This is blowing my mind

I stumbled across Ric Rac today. And saw her selvedge project. I nearly fell off my chair with crafty amazement. See that beautiful dress? It is made of selvedges! Probably 1000's and 1000's of tiny pieces lovingly made into the best dress I've seen in a loooong time.
I think that this is bloody amazing and deserves lots of lovely feedback. So if you think this is great too, I think you should pop on over to Ric Rac and give her a big pat on the back.
I love love love this project and it has given me back my crafty mojo.

This is...my favourite film(s)

I'm uber slack on the 'this is' but I couldn't resist this one.
I LOVE lots of movies and my criteria for fav film is:
- can I watch it over and over and over?
- can I recite it ad nauseum?
The only exception to this is Little Miss Sunshine, I've only seen it once but I lurved it.
Other movies I love are:
- Pretty Woman
- Sound of Music
- Bridget Jones
- Four Weddings and a Funeral
- Ferris Buller's Day Off
- Grease
- Dirty Dancing
- Love Actually
Can you see a musical/romantic/comedy thread running through this list?

My boy is a genius

He didn't have any help. I swear.

Brown Owl - metaphorically and literally

After months of swearing that I really was going to make a softie for Mirabel, this pic is proof that I finally did. My craft hiatus well ill timed but luckily Brown Owls ran a lovely evening on sewing a softie by hand. This was my Brown Owl. I've delivered him to Pip and I know she'll find a nice home for him and his lime green edged feet.

Chance encounter with a car boot

It's been a long time between drinks hasn't it?
During the past few months, I have wanted to craft it up but frankly, I haven't had the motivation. Sad isn't it.
WELL no longer. No siree. Because guess what - I struck gold today.
My friend gave me a lift home from work and before we jumped in the car, she put her gym bag in the boot and guess what was in there? This rad (isn't that word an oldie but a goodie?) Sesame Street sheet. Conversation went a little like this:
Me: Wow, that is cool
Friend's boyf: Really? We're using it as a drop sheet for painting
Me: (after picking my jaw up from the ground) You are kidding?! Can I buy you a new drop sheet and take that home???
Friend's boyf: You want it? Sure - take it.
So I have it here safe and sound. There isn't any paint on it that I can see.
Goody gumdrops...this sheet has all the old faves - Ernie, Bert, Grover, Big Bird (my least favourite - why? he's a big bird - enough said), Oscar, Snuffy....

A bit uninspired

You may have noticed the lack of posts...
No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth - just uninspired.
Hopefully inspiration hits soon.

Piklets!

My mum used to surprise us with piklets. We'd get home from school on a rainy day and she'd have the electric fry pan out and piklets would be bubbling away. My sister and I loved these tasty treats.
The other day I thought I'd surprise the Mr. It was raining, he was riding his bike home from work in the cold and wet. So when he got home, this is what was waiting for him. The three of us munched down on the whole batch.
Want the recipe? Commonsense cookery book has the BEST piklet recipe. So easy.

What did I do?

Ok, I left you hanging on a thread with my last post.... what did I end up doing?

You'll be pleased to know that I crafted. Here is the result of my efforts:

Well, that is stretching the truth a little. I made this cute t-shirt in June but it needed some reinforcing - the petals on the flower were a bit tempting for little hands so I hand stitched them down. Not sure if you can see the detail - but the stitching is in red and it looks super cute.

This is a prezzie to lovely 2 year old little girl who is now a big sister!

What to do?

I'm in a bind. The little man is asleep (after a small 'raw fettucine poke in the eye' incident) and now I'm trying to decide what to do. I am VERY torn between:
1) sleeping
2) crafting
and I know that I must wash my hair which means that if I choose option 1, then I need to do hair washing after sleeping - otherwise wet pillow issues will arise.
If I choose option 2, then washing my hair can be done whenever. But I know that if I choose crafting then later today I'll be thinking Gee, I'm tired, why didn't I have a sleep this morning? And if I choose option 1 then, quite frankly, no craft will get done.
Dilemmas.

