I took an emergency call this morning, the local toddler group needed playdough and they needed it fast. I’m up to a bit of early morning drama and the cupboard is stocked with the essentials at all times.

As we’re not talking consumables I keep a bag of economy flour specifically for playdough. You can make playdough on the stove but I find it is far quicker to use a no-cook recipe. It’s pretty universal but if you don’t have your own recipe here’s the one I use.

Easy Playdough Recipe

2 cups of plain flour

1 cup of salt

4 tbsp cream of tartar

3 tbsp cooking oil (olive or sunflower – avoid nut based oils if making for other children)

2 cups of boiling water

2 caps of food colouring (more for a vibrant colour)

extras: perhaps a sprinkling of glitter or flavours (rose water, peppermint or vanilla are favourites here)

• Sieve the flour, salt and cream of tartar into a mixing bowl (sprinkle in glitter if using).
• Mix the oil, water and food colouring (and flavour if using) and then pour into the dry ingredients.
• Mix with a spoon until it forms a dough and then knead for a couple of minutes until it becomes soft and malleable.

Makes a nice big ball, just bigger than your hand. Keeps for months in a sealed container in the fridge. Just add children!

©2012 Housewife Confidential. All Rights Reserved.

I spotted a picture of fabric covered flower pots on Pinterest a while ago. True to form though the link to the source was broken (I won’t even get started on my mixed feelings towards Pinterest!).

This weekend, while buying some herbs for the kitchen garden, I picked up some ranunculus for the kitchen as I just can’t resist their tightly wound petals. When I got them home the notion of fabric covered pots took hold and a little searching led me to this post.

I didn’t read further than the list of equipment as Mod Podge had me stumped. A little more searching and I found it on Amazon. Although it would have taken a mere couple of days to arrive I couldn’t wait and from the description (water-based glue and sealer) I figured trusty old PVA would be a good substitute. Update! I spotted on Kelly’s blog (thanks Jen for the pointer) that she made Mod Podge with 50;50 PVA to water - worth trying as my PVA was a bit thick under the fabric.

Rather than use one piece of fabric for each pot I decided to make mine patchwork with some precious Anna Maria Horner Good Folks scraps I have been hoarding for an indecent amount of time. I like the way they look although there are a couple of mistakes I made in my haste. If you’d like to make a patchwork fabric covered flower pot here’s what to do…

You will need:

• Terracotta flower pots
• Fabric in various colours, enough to cover them with some excess (I used 8 prints)
• PVA glue (or Mod Podge)
• A piece of string, ruler, brush, scissors and newspaper.

Measuring the fabric:

• Use the string to measure the circumference of the top and bottom of the pots as well as the length.
• The length should allow for about 2cm overlap at the top and about 1cm at the bottom.
• Cut your strips to size in a tapering strip (top width = circumference of top of pot ÷ number of strips of fabric then repeat for the bottom allowing for a small overlap) this will avoid large overlaps which cause wrinkles.
• Trim all stray threads and neaten the edges.
• Snip two slits in both the top and bottom edges which you will tuck over each other to give a smooth finish.

Sticking it to the pot:

• Use the PVA sparingly (I used way too much!) to brush over the section you are about to apply fabric to.
• Apply the fabric starting at the bottom and pushing it up towards the lip of the pot.
• As you press the fabric down, push any air bubbles out to the side and smooth wrinkles.
• You want to make sure there is no excess glue at the edges of the fabric as it will form wrinkles when it dries.
• At the top and bottom tuck the outer flaps in toward the middle so there is no bunching.
• Repeat for the next piece of fabric, overlapping the first slightly.
• When all the fabric is on the pots use the PVA to seal it. You want to coat it completely but not leave any big build-ups. Make sure you do the rim and inside before turning it upside down to do the outside.
• Leave your pots to dry overnight. I stood mine on empty jars so they didn’t stick.

Fill an enjoy!

As you will see from the pictures I made plenty of mistakes but the finished product is no less gorgeous. They looked so sweet sat in the sun today, well worth the half hour and sticky fingers!

©2012 Housewife Confidential. All Rights Reserved.

Today I’m over at Violet Posy’s Thrifty Christmas talking about making sourdough starter and loaves to give as gifts this Winter. While we don’t celebrate Christmas we do give gifts as part of our tradition and last year we gave sourdough.

How to make a sourdough starter:

What you need:

-Warm water – spring water is ideal but if you are using tap water boil it first and leave it to stand overnight (gets rid of the chlorine)

-Organic flour. I use unbleached bread flour but many people use rye flour or a combination of the two.

-A jar or glass bowl – scrupulously clean so nothing else gets into the starter.

-Non-metallic tools as the metal can give your culture a weird taste.

Day one: mix 50g warm water and 50g flour in the bowl. Cover with a tea towel and leave somewhere warm but away from hot spots.

Day two: stir in any liquid which has formed on the top. Mix in 50g warm water and 50g flour.

