This Is...

This Is...the contents of my handbag.

I'm a day early for 'This Is...' so please excuse my eagerness!!!

Here we go:- purse, phone, sunnies, pink diary & pen, tissues (in red spotty cover), Nivea lip balm (can't go anywhere without this), Westfield gift card, baby wipes (at the risk of sounding obsessive compulsive...I use these to clean my hands after I've been op-shopping....most of our op-shops are pretty dusty and dirty...and of course I also need these to clean the kids up occassionally) and lastly my tictacs. I love to drink coffee, but I can't stand the after-taste, so I have tictacs.

I know this probably looks like I've cleaned out my handbag especially for this photo, but this is honestly as messy as it gets. The only thing I threw in the bin before taking this photo are a couple of used tissues (and for some reason, I figured you didn't need to see those)!!!

I'm still here...

Yes, I am still here. I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. I'm going through a bit of a lull at the moment, creatively speaking. And when this happens, I try to snap myself out of it by reading blogs and sewing books for inspiration.

I'm throwing around the idea of making a doona cover for Chloe's bed (to go with her new red and white colour scheme). I've found a beautiful one in Amy Butler's 'In Stitches' book, but I'm not sure if I'm game enough to tackle such a big project (not a big project for some....but VERY big for me!!!). I'd love to know if anyone's made a doona cover and if so, how tricky was it? The Amy Butler one is patchworked, so perhaps that may be a tad ambitious for my first try?

Dinner Time...

As a follow on from a previous post of mine (some time ago), I've designed these placemats to encourage kids to help mum and dad by setting the dinner table (and perhaps earn themselves some pocket money). In my previous post, I made some little aprons with a knife, fork and spoon stitched onto three separate pockets for kids to carry the cutlery to the table. And now these are the placemats to show them where to place the cutlery. It's a bit hard to see in this photo ( I need a new camera!!!), but I've stitched a knife, fork and spoon onto the linen fabric.

I've used a heavy linen look fabric to stitch the cutlery onto and the flowery fabric is from Z & S.

This is the backing fabric which is also from Z & S.

Here's a close up of the cutlery. This is purely experimentation at this stage, so I realise the cutlery is a bit wonky. I drew it free-hand and then machine stitched over it, so tonight I'm going to make up some templates to trace and I'm going to try handsewing the cutlery as well to see if that gives a better result. I've also used some 100% cotton interfacing to stiffen them a bit, which has worked perfectly.

I would love to hear feedback on these...particularly the cutlery design. I basically copied my knife, fork and spoon from my cutlery drawer. I'm happy with the knife and spoon, but I'm not sure about the fork. All suggestions welcome!!! But be kind...me ego is fragile!!!

My Little Cherubs...

I didn't have any white paint (can you believe it!!!) to paint the frames, so I used what I had. But I do think this colour is too close to our wall colour. So I'm off to Spotlight tomorrow to purchase some white paint and have another go.

I can't believe the detail in this painting and the gorgeous colours (unfortunately my mediocre camera doesn't do it justice!!!). That blue is way more vibrant. I do wonder who painted them? There is no name on them at all.

And this one definitely needs a white frame. I guess I'll just consider this first coat to be an undercoat!!!

I went upstairs last night as usual to check on the kids before I went to bed and this is what I found when I went into Will's room. Did I mention we are in the middle of summer and it was 37 degrees yesterday. I just had to get a photo of him in his beannie. And that's half a tattoo you can see on his forehead, in case you were wondering!!! He's got them ALL over his body too!!! Both my kids love sneaking out of bed once Glenn and I have said our goodnights and re-dressing themselves in all manner of things. This is Will's usual get-up. And Chloe usually changes her pj's from summers to winters (she knows I won't let her wear winters during summer, so she sneaks them on later), then she adds her eye mask, her woolen gloves and her toe socks...yes, this is also in the middle of summer).

But last night I could only catch her with her winter pj's on. I'll make sure I capture her in her full get-up next time. It really is hilarious. Especially those toe-socks....they are the funniest looking things. Look at my little cherubs...I always think they revert back to babyhood when they're sleeping. I look at their faces and to me, they look just like they did when they were babies. I wonder if it will always be this way??? I hope so!!!