Look familiar?

Yep, I haven't progressed. Still firmly on the to-do list.

Sheet cubbies

The boy is big enough to play sheet cubbies! I don't know who has more fun: him, me or his dad. One of our super duper basquillion thread count sheets ripped recently (mega peeved but all is swell b/c the company sent me a new one) so now the old one is our designated sheet cubby. You can see the rip in the pic held together nicely with pegs.

Little surprise

Today I had to work. Yuck, work on a Saturday means no playing with the little one or the Mr. I got home this arvo, put the boy to bed for his arvo sleep - then the Mr and I went straight to bed. Don't be getting the wrong idea...it was purely for sleep purposes. We are both uber tired - perhaps due to the fact that the little guy woke up for 2.5 hours the other night. I wish I could make him understand that 1.30am-4.00am is not playtime.

Anyhoo, back to the story. Both boys are sleeping (still!), after an hour of snoozing I woke up and decided to make (or actually, bake) them a surprise.
This is what is waiting for them.
Stephanie Alexander's blueberry muffins. The best.
They are super easy and don't require a mixer or a food processor:
- 220g plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 125g sugar
- 3/4 cup oil (I use melted butter instead)
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 200g blueberries (I use half blueberries, half dried cranberries)

Put flour, baking powder and sugar in a bowl. In another bowl, mix oil (or melted butter), milk and egg in another bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix (quickly - don't overwork the mixture), add the berries.
Put into muffin pans and bake at 200 degrees for 25 mins. Voila!
This great recipie is from Stephanie's book, the Cooks Companion. I love that book.

Pretty magnets

These magnets are on my fridge (except when they appear in photoshoots for blog purposes) and everytime I look at them, they make me smile. The spotty fabric is Kaffe Fassett, the brown and lime almond shape was a fabric in my stash and I got the purple arcs when I was in Japan.
These little circles cheer up my fridge. I gave some to my friends last Christmas - I hope their fridges are more cheery now too!

One word meme

I was crusin' the suburbs and found this on Curly Pops' blog, and Pip's and some other crafty gals. I will share a secret with you...I love these question/answery things. But keeping to one word answers will be a struggle. Here goes.

1. Where is your cell phone? Bench??
2. Your significant other? Tour de France
3. Your hair? Brownish
4. Your daughter? Hopefully!
5. Your son? Snoozing
6. Your favorite thing? Family
7. Your dream last night? Weird
8. Your favorite drink? Tea
9. Your goal? Happiness
10. The room you’re in? Lounge
11. Your church? Nope
12. Your fear? Birds
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Here
14. Where were you last night? Home
15. What you’re not? Sad
16. Muffins? Cupcakes
17. One of your wish list items? NYC
18. Where you grew up? Albury
19. The last thing you did? Chocolate
20. What are you wearing? Jumpie
21. Your TV? On
22. Your pets? Nope
23. Your computer? Essential
24. Your life? Rosy
25. Your mood? Contented
26. Missing someone? Sis
27. Your car? Driveway
28. Something you’re not wearing? Shoes
29. Favorite store? Books
30. Your summer? Camping
31. Like(love) someone? Yesssss
32. Your favorite color? Yellow
33. Last time you laughed? Tonight
34. Last time you cried? Tonight
35. Who will repost this? ??

This is...something I'm working on

Not sure if you can tell what this is.... it's a work in progress.
Now that I've made three and a half beanies, I feel like I'm ready to tackle a new crochet project. I've decided to make Herbie some arm warmers. Should I follow a pattern? Heck no! Make it up as you go along I say! The cute thing is that his arms are so tiny that I only needed to do about 15 chain stitches - hopefully they'll fit - he'll probably be 14 by the time I've finished.
No seriously - I must finish this before the end of the week. A self imposed deadline and now that I've committed to it on this blog, I'll feel a sense of responsibility to finish them. And if the end of the week rolls around and there is not a picture of a young boy wearing yellow and blue arm warmers, it is up to YOU, the crafty public, to leave snitchy comments about my lack of crafty commitment. Ok?

