Merry Kaftanmas

I decided not to travel anywhere this Christmas, because travelling at Christmas is nuts and we always do it. It involves hours in a plane, and then hours in a car or train, or else 8 hours in a car south or 15 hours in a car north, and last Christmas we did BOTH families over 7 days both north and south which was just ridiculous, so this year I stayed home and spent Christmas Day with my Spoolette friend Amanda and her husband.



Amanda recently made a kaftan - and it was fabulous, and not in a hippy, folk singing, creepy, key-swapping way either. When it was decided that I would gatecrash Christmas, she declared Christmas to be Kaftanmas and holy crap what's a girl to do but join in? I mean, in Canberra it's likely to be hot and sunny and we are both originally from Queensland so a kaftan is all shades of perfect for Christmas attire.





I fully embraced the concept of making the kaftan, and then realised that any shapeless kaftan on me could make me resemble Demis Roussos without the beard and the eyebrows, and a lady can't have that for Kaftanmas. Luckily I realised that Simplicity 2929 (and here I go again) View B is perfect for kaftanning it up, so I bought some blood orange tropical voile from Remnant Warehouse and I was off.



Whoo! Kimono sleeves!

I cut the dress out on Tuesday night and I sewed it up on Wednesday afternoon after I'd finished work. It took me exactly 2 repeats and 4 songs of the latest Hilltop Hoods album which would be, I don't know, about 2 hours? Except for the slash at the centre front neckline, this view is a lot less fiddly that my usual version D or E.



Look I'll be honest here and tell you that I don't think this is really my style. Especially not in tropical prints. But on Christmas Day it was perfect to wear - we had a very hot, extremely humid day, and if it hadn't rained so much we'd have been sitting in the park across the road so the cover up on my shoulders and arms was a lot better than my usual sleeveless style. This dress was very cool to wear, extremely comfortable, and we managed a lot of eating, drinking, more eating and even did a jigsaw puzzle before I went home and collapsed in a hot sweaty heap. And then jumped up again and got the tripod out and took photos of my kaftan for Kaftanmas. Hence the wrinkles. But it's held up pretty well I think! I wore it out to dinner with friends on Christmas night and it was still going strong and the elastic around the waist got a good workout throughout the day with all that food.



The centre front slash I did is not perfect, but the print hides a million sins. I also slightly pressed down the neck opening because I can't stand shirts that flap around and can't make up their minds as to whether they are open or closed. Or both. I'm tempted to put a closure on the neck for future sun protection - and it actually looks quite nice closed up.

I think this is the last Simplicity 2929 I will make for a while - time to try some new dress patterns. Although I will always end up going back to this one I think. It's so versatile.



Merry Kaftanmas!

Hearts open, beach closed

We're in Queensland for Christmas. A wonderful day was had yesterday with our immediate family, which includes my sister-in-law's parents. Last night we came back to the beach and slept to the sounds of a big surf and noisy geckos.

I haven't slept so well in weeks.

Today we are confined to the pool. A cyclone and a king tide combined to hide the beach and the rockpools at Alex. In 35 years of staying here I've never seen it look like this.

December 24

I'm looking forward to the rattle of tiles later tonight when Santa lands on the roof. Mind the solar hot water system, Santa!

Merry Christmas to one and all. I have a lot to be grateful for this year, and I'll be giving thanks all day.

December 23

Oh, we're getting so, so close to the big day!



Last night I broke one of my molars on a candy cane. Candy canes have been henceforth banned from my house. Luckily for me it was a tooth that already had a death sentence after a dodgy root canal 16 years ago. It's been patched up for Christmas and will be extracted in the new year. Something to really look forward to! Ha!

They were delicious candy canes though. Very fruity. But teeth-killers, yes.



Today I want to talk about Christmas tunes. I love to sing and play music, and I also love having Christmas songs on the stereo while I'm wrapping, baking or otherwise pottering. A few years ago I invested in a 3 CD of set of golden oldies. I absolutely love these CDs and they're on high rotation at my place. Nobody croons a tune like Dean Martin, in my opinion!



Of course in this Glee-lovin' household we can't go past a Glee Christmas album or two. Gets ya dancin'.



