Mod Podge keepsake

I am sure I am not the only parent, that even before their baby was born, has collected a few keep sakes which somehow relate to their little one. And I am sure, not unlike me, likes to display them in their nursery. In fact I am sure this is part of the magic of decorating a nursery.

For me, once we had decided on a name for Mr B, almost everything I saw with his name on it became something I must own! However, by far the most precious keep sakes are those you find or which have been someone else's before. My mother in law has given me lots of precious things which meant a lot to her or her Mum and I shall also cherish them for Mr B. 

Last week, Mr J was paying for his bus ticket and realised the 50p he was going to pay with was a special edition coin to commemorate Benjamin Britten. I am sure most will know that he is a famous composer and was local to Suffolk. As a couple, we stayed in the town on the coast where he is buried. Mr J obviously kept the coin and I decided to keep it safe by framing it for his nursery.

I had a pot of fabric Mod Podge and some left over material from a pair of dungarees I made for Mr B. I brought a basic box frame from Wilkos for £3 and used to material and glue to jazz it up a bit.

For those who don't know, Mod Podge is a glue which is great for creating layers on fabric, picture napkins, decorative papers and can give a leather like look once you have built your layers up.

To make it extra special, I searched the internet for some of Benjamin Britten’s music scores and found one called This Little Babe, which I felt was quite apt. 

It's now in pride of place on Mr B’s nursery wall and I will keep it safe for him for many years to come. 

Simple Quilted Cake Mixer Cover

I have had my trusty kMix cake mixer several years now and for some unknown reason I have never made a cover for it! Since moving into a home we own I have had a strong desire to personalise it and fill it with lovely handmade things. Every evening when Mr B goes to bed I get out my sewing machine and sew sew sew until sometimes the early hours. It's like an addiction! 

I have recently made some bunting for the kitchen and had some left over material. So I decided to make a coordinating mixer cover. 

This is a very basic pattern and suitable for most kMix/KitchenAid style mixers. It is a really simple design and pattern, but it will be the quilting which takes the time. You can omit the quilting by using something like iron on interfacing to give the structure as compared to the quilting, which does give shape and reinforcement to an item. 

Requirements:

1 meter fabric for outer cover

1 meter fabric for lining

1 meter sew-in wadding

5 meters double fold bias tape in coordinating colour

Thread

Other essentials such as scissors, needles, ruler, marker, pins, sewing machine, etc.

This cover can be reversible. So if you want a change in look every now and then, choose a pretty lining fabric.

Method:

From main fabric, lining, and wadding, cut the following:

    2 pieces each -  16"(L) by 11"(W) for the front and back panels

    1 piece each - 36"(L) by 16"(W) for the main body

For the front, back and main body panels, sandwich the wadding between the lining (wrong side up) and the main fabric (right side up). Use a few pins to secure. 

Quilt the panels as desired. (In my cover, the horizontal and vertical lines are about 1 - 1 1/4" apart.)

On a piece of a4 paper draw an arc and cut it out. Use this piece of paper as a guidebook shape your panel and then trim the edges. Trim the main body to 34 3/4" (L) by 15" (W).

To assemble the cover:

Start with the front panel.  Find and mark the center of the curved top.  With lining sides together, match the center of one long edge of the main body panel with the center of the front panel.  Pin together starting from the top, then go down the sides.  Machine sew using a 1/4" seam allowance. Do the same with the back panel.

Apply bias tape to the front and back seams.  Finish off by applying bias tape along the bottom edges.

I had hoped to have finished mine by this evening but alas my quilting has taken me MUCH longer than expected. So I shall update the blog in a couple of days with my finished piece. 

This is my first attempt at trying to describe a sewing pattern and I know as a beginner that photos of each stage and sometimes a downloadable pattern are really useful. So apologise for not so much of that this time round, but I shall include those next time. Happy sewing! 

Mid Week Moussaka

This is the first of a series of recipes which use pre prepped, batch meals which you can make at leisure at the weekend or in the slow cooker and freeze to use at a later date. I did a lot of batch cooking whilst pregnant with Mr B and this continued for the first 6 months of his life as it was the best way to ensure that Mr J and I had proper food, without me having to slave over a hot stove whilst Mr B needed me elsewhere. 