'This is' proudly bought to you by Three Buttons and lots and lots of other players.

The votes are counted, it's official: the Mr is one good looking man.

The Mr returned from o/s about 2 weeks ago - so naturally today was the day that we both decided that his bag full of washing really did need to be emptied and laundered. Cleaning out all the bags and associated bits and bobs uncovered this little gem:
Obviously in their haste to crack onto the Mr, the 'lovely F/A's' had a mind blank when it came to spelling passenger.

Ants...a reflection

So the ants are back. They are stubborn little buggers and they are SMART. Speaking of smart things, I love smarties - love them more than M&M's (except the white M&M's) and often indulge in a little smartie goodness once the little tacker is in bed. The other night I thought I'd reached the end of the packet and stupidly left it on the coffee table - next morning ANT PARTY. They had demolished the shell of the 2 remaining smarties. Clever and good taste hey?
I went on a killing spree last night with my friend Mortein. I sprayed the sink and got about 100 casualties. And it made me a little sad. I kept thing of Z, the cute little worker ant in Antz and how he was a pretty good guy and that humans did terrible things like stepped on ants, dropped water on them etc. I'm not sure I can remember Mortein featuring in the movie but damn that stuff is powerful. It literally kills them in their tracks.

And then I started thinking like an ant....I thought devious thoughts. I decided not to wipe up the dead ants because I think that if I were an ant marching along and saw 100 dead friends, I would think 'STOP. THIS IS ENEMY TERRITORY.' and I'd go back to my safe little nest, tell my alive friends and we'd all make a decision to uproot our camp and move to Switzerland.
So I'm in a bind - kill them and rid the house of them OR try to beat them with mind games OR let them do their thing and wait till they naturally get sick of our place and move on?
Who knew ants were so complex? Or do I have too much time on my hands?

Image from lookingcloser.org

Cat

A one line drawing of Cat. The Mr did it. Isn't it sweet?

This is...what makes me happy

Lots of things make me happy but probably the thing that warms my heart the most is watching the Mr and the little man. He is so good with Herb, he creates fun games that I would never even think of, he encourages him gently and catches him when he falls (both metaphorically and literally). He is Mr Fun and it is pretty clear the joy that Herb feels when the Mr comes home from work.
At the zoo yesterday, we were holding his hands helping him walk. I am sure he is capable of walking on his own but I'm not sure that he thinks he is. The Mr hit his strides and before we knew it, they were bounding along.Other things that make me happy are:

• Putting the little one to bed at night with no tears and no screaming
• Going into his room when he wakes up in the morning and seeing his huge smile
• Laughing
• Rainy days
• Cooking something really tasty and then eating it with loved ones
• Loved ones
• Family get togethers
• Craft
• West Wing, Scrubs and Grand Designs
• Friends
• Cups of tea
• Caramel slice, smarties and white chocolate
• Going to the movies, eating popcorn
• Growing vegetables
• Smell of clean jumpers
• Playing with the little guy
• Breastfeeding him
• Making a dinner which he and the Mr really love
• Pasta
• Sharing meals with friends
• Printing mailing labels
• Getting handwritten letters in the post
• Using the quilt I made
• Going to the park
• Not worrying about what time it is
• Snuggling under the covers
• Going out for dinner
• Nice cutlery
• Holidays
• My blue and white stripey milk jug
• Seeing people reunite at airports
• Saying hello to people on a walk around the neighbourhood
• Doing things on the spur of the moment
• Sleeping through the night
• Having a bath
• Reading books that you just can't put down
• Weekends
• Christmas
• Flicking through housey magazines looking for renovation inspiration
• Watching Herb grow
• Flowers - in the garden and in the house
• Lots of things...maybe I'm just happy?!

