thrift. nest. sew.

hanging in the breeze

2012-02-12T22:01:00.000+10:30

Soooo we had our 20 week scan this weekend... very special seeing our baby's tiny feet kicking inside, legs stretching then 'frogging' back up like elastic bands, fingers and hands clasping, little spine bones all perfectly formed and trying to perform a backflip without success. 1 hour of baby viewing wasn't enough. We could have watched all day. 'It's so much better than TV' were Mark's exact words.

Washing baby clothes 4 months prior to the due date makes me all kinds of silly happy. This past week I have washed, hung, folded and found nooks in bub's wardrobe for four loads of tiny outfits, socks, blankets, cardigans, hats and onesies.

So tiny.
So incredibly cute.
Some .....so incredibly pink. Yep! We are going to have a sweet little girl! We couldn't be happier.

However... I don't like pink a whole lot. In moderation it's fine, but just not not an entire wardrobe full of it. I guess we will attempt to avoid the uber pink girlie craze. But so many baby girls clothes (not to mention toys) in the shops are exactly that - pink! So we have decided not to own any pink MCNs, gorgeous rainbow colours only. I do so love bright primary colours and neutrals. In saying that what's the bet our little button will adore all shades of pink and only pink!

Her wardrobe is slowly filling up with adorable teensy clothes and essentials. Having a mum who manages an op-shop has helped us in the biggest way. My lovely Ma has been collecting the best of the best 2nd hand outfits for the past 12 or so months. Mark and I feel fab about reusing clothing that have only been worn once or twice, and in many cases still have the labels on! A quick wash and viola. New. I understand 2nd hand baby clothing is not everyone's cup of tea, and that's just fine. Each to their own :)

♥♥♥♥♥

my place and yours: green

2012-01-28T17:05:00.004+10:30

Vic at Punky&Me is starting her meme up again, and I have been thinking about potential blog posts. I loved joining memes a few years ago. Any excuse to use my camer... so might just start up again.

Lime green tea cup from T2

Officially the cutest cloth nappy from our growing stash - turquoise. The front one is on the smallest snap. It's tiny.... we can't wait for a little bum to fill these! I must admit I can not help but begin to get organised only 4 months into my pregnancy. A little early huh? I am seriously enjoying the hunt, and odd purchase, of baby items.

Thrifted bottles.

♥♥♥

number ones and twos

2012-01-24T22:22:00.003+10:30

Disposables Vs Cloth is where my head was at a week ago. I decided better sooner than later to begin looking into things. Like most things that take my interest I become quickly addicted to putting ALL of my spare time and energy into researching the 'best' option/s before I make a purchase. These days I rarely buy anything without Googling it's pros and cons. Other than helpful chats with friends who are mums or pregnant I just have no clue about nappies.

So which path did we decide to keeping bub's nether-regions as dry as possible? .... CLOTH! Yep. We are hopefully going to full time Modern Cloth Nappy our babe (or MCNs as they are termed). Until last week I was certain that disposables were for us/particularly me. But the more I read into the argument, my opinion began to sway towards cloth. There are many reasons we chose cloth but to name a few that are important to us..

not being responsible for horrid amounts of plastic and chemicals in landfill ,
cloth is friendlier and softer on bubs delicate skin,
financially cheaper ~$500 for cloth versus ~ $4000 to nappy a newborn through to 2 year old, and
MCNs are Oh SO cute, squishy, soft and plain adorable!

The cost shocked me initially (between $20-40 per nappy) but the more I dug around in the online shopping world of diapers I discovered a few lovely sales. We have ordered 24 nappies all up, which should last us 2-3 days before washing. We chose 3 different All-In-One MCNs based on product reviews and friends who had trialled and tested.

I can't wait to get fluffy mail in the coming weeks in the form of...

Pikapu... adoring the turquoise! pic source pikapu

Bumgenius 4.0 pic source nurturenappies

and the rainbowy goodness of Itti Bitti Tuttos!!! pic via mammalovesbubba

A few more things I am on the lookout for to make the process run smoothly - a bin beside the change table, two PUL bin liners and a roll of flushable bamboo liners - no one likes to go near poo right?! Oh, we don't expect cloth to be right for us 24/7, nor do I see myself being stressed out by washing etc if we get sick or life gets a bit tricky... so we will surely use disposables from time to time (perhaps travelling, visiting and at night if these don't hold up).

Now.... just to look into MCN storage options and organisation - Woo!

♥♥♥♥

finish quilt - tick

2012-01-18T18:56:00.000+10:30

As I hand stitched the fourth and final corner of aqua binding to a vintage sheet quilt my mind raced with up and coming projects which have been filed, waiting to be let loose :)

I am not a fan of having multiple works in progress when it comes to craft. When it comes to craft I work best to complete something under pressure. Pressure this January arrived in the desire to knit, quilt, stitch or crochet some sweet things for our first little bub.

You see I'm getting quite nesty these days. I have been content with cleaning the house for the past 4 weeks. Oh school holidays you are the best! There has been an uncommon urge of constant cleaning of our floors and carpets, organising and labelling (DYMO labeller - a household and classroom teacher must!) of kitchen spice shelves, hanging of lovely organised compartments in the laundry cupboard, putting up a new bathroom medicine cabinet .... to name a few.. I won't even go into the gorgeous things that are happening with the nursery and our old feral blue (now sand coloured) carpets!

So now that this huge sweet vintage sheet quilt is finished the creative bones in my body, which have not been exercised for quite some months I may add, can get to planning.

Previous posts about this quilt:

flea market finds The hunting and gathering of the sheets.
mail happiness The epic vintage sheet quilt swap.
my creative space Just sweet Lucy snoozing beside the washed sheets.
vintage sheet quilt The planning and cutting.
where is my flippin seam ripper?!!?! Experiencing frustration.
my creative space The joys of a free motion quilting foot!

An an even more exciting note - bubs has made my tummy pop over the past 2 weeks. It's really happening now! We're quite amazed by the whole rounded tummy deal ... it's been written on by the boy and is sung to daily. I am just LOVING being pregnant these days - finally :)

♥♥♥♥

today's rain was

2012-01-08T00:45:00.000+10:30

refreshing

extreme

and most definitely welcome.

grateful is spelt funny

2012-01-08T00:37:00.001+10:30

Don't you agree? It should be greatful, no? Grate makes me think of grating or a grater. Okay I'm over that.

I enjoy reading Maxabella's thought inspiring posts, and plan to contribute more to select few sweet little memes (as I have done in the past) more often throughout 2012. Here is my first for the new year. This week I am grateful for -

... the effort we put into our garden at the beginning of each season.

Removing dead plants, tilling soil and adding nutrients plus trying not to sulk over unsuccessful crops can be quite a chore that we honestly never look forward to. But the day the seedlings are lovingly placed into the soil and our irrigation system drips away we are both proud of our efforts and full of optimism!

During December and Janurary we have been consuming (and giving away to friends and family) silly amounts of sweet cherry tomatoes, red onions, small but juicy apricots, bazillions of corn cobs, cucumbers and mini capsicums. We will most probably repeat planting all of these next year as we had next to no failed crops. Yay!

So that's it. Effort and the rewards it brings :)

Head here to see more grAtefuls.

bubbles

2012-01-08T00:01:00.003+10:30

Mark's mum gave all kids (yes, grown up kids included. Hurrah!) bubble wands for Christmas. What a great gift! Hanna and I went nuts.

Love love love bubbles.

pickling cucumbers

2011-12-24T15:00:00.001+10:30

It became clear that our 6 cucumber plants were producing at a rather wild rate where we could no longer eat 3 per day in salad. Yesterday we decided that our collected jars would not be for home-made tomato sauce but for pickled cucumbers! I have vivid memories of mum and dad always, and still to this day, having a jar of pickles in the fridge. Tasty. Sweet but sour and a little bit zingy. Love them!

We modified this recipe slightly and took a few photos along the way: Summertime Sweet Pickles. So just in case you find yourself with an abundance of cucumbers or glass jars here is how we made our pickles :)

1. Wash cucumbers and allow them to dry.

2. Sterilize all jars and lids in a pot of boiling water for 5 minutes. Let them cool before handling.

3. Slice cucumbers into desired widths. As we have never pickled anything in our lives before we trialled thin and thick rounds as well as length way longer slices.

5. Jam as many slices of cucumber into each jar as possible, leaving a little space for a pickled onion and about 1cm of empty space from the top of the jar.

6. The recipe below is perfect for 1 kg of sliced cucumbers, so we just X4 each ingredient in one big pot, as we had 4 kg.

Boil the following together for 5 minutes.

1 cup Barossa Fermented Spiced Vinegar
1/8 cup sea salt (iodised or table salt will turn your pickling liquid cloudy)
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp tumeric
1 tsp dried mustard seeds
1 tsp dried dill
2 sweet onions
sprig of fennel greenery

Pour the hot liquid in each jar leaving a 1 cm air gap.