In this mid week moussaka I use tomato based mince which I have batch cooked in the slow cooker (I will blog my recipe at a later date) and froze into portions to use at a later date. This is a great meal to use up that left over Bolognese or Ragout you have sitting in the bottom of the freezer. It's great for the whole family and I use an array of little hand friendly veggies compared to all aubergine or potato to create the layers. This offers variety and different textures and flavours. It's also suitable for a baby led weaning approach as well as spoon feeding as it can easily be mashed or chopped up. 

Serves 4

Your usual tomato based mince recipe, enough to feed 4

½ large aubergine cut into 1cm slices

1 large courgette cut at an angle into 1cm slices

3 large mushrooms cut into 1/2cm slices

1 large baking potato cut into 1/2cm slices

Splash of olive oil

1 tbl spoon unsalted butter

1 tbl spoon plain flour

¾ pint whole milk

Handful of grated cheese

1 large tomato cut into 1/2cm slices

Preheat your oven to 180-200

Slice all your veggies and fry off in a frying pan with a little olive oil omitting the potato. This is to colour them and also cook off a little moisture so you don't end up with a soggy bottom in your moussaka. 

Make a basic white sauce by melting your butter, adding the flour and working it into a paste. Add the milk drop by drop until you have a smooth consistency and continuously stir until the mixture comes to the boil. Grate your cheese and slice the tomato. 

We are now ready to layer up. Start with your potato in a lightly oiled dish. The potato will soak up all the lovely juices and cook well at the bottom. Then put on a layer of mince, then followed by a layer of the mixed veg.

Layer again with the mince, then top with the White sauce, cheese and tomato. Finally pop in a preheated oven at about 180-200 for 20-30 minutes or until the potato has softened and the mince is bubbling. 

Mamas & Papas Tour 2 Buggy Review

With our first family holiday creeping up fast, all I have been able to think about is what we will need to take and how we will fit in all in the car! Typically my beloved Quinny Buzz Xtra pushchair has a small fault which was causing concern as to whether it would make the trip. So while I am waiting on a part to fix that issue, I bit the bullet and invested in a buggy, something I had been thinking about for a while.

Like all parents, I find getting out the house hard enough without having to lug the pushchair out and back in the car when at home for a quick trip to the shops or post office. Also when going on holiday you need something more compact and lighter than your usual pushchair. I spent an evening looking through my preferred baby retailers and opted for Boots as the buggy was on offer and I also had enough Advantage Card points. You will also soon discover I love nothing more than a bargain and there is no better bargain than FREE!

I ordered before 6pm and it was ready in store to collect fro, 12pm the next day! 

It was really easy to assemble, just the two front wheels to pop on and a couple of cable ties to remove before unfolding it ready for use. 

It features a 5 point safety harness which allowed it to fit snug and comfortably for Mr B. 

Mr B giving it the seal of approval with a lovely grin. 

Mamas & Papas Tour 2 Buggy in Deep Teal 

Pros:

Lightweight (7.4kgs)

Comes with a full rain cover, larger hood and an integrated sun visor

Easy to carry with a carry handle when collapsed

A smooth ride for a buggy

Large seat

Easy to use adjustable back rest to lay flat for sleeping

Supportive backrest 

Compact umbrella fold

Large shopping basket 

Cons:

A little tricky to manoeuvre with one hand (I'm one of those calls, texts, reads emails, checks social media while pushing a pram).

The handles are slightly high for me (I'm 5ft 5”), so initially my arms ached a little but after a while they got used to the position. 

Though advertised as suitable from birth I  feel it best suits a baby of 6 months+.

Overall I am really happy with the buggy. Mr B enjoyed his trip to the shop and it was nice for me not to have such a heavy bulky pushchair for such a small journey. The large shopping basket is great because the one on my pushchair is a little limited. I love colour, even thought it isn't purple (my favourite). It fits perfectly in my cupboard under the stairs and also in the boot of my car. I had forgotten how big it can be! 