Note: not listed in order of importance (!)

Kissy Saturday

Today my little one learnt how to kiss! For a while, he's opened his mouth right up and every now and again, he'll press it up against my face and give me a big wet mark. But today I made a kissy sound at him and he turned around and gave me a (wet) kiss. It was soooo cute. Then the Mr said, 'Herb, give me a kiss' and what did he do? Planted one right on his lips.
We took advantage of the 10 minutes of Melbourne sunshine today and went to the zoo. What a different experience that is with a small person. We were there for 70 minutes and we pretty much saw everything (minus the birds...shudder).
Although the zoo has animals of the exotic variety, Herb's favourite seemed to be the carp swimming around near the otters. I must say, he took it very well when the lions roared and was very gentle when the kangaroo put a paw on his leg and sniffed him.
What an adventure it was. Happy days.

Image from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Lions_-_melbourne_zoo.jpg

I love my boy

Wow, this must be my 'I love' week. So far this week, I've declared my love for Grand Designs, Pantone, Arial (well, my hate for TNR), and SATC. But today I declare my deepest love for my little bub.

This morning he was so lovely and in this rush of emotion, I thought I should blog about it. We had a lovely breakfast of porridge with pear and blueberries. And he fed himself most of it. I love watching him do that. When he gets the spoon in his mouth, he throws his arms above his head and smiles at me while I say 'hooray!'. Then he skeeted around playing with the esky handle, the picnic basket, the washing basket and his plastic hammer - so incredibly cute. After that, I thought things would quickly slide downhill because it was time to change the nappy. Ie. time to have a tantrum, arch his back and protest. But not today! He lay down quietly with his Casper Caterpillar book and played with Casper's googly eyes while I did the nappy thing. Peek-a-boo is something he's learnt to play this week. I've been peek-a-booing for a while now but lately, he has gotten the hang of it - so we played it for a while...he shielded his face with Casper and then flung Casper down in one swift motion and giggled himself silly.

We played with some empty boxes and put some things that don't belong in boxes, into boxes. Onto Playschool. We caught the last 10 minutes of it and he sat in my lap while I cuddled him and watched peacefully. My little boy is a wriggly worm. He really only sits still when he is sick but today we had a big cuds and the best news is - he isn't sick (thank god). After a lovely breastfeed, he is tucked up in bed for his morning sleep while his happy mama blogs the hours away.

Aint life grand?

Grand designs. Grand show.

I love Grand Designs. Kevin is SUCH a good host, he is so gracious and kind. I love that he has such an open mind and is encouraging yet challenging with his ideas.
And boy did I love that episode with the crazy house in the middle of nowhere that had 2 pools and the most bizarre mis-match of styles. I didn't love the house, I didn't love the couple but I did love how unimpressed Kevin was. It's the first time I've seen that side of you Kev!

Damn you Times New Roman

One thing I really don't like is Times New Roman. I think that Excel has the right idea - it defaults to Arial. But what is going on with Word??

This is...what scrambles my brain when I try to understand it

This weeks theme is from Flightless Boyds and I must say, there isn't just one thing that scrambles my brain when I try to understand it. I've limted this post to two brain scrambly things...
1. Physics
The Perimeter Institute for Physics. Isn't the building cool? (Image from www.egodesign.ca)


Physics is something that I think is kinda cool but I just do not understand it. It makes my brain ache. I tried my hand at physics in Year 11 and in the first class was told that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The example given was: 'See this glass on the table? It is putting force onto the table and the table is putting equal and opposite force onto the glass.' I DO NOT GET THIS! The table is a lot bigger than the glass so shouldn't it be throwing up lots more force? So shouldn't the glass shoot off the table? And why does the table need to throw force upward anyway? Can't it just let the glass sit on there without throwing up any force? I grappled with this theory for a while and then made the decision that physics was not for me. I went and changed my subjects. Ditch physics and enrol in drama.
I can see that the area of physics is interesting. I really love maths. I think maths is super clever and interesting and I know that physics and maths are practically best friends, so I don't know why I have trouble with physics. The Mr has tried time and again to explain different aspects to me. I can follow it for a while but then the brain goes scrambly and it is no use trying.

