Sabbath

I have been trying to make Sundays more of a Sabbath.  I'm not getting legalistic about it, but I think that with our busy lives, a day when we intentionally do things a bit differently - slow things down a bit, focus on time together when possible, and try and not use the day to catch up on things we classify as work - is what we need.  And it is one of God's commandments, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised when it turns out to be something that I think is good for us.

One of the things we have been trying to do sometimes on a Sunday is making and sharing delicious (white) bread for lunch. We almost always have homemade bread, but on weekdays we mostly have wholemeal loaves and on the weekends we have white bread for a treat. About every second week I make a big tub of dough that we use for pizza, naan, gozlemes (well, our version anyway), etc.  The alternate weekends I make Turkish bread.  Sometimes we vary from this, such as if we're having burgers (bean and veg) during the week and I don't have time to make rolls, we have Turkish bread as it's quicker, or if I'm sick I might even buy a loaf (!!). 

Back to our Sunday bread ... I make the dough in the morning using the bread machine, and when it's ready for shaping I divide it up into roll sizes and each of the kids gets a ball of dough to shape as they please. I've shown them how to shape nice round rolls, but then they can make whatever shape they like.  We also make one bigger roll - about twice the normal size - for sharing. Usually I shape it into a sun or similar, but today I let the youngest do a star, so it looks like the shaping if that loaf might be shared around in future.

Shaped bread ready to bake 

I try to have some extras for Monday lunches.

Risen, baked and ready

At lunch time we generally put out salad fillings, etc, although we could just have jam or vegemite and add a green smoothie for our fruit and veg. We start by giving thanks that Jesus came to forgive our sins - one of the children does that - and we pass around the larger roll (in this case, the star) and tear off a piece each. It is hot and soft and delicious. 

How do people find time to blog every day?

I don't know how so many people seem to get so much done AND still they manage to blog about it regularly. I don't seem to have time to blog and sew in the same evening. I keep trying to do quick updates, and not write much, but by the time I crop the photos it's getting late.

Look at this blog - it's one I use to visit quite a lot. When I first started visiting it, there were SIX YEARS of posts, with almost one post a day!!! It's a food blog, so just about every day they took a picture of their dinner and wrote about it. How do you do that?!

Anyway, here is another round of pics. I may not write much then for a few days (we'll see).

Here's the tee I made for myself. Excuse the dreadful pic.



Here are a couple of little needle felted cups I made for our play kitchen. My 2 yr old has been playing with them since they were made. The first (with the heart) was a bit thin but I've added more wool since taking these pics. I was rushing a bit when I made them so I'm sure they could be a lot better - more wool and then felted more would be good. The star one is already a lot better then the first one.

This is a little needle felted bunny. It's in brown wool because that was the best that I had, but it means that the features don't photograph well. It was fun to do. Now I want to make a whole host of animals. The two pics look quite different colours but that's just how they happened to turn out - it is the same bunny photographed on the same table. Remember, I'm still just practicing with my felting - I've only made a very few things - in fact, 3 birds (well, 2 big birds and a nest of 3 babies) and the cups (and the balls, but they are a completely different technique) before these bunnies. I am not completely happy with the bunny - it isn't perfect, but I still really like it, and it was fun. And best of all, my daughter likes it.

Trying to decide if the pink had can go with the cherry dress. Hmmm ... might need to make a few more hats!

The felted bowls - you saw them prefelting - when just knitted, in a previous post. These have been through a hot wash and dry twice, and then dampened and shaped over containers, then left to dry for a couple of days. I have the next size up knitted ready to wash, and the next are on the needles but not with much knitted. Not sure if I'll do these again, only because I have too much other knitting to do. I do really like them, but they are just a lot of work. I will be really pleased when I have the whole set done though.

First two pics are the group of three - waiting for three more to make up a rainbow stacking set for the kids' play shelves.

