So, so slack!

Oh I'm a terrible blogger! Any sort of conformity and I just chuck it out the door and do my own thing. I'd have to change my whole life to be a good blogger, get up early, blog everyday, be a good wife. But I just don't think I can, so I'll do it when I give it time and feel guilty enough!!

So many projects! I have a little group of women doing upholstery classes with me on Sunday nights, before and afters to come on that front. I have a few chairs I'm working on at the moment and a couple of bedside tables that will need a massive overhaul...

Ok, so Fee's chair is coming along nicely, a big layer of memory foam for her to sit and study on in comfort...

And once the fabric went on it looked fab, then I had to move onto something else...

This chair is part of a set of 4 (one of the 6 broke as I pulled it apart :( so I had to make it a 4 set until I figured out how to fix it, which I have!)

THIS  mammoth beauty is one of a pair. My customer Kate loved the shape and we decided on fabric and away I went...

I had to MAKE the piping, which people find quite scary, I did too, but it's really simple, just a strip of your fabric, a zipper foot and away you go!

I pinned the bejesus out of it all to get it together, all pieces were measured and cut exactly the same (measure twice, cut ONCE and try not to unpick upholstery thread, it sucks butt) then sew sew sew!

This is one of the arms pre padding, pretty chuffed with oneself!

 And voila!!  What a mission to put these babies together! I even did one myself with a tiny bit of help from TJ (I was interrupting Facebook time I think) :) And I broke the table you see here... It now has a huge leftward slope!!

But ultimately the effect was BRILLIANT and Kate got home to a Christmas bonus of her lovely new couches installed Christmas eve! So stoked!!

I was so stoked I tucked into this Christmas gift from a supplier :) well deserved!!

So next will be two of these puppies, a funky, retro Ikea fabric and grey wool felt twist on these is planned, gorgeous shape...

busted butt

And these 1972 'campaign chests' will have a colourful overhaul for ecochic.com.au, the girls have suggested green, red or the new Pantone colour for the year "Tangerine Tango"... hmmm

or

 

decisions, decisions!

So then after all that upholstering, we decided to take Miss 12 to Fiji. Heaven. Really needed and loved the break...

The Pearl South Pacific in Pacific Harbour, Fiji...

Palm tree bliss out...

The happy couple, totally relaxed!

Miss 12 feeling GREAT!

TJ had a tough year in 2011 with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (Idiopathic means they have no idea of the cause, which we discovered, says a lot about following traditional medicine), she had to learn how to walk again 12 months ago, and they weren't expecting things to be easy for the next couple of years. Well they weren't, but we all fought hard with her to beat it. And beat it we did. Last weekend, 12 months after being on crutches, TJ completed the Cole Classic, a 1km swim at Shelley Beach, Manly. Proud of her? YOU BET!! We beat JIA when they said it couldn't be done. 

YAY POO!!!

So on that note, I'm off to cook something FABULOUS for dinner, maybe...

Have a great day reader :) More from this slack ass blogger soon...

Love Sarahxx

Bits and Bobs and a terrible addiction to a staple gun

I think I have damaged my hand with the appalling staple guns that I have been using, nasty manual ones that are over 20 years old in particular.  In fact I think even the electric one I used (killed it in 2 weeks) and the old Powershot (killed it in 3 months, much better staying power) did some damage, and I really haven't been able to staple or even contemplate stapling.... UNTIL NOW!!

Have you met my little friend??  Air compressor staple guns are worth their weight, and set up costs. They last longer, they work faster, harder and with so much gusto I just giggle whenever I pick it up, an evil giggle of unadulterated stapling glee!  LOVE!

So I have FINALLY been able to get on with some of my projects that have laid in wait while my poor nervy hands healed and I acquired my beloved gun!

My friend Fee fell in love with my black Parker chair for her office. After begging me for mine (which I was NOT going to give up because it is soooo comfy) I found her one almost identical on eBay... However, it fell apart. Not to worry, her daddy screwed it all together and it will NEVER fall apart again we hope! But now for the refurbishment...

This is just part one of god knows how many parts to this refurb...

my chair

Fee's chair

So as you can see, it is a 1972 (older than me!) Parker style chair.  It appears to be the original fabric and finishings, latex inner and rubber webbing. It was all worse for wear as I discovered while pulling it all apart...

There are lots of hidden screws, staples and little pin nails, so pulling apart a chair slowly and in reverse from its manufacture is the best way to remember how it all goes back together. I find if you start where you can see staples (usually the underside), it all unfolds before you. Just keep all of your screws together in a container so you can reuse them when it's time to put it all back together again.

My preferred tools of trade are a staple remover, some wire snips that I use to lever out nails and staples, and a screw driver. This one looks deceivingly electric, it's not, someone has lost it's charger, but it has a nice big handle which makes it comfortable to use! I usually do things arse about, and in this case, its with an electric screwdriver with no electric!