Day three – seven: normally you would throw out half of the starter at this point but as we want a large quantity we won’t. Mix in 100g warm water and 100g flour.

You will start to see bubbles form in your mixture and notice a smell. It can be yeasty but it is also not unusual for it to smell alcoholic or a bit like pear drops. So long as it doesn’t smell rotten you’re all good.

How to make a sourdough starter the easy way:

Buy a San Francisco Sourdough Starter £4.99 but you can be up and running within a couple of days, make unlimited quantities and it has a delicious flavour.

Feeding instructions:

Your starter is hungry fellow, if you keep it out of the fridge most likely it will need feeding daily. If you haven’t made any bread give it 50g of flour and 50g of water but if you have made bread you’ll want to give it a bigger feed of 100g flour and 100g warm water.

In the fridge he can go a few days without feeding but revive and feed 24 hours before making a loaf.

Making a loaf:

175g starter (which has not been fed for 24 hours, feed the remaining starter)

500g strong bread flour

Approx 200-300ml warm water

1 tsp salt dissolved in the warm water

• Mix the starter and the flour together in a bowl.
• Add the salted water a little at a time, mixing through until you have a supple and elastic dough. It may be slightly wetter than a regular dough and that is fine.
• Oil the surface (don’t use flour), turn the dough out and knead for 10 minutes.
• Put the dough in a glass bowl, cover and leave until it has risen by half (depending on the temperature and atmosphere this could be a couple of hours to overnight).
• Once risen, take it out, gently shape it and place it in a well floured proving basket and leave until risen by half again.
• Bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 220°C then turn down the oven to 180°C and bake for a further 20 minutes. You can add a tray of water to the oven to create steam which will improve the flavour.
• The bread should sound hollow when you tap the bottom and smell delicious! Cool on a wire rack wrapped in a tea towel.

We currently make one loaf each day and it is so rewarding and nourishing I hope we never go back.

©2012 Housewife Confidential. All Rights Reserved.

Way back in the depths of Winter, pregnancy and SPD I wrote about the stack of projects I had by my sewing basket. I made a little progress; the quilt got cut, pinned and half sewn before my machine went wonky and my patience out the window.

After making a quick PE kit bag for Milla the night before she started school I felt the return of my need to sew and create. Rather than pick up Monty’s quilt or one of the many projects I have planned or ready to go I decided to dive into something new and make some quick change pants for Betsy.

As she is rather short on comfy trousers it seemed like the perfect project as it yields a fully reversible pair of trousers which is the same as having two pairs in my book. The pattern comes from Anna Maria Horner’s Handmade Beginnings and I broke into my AMH fabric stash to make them.

Choosing the fabrics took me longer than making the pants. In what can only be a moment of genius the combination of prints I chose included flannel, voiles and quilting cottons which, on reflection, could have been more carefully thought out. The initial sewing was a little difficult as the fabrics didn’t move together perfectly but the finished result is more than worth the effort.

Super soft and warm flannel against the crisp, silkiness of the voile is a wonderful contrast. Betsy seems very happy in them and while I was dithering over which elastic to use for the waist she went and learned to crawl which made me dither over the use of voile. So far the voile has withstood Betsy’s exploring and as you can see this girl is quick – I could not get her to stay still long enough to catch some decent shots.

The fit is great although I made the 9 – 12 month size and Betsy fills the very happily at just 8 months. I think next time I make them (and there will be a next time) I’ll serge the interior seams for speed and use a smaller seam allowance around the waist and rise to make them a little baggier.

A little sewing, a little something to protect and wrap up my baby. Yes, I can make more time for this.

Latest post in my review section: Everyday Shoe Shopping with Clarks – explains why Milla is wearing purple.

©2012 Housewife Confidential. All Rights Reserved.

Time was I’d spend entire weekends preserving fruit which we then made into hampers at the Winter Solstice and sent to our friends and family. Almost as soon as I was pregnant with Milla I lost all interest in cooking. A funny anti-craving of my pregnancies is that I have no inclination to create, make or cook. I literally have to force myself to do it. It takes some time but once the baby has arrived my creativity returns in an outpouring of pent up imaginings.

A few weeks ago I saw a post on our local Freecycle group for 3kg of damsons. I sent an email and couldn’t believe my luck when I was offered them. Monty and I set to work on the ‘dam plums’ as he called them (not quite believing me that they were not plums). There were plenty which had turned in the bucket and the juice which was sat in the bottom smelled like it would make amazing wine. Once we had sorted the good fruit into my preserving pan (one the most useful wedding gifts we received) he stood beside me as I set to work.

It’s actually only the second time I have preserved this year, last time I was making marmalade as my friend welcomed his daughter into the world. That post tells me two things: firstly I haven’t done nearly as much preserving as I’d like and secondly that I like sunlight streaming through jam.

Monty was an eager helper happily putting his finger in the jam on my test plate proclaiming it ‘yummy scrummy’. Milla is so excited by writing and words at the moment positively brimming with everything she’s discovering at school. She copied ‘damson jam’ neatly onto each label and it was only afterwards I recalled it was, in fact, jelly.

