Blogtoberfest Day 4

Yes, it's Day Four, and I already missed a day! HOW? I forgot. Plain and simple.

Yesterday we had a tourist-in-your-hometown day, inspired by this post.

We visited the National Archives and saw the Waterhouse exhibition. Brilliant.

Matilda Michell - winner of the 2009 Waterhouse with her painting entitled Fish.

Canberra. Walter Burley Griffin, National Archives of Australia

Following that was a trip to Floriade where Master 7 and I admired our City from a Ferris Wheel. It was his first time on the Ferris Wheel - and he loved it!

Finally last night I went to see The Young Victoria with a girlfriend. Great film, lovely sets and scenery and stunning costumes. highly recommended. Two words for you: Rupert Friend.


Today was a trip to Hall Market for coffee and olive oil supplies and then to Woden Farmers' Market for two new additions to the family:

Strawberry and Mango - aren't they cute?!

Still raining - loving it.

xx

Blogtoberfest Day 2

Watercolours are mesmerising. The magic and delicate nature of them enchants me. Too much water and the paper is soggy and ruined. Not enough water and they are rough and 'scratchy'. Certainly a skill I want to develop. Maybe some of my Dads' talents have rubbed off on me? We can only hope!

Raining this afternoon. Three kids have built a 'camp' in the rumpus room, and I am dreaming of what I might be able to paint.

She started it with her beautiful drawings... who's inspired you lately?

xx

Blogtoberfest 2009

White Rabbits to all - day one of October and of course to the blog-fest hosted by Cathy the wonderful Miss Tinnie and her partner in give-away goodies, Curlypops.

Blogtoberfest is a rather interesting commitment and challenge, to post daily for the entire month. It may SOUND easy, but really, how does one maintain interesting posts?! For me, having had my camera missing for some time, and my new mobile not emailing images, things were looking a little drab.

However the camera has been located, so lots of craft to show, new garden images from new house, some recipes and op-shop finds, and a little rant or two no doubt.

Lots of events I hope to get to over the next week at National Gallery, National Archives, Botanic Gardens, Museum, as well as Floriade and discovering the new neighbourhood, should all get a mention, so some great eye-candy for the non-Territorians.

Another great thing about Blogtoberfest is going on a clickety-trip and discovering new blogs and new voices. That's the main thing for me, thinking outside the square that is my bloglines. It's a huge job and Cathy does an incredible job. Enjoy!

xx

Pottering around with friends

This week has been wonderful. I have crafted almost every day. As my friend Ruth said on Tuesday (as we did some quilting): "it's the cheapest therapy around!"

Wednesday Consumption Rebellion and I did some book upcycling. I had a battered and falling apart copy of Pigling Bland by Beatrix Potter. Quite damaged in sections, but lovely illustrations. After the previous post and the use I am getting from the Kamahl jotter, I thought I needed a dainty little book for ideas.

After a brief trip to Officeworks for the binding, please meet my new pal:


Some pages have been retained for character, and also as they have delightful sketches on them for Miss 2 to colour. I have some lined pages, some plain pages, and some reused envelopes for pockets for ephemera. I am rather chuffed, and have many more planned, including a little pressie for this girl who has lent me her binder and guillotine! Thanks E! You can see what she spent the day making here. Much more impressive!!



j

Crotchety...

More crocheting here. When I am feeling anxious, it's the best thing ever. This little bag needs a button. It's a bamboo blend and super-soft. Only one question - how do I stop the sides curling? Hmm. I have also been making more washcloths. Turns out they are also great for cleaning the shower! Enjo no more! I have hook-power!


Another thing that helps calm me down is a quick visit to an Op-Shop! Latest finds:

Beaded shoes for Miss 2 for $1! She loves these "Prinpress" shoes! Dress-ups are a hit here.


Buckles for more brooches, and a Tassie teatowel to for Cam to make one of these ;P

The best news is that the Holly Hobbie Mix-Master cover, fits perfectly over the coffee machine! Hooray! Kitschen looks great!


j

Bean wonderful

Do you know Becky Bean? She is a wonderful crafty mumma from Queensland who joined in my Pay It Forward a while back. True to the joys of PIF, Bec sent me a fantastic parcel this week - thanks!

All wrapped and presented beautifully. I love the button detail!


A bookmark, scented oil for relaxation (perfect!), a pouch/clutch with 20c included (bad luck to gift an empty purse - super-thoughtful!), and vintage tea towels!! These two are SO ME. The third is currently being transformed and will re-appear shortly! Chocolate (organic and fair-trade-friendly of course!),





Thanks Bec. If you would like some Becky Bean goodness for yourself, visit her store! Yay!