7. Screw on all lids and rinse each jar with tap water.

8. Place the jars in a boiling water bath (aka, lasagne dish) for 25 minutes until most lids have popped down. You will hear the POPs and sizzling air sounds as the pressure builds up. Remove, cool and store in a cupboard and wait! :)

It's suggested to eat them after one week. Fingers crossed they taste as yummy as the picking liquid smelt. Friends and family we hope you like pickles! ;)

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year xx

♥

christmas tree 2011

2011-12-18T23:19:00.002+10:30

2009 and 2010: We had a branch. Each year I LOVED the branch. I loved that it was totally bare to begin with. An empty canvas. It allowed me be creative with it's decorations, most of which were handmade. This year there were a few requests for a tree. So this is her. I like it... but part of me misses the branch.

Decorations:

Small and large vintage apples (thanks Ma),
Clear glass baubles,
Thrifted embroidered coasters,
Wooden laser cut keys and reindeer (Typo sale 4 for $1) and
Sewn maths grid paper garland (made by me).

Can't wait for Christmas 2012 ... with our little button!

Merry Christmas

xxx

♥♥♥

a little baby

2011-12-17T11:17:00.002+10:30

Mark and I are having a baby! :)

I do love spreading those happy words about. It's been sooo long that I've wanted the words to come freely to everyone and anyone who will listen... plus I am possibly the most terrible person at keeping my own secrets.

We are almost 12 weeks.

Battling nausea, up to 5 toilet trips per night, creeping out of work at 3:05pm just after the school bell has rung as I can't keep my eyes open, falling on the couch in an exhausted heap and feeling guilty as Mark cooks away (OK that part has been lovely hehe I am so grateful for his help), and the tiredness = not enjoyable. Lately I have had every limb crossed hoping things would begin to improve and I feel little inklings that they are beginning to. Two whole nights without ANY nausea. Hurrah! Just the thought of those feelings disappearing for a while makes me want to celebrate.

I have been lucky by having super healthy yummy cravings - mostly all I desire are huge fresh salads riddled with crispy iceberg lettuce and tomatoes, dark rye toast with cheese slices, veggie delight footlong Subways, fresh fruit of any variety... oh and the odd H.J veggie burger just for good measure.

I'm amazed at how much there is to think about, as this is my first baby. Initially I found everything quite overwhelming, especially after reading 'those baby magazines' *insert raised lip here* I was left with a heavy head- cloth Vs disposable, bassinet Vs cot, $50 brand label onsies ummmmm, sleepsacks, swaddles and cot sets... OH MY! A few weeks after this magazine and online onslaught I feel completely optimistic about the decisions Mark and I have made to reuse and recycle as much as we can as we begin to prepare the nursery in the next few months.

Until then I will just continue to swoon over all of my favourite nursery room design ideas over here on my Pinterest board. Pretty pastels, prints, fabrics, mobiles, quilts... happy days of planning ahead!

ohdeedoh

designsponge

nicety.typepad

blog.effortless.style

ohdeedoh

naaaaaw :)

♥♥♥♥♥

printers tray

2011-12-11T22:41:00.001+10:30

Many moons ago (Feb *cough*) I blogged about stumbling upon the perfect printers tray to use as a wall display - read the discovery story here... so I finally decided where to put it.

It lives in the lounge room above our couch and I couldn't be happier!

It makes me so so happy to see my vintage sewing spools freed from their collection jars.

I adore the green & blue hues ♥♥♥♥

It just feels like the lounge room is complete now. Funny how a little something something on a wall can do that. Happy me!

fennel and cukes

2011-11-30T20:37:00.001+10:30

Fennel foliage is a very dark grey green colour, and yet next to nothing is happening with the fennel bulb down below. Maybe its one of those vegetables which aims to improve the grower's patience. We seem to select lots of those types of veggies ;)

The 6 cucumber vines needed a little bit of encouragement but are now winding their way skywards up their trellis. All have teeny cukes tipped with small yellow flowers.

This guy grew from 5 to 15 cm in just 48 hours. I'm not lying! Is this common? Crazy, right?

Climbing. Climbing. Climbing.

zucchini and sweetcorn

2011-11-30T19:46:00.001+10:30

With the mix of sunny warm days and overcast rain which November has brought us Adeladians, veggies in our garden are growing longer and fattening up right before our eyes!

A new flower and tiny veggie appears daily on our two zucchini plants. We compare zucchini growth to the act of blowing up a long skinny party balloon!

The corn is h.u.g.e (almost 6 foot) and keeping us entertained - as we sweetcorn growing newbies assumed ears of corn would magically appear then grow with all the little kernels tucked safely inside. But no! Here's my version of the process...

First the beginnings of the tiny ears (female part) form along the side of the main stalk just above one long flaggy leaf. Each ear is soon riddled with long spindly white silks spilling from the tip. Every individual silk thread is internally attached to a single immature kernel....

At the top of the plant grows the tassels (male part). These tassels produce pollen, which in the wind must drop down onto the silks for the silk to drag the goodness down inside the ear and produce a kernel. If a silk isn't pollinated that kernel won't develop, leaving you with a gappy/kernel-less ear, and we just won't settle for such happenings. So as soon as the pollen forms we're going to play with mother nature and hand pollenate to ensure as much kernelly goodness as possible. Woo!

See? It's all quite complicated but fabulous don't you think?!

meet the girls

2011-11-14T22:29:00.001+10:30

They're the sweetest, most curious, grub fossickin', clueless little Isa Brown hens we ever did meet.

Names: Penn and Teller. Moving right on from the fact that those are 'male' names... they shouldn't get much of a complex. Penn escaped the coop today and hence their names were selected to reflect our favourite magician duo.

They never stray more than a meter away from each other. If one begins to preen its feathers, so too does the other. If one starts scratching for bugs, the other is there soon after doing the same. Clearly besties!

I adore their fluffy baby chick bum feathers!

Hmmm.. there must be a way I can get into this coop....?

coop and veggies

2011-11-05T19:10:00.002+10:30

Our broad bean plants grew to almost 6 foot tall! My Oma gave me a great tip - Broad bean roots have little nitrogen storing nodules attached to them. So it's best to cut the plants off at the base with loppers and leave the roots in the ground. We will be topping the bean beds up with new loam in the next few weeks ready for basil, more capsicum and peppers, which should respond well to the extra nitrogen. All the little beans are waiting to be blanched, submerged in cold water and frozen.

Despite feeling exhausted on these warm nights we have been busy beavers and put up the chicken run fence, gate and wooden coop. Just the roof to sort out (we have brutal beastly cats in our neighbourhood and possums who I have read are partial to eggs!), a ramp, nesting boxes then with any luck next weekend the girls will arrive!! =)

Oh and the corn is growing F A S T!!!

October niceties

2011-10-21T19:46:00.001+10:30

Passing butter yellow canola fields on the roadside on the way to Melbourne.

Using recycling scrappy materials to build four girls a coop *cough* mansion. Preparing for our egg-providing pets is seriously exciting business!

A fantastically expensive (whoops!) Bunnings trip with an equally fab friend produced two hanging baskets which have the prettiest petunia display you could ever lay eyes on. Hanging flowers on branches of our jacaranda was a light bulb moment which makes me all kinds of happy :)

Broad beans here. There. Everywhere. Amazing fried in almost burnt butter, salt and pepper. Nom nom.

Attempting to grow cukes up a trellis - we'll see how that goes.

Waiting for our first strawberry to ripen.

Sharing our garden with one particularly pesky visitor who lays on and squashes young corn plants is cute but annoying.

I hadn't noticed that I had not blogged for almost 1 month (thanks for bringing it to my attention Vic x) End of term 3, school holidays and the beginnings of the final term for this year (HOLIDAYS IN 8 WEEKS. HURRAH!) have kept me away. I'll be sure to share our new coop once completed as well as the girls! Can't wait.

dining table pretties

2011-09-26T22:21:00.003+09:30

small collections

2011-09-23T20:58:00.000+09:30

My marble collection made a great substitute for weighing down a custard pie base.

Cubed butter softening in the sun ready to be made into pastry.

Splendidly sour grapefruits and granulated sugar have been eaten by the bucketload. Yum.

I am still here, just finding life is taking me on a journey of spending a fair amount of time in the garden. We are pottering and planning which Summer crops to plant during the school holidays, re-organising our inside spaces, laying concrete for a garden shed for Mark, and *insert drumroll here* the most exciting of the lot - discovering THE most perfect location for a spacious chicken coop in a shady corner of our front yard. Now to drawing up some plans and learning how to construct something from wood that doesn't fall over.

Although I am missing doing something with my hands I haven't had the desire to pick up a needle, hook or set up my beloved Janome. It doesn't bother me though. Also it's been months since I have thought about making a quick detour and popping into an op-shop. Is it possible to be all opped-out?

Ahhhh sunshine!

p s : If you are in Adelaide, do you know of anyone getting wanting to get rid of a chicken coop (saves me making one. Willing to pay) or know a reputable person to buy layers from? Do you have chickens? Which breed likes to be picked up/patted?

royal adelaide show

2011-09-05T22:00:00.002+09:30

The show was a lovely place to go for father's day celebrations. Happy Father's day dad and Mark ♥

I wasn't aware of how long you actually spend on the Ferris Wheel ride.