2. The Tour de France

Cadell Evans celebrating in 2007. (Image from www.theage.com.au)

I love the Tour. It is on at the moment and it is great to watch. All that lovely french countryside, that commentator who makes every meter of the Tour exciting. The bit with Gabriel Gate at the start of SBS's coverage making something delicious from each region of France. It is all great. So what makes my brain scrambly? The rules. I don't get the yellow jersey, the green jersey, the teams, the strategy, the pelaton.

Like physics, I know that this is all interesting. I know that if I understood it, I'd find the strategy really, really interesting. But right now, it is a mystery to me.

I think if you are fit enough to be able to bike ride a billion k's around France, why would you not want to win? Or at least try your hardest? The Mr has explained a bit of the Tour to me and I'm sure he said that they race in teams but some riders have the job of being the sacrifical lamb. Basically they are willing to sacrifice themselves and their spot in the race for the best rider in their team. On one hand I think that is very admirable - one of the few sporting events that seems to have such and element. But then I think of the dark horse. Who chooses the 'best person' in the team? What if another member of the team was having a great race and would have gone really well but instead they put themselves on the line for their 'best chance'? People put years of effort into training for this race, only to be a mere wing man.

But I suppose that the real achievement of the Tour is actually finishing the race.

Ok. While I've been typing away here, I've made up my mind that tonight I am going to sit down with the Mr and ask him to explain the tactics of the Tour. I will try my hardest to use my grey matter and understand all the confusion.

Then maybe tomorrow we'll tackle physics.

Sex and the city

For those of you who haven't seen the movie - read on at your own peril....

I saw it a week ago with some gals from my mother's group and I have to say the expectation going into it was low. I was thinking about other TV disapointments eg. last episode of Seinfeld. How could the girls recreate the magic after such a long absence?

Who knows how they did it but they damn well did.

I loved it. I loved that it was a long movie, loved that I was chowing down on a mega box of popcorn in the dark theatre, loved that I saw it at the Westgarth, loved that it still felt a little TV episode-ish and LOVED the bit where Carrie hit Big with the bouquet. Hit him over, and over, and over again.

What I also loved about the movie was the good girlfriend vibes that went with it. I loved seeing it with 3 of my girlfriends and I loved seeing other women with their gal pals. It kind of felt like a grown up sleepover.

The Mr is o/s this week for work with instructions to lay his hands on a DVD of the movie. That way I can watch it over, and over, and over again!

image from http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/galleries/

The ants are marching

Bloody ants!
They are everywhere. I first spied a lone ant in the kitchen and then, on closer inspection there was not one ant, or even two - but approximately 50 squillion.
HOW do they get in? WHY do they come in? WHERE can I find out how to rid my house of these little devils?

I've tried several wives tales: Cayenne pepper, peppermint oil, borax but nothing works. The only thing that does work that is remotely child friendly is talcum powder. Squirt the buggers with talc and they seem to wobble around. Problem is, I don't know if they die from the talc or simply avoid it.

They are driving me crazy. Here's a list of where I've seen them:

• in the kitchen cupboards
• in the sink
• on the floorboards in the lounge
• in the toy box
• on the coffee table
• in my wool stash (why??)
• in my handbag
• on my computer - and in my computer
• ON my son. (not happy with that)

You are probably wondering what squallor I live in. I swear this house is clean! And just to give you an idea of exactly how clean it is - I tell you this: my mum has just visited me for one week. She is a champion cleaner and has mopped, wiped, re-mopped, ironed, bleached, bi-carbed, vinegared, scrubbed and washed to within an inch of the houses' life.

But still the ants are here. Not even she could rid the house of them.