J

Pav-tastic

I often read a post where someone has been blessed by the op-shop fairies with similar luck to me in the same week... Does this happen to you?

This Lovely Lady posted recently about a pav plate that is used for baking and serving. While we were down the coast, my sister in law (SIL) and fellow lover of all things vintage, took me to a den of pleasure - an antique and bric-a-brac-arie on the Mornington Peninsula. Not the well-known one in Tyabb, no. This was one frequented by locals. The rafters house pigeons who poop onto items on the fringes. The old guys who run it walk around smoking foul-smelling cigarettes, and everything is coated in just the right amount of dust and cob-webs. It was brilliant.

When we arrived, SIL was telling me about a plate that a pav can be baked on, which has the recipe printed on it, and which is also a serving plate. Seconds later, we found a pav plate for $2 which had all the above! I carted it around, determined to make my first pav.

When we got back to the house, it was HOT and the beach beckoned. When we returned, Mother-In-Law (MIL) produced this.






(See the plate in the background with the pavvy goodness on it? Clever bakeware!)

"Unfortunately" Mr BB and the little buttons don't like pav, so MIL and I ate the lot. It only took 2 days! MIL serves up a splendid pav, with just whipped cream on top. Slice one had strawberries, two had passionfruit, three had banana, etc. Rather clever really! If only we had had Peppermint Crisp too!

(Photo by Curlypops from post Triumphant)

CurlyPops must have found her plate on about the same day too! We also both recently realised we had missed our blogaversaries, and are both hosting giveaways. Go to this post to enter my giveaway, and this post for Curlypops'.

Hooray!!

P.S. After finally unpacking yesterday, I realised that the pav plate was inadvertently left at MIL's! Bugger.

J

Wouldn't it be nice...

Thanks Steph - you always bring a smile to my face!

Blogtoberfest - Six Random Things Meme

I have been tagged by ChooksRUs for the Six Random Things Meme that has been doing the rounds recently. Ok, so off the cuff -

1. I have a history of silly medical visits... I have had dozens of splinters in my feet after swinging on the Hills Hoist and landing on an old table, have had a moth removed from my ear in hospital, and had my tongue surgically removed from my braces... Noice.


2. I have worked in a library, teaching (ESL) English, in Local Government, in retail, in customer service, and even been a Tupperware lady!


3. I bite my nails. It's utterly disgusting. I have done it since I was 8 or 9 years old and wish I could stop. Apparently it has something to do with anxiety?



4. My nick-name at school was Stressica (perhaps linked to point 3 above?)

5. I love starting things but rarely finish them, and have UFOs from years ago. As an example, I started making a mohair bear for my niece when she was in utero, I made the head, and go sidetracked - she just turned seven...

6. My thesis at Uni was on children's play, in public and private spaces, and how accessible and welcoming they are (or are not)... I planned many play spaces for kids, and despite being told they would never be funded, was delighted when the Ian Potter Area at the Melbourne Botanic Gardens was built (I had nothing to do with the project, but eerily there were many ideas friends and I had discussed!) It's a great place to visit - have you been there?



I'm not tagging anyone - but if you've stuck around and read through all this, then You Are Tagged Too!!!

j




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Selvedging the end bits...

One of the first craft blogs I ever read was Ric Rac by the lovely Jodie. I was thinking that Ric Rac would be a great name for a blog, but low-and-behold - it already was taken. Well I had to see what she got up to, and I was hooked.

Jodie's a Victorian gal, so I have a soft spot. When I grow up I want to have as many hours in my day as she has! So anyway, after cutting off lots of selvedge and making this bag:

I sent a large bag of selvedge her way, when I realised that a Queen-sized doona cover was a little ambitious for my stash. In doing so, I unknowingly ended up on Team Selvedge, for The Big and Secret Project. Well today Jodie has revealed.

Check this out -

An amazing woman does amazing dress with amazing amount of Selvedge! And good on Ms 17 who wears it with such style and grace. Very A. Hepburn don't you agree?

j

Blogtoberfest - oops, where did those days go?!

How did that happen? I missed a day!? Blogtoberfest continues regardless!

Today was the opening of the exhibition from the previous post. The Shopping Sherpa looked magnificent in signature black and white, and her amazing collection of 14 Lundby dollhouses looked incredible. In changing handbags, I left the camera at home, so no pics for today, just links for a clickety trip through the internets. Here is a great link that shows some of the interiors. TSS should be so proud of her incredible collection, and the exhibition - just amazing.