Op Shopping and Gardening...

We had a pretty hot day today of about 37 degrees and I had the urge to garden. If I don't do it when I have the urge, then it doesn't get done. And our front entrance was in desperate need of dressing up. So I trotted off to Bunnings to get some plants. Usually I wander around for ages trying to find the perfect plants, but today I was in and out in fifteen minutes. They had exactly what I was looking for. I'm not the best at keeping the water up to my potted plants, so I needed some that were drought hardy!!! Mother-In-Law's tongue is always a good one and the smaller one is some sort of cordyline I think (can't remember).

I love this one with the red flowers. These are great as climbers, but my girlfriend has a white one in a pot that looks gorgeous. They flower pretty much all year round. And the little one is a Liriope.Just before school pick up this afternoon, I popped into our local Op Shop to have a look. This is what I came out with...these two lovely paintings. The floral one has already gone up in my sewing room and the boaty one will probably go in the family room. I'm thinking of painting the boat frame white to give it a beachy look.

I LOVE eating anything with lemon in it so I had to get this Little Lemon Book. All the recipes use lemons. I'm think I've heard about this little cookbook before, so hopefully I'll find some yummy recipes in it.

And lastly, a beaded bracelet. The beads are wood and I love the colour combination.

Isn't this painting gorgeous. There were actually two more of these, both similar to the two I bought. I did see a few other things I liked, but I find that our Op Shops are pretty expensive (certainly compared to what Eastern States bloggers seem to pay for their goodies), so I left the other things behind.

The Recipe Swap Box - Money Saving Recipes

I've just joined a recipe swap group over at I Have To Say so here's my 'Money Saving Recipe'...

Quick Quiche
Serves 6

4 eggs
3 rachers bacon, chopped
1 cup grated cheese (add extra if you want it to be really cheesey)
1 small finely chopped brown onion
1/2 cup SR flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 Tbspn chopped parsley

Mix all ingredients together. Pour into a square cake tin that has been greased lightly.
Bake at 190 degrees for 40 minutes or until set.
Serve with a green salad and crusty bread.

Optional - This quiche is lovely topped with circles of tomato before baking.

This is a very basic recipe, so you could omit the bacon and add whatever you like instead...eg. spring onion, cherry tomatoes, chives.

This Is...

This Is...looking out my front door.

I literally stood at the front door to take this photo. I think I've mentioned before, we live opposite a park, so it's lovely to sit out the front and enjoy a cuppa while watching the kids play at the park (my kids, not other people's kids....I'm not a pervert!!!).

And this is where I sit to watch them.


I'm sorry for missing last week's 'This Is...'post. I made sure I got in early this week!!! If you'd like to look out the front of other people's doors, then go to Three Buttons. And thanks to Brooke for this week's topic.

Time for a catch up...

I can't believe it's been a week since my last post. I'm not sure why, but I've felt that there hasn't been anything very worthy of posting about, except the usual day-to-day stuff. And now I've found myself nearing the end of the week without a post, so I will just have to post about the usual day-t0-day stuff. Now is your chance to move onto a more interesting blog!!!

We went to visit Glenn's parents this morning so I baked some chocolate brownie to take. I've made chocolate brownie plenty of times before, but this recipe was a new one. And I have to say, it's by far the richest, most chocolatey, fudgy brownie I've ever made. It's delicious, but you certainly can't eat too much of it because of the richness. Of course, it's full of all the usual chocolate brownie goodness.....tonnes of sugar, tonnes of dark chocolate, tonnes of butter....and just as I'm pulling it from the oven and marvelling at my handiwork, Glenn informs me that his parents have just started a new diet!!!!!! So how bad did I feel walking in the door with, probably one of the most fattening slices ever!!! Needless to say, we brought the remaining slice home with us so it was not a temptation for them, and we had some for dessert tonight.