Baby Friendly Veggie Lasagne

I like to do family meal times as many night of the week as we can. Most often it is better when Mr J is having a day off as after work, it can make it a little late for Mr B. As we have started offering more baby led meals compared to puree recently, I tried adapting my Veggie Lasagna into a baby friendly version. This was a family favourite before Mr B arrived and I feel it's really important to get him eating what we do, to make it easier for me as well as introducing him to as many flavours and textures as possible.

Serves 4 adults 

1 red onion cut into wedges

3 large mushrooms cut into thick slices

1 courgette cut into thick slices at an angle

2 large carrots cut into thick slices at an angle

1 pepper cut into wedges

4 large florets of broccoli cut into tiny hand sized pieces

2 tins of chopped/plum tomatoes 

1 tin of red kidney beans

Lasange sheets

1 baby organic vegetable stock cube (Boots or Waitrose)

Pepper

Basil 

Olive oil

3/4 pint of whole milk

1 tbl spoon unsalted butter

1 tbl spoon plain flour

Handful of grated cheese 

Preheat oven to 180-200 fan

Chop all veg and soften in olive oil in a saucepan over a medium heat for 10 minutes. Add tomatoes, beans, stock cube, pepper, herbs and simmer for 20 mins until veg has softened.

Make white sauce whilst the veg cooks. Melt butter over a low heat in saucepan and add flour, stir well until the butter and flour come together into a ball. Gradually add the milk a little at a time, stirring constantly to stop the sauce sticking and to work out any lumps. 

Layer in a large oven dish the pasta sheets, vegetables and white sauce. Finish the layers with white sauce and top with grated cheese. Bake in a medium to hot oven for 30 minutes, or until pasta has cooked. 

It was very much enjoyed by all! 

Mr B's Book Box

After having a rejig of our living room to make room for our guests at our sons and forth coming christening, as well as free up some storage space for my husbands largely expanding Lego collection, Mr B's books needed a new home.

After seeing a lovely little upcycle on thehomethatmademe.blogspot.co.uk I thought I would have a go at my own version.

I have just discovered eBay (I know I'm about a decade too late) but I found a perfect wooden crate, pre painted white which was perfect for the look I was going for, on the Sue Ryder charity eBay site. They sold three different sizes and I opted for the large which was perfect for babies little as well as large picture books. It cost about £15 and was delivered in just a few days, really good service.

To personalise it a little I decided to add some blackboard paint on the front so I could customise it with Mr B's name and Mr J was to do a little doodle on it. Mr B has just discovered In The Night Garfen and the Ninky Nonk fitted in well with the text. 

As the slats on the bottom of the crate were large enough for the books to slip through, I felt a little handmade liner was in order. By using the same material I lined his toy basket in (blog post to follow) and some thin wadding, I tried my hand at quilting to give a more handmade feel as well as give the liner stability to take the weight of the books. 

You will soon discover that my current love is my sewing machine and I have lots of patterns to share with you. 

Let's skip to the start...and enjoy a banana and avocado muffin!

Hi, I'm Sarah and welcome to my new blog, Make a House a Home.

I live in Cambridgeshire with my husband, Mr J and my baby, Mr B. We moved into our first home we own together in February 2015 just weeks before Mr B arrived and as you can imagine, it's has been hectic! It is only now really, 6 months later that we have started to make our house a home.

In this blog I want to share with you my makes, bakes and pictures I take. It will give you an insight to lots of different aspects of my life and I'm sure you will soon realise that my family and my home are inspiration for my creativity.

I have LOTS to back track on also, but for now though, here are some banana and avocado muffins…

We are currently weaning Mr B as he is 7 months old and this week we have ramped up the baby led weaning aspect. Already I have made carrot muffins this week which went down a treat with the whole family (recipe for those next time I bake them).
I had an avocado and a banana which looked a bit sad a lonely so here is my recipe for baby friendly banana and avocado muffins.

1 ripe banana
1 ripe avacado
75g melted butter (unsalted)
150g SR flour
1 egg
½ tsp cinnamon
1-2 splashes of whole milk

Preheat oven to 190°C. Peel & finely chop/mash the banana and avocado.
Add the flour, cinnamon, egg and melted butter and mix thoroughly.
Add a splash or two of milk to create a smooth batter.
Spoon the mix into cake cases and bake for around 15 minutes.

Super quick, super simple and super healthy as there is no added sugar. Enjoy!