And based on a recommendation on Twitter, I picked up the She & Him Christmas album today at my local record store. It is so very good. I've been a long-time fan of She & Him, but to have this Christmas album of theirs on the stereo at the moment is the fondant on my Christmas cake! The brandy in my custard!



The star on my tree!

December 22

For several years I've tried to keep to a theme for how I wrap Christmas gifts. Most years have involved brown paper and a variety of different ties - ripped Christmas fabric, gardening jute (in green! Of course!) or plain-old kitchen twine with a fancy vintage tag added.

Usually the Mister protests at my rather austere wrapping, especially when it comes to wrapping gifts for little kids who don't understand frugal sensibilities and spartan view points. So I leave the kid's wrapping paper up to him.

This year I embraced red and white as my colour themes, and so the search was on for some nice, inexpensive white glossy paper. Which is apparently impossible. I had my eye on easel paper that comes in rolls, but what Officeworks provided me was something much, much better.



Flip chart paper. Yes. 50 sheets for $14. I have probably used about 3 sheets in total so far. Combined with some manilla mailing tags (also from Officeworks) and red and white baker's twine, I'm set for Christmas wrapping.



Add in to the equation the cutest rubber stamp ever. Krafty Kuka showed me her reindeer stamp and I fell in love with it. Then she got me one of my own. Isn't she nice? I think so.



The Mister found some cool Koala wrapping for the kids.



It's a little tree, but it has a lot of heart.

December 21

Despite my best intentions to try to blog for the advent blog-a-long almost every day, my day job has been so busy I've been left a tired mess each night who can barely rustle up dinner, let alone another Christmas cake and a blog post.

And now I have some kind of flu thing and am off work, so have all the time in the world to blog! Ha!



I've been wanting to tell you about the outcome of the Christmassy treat swap which was held last week.These are the little Christmas cakes from the other day that I made for the swap, all pretty wrapped in tissue paper I'd stamped with a cute leaping reindeer, and tied up with baker's twine.



There were seven friends in all, and we all shared an amazing supper together to the point of explosion. Quiches, trash dip, tartlets, lemon curd pie, and a Danish almond creamy dessert which was so good. Oh my. And then at the end of the night when we didn't think we'd be able to move anymore, let alone look at food, we put all our treats on the table, and swapped.





There were ginger biscuits, rocky road, brownies, spritz and salted caramel. Danish treats and caramel almonds.



There were jars of homemade vanilla essence and jars of cherry jam.



And at the end of it all, I took home a massive box of treats which we are trying to enjoy in moderation (and failing). I'm saving the cherry jam for my toast on Christmas morning.



It was such a great idea by our hostess to have a swap like this. We get to try all kinds of things we wouldn't normally have the opportunity to, and spend a lovely evening in each other's company. You can't beat it!

I've joined Car's Advent blog-a-long. Check out the other blog-a-longers!

December 13

A friend is soon holding her second annual Christmassy Treats swap.



We make enough treats to swap with six other people, and share a meal together. Such a wonderful night we had last year. I am getting so excited! (The treats are mostly organised, but what should I make for the meal?)


I've joined Car's Advent blog-a-long. Check out the other blog-a-longers!

December 12

I've been making Christmas fruit cakes. Lots and lots of cakes. Two for family, two for friends, one for the cleaning lady, one for us ... and then there are also eight miniature Christmas cakes for a Christmas swap, and a couple of people in my team.

Luckily it's an easy recipe. The hardest part is having a hot oven in a hot kitchen on a hot day, but December hasn't been hot yet so it's all good.



For the little cakes, I divided a batch by four. Four little tins.



Into the oven.



And then out again, ready for giving away.



Michelle's Christmas Fruit Cake

1 cup sugar

440 g tin crushed pineapple, with a few tablespoons extra water swirled around the tin and put in the saucepan

500 mixed fruit

1 teaspn bicarb soda

1 teaspn mixed spice

125 g butter

not quite 1 cup plain flour

not quite 1 cup SR flour

3 tablespns cocoa powder

2 eggs

Place sugar, pineapple (and extra water), fruit, bicarb, mixed spice and butter in saucepan. Gently bring to boil while melting butter, stirring often. Boil for 3 minutes. Let cool.