_____________________________________________________________________

I have to thank you all for the positive response to my baby led weaning project. I have had some lovely emails, comments and most of all tweets. I am especially touched by those of you sharing the video and recommending me to your friends, thank you.

I am working on fixing the issue with the main feed then I will be posting some more recipes later in the week.

©2012 Housewife Confidential. All Rights Reserved.

Having seen the gorgeous invitations Catherine at Bristol Parenting Cafe has made I couldn’t shake the idea from my head. So when it came time to make some invitations for Milla’s birthday I couldn’t resist my own take on Catherine’s designs. The birthday girls have given it their approval which is just as well as Monty woke up and scoffed the strawberries.

I can hardly believe that in little over a month my first baby will turn four. Four? Where did all of that time go? I feel like she’s only just taken her first steps yet here she is ready to step into the next phase of her life. With a place at school for September our days are numbered. Hopefully we will be able to enjoy every last one of them.

©2012 Housewife Confidential. All Rights Reserved.

There are some crazy people lurking on the internet. I remember when I was planning to meet someone from the internet nearly ten years ago now my best friend and my brother tried to stop me. They were insistent that I was making a grave error in judgement. I totally ignored their advice and met the man who turned out to be the love of my life. I’m pretty sure the others think he’s ok now.

So these days I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt. Sure, they could be crazy but they could also be someone really special. One such special person is Kat of Slugs on the Refrigerator. While my nesting instincts involve emptying the contents of my boredom on twitter Kat seems to be having a big clear out. She sent me an email saying she was clearing out her fabric stash and had something she wanted to send to me. Now, at this point I was thinking: ‘Clearly a crazy, how can you give away your fabric?’ but the lure of secret fabric was enough to lower my inhibitions and send my address in return.

The other day a mystery package turned up. I get quite a few mystery packages and having forgotten about Kat’s email I had no clue that the contents of this package were so exciting. Luckily I was sitting down when I opened it or else I would have fainted – inside was a piece of fabric so yummy  I would never have guessed that this is what she was sending. Last summer Kat showed some pictures of sample fabric her sister had sent her, pictures which were swiftly removed as no doubt the fabric was top secret. It was from the much coveted Osborne & Little Quentin Blake collaboration, which at over £30 a metre is the stuff of wild dreams.

While there might be crazies lurking online, for every one of them you meet there will be a hundred wonderful people and one or two gems. Gems like my buddy Kat.

Image in card is Kat’s award winning photography.

©2012 Housewife Confidential. All Rights Reserved.

Second only to splashing in puddles.

©2012 Housewife Confidential. All Rights Reserved.

Milla decided her cat needed a coat.

©2012 Housewife Confidential. All Rights Reserved.

Back into regular life after our little Winter break. I must say I had worried a little about how my body would hold up to being back in sole charge as Mr Kat has taken the lion share of, well, everything. I have trouble with my pelvis when pregnant and while it is manageable for the most part, it is terribly limiting in so many ways. For example, while I can reach my feet (just) I am unable to lift a leg long enough to slip a sock onto my foot such is the pain. I have to think carefully about what we are planning to do on any one day and balance any standing and walking I need to do with long periods of sofa time.

As you can imagine, the children would prefer me to be out and about with them or playing on the floor. I know it is short lived yet it doesn’t stop me feeling sad that they are missing ‘me’ so much. Still, there are many benefits to slowing down and doing things differently. We spend more time reading, they have devised countless new games together, there is more time for creativity and they are napping again. I am a big believer in naps for children and the rising number of days when naps fell by the wayside were bothering me. Not least because I need the afternoon downtime as much as they do.

So we have muddled by. I have used the car more than I would like but on the whole it is working. There has been playing in the rain, dancing in the kitchen, visits from friends (who bring the sweet tulip-y promise of Spring), baking and lots of cuddling.

I have been lifted by every comment, tweet and email you have sent since I wrote about how we celebrate the Winter. In honesty I wasn’t sure about sharing as many folk find it a little peculiar. Thank you to all of my wonderful blog readers, friends, who took the time to add your thoughts and support.

I have been getting regular reminders from Milla about my sewing list with particular reference to the projects which she has commissioned.

The little stacks of fabric in this picture represent four projects. The Cloud9 Forest Friends flannels on top were won in a competition on The Sewing Directory courtesy of Saints & Pinners and are destined to become a sleeping bag for our new little one, hopefully before they put in an appearance. Next down is a piece of Japanese fabric which is intended for a ballet kit bag for Milla. Then we have a stack of Castle Peeps by Lizzy House which I bought from Whipstitch. This is going to be a quilt for Monty’s bed, Milla has one in her Red Letter Day collection which I made last New Year (you can see it here). And finally is a furry tiger print which Milla has told me is going to be a tiger hat and tail, oh my!

There are lots of things to which I should attend but I’m thinking a little sewing in January could be just the ticket.

©2012 Housewife Confidential. All Rights Reserved.