Inside the seat it was *blach* nasty, deteriorating latex rubber, full of *yick blach blach* god knows what. I'm not very good with yuck stuff I haven't created myself (my OWN couch, no problems cleaning that, I know what I've done on my couch. Pulling apart a random couch I have no idea what... YUUUUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKKK!!!!)

*blach*

The webbing was also past due, so after throwing out yucky latex, I removed the hessian and the rubber webbing...

By this time, muttly had discovered that the top part of the seat was available and made himself comfortable...

So the reconstruction of Fee's chair has begun, I decided to put on extra webbing for support and we're now just waiting for her lovely fabric to get printed by Cloth Fabric... Lovely!

Now for a side note or two... I don't do high heels much, I like to stomp around too much, but for some reason I was compelled to buy 43 pairs of shoes from eBay, all in one listing, some Gucci, some Enzo, some Calvin... All for $51. I couldn't resist. So now I'm to be seen tottering around my living room in SPECTACULAR heels, and my tracky dacks. Noice look luv... 

And another little project that had laid fallow while my hands healed is my little red and white chair... Finally finished now thanks to my beloved gun!  And for sale if anyone is interested???

So I hope you are all well out there and I look forward to getting another blog out to you soon!

Love Sarahx

Rosti lessons...

Well spring is finally poking its head up and the sun is out, the flowers are blooming and I just can't wait until it is officially here! 


I have managed to spend the day at home with my step-daughter, mostly because she is 'sick' and I just love to be at home during a week day, but also to catch up on some house work. So I'm sitting in the sun blogging :)


My step-daughter, TJ, just loves rosti, she also hates bread and can't really eat it at the moment for health reasons (more on that in the future) so rosti is the nicest thing to start her day in the mornings, but she's not been sure how I cook it... So here goes it!


All you need is potatoes and horseradish cream.  I use whatever potatoes I can get my hands on, but I find mashing potatoes are pretty good, the starchier the better, so they stick together.

I hate peeling (so I make TJ do it) but this recipe is so simple you don't even need to peel the potatoes, just wash and put them into a saucepan and bring it all up to a boil. 

I like to cook them until they are still a little hard in the centre, so depending on how big your tatters are, you can cook anywhere from 10mins to 25mins (we had big suckers so it took 25mins)


It is important to note here that I am an instinctive cook, I rarely do things by the book, and I really rarely pay attention to what I am doing when I cook. Sometimes I get things perfectly right and it tastes great, other times... well... slop is a good description, but it is usually really tasty slop!  Promise I won't subject you to those recipes! Unless you want them!!!

The next part is grate! I leave the skin on, it's ok to have some skin in there, and whatever is left over I give to Loppi the muttly. He's an odd dog, he likes his veges...

Now was the time for TJ to start helping out! We want her to cook it for her Mum! So some practice was needed...  The poking out tongue is a tactical advantage, it helps with precision I believe...

So what you have is a bowl full of grated mushy potato, the starch in the semi cooked bits will make it all quite glutenous and it sticks together well...

I stir in one large tablespoon of horseradish cream, so with three large potatoes that is just enough, a bit more for more potatoes, a bit less for less.  Now would be the time you can add anything you want to your rosti, fresh corn or peas, different flavours, or even a little bit of grated beetroot to make PINK rosti! Pink rosti is COOL MAN!!  I'll show you next time I do it!

I ball it up into fist size patties, squeeze it a bit as you roll, again, you can make your patties smaller or larger, any larger is a little harder to handle though, it smashes up into mash!

Patty cake, patty cake bakers man.... Bake me a rosti as fast as you can!

Ready to rosti! I don't add any flour coating (one recipe I have seen has it dusted in corn flour, but I couldn't be bothered with that extra mess)

Lets fry! Just a bit of oil or butter in the bottom of a hot pan, not much, just a tablespoon or two, as desired. Butter will burn quicker though (but is oh-so yummy!) I start hot, then drop it down to the next heat setting once I have sealed the underside...

Mean while... I always make too much of anything, so I put the rest in the fridge, it will do us for a couple more mornings... I have added brown rice to this mix before, which goes nice and crispy when you fry it off, and makes it go a little bit further!

Starting to go golden! You can flip them a few times to get your desired colour, about 7-10 mins each side with a few flips each.. time to get the rest of the meal done in. You can rosti for any meal too!  We just like it for breakfast!

Tadaaa... (Sorry, terrible blurry shots, I think I have a dirty lens on my phone!!)

As it was a little more of a lunch thing today, we warmed up a little bit of last night's BBQ chook and I added some salsa verde (parsley dip made of lemon, oil, parsley and a whizzer sticky thingy, my best friend)

MMMMM rosti, Sydney Harbour, sun, spring in the air. Bliss

Not so hard! Food is always the best when it is made with love.

I hope you enjoy your rosti!

Sarahx