Felt like it

Pip is having a felty craft along. I thought I'd share one of our favourite felty toys - little Steiner finger puppets. Lovely craft to do with felt. I love the plait at the back of her head! Miss 2 thinks she is a treasure, so keeps her up on a shelf, only to play with at special times. She's lovely. We call her Daisy. For a great tutorial to make your own Steiner doll, go here!

j

Christmas Angels and Generous friends

OK - so two wholly unrelated items that squish into one post. I have been absent for some time - got a new computer from Santa, and have been lax about setting it up... Bloglines is heaving under the pressure of the unread posts. Must investigate this Google Reader business soon (slow on the techno uptake, I know...)

Sewing has been my saving grace this week! School term ended, extra-curricular classes winding up, parties to attend and school bags to clean out (how long has this "insert any fruit" been here?!)

A wonderful friend shared a pattern for a three-tiered skirt with me some time ago. After my disastrous luck with patterns, I left it for a long time, untouched, with all the others... However certain fabrics were calling me, and claiming to belong together, so I had to respond.


Miss 2 looked so cute, I had to whip one up for a friends wee babe who has just recently started walking. Two in one afternoon?! Wow, an easy pattern! So Two more in the wings for a bestie's little lass who turns two in Jan, and for Niece PP who also is now a walking doll. Who else can I make them for? Pattern only goes up to a size 4! Love it though.



'Tis the season for op-shop fairy goodness too. The lovely Kootoyoo shared her op-shop goodness and sent me this coffee pot (a while back, photo just hid, sorry Kirsty!) Isn't it magnificent? Love it, thanks so much Kirsty.


Also a dear friend in South Australia sent me this fabulous vintage table cloth of Canberra (which clearly needs to be ironed!) Thanks Em!


Hope your Christmas plans are in full swing -

J

And atop the tree...

Is it a star, symbolising the star that led the wise men to the stable?

Is it an angel, who appeared to the shepherds to tell them of the birth of the baby Jesus??

No! Master Six chose this instead for our festive tree topper...

Let's hope that the meaning of Christmas becomes a little clearer as advent progresses!

Speaking of advent, look at this perfectly simple advent calender by Kootoyoo: brilliant Kirsty!

J

Inventive Advent

Check out these lovely recipes that form an advent calender here.

I am off to buy some Chocolate Royals to make these!



Clickety click!! Go on, they're magnificent!

J

Photo tag

I have been tagged by the fabulous Life In The Dome for a photo meme. This lovely peep has lots of feathered friends. I miss my chooks so much, and am currently awaiting news from the Murrumbateman Poultry Farm to see if we are 'expecting'! Exciting!

However, digression aside.

The rules of this meme are:

Go to your sixth picture folder in your picture file on your computer
Pick your sixth picture
Try to remember the details
Post it on your blog

So here 'tis...
A night of sewing when I was making picnic/tea party sets for a Canberra toy store. Alas they didn't sell as well as the (cheaper) mass-produced, sweat-shop ones, and no more of mine were ordered. All part of the journey though!

What is in your sixth and sixth Curlypops?

j

Found here.

What a fantastic tote! She has a tutorial attached to this post, so click on over and see where it takes you!

Now if I can find a tea towel from 1974....

If you don't like tea towels, click on over to Cindy for a Week of Nanna here!

Hooray!

j


.

Yesterday was ridiculously busy. I was up with the birds (before the kids!) making and baking for the school fair. I blew up the food processor making the five minute orange cake, (not good to see smoke coming from an appliance and not act on it...), made more gingerbread people (kids ate the whole first batch while they were cooling), finished off button necklaces, and a scarf, and loaded the car with toys and books and headed to the school.

The day was wonderful and the school raised over $20,000. However I got home too pooped for Bloglines and forgot to post the winner of the giveaway!!!

Master 6 is in love with random.org and has been creating lists and lists of random numbers all morning. Aspergers' kids generally do love numbers, and he is certainly typical of the condition!

Anyway, here goes: Drum-roll.....