The chair swing is officially my favourite show ride. ever.

I find that all rides put a spazzy happy smile on my face, but this ride has something special!

Warm sun. Smelly poultry shed. Calving cows. Crispy choros. Hot jammy donuts. Not a showbag in sight.. yes I would like to elect myself to become the organiser of the Showbag Hate Club hehe.

nectarine blossoms

2011-09-04T22:16:00.001+09:30

In an attempt to teach myself some Photoshop skills and become less afraid of the daunting program I have been watching various online tutorials, particularly teaching how to 'vintagise' photographs.

I found this the best technique by far, and I think I may even be able to remember the order of layers, duplicates, curves and light changes (I am feeling mighty proud of myself hehe).

seeing red

2011-09-03T13:55:00.001+09:30

My excessive bulb planting in the beginning of Winter has payed off!!!

The most magnificent of all, these tall bright red tulips, bloomed for almost 3 weeks alongside smaller yellow, pink, peach and purple varieties. Their leaves are slowly browning off now, but I am looking after them with bulb boost in hope of them returning next year.

Love, love, love those shining petals. ♥♥♥

Winter veggie round up

2011-08-30T20:48:00.000+09:30

An epic fail with Chinese and Globe cabbages. Both had beautiful lush leaves, but never grew tight and compact in the centers, just spent their time spreading outwards. I attempted to 'train' those adventurous leaves by tying them up... to no avail. In the last weeks they then grew upwards almost 1m high and bolted into yellow flowers. Annoying.

The broad bean plants are over half a meter tall now. Super quick growers and bazillions of flowers. Can't wait for steamed broad beans with butter, broad bean salad and dip. We're getting worried now - as we may have sowed too many seeds!

From what I can see (first time growing these) - we have baby brussel sprouts growing on those stems up there!!!

Cauliflowers all made it to this 50cent piece size then quickly bolted as well. I guess we planted at the wrong time of the year... might have another try in 2012 but plant earlier in the season.

Any suggestions for my happy-to-bolt veggies?

xx

one sunday

2011-08-07T22:07:00.003+09:30

Last weekend I became inspired by these...

two beautiful videos by Javi Devitt via Vimeo here and here
by Anders Bäckman here (good song too)
another by William Wilkinson here

.. and made a short video. iMovie is a really easy program to use. I have so much to learn about eg. how to use a tripod properly and understanding my camera's HD video capabilities. Taking stills is great... but motion has opened up a whole new world of possibilities! :)

♥♥♥♥

little yellow cardie

2011-08-07T21:38:00.003+09:30

At last my second knitted baby cardigan has been blocked and dried.

Now just need to find the perfect baby buttons.

Me and craft these days = slowly but surely.

x

india6

2011-08-02T22:45:00.002+09:30

I was browsing through my April India holiday photos and came across these. I remember the exact moment they were taken.

It was towards the end of our 13 day stay in southern India. We came out of the Mysore Palace, having just provided ourselves with our own 40 min guided tour aka reading Lonely Planet guide. We had had enough of the sweltering heat, relentless humidity, sweating it up big time, the constant staring, the begging for money, touts wanting business, the need for a break from curry for three meals daily, increased cost just because your a tourist... don't get me wrong we adored India, but every now and then it just crept under our skin - in the wrong way. This day we felt tired. Not bothered by bartering for prices. So lucky for us on the way back to our hotel a rickshaw driver makes us an offer. We don't bargain him down, but are simply thankful to get out of the sun, we jump in. Before we know it our 10 minute trip home had turned into a 1 hour Sari, Silk and Incense Emporium tour (the idea being that you purchase items and the driver is given either a small commission of what you have purchased or a provided with a free government enforced rickshaw driver shirt for himself) ending up at the city's oldest market. So we went in and came out empty handed each time as there are only so many Krishna or Laxshmi statues one can own. Our last stop had me excited as India's markets always impresS us, and meant lots of happy snaps for me! We wandered around the vibrant fruits and vegetables piled perfectly on top of each other, and then I spotted this brown eyed girl leaning up agains a bag of dried chillies.

I waved at her, she was uninterested in us and just kept looking towards her mother who was close by. Her mother nodded shyly and grinned when I made hand gestures asking to take her daughter's photograph.

The top two were the first two photos I have ever taken with my new fancy shmancy camera where the subjects eyes were actually IN FOCUS! I remember showing the photos to Mark on the lcd screen back at the hotel and squealing with delight when i was my reflection in her eye. Funny the things that make you heart-skippy-happy. The hour long sweats-ville Emporium trip was sure worth it for these moments frozen in time.

gratefulz through the lens

2011-07-29T00:14:00.004+09:30

This month I am grateful for...

...flowers (yes again!), particularly these fiery orange, red and pink poppies given to me for my birthday. The way that the tightly scrunched-up petals literally explode out of their bud cases, then within a day seem to magically stretch out with no wrinkles to be seen. Love it!

... ultra thoughtful gifts of the lensy type. She's a Canon f1.8 50mm and took all of the photos on this post. Despite having no zoom ability and a slightly plastic fantastic exterior, it can beautifully throw areas into a delicious blur (yes, blur can be delicious!) and keeps specified area nicely focussed.

...leeks, spinach and the last of our broccoli from our slllooooooow growing Winter patch. Looking forward to sprouts, caulies and broadies in the next month or so.

and lastly I am grateful to feel the warm sun my face today - it's been a while Monsieur Solei!

See more at Maxabella x

b & w

2011-07-14T22:40:00.001+09:30

A friend's shack. A river. Long reeds swaying. Tyres hanging in trees waiting for the Summer months. Nice.

pretties ♥

2011-07-10T22:02:00.003+09:30

Pretties have found their way inside the house from the front garden. They certainly add a little bit of bright n' happy to our lounge room on these grey Wintery days. Don't get me wrong - I adore all seasons... but I wish we'd put in ducted heating as opposed to just a split system in our lounge room last year. Hindsight is annoying isn't it! Hope your staying warm :)

indoor bulbs part II

2011-07-02T23:18:00.000+09:30

Hurrah - the hyacinths are all blooming!

This weekend our dining room looks like a packet of Skittles and smells like a florist, but we're not complaining at all. This is the second year I have forced these bulbs and both times I have had about 95% success with flowers blooming. Some of the bulbs went mouldy, but most enjoyed their pretend Winter in the vegetable crisper. Blue muscaris and tulips will be the next to bloom... c'mon little things!

knit purl knit

2011-06-26T14:39:00.000+09:30

It's cold here in Adelaide. So after considering getting back my crochet-groove then wishing I could get better at knitting, the pointed needles won the battle. Ravelry and I quickly re-aquainted ourselves, as did youtube (thanks to some nice tutorials on how to use dpns and circular needles). I am really enjoying making the Offset Wraplan baby cardie. I even mustered up the courage to include some random patterning. It's lovely to have something to do while watching tv at night.

I have been mucking around with photoshop while trying not to feel too overwhelmed by the craziness of the program. Just zooming in and out and opening files initially did my head in, as my mac took some getting used to. Now that I'm better at that, this morning Refining Edges was my goal. Result above is satisfactory but I need to practise some more. Perhaps a TAFE course in Photoshop...?

golden afternoon

2011-06-26T10:53:00.000+09:30

I am grateful for ...

2011-06-17T17:57:00.000+09:30

slowly but surely crossing tasks off my horribly lengthy To Do lists with a red pen and ruler (seeing a red line across makes it so wonderfully final and satisfying)....

weekend drives into the Adelaide hills...

picnics and cups of tea on bitterly cold afternoons...

new growth in our garden ...

Hello tulip leaves and tiny yellow surprises!!!

... and lastly - my garden for teaching me to be more patient. These leeks, which will take 3-5 months to mature, are by no means big enough to cook with yet, but I do love their new hairstyles.

More grateful thoughts over at maxabellaloves :)

indoor bulbs

2011-06-02T21:29:00.000+09:30

15 op-shopped vases, jars, pots, kettles and milk jugs are the new homes of my indoor bulbs for 2011.

Each morning I check on their progress each morning hoping to see a new millimeter of shiny green sprout. Hyacinths, daffodils, blue muscari and tulips are among these soon-to-be beauties. Can't wait!

June plot

2011-05-31T21:27:00.001+09:30

After weekends of waiting, where it felt like we did nothing except weed #$!@ loads of soursobs, the last of our Winter veggies went in. I had been dreaming of what yummy things we could plant and sow for weeks now, and with the cooler months upon us, we breathed a huge sigh of relief once they were all nestled into the soil.

Without any further adieu here is a quick review the successes and crappo things we grew last season. See January Plot.

