Stoffen Spektakel loot!!

Just back from the Stoffen Spektakel, and I had a pretty good time :-)

I have to say, I expected lots of colorful silly prints (not quite my cup of tea, I'm more of a neutral-and-metallics kinda gal), but I did see lots of fabrics I actually liked!

Unfortunately, my first "Ooh, this is nice!" moment involved a 50e/m, pure silk, "original Chanel" roll... but I was good and walked away! I guess a taste for beautiful stuff is not always a good thing :-D

I kept reminding myself that I can't make much yet, so there's little point in buying all those nice fabrics and having them gather dust in a corner for months, or mess them up trying my luck... Although lots of them I would have loved to have as skirts!

I did find some nice things that fitted what I had in mind though, so here's my loot:

- The fabric with the wine labels is for my tablecloth (I was originally looking for something stripy in sunny yellow and white, but I didn't find it, and this really caught my attention!) I do love food and drinks after all;-)
- The tartan is for my couch's pillows (I've been obsessing over tartan for a week or two, and this is one thing I might hopefully be able to make soon).
- The cream waterproof fabric is to replace the old ugly blue striped shower curtain on my bathroom window.
- The grey pinstripe is for a future pencil skirt (the only "future skirt" fabric I allowed myself, as it was really cheap, and got a nice slightly shiny finish - and I'm a sucker for grey and pinstripes :-D ).
- The black pearl detail buttons are to replace some very blah grey buttons on my grey cardigan.
- The wine colored ribbons (bias tape) are for the tablecloth too, the small orange one to practice finishing.
- The rest are "tools of the trade" I guess: new seam ripper (a solid looking one this time!), thread to hold stuff together before sewing, bracket for angles, etc.

Pheeew! So much better...

Had my 3rd class yesterday night (well 2nd "actual" class as the 1st class was more of a meet & greet).
I was fairly nervous as last week's class was a bit of a disaster for me, but fortunately this one went a lot better :-)

The top thread automagically picking up the bottom thread thing actually worked this time (it was a nice change after many frustratingly unsuccessful attempts last week).
And I can sew parallel lines no problem, straight, or following curves or angles :-) Yaaay :-)

I almost caught up on the class I missed last wednesday (working with bias tape: sewing a ribbon with folds over the edge of fabric as a finish). I got the explanation and started doing the wide ribbon. I'll try and finish it tonight.
If that goes well, I need to find a narrow folded ribbon and try with that (more difficult as you got to be more precise).

Then the next step is another type of ribbon finishing over the fabric (need to get details for that one next week).

Now I'm seriously considering taking a half-day off to go to the Stoffen Spektakel on Friday...

I get a sewing machine... Destruction ensues...

Just out of my 2nd class... I should have brought my sewing machine but I thought it was still going to be theory for now (too many years in academia will do that to you...). Anyway, I used one of the machines from the school instead... Didn't quite go as smoothly as I would have liked!
Spent ages trying to get the bottom thread to meet the top thread for it to actually do something... And what it mostly did was knots... Big, huge, very stuck knots!! So I tried to cut the knots... And broke my mini scissors... Then tried to undo them with a seam ripper... And broke my seam ripper. After quite some fighting, I finally managed to get rid of them using scissors and a needle. Then I got some more knots... And more knots... Until finally the machine's needle got bent and was unusable.
I did manage to sew some straight lines when the teacher did all the thread prep for me, but when the thread ran out and I had to change it I made more knotty messes... I think I may have bent a 2nd machine needle too :S

So result: 3 or 4 straight lines, for a pair of scissors, a seam ripper and 2 machine needles totalled !!! Lock up your sewing machines when I'm around !!!

Anyway, the teacher said not too worry, it will come, I just have to keep at it... I'll try with my own machine at home, hopefully it'll be easier (and less destructive:) ).

2nd sewing class + busy week

So the first class went well... Didn't quite get everything, but most of it... Have to make a list of vocabulary now I guess: Dutch sewing terms and what they mean in English/French! Second class tomorrow night, and I've got most of my supplies already :) I was very efficient this week-end:) I shopped and packed for the sewing class tomorrow, the dinner party on Wednesday and the dress-up party on Friday (quite a busy week!). Good thing I have tonight and Thursday to chill :)

First class tomorrow!!!

