Happy campers....

Oh Le, you have been very busy while l have been away.....
.....I am in LOVE with your ripply blanket and can't wait to see it in real life!
.....l am intrigued with your gift making and am trying to guess what it might be but haven't thought of anything yet
.....I am glad you are having some time out, enjoy every minute of it
.....l am loving school holidays
.....l am loving camping holidays
.....l am leaving you with some shots of our most recent one to the snowy mountains.....

In The Bag

I made a bag. Quite simply, I, the non sewer, made a bag, a whole bag with handles. No fancy pockets or inserts just a plain ordinary bag that was a much needed home for our gardening gloves amd secateurs that live by the front door. Somehow they had found a home in an shopping bag on a hook by the fromt door and it has actually been a very handy spot for them.
We, as a family, are not that great and putting things where thay should go so any storage has be convenient and obvious. Since meeting my beautiful man, my life has been filled with more love than I ever could have wished for. However, the same cannot be said for tidyness or organisation. That bit has gotten worse!!
So while the bag may seem misplaced to others, I think it will suit us fine. Having said that, it may not stay there. But that's where it will be for now.
Do you want to see the bag?? Here's how I made it. This is possibly the easiest thing I've ever made! I haven't cut out a pattern or ironed any seams. It is simply 2 items that have previously existed that have together as one. Enough chatting, ok, here....

I thrifted these very thick and solid linen placemats from our local op shop. I saw them yesterday and carried them around for a while them put them back. I thought of ALL the other fabric I have on my shelves and couldn't justify more. But I couldn't stop thinking about them either. They're not really my colours and then I thought of THE BAG and had to go back today. Really, they only cost $4 for the four so what was I on about. I like the stripy side better so that went to the outside.

I folded it in half and thought about handles for a bit. My fabric stash yielded and pair of kids red corduroy overalls - cool. I love corduroy. Who remembers wearing cords when you were a kid and listening to them squeek together when you ran??
I laid out the cords and wahlah!! Overalls have straps right? Yes! So the straps on the overalls became the handles for my bag!

I cut them off the overalls and began to sew.......

That's it there. The top of the overalls cut off and sewn onto the inside of the bag. No hemming, no ironing, just sewing.

Then with straps folded over and the little red buttons showing, I sewed the straps to the inside of the other side of the bag... sew......sew........sew and look there you have it.........

From this....

BORING...........DULL........... To this...................

FUN........COLOURFUL.........HANDMADE........CHEAP.........BAG...........
It took longer to write this post than to make THE BAG! Hee hee hee, love crafting xxx.

Table For One

It's table for one this morning as I am all alone for breakfast today.

Ahhh, the serenity! It's quiet, almost too quiet without the little people running about. But I will take it while it's here and surrender to it. I've enjoyed the above breakky of poached eggs(compliments of our girls) on toast with avocado and our own rhubarb chutney which is delight in a jar thanks to Em's gorgeous rhubarb. As you can see by the jar label it was made almost a year ago and it has faired well in the jar. Now we know what it tastes like, it won't last long!!

I've decided to start on my long awaited bike basket bunting and I've had the idea to make a daisy chain and perhaps to alternate between daisy and a bunting flag. I love Em's bike bunting proportions, its just right. This daisy pattern is for a coaster size and I've tried to downsize it which has made the pattern quite tricky. It's rather tight and and I'm making it in a 4ply bamboo which has no stretch at all.so far there's five petals done and three to go. If I can love it by the end if this first flower I'll continue, otherwise it's back to researching just the right one!

The time had come to start blocking the Communtiy Crochet Blanket that has been slowly taking shape during our Quarterly Crafternoons . It's a free for all make a square in whatever colour and pattern and it will be joined together and displayed as a symbol of bringing together our community through crochet. It's been such fun watching everyone really enjoying the process and those new to crochet showing how far they've come with hook and yarn!

Now I haven't seen Em for ages and I have been busting to show her my ripply rainbow stripes but I guess I'm going to show you first........

Here it is!!! I'm sooooo in love with it. I now have all 11 colours worked in and I really, REALLY, really LOVE IT!! There's now 22 rows and it's getting quite heavy. We've had soaring temperatures of over 40c but I still do a row here and there. I cant resist it as it pokes out of my crochet bag begging to be added to. As Lucy said, this pattern has such a rythym, a hypnotic effect overcomes and it's wonderful getting lost for a while in colourful stitches of treble crochet.
:-) :-). :-). :-)

2012 Our Year In Food

Enjoy
Le
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Bits And Pieces

We survived the christmas rush and now we can slow down a little bit. There's time for leisurely breakfasts with the kids and no school lunches to make for another month!
It's beautiful here in the valley. I find myself alone outside on a breezy summer morning though the fire rating is extreme for today and I am deciding whether we stay home or head out to B's mums'. If the wind springs up and the temperature predicted is 41c, it will be scary. But now is so lovely.

I've been making something for Em.
I'm nearly done.
The pieces are complete but they need to be blocked and then sewn together.
It's only something small.

I'll show you soon. I was hoping to finish it yesterday but we had such fun at home. Our above pictured breakfast was an all pitch in effort. Little R cut the shapes from the bread and popped them in the pan. I flipped them and he cracked the eggs into the holes. And no shell! Toasty, golden man in a hole complete with runny yolks eaten with such enjoyment. Kids love to eat what they have had a hand in cooking. Meanwhile Little S rumaged through the bottom drawer where I keep all the cookie cutters and plastic molds just for her to play with while I'm cooking. I let her stir and measure though she is so eager to help it's sometimes an un-help!!

Speaking of cooking I had a cake pan disaster New Years Eve. I love baking and I'm pretty good at it most of the time but we were invited to a friends for dinner. The first time we'd been for such an occassion. Just a bbq and I bring dessert. I'd imagined a glorious chocolate cake enrobed in glossy chocolate glaze spilling a plethora of big, fat, shiny cherries. Instead it stuck like crazy to the bundt tin and I lost half of it. Tried to stick it back together. Made the ganache for the top and ended up with this................................................................

A big fat gloppy mess of a thing that I was not happy with. No time to change it or amke something else, I piled cherries all over it and we named it The New Years Eve Disaster Cake! It went down a treat, we all loved it and vowed to make it every year! I rarely last midnight either so we decided to pop our party poppers at 10pm and celebrate with the kiwis over in New Zealand and call it a night. I think we'll do that every year too!
















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