These grew VERY well from Jan-May and we WILL plant again ...

spinach / rainbow chard (these 11 plants feed us, both our parents and my friends weekly - and they are still pumping!)
basil, coriander, oregano and thyme
dwarf sugar-snap beans
Top Weight carrots (satisfying to pull out, yummy)
beetroot
bok choy (fast growing, but loved by insects)
Sweet Bite cherry tomatoes (these 9 plants have given us over 100 deliciously sweet tomatoes - and they are still putting out flowers and fruiting)

These will NOT be grown again ...

radishes (eeewe, need I say more?)
rocket (too hot and peppery)
golden beans (slightly tasteless)
purple haze carrots (soil issues send their roots leggy and spidery)

The broccoli we planted in March survived a frustrating caterpillar massacre but have all developed beautiful compact emerald heads. We have been eating them for dinner steamed with butter, salt and pepper. They're so much tastier than store bought veggies! *Note: After being unsuccessful with organic pest methods of removing and killing them by hand and an oil chilli and garlic mixture...we use Yates Vegetable Dust. We apply it fortnightly and the little green guys die within the day. It's good stuff!

Above: Our sweet Lucy enjoying the shade beneath our makeshift sun shelter (sheets and some old lattice) in Feb. She obviously thinks the veggie garden is all for her. Even during these cooler months we find her curled up among the leeks on a bed of pea straw.

Despite hating 99% of photos of myself I just need to get over it! So here are a few which show my super enthusiastic feelings towards pulling out our first beet, hehe :)

Happy gardening

❤❤❤

things I am grateful for...

2011-05-21T22:39:00.000+09:30

... chilly Autumn mornings,

gorgeous Autumn colours,

warm crocheted blankets on our sofa,

All in all - our garden makes me happy these days. Read up on more gratefulnessess over at Maxabella Loves.

** A mighty thanks to those who have left sweet comments about my photos recently, and to those who are helping me to improve them. Every kind comment makes me smile. I am still in the early stages of learning how to use my Canon slr, and could never have imagined I would love taking photos this much.

Happy leaf crunching underfoot everybody xxx

India6

2011-05-21T15:57:00.000+09:30

❤❤❤

How much does this look like Australia? Gum trees and all. Munnar.

Kalaripayattu traditional martial arts performers, Munnar.

Floating petals.

Girls rolling incense, Mysore.

outdoor bulbs 2011

2011-05-21T15:25:00.000+09:30

I heart Autumn. Actually while we were away on holiday I was patiently looking forward to coming home simply to remove my bulby babes from their Winter home (aka. the fridge veggie drawer) where they had spent 6 chilly weeks, and begin an epic planting!

Garden Express did a great job of providing me with just over 300 Spring blooming bulbs in good condition. Most of which were planted a few weekends ago in pots outdoors or in garden beds (bit scared about this one... I've never planted bulbs in our garden) however some are indoors - photos soon.

I have various Tulips in fancy dresses and in almost all colours of the rainbow, Daffodils, Jonquils, Blue Grape Muscari, Snowflakes and Freesias. Our garden beds should resemble a packet of Skittles in Spring with Ixias, Sparaxis, Anenome and Rannunculi dotted about among the naturalizing daffodils that came with the garden when we moved in. I have never had any luck with Rannunculi but adore them... so fingers crossed we'll have a bloom or two this year :)

* Are you considering planting bulbs this Autumn? They say May is the final best month for Spring blooming bulbs to be planted throughout the cooler areas in Australia. So do get planting if you were thinking about it. It's worth it :D

India5

2011-05-14T22:51:00.000+09:30

A masala chai wallah cleaning up used glasses, Madurai.

We became utterly addicted to this drink, consuming it almost whenever we came across it
(for approx 20c a glass who wouldn't). It always came super hot in tiny glasses, and smelt perfectly spicy but sweet. We particularly loved watching the steaming tea being poured from one glass to another from crazy heights.

Oil lamps in Sri Manakshi Temple, Madurai.

Lovely oil bottles at an incense factory.

Tea pickers in the blissful hills around Munnar.

Tea popping from a picker's haul.

India4

2011-05-11T18:59:00.000+09:30

Bananas anyone? I love this.

India3

2011-05-07T23:12:00.000+09:30

Temple flowers and ornaments hanging from a wish tree (these are wishes for children - little beds), Madurai.

Indian's take serious pride in their transport - especially trucks!

India2

2011-05-06T21:55:00.000+09:30

Clay pots and flowers sold at entrance to a Hindu temple, Chennai.

Auto rickshaw.

One gorgeous bike.

Chennai

India1

2011-05-05T20:47:00.002+09:30

After deciding not to accept a job in Cambodia towards the end of 2010, we started throwing ideas about of a yummy holiday instead. So last month we packed our bags (not to mention hand-sanitizer!), said goodbye to work and ventured out of Adelaide on our dream trip to Southern India and Sabah, Malaysia.

Let's just say that I was rather snap happy (especially in India), in fact my delicious new camera's shutter got a hardcore workout and took 2000 photos! I'll be sharing some of those that I hold particularly close to my heart. There is something so magnificent about India - the people, religions, land and traditions are just so different, vibrant and captivating. The way we feel towards this country is the most difficult to explain... we were sometimes utterly shocked, then amazed, next upset, then disgusted (mostly by smells!), only to be in awe the next minute and finally ended up falling in love with the place.

For me these are special moments frozen in time, shared with my wonderful travel buddy xx Love you Loon.

Bike on a Chennai roof-top.

Marina Beach market stall, Chennai.

Marina Beach, Chennai.

Brightly painted tower of Sri Meenakshi Temple, Madurai.

Cycle rickshaw in Old George Town, Chennai.

incy wincy

2011-03-28T20:51:00.000+10:30

I always find spiders so ingenious. Such little creatures with amazingly strong silky threads. This afternoon I watched one tiny fellow build a web between our snow-pea stakes, and practiced taking photos with my new camera! My new pal is a Canon EOS 60D. I am smitten. He is gorgeous. I am learning how to use two lenses (18-55 and 55-250mm). Here are some of my first snaps with him.... not quite understanding all the dials yet.. but we're on our way.

harvesty goodness

2011-03-24T23:23:00.001+10:30

Hello little blog,

Not many posts going on lately - I am blaming parent-teacher interviews, piles of student assessment at work, and much more fun but tiring ....spending the rest of my energy on planning a little trip in April (aaaYeeeee!!!!)

Thursday night involved a mega harvesting session after work. We normally harvest to eat food that day but this time was for two reasons. Firstly so we could freeze the majority of the vegetables and didn't want to risk having loads of precious goodies go to waste while on holiday. Secondly so we can sow seeds in the empty areas of our beds this weekend in hope of returning with a few little seedlings sprouting from the soil.

Handfuls of beans were blanched and put in the freezer. Even more purple carrots were pulled, only this time they had grown a little fatter... but still each with crazy curly spindly root systems. I cut these up into small pieces and blanched these too, but I'm not sure whether they will freeze as well as the beans? It's all a bit experimental at this stage.

** edit.
I pulled out about 30 baby Topweight carrots today. 100% success with this variety. Hurrah!

Do pop over to Daphne's Dandelions to see some yummy fresh vegetables. Happy harvesting!

organic pest deterrent experiment

2011-03-15T21:21:00.000+10:30

We have admittedly had a brilliant insect-free run in our vegie patch, aside from these little guys who eventually fried in the sun and did no harm. Until now. Cue jaws theme tune..

Sweet looking green caterpillars managed to munch 30% of our broccoli leaves IN ONE NIGHT! I decided tonight that I needed to do something and fast if I wanted to eat any broccoli in a few months time.

Once I had picked off each little blighter and their eggs, The Boy suggested I mix up an organic chilli, garlic and oil mixture to smother over the leaves on all 13 plants.

I am just hoping they are amply disgusted by the concoction. I'll post whether this organic deterrent is a success, and how long it works for, if at all!? What do you do to keep these green loving lovelies at bay in your patch? I would love to hear of your method for future experiments :)

Friday Harvest

2011-03-12T09:30:00.001+10:30

First year of bean growing = successful The first of our golden butter and snap beans were ready for eating and went into last nights wonton noodle soup, and tasted yummy and fresh!

First year of carrot growing = unsuccessful :( We decided to pull up a few purple carrots in hope that they would be a little plumper than when we checked a few weeks ago. But alas - short, stubby, spidery purple roots. We chopped the roots off and ate the carrots and they were incredibly tasty. What a shame. Next year I must remember to add sand to the carrot bed and will not ammend the soil in any way - no compost, no composted cow poop, no fertilizer, no love really... how odd that they prefer to grow that way.

Quite happy to be playing a new vegetable harvest meme over at Daphne's Dandelions!

bobs and bits

2011-03-06T21:25:00.001+10:30

I'd like to give a HUGE thank you to Helen for pointing out that my pears were William Pears and in fact were ripe when crunchy. After reading that, I stood atop of unstable chairs and plucked enough to fill one bucket. We gave some away to my parents and stewed the rest, and we are now officially all peared-out! I added a little sugar, cinnamon and lemon rind were added during the 2 and a half hour simmering session. They were nice, a little bit too mild in flavour perhaps, but it is special to be eating our own pears unlike last year.

