meaningful gift: quilt for abigail

Aaah, my beautiful little niece! Much like my baby sister and I, our daughters are opposites. One olive-skinned, dark haired, the other fair of hair and complexion. I bought the fabrics for this precious bundle weeks before either girl was born, and have taken a long time to finish the quilt.Technical notes: 100% cotton fabrics from Spotlight, with cotton batting. I am lazy, so turned over the backing to make the purple edge. I adapted the Crayon Box Quilt by Rae (on Sew Mama Sew) and cut the 7inch sqaures into four smaller squares, instead of triangles. I like it. I also like the kind of whimsical quilting, which was done on the machine, without a walking foot. Because I don't have one.

Anyway, I think my sis liked it, and I feel good for giving something meaningful!

I am also checking out the creative spaces over here.

S.

a vintage rainbow

...came to grace my front doorstep today.

 Do you see your pieces, lovely scrap fairies? Thank you. And thank you to the delightful Kel, who organised the swap- you are gorgeous!


 I have been eagerly awaiting this assemblage of pretties to make this little poppet's quilt. And perhaps some pretty bunting too. And some scrap dollies for all the little girls we know. And maybe a lovely apron for me. Can't wait to start!
S.

sometimes it's awesome when the car breaks down

...because that means you have to walk the boy to school, and pick him up. And that means

• you get the dogs out for a run
• you get some great exercise
• you clean out the pouch on the pram, finding two milky ways, a space food stick and book club catalogues from approximately 18 months ago
• you can practice a little mindfulness meditation (I am walking. I am walking.)
• you get to walk along a gorgeous beach
• you can stop and have a leisurely chat at the bakery
• you can meet the most striking Great Dane ever
• you can be told by several people "Gee. You have your hands full!", and feel sorry for them, that they don't have their hands full
• a kind man with a surfboard will tell you what a great job you are doing
• your baby girl will snuggle up comfortably in the carrier
• there are at least two hours where the two-year-old TV addict won't be whining about I watcha car doos mummy?
• you will sit on a cool sandstone rock under a tree and feed the baby while the middle boy plays at the park
• you will realise, yet again, how much you love it here, and vow to do it again tomorrow.

S.

weekly gratitude

Five images, representing gratitude for simple things in my life.

 Sharing this parenting gig with a loving man, awesome daddy to my babies.

 My Poppi. You can't beat a grandfather's unconditional love, can you?

 

A lifetime of gratitude for my dad.

 For long, important conversations; Sunday morning bike rides; family holidays and adventures.

Fishing with my Pop.

Much love, and more thanks than I can put into words, to the dads and grandfathers in my life!

Joining in with the grateful-go-round, this week at the Beetle Shack!

S.

found on friday: august

August was wonderful for feeding my rekindled op-shop fascination. I think I just love peeking into the lives of others. Finding strange objects and making up stories. Lots of times I just like to see these objects, not necessarily own them.

Like the decor wine cask cooler with matching plastic wine goblets. I imagined a very fashionable 1980's summer pool party, mum with a spiral perm, kids riding pool ponies. Or the super-cool picnic set I found, which was inspired by air-travel technology. Four stacking plates, which you loaded with a meal, then put in the cooling or heating box. To be ready when you arrived at your picnic spot.

Anyway, here are some lovely findings from the past few weeks:

 A vintage snakes 'n' ladders game, complete with moral lessons. Displaying vanity? Down the snake you go to loneliness. Showing kindness? Up the ladder to you go.

 This romper with veggie patch design was too cute to leave there, even though it probably won't fit the small girl until next Autumn!

Buy of the month: two bedsides, seen here in the process of making nicer. A lick of nice white paint and a silver spray to the handles, and now they are a little shabby beach thankyouverymuch.

Lots of fun had shopping.

S.

meaningful giving: father's day edition

I saw my lovely Dad early this year, and presented him with this giftInside is a framed photo of my sis and I holding our new baby girls born in May and June. My Dad adores photos. I recently scanned the entire collection of family photos he took with an SLR camera. You know, with actual film in it. And he has some skills. The frame I upcycled from an oppy. Also in there was a funky t-shirt, which I did buy new. I'm still giving myself credit on the challenge for this one though, because a) I bought it before starting the challenge, and b) it's made of organic cotton, in Australia. So well done me. And see how I wrapped the gift in an oppy tie? Cool, huh?

Now, I'm on the search for something to make with my kids for the husband. Here are some things I've been checking out around the interwebs: from here

from here. I like this idea, for my guy who commutes 3 hours every day. He goes to the same place though, so maybe a mix tape instead of maps?

yum. from here.

you can buy these here. Nice.

I do love to love with food, so there will probaby be some of these

recipe here

and more than likely a healthy dose of these

the buttermilk makes them good. recipe right here.

What are your plans for a meaningful father's day gift? Link me up if you have something I can steal take inspiration from!


S.

lucky you're good-looking

Because in the last week, you have

drawn an amazing piece of 'art' on the wall in blue permanent marker

tipped an entire packet of coconut into the cookie dough

made the computer go weird by pressing the on button repeatedly

locked me out of my phone by putting in the wrong password three times

dropped my camera, smashing the lens filter and I'm not sure the lens is working right anymore

But, you look like this.

So, I find it difficult to stay mad for long!

S.

nourish: gyozas

mmmm...dumplings. How I love finger food. Little snacky morsels are my favourite. So festive. I got busy the other weekend and made myself feel special by making some delicious gyozas. Sometimes called potstickers, which is perfect because you first fry them, thereby sticking them to the pot, then throw some water in to finish cooking by steam.

I used the recipe from here, albeit a little hacked. I traded the pork mince for chicken mince. I used a bit of wombok rather than white cabbage. I also chucked some spring onions/ shallots/ green onions/ whatever you call them, finely chopped, into the mix.
Things I learned when making gyoza:
1. Whilst cooking shows make it look terribly posh and difficult to fold dumplings, for us normal folk, as long as it seals, any fold will do.
2. My stove is still crap.
Now to The Stuff and Nonsense Patented Rating System for Recipes.

Tightarseness: This recipe gets 3 out of 3. Very cheap ingredients, especially when I also made fridge-leftover-fried-rice-surprise to go with it.

Leftoverability: You can (apparently) freeze these before you cook them to have delicious snacks ready in the freezer. I just ate them all. They don't keep well once cooked, and anyway, I challenge anyone not to eat them straight out of the pot. 2 out of 3.

Tastyliciousness: Super-duper. Chewy and crunchy at once, tasty in the middle. I love these things. yum. 3 out of 3.

Into the mouths of babes: I was surprised when my kids actually had a go at these. They ate a couple each, as well as some rice. I would imagine they would just as easily reject them though. 1 out of 3.

Singlehandedness: Sadly a 0 out of 3 here. Definitely a weekend only recipe.

So in total, a 9 out of 15 points. Not something I would cook all the time, but a dish that is one of my faves.

Buon appetito!

S.