And here is tonight's dinner....the kids asked what was for dinner and Glenn said a 'Snack Attack'. So I think that will be the new name for this dinner. We've been having it a bit lately on the weekends. Tonight I set up a blanket on the back lawn for a picnic dinner. It's amazing how a slight change to the normal dinner routine for the kids is enough to excite them so much. We had a lovely dinner of shaved ham, jarslberg cheese (my favourite), pate' (mmmmm), hommus (mmmmm), bread rolls and some salad.

And we set up our picnic right next to our rabbit, Roxy. So poor Roxy had drool through her cage at our dinner. She's already spent the afternoon out, hopping around the back yard and eating all my lettuce in the vegie patch.

We're off to the beach...

Here is the the canvas that I covered to go in Chloe's room. I used some co-ordinating strips of fabric sewn together and stretched over the canvas. My favourite is the blue and red floral...it's so sweet.

Well, we're off to the beach for the long weekend tomorrow. We're staying at a place called Dalyellup Beach...for those West Aussies, it's about ten minutes past Bunbury. We're going with my sister and her family, my mum and dad, my aunty and my cousins and their little boy. Apparently the beach house we're staying in is a big five bedroom place, so plenty of room for all of us. I'm really looking forward to getting away and the weather is going to be beautiful.

This afternoon I baked a Chocolate Torte to take with us and I must admit it doesn't look very appealing in the tin (it's still cooling down), but it is the most devine chocolate indulgence. It's flourless and full of dark chocolate and almond meal. It's one of those easy but rather impressive and delicious desserts that is foolproof. This is probably about the tenth time I've made it and it always turns out beautifully. It looks great presented on a cake stand, dusted with icing sugar and you MUST serve it with a HUGE dollop of King Island Cream!!!

The kids have been home from school AGAIN today (remember, they were off sick on Monday!!!) because the teacher's are on strike. So we met up with some other school families at the beach this morning. It was beautiful...but we had to leave before lunch because it was getting really hot (it reach 41 degrees today).

I'm off to dinner tonight with some Year 3 mums from school. We try to get together once or twice a term to catch up and we always have such a great night. I'm looking forward to some adult conversation!!!

Chloe's Bedroom...

Chloe and I decided to re-decorate her bedroom a few months ago and it's taken us this long to decide on a colour scheme. When we were at Ikea several months ago, she fell in love with this quilt that has a floral design on one side and a very fine red and white stripe on the other. It has scallopped edges and it's gorgeous. So when I was at our new Ikea store last week, I bought the quilt along with some pale red linen curtains that match perfectly.

I have both kids home from school today with runny noses and coughs so I've spent the day doing housework, making (and eating) pancakes for morning tea, baking a slice for afternoon tea and making some cushions for Chloe's bedroom. I made a plain red and white stripe cushion using some great fabric from Ikea (another purchase from the other day....I can't believe the fabric range they have now.....soooooooo exciting!!!). The other cushion is made using the same red and white stripe, some red linen that I cut off the bottom of the curtains (they were too long), a beige linen square with a little embroidered flower on it and some red flower fabric from my stash.

I have a canvas from Chloe's previous bedroom decor that I painted hot pink with coloured polka dots on it, so I'm going to cover this in some red and white floral fabric and hang it above her bedhead where the other little painting is at the moment. And we used to hang all of her hats on the 'Dream' hooks, but they're all pink, so we've put them away in a little basket and I'm going to make a red and white bag to hang on the hook to keep her pj's in. (Her old pajama bag is pink!!!).

It's a bit of effort to change her colour scheme (especially when the old one was bright pink and aqua), but I've been promising it for a while now. The old quilt was her first quilt when she moved into her big bed at two and a half years old, so understandably it had seen better days. All we need now is a white-wash wicker chair for her reading corner (and probably a cushion to go on it), her pj bag and the fabric-covered canvas. I'll post some more pictures when I'm done.

And I might post some pictures of Will's bedroom too. I don't know about you, but I love seeing what other's do in their kids bedrooms.

This Is...

This Is...me taking a photo of myself in the mirror with my favourite accessory!!! Or in my case, accessories. This week's theme is from One Red Robin. And you can check out other people's 'This Is' posts at Three Buttons.

