Stitch1Peta

To Tear or Not to Tear

2012-01-26T17:40:00.002+10:30

Is it right or wrong to tear up or make over old books. I know, I know, A lot of people are doing just that and making incredible art - Some incredibly awful, some incredibly wonderful - I don't know if I can do it.
My wonderful friend Emanda is going to bring me a couple of dead books from her second hand emporium. They might be possibilities, still I do believe I will struggle.
We are off to Fiber Forum in April, I am not using the Royal "We" here as The Husband is coming with me to partake of a class making a reliquary with Christine Atkins similar to the photo above from Chris's site.
This year I am making a book with Jenny Crossley of A Mark In Time.

I have to tear up and/or remake books too.
Part of our requirements lists are old books to tear up. We agreed that the thought of that, let alone the actual act, is just wrong and we don't think we can.
So I have spent some time today downloading a few old books that appealed to him as possibilities for his class and I am looking for some for ancient needlework texts for mine.
Here's a site I've been too courtesy of Feeling Stitchy's list of downloads.
Web. Archive Org to have a look at "A booke of curious and strange inventions" which is actually a book of needle work patterns.
The wonderful book selections from Pin Tangle.
Patterns from the 1886 pattern book from J. F. Ingalls
Therese Dillmont's Encyclopedia of Needlework
The Digital Scriptorium
and some beautiful plates from BibliOdyssey

Yes, I do believe I would rather download and print reproductions of individual pages than tear up a book. For me it is definitely "Not to Tear".

The Muse and Steampunk

2011-12-18T16:50:00.000+10:30

I am still working on my Muse. I have finished the painting and the first coat of sealer. I decided to use a satin sealer and I am happy with the result. she looks a lot lighter in this photo than she actually is.

She is starting to speak to me at last and let me know who she is. I am a little fascinated with Steampunk so I think she will be steampunkish before we are done.
I have read some of MelJean Brook's Iron Seas series and if you would like a free sample of that go to Wild and Steamy.

Beond Victoriana is a blog of many things Steampunk influenced not by European but by other areas of the globe.
Wikipedia, of ocurse, has a page on steampunk and lots of links.

I won't be taking my Muse as far as this.
She is more influenced by the Macy Christmas windows.

So now I just have to find a whole lot of old clock bits to use. I knew I should have kept that old alarm clock.

Beautiful Blogs

2011-12-12T17:49:00.000+10:30

I have an ever growing list of blogs I love. I have added Su Blackwell's to my list of blogs I follow. I love book arts and while my blood does run a bit cold at the thought of cutting into a book I have to admire her work and wish I had one of her books in my display cupboard. Oh well maybe one day.

Susie McMahon Workshops 3

2011-12-08T19:54:00.001+10:30

Can you guess what these are?

If you guessed hand carved feet for my Zozie doll you were right.

Despite making two different sets of feet for her I couldn't get her to stand up. My wonderful husband carved these from a piece of Wild plum from his wood stash. He's a great husband.

My Muse, who still hasn't told me her name, is progressing well I have glued a layer of muslin over her body and arms and painted her. She is progressing well.

Yes she is hanging upside down from a piece of string on the back-verandah.

Susie McMahon Workshops 2

2011-12-03T17:56:00.001+10:30

Today was the last day of a wonderful 3 days with Susie McMahon

Day 1 we sculpted a head for a Muse. Here's the one I did.

On the second day we made a Zozie doll. Mine is a bird girl.

Today was the third day and we finished putting the Muse body together and I painted the head of my Muse.

I'll show you a photo of the finished product very soon.
Susie is a wonderful teacher and we had a wonderful 3 days with her. She is my favorite cloth doll teacher. She teaches overseas on occasion as well and if you go to her blog you can contact her and find out where she is teaching next year.
She is coming to South Australia again mid next year if you are interested.
i am putting the recipes of the slice and the quiche I made for the workshops on my other blog - Peta Eats

Susie McMahon Workshops

2011-11-23T13:28:00.001+10:30

There is great excitement amongst the South Australian Cloth Doll Ladies. Susie McMahon is coming for a visit and to teach classes. Her last visit was 2008.
This is the doll I sculpted in the class.

