Around here - Toilet Pods & Other DIY Cleaning Recipes

I have been making my own cleaning products for years and once you have a few ingredients everything is made with similar ingredients.  My recipe for Toilet Pods is from Vitalia in Brisbane and they have lots of online DIY recipes available.

TOILET PODS

INGREDIENTS:-

• 1 Cup Bicarb Soda
• 1/4 Cup Citric Acid
• 1.5 Tablespoons Castile Soap
• 15 Drops of Essential Oils [Vitalia suggest Purify, Lemon or Lemongrass]
• Ice Cube Tray

METHOD:-

1. Stir the bi carb soda and citric acid together until combined.
2. Slowly stir in the castile soap and Essential Oil. Stir until the mixture resembles wet sand.
3. Pack the pod mixture into an ice cube tray and let dry at least four hours. If the mixture expands above the tray, firmly press back down.
4. Once dry, remove the pods from the tray and store in an airtight container.

To use, simply drop 1-2 pods into the toilet, wait until the pod stops bubbling, and scrub away!

Other DIY cleaning recipes I use are my home made laundry washing powder as described in this post. 

Also Miracle Spray recipe which I wrote about.

  I found the Miracle Spray info on Wendy's blog when she was on A Current Affair TV program years ago.  Wendy also had a great blog post on how to clean your home just using dish washing liquid and water which is worth a read.

Around here - 10th August, 2026 - Sewing Diaries

Last week I posted that I had bought myself a new Janomi Sewing machine and was going to make some gifts for my niece's new baby and her 3.5 year old.  I finally turned my spare room into my new sewing room and whilst it's not finished it's now usable for the most part.  I still have to bring my Ikea Bookcase upstairs from the garage which will go into the wardrobe for storage.  I just need to saw a tiny bit of timber off the bottom of the bracket so the bookcase will fit inside the wardrobe however Rome wasn't built in a day as they say.

Onto my sewing adventures for the past week where I made some toddler pants and baby shoes.  I ended up going back to Janomi and buying myself an overlocker something I thought I would never be saying.  I've never had any desire for an overlocker however after sewing the toddler pants and doing an overlocker stitch on the new sewing machine which is time consuming vs an overlocker, I decided it was worth it as Janomi still had their big sale on.  I also got a further discount as the overlocker had been opened and taken out of the box to be photographed but not used.  I ended up getting the Janomi 454D which retails for $1,149 for $499.  This will make finishing edges on clothing so much neater.  Before I walked out of the shop I got a lesson on how to thread the machine and how to use it as one of the main things people say about over lockers is they are difficult to thread and this is where a lot of people come unstuck.

My sewing all started out with wanting to make some toddler pants and the reversible baby shoes for the new baby.  

I made the toddler plants which have two pockets on the back of the pants and to finish off the outfit I popped into Kmart and bought some $2.25 white long sleeve tshirts and appliqued a strawberry onto the front.  This way it's a whole outfit and very cute if I do say so myself.  As they live in Perth where it's very cold I used flannel material for the pants so they will be warm and Spotlight had 50% off flannel when I bought it which was great.  The pattern is called "Picnic Pants" by a New Zealand Mum and you just print it off at home and sticky tape the pieces together which has detailed instructions on how to do this.  You just print the pattern at 100% [ie don't fit to page] on your printer and then make sure the test box on the front is the same measurement which means the pattern is correct size.

I also bought some lables from Amazon to sew into the back

of the waistband to give it a personal touch.

Next up are the baby shoes which are reversible so I bought 4 lots of fabric and the first pair are a dark blue pattern on one side and boats on the other as they live near the beach and I needed a tiny print as the shoes are so small.  This is where I got the pattern for the baby slippers from and this is her instructional video which was brillant.  It says you can make them in 2 hours even if you double the time, basically you can make them in an afternoon. 

As they were tiny they were a bit fiddly I had my laptop with the video instructions next to be which was much better than trying to read the intructions I had printed out.  I did end up making a 2nd pair as the first pair I missed catching a tiny bit of fabric in the sewing and also I used white thread so the 2nd pair I matched it with the navy thread which was much better.  The pattern comes with 6 sizes from newborn to 2 years old.  You just print the pattern at 100% [ie don't fit to page] on your printer and then make sure the test box on the front is the same measurement which means the pattern is correct size.

This is the finished baby shoes and I'm so thrilled with them this is the little boats on one side. 

This is when they are reversed with the dark blue print.

I'm loving having a creative outlet again and a hobby to focus on especially as I now have my dedicated sewing room.  If you have any lovely patterns you have made let me know.

I've also bought this dinosaur pattern and some material to make a dinosaur for the new baby and I have the other two flannel fabrics to make 2 more toddler pants after confirming the size I am sending over is the right size for her.  I sewed the size 3 "Picnic Pants" however she will be turning 4 in a few months so I need to decide whether I make the 3 or the 4 for the next two pants.  According to the measurements her Mum [my niece] gave me the ones I am sending over should be perfect but want to double check before I cut out and make the next two pairs.