1st sewing class, I'm excited but also pretty nervous!!! About how much I'll be able to follow in Dutch, about the schedule (18:30 to 22:00, so 3 1/2 hrs, after a full day's work, and every second week, that 2 days in a row... I'm gonna be knackered!!!), and about already missing a class next week (co-hosting a dinner that could only happen that day... for 12 people! But that'll be another post).

I hope the class atmosphere is gonna be nice!!!

Mini Bruschettas

Here's what I'm making tonight (well it should be "bruschette" to be correct Italian but hey...).

Ingredients for 6 small bruschettas:
200g "passata" (tomato puree)
125 g mozzarella, sliced
6 slices of bread (I used medium slices of brown bread, but you can use anything)
A small tin of anchovies
Black olives, pitted
Olive oil
Herbes de Provence
Salt and pepper

Preparation:
1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees.
2. Toast the slices of bread (to prevent them from getting too soggy from the tomato sauce).
3. Make the tomato sauce: in a bowl, mix the passata with olive oil, the herbes de Provence, pepper and salt.
Use about 2 or 3 times the amount of olive oil and herbs you think you need (it will give a nice taste).
4. Place the toasted bread slices in an oven proof tray and spoon the tomato sauce generously over them.
5. Garnish with an anchovy or 2 (depending on the size of the bread slice and your taste for anchovies), a slice of mozzarella and some black olives.
6. Cook for 5-10 minutes, until the mozzarella is melted.

Enjoy!!!

Very Simple Courgette Soup

I made this on Friday night, it's comfort food but healthy... and easy to make too!

You will need:
- 2 courgettes
- 1 broccoli
- 1 big onion
- 75 cl water
- a stock cube

Preparation:
1. Boil the water and dissolve the stock cube.
2. Wash, peel and dice the courgettes (big chunks are ok but they should be roughly the same size).
Add them to the boiling water.
3. Peel and cut the onion (wet it and the knife regularly to avoid those pesky onion tears!).
Add it to the boiling water.
4. Wash the broccoli and cut the florets.
Add them to the water and discard the rest.
5. Let everything cook for 5-10 min.
6. Blitz the veg and water in a blender (I have a tiny blender so I did it in batches).
Taste, season and serve!!!

Told you it was easy;)

Yummy Cheese and Chive Biscuits

I found this recipe on The Purple Foodie.
It's a-ma-zing!!! I'm no baking whizz, but these turned out perfect the first time around... which means there will definitely be a second time;)

The only thing I changed is I replaced the cheddar, garlic powder and parsley by emmental, parmesan and chives (so for the same quantities as the original recipe, that was 100g emmental, a few handful of parmesan flakes, about 25g, and about half the contents of my dried chives shaker, so 2-3g, a third of that reserved to add to the melted butter to drizzle on the biscuits at the end).

We had a few right out of the oven, and it was very very difficult to eat only a few, even on a full stomach... I brought the rest to lunch the next day and reheated it in the microwave for my colleagues... I was still very good, although not as fantastic as right out of the oven.

I'm actually salivating just thinking about it... I'll definitely be making this again!!!

So here I go...

I've loved cooking for years, and have always loved the idea of crafts too, but so far that has consisted in:
missing doing craft stuff like when I was a kid,
reading about crafts projects on websites/blogs,
imagining stuff I could to to make my appartement look better but never actually doing any of it...

Meaning that my only "creative outlet" has been cooking :-D Mostly seeing what I can whip up with what's in the fridge/pantry ;)

So now I'm going for it:)

One of my new years' resolutions was starting to bake, and that turned out pretty fun, and sometimes yummy (not to mention it's one of the rare new years' resolutions that didn't go down the drain!). So that encouraged me :)

So I signed up for a sewing class!
Full disclosure: I actually wanted to be a fashion designer in high school, but my dad persuaded me to go to uni, which turned out pretty well since it was fun and I got a job I really like, but I haven't completely given up on the idea... Which meant, until now, vaguely planning to follow a fashion design course once I'm retired :D

But now I'm going to do something more concrete about it:) Not that I'm planning to switch careers or anything, but at least I'll get to see if I actually like making clothes (well, probably just pockets and small bags for the first while...).

On to new beginnings!!! :)