2/12

Here we are half way through March and I am just doing a recap on February.  It was a mad, busy, hot month and I am glad now to be heading into autumn.  Nevertheless, good things happened and much was enjoyed.

READ  

Interventions: A life in War and Peace by Kofi Annan  4.5 stars

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton 3.5 stars

CURRENTLY READING

Notes from an Exhibition by Patrick Gale

The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver

WATCHED

Searching For Sugarman 5 stars
The Lincoln Lawyer 3 stars
We bought a Zoo 4 stars
Lost in Translation 4.5 stars
Shame 3.5 stars
An Education 4 stars

TV Watching has been My Kitchen Rules and lots of old episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond, which are all new to me

LISTENED TO

Best of Rodriguez

ABC Classic FM, especially the daily interview

Sheryl Crow - Detours

MADE

baby shirt and pants
toddler top and bloomers
4 tops
8 skirts
1 dress

DISCOVERED

Kale - delicious baked with shredded coconut, a little sesame oil, a little more olive oil and a good sprinkling of Tamari

SPECIAL EVENTS

none, that I can think of.  Perhaps starting a month of 'fill in' work.  It is nice to be working in a social environment again but I think I will return to my making with renewed vigour when the month is up

VISITED 

CBD on several occasions for different things

ENJOYED

White peaches fro breakfast most days, with yoghurt and a mix of seeds.

Watching Billie play and hide in bushes in the garden (did not enjoy seeing her did holes, which she has just started doing!)

So these were my highlights from February.

1/12

This post will be a round up for January.  It has been a hot dry month, more so than is usual for Melbourne.  Great beach weather, which I think has contributed to my feeling that the whole city has been on holiday. The streets, the roads, the neighbourhood, the shops have all been quieter.  Even though I have worked for most of the month, I have felt that light easy holiday feeling. I've eaten lunch outside under a shady tree on quite a few occasions and have felt very relaxed.  Many evenings have been spent watching a DVD, thus continuing the 'holiday' mood. Anyway, these are my January highlights:

READ  

Standing in Another Man's Grave  4.5 stars 
The Convent  4 stars
Beautiful Ruins 1 star
Best Australian Poems 2012 3.5 stars

CURRENTLY READING

Best Australian Essays 2012
Gone Girl

WATCHED

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford  4.5 stars
The Descendants 3 stars
Beasts of the Southern Wild 5 stars
in her Shoes 3.5 stars
127 Hours 3.5 stars
The Kids are Alright 3 stars
Enid 4 stars
The Hunger Games 1.5stars

LISTENED TO

lots of Radio National and their Summer Series.  Especially
The Best of Books and Arts Daily

MADE

3 dresses
4 tops
2 skirts

DISCOVERED

How to make broccoli taste yummy - recipe here at Amateur Gourmet (photo from there, too)
Lake Buffalo

SPECIAL EVENTS

Billie had her first birthday

VISITED 

Warburton (3 x 1 day)
Bright (5 Days) 
  

I hope your year has started well.  Well, here's to February!

A Bright and Beautiful Weekend

I've just returned from a wonderful long Australia Day weekend staying in Bright.  Most activities focused on Buffalo, Mountain and Lake but the Ovens River was also much enjoyed.  It was hot! Much hotter than Melbourne but thankfully our little cottage had air conditioning.  I've only been to Bright in the summer and I love it so much.  This is the fourth time I've been, and always on this long weekend in January. I have a hunch I would love the place even more in the autumn, with its abundance of red leaves and maybe, even more again in winter when there was snow on the mountains.  Perhaps this will be the year when I make it back again in some other season? we'll have to see.  What about you?  Did you do something special over the weekend?

Andy Warhoo? Dress

The Big Ones for ’68 Paper Dress by Universal Fashions, USA, 1968. Photo: Panos Davios. © ATOPOS collection. via the Barbican Museum

 

As soon as I saw the faces fabric at IKEA I had in mind the paper dress with 1968's famous faces, painted by Andy Warhol.  I used a vintage mail order pattern from the 1960s to make the dress, which looks like a simple shift dress from the front but wraps at the back to do up with two buttons.  It is a fun dress that turned out just the way I had hoped

Sunday Snippets

{sunday snippets} A collection of photos from your week. No need for words. Let the pictures tell your story. Joining in with Cathy and others here

Sunday snippets

{sunday snippets} A collection of photos from your week. No need for words. Let the pictures tell your story. Joining in with Cathy and others here

Blogtoberfest Day 31: October Over and Out

Here it is - the last post for October 2012 and the end of Blogtoberfest for this year.  Big thanks to Kat for hosting it.
My copy of Awe-manac arrived in the mail this week.   I'm going to enjoy it's little prompts for inspiration and fun, especially for journal writing. One of the suggestions for this week was to write a poem where each line begins with letters in order of the word OCTOBER. So just for fun, and without much thought or care, I came up with these three:

Once only ever
Can
There be
One of me so why not
Be the best me I can be
Everyday.
Remember this!

