Recipe: Rusty Pin Cocktail

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Sarah

Summary: It’s been a sewing sort of week! I’ve tidied my sewing area and had a big destash & I’ll be selling it off at the ASG Fringe Event on Tues 11th March 2014! I am so super excited about it, I hope to see lots of you there. If you want to make my pincushion or couch cushions you can read the tutorials but if you want to make my take on the Rusty Nail, the Rusty Pin, then read on…..

Ingredients

45 ml gin
25 ml Drambuie
Ice

Instructions

Combine everything in a glass & stir well.
Drink your Rusty Pin while celebrating or commiserating your latest sewing effort and ENJOY the weekend!!!!!

Blog Stalkin’ – February 2014

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Sarah

I spend an unreasonable amount of time reading other peoples blogs and watching youtubes. As I blogger, I try to convince Mr Ask that I’m doing research, not just having fun on the internet. Sometimes I find someone I like and spend a few solid hours watching/reading their stuff. I feel like I know them, like we should be friends, that we should collaborate, that I should email them. It feels very stalker. So, I’m just going to write a list of of my faves and you can go visit them. I have so much blog love to give that these posts will be an ongoing thing, I’ll try and put them into rough categories. As I am working full tilt on the ASG Fringe Event, I thought I share my fave sewing blogs…

Cherry Pix : Sewing Pix – Run by the fabulous Anne who is not only a fellow ASG member but also my sewing BFF. She turns out amazing garments despite her desperately cute kitties ‘helping’ her along the way.

Juanita Tortilla - Juanita has both a blog and a shop. Her bags are to die for! Juanita contacted me by email when she was planning a move form the US to Adelaide. She is getting settled here and I have been lucky enough to meet the lovely lady in person.

Create Hope Inspire – Miriam is another blogger who contacted me when she was moving, this time NZ to Adelaide. I just love her retro style! We haven’t met up in person yet but I hope to meet her at the Fringe event.

Refashionisa – This started a out as a blog challenge, she refashioned a garment a day for 365 days and gave them back to the charities to sell. She is very renegade in technique but gets the job done, I like that.

Gerties New Blog for Better Sewing – She started out by sewing every garment in a old copy of Vogues Book For Better Sewing. She is has a cult following, has a pattern line via Butterick and published book (with more to come).

A Very Purple Person - An awesome blog from Japan with lots of tutorials, especially for bra making. Also, cute dog alert!

Grainline - Patterns, technical know how and some banter. Super technical (in a good way) and very informative

3 hours Past/Cake patterns – I adore Stephs patterns but I love the how to’s. She makes things quick and easy but never shoddy. She is my stretch knit queen!

Mimi G – American, awesome, fierce! Lots for free but also paid tutes and patterns. My second spot for stretch gorgeousness!

I’m sorry for giving you so many fabulous ways to procrastinate! Please share your faves with me on Facebook or in comments. And if your blog or youtube channel is on this list, flick me an email, I promise I won’t think your a stalker at all! Be sure to follow this blog and your new faves on Bloglovin xxxx

The Great Destash! {Shop My Fabric @ Fringe}

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Sarah

…. My name is Elizabeth Taylor…. No, My name is Sarah and I’m a fabric addict! For far too long my house has looked like a fabric shop exploded. My sewing room, which is so tiny that you’d be lucky to fit a single bed in it, has looked like bomb site. Open racks with fabric draping down like vines reclaiming an abandoned house. It’s been in need of attention for a while but back in November last year I decided to leave everything until the ASG Fringe Event where we were having a stash sale.

The Great Destash! {Shop My Fabric @ Fringe}

Mummy Ask & I got right into it! We blu tacked tape measures to the kitchen bench and armed ourselves with tags, rubber bands, twine, ribbon, scissors and markers. We measured, bundled, priced and tagged. So many fabrics were touched lovingly as I remembered the projects they were intended for, others that caught my eye with their beauty but I couldn’t think what I could make with them. I never knew my collection was so vast and varied! There’s quilting cotton, synthetic stretch, cotton eyelet, interlock, jersey, home dec, cotton voile, stretch mesh, flannelette, dress cotton, suiting and vintage fabrics too. Most are 3 mtrs long but some are as long as 7 mtrs! And they’re all for sale!