My plan is too dress her as a Victorian era child. I got too the underwear and blouse stage and ran out of oomph. I have the material and the patterns for the rest of her clothing and I will finish her just don't ask me when.

This time we are making The Muse and Zozie. I don't have to buy anything but a half a meter of stretch fabric. I probably don't even need to buy that but I can't be bothered hunting through the Stash for it so I am off to the fancy fabric shop to hunt up a flash stretch fabric. Ideally I'd like something in black and gold but I'll have to wait and see what is available.

From the Stash

2011-11-21T12:48:00.001+10:30

AS you know, if you are following what I am up too, I am trying to use mostly things from my stash. I have lots of choices and that is part of the problem. I do have an ongoing project and I am doing the boring bit.
Once I have a project to the stage that I can see how it will end up I lose interest. It's a big problem for me and even though I am aware of this I still struggle with it. That's one of the reasons I am veering towards small projects. I have lots of big unfinished projects too.
Last month in my bid to create order from chaos Greg helped me clear everything out of the studio and I mostly put it back. I avoided the yearly craft show because I am an impulse shopper and I have enough impulsively bought items as it is without adding to them.
I don't have a current knitting project, well one I can lay my hands on that it is. I started a baby jacket for my cousins baby girl and I will finish it one day. When I find it. Said baby turned 21 recently, need I say anymore. I also have a cable jumper for myself started but there are more cables on the back than the front so I have to fix it and that is more work than I want at the moment.
I found, in the great tidy up, the alpaca wool I bought last November and the hand spun/dyed I bought in Tasmania in 2009. I also located the wool winder thingeys I bought in Ballarat in April. So at least I used the wool winders and I have the wool dehanked.

There are lots of patterns on Ravelry I love. A beret called Phannie which this wool would be perfect for. Plus another for a bandana cowl on the blog Purl Bee, this blog has an array of crochet and knitting projects. There's a crocheted hat with ear flaps that would work with this wool too.
Summer is on us so I am not sure where this desire to knit has come from but oh well.

On another topic if you are an embroidery fan Sharon of Pin Tangle is starting Take a Stitch Tuesday again. Go for a look if you are interested. I start well then run out of oomph but I am going to give it another go.

When is enough enough?

2011-11-02T20:23:00.001+10:30

I think I have finally reached the stage of "Enough is Enough". I had organised my PDO for this Friday so I could go to the Craft Fair. NOT GOING!!!! I've got enough.
Enough what? Well may you ask. Yes you may.
I have enough emphemera, textile ephemera. I have fabric of all types falling out of boxes and cupboards. I have a million books (slight exageration but not by much). Stamps, paint, stencils, inks... You name it and I probably have some of it or I can tell you where to get it. Need a couple of old shoe lasts... I have some of those. Perhaps an Edwardian bed jacket, got it. Lots and lots of buttons, Pick me Pick me. Threads, wools silks and polyester whatevers. Miles of ribbons and mountains of lace. Yep I am your girl.

What don't I have? I don't have enough time. I am severely lacking in enthusiasm. Part of this is brought on by working my butt off at work. I am filling in for one of the kitchen officers who is on leave. I love cooking but it just isn't fun anymore I am over this job. I want to go back to my own job now. When I get home I fall into a chair with a glass of wine and wish for Lotto to ring me.
Oh well only 7 more working days and the holidayer will be back and I can go back to my own job.
The trouble is I think I've had enough of that too. Might be time to look for something new. I have been working in this industry for nearly 15 years and I think my candle is burning out. I think it is a big hint when you look at a client and you just want to slap them and tell them to grow up.
I know what I am not going to do and surely that is a start. I am not going to open my own business I just can't afford it without taking out a mortgage and in the current financial crisis I am not willing to risk my house on it.
The trouble is I am really good at getting people to do stuff they have to do and don't particularly want to do and I am good at organising so if you know of any one who wants a bossy organiser let me know.
Luckily my boss does want me to do that and pays me really well to do it even when my attitude sucks. So until Lotto rings or the dream job turns up I'll just stay where I am.
Big sigh... Surely it is my turn to win Lotto. Hurry up and ring me Lotto man.

