New Bag

It was raining cats and dogs yesterday so I let the girls rot their little brains a bit and watch a movie. While they turned into mini couch potatoes, I came up with a new bag. It's the biggest bag yet and is verging on luggage. I reinforced everything with heavy interfacing and quilted it. So it will hold everything and keep it all safe. It has an interior zipper pocket and two deep leather pockets on the front.
I found an old leather coat like one Bad Babs had when I was little. It had some great leather buttons that I saved and used one on the front flap though I opted to use Velcro for the actual closure. I fought against Velcro for a while, but in the end decided that it won out for practicality. Next I will try a zipper AND the Velcro, just in case you have stuff that needs to be EXTRA safe and twice as hard to get at in a hurry.
It occurs to me that this would only be the case if you did not have kids in tow, as all my purse has in it are gum wrappers, cracker crumbs and last weeks art projects from story time at the library all marinating in leaking sippy. Hmmm. Foul, I know.

Dirty words and Dough

We here at LBB are not afraid of carbs. Bring on the bread. Boss Hog has a close relationship to all things home baked. His health nutty-ness inclines him to guilt and avoidance of anything truly decadent. Pity that is not the case with me.

In honour of his love of the more homely baked goods, we tried a few new things. Above is my new favourite bread/bun. It is a 50% spelt dough, slightly sweetened with TONS of chopped green onions folded in and then sprinkled slightly with Maldon Smoked Sea Salt. These are great. In fact I put them up to be considered over the traditional Hot-Cross Bun for the ultimate baked goods to welcome spring.
Above are some buns from this book. It was recommended to me by PH and she was right, this man makes great bread. And he has given me a new pseudo-swear word to throw around when the mood strikes and the kids can hear me.

Below is a photo of bread called Fougasse. I love it, it's beautiful, quick to make, delicious and makes you seem like a very advanced French chef when your bread basket is full of these rather than conventional buns. Very high satisfaction:effort ratio with fougasse. Also the word itself, 'fougasse', is deliciously naughty sounding when you need to holler a truly dirty word but little ears prevent you.
Another brilliant substitute bad word brought to me by PH and her husband is 'credenza'. Do you have another bad word replacement? Let me know in the comments.

My new purse

And the little critters who left me alone enough for a few minutes each night to let me finally finish it. PH and I have often lamented the sorry state of women's handbags. There are too many rhinestones, studs, gold latches, useless-decorative pockets, extra handles and patent leather parts for me to feel comfortable with. I don't want my purse looking like a cheap hooker. Not even with my new hair, it still is not me.
So I decided to make myself a test purse and then, if it worked, make it a flagship purse, one I really wanted to carry around flaunting it's happy existence without all the standard purse-deco, clutter garbage. The front panel is hard felted merino in blues and greens and silvers with a lot of sashiko mermaid stitching. The pocket on the front panel came from the leather coat I used on the back panel. This is truly and unsale-able item due to all the hours of stitching involved in it's subtle decoration.
The back panel is an up-cycled suede leather coat, and the inside is a fantastic flannel print with old cars and the appropriate accessories for traveling around in such ancient vehicles. I wish I had taken a photo of the fabric before it went inside the bag.
This is a close up of some of the stitching and (shame on me) my logo embroidered on in flashy red and white. I am a fame whore just waiting to be recognised :)
When I went to school for ceramics I would have called this red and white mark my 'chop' and stamped it on the underside of all my works as a signature of sorts. Somehow, even with the switch in mediums I still feel like this makers mark is important. Maybe even more important in a world filled with cheap, mass-produced goods where the items aren't even seen by the people whose names appear as the chop or brand.

The Etsy Shop

This post isn't much to look at, but it is big news!!
Little brown badger has an Etsy shop. Indeed, now there are two places to catch the latest in LBB happenings and crafty outpourings. For the moment the Etsy shop is focused on bags and purses, wet felted merino wool and re-purposed leather goods. Come on over and check it out. There are still many things to be ironed out and many more items yet to be listed so keep checking back!!

The Haircut

Somehow, while I was changing diapers, encouraging little people to eat their veggies, potty training and infinite other mothering chores I forgot I had a head.
I know, I feel bad for every single person who has been forced to look at my head for most of the last 5 years. I just didn't know I was rocking such a sad, sad, SAD head of shaggy, neglected dog hair. I am officially sorry. And it is with a sigh of relief that I introduce you to my new hair.


I have a lot to learn about doing my own fabulous hair. I really underestimated how much product I should be using and this morning after doing my hair myself I looked much fluffier. Note to self: pile on the gunk for sleek, shiny hair. I feel like I should have known to use more product. When I woke up this morning, the morning after the great hair revolution, I felt like my head had been buttered. Gross yes, but lovely, oh sooooo lovely.