The pics aren’t even all of it! I have more than 100 fabrics that I am selling. And that’s just me, other members will have things for sale too! I am shamed by what I’ve hoarded but I am excited to think of the great bargains our Fringe attendees will have to pick through. I hope these fabrics will turn into wonderful garments!

I promise you a post on how I end up storing my fabrics when I get there but if I’ve inspired you to destash too and you can’t wait – check out the ASG Pinterest board on sewing room storage.

If you’ve seen a fabric that takes your fancy or you’d like to shop my stash, please come along to our Fringe Event – The ASG Opens It’s Seams and pick up some bargains. Other members will be selling fabric but we have patterns (vintage & modern), buttons, zippers, trims, laces – I know some are more than 60yrs old! See how arty we can be, from our self stitched garments on display, to tape measure rosettes for sale.

Guild members sewing, music playing and so much enthusiasm for sewing that it’ll rock your socks off! Baby beginner sewers just starting out to acclaimed professional – we will love you regardless! Come along, get involved and buy a bargain plus pick up a free headscarf pattern. So get along on the day and share this with the sewing community or a friend who might be interested. Because if you’re in Adelaide you don’t want to miss fabric and notions at rock bottom prices and the opportunity to get your sewing geek on! See you soon xxx

The ASG Opens It’s Seams

Tuesday 11 March 2014 10 am – 2 pm

Plympton Community Centre

34 Long Street, Plympton SA 5038

FREE!

Recipe: Pink Pussycat Cocktail

Posted on February 28, 2014 by Sarah

Summary: I’m still working my way through my cocktail book and thought the Pink Pussycat was the perfect thing to sip while sitting on the kitty cushions I made this week. I couldn’t agree with the books note more – If what you’re looking for in a relationship is charm, maturity and honest affection, you may be looking for cat. If what you’re looking for in a cocktail is fruity and delicious, look no further…..

Ingredients

60 ml gin
120 ml pineapple juice
Ice cubes
Grenadine

Instructions

Combine the gin and the pineapple juice in a glass with ice cubes.
Drop the grenadine in the centre and ENJOY the weekend!!!!!!!!

Recipe: Lush & Lazy Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Sarah

Summary: It’s only 19C today, after the extremely hot days we’ve had recently, it feels cold! And I fancied laying on the couch with a self saucing pudding. Initial investigations proved we had all the ingredients on hand, we even had ice-cream. Oh I love it when a plan comes together! This is like a rich, dark brownie, floating on ooey gooey, dark chocolate sauce. This is completely lush chocolate indulgence is perfect for lazy weekends or crazy weeknights. One bowl and no special equipment, tell me that you won’t make this tonite…

Ingredients

1 cup plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tblsp butter, melted
1/2 cup milk
For the sauce:
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup cocoa
1 cup boiling water

Instructions

Preheat oven to 160C and grease a 20cm x 20cm square baking dish.
Add the flour, baking powder, caster sugar and cocoa to a bowl and stir to combine.
Add the butter and milk and stir to a very thick batter. Use a spatula to a scrape the batter into the prepare baking dish.
Evenly scatter the brown sugar and cocoa over the top of the batter. Add the boiling water, slowly pouring the water over the back of spoon, to avoid making divots in the pudding.
Bake for 40-45 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving with vanilla ice cream or cream

Sew: DIY Kitty Cat Throw Cushions/Pillows {Tutorial Links For Piped Cushion with Zipper Flap & Appliqué Included}

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Sarah

Sew: DIY Kitty Cat Throw Cushions {Tutorial Links For Piped Cushion with Zipper Flap & Appliqué Included}

We recently gave our lounge room a huge overhaul and the couch was in desperate need of some comfy cushions. I had a colour scheme in mind and wanted something quirky that would give the couch a lift. I looked high and low but couldn’t find anything that I loved. There was one thing for it….I had to make my own! I was given a cat shaped cushion/door draft stopper as a housewarming gift, we called him Stretch, he was definitely worse for wear. I decided to make cat cushions to replace him. After all, I am a crazy cat lady and everyone should know as soon as they walk in my door, right?