Once the roses
Come into their first bloom of Spring
There will be new dreams.
Ones where
Beauty inspires.
Even when it is
Raining

Once more I
Check the letterbox.
There's no mail yet
On Mondays its really late
But that never stops me
Expecting that the mailman's
Routine just might have changed.

Happy Halloween!  Happy All Saints Eve! 

Blogtoberfest Day 28: Sunday Snippets

{sunday snippets} A collection of photos from your week. No need for words. Let the pictures tell your story.  Joining in with Cathy and others here

Blogtoberfest Day 25: the start that wasnt

Today is the beginning of the big challenge I have set myself - to make 60 garments in 60 days.  I didnt say in yesterdays post, that most of these will be for sale in my madeit.com.au  shop.  Anyway, today I have done no sewing.  That is zip, zilch, zero.  Not a stitch. Not a good way to start. I've been house cleaning, grocery shopping, going to the Post Office, cooking and other boorrring things like that.  Guess it all has to get done sometime. But I do have something to show you.  I found the above pattern in a few different sizes in various Etsy stores and I have ordered them.  Most of them are already on their way here (they were shipped today) Such prompt service, yay!  Cant wait til they get here.  Apart from being super cute and summery, this is a good pattern because it has adjustable straps.  It seems to be tricky to get the fit of pants or shorts right because more measurements are needed than just waist and hips - there is the length of the body to consider.  And we all know what happens when there is not enough length in the body - them pants go creepin right up were they ought not go. -- or conversely, when there is too much length.  Anyway, adjustable shoulder straps should fix this little drama.  I'm picturing them made up in a light weight denim with liberty like floral print pockets. What do you think?

Blogtoberfest Day 24: 60 in 60

Tomorrow is the 25th, so just two months until Christmas.  It will go fast, I'm sure.  One of the things I've decided that will help make this last part of the year enjoyable and manageable for me is to keep focused and be productive. To have a goal to work towards.  A goal that allows me to celebrate achievements along the way.  In that vein then, I have set myself a stretching challenge: to make 60 garments in 60 days.  It will be a big ask.  I already have events and days committed to other things, so it will be more than a garment a day on some days.  I was going to make it 50 in 60 days, knowing that would be challenging enough but then thought, what the heck, why not set myself something that would have me reaching hard to make it.  So what if I need to burn the midnight oil on one or two occasions. And so what if I dont make it - I'm going to have fun trying. And if I do manage to pull it off, I'll be over the moon!  So tomorrow is Day 1
What about you?  What does your ride til Christmas look like?

Octoberfest Day 23: Gluten free Carrot Cake

Yesterday was my brother's birthday and even though we couldnt be together to celebrate I decided we would have curried prawns and birthday cake for dinner last night, in his honour.  I think, hope, he would have approved.  He is remembered with such joy and sadness.
It is the second time I have made this gluten free carrot cake and it is a sure winner. It is light, moist and tasty.  The first time I made it I put a cream cheese topping on it but I didnt have any on hand and truly, the cake needs nothing else.  Having said that, though, I really enjoy the spices in this cake and wonder what the addition of ginger would be like.  Think I'll try that next time, if I remember
here is the recipe:

Gluten Free Carrot and Walnut Cake
200g (2 cups) walnuts
2/3 cup gluten free plain flour
6 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon natural vanilla
1 and a quarter cups castor sugar
2 large organic carrots, finely grated (about 2 cups)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon mixed spice

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celscius
2. Grease a 24cm ring or Bundt tin
3. Process the nuts and flour in a food processor until the nuts are finely ground. add the mixed spice and baking powder and pulse until incorporated into the flour/nut mix
4. in a large bowl beat the egg yolks, vailla and sugar until lighter in colour then stir in the carrot and mix well.  Add the nut/flour mix and combine well.
5. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold half the beaten egg whites into cake mix. when incorporated add the other half of the beaten egg whites.
6. Pour batter into prepared tin. Bake for 45 minutes until evenly browned and inserted skewer comes out clean. Allow the cake to firm up in tin for at least 20 minutes before turning out.

Blogtoberfest Day 22: Spare Room Makeover

The spare room has been the last room to be sorted since moving into this house in August.  Just a short while ago, it looked like this (above).  The last remaining boxes waiting to be unpacked and things out of already unpacked boxes still needing a home strewn all over the room. Two weekends ago I got stuck in to this room and found places for all of the stray objects in there so as to finally get rid of any packing boxes. Last week I whipped up a couple of cushions for the bed and put together the IKEA light. I put some Charley Harper prints from a calender into frames, made the bed, put books in the shelves and found some zingy decorations.  My fave is the little floating penguins.  Anyway, now the room looks like this.  All ready for our first guest.