I have begun a travel photography course, as I am tired of returning from a holiday with god awful photos of things that I remember being incredible, vivid, and IN FOCUS!!!! I really want to know what all those 'little knobs, dials and buttons' do, and know how to change the lighting and depth of field to achieve those gorgeous blurry backgrounds. I came away from todays session feeling overwhelmed and wishing I had the ability to grasp new concepts with ease. I am very slowly (painstakingly) beginning to understand aperture, shutter speed and ISO. my.brain.hurts
x

my creative space

2011-03-03T21:40:00.001+10:30

Last weekend I used my new free-motion quilting foot for the first time... and boy it was a work out! My upper arms and shoulders were aching after just a few hours behind the machine. I am SUPER pleased with the result, and am already thinking about future quilts .... hmmm. I'm glad I took the leap and didn't persist with straight lines, which wasn't working for the thickness of the quilt batting... but shhh honestly I am sure it's my lack of skill to sew in straight lines hehe

The front of the quilt is made from various vintage sheets from Ange's Ramblings swap which I participated in 2010.

The back is a mis-mash of white, peach and yellow floral fabric...

... plus a little snippet of vintage lace for good measure. I left the embroidery floss ties throughout the quilt, as they were too cute to remove.

I tried out a wiggly bobbly sewing pattern suggested over here in Oh, Fransson's Free Motion Quilting Tutorial, and also followed her plan as to where to begin free-motion sewing on such a large sized quilt, also VERY helpful. It took exactly 4 full bobbin changes, which I had prepared before beginning to reduce stopping and starting too much. Incase you were wondering, I stuffed up alot..

Yes, I quilted myself into a squiggly corner many times.
Yes, I swore a bit.
Yes, you can see where i sped up too quickly, slowed down too slowly and created ridiculous non-curved pointed shapes frequently.
Yes, I saw the great people of We Massage the following day hehe.

More creativity over here.
♥♥♥♥

February plot

2011-02-25T21:01:00.000+10:30

There's a lot of green in these photos, as the garden is growing so well and aside from the rainbow chard everything is exactly that - lovely lush green. Both types of beans have appeared just 3-4 days after their flowers opened up. Looking forward to fresh beans - the shop ones we've been buying only seem to last a crappy 3 days in our fridge these days.

The bok choy is floursishing, crispy and very tasty.

The lone tomato I posted last week has now got sisters and brothers. Surely we must be a few days away from being ripe?!

Ooooh YES, it's been a good few months since I have handmade anything so on a crafty note yesterday I finally bought a free-motion quilting foot!!!!!! I hope to start quilting my picnic (come queen size bed quilt top) blanket soon, which I haven't even glanced at since October... see here, here and here.

The last thing I had done was tie the quilt layers at intervals with embroidery floss, but I became worried that the ties are too far apart which will mean the batting will separate and eventually come adrift in the sandwich. An attempted to quilt the layers together on the machine rendered me feeling hopeless. I read that free-motion quilting is difficult so I'll be sure to do some test runs on pretend mini quilt sandwiches before getting stuck into the real thing.

♥♥♥♥

green

2011-02-19T23:27:00.000+10:30

Our 50 year old pear tree is now brimming with gorgeous fat pears, and similar to last year the rainbow lorikeets and possums are getting to them before we can. We were hoping that placing them on the kitchen windowsill will ripen them up nicely, but we tried one yellowing one which smelt divinely pear-esque the other day and it was terribly bitter and had gross brown spots inside. Shame. Hopefully the rest are better.

Tasty spring onions, bok choy and rainbow chard have been harvested for our last two dinners.

We took a trip to Bunnings today and I spent a few happy hours gardening in the afternoon. I planted one too many leeks, in hope for some yummy potato and leek soup in the Winter (it appears that the tray for $2.99 contained 32 to be precise hehe). Friends and family, I hope you like leeks! Also put in some green dragon broccoli and one brussel sprout plant just for the fun of watching it grow - the little sprouts grow dotted all around the outside of one tall stem. Very random.

Hope your enjoying some lovely mid 20's weather as we are in Adelaide ♥♥♥♥

lounge room re*decorate

2011-02-15T21:13:00.000+10:30

Adios dark brown leather sofas!!! After being unsure about purchasing a light coloured sofa - we decided just to jump in (all well and good while we don't have any children) and we are now completely in love with our lounge room and new cushions ♥♥♥

The oatmeal coloured fabric is wonderfully light and has opened the space up and... us tallies can both lay down on the new modular without our legs hanging over the edge!

The step ladder went up on the wall as a joke, then we decided it was sort of interesting and it has stayed put. I am thinking that the printers tray might look nice on that wall once I have finished cleaning it up.

See the blanket stand above? We seriously love blankets in this house. Are you eagerly awaiting the cooler months too?

little veggie plot

2011-02-13T22:58:00.000+10:30

We tried our rainbow chard on Friday which are growing quickly, and now have thick brilliant yellow, orange and red stems, and those typical glossy bumpy leaves....

...and we're celebrating bees and their clever pollinating handiwork. This morning I counted about 20 yellow flowers. I can already taste tomato, basil and bocconcini salad.... mmmm!

first harvest, berries and pies

2011-02-07T22:09:00.001+10:30

We picked our first veggies on the weekend. 5 extraordinarily peppery radishes! We tried one and couldn't handle the taste so gave them all to my mum and dad :) They seemed very grateful, but I haven't called them to ask their honest verdict. Although they grew so quickly and it was delightful to watch those red baubles appear at the soil surface we will never grow them again.

On Sunday The Boy took us on a drive into the Adelaide Hills to pick blackberries. There is something so special about picking berries from the roadside. We did get ripped to shreds by nasty thorns (gloves helped somewhat) but after about 30 minutes of picking we came away with half a bucketful of plump glossy berries!

When we got home The Boy used our basil to make pesto and pine-nut pasta. It was incredibly tasty. Hoorah for freshly grown herbs! And for dessert .... I Googled blackberry pie recipes and made two large pies in cake tins (should buy a pie tin) with this recipe. Very simple and yummy. A delicious weekend (sans radish).

♥♥♥♥

flea market finds

2011-02-06T12:53:00.000+10:30

Last week I mentioned a special something that I had wished and dreamed of having in my possession, then found it at Limberlost. One beautiful (albeit dirty and cobweb ridden) printers tray!!

When I saw one shabby looking tray on the floor I asked without much hope if the owner had any more. He walked my friend and I down to his little workshed and there in front of me was what you see in the photo above. My jaw dropped (I recall my friend taking a photo of my face hehe) as I couldn't believe what I saw. So many trays all piled up on top of each other! I went through them all and chose the one on the top.

Here she is in her before state.

I hoped to have before and after photos by now, but it's still in it's before state as there is crispy grotty paper covering the back of each little space which needs to be removed. I attempted to clean it up then realised that this job will be a more time consuming task. As I have mentioned previously, I do love a little project :)

So until then, do pop into Sophie's for other cleaner finds!
♥♥♥♥

January plot

2011-02-04T00:28:00.000+10:30

It's all growing! Thanks to my crafty fellow's blue tarp shade structure($40 for everything!) most plants survived the 42 degree heatwave Adelaide experienced this week. Of the unlucky few were our poor passion fruit plants which crisped to smithereens :(

Bed 1. The basil is growing SO quickly and looking rather lush. Incredibly hardy herbs in this bed. No shade, all survived the heat. The bok choy is beginning to resemble store bought bok choy.This makes for happy gardeners at our house. We examined the rocket plants this evening, which are beginning to develop that thin frilly leaf... and already tastes peppery.

Bed 2. The radish plants have begun producing round scarlet bulbs just below the surface. We lost a few orange carrot seedlings, and I'm waiting for their greenery to pick up... or are carrots just slow growers? Our golden butter beans, which i sowed directly in the bed from seed, have grown taller than the green beans I sowed in seedling raiser trays - even though the butter beans weren't sown until about a week and a half after the green bean seedlings were transplanted. It appears that direct sowing leads to faster growth.

Bed 3. Rainbow chard is growing beautifully, as are the purple carrots. It's difficult to see in the photo (click on it to see the full size, might be easier to spot) but the beetroot plants have thinned themselves in the scorching temps to the fittest (saved me from doing it!).

Bed 4. We just love tomatoes. It is one of those staple foods for us which we buy regularly, although they rarely taste spectacular. So we bought a $2.99 pack of 8 cherry tomato seedlings only 3 weeks ago in hope of getting a few fruits before the end of the Summer. Already the plants have quadrupled in size and ... two have tiny yellow flowers. We couldn't believe it - flowers so soon. We might have our own tasty tomatoes in the next few weeks. Yummo.

ps. We really need to invest in a digital watering timer to reduce garden related stupidity like forgetting the soaker hoses were on for oh, 9 whole hours!

my creative space

2011-01-26T21:30:00.000+10:30

I have been putting off sewing 6 cushion covers for our new couch for 5 weeks - and finally in the final week of school holidays it was time. There was to be NO more procrastination! I used fabrics from IKEA (PS screen printed spots), Umbrella Prints (sweet teal elephants), natural seeded cotton drill and ruby red linen ($2.00 a meter from Spotlight - woot!). I decided that those gorgeous white spots on the IKEA fabric would be too spread too far apart so I pinned two random pleats at intervals and sewed along

I watched this (whilst being impressed by a male sewing) and read this to learn the quickest and most practical way to sew in a zipper... and when I manage to buy the correct invisible zippers next time I will be sure to read this.

