Tank and peplum planning

I've been continuously thinking about the fabric I used to make my dressy Tiny Pocket Tank and figured that even though it's been a couple of weeks since I bought the fabric, I might get lucky and still find some left to make into a tank or dress for myself. I hotfooted it down to the closest Spotlight but alas - no luck.

It wasn't a waste of a trip though - after a bit of scrounging around I managed to find some other pretty prints - not quite the same but still in the vein of what I was going for so I'm pretty happy. I  bought enough of each to make up a tank - at least one of them will end up in my closet I'm sure.

I also picked up Vogue 8815 - it seems to be the latest thing that everyone is sewing up so I thought I'd jump on the peplum bandwagon too :)

Tiny Pocket Tank - the dressy bird version

After a trial run at my first Tiny Pocket Tank, I decided that I was going to make a more upmarket version of this Grainline Studio pattern for a birthday present for my SIL. Something that could be worn both during the day and at night - out shopping or out for drinks. 

Now... upmarket, fashionable, trendy - where would I find the perfect material.... certainly not *gasp* Spotlight surely??

But yes, Spotlight was a winner! Check it out - I fell in love with this print as soon as I saw it! Navy blue, shiny, slinky and with an absolutely gorgeous bird print - how could I say no? 

♥

All I can say is lucky for my SIL I'm a lot bigger than she is because I was very very tempted to keep it for myself. Pointless if really all it fits is my arm and half my head ;) 

Creamy garlic and prawn risotto

I'm love love loving my new Thermomix! Risotto in less than 20 minutes - yes please! I think I've only bothered to make risotto once ever before in my life and because that took almost 2 hours (and tasted kinda average *shhh*) I never made it again. 

Cue the Interwebs and Thermomix users on blogs, websites and forums - talk about recipes galore! Amongst the lot -  whole heap of risotto variations, including chorizo and capsicum, mushroom with macadamia cheese, light lemon and chicken, leek and garlic. I could have kept reading for hours but kept coming back to a recipe on Full Little Tummies for a creamy garlic and prawn version - *YUMMMMMM*

Being a newbie with the machine, I was a bit overenthusiastic with the stock and accidentally put a bit too much in. I also added some spinach in to bump up the veggie content.

The result was a slightly watery risotto (don't look too hard at the picture) but it still tasted amazing!

Definitely one to make again :)

I *heart* my new toy

What can I say - I splurged. 

I'm now a proud new owner of my very own Thermomix. I could justify the purchase by saying that my kitchen is equipped with a couple of pots, a pan and a wok, and not much else, but that would be a lie. I did buy a mortar and pestle when I was whipping up my green curry paste ;)

Honestly though, I did need to get a bunch of appliances for the kitchen. I'm used to just reaching into a cupboard and having access to a blender, food processor, cake mixer - even a grater - so there has been no cake baking for a long time now (possibly not a bad thing but an unrelated subject). Cue the all-in-one magic cooking machine - very suitable for places with limited storage. How could I resist?

So yes, I decided that this purchase would be my reward to myself for starting my (not-so-)new job, and help my efforts to cook at home a little more. Hurrah! I'm super pleased with my purchase - but now I just need to work out what to name her...

My Tiny Pocket Tank - finally

Work has been kind of ridiculous, which has resulted in minimal crafty goodness. Unfortunately the lack of sewing probably just compounded the general feeling of not-quite-rightness, so I decided to put it right and temporarily borrow a machine for the new place.

There isn't an ideal place for the machine here quite as yet so I've been making do an a bar stool at a kitchen table. The result? A backache, a tiny pocket tank and a huge level of satisfaction that I've finally made something *nod*

Tiny pocket tank - the trial

This is what people tend to call a wearable muslin - I just wanted to see how this as to sew up and I thought I'd use some nice material to test things out. It's turned out well and I got a compliment on it just the other night!

Overall I'm pretty happy (the print is so forgiving!) but my binding could be much improved. I think I'll need to make the next one a size smaller - this just seems a touch big for me. Hopefully by then I have a little crafting corner with my own machine and table *fingers crossed*