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

6 14

Congratulations Katie - please email me your details on
jess2jamesATyahooDOTcomDOTau so I can send you the sewing
stuff!

Congratulations also Bellgirl - please also email me your
details so I can send you the house.

The recipes are:

Toss baby spinach leaves and baby rocket together (or for the easy
option, buy it premixed),
Add some chopped up feta, cucumber and capsicum.
Then throw a small tub of sundried tomatoes and olives in with the
juice to dress it.

YUM! Easy and delicious.

#2 was a reminder of my dear, dear friend Wendy in Melbourne, who
always has a packet of Changs fried noodles on hand.

This is a Zingy Spinach Salad

Ingredients

1 bunch of spinach
1 packet of Changs Fried Noodles
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 packet slivered almonds or pine nuts – toasted

SAUCE
½ cup raw sugar
¼ cup vinegar
¼ Cup Fountain garlic soy sauce
¾ Cup salad oil
Boil sauce ingredients and cool.  Add salad oil and refrigerate.

METHOD
To finely chopped spinach , one hour before serving, add toasted
nuts and sauce.
Mix through (this is easier to do with your hands) – sprinkle
noodles on top.

Serve- YUM!

Thank you to all who entered - thirty of you came out of the
woodwork to share some recipes.  I would love to email you all
a copy of the complete recipes - email me on the above if you
are interested!

j


.

Blogtoberfest

Go on, get behind some hair growth here. Really good cause, check it out.


j

Ladybird books renewed...

Photos from Lark Homemade

Want these Vintage Ladybird journals, Granny squares giftwrap?

Me too!

Buy them here. (Thanks for the link Adele!)

j

eBay drool-worthy...

My cousins had this - I thought it the ultimate toy... Buy it here!

Show and Tell Friday - talented and imaginative

I've decided that I need to click more links... I find myself clicking away, and blogs like this appear. Where-have-you-been-all-my-blog-life kind of blogs... I-need-to-share kind of blogs... Am-I-the-last-one-to-not-know-this-blog kind of blogs...

Resurrection Fern.

Ideas that are original
Inspiration from nature
Attention to detail that floors me
Creativity in spades

Photo from Fern Resurrection Blog

I want to be her friend loveliness!

Just lovely.

I think I will go and knit a forest...

j

200th post - and an award!

Thanks so mmuch to Steph from Bernice Bobs Her Hair, Shabby Chicken, Stitchy Britches and Blog Portion, (have I forgotten any??!) for this little award - my first in blog-land!

I will pass this on to the following lovelies that I feel always have something good to share:

Leni and Rose
Kootoyoo
The Small Stuff
RicRac
Consumption Rebellion
Hoppo Bumpo
A Little Bit Crafty

What a lovely way to round out 200 posts!!

j

199th post and 2 new blogs for you!

Just looking for doggie pics after reading

this post

which has a superb tutorial for decorating cupcakes, and found

this blog,

both of which I wanted to share.

pic courtesy of illustrationforkids.blogspot.com

j

Three days until cast on!!!

The Tour de France Knit Along begins on July 5th, and I am excited!! I am still not 100% settled on what I will be knitting..... The piggle from knitty.com is still up there, but also my infamous sock project. I really need to finish A sock!!!! I have a mental block that it's All Too Hard...

The piggle it may be. Miss 2 WILL look mighty cute in it...


Any Canberran knitters taking part that want to cast on together?

As I have chosen to go for the Green Jersey, I have a race to cast on and off between July 5th and twenty-somethingth when it ends. I also have to try something new. I am quite bad at trying new things, and like the comfort of tried and true techniques...

Knitting in the round. New.
Lace pattern. New.
Completing something that gets hard. New!!!

My team is Quickstep, and there are 11 of us. Lots of new blogs to explore like this, and this, and this!

And not so new blogs I already love like this, and this, and this!

Lots of new people, many countries, lots of FUN!

(I really have to try and refrain from using the exclamation mark... I think I over-do it. Often.. Sorry!!)

j

;-P