I am feeling pretty chuffed with myself, and The Boy even approves.. and LIKES!.. which doesn't happen often.

In a few days I will post some photos of our lounge room re-decorate, with spiffy new cushions in tow. Do pop back to Kristy's to see more making!

♥♥♥♥

flea market photos

2011-01-23T19:04:00.000+10:30

I took a few days this week and went on a trip to visit my lovely friend and her gorgeous family. I am lucky to have a friend who knows me so well and took me to the most amazing secondhand warehouse - Limberlost in Laura, just a few hours north of Adelaide.

Picture loads of huge old rickety sheds in the middle of dried up paddocks, each piled high to the ceiling with old furniture in need of love and restoration, spiderwebs in every nook and cranny, paint peeling off doors making beautiful patterns, and piles of old farming tools knotted up together hanging from rafters. I was so blown away and fell for everything I laid my eyes on. However, I only bought one thing. One thing I have really hoped that I would find in a oppie one day, but have never found. Until now. It is so beautiful but needs a little tlc. I will share my find next week :)

I took way too many photos but these are my favourites.

See more thriftiness over here
♥♥♥♥
Tracey

January plot

2011-01-20T01:19:00.001+10:30

I have been trying to keep note of what vegetables and herbs we have planted or sown in each bed, so we don't forget and repeat plant the same crop in the same bed next season. I thought I would try to create a plot organiser using Publisher every month or so. Yes I am still on school holidays, and yes I am a night owl and frequently stay up drinking tea and playing around with Publisher till 2am.

We have not really stuck to any planting rules of thumb (aside from considering the amount and angle of sunlight in each bed throughout the day) as I was much too rapped about having a veggie garden and impatience got the better of me. Quite literally as seeds germinated in raising trays the next day they were whisked out and planted into freshly composted soil.

So we'll see how that goes, without a doubt mistakes have been made. Next season we will be definitely consider companion planting and waiting until seedlings are strong enough to tackle the baking Summer sunshine. Lesson learnt!

* NOTE Those little wormy critters are most likely intestinal worms from the composted cow manure we turned into the soil before planting... and Hurrah - have NOT been munching anything. Thanks xx

mirror mirror on the.. fence

2011-01-18T19:11:00.000+10:30

A new mirror thrifted for $10 is going to be hung on the fence. I love mirrors in gardens.

One colander full of nectarines from our tree. One colander more than last year. Watering helps hehe

I tied up bamboo stakes making 1.5 m high teepees for our Golden and Sugar Snap Beans.

Happy days!!

framed

2011-01-17T17:17:00.000+10:30

I get bored easily, particularly of seeing the same things day in day out around the house. These IKEA ribba frames previously housed my great-nanna's salvaged lin o and now hold three pretty illustrations taken from Frankie 2010 calendar and magazine.

left and right by Yoko Furuhso middle by ghostpatrol

what the heck are these????

2011-01-16T21:08:00.000+10:30

Dear gardeners,

It's true... I had hoped I would have a perfectly pest free vegetable garden. But it seems my dream of pest free gardening is not going to happen. Just weeks in and there are thousands, no - millions, of tiny white wormy critters on my carrot and chard plants, surrounding soil, and soaker hose.

I have been googling, and searching throughout all my gardening books and magazines to identify it, but cannot be sure. Might take a sample to Bunnings tomorrow morning. Oh, I am consumed with worried thoughts and imagine myself going for my morning stroll by the beds tomorrow to find they have chomped on all of my seedlings!!!

Have you seen these before in your garden? If so, what did you do to get rid of them, or are they beneficial?

Eeek!

rain rain ...

2011-01-13T14:42:00.000+10:30

so great for our garden, yet so devastating for others.

from seed to seedling

2011-01-12T22:08:00.000+10:30

After miserably failing to sprout an entire tray of seeds last week (note to self - seeds and teensy seedlings don't fare well in extreme direct sunlight), I think I am finally onto something. Woot! The trick? Much waiting and watering, shade hehe, watching and waiting and watering.

Little green radishes popped up first,

then sweet basil, dwarf snap beans and finally silverbeet... those capsicum seeds aren't doing anything???

I transplanted those radish seedlings today into vege beds as the weather was relatively mild with all day cloud cover. The silverbeet should be ready to go in within the next few days. They are growing so quickly. This afternoon I decided to plant carrots and more radish seeds, as they grew so well for me) in x2 2.4m rows each and yellow butter beans beneath one of our homemade bamboo tee-pees. I have always enjoyed growing plants from seed with kids in my classroom in little pots, but to do it on a bigger scale and with the goal of eating our own produce to is... so much better!

hurrah!

2011-01-12T21:35:00.000+10:30

... for salad bowls overflowing with surprisingly sweet apricots and to almost completing a tricky puzzle.

radishes

2011-01-10T23:22:00.001+10:30

Why did I do it? I never really LOVED them, but I planted them in raising trays... and oddly they are the most vigorous growers of all my seeds. I recall them being peppery and crunchy. What will I do with them? salads perhaps. Nom.

little veggie plot

2011-01-07T18:41:00.001+10:30

Both The Boy and I have been ultra busy and a bit keen as mustard, so for good measure we built two more veggie beds, and now have 5 - which you can see in the photo below. The lower 'tetris bed' is officially his bed and will be for perrenial herbs and Asian greens (Bok Choy and Pak Choy), as my fellow is a stir fry wok master.

I have been soaking seeds and checking on them like a new mother, which sprouted and are now in small seedling tubs growing a big enough to survive the Adelaide sun... except my carrot seeds are taking a long time to germinate. Too warm perhaps?? In the next few weeks we will hopefully be planting out radishes, snap beans, carrots, sweet basil and silverbeet seedlings.

The Boy has been so so busy, motivated and industrious today and installed drippers to our two new Passion fruit vines AND soaker hoses to all four other beds!! WOOT!! Can you see how impressed a girl is by such loveliness *sigh*

Oh, we all used extra soap tonight washing off any undesirable cow manure scent. Fun times in the garden!

♥♥♥♥

garlic, fruit & petals

2010-12-30T16:56:00.000+10:30

I love surprises, especially garden related ones. A friend noticed gorgeous purple balls of flowers in our front garden - low and behold we have been growing wild garlic. I cooked with it last night and it's got a mild taste, more like an onion. I believe I can plant those small yellowish cloves around April next year and they will pop up again. Who'd have known!

For the first time since we moved here our apricot, plum and pear trees are riddled with plump fruits, so much that the branches are so heavy the tips touched the grounds and needed staking. Last year we watched ripe fruits get finished off by lorikeets and rosellas and we are not willing to let them do it again. So we netted the tree last night in hope of saving some.

A walk around block = me bringing home pretty "noxious weeds". Oh why does my park ranger boy have to spoil the occasion?!

♥♥♥♥

little veggie plot

2010-12-30T12:10:00.000+10:30

Christmas is over for another year and I am amazed at how quickly the new year has arrived. The Boy and I hosted a delicious family Chrissy lunch for 8 with success (although I doubt I will ever get the timing right so vegies are served steaming HOT) and without frantic last minute cleaning or shopping. We cooked a plethora of delightful dishes ... roast pork with cinnamon apple sauce ... green beans with butter and wasabi ... honeyed carrots... garlic butter mushrooms ... asparagus ...split chicken.... and finished with two desserts, Summer berry trifle and passion fruit vanilla slice, one can never eat enough dessert I say! Yum.

The day after Boxing Day, after weeks of discussions and planning we got to work on our little veggie bed project. And now just days later - it's complete. My frontal lobe hurts from reading books, blogs and watching youtube clips about growing veggies, types of soil, which grow best in our temperate-Mediterranean Adelaide climate, to sow seeds or buy seedlings etc. I feel entirely motivated by the idea of growing and eating my own vegetables, that it's almost exhausting. I recall feeling the same way when I was learning how to crochet and knit.

One empty boring side yard.

First layer of redgum sleepers bolted together.

Second layer and beds lined up.

The sandwich began with a layer of cardboard, which smothers and kills weeds and grass.

Followed by a 10 cm layer of pea straw.

Lastly, filled with loam and organic compost.

I can't wait to share the progress of our our little plot and harvests (fingers crossed that my thumbs are green enough) over the coming months. If you have any suggestions for Summer sowing I would love to hear them.

♥♥♥♥

christmas branch at night

2010-12-24T01:08:00.000+10:30

Have a lovely christmas my dear family, friends and readers x

flea market finds

2010-12-21T16:35:00.000+10:30

I'm a few days late but didn't anticipate playing this week, until I went to mum's oppie to work yesterday. I am 100% smitten with the coloured glass marbles in this lovely big jar.... so so pretty.. swoon...

... and couldn't say no to three Soda Stream retro glass bottles, which have already taken pride of place on the dining room window sill, alongside other glass lovelies. I shall have to be super patient and wait for my roses (which I beheaded incorrectly - oops!) to bloom again to use them as vases.

