Let's go fly a kite......

 

Kite flying............I had forgotten how much I loved this as a child.

 Sitting back and watching my five year old enjoying the pull of the string and instinctively moving with the kite....what could be better?

Hats on for Winter sunshine

Some winter sunshine and less sniffling meant we could head out for some park time.
New hats firmly on heads we tromped and romped and enjoyed the fresh air.

With a new beanie completed Big Pickle was happy to pass the beloved orange one across to his brother. This grey one was the first ribbed one I started but had to put aside when I ran out of wool and could not find another ball of that shade of Cleckheaton Country yarn anywhere. In a brave first for me I decided to insert coloured stripes. The hard bit was picking up all the stitches after I pulled it back - I definitely do not like picking up stitches on ribbed knitting - but from there it was surprisingly easy.

 Oh, how this boy loves to roam. Find him a big, wide open space and he's happy and this mama is very happy watching him wander in these Reversible corduroy Quick Change Pants that will soon be too short. Lucky there are two new pairs due to come off the sewing table in the next few days.

Home from the park it was time to get some baking back in the biscuit jars. My jamdrops usually have just one jammy bit but I saw these in a recipe book and couldn't resist. Far more time consuming but extra yummy.

Rainy Sunday Souping and Sewing

 The rain fell steadily all day...perfect for a day of sewing and soup.

Now if I'm completely truthful I would have to admit that there was actually more cleaning, reorganising, de-cobwebbing and knitting than sewing happening but I was in a sewing frame of mind certainly.
Mostly I prepared to make two pairs of reversible pants for Little Pickle. Cut out yesterday, today I prepared the pockets and deliberated over which combinations I like best.

Would it be blue on green or blue on blue?
  

Red on red or blue on red?
 

Excuse the colour variations here my camera and I are really not getting along lately....

 I just love these pocket fabrics. The one with trams is one of two colourways I bought from the fabulous Superbuzzy and I used this one previously for a pair of funky jeans for Big Pickle and had just enough left for these two pockets. The other is a Beetle clad drill I picked up on a sneaky visit to Patchwork on Central Park. All my visits there are sneaky as they are never in the budget, never really needed and happen because it is irresistibly positioned around the corner from my brothers house.
 

These two were from a range at Spotlight that I bought several pieces of and have been waiting too find the right use for. I resisted temptation the other day when I saw the whole range on their clearance table for $4-$5 a metre........thinking that may have been a mistake.

So basically the jury is still out at least overnight. I'll decide and construct tomorrow....and I'll show you when they are done.

These new warm double layer woolen pants came back to the sewing table today as they had their first run the other day but had a tendency to slip down over Little Pickle's ridiculously small jock clad bottom. Despite that he looked very spiffy with a brown top and camel knitted vest. I call them his Gene Kelly pants as he looks like he should break into a masculine tap dance when wearing them.
The boys and I have been exploring some old dance clips on Youtube and whilst you can't deny the engaging talents of Fred Astaire I have to say that Gene Kelly really floats my boat and he sure knew how to wear a fitted knit with a nice pant. See what you think:

The outer fabric for those pants is a gorgeous blue and chocolate brown large houndstooth print that i picked up on my first visit to a wonderful fabric store called Gail B (don't be deterred by their no frills website). Intriguingly positioned at the back of a tile shop, you actually go into the tile shop and then through a doorway at the back of the store, this place is an amazing treasure trove of great fabric at really good prices. If you haven't been you must make the discovery.

Now to the soup. I found myself craving tomato soup and I also had a fennel bulb needing to be used so I came up with this:

Tomato & Fennel Soup

1 fennel bulb finely chopped
2 medium red onions or 8-10 red escalots or 1 large brown onion finely chopped
2-4 garlic cloves crushed
4 sticks of celery finely chopped
4-6 sprigs of thyme, leaves removed from stalk
4 sprigs rosemary, leaves removed from stalk and chopped

Heat some olive oil in heavy based soup pot and then add above ingredients to pan. Saute until soft.
Then add tomatoes. What you use here will depend on where you are, what's in season or what access you have to homemade passatas or sauces. I used:

10 small gourmet tomatoes ( a few black russians and some locally grown hydroponics)
1 bottle of my sister-in-law's passata
A few glugs of my mums pasta sauce
1 tin whole organic romas

I also added about 2 cups of vegetable stock and 2 very big handfuls of flat leaf parsley chopped, stalks and all.
Season to taste.

Bring to boil and then simmer for around 20 mins.
Allow to cool slightly then puree or blend.

Serve with a  dollop of sour cream and some parsley.
Cool slightly then puree.