It was great also to meet up with amazing bloggers from Canberra and nearby: Taph, Happy Spider, M1K1, Nina Ribena, and also a fitting party to say farewell to my dear pal The Circular Traveller.

Lovely day, great exhibition, looking forward to going back as many times as I can with everyone I know!

j

Blogtoberfest Events

Not actually part of Blogtoberfest, but co-inciding with it, is a much-anticipated exhibition at Canberra Museum and Gallery by this clever possum who happens to be a doll house collector of the first order.

If you are in Canberra over the next few months, please check it out - it's brilliant! Perhaps even reason in itself to come to Our Nation's Capital...

j

Blogtoberfestivities without pics, days 6 and 7...

Day 6 was a whirlwind of festivities. A barbie with friends, turned into a beer-hall event, with kids bringing the sandpit inside, and a menu BigCat will hopefully approve of. In the spirit of the festival that Is Blogtoberfest, we enjoyed:

Bratwurst
Coleslaw (Aussie version of saurkraut..)
Beers
and
Potato Salad.

Although there were no Lederhosen in sight, the ambience was certainly as German as we could muster, with two Celts, one convict-descendent, and some Welsh in the mix.

The day drooled on, with my girlfriend Shan and I going interstate for 3 hours of Spotlight - where my attempts at being restrained were quashed by my stash-building-desires...

Camera-less, post-purchase, I lost my bag of goodies somewhere in the chaos that is Spotlight. Bloody buggery bollocks - not happy Jan, etc.

Is your local Spotty chaotic too? Shan and I realised we've never been in an organised one! Adelaide, Queanbeyan, Sydney, Melbourne (both Box Hill and Bayswater), all in our experience messy and disorganised. We still love them though - what about you? (I know some who live in their local! ;-)

My lace is sadly neglected, however tonight is the night for some lace building, and I will post pics tomorrow of metres of completed lace (or a couple of rows of mistakes - much unpicked...)

Enjoy your day -

j

Lace-along off and running (more like jogging, slowly..)

The pattern has been procured (different from that originally proposed, but less to think about, so suits me this time). This is a learning experience, and doing it this openly requires me to complete the task, or risk questions as to its progress (like those bloody socks - did I tell you I frogged the whole lot in exasperation?! Now I can't for the life of me remember how to start off again!)


Yarn drooled over, weighed up, considered and snapped up (that actually only took seconds).


Phone-call to Bells to check it was appropriate for the purpose (the shop lady cannot be relied upon - she sold me a circular needle to knit a pair of socks, and overcharged me for a clearly labelled ball of bamboo. Hence the golden rule with knitting and crochet: go to the top if you have any queries!)

Kids shooed away and bribed with a half cubic metre of sand to play in, so I could Cast On. Silk is a slippery little sucker, but at least my knit-along is up and running.

Want to learn lace along with the girls and I? Never too late to start. I aim to have this finished before 2009!

j

When stashing gets beyond a joke... Blogtoberfest chronicles

Stash. Noun. Plural, stashes. A collection, a reserve, sometimes hidden or secret. The verb is to stash.

What is the collective noun for those who collect fabric? I am one of them, and proudly so. I sew, sometimes, badly and passionately, always with purpose-bought fabric, never from The Basket. I mean really, I have Absolutely No Intention of ever using some of my faves. I couldn't cut them if my life depended on it. If I could quilt, then yes, I could conceivably make a quilt of all of them, but they would not all go together, and the mish mash would look revolting.


The idea of having a sewing room, where everything is neatly catalogued makes me drool, it really does. However I just can't seem to do it. For me, part of the Joy of Stashing is forgetting what I have, only to rediscover it later. Maybe this is from childhood?

For my whole life my Mum has had a large plastic bag full of her fabric scraps from the 60s, 70s and 80s. (Sounds like a radio station! Best of the 60s, 70s and 80s!)

I loved looking through this as a kid, and earlier this year became custodian of some of its contents. The highlights of which now grace my collection.


I have a habit that knows no self-control. No matter how many times I tell myself I haven't got the money for it, the collection grows. I accumulate. They plead to come home and live with the others... I mean, how many 30cm strips does a not-very-good-sewer need?! For one who doesn't quilt, I have the wrong collection.


Yes, they are Too Expensive Liberty prints. I used my staff discount to justify my purchase... Yes, my casual job is in a fabric shop, even being surrounded by over 2000 bolts of fabric hasn't got it out of my system...

I can't go past fabric in the oppy, and have lots that I can't bear to part with. There's also the fabric stash that masquerades as vintage linen, but is actually not used as linen... I also buy fabric for others though when I see it (daisies for Nicola, pinks and vintage here, brownie and guide here). I love supporting local and hand made.