Thanks Sophie!

plastic fantastic

2010-12-16T16:42:00.001+10:30

I found about 40 auderve forks in a jar this week at the oppie. I have fallen for the retro milky colours and smooth texture. Feeling bored of my framed pictures I decided the forks might look a bit flash glued in rows in a frame. I am so happy with the result - and all for 75 cents. Not bad ey!

creative space and bits

2010-12-01T22:44:00.000+10:30

The urge to crochet struck mid last week. This little ami is to be gifted and still needs some facial details, but I really like it's floppy limbs. See more over at kotoyoo :)

Our jacaranda is in bloom, and dropping those gorgeous violet flowers much too quickly.

Yummy spinach picked fresh from a good friend's vegie garden. I adore butter and spinach together... mmm!

Flea Market Finds

2010-11-27T22:14:00.000+10:30

Found these necklaces, each with the name or initial of Ursula, huddled together at an oppie recently. So I did a little research on the name and discovered it was most popular from the 1880's to 1940s. I found myself wondering about this woman and her interesting name...

Who was she?
Did Ursula own horses or was she just a horse lover?
Who gave her each piece?
Did she get rid of all her named jewelery soon after she changed her name by dpoll because she was embarrassed at constant references to the overweight octopus sea-witch in The Little Mermaid?

Head over to Sophies for more finds!
ps Sorry if your name is Ursula hehe xx

lounge room inspiration

2010-11-26T23:48:00.001+10:30

Hooraaah! We finally got rid of our dark brown leather lounges. We are totally over it's stickiness in the warmer months and coldness during Winter.We're now awaiting on the arrival of a more comfy and larger modular sofa in an oatmeal coloured fabric. Anything that leads me to planning a researching something is always exciting. Plus creating a nicer lounge room space which makes us happy is a perfect opportunity to waste copious amounts of time on home decor blogs and flickr. This place has beautiful photos of more living rooms. These spaces below are calm and fresh but little splashes of colour pop out at you.

decorpad

design*sponge / Stacey Sargent

decorpad

chairs

2010-11-23T21:56:00.000+10:30

Being a total chairoholic I am liking this installation in Istanbul a whole lot - by Doris Salcedo, found via sweetstation.

buzz buzz buzz

2010-11-23T19:05:00.000+10:30

Buzzing bees are noisily pollinating our front garden. This photo was the nicest of 20 odd I took hehe. I'm playing Macro Monday this week over at Lisa's Chaos :)

recently

2010-11-19T17:37:00.001+10:30

I will always love my vintage cotton reel collection, and one day intend on doing something spectacular like put them all stacked in columns in a deep photo frame. Just one of those things on my big long list of things to do before I am 30.

The Boy's special birthday tomatoes are growing bigger and bigger (he is looking after them well Ann). We are beginning to plan a little vegie garden, I feel so excited by the prospect of growing our own fresh vegetables (and fruit... shhh) that I have spent all my spare time at Bunnings, Mitre 10 and Stratco. All recent conversations seem to revolve around different types of vegetable beds (hay, corrugated iron sheets, sleepers...oh my!), garden sheds, paving and the best thing - to scale grid plans. Scale plans might be my new favourite thing to create ...i love measuring the lengths, widths, areas and volume of spaces, and drawing everything up on its own perfectly scaled little paper land is fun (for the time being anyhow hehe).

♥♥♥♥

lady

2010-11-09T18:32:00.000+10:30

I spotted this industrious little beetle this afternoon while on the swing. Too sweet not to share x

apricot roses

2010-11-05T18:47:00.001+10:30

This week I am loving one little corner of our garden - it is awash with smooth milky shades of apricot. Pretty.

snap snap snap

2010-10-30T19:48:00.000+10:30

Clementine

2010-10-28T22:45:00.002+10:30

Just popping by to share the sweetest teeny cardi made for Clementine. A mega thank you to Melissa for knitting it for my girl, it is a perfect fit. You are super kind and such a fabulous knitter. She hasn't taken the cardi off since last night and is currently sitting on the kitchen shelf in the sporting her new attire. I keep looking at it as it it incredibly tiny and just plain adorable, that hood!

dolphins and raindrops

2010-10-25T17:41:00.000+10:30

We headed to the water over the weekend and went on a little boat trip down the Port River. It was fast, refreshing, windy, salty and relaxing. We saw some gorgeous creatures who did a spot of above water gymnastics for us. Everyone loves dolphins I know... but you are reminded of just how sleek and beautiful they really are when you get close to them in the wild.

I have been a little preoccupied with producing bokeh of late. I adore the simplicity of the plain shapes among the darkness, but also finding them among the waves while on the boat was special.

I feel so very unmotivated today. meh. Normally I am more than happy to be at school, but this morning I must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed and didn't even want to open the door to my students. Not a great start to the week but it's got to get better from here on. At least the Boy is being a love and making lasagna as I type... my favourite dish.

Here's to hoping for more motivation tomorrow, and wishing you all a nice week x

♥ bokeh

2010-10-24T10:32:00.001+10:30

Ooooo - just must share my discovery. Night is seriously THE best time for Hollywood style bokeh. They appear with ease as long as the shutter speed is slow/wide open (or the Fv value is low) then you stare down the viewer and there they are - gorgeous round little bokeh wherever the light sources are in the night sky/scene. Today I ..

stanly knived a heart shaped bokeh filter following this video tute
found Chris Bray's explanation most helpful
found the photos within this video helped made sense from utter nonsense
went all heart skippy happy when watching this EOS video (how fabulous would it be to be a part of this project),
and watched this and this too

no filter 50mm lens all were taken at stop lights in car

heart shaped filter 50mm lens:

Tonight I'll test a tear drop filter and see what happens. Loving these nice little colour discs.

bokeh rather

2010-10-23T13:53:00.001+10:30

Okay, so I made up the word sunspots to describe circular background blur... thank you for putting me onto the correct terminology Mel and Catherine... bokeh. I have been doing my research this morning while the house is Boy-less and I was a tad bored. After watching countless beautiful bokeh youtube vids and reading tutorials I proceeded to dig up The Boy's digital SLR Pentax istDL (just pointing out that this means nothing to me at present) and... we.are.in.LOVE!

My golly, why didn't I play with this camera earlier? To be frank - I was always too scared of the Av, Tv, aperture, depth of field, M buttons and dials that I refused to go near it. But now... bokeh has inspired me through and through. We are going to get to know each other real well!

I have been a bit uninterested with crochet of late (craft mojo very low), so I am thrilled to have something capture my enthusiasm. Is it crazy that my heart was beating quicker than normal while I was taking photos with the camera this morning?

I'll try some night and evening shots next. xx

tunes i cant get enough of

2010-10-22T21:57:00.001+10:30

bon iver

fleet foxes

passion pit

jónsi

mark ronson

sunspots

2010-10-21T19:28:00.000+10:30

Now I am SURE I am not the only one to love those little circular coloured discs which appear (infrequently!) in photos when the lens is pointed towards the light and just beside a shadow.

I have always loved the effect these have and find myself forever trying to 'catch' them with my point and shoot camera. But I generally don't succeed. This afternoon however, as I have been doing almost each day this week because of this weather (27 today... Hurrah!), I took my camera out into the garden with a cuppa, sat down, found some shadowy sections with the sun behind and 'caught' the most I have ever been able to get in my life!

I hope you enjoy the onslaught hehe xx

SprING!

2010-10-19T21:54:00.000+10:30

Despite having a horror cold/flu type ailment, this sunshine and mild weather has got me hap-hap-happy!!! There has been a fair amount of swinging from the jacaranda tree, and a fair number of grazes attained from spinning too fast and smacking my legs into the trunk.

Our pruned-to-death roses have all started to bud-up (technical language? please, who needs it!). Since we bought our house almost 1 and a half years ago I have not seen this many rose buds... and I AM EXCITED. I can see apricot, dusty pink, hot pink and white buds, and the greenery is thriving with recent rain. Can't wait to have all my roses blooming and bring cut flowers inside. I really love having my own flowers in the house - even those silly nasturtiums!

I hop you are enjoying the Spring.
xxx

ps. Blogtober and I didn't work out. It's over. I'll be here when I can.

happy day of birth little one

2010-10-16T20:37:00.000+10:30

Hello lovely,

Oh how I wish I could have been there today to celebrate your first 365 days of life. I just didn't want you to catch my icky cold/flu. I made these cuppies for you and although I couldn't share them with you or other party-goers I have been thinking of you each time I eat one today :)

I sewed you some special nappy covers which I think will certainly tart up those boring nappies babies are made wear hehe. We are all so glad you are in our lives and can't wait till you grow into a beautiful (if not stubborn!) angel. I'll try and visit you in the next month sweetie.

Love, cuddles and copious amount of claps!
From Aunty Trace & The Boy

xxx

swing low sweet chariot

2010-10-10T22:49:00.000+10:30

Simply put - I love swings. After years of dreaming of being the owner of a tree swing The Boy got fed up with my persistent comments ... mostly relating to that lovely swing in The Secret Garden movie.... and crafted me my very own plank swing this afternoon!! It's THE BEST!!!

