Black and White, take 2

I saw angry chicken's post about chocolate covered shortbread a few weeks ago and thought it would be the perfect gift for going visiting during spring break. Our family went down to Vancouver and spent a few whirlwind days visiting the coastal clan members. We went with bags of these shortbread covered in either dark chocolate and almonds or white chocolate and pumpkin seeds. And we took some cinnamon, almond and chocolate covered biscotti which did not get photographed in the rush to pack up two kids intent on unpacking the tidy bags left in front of the door. Let me tell you, it took some will not to unpack the shortbread and eat it at the hotel before it could be delivered.

Black and White

Here's a quilt I have been waiting to finish for WAY too long. However, in this case I think procrastination has paid off. I finally found the perfect flannel for the back. Amazingly, nearly ten years after I found the black flower print on the from that I hard-core love, I found a flannel print that matches up really well and doesn't scream "kids pajamas"!

And to top off the serendipity of this quilt production, my in-laws stopped by on Saturday and took the kids for two hours and I managed to get all the machine quilting done without smoke coming out of my sewing machine. Now I need to bind the edges and finish the printing and hand sewing parts in the large empty grey rectangles and then straight into the mail without a moment to lose.

Not Just Your Grannie's Cold Cream

Thanks to dark cloud blue sky I just got the latest copy of World Sweet World in the mail and it is a gem. It is a Make-it-Yourself magazine out of New Zealand and it is chock full of great things coming from down under. The first one on my list to try was Rachel Fabish's recipe for cold cream, the 2000 year old beauty potion used by women around the world. Cold cream is the ultimate cleanser and moisturiser in one. Really though, I almost find it more soothing just to know everything that is in it is edible and available in my grocery store.

There are a lot of home made cosmetic recipes I would love to try like angry chicken's deodorant, several lippy recipes and some hand cream or hair treatments would be mighty fine too. Sadly, where I am in Canada means that I must order supplies online and suffer a really crap exchange rate and dismal shipping rates on top. (I know, my life is Hard) But in any case, this recipe only sent me to the health food store for beeswax and took about 15 mins to complete.

And the results are lovely. Darlings, I glow. So get started.

Cold Cream

Warm 6 tbsp olive oil and 28g chopped beeswax in a small jar in a pot of water on the stove. Warm until wax is just melted.

In a separate container, warm 2 tbsp rosewater. Pour it slowly into the oil/wax mix stirring constantly.

Remove the jar from the hot water and continue to stir until cool and thick. (I placed my jar in a bowl of cold water to help cool it down while I stirred).

I also added four drops of lavender essential oil once the jar was off the heat.

Fill a sterile jar and keep in the fridge.

Now that you are ready to use it, scoop out a small amount and warm it between your fingers. Smooth it all over your face and give your self a much deserved facial massage. Then gently wipe off the excess and glow baby glow.

Incidentally, this is awesome for chapped winter hands.

It's A Girl!

Here's Arlo finally deciding that she is a girl and letting me put a skirt on her! Up until now she's been pretty consistently telling us that she is a boy. It's actually pretty strange seeing her dress like a girl. Here she is wearing two skirts I made her. They are elastic waisted with one long rectangle for the top portion and two even longer skinnier rectangles for the gathered bottom portion. I love sewing for the girls with their blocky little shapes. Never need to worry about darts or zippers. Bring on the elastic baby!!
This is the non-pattern type of thing I love. Just decide for yourself how long you want each part, how much gathering you want (princessy or super-princessy) and add enough to the top for elastic casing and enough to the bottom for hemming and Voila! The start of the spring collection.

*and just to be clear, Arlo is grinning like a mad thing from the joy of being asked to stand on the coffee table and not from the joy of the new wardrobe.

Simple Things

We made a pie the other day. Partly it was to keep Boss Hog happy and partly to keep Eden and Arlo happy. I had a bad childhood stomach flu that involved peach pie and have as a result never been too overly fond of pie in general. It is not worth the effort to me (unlike chocolate cake which I can rouse myself to bake with startling regularity).

For some reason we had a lot of pie dough left over this time so we made a mini muffin tray of "fairy pies" for the little people. They were quick and easy and delicious filled with last summers raspberry jam. They were also much easier to give to the kids and did not require forks or plates. They were simple and homey and wonderful. They have not won over Boss Hog's heart but they have won over mine.