This is just a set of two that will go in the play kitchen. My daughter has already been using the smaller one to serve me pretend soup (and lots of it!).

And a denim skirt for my 8 yr old. Ottobre, 1/03, #21. She asked for a denim skirt - I was thinking of something using lovely quilting fabric, but this is what she wanted. I think I'll still make her a fancy fabric one, but just after I get the summer basics all done for all the kids (and maybe even something for me and my fella).

Just thought I'd throw in a pic of our pizza. I don't think the picture does it justice. It was a simple one - mostly to just use leftovers. It used the dough that I've talked about before and shown pics of before - that you just keep in the frig ready to use. I love it - so quick. Sometimes I make a quick pizza before school for the kids to take for lunches, it's so easy. The school one is particularly easy because they only want cheese and tomato paste!

Here are the girls!

Okay, so when I say, "Here are the girls", I don't mean the banana bread that you first see in this post! You'll have to get to the end of the post to see the girls.

Although the last thing I wrote was only a couple of days' ago, it was photos that were downloaded onto my computer on about the 13th of February. I've just downloaded the photos that I've taken since then, so here is yet another catch up (before we get to the girls - which is really today's crafty contribution).

I've done a bit of baking. Used up some bananas in my quick banana bread - to be sliced and frozen for adding to school lunches for the following week or two. I'm trying a new method of breadmaking to keep up with all our bread needs. I already make all of our bread - which I've done for years, but this is a new method from the book "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a day" - which I love. It is delicious bread and it really is very quick. It's much easier to fit into a busy schedule. I've even used the method for pizza dough.

After working out (and making lots of times lately) a vegan (ie dairy and egg free, and of course no meat) version of sticky date pudding which is really delicious, I decided to see what a self-saucing sticky date pudding would be like - just because it would be so quick to make. So here it is. Not a very exciting photo I know. Tastes good, although not as good as the other one. I would still make it perhaps for a super quick family treat dessert, but would generally stick with the other version I think.

We finally dug up all the potatoes that have been growing in our potato patch for the past few months. We got less then I had hoped for, but still a good crop considering that the plants died early from sun burn. And now, we have a lovely, almost weed-free, area for planting into.

We also dug up some piddly little garlic bulbs that also got too much sun, and planted some beans and beetroot in their place.

I made a long sleeve peasant top for my 21 month old daughter. I just made it up and ended up adding elastic in the shoulder, which looks much better. The sleeves were just too big before that. The fabric is from Sandi Henderson's lovely collection.

Made light mauve leggings to match.

So after really, really hot weather, we had some cold weather when I was stuck searching for nice warm clothes for the little girls that would fit. That was why I started on the long sleeve top and leggings. Then it started getting warm again, and my 7 yr old has been in need of more shorts for a while, so I made her and my 5 yr old son some simple, plain black shorts. Made my son's shorts longer and added extra patch pockets on the sides. I don't think I took a photo of them so you'll have to wait to see them. Here are my daughter's shorts along with a variation on a pillowcase dress for her top. I think it turned out nicely.

And now, back to bread. The photos are in time order - just incase you're wondering why we're jumping back and forth. I made lots of bread between the last pictures and this one, but this is the first one with a bit of wholemeal flour in it. I'll have to gradually try substituting more and more wholemeal - this one tasted good.

And now, finally onto the girls! This is how my dining table looked for a couple of days (did pack it up in between each time, but kept getting it back out). I took a bit of a sewing break, to do some painting, and made a little collection of clothes peg dollies. Love how they turned out!

Here they are, waiting to get dressed (and have arms added too actually).

And here is a collection of cute little dresses.

This is a group shot, in they're current resting place - in front of the glasses in our dining room shelf. Close-ups to follow ....

These dolls were great fun to make. I wonder if I can make a living out of making little peg dollies??? I imagine by the hundredth one I might be saying something different though!

It was fun doing some painting again, so I do have plans for a couple of other painted things and also some fabric printing. Stay tuned!