Anyone out there have a sure-fire, kid-friendly remedy?

image from msinsights.com

I love Pantone

I love colors and my fine attention to detail (ok, some would call it anal) personality loves that colors are organised into one massssssive classification. It makes for such easy reference.
Plus the color wheel is so nicely designed - crisp and clear. In exciting news - a Pantone color wheel might be coming my way...

Pic from Babymammoth's Flickr page

No crochet today. No craft today.

It's been a day of looking after the little one. He is sick and is needing lots of TLC. Although not 2 yet, he is well versed in how to throw a tantrum. Arch the back, bang the head on the ground, turn red in the face and give a good old scream.

Mint Slice vs Tim Tam

Tough call ... I think I'll go with Tim Tam.

I just love this cabinet

Remember the garage sale? Well, the point of having the GS was to get rid of stuff but somehow this cabinet snuck into our house. One seasoned garage sale bloke came and bought 6 items for a whopping $3 then asked me to carry them to his car (I think he'd had a hip operation - luckily cause I thought it was a bit rude to haggle down to $3 then expect valet service) and I spotted this little gem in the back of his station wagon. Turns out he'd bought it for $35 (!) at another garage sale that morning. He offered to sell it to me and I tried to act all 'oh...I don't know...I guess I MIGHT be interested' when all the while my insides were screaming - I WANT THAT CABINET. In the end we settled on $50. He drove a hard bargain but I still think that I was the winner of the day - a cheap price for such lovely deco-ness. God I love art deco.

Supermarket happiness

Last night I did the supie shopping and stumbled across a very small craft section. I think it was in the same aisle as cleaning products - which may explain why I hadn't seen it before. To my great delight they sell crochet hooks! I love the idea that at any time of the day or night, crochet-a-holics can dash down to the supie to pick up an emergency hook.

This is...my most treasured childhood possession

Cat.

Isn't he beautiful? I think I got him when I was 3. One of mum's friends gave this cat to my sister and gave me a monkey. I didn't like the monkey, sis didn't take to the cat so a happy swap was executed. Cat and Monkey were our best mates. And still are.

p.s. I love how kids call their toys by such obvious names. The Mr has a panda called Panda. I love Panda too.

This is....my best op shop find

I bought this cheery dress to make a door snake. But I can't bring myself to cut it up! I think it was $5 from Vinnies. Maybe $3?? Anyway, the weave of the fabric is really cool and the pockets? So cute.

Would you believe that it is originally from Target? How times have changed eh? The cut is very 1960's, the top is quite fitted and the skirt flares out in a major way. I've tried it on but I don't think I could pull it off - maybe I'll have another preview in the summer time.

I could make a dress for a little girl - actually, that is a great idea. Now I just need to have a little girl!

Boys in the hood

Herbie's beanie is finished and my addiction to crochet is still going strong. Next up, a beanie for me.

Art Deco comes to Melbs

provided by: www.glittertools.com

Have you seen the Art Deco exhibit at NGV? Me neither but I wanna.

Wool glorious wool!

Now that I've got the crochet bug I've also caught a related illness...the wool fetish. I've always wanted an excuse to buy wool.
I went on an excursion to Wool Baa in Albert Park, lots of nice wool to be had there. I had the little one in tow which meant I spent about 10% of my time looking at wool and the other 90% making sure that he was not eating wool.
I chose this beautiful blue Jo Sharp ball. I think the color is called Boheme, it is part of the Silkroad collection. Plans are to make a little beanie so the boy can match his dad.

I also bought another ball of Silkroad, the color is Emporio which is a really rich red/maroon with flecks of orange and brown. The camera just didn't do it justice.

Crochet love

I've always wanted to learn to crochet. I remember my mum made a crochet blanket out of all of her scrap wool. I LOVED it. There was a lot of blue, a smidge of orange and lots of other great colors that she had left over from other projects. I love granny square rugs and all that kinda thing.