Swinging is a delightful way of whiling away time, do you agree? I would share a photo of me sitting on it swinging away with the cheesiest 5 year old grin ever, but.... my grundies were showing making the photo rather inappropriate for blogland.

I did spend a few hours soaking up the sunshine today tying, tying, tying. I am really enjoying the knotting, thank goodness!

where is my flippin seam ripper?!!?!

2010-10-09T14:20:00.000+10:30

I have looked everywhere for it and it's vanished into thin air, so am using a pin and I'm feeling how people felt with no seam ripper in the days before they were invented. Crappyola! Oh, don't look too closely at those butted up corners - something I just cannot do.

This morning I started to machine quilt and soon realised that the majority of sewers who quilt a QUEEN size quilt would use some specki machine.. long arm doovy watzit... I have a little baby Janome which has limited space for the bunched up already quilted section.

Conclusion. No longer quilting by machine (or by hand... thats amusing) but will tie with embroidery floss at intervals throughout the quilt. I like knots... perhaps until I have done 100 of them.

vintage sheet quilt

2010-10-08T09:51:00.000+10:30

Fifty-six 10.5" vintage sheet squares were cut yonks ago and were awaiting my be-botheredness and free time. This week, being school holidays, I found time to decide on the arrangement above and sew up the strips.

...... and before I knew it the top was finished! It reminded me that the sewing up stage is a super quick one, its the effort that goes into the cutting which takes the most time. Because it will be a picnic blanket I'm going to try and find a hard waring but thin batting, then bind it in whatever I have in my fabric collection to save money. Perhaps hot orange/pink .....?

my creative space

2010-10-06T22:07:00.002+10:30

On Sunday the sun was shining and I felt extraordinarily crafty, so I blocked my baby cardigan. It's 100% pure wool, so the dining room smelt like a wet dog -eeww. I'm quite certain it won't curl up anytime soon and and now dying to sew it up.

I've been pondering what to do with all this sweet pale lemony yellow wool given to me last week by my wool supplier - my Oma!

Just throwing in a sweet photo of where I found our teeniest girl a few mornings ago - where else but right on top of my creative space! I have since sewn up the vintage sheet quilt I have dreamed of for the past 6 months, which is now a pic-a-nic blanket! It's glorious.

I am wallowing in the extra time that school holidays brings. Yes, I have had a tonne of planning to finish (I can't wait to read Fantastic Mr. Fox during literacy as my students can now read mini novels - Hazzar!) and there does seem to be more cleaning up around the house as more time is spent here but the sleep ins, crafting and time for baking *sigh* i just LoOOOOVE it. 4 days to go then only 9 weeks and Xmas holidays. Is anyone else suddenly thinking - Christmas is nearing?!? It is and Ive put no thought into it except for thinking I might attempt to make an ice-cream cake.

Tonight's dinner was a bit camera worthy (unusual in our home), marinated chicken, salad and baked polenta chips. It was a first for me to cook with polenta and the chips were delicious. Here's the recipe I follwed if your keen to try. I didn't deep fry them as suggested, just chopped them up into chip sizes pieces after cooling in the fridge, dipped one edge in Parmesan cheese for taste, sprayed them all with a little oil and baked them on baking paper on a tray at 200 deg C for about 15-20 min. It made WAY too many but we managed to devour them all.

Happy school holidays if you're still on them! (simultaneous clapping and wooting) xxx

10 things i ♥

2010-10-06T11:55:00.000+10:30

Ernst's story by RicRac is too cute for words, yup, I cried.
Baxter's story ... i love his big tummy in the beach photograph!
My flickr favourites all lined up looking fancy

this quilt by Alicia Paulson
these hexagonal delights by A.P
the beautiful contrasting red ties and binding on the Lemoncello quilt.. hmm by A.P
the Stella Vintage Pixie Hat found at Ravelry
the 2011 Frankie calendar and diary which arrived last week
lovely animal paintings on ceramic plates at The Storybook Rabbit etsy store
one fave place for inspiration and free prints in high quality pdf - Feed Your Soul

Enjoy xx

a must for silly people

2010-10-05T10:38:00.001+10:30

The Boy and I loved a smattering of Japanese photo booth silliness in Melb. If you have not been in a booth like this go out now and get in one... you are seriously missing out on this crazy fast paced Japanese music and language extravaganza! Despite getting asthma from laughing so hard, I am addicted and want more.

Melbourne in b+w

2010-10-04T10:53:00.000+10:30

Flea Market Finds

2010-10-03T11:01:00.001+10:30

Dear Sophie and fellow oppers,

It appears that I have become very picky when it comes to op shopping. Perhaps I have too much stuff (or 'junk and blankets' as The Boy says)? Perhaps I don't have enough storage space for more stuff? But I find myself picking up objects of my desire, only to round the corner and ask myself "Do I really need this?" Sadly the voice of logic in my head stands firm and replies "What do you think?!" then the object is put down on a shelf only to be thought of repeatedly for the next few hours "Oh why didn't I just take it to the counter?"

Our trip to Victoria sent us to every op shop we sighted, and low and behold the voice of logic was nowhere to be seen... on most occasions anyway. Ner Ner silly voice!

Sweet coat hangers.

A new glass to add to my collection. We decided we won't be using these for their proposed function any longer, they are rather breakable and too pretty. They're now going to live a life as tealight candle holders.

So Poo to you logic! Do go and peruse some more completely logical purchases over here :)

Blogtoberisation

2010-10-02T21:22:00.000+09:30

Tinniegirl is at it again! I played last year for almost every day in Oct. As I've been a bit absent from blogging recently this (alongside some much welcomed cheerier weather) might just be the motivation I need to get to photographing and blogging! I am already 2 days late posting, thanks to a lovely week-long Victorian holiday with The Boy. Tomorrow I'll get onto that!

Join over here if you're up to it!

patchwork crochet blanket

2010-09-25T14:36:00.000+09:30

I finished The Boy's blanket this morning... just in time for his birthday next week. It's big and man-sized that's for sure!

After an hour or so weaving in those dreaded wool ends I now feel free to begin another project (WOOT!). A sewing project which has been waiting for me for a few months. Looking forward to dusting the cobwebs off my machine!

Make sure you see Tiff's tutorial on how to join crochet squares as you go. If you're curious that is ;P

knitting and sushi

2010-09-24T22:02:00.002+09:30

The cardigan is zipping along .... I think I'll look for a tiny cardy knit pattern for Clementine, my clothing deprived Blythe girl. My next knitted children's piece will definitely be using a higher ply wool and bigger needles - I wouldn't suggest anyone begin knitting clothes with 4 ply wool! Thanks Melissa, Lisa and Julia for sharing your knowledge and comments. It's nice to know someone out there is reading :)

aaaaand, tonight I made delicious sushi on a whim with teriyaki chicken, avocado, carrot, cucumber and the my favourite Japanese rice addition - furikake. It's a dry seasoning available in various savoury flavours which you normally add to onigiri or inside sushi prior to rolling. Yummo!

Thanks for your support with job hunting,it is much appreciated x

ups and downs

2010-09-23T21:15:00.002+09:30

Oh hello little blog, I have missed you. The Boy and I have been on a bit of an emotional roller-coaster and feel a bit rutt-esque (you get the picture...). I'm going to share, so you know why Ive been quite absent from blogging of late, and also because I find my posts being all about 'Creative Tracey' .... but there's more to me than that :)

Fabulous blue and green paint treatments in Old Quarter in New Delhi, 2006

You see, we're at a stage in our lives where we're starting to think about having a family (cluck! My heart melted whilst typing that word!) but we also have a strong urge to travel and live overseas for up to 12 months. We'd love to wake up every morning for a year and be somewhere different, learn something new each day, immerse ourselves in an unfamiliar culture and maybe learn a new language.

Tie Dye in Rajasthan, India, 2006

So yes, second or third world is what we're imagining. We both have a desire to feel like we're making a difference to a less fortunate community who can also teach us something. I'd like to learn to live more minimally. We're both fairly scrupulous and I'm very proud of the thriftiness mum seems to have instilled in me... but I think that growing up and living in a Western country has some of us feeling as though we want more and need more to be happier. Although we do this well, I think there's room for us to do it better.....perhaps those in less fortunate countries have some answers for us??

Halong Bay, northern Vietnam 2008

So The Boy applied for a job in Cambodia and got it a few weeks ago and were extraordinarily elated, scared and of course super excited. We sat beaming on Cloud 9 for almost a week, however moments from accepting the job and emails to-and-fro the office we found out that we wouldn't be able to live together. So we're no longer going on that adventure, he is gutted as it would have been his perfect job and it has left us feeling a bit flat and pretty disappointed.

Laotian hilltribe folk near Luang Namtha, 2009

So where to now? We have started looking for teaching jobs and we'll just have to hope that something jumps out at us. The quantity (ridiculous numbers!) of ESL teaching jobs that require a simple 100 hours of study and tend to employ those willing to teach as an English tutor after school hours to 'well off' students is crazy. With every Google search tens of thousands of websites invade my screen and it's not fun rummaging through to find which might or might not scam us.

The search continues. Wish us luck x