Cushion covers seemed easy enough but it always helps to check your thinking. I used this tutorial to make my basic cushions. Both the basic cushions have the olive green fabric on one side and the pink fabric on the other. That way I can arrange them with both pink sides showing or both olive sides showing or one of each. I think it adds flexibility plus I only realized I didn’t have enough olive fabric at the last minute! Luckily it was a quilting cotton and I also had the pink fabric from the same collection. Necessity being the mother of invention and all that….

But back to Cat Cushions. This was my first time using piping or appliqué and also making a concealed zipper flap at the back. I love how they turned out! Piping looks so professional and sweet, I could add it to everything! Get the piping tutorial here.The zipper flap makes the cushions reversible and also stops the zipper pull from digging into you while you’re curled up on the couch! If you want to add a zipper flap, this tutorial tells you what you need to know.

I chose not to use a satin stitch on the appliqué because I didn’t want a defined border and I wanted my beginner mistakes to be less obvious! I set my machine to a small zig zag (0.8 long and 3 wide on my machine) and practiced on scraps. My aim was to have most of the stitch on the cat and just fall off the edge on to the main fabric. I bought my cat template from Kip and Fig on Etsy, the big cat is the whole template and the smaller pillow just has part of the cat. If you want to give appliqué a try, check out this tutorial. Just as a note, you will need some sort of iron on interfacing that is sticky on both sides. It will have paper attached to one side (you trace your image on to that side), cut it out roughly and iron that to the back of your fabric (blue drops fabric in my case), cut out the image properly, peel away the paper and iron it on to the base fabric. In Australia, it seems to be called Vliesofix or Bondaweb. Just make sure you get the right type of thing!

If you fancy replicating my arrangement, the large cat pillow is a European bed pillow (58cm X 58cm), the olive/pink ones are 50cm X 50cm and the small cat pillow is 40cm X 40cm. I cut the fronts and backs to the same size as the actual pillow and used a 1/4 inch seam allowance. I didn’t make the backs of the cat pillows any bigger than the front as I figured the width of the zipper would make up for the extra seam allowance for the zipper flap. That way the cushions are nice and poofy. All my fabrics were quilting cottons, except for the mustard fabric on the cat cushions, which is a fashion cotton sateen with a touch of stretch. I used a ballpoint needle when sewing those ones as they show needle marks like crazy!

I love the way sewing gives you such creative control! I love my cushions so much, it’s hard to watch Mr Ask lolling on them and mushing them up! What do you think of my cat cushions? Are they too crazy cat lady? What would you like to put on a couch cushion? Let me know on Facebook or comments xxxx

Recipe: Best in Show Cocktail

Posted on February 21, 2014 by Sarah

Summary: A quick clip of the fur and a curtsey is all my fabulous model Fang needed to do. Well okay then, she laid there while I took the pic! Either way, this a delicious cocktail from my book, despite appearances! I’m sure you’ve been working like a dog but Baby, you’re the best in show…..

Ingredients

45 ml dark rum
45 ml apricot liqueur
45 ml cola
Splash of grenadine
Ice cubes

Instructions

Shake the liquid ingredients vigorously and strain into a cocktail glass.
Garnish with a calming cainine, or maybe just pat them lovingly while you ENJOY the weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Special thanks to my model Fang

Recipe: Corn & Chicken Noodle Soup {Flexible Cooking, Vegetarian Friendly}

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Sarah

Summary: Mr Ask loves his meat and I’ve been a vegetarian forever. I have developed ways of cooking where the meat (or vegetarian meat replacement) is added to each individual bowl, rather than adding it to the whole pot. That way the one dish meets both of our needs! When it’s just the two of us, I tend to buy rotisserie chicken but you could certain cook your own. I use Massel brand stocks (chicken, beef or vegetable) because they contain no animal products and are suitable for vegetarians. They have a lovely rich flavour that really does taste chickeny/beefy without being offensive to my vego palate. This is such a comforting kind of soup and the fresh corn is just wonderful. I’m glad that we can share a pot of soup despite our culinary differences!

Ingredients

2 tblsp garlic olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
2 celery sticks, finely diced
2 small carrots, finely diced
1/3 cup peas
2 cobs of corn, kernels cut off
1/2 cup risoni pasta (soup pasta)
4 cups chicken stock
500g cooked chicken or chicken replacement, shredded
Black pepper, to taste.

