the neighbours for their timely notice. As we discussed far better to have them steaks when we want than squashed on the road. Yes folks these two are destined for the table and very nice they will be - 90 is a Angus cross while 89 is a Frisian Steer (not so good meat wise but still ok) Both were destined for the bobby truck but given to the children when they wanted a calf each from a farmer friend. With the low bobby price this year ($2.00) we have been offered as many as we want. We now try to get white faces (Hereford cross) as they grow beef better than a dairy breed.

As we only have a small amount of land (2 acres and about 1 in gardens) we have to supplement feed and also graze the 'long acre'. Owning this much land requires a similar amount of equipment and time as 5 acres. We would love to upgrade to a larger block but money does not permit at present.

Talking about money we are now on week 2 1/2 with only limited money. So far so good - went to wonderful fruit and vege store and with pumpkins 1.99, watermelons 2.99 for large we have a good supply of veges combined with potatoes, lettuces, rocket, herbs, zucchini out of the garden we are doing ok. So baking bread and other treats. Today's recipe is those muffins

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (low fat version for my rowing athletes, but still very yummy)

2 cups flour

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup chocolate chips

1 egg

1/3 cup ricebran oil

2 bananas mashed

1 cup low fat milk

Mix dry and wet ingredients in separate bowls. Combine without over mixing and put into muffin tins (I use those silicone muffin cups inside a muffin tin - reusable and easy to get muffins out). Bake in a hot oven 190C until cooked approx 15mins.

No need to butter them just wonderful as they are cooled slightly.

Welcome to my world

I'm giving this blog thing another go. I have really enjoyed reading others blogs over the last few weeks. They have proved very inspirational as well as managing to divert me when I should be doing other things - a bit like cleaning the oven when you should be studying for that exam. Well that is what I used to do, at exam time I had the countries cleanest kitchen.

Life is proving a bit of a challenge lately, or perhaps I should correctly say it has been a challenge for 2009 and we as a family happily said good bye to 9 with hopes for 10 being a better year. Lets just say that on 1/1/10 it did not seem it could be worse. Well it can, never say never and for all those people that say the only way is up they are wrong! Down can keep coming. The primary income earner (PIE)was hit bad by the recession so we battened the hatches. Luckily I had work that ensured that we at least could eat. Things looked up and PIE went back to work overseas - but due to Xmas and his contracting company rep going out on her own means that now we wait for payment. 4 children and $100 for 4 weeks a real challenge. Can I just say that I am sick of challenges like this.


So what to do? Firstly I am donating $11 (in better times this would be my Lotto flutter)to Haiti as I am grateful for the ability to sleep in my house (even if the bank is circling) that all my children are safe and healthy. My thoughts go out to all those people who are struggling to make sense of this new tragedy in their life.

Secondly, I have taken up offers of relatives and friends and 2 of the children are going to stay for a few days while the older two are at Rowing camp for the week. So that means there is only me to feed - so porridge, homemade bread, salad vege from the garden and eggs for the week. So for those that might be interested here is my recipe for easy homemade bread.

JacquiAnnes Yummy rolls.
1 cup of boiling water
1 good tsp of honey/sugar/molasses
1 cup of cold water
1 tsp salt
Cool to luke warm and sprinkle 2 tsp of dried yeast granules
Leave to foam (about 15 minutes)

Add 3 cups of strong white flour and mix to a sloppy goop.
Leave to double - for a better flavour do this before you go to bed, cover and leave to rise and fall back over night.

Add 3-5 cups of strong flour
1 egg
1 tsp salt
125g butter melted or 1/2 cup of good quality oil (I like rice bran)
Mix and then knead until smooth and elastic. (usually about 15-20 minutes by hand, using a mixer can hurry the process a bit and save the wrists and arms! Bakers in days gone by had the most amazing biceps! due to all the kneading)
Oil a bowl lightly and rub dough around so it becomes coated then cover with gladwrap or a lightly floured teatowel (I can never get this to work so I use gladwrap but it isnt that good for the environment is it?)
Leave in a warm place to double (about 1-2 hours depending on room temperature).
when dough has risen punch it down and knead lightly.
Shape into rolls - I usually just cut the dough in half and half until I have 16 large rolls - for smaller dinner sized I cut them all into half again. Rolls are the best way to enjoy this bread -kids love shaping their own rolls.
Place on oven trays cover with floured tea towel or (as I do) the larger supermarket plastic bags one each end of tray so that they overlap in the middle. Make sure that they are loose over the shaped dough and not touching if possible. Preheat the oven 220C Leave rolls to rise until double - to test if they are ready to go into the oven gently push a finger into the top of a roll if the dent remains they are ready to bake. Take off the plastic bags before putting in the oven.

Bake for about 15 minutes until nicely browned and cooked.

You can glaze with beaten egg/milk or not as desired.

My children love these and although they can be a little timeconsuming it is a fun activity to do together, also when you only have limited resources what you do have is time (usually).

A nice variation which we have just tried is to add a pottle of plain lowfat yogurt at the egg and oil stage then leave the rolls to rise for about 20 minutes. Heat a BBQ grill roll out each roll thinly and brush with butter and place on grill. Brush top side with butter and turn after about 3-5 minutes. And Hey Presto Naan Bread off the BBQ. Really yummy!.