Around here - 2nd August, 2025

I've had a very exciting week selecting a brand new sewing machine which was on a 50% off sale at Janomi which meant it was time to sort out the spare room.  In less than 2 weeks I have been in my new townhouse for a year after downsizing from my 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom and 2 livingn areas.  My current spare room looks exactly the same now as the day the boxes were put in there nearly a year ago.  I had boxes of books, photo albums and picture frames an unless there was some sort of storage system there was no point emptying the boxes.  In my last house these things were housed in a big bookcase and tV unit of which I no longer have these pieces of furniture due to space.

Two things happen to coincoide last week and that was my friend is moving house and I was buying a new sewing machine.  I wanted to turn the spare room into my sewing room and also give her some boxes so she could pack up her unit.  I have an Ikea bookcase in the garage which I want to put into the wardrobe however it's 10cm too high as there is a bracket which I need to do a bit of sawing on so it will fit and then it will give me lots of storage for my books and photo albums etc.  The bracket will remain in the cupboard but I'll take out a little piece at the bottom so the bookshelf will fit in there.  Below is my new sewing machine which is very exciting.

I also got all my framed cross stitches out and two tapesties and it was the perfect place to hang them.  My first framed cross stitches were in 1988 and I continued cross stitching for years and I had a post war house and they suited the decor.  Fast forward to 2006 when Sienna was born and then we built a modern house and they didn't really go so they sat in boxes.  Then moved to my next house and I think they were still in bubble wrap away and over the last few years I had a few of them on the wall but most still away.  Now I have a dedicated sewing room it was time to hang them all up and I'm thrilled with them.  My eyesight isn't as good as it was back then when I progressed from Aida to linen which I loved.  I've come the full circle everything old is new again and even though I'm in a modern townhouse my sewing room is the perfect place for all of my craft to hang up.

The photo below shows that the room is still a work in progress hence the ladder and other frames on the floor but this is real life not every picture will be perfect.  

These two cross stitches were done in 1988 on Aida.

My friend who is moving also bought herself a Janomi sewing machine as well.  Her's is a basic model, and mine is a fancier machine as it's good for quilting and has a has a bigger "throat" section.  This is a term I didn't actually know of however it's the distance from the needle to the right of the machine which allows a bigger gap for your rolled up quilt to fit.  My original sewing machine is an Elna and would have to be at least 35 years old and even though I got it serviced last December I never got into quilting my quilt tops because it's a small machine and hard to bunch a big quilt in the space.  I took advantage of the Janomi sale and got the machine which will do me for the next 30 years.  It's so lovely and quiet and it's also computerized so all you need to do is tell it which stitch number you want and it changes the settings for you.  It also can embroider your name etc. which is very cool.

This all came together when I was seeing little "toddler" pants on IG and my niece in Perth is having her 2nd baby this week and found a reversable baby shoe that I wanted to make.  The pattern is here if you are interested.  As for the toddler pants I actually bought a couple of patterns but ended up making this pattern by a New Zealand Mum.  This is the "Picnic Pants" by Danni Rose Designs and here is her pattern.

The other ones I bought was "The Drew Pants"  and here is the link to the Pattern.  Both very cute patterns.

You can print the pattern pieces at home and the first step is to print the first page of the pattern printed at 100% [ie do not use "fit to page" in your print selection] then make sure the box on the front is measuring correct.  For the Picnic Pants as it's in NZ it was a 5cm x 5cm box and if that measures correctly when printed your pattern pieces will be correct.  The pattern comes will all the sizes and the instruction booklet tells you how to open in Adobe Reader and turn off the other sizes so you can just print the size you need.  I printed the pattern pieces out on A4 and then you match the symbols up and then cut out your large pattern pieces.  For the Picnic Pants you cut out 2 x fronts, 2 x backs, 2 by pockets and 1 waist band folded at the seam.  You will need 1 metre of 140cm wide fabric for Size 3.

With the Drew Pants as it's either USA/Canadian their paper type is Letter so when I printed on my A4 printer it was missing the top of the pattern and symbols so I'll have to get it printed at Office Works on the AO size so to start with I ended up doing the picnic pants.  The box on the front is a 1 inch square box to check your print size properly.

Here's the fabric which I got from Spotlight on sale for 3 pairs of pants for my nieces 3 year old and then I've got blue fabric for the baby slippers which has ships and fish as they live near the beach and it was the only fabric I found in blue that had a tiny print on it as the shoes are so tiny.

Last night I was keen to get going and cut out all the pieces and started sewing and then my cotton came out of my needle and I couldn't work out how to get it back in.  The machine has an automatic needle threader so it needs to be hooked around certain things and then you press the button down and it threads the needle [great for my old eyes ha ha] however I just couldn't work out what I was doing wrong so I called it a night and thought I would look with fresh eyes this morning.  I'm going to make 3 pairs of pants/trousers for my nieces 3 year old but thought I would make one pair first and send it over to make sure it's the right size then make the other two.  Once I make the first pair of pants I'll make the reversible baby shoes size 0-3 months which apparently take 2 hours.   Once you have the pattern pieces cut out for the Picnic Pants apparently they take about 30 minutes.  Regardless of that, even if you doubled the time it's still an easy project to do one afternoon and very cute.

I never made my kids clothes but I did make them both a quilt each here and here which they loved.  This was when I gave it to Sienna for her birthday and she was thrilled.

I'm excited to get back into this sewing hobby and having a new machine certainly makes it easier.  They have free lessons as many as you want and you just need to book in and turn up with your machine.  Do you have any great sewing patterns you are into at the moment, let me know.