Pillowcase Dress

Oh, Adelaide.  You really do summer a little too well sometimes!  It's a little too hot to be down at the beach (especially while pregnant!), I don't fancy tackling crowds of crazy shoppers at the local shopping centre just because I want to look around and all my friends are back at work again.  What's a girl to do?... 

I know!  How about a trip down to Spotlight!  It was my friend's little girl's birthday on Boxing Day.  An afternoon spent making her a pillowcase dress sounded like the perfect plan.

So out came the good ol' Janome sewing machine again.  I scrolled around for the perfect pillowcase dress patter and came across this one from Baby Rabies.  It has very easy to follow step my step instructions with photos and sizing from 6 months to 4 years.

Within 2 hours I had 2 little dresses.  Note that I am still a beginner so everything takes me longer than what it should.  I can't wait to see what it looks like on!

What do you think?

6 month update... Oh gosh, it really has been that long!

I should be studying right now but instead I have been scrolling through pinterest and friends blogs.  It's been ages since I've updated my little blog.  I could make the excuse of lack of time but I think I will put it down to priorities.  I'm the biggest time waster ever at the moment!

Its been an exciting 6 months.  I have become an aunty twice over.  My beautiful niece is 5 months and adorable nephew is 3 months.  Another little niece or nephew is on the way, due to greet the world in late February.  Yep, our families are changing.  It's exciting!

Andrew and I are also moving into our own house in December!  We have been renting for a few years now but finally we are able to move in.  The thought of being in our own place is exciting.  We are already talking about painting the two hideously coloured bedrooms, one minty green and the other baby pink with baby blue skirting boards.  The dark blue kitchen complete with blue lino floor, blue bench tops AND blue cupboards will have to go too.  The bathroom and toilet is also a renovators delight.  We are going to have fun with this place!  I'll post pictures when I can.

A new camera that I got for my Birthday back in July has inspired me to start taking photos again so I thought I would kick off my first post in 6 months with a photo of the day challenge, courtesy of the blog Fat Mum Slim, something starting with 'C.'  This is my very inquisitive Chicken!

I promise I'll update more often.  Heaps more exciting things to blog about in 2013, including crafty stuff, sewing projects, house rennos, cooking, holidays and heaps more!

So Ill leave you with the question:  What are your plans for 2013?

A lesson learned...

Never go off to a meeting and  leave a clean freak in charge of a meal you have prepared when there are text books all over the lounge room.  Result:  one very burned spiced creamy tomato chicken.  On the plus side at least the house looks clean.  Can't help but be a little disappointed though.
Oh well.  Will just have to try this one again later.
Another great looking recipe courtesy of  Fig & Cherry that will have to be attempted another day.

Hot Cross Bun Goodness...

I've been wanting to make these since Easter last year!  I was inspired by Fig & Cherry's review of the Bron Marshall recipe for Hot Cross Buns.  Today was the day that I finally pulled out the box of white bread mix from the pantry and kneaded my way to hot cross bun bliss.  I made a few little tweaks here and there and adapted it to what i had in my pantry.  I have to say I am mighty impressed with the result!

Hot Cross Buns

• 1¼ cups of warm water
• ½ cup of soft brown sugar
• 3 teaspoons of dry active yeast
• 4 cups of strong white flour
• 2 tablespoons of milk powder
• 2 teaspoons of mixed spice
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• A pinch of ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• ½ cup of dried currants
• ½ cup of saltanas
• 50 grams / 2 oz of butter, melted
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup of extra flour
• 1/3 cup of water

Add the warm water to a medium sized bowl and stir in the brown sugar until dissolved.
Sprinkle the yeast granules over the top and put aside.
Melt the butter and set aside.
In a large bowl or electric mixer sift the flour, milk powder, spices and salt and then add the dried fruits.
When the yeast mix is frothy add to the flour and fruit and pour in the melted butter. Mix to combine and knead by hand or in a mixer with a dough hook for about 8 minutes or until lovely and smooth.
Cover and set aside to at least double in size (2 hours or more).
Cut and shape 15 buns (I like to weigh mine for even sized buns!) and place in a warm lined or greased baking tin.
Place the buns in a warm place to continue rising for at least another hour, a little longer if possible.
Preheat the oven to 200°C, 390°F or gas mark 5½.
Gently brush the tops a little beaten egg wash.
Mix the remaining flour with enough water to make a firm ‘pipe-ible’ paste.
Using a piping bag or a small plastic bag with the point cut off, pipe the paste in lines across the buns to form the crosses.
Bake for 25 minutes, or until cooked through and hollow sounding when tapped on the bottoms.
Makes 16.

Hot cross buns are one of my favourite things.  I may have to make a few batches before we go away at Easter!

Pumpkin Muffins

I've had a butternut pumpkin sitting in the crisper in the fridge for the last two weeks.  I figured it was about time that it found a home in some sort of cooking.  Scrolling through recipes I found a great recipe for pumpkin muffins.  Lots of sweet pumpkin recipes call for canned pumpkin.  Not that I've actually been looking but I have never found canned pumpkin in the stores.  Anyway, not to be defeated by the fact that my pantry doesn't posses canned pumpkin I found a great way to make the most of my beautiful butternut and made my own and more than likely better version of the canned stuff. 

So if you do want to attempt this recipe and don't have the canned pumpkin this is how I made it.

Pumpkin Puree
Set the temperature on you oven to 150 degrees.  Cut 1/2 of a butternut pumpkin into pieces with the skin still attached.  Place pumpkin in a baking tray with 1/4 inch of water.  Bake in the oven for at least and hour or until pumpkin is soft.  Remove skin (this should be easy to do) and puree with a stick mixer.

Another hurdle I came across was that I have never heard of pumpkin pie spice.  I googled again and found the recipe here.  All it involved is cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg.  Most stuff I guess you would find tucked away in your pantry so save yourself the expense!

Ok, now we can get to the fun part.

Pumpkin Muffins.

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (see above link)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sultanas
• 1 cup packed brown sugar (I didn't have any brown sugar so I used 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/3 cup golden syrup)
• 1 cup canned pumpkin (see recipe above)
• 1/3 cup buttermilk (1/3 cup of milk with 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar left for 5 minutes)
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 210 degrees. Sift flour and baking soda into a large bowl.  Add dry ingredients and mix until combined.  Make a well in the centre and add the rest of the ingredients and fold in until just combined.  Place into 18 greased muffin tins.  Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

Always important to taste test!

Guaranteed you will never look at pumpkins the same way again!

My little indulgence

Good Morning world.  Blogging is a passion of mine I haven't indulged in for quite a long time.  The time has come to turn over a new leaf and make time once again for a little reflection.
My name is Judy.  I live with my husband, Andrew, budgie and two chickens in the foot hills of Adelaide, South Australia. I love our veggie garden, lying around in the hammock, my friends and family, going to the beach, body boarding, camping and travel and being creative.  Unfortunately, a little thing called Uni has taken over my life and limits how much of these things I actually get to do. As a follower of Jesus I seek to live a life of love, humility, equality and justice.
Ok, so why Judalicious Fling?  Judalicious is a nickname given to me by my gorgeous sister-in-law.  Fling was my way of expressing my passion for life and its various idiosyncrasies.
Through this blog I hope I may be able to give you a snippet of what life is like though the eyes of this little individual.
Love to all