Spring Cleaning

2011-10-06T19:26:00.001+10:30

It is Spring here in the Beautiful Adelaide Hills. Time to tidy up the studio.
I didn't have to clean the floor. It's been covered with stuff for so long that it didn't have the chance to get dirty. No 2 son has come home to live with us for a while so I had to move all, OK most, of my stuff out of his room back into the studio.
I have seen a lot of signs saying "I can't be tidy and creative". I can't. I do notice that my creativity reduces when the studio is a mess, so I like to have a tidy studio.

So here is my tidy studio, Greg helped me.

Don't ask me about the dining room though.
Greg helped by pulling out all the stuff that was on the floor and putting it on the trestle in the dining room.

I lost my enthusiasm and creativity earlier in the year, I am sure it is in here somewhere.

Spring is sprung

2011-10-03T18:51:00.001+10:30

It's a beautiful Spring day here in the Adelaide Hills. The weather is a balmy whatever it is. Greg and I started the day late. We had breakfast and then slothed around until our local nursery opened. We still had the voucher he got for Christmas so off we went to spend it. Greg recently finished this arbor, which Granddaughter No 2 tells me we have to plant lots of flowers to grow over the top so fairies will come and live in it.

When we bought our house in 2000 the previous owner told me not to walk on the ground inside the sleepers he had in the backyard because there was an old well underneath. He said he had walked through the top of it and gone into the hole up to his knee. He then told me that he looked inside and it was an old well. So he chucked a bit of tin over the hole and put the sleepers down so we'd know where it was. I didn't realise until recently that he must have been on drugs.

For the 11 years we've lived in this house there has been a great deal of vague talk of opening the top of the well and using the water on our garden. While the vague talking has been going on the top has been sinking and then sinking some more until I threatened my darling husband with bodily damage if one of our darling grandchildren fell through the top of said 'Well' because he couldn't be bothered to fix it.
So Greg opened it up, and it was a two foot deep hole in the top of an old septic pit. It was full of dirt, really good dirt. So rather than just fill it in Greg built an arbor over the top.
Today we (and that is the royal we because he did ~~most~~ all of it while I was making a loaf of bread) planted two jasmines and a climbing iceberg rose at three of the corners.
I wanted two yellow climbers similar if not the same as the nursery around the corner had growing over a huge stand, so off we went today only to find that not only don't they sell roses anymore but the heathens had taken out the most beautiful yellow climbing rose that I had ever seen. It used to cover about 6 meters of wall with a mass of huge beautiful golden yellow 'Celebration' by David Austen.
As I have my heart set on that particular rose I am going to have to go hunting for it. An adventure for me. I shall, no doubt, bore people silly with my obsession until I find one.

The berries that we planted last year are doing great

Here's our veggie garden. We also bought some veggie seedlings that Greg planted. Here is where Greg told me to go away and stop taking his photo. I told him to shut up and freaking smile for once when he's getting his photo taken or I'll bury him in that garden bed. Which I have been told is a really bad spot to bury a body cause it's the first place the police will look.

Greg

pinched a nerve in his neck last week and couldn't move his whole left side, talk or hear for about 20 minutes. We thought he had had a stroke. Really scarey, I am so relieved he is alright.
He is supposed to be taking it easy until he goes back to the doctor. He doesn't do well with taking it easy. I am tempted to duct tape him to the wall but this wouldn't do much good and he'd be really cranky when he got loose so I'll save that for another time.
Being a typical male he argued with the doctor over taking medication for a week in case it was a little blood clot. I had to remind him that until he has his own medical degree he will shut up and do as he is told.
Still we had a lovely day today and these are to be treasured. I hope your Spring or Autumn depending on where you are is just a beautiful.

Daylight Saving

2011-10-01T21:10:00.001+09:30

Daylight saving is on us. Yes it is Spring here in the Great South Land or Land of the Long Weekend as it is affectionately called. We have one this weekend, I can't remember if it is Labour Day or Queens Birthday or whatever any way it is a 3 day weekend. I thought I would take the oppportunity to show a photo of what I was working on this time last year

Both pieces are finished but the landscape still isn't framed.
Well I am off to bed I am loosing an hour tonight and I hate that. I do like getting up in the dark though and having a bit of extra time in the daylight at night. Even if it is only to sit on the verandah or in the sunroom and have a little glass of wine with the husband.

