My belongings are mostly packed into cardboard boxes waiting for the move next weekend, i'm itching to sew and create and can't wait to be unpacked and settled into the new place. Until then i thought i'd show you more of Melbourne, this is Centre Place just off Flinders Lane, full of cool little eateries it's buzzing most of the day.
I thought about doing The Artists Way but after borrowing the book and having a flick through i decided it wasn't for me. I love the idea of keeping a journal/sketch book though so the other day whilst out with Miss KittyB (come on girl, let's see a post please) i treated myself to a cool new journal and some pencils. To make the process of writing in my journal that little bit more special i made myself a case/pouch to store all the things i need (pencils, pens, glue stick, eraser etc) using up some scraps of fabric, a zip from this stash and some vintage threads that i acquired from my Nana Betty. You can't see in the photo but the zip is red.
Our neighbours gave us some peaches from their nextdoor neighbours tree (it hangs over the fence into their garden). So last night i made peach and passionfruit jam using this recipe, i had all the ingredients in my kitchen so i didn't need to spend anything. I doubled the recipe to use up the peaches so it took longer to cook but it was worth the wait, it's delicious! I'll be taking a jar over to my neighbour.
And for lunch Mia and I made feta and spinach scones.
Recipe
1lb SR Flour
3 1/2 oz unsalted butter
1 tbsp caster sugar
Milk
Feta cheese
Spinach leaves
Sieve the flour, add the butter and mix to form breadcrumbs. Add the sugar. Add milk a little at a time until a dough is formed. Crumble in enough feta cheese to your liking and a few large handfuls of spinach, mix together. Roll out on a floured surface and cut out, brush with milk and bake at 180 degrees celcius for about 20-30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
We had ours with salad, Yum!
It seems today has been a day of 'Using What I Have'. There will be more of that too, i have plans of making a plastic bag holder using some of the stash and finishing a pile of nappies for Esme.
Happy New Year all!
Last night we had a few friends and neighbours over for drinks, it was very low key and some even went home to bed before midnight which is exactly what i felt like doing to tell you the truth. I was so tired and jut wanted midnight to get here and be over with. I'm not a fan of the anxiousness and stress that Christmas and New Year brings even though we are low key and don't really get pulled into it. I feel that expectations are made and i refuse to meet them. 2006 was a mixture of good and bad for us and i'm pretty pleased to be saying goodbye to it. It was bad for our Nectar Lounge venture but this experience made us stronger as a family, as a couple and as individuals. We don't regret doing it but we are happy to forget it if you know what i mean, it was a very stressful time. But, the good things outweigh the bad. We have watched our beautiful girls grow, they amaze us each and every day. We have landed on our feet and now live in a great area, in a nice house and Kev has a good job that he enjoys and i get to be a SAHM. We're living a simpler life and are loving it. We are spending more time on what we really love to do, for me that is my sewing/crafting and spending time with my family and friends. My sewing has improved a lot over the past year and i hope it will continue to do so. Like last year i won't be making resolutions but i will have a list of goals that i'd like to acheive this year, if i don't manage to it doesn't matter and i won't feel guilty for not doing so.
There are many mini goals that fit in with the above but i won't bore you with them all.
So 2007, bring it on!! I plan on this year being a good one.
First of all i'd like to thank you all for your wonderful comments on my dress. Thankyou thankyou thankyou! I'm so pleased with how it turned out. I must say i've really impressed myself with how my sewing skills have improved over the past year. I think it has a lot to do with pledging not to buy any new clothes, which i haven't done since February BTW! This started off the Wardrobe Refashion blog which had an amazing number of people sign up to join me in my pledge, (thanks to Rachael for the push and help starting it). Anyway, more on this subject after Christmas.
Sarah and i did a little swap.
(photo from Sarah)
She sent me two of her fabulous bunnies to go in the girls Santa sacks and i made her daughter Audrey a dress and skirt and bandana.
I hope she likes them.
Oooh, look at the time!!! It's midnight which means it's now Christmas Day. I better get myself off to bed before Santa turns up. Night night and i hope you all have a wonderfully merry day! ;-)
We put up our christmas tree in time for the 1st as we hang our advent stocking on it.
I made these last year, i don't think i blogged about them. Unfortunately one seems to have gone missing and i don't have any of the snowman fabric left :-(. I make something each night to go in the stocking the next day. I don't trust little hands to have them all filled.
As we only bought our tree last year (yep we have a plastic one), our decorations are none existent (hence the advent stocking hanging on there). I decided to use the fabric pieces sent to me as part of my Amitie membership to make some simple decorations.
Hopefully the collection will build up over time.
Working on my calander swap
Making yoghurt
knitting a hat for my wonderful grandfather-in-law who is battling lung cancer and has lost his hair due to chemo
Also:
this website
and their lifestyle magazine
this book
this book
thinking of entering this
and this (scroll to bottom for 'Art Blitz')
recent movies:
Little miss sunshine-amazing! i cried from laughing so much.
Kenny-very funny and i still can't believe i watched a movie about toilets.
Pirates of the carribean dead man's chest-good fun.
Friends with money-great movie.
Looking forward to:
An inconvenient truth
The Queen
My parents and sister have gone, they left for LA on Tuesday to visit Mickey and Minnie. They kindly left behind their nasty cold that they brought all the way from the UK with them and now i feel like shite. My head is throbbing and stuffed up and i'm sneezing over and over again. I realised this morning how crap i feel when i snapped at the girls because i wanted to sew for half an hour while Kev was home but they weren't having any of it. I gave up and we all went for a snooze on the bed, which didn't really work either. Now they're quiet and happy as i've bribed them with a Playschool DVD and Teddy Bear biscuits. Who knows how long it will last though.
So, not a lot of creating here recently. I did manage to get some needle rolls and Christmas stockings made for sale at Madame Butterfly Gallery. They should be available for sale at the beginning of next week. You'll also find an interview with me on their 'Creative Cabinet' page.
I've started work on my Calander Swap that is being organised by this fabulous lady. Here's a sneaky peek of my work in progress. I'm doing the month of May. I better get my arse into gear, they need to be sent soon.
My Christmas postcards have been started too but i ran out of double sided sticky tape so they've been put on hold until i get some more.
I have some books to share with you too but that will have to wait until tomorrow, i'm off to lounge with my girls on the floor and watch Playschool.