At Brown Owls Aunty Pat did her best to teach me how to get the hang of it all but to be honest, she was quick sticks with the crocheting. You know when someone tries to teach you and they say 'I'll do a few stitches so you can see how it is done' then you hand over the tools and their hands fly in the air so fast that they are practically a blur - well that is Aunty Pat. She is a whizz when it comes to crochet. And very kind and patient too.

So I knew I needed to practice before I could play with the great wool I bought at the Calico and Chintz closing down sale. Lucky for me, I have a friend who is v good a crochet and helped to start me off and remind me of a few tricks of the trade. Anyhoo, the beginnings of my first beanie were falling nicely into place. After a few nights of stitching....voila!

The beanie is for the Mr. I promised it to him last October for his birthday - and here it is. 8 months later.

The wool is called Free Spirit (I think). It is lovely. The colors are so autumn like.

I think I increased too much at the beginning so it is slightly too large but thanks to Lara's advice, I think I'll handwash it in some warm water and see if it shrinks slightly. If it all goes horribly wrong, I guess Herb will have a beanie!

This is why I love crochet

All you need is a hook! And the wool of course. How transportable is that? You can practically crochet anywhere, anytime. Stop lights, waiting for appointments, in line at the bank (does anyone stand in line at the bank anymore?), on the train - you get the picture - ANYWHERE.

The worst looking soup...the best tasting soup

Mushroom soup...my favourite.

Lighting up a winter's day

I made this lovely lamp for a friend's wedding. I used Lara Cameron's lampshade tute which was really clear and easy to follow. The fabric is Japanese and it is a really nice weight and weave. The funny thing about it is that there doesn't seem to be a 'right way' up for this pattern. Some of the flowers are right way up and some are upside down. But overall, I'm pretty happy with it. I hope it is happy in its new home.

The train...in progress

Train masterpiece

Herb turned one earlier this month. The Mr and I stayed up very late creating this awesome cake. My friend Sara Lee made the cake (tip to all other parents - Sara Lee slab cake is really easy to ice and cut) but we constructed, iced and decorated. It was such fun.
When I was little, my sister and I looked through the Women's Weekly Birthday Cake book over and over and over. Lots of weekends - especially those rainy ones- were spent poring over the book trying to decide which cake we'd have for our next birthday. Can I get a few things off my chest?
1. Who would want the duck cake? The popcorn and the potato chips would go soggy from the icing. Plus the cake to icing ratio is way too high.
2. I wanted the sweet shop so badly...and never got it.
3. How did the crew at WW make sure that the paper on the typewriter didn't get oily from the icing?
4. Did I mention I love butter icing. Like, realllllly love it.
Ok, that's all. For now.

Meanwhile, the train cake was sooooo good. I think we'll do the helicopter next year.

Nicknames

A friend at work asked me if Herb had a nickname. It got me thinking how nicknames come about and how silly they are. But nicknames can be lots of fun and they sure do stick.
I've been a copycat from Ballarat and popped over to Wordle (inspired by Pip's post

Apple-a-day

I cannot get enough of iPhoto. It would make me turn from a PC to a Mac. I love those ads where PC is a geek and Mac is the cool sleek type. I know that I have quite a bit of inner geek, so perhaps my PC speaks volumes about me.
But I'm telling you - get onto iPhoto and go crazy. It is bloody awesome.

Ravelry

OMG. My Ravelry invitation just arrived. Think of the hours I'll be wasting!! I mean...investing.

Black or white

Oh the dilemmas of my day. The Mr did a great job on a project at his work and they gave him some gift vouchers to Myer. We've decided to join the masses and invest in an iPod. But the big question is...black or white? I think that Mr is a black fan but I'm pretty certain that my loyalties lay with white. If only they made grey.

iPod pics from apple.com

Sock and glove

My lovely sister creates fab sofites from recycled materials. She is a very clever gal. For her birthday I found this ace book for her, it has lots and lots of patterns for very cute softies - pandas, monkeys, puppies and lots more. So if you feel the urge to create cool things from socks and gloves, go and pick yourself up a copy!