We have a huge mirror in our dining area and that's where I took the photo (it was either there or in our ensuite), so I must apologise for the poor lighting.

I had to cheat a bit because I have two favourite accessories. The first is my newish bag. I bought it using a gift voucher a few months ago and I LOVE IT!!! The pewter colour is perfect because it goes with everything and it can hold lots of stuff if need be. My other very favourite accessory is my Pandora Charm Bracelet. Glenn bought it for me about three and a half years ago and last Christmas I got my last charm to fill it (a gorgeous little queen bee with a gold crown from my brother and his wife). If you haven't heard of these bracelets, you MUST check out the Pandora website. I have a mixture of gold and silver charms on my bracelet (that's why it took three years to fill...the gold charms are solid and pretty expensive!!!) All the people closest to me have bought me a charm for my bracelet, so each one has special meaning.

Cushions, Work and Ikea...

Last night I had the urge to sew and since I just don't have enough cushion covers, I decided to add to my collection!!! I thought I'd try a patchwork style using Anna Maria's Bohemian fabric for the first one. I'm pleased with the way it turned out, since patchworking is very new to me.

And tonight, I've just finished making the second one using the same fabrics, but a different style.

I'm off to work with Glenn tomorrow for the day (and every Wednesday after that for a few months), helping them with some bookwork until their new office girl starts. It's been eight years since I was in the workforce and I'm NERVOUS to say the least!!! I'm wondering whether I can wake up in the morning and fake a sickie on my first day, or stomp my feet and throw a tantrum until Glenn gives in and tells me I don't have to go. I'll be ok, right???

So I'm not excited about going to work tomorrow, but I'm REALLY EXCITED about Friday 'cause some of my girlfriends and I are going to our new Ikea store that opened last week. Apparently it's five or six times bigger and better than the old one. And we all said when it opens, we'd make a day of it together. And Friday's the day!!! I can't wait!!!

Afternoon Tea...

I've just made some afternoon tea for the kids today and thought I'd post the recipe. It's super-quick and easy (I think that should become my motto!!!).

Quick Anzac Slice

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
3/4 cup plain flour, sifted
1/2 cup self-raising flour, sifted
125gm butter
2 Tbspns golden syrup

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line an 18cm x 28cm slice pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine oats, sugar, coconut and flours. Mix well.
3. Heat butter and golden syrup in a small saucepan on low until butter has melted and mixture is well combined.
4. Make a well in centre of dry ingredients. Add butter mixture and mix well.
5. Press firmly into prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden. Cool in pan, then cut into squares to serve.

Yum Yum!!!

Three Cheers for Girlfriends...(especially crafty ones)

On Wednesday night, our craft group met at my house. I love handsewing but haven't done much of it so decided to try out some embroidery. I did this little design on paper the other night when I was messing around so I thought I'd attempt to transfer it to fabric. It still needs some little leaves added and a few other bits and pieces, then I'm thinking of attaching it to the front of a cushion cover for Chloe.

On Thursday, I went to Bed, Bath & Table to get some easter decorations. I don't usually decorate for easter, but this year I've decided to begin the tradition. BB & T have the MOST gorgeous easter decorations at amazingly cheap prices. These handpainted eggs are the tiniest little things and they come in a gorgeous minature wooden box. I loved them so much, I bought four boxes of them (only $2.95 a box). They're the sweetest!!!

And these handpainted eggs below were only $4.95 per box. At this price, I'm going to give them to the kids to give to their friends at school for easter with a little chocolate egg.

Just look at these little wooden boxes....I can't wait to use them for something else. I've put all the tiny eggs into a martini glass and displayed them on my hallstand near the front door. And these little butterflies are made from tin and they have a plastic sticky dot on the back of them. I thought they'd be sweet to stick on some white card and use for birthday cards.

And here's the 'Staple & Sew' girls on Wednesday night (there's five of us). We were doing a mixture of handsewing, pin-up board covering, cushion making and appliqueing. It's lovely to break the week up by getting together in the evening mid-week. And we have such a laugh....there really is nothing like a good bonding session with girlfriends. Thanks girls!!!