Sift flours and cocoa together, add eggs and cooled fruit mix and stir till combined.

Spoon into greased and lined 8 inch round tin (I used a spring form tin)

Place in 175-180 degree oven for 60 minutes. Lower temp to 150 and bake for another 15 - 30 mins. Cake is cooked when skewer comes out clean. Cool in tin for 20 minutes, then turn onto cooling rack.

If you are going to make mini cakes, this recipe makes four of them. They take a little less time to cook (baked 4 at a time), but just play it by ear. The skewer should be almost clean by the time you turn down to 150 degrees.

I've joined Car's Advent blog-a-long. Check out the other blog-a-longers!

December 8

I finally had a minute spare this afternoon to work out how to hang my crackstars in a Christmas garland.



Take some bakers' twine, and a yarn needle, and find a gap in the stars. Thread. Repeat.



The twine has enough thickness to prevent the star from sliding along the garland.



Then hang, over a doorway. With that Christmas crafting staple, Bluetac.



I had it a lot lower than this, but the tall husband kept hitting it with his head so I had to raise it.

I've joined Car's Advent blog-a-long. Check out the other blog-a-longers!

December 5

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before how much I love Christmas.

I love all the fuss and bother of Christmas cooking and wrapping presents. I love setting up the Christmas tree and writing Christmas cards. I love it all.

I'm not such a fan of the last minute "we must catch up before Christmas" gig, but that's only because it's as if people think the world will end on Christmas Day, when really having a BBQ in January would be much more sensible.

Anyway. Where was I? Yeah - loving Christmas.


On Sunday we drove out to Bredbo to take a look at The Christmas Barn. A friend of mine works there and when we had lunch last week she suggested that it was not a bad place for a Christmas lover like me. Plus Bredbo is the home of the Best Pancakes Ever. The other half was convinced to take a Sunday drive on the promise of pancakes alone.


Pancakes eaten, we went next door to the Christmas Barn. It was amazing. The other half said hello to my friend and then had a conniption over the over-the-top Christmassiness of it all, and went and sat in the car to listen to the cricket. His loss.



I gravitated straight to the red and white section as those are my theme colours this year. But the rest of the barn was something to behold.



I'd never thought of a Christmas tree with antlers before. Not too sure I'm a fan, but it's certainly quirky. I really love those red berries though.

I bought a few red and white ornaments, include the vintage tear drop style that we used to have on our Christmas tree when I was a little girl. I also finally found a star which suits the tree we have. I'll be back again next year, by which time I hope I'll have a larger Christmas tree at home, and I'll get more special ornaments to dress it with.



Maybe not dolls though.

I've joined Car's Advent blog-a-long. Check out the other blog-a-longers!

December 3

Late afternoon lap swimming.

This, to me, is summer. Always has been, always will be.

I hope my togs dry before early morning lap swimming tomorrow.

December 2

More crackstars.

More colours.

More fun.

December 1

Today is the first day of December, and despite the bone-chillingly cold temperatures we had this morning, I do think it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. And smell. And taste. And sound.

I love Christmas. Can you tell?

I have decided to join in with Car at Carrose Creations for an Advent Blog-a-long so that I can share some of the things I'm doing with summer now here, and Christmas coming so soon. Come and join in!

A couple of weeks ago we had a Brown Owls Christmas crafting session where we learned to make German folded stars, amongst other lovely crafty delights. I loved making these stars. I've never been a paper crafter, but this is something I got right into.

I'll come clean - I got addicted to making them. My friends call them "crackstars" and they're not wrong.

I decided to decorate the house with red and white stars this year. Crazy. I have no time for this! But I bought some more paper strips on Etsy, and after a particularly awful day on Tuesday, I made 12 more stars in an evening in order to get out of my funk. Such great therapy.

Speaking of red and white, don't these loganberries look divine in their white bowl? We've been growing a loganberry plant for a couple of years, but this year is the first where it has borne fruit. They are delicious - juicy, sweet yet tart. I stand at the kitchen sink, rinse a few in my hands, and eat them whole.