just a minute... in november...

Gee! November is no more, I'm not quite sure where it went. Life has been moving along at the ok kitty coral, not too much excitement. A little too much work & sickliness & not enough crafting one might think. December is looking up though...

Mixtogether is on this Saturday
& Mike's christmas shindig is on this tuesday
I'm helping a lovely 12 year old bind a book for her teacher
I get to move into a new house in 2 weeks where we can have our dogs
I get 2 weeks off over christmas, woohoo!
The emsie & I have another country opshop trawl for wedding plates

So november has involved...

Knitting... an organic cotton face washer for myself, because I became jealous of Samuel's

Reading... these two books, slowly but surely, both very intriging

Buying... baby clothes, my little sister is due on the 27th of dec, very exciting

Wearing... my new sunnies, gifted to me by me best mate, an early christmas present,
I feel quite spoilt

Eating... lots & lots of summer fruits, these lovelies will turn into a fruit salad

Listening... to Mr C W Stoneking, went to the gig at the corner last night,

crazy man, awesome voice

this is... my favourite thing from nature...

Colour!
Every colour we can possibly think of can be found in nature, even the fluoro's & the neon's. The colour of things change depending on the quality of light. Australia has the some of the brightest light in the world, twice as much as most of Europe. Therefore, the range & intensity of colours here are quite different to the quality of colour experienced over there. These colours of nature influence the colours we surround ourselves with, man-made colour, in our buildings & in our clothes. Here are a few layouts I did while studying colour at uni to show the differences in colour between continents.

friday baking...

Domesticity was calling me this morning, so I made a batch of cookies. This was a new recipe for me & I was a little unsure of it at first. I'm a little old fashioned & I guess when you start substituting good old milk & butter for soy milk & canola oil... I get a bit wary. But they turned out quite good & I know the lovely hollie would like them very much. I must remember next time though, to mix through the salt a little better. As the one I just ate was a tad on the salty side... oops.
You should definately check out bread & honey, that's where I found them & heaps more yummy stuff.

thrifty thursday...

Another 2 plates for the wedding shin-dig.
Some cute pink & white wool for some softy creations.
& a golden book encyclopaedia, with the cutest letter pages. I have plans for this one.

can't wait...

Remember this post? When we got to stay at the farm. Well, this saturday I get to go there again. The boys will be rehearsing for an up-coming gig, while the lady of the house & I will hang out & be crafty.
I've been sickly again, which is really starting to annoy me... so hopefully the fresh country & sea air will cure all the rubbish.

inspired...

By the images & thoughts on this blog.

this is... my favourite quote...

I discovered this one when I was in highschool & it's rung true ever since. It was said by Henry David Thoreau, that man said many strange things, alot of them quotable apparently.

I'd rather sit on a pumpkin & have it all to myself
than to be crowded on a velvet cushion

I'm also a fan of this Bob Dylan quote...

A person is a success if
they get up in the morning
& get to bed at night
& in between does
what they want to do

Thanks to strawberry kisses for this weeks theme. For more quotes & other good stuff, pop over to three buttons.

latest book progress...

What a busy bee I've been. Yesterday I spent all day making items for todays rose st stall. I'm quite suprised at how disciplined I can be. Here is proof of my productivity...

Gift tags made from vintage mini snap & gin rummy cards-$2 each

A4 lined soft cover journals handstitched & finished with vintage buttons-$35

Stationery packs- 10 A5 pages with 5 handmade map envelopes-$15 each

Simple photograph journal with blank pages-$15

Photo album with heavy stock cream pages, fits 20 photos-$30

A6 Noddy notepad-$10

A5 flora notepad-$15

thrifted on a thursday...

Today's thrifting proved mildly successful, two items were found. The first, a vintage black silk blouse which is a perfect fit and very old skool secretary. The second was a few metres of this viyella fabric. It feels similar to a flannelette & is quite soft. The label states day & night wear, but I think I'll make a couch blanky from it. What do you think? This on one side & some cute patchworking on the other.
I'm off to make gnocchi for dinner & perhaps do some housework too... we'll see how we go.

on my desk... on a wednesday...

Bits & bobs in preparation for studio work over the next two days. I'm at Rose st market again this week, so my head is down & my hands are busy preparing stock. Come visit & say hello, there are many lovely things to see at all the stalls.

no words today...

this is... a favourite recipe that i'd like to share...

I've shared a few favourite recipes along the line, such as apricot loaf & gingerbread cake. But here's one that I've been hiding from y'all.
When I was young, I loved to cook still do infact. Somehow this book came into my hands, I think it was a good egg cookbook. All the recipes had egg in them & they were rated for kids depending on how much adult help was needed. This recipe was a standout & I can't really remember any of the others. My mother has the book & I had been begging for ages to email me the recipe, so my sister bought down a photocopy on her last visit.
So here you have it... Triple choc choc chip cookies. Not your everyday treat, they're a bit sweet. But boy they are bloody delicious! Click on the image to blow it up.

five minutes peace...

A busy day calls for time out. This morning my besty called & told me to be dressed in 15 minutes as she'd be at my door to take me to the ghostpatrol & miso exhibition at metro 5 gallery in armadale. So as ordered I was raring to go, off we went to experience the beautiful world that the two have created.
We then stepped into cooper & milla's to get some gourmet lunch to go. So yummy, I got the most hugest lamington ever!
A trip to the workshop to share lunch with my boy.
A drive out to the burbs to pick up some old hand blown glass pharmacy bottles... more on those later.
A trip to Prahran market to stock up for dinner & breakfast. Dinner is squash & asparagus risotto with baked snapper, breakfast is googy eggs on chirico bread for toast mmmm.
An arranging of fresh flowers, a washing of the dishes & now for a sit down & listen to gillian welch.

a little thankyou gift for my mate, homemade apple crumble

aah paris...

I've always wanted to go to paris & especially to the montmarte district. This girl lives there & has the most beautiful images throughout her blog. Like this one below... take me there pleeeaase.

the little chill...

Last night was cold & wet, perfect for a simple thrown together vegie soup. I usually only cook this in the winter, but I'm still coming to the harsh realisation that Melbourne does not reserve it's chill for the winter... it shares it with the other seasons too. I've been here for five years now & I'm still in denial when it comes to weather.
So anyway, the soup... These are my ingredients...
1 brown onion finely chopped
2-3 carrots roughly chopped
1 stick of celery roughly chopped
1-2 cloves crushed garlic
a scattering of ground spices : paprika, smoked paprika, oregano, cumin & coriander
3 potatoes roughly chopped
1/4 of a head of cauliflower
1/3 cup pearl barley
enough vegie stock to cover, approx 1.5l
salt & pepper to taste

On a medium-high heat
Cook off the onion in a dash of olive oil until soft
Add garlic, carrot & celery saute for a few minutes
Add herbs & spices, cook for another 5 minutes
Add potato, cauliflower, barley & stock
Bring to the boil & then simmer with lid on for about an hour or until barley is soft
Season & eat!