Withdrawal

Boring post. No pics. Nothing exciting to say except that I have flaunted all the bloggy protocols by irregular posts. I'll tell you this: working really interferes with things! I don't have time to work. I'd rather blog.

Wall uglyness

So I'm back at work now - 3 days per week and I must say that it is causing issues with the regularlity of blog updates...sorry post a day in May.
My office is brand spankin' new. New chairs, desk, shelving, carpet, computer etc. The walls are bare and I'm in need of a wall planner. But I don't want one of those ugly ones that you get through the office stationery suppliers. Any ideas or recommendations?

Frenchy

Today we went to the In-Law's for lunch and had French Onion Soup. Although I had my bread on the side which I am fully aware is against the spirit of FOS but I can't stand soggy bread. Anyhoo, it reminded me and the Mr of the BEST FOS experience we've ever had...think Paris, think small tiny cafe that we can't remember the name of.
So the story goes...we were going for a wander around the Opera Madeleine area and found a little cafe (I think there may have even been red checker table cloths) so we sat down at a street table and there was approx 5 cm seperating us from the couple at the next table. While we were looking at the menu, the smell of the guy's dinner was wafting over our way and it was AMAZING so I asked what he ordered and he said FOS - infact he said that FOS is his favourite soup of all time and he believed that this particular bowl was the best he'd ever tasted. So we both ordered a bowl and were not dissapointed. It was mind blowing. I wish we could remember the name of that cafe.


I think Amelia PS's version of FOS looks pretty good.

Beautiful buttons

As promised, more skirt pictures. I made two reversible skirts. The first one was ultra trial and error. I had a little run in with the overlocker which resulted in one rather ummm shapely side...
The patterned fabric looks v Marimekko I think but it was a Spotty special - $1/m. The other side is wool flannel, nice and warm for winter. The skirt has a hole in the middle that you step into so when the skirt is on you see a triangle of the alternate fabric.
It's all finished except for the daunting task of sewing the buttons on. I went to Buttonmania and bought some fab buttons. The ladies at that shop are so incredibly nice and helpful plus they have lots of patience with people (ok, me) who come into their shop with a very wriggly little boy who, quite frankly, is not the least bit interested in skirts or buttons. Infact, he'd probably rather eat the buttons.

The second skirt is the one that I posted about a week or so ago. It is Amy Butler fabric with black wool suiting on the reverse. This one is better made. The waistband is really good (if I say so myself!) and I just love the fabric. The buttons look better in real life, this pic make the green buttons look more green than they really are and it makes the other ones look quite yellow rather than limey green.

Now I just need to pluck up the courage and get my sewing machine to magically create 4 button holes for me.

I love my Miele

Late last year, we had a new addition to our family. A Miele dishwasher. Talk about life changing, this little beauty is a miracle machine. I absolutely love it and it is SO good that when I have the misfortune to pack other dishwashers (at work, friend's places etc) I look at the racks and cutlery set-up and just shudder. Miele is magic.
p.s. I should state on the record that I firmly believe that ANY dishwasher is better than the alternative of washing mountains of dishes.

Juggling act

Skipped another day in May so looks like today is a double post day.
Yesterday was my first day back at work - my maternity leave is over :-(
For all you mothers out there, how do you manage the breastfeeds, drop off's, pick up's, dinners, house work and paid work? Advice needed.

You let me down kid.

I've always been a white chocolate fan. Love the stuff. And since I've given birth, I cannot get enough chocolate. Some say it is due to breastfeeding - who knows?? After the little one goes to bed I indulge in a cuppa and some chocolate. I've always thought that Milky Bar was the superior choice but today I tried both Cadbury Dream and MB and I must say that MB severely let me down. Infact, I'd go a milk chocolate over a MB and that is saying something!