Instructions

Add the oil, onions, carrot and celery to a soup pot. Fry the veggies until the onion becomes translucent, about 5 mins.
Add the stock, peas, corn and risoni. Allow to simmer for around 30 mins or until the pasta is tender. Season to taste.
Add a fourth of the chicken or chicken replacement to a bowl and top with a fourth of the hot soup. Serve with a dinner roll and enjoy!Add the oil, onions, carrot and celery to a soup pot. Fry the veggies until the onion becomes translucent, about 5 mins.
Add the stock, peas, corn and risoni. Allow to simmer for around 30 mins or until the pasta is tender. Season to taste.
Add a fourth of the chicken or chicken replacement to a bowl and top with a fourth of the hot soup. Serve with a dinner roll and enjoy!

The ASG Opens It’s Seams! {Meet Me At Our Adelaide Fringe 2014 Event}

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Sarah

I’m sure you all remember me telling how much I love the Australian Sewing Guild (ASG), the Fringe Launch Party we went to and the oodles of bunting that we stitched up. Well, now I’d like to invite to the Fringe event we are holding! It’s free, fabulous and of course I’ll be there if you’d like to say Hi in person. I would love you to come along and see what we get up to!

Whether you are jelly about those who sew or you’ve already been stung by the needle, the ASG Opens it’s Seams is the event for you! Watch us put needle to fabric in all manner of ways, have a good rummage through patterns, notions and fabric for sale and meet a bunch of people with thread running in their veins. And if you have that sewing question, there’s never been a better chance to ask it! Made something and want some constructive criticism? Well then, bring it along! The Australian Sewing Guild offers so much, whatever you like to sew. We sew vintage, retro, kids, bridal, embroidery, historical, refashions and most of all for ourselves! Guilds have been around since the middle ages, these artisan groups were formed to share knowledge with their members and The ASG is dedicated to this tradition. Take advantage of our collected wisdom! If you thought you didn’t know enough about sewing or didn’t sew well enough to join the ASG, I can tell, you couldn’t be more wrong! Come and meet the Plympton team and see how sweet sewing can be!

The ASG Opens It’s Seams

Tuesday 11 March 2014 10 am – 2 pm

Plympton Community Centre

34 Long Street, Plympton SA 5038

FREE!

Please feel free to share this post with your sewing friends, I hope to see you there!

Recipe: Stupid Cupid Cocktail

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Sarah

Summary: Happy Valentines Day Lovelies! I do so hope that someone is making you feel special but if you’re feeling left out and thinking Cupid is indeed stupid…then have this drink on me! Of course this another cocktail from my book. The notation reads: Who among is has not committed some insanity at the urging of this stupid little Roman god? And why is such a charming cocktail named after such an annoying little twerp?……

Ingredients

30 ml citrus flavored vodka
15 ml sloe gin
30 ml lime juice
15 ml simple syrup
Ice cubes

Instructions

Shake the liquid ingredients vigorously with ice and strain in to a cocktail glass.
Garnish with your hopes and dreams (shattered or very much in tact) and ENJOY this Valentines weekend!!!

Ask Sarah

surviving life with flair

Recipe: Rusty Pin Cocktail

Ingredients

Instructions

Blog Stalkin’ – February 2014

The Great Destash! {Shop My Fabric @ Fringe}

The ASG Opens It’s Seams

Recipe: Pink Pussycat Cocktail

Ingredients

Instructions

Recipe: Lush & Lazy Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding

Ingredients

Instructions

Sew: DIY Kitty Cat Throw Cushions/Pillows {Tutorial Links For Piped Cushion with Zipper Flap & Appliqué Included}

Recipe: Best in Show Cocktail

Ingredients

Instructions

Recipe: Corn & Chicken Noodle Soup {Flexible Cooking, Vegetarian Friendly}

Ingredients

Instructions

The ASG Opens It’s Seams! {Meet Me At Our Adelaide Fringe 2014 Event}

The ASG Opens It’s Seams

Recipe: Stupid Cupid Cocktail

Ingredients

Instructions