A Sausage Pie

Which nation boasts more than 1200 types of sausage? You got it: Germany! And it was also the land of poets and thinkers that gave birth to this impromptu dinner. During an enjoyable trip to Europe's logistics hub, we could not resist bringing back a pack or two of their delicious Wurst, thinking that we would easily be able to hold a BBQ night with our friends and give them a taste of Germany as well. Trouble was that the summer took longer to kick in than usual (in fact it doesn't feel anything like June as yet at all!) so the BBQ was put off to an unknown date, while the expiry dates on the packs grew nearer and nearer. Being the pie-fan that I am I thought it would be an excellent idea to stick the sausage into a pie and anglicize the little German devil... and indeed it was! Here's what was needed:

Ingredients:

• 300g Schinkengrill sausage
• 2 eggs
• 200g fontina cheese (or a soft cheese equivalent)
• 1 roll of puff pastry

Method:

1. Chop the sausages into 2cm discs
2. Grate the soft cheese
3. Beat the eggs in with the cheese.
4. Cover the base of the oven dish with puff pastry.
5. Place the chopped sausage in the pie.
6. Pour the egg-cheese mix on top of the sausage.
7. Cover the pie with puff pastry, pressing the sides with a fork to seal the pie.
8. Bake for approximately 30 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius.

A Bow for a Girl

When I'd first shared the news of my pregnancy I was blessed with a shower of gifts, well-wishers and second hand items for the coming baby. Seeing as we didn't want to know the gender of the baby we received items for both boys and girls... which implies that I now have a few boyish numbers to girl up!

A pair of dungarees are meant to be unisex.. unless that is they carry the word 'BOY' all over them. I thought to myself, what is girlie enough that might go well with a pair of tomboy dungarees. And then it hit me, how about a bow??

What do you think of this? Ever tried something like this yourself? Leave a comment; tell me about it :)

From useless to useful

A while back my husband gave me a beautiful wallet which I still use to this very day. I still remember how happy I was to get it, and how I'd admired the sturdy box it had come in!

So I'd filled up the wallet straight away and set aside the box for future use. Over time I cannot recall the number of times my husband's complained about my hoarding tendency with these such boxes... until he saw what I made of it this week that is!

I bought a gift for a friend which did not come in fancy wrapping or boxes, so it was up to me to jazz it up! Out came the sturdy wallet box together with a gorgeous wrapping paper which I'd managed to keep intact because it was so so pretty... and I got down to business - that of covering the lid with this fancy wrapping paper.

The box itself was far too big for the item I'd bought so I sewed together a tiny bag, filled it up with cotton wool et voila, I had myself a nice cushion bed for the cute present!

Flower Headband

Because spring has finally arrived it is mandatory to channel the all-consuming positive energy that comes from the extended hours of the day and sunlight into productive action.

Pinterest gave me what I was looking for - a way to embellish a plain headband by attaching a handmade fabric flower as shown on mellysews.com.

I rummaged through the bagfuls of scrap fabric, fished out an old striped t-shirt and a plain summer dress and  15 minutes later I had created just what I'd had in mind! Only have to hope that my seven month old doesn't take after her mother; as I recall my mum used to say I had a knack for stripping headbands off the moment we'd step outside the house just as she wouldn't be looking!

Of old t-shirts and prettily wrapped gifts 1

I once had bought a skinny fit t-shirt from the pound shop, which, as these things go, I am now far too self-conscious to wear. Luckily for me I found a great idea via Craftaholics Anonymous on turning old t-shirts into pom-poms so I decided to hold on to the t-shirt for later use. And I have just found a great opportunity to use it - my friend's birthday's coming up and I wanted to make her gift a little extra special, so, following the picture tutorial to a tick I managed to finish it off this way:

Now that I've tried it once I doubt I'll ever throw away another t-shirt!

The Circle Skirt

I came across a splendid pin last week and inspired by Dana I've decided to give this skirt a go. As my blog suggests the skirt is meant to come from up-cycled items and therefore today I went through the bags-worth of clothes I had lined up for the bin and fished out a black halter-neck cotton shirt which fits too loosely and a white cotton shirt which belongs to days gone by when showing off my belly button was fashionable.
I cut out the pattern, the four quarters too and baste the four pieces together in a black-white-black-white fashion. Unfortunately the only elastic I managed to find is an inch-thick one, which had to do.
After much asnipping, asewing and aknotting, to my daughter's joy (and my pride) here is the end result!

La calza della Befana

2012 blessed me and my husband with a beautiful baby girl. Knowing that she is too young to remember hasn't stopped me from wanting to give her the very best I can. So on Jan 5th I found myself wondering how I was going to manage to conjure a 'befana' stocking out of thin air in time for the Epiphany (Jan 6th). A few Google searches and head scratches later the idea was fully formed and there was nothing anyone could do to keep me from going for it head on. I would tear an old woollen sweater apart and together with the remaining scraps of material I had from our bedroom curtain the stocking would come to be. 

From the woollen sweater I used:
- the sleeves
- parts of the body

Using the bedroom curtain:
- I created the lining of the stocking

Although it was completed in time, it was filled with neither sweets nor coal... that will need to wait until 2014 :-)