Tomorrow I will show you The Basket, and actually share a post that is long over-due about my hoarding...

Until then - check out other great stash-sharers here!

j

Blogtoberfest, the stash, and magpie dramas

I signed up yesterday for a couple of little meme-types, Blogtoberfest with the delightful BigCat, and stash-sharing with Pip.

As I hung out the washing, listening to the sounds of the birds in the trees, kids on the trampoline, and some hoon on his motorbike in the park (!? true!), I pondered what my posts could entail.

Lost in my solitude and reverie, and CRACK - a magpie gave me a huge scare, grazing my cheek. I was, it is fair to say, rather shaken!

I was later having coffee, relaying this morning's incident to a friend who had had a similar encounter, when it happened again! Fair enough, we were in the Botanic Gardens, but I felt a rather Hitchcock-esque fear brewing...

At home, I convinced myself that things DO NOT happen in threes, they happen individually, just sometimes three individual things closely together...

I was entranced in an audio-book, tidying the kitchen, and absent-mindedly went outside to put out the rubbish. Less than 2 metres from the back door, and the now-familiar sound of flapping wings, and I ducked just in time.

Let's just say I am now completely paranoid.


Of course, Miss 2 chose thisabove title to read at bed-time, so now a good dose of inside, hat-wearing, stupid-looking-straws-in-my-hat seems to be in order!

It's all rather funny now after a lovely G & T, but I'm a little pooped.

Stash-sharing tomorrow! So much to show, so little time left! Warning that tomorrow will be one HUGE show and tell!!

j

Best of pre-loved this week...

Had a lovely time with Eilleen recently perusing the local Salvos and Vinnies. (Game has both boards and all pieces still!)

Magnetic oven mitt still in wrapper!

Patons Wool Craft - has lots of useful diagrams and instructions:

Saw some fabric for this lovely peep, got some vintage pillowcases for this one, and a few bibs and bobs for myself!

Lovely.



j

Thanks Angela!

Angela was my team captain in the Tour de France Knit-Along in July. She was so supportive and encouraging. As I quick-stepped up to the wrist warmer challenge, she sent me this lovely parcel! The book and pen are from Yarnies, and the cards are hand made. The daisy sticker glows in the dark too, so I found out last night, which made me smile!

Thanks Ange!

j

Fail to plan, plan to fail

I fell in love with a yarn recently that is not a natural fibre, but is soft and a lovely colour. I scooped up what was on the shelf, all three balls, and grabbed the pattern book I was drawn to.

"I will make it longer, wider at the front, longer in the sleeve, and look great in my hand-knit..."

I returned home, cast on, and fell in love at once with the texture and colour. I knitted all three balls, and now.....

There is not a ball left in Canberra. Not one. (None at 'local' NSW Spotlight either!) Dream torn out, ripped up, spewed on top of. (Melodramatic? Moi?)

I'm rather peeved. Can you tell??

Many others would turn to eBay or similar, but I want to check the dye-lot, make sure it has not been smoked near, and am rather fussy about such purchases, so will just feel sorry for self.

So I have abandoned all hope and the project as well, and will start collecting supplies for the next knitting project! When in turmoil, cast on!!

I am hoping that it will be a green version of this fabulous shawl.

Anyone interested in a knit-along with me to keep me motivated?

j

PS - Still looking for pay it forward people! Is my craft that bad?!

Mmmmm...macaroons!

My dear friend Ann and I love to swap recipes. She recently recited one over the 'phone for Coconut Macaroons. A mouthful of crunchy, yet chewy, delight. Perfect with a cup of tea (or without...), or a serious hot chocolate while you wait for the marshmallows to melt. YUM.

One egg white
One cup coconut
one or two or three or so drops of vanilla extract (to taste)
Three rounded tablespoons of caster sugar. (Note: Australian table spoons are 20ml each).

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees C. Put on a pretty apron (you can buy one here!)

Beat the egg white until soft peaks, then add sugar, and beat until it forms a meringue-appearance (stiff peaks).

Add the cup of coconut and stir gently to combine. The mixture will be rather dry. I only had half a cup of coconut, and didn't realise until this point in the recipe, so mine were less crunchy, more chewy - adapt at will.

Spoon spoonfuls of the mixture onto a lined baking tray, and pop into oven. As soon as they go into the oven, turn oven down to 120 degrees C. Watch them, they should only take 10-15 mins.

I opened the oven door and turned off the oven to let them cool, so to ensure chewy factor.

Best eaten same day. This makes about 10-12 macaroons, so perfect for visitors, or an episode of your favourite show!

Enjoy.....