2725

Stitched Up

2011-09-30T18:13:00.000+09:30

My stiff neck has been giving my grief, I am not sure if this is my subconscious trying to give me a message or just the result of sleeping in an awkward position a few weeks ago or a bit of both.
I have been trying to stitch and I've finally found the right position courtesy of this great folding table I bought at OfficeWorks. It was only $20 on special. It is just the right size to hold my hoop and a variety of bits and pieces including the remote. It is light enough to move around and sturdy enough not to wobble. I am stitching again despite my lack of enthusiasm to do anything. I shall endeavour to do more stitching and less obsessing. I make no promises.

The Devil is in the Detail and DNA gets you everytime.

2011-09-29T21:45:00.001+09:30

I have some big decisions to make in the next couple of weeks and I am humming and hahing and generally boring everyone stupid trying to make a decision on my future in my job.
I work for the government. For quite a while you would hear lots of jokes about disgruntled workers after there was a series of workers resigning via a gun. There is even a saying 'going postal' in American English slang, means becoming extremely and uncontrollably angry, often to the point of shooting people dead, usually in a workplace environment. I really understand how they would want to do that.
Who hasn't imagined that. It would be satisfying, in an only imagined and never followed through on way, to just take a gun and pop one into the head of your manager. Not that I want to do that because I don't have a gun and I changed workplaces and I didn't want to shoot anybody anyway. All though I did seriously consider for about 5 seconds running someone over but what can I say. It was my new car and I didn't want to get blood on it although there were quite a few other people in my workplace who would have helped me dispose of the body cause all you really need is a roll of chicken wire and some heavy weights so no embarrasing bits float off when you throw it in the river. Not that I've given it a lot of thought. They would have helped me clean my car but I watch NCIS and Abbey can always find a skerrick of blood and bang my ass is grass.
Those little details get you everytime. I quite like little details in my art life, I am going to get back to them soon. Life gets in the way though.
I am seriously thinking about demoting myself. I have been on a contract for the last year and the time is coming when I will have to bite the bullet and decide
if I stay at a lower level in a place where I am really comfortable or go back to the place I left last year.
I have been neglecting my creative side and I don't like that either. A Quandry indeed, my gut is saying one thing and my head is saying another. In the past my gut is usually right because sometimes my head is an idiot. I just need to get on with it. My neck is playing up too. Stiff necked isn't that another way of saying to stubborn for my own good. Maybe my body is trying to tell me something.
I need a little project that I will finish easily and quickly. Finish being the optimal word.

Multipotentiality

2011-09-25T19:52:00.000+09:30

Multipotentiality

“An educational and psychological term referring to a pattern found among intellectually gifted individuals. [Multipotentialites] generally have diverse interests across numerous domains and may be capable of success in many endeavors or professions, they are confronted with unique decisions as a result of these choices.”

I can almost hear you thinking 'What the f... has that got to do with chickens?'

At last an affirming term for me and my life. I just found this website PuttyLike. I haven't read much of it but it seems to be calling to me. I've been sitting on my butt waiting for some divine guidance and where else would I find it than on the web. Oh and here is an awesome photo of a couple of chickens. Why a chicken...? Well since you ask that seems to be the method for my whole life. I scratch around looking for something and then when I find it I am off scratching around for something else.
But that is OK because I have a Multipotentiality personality. I am a Multipotentialite.
Try and say that 5 times fast.

The Bibliomaniac's Prayer

2011-09-24T13:35:00.002+09:30

Eugene Field. 1850–1895

The Bibliomaniac's Prayer

KEEP me, I pray, in wisdom's way
That I may truths eternal seek;
I need protecting care to-day,—
My purse is light, my flesh is weak.
So banish from my erring heart
All baleful appetites and hints
Of Satan's fascinating art,
Of first editions, and of prints.
Direct me in some godly walk
Which leads away from bookish strife,
That I with pious deed and talk
May extra-illustrate my life.

But if, O Lord, it pleaseth Thee
To keep me in temptation's way,
I humbly ask that I may be
Most notably beset to-day;
Let my temptation be a book,
Which I shall purchase, hold, and keep,
Whereon when other men shall look,
They 'll wail to know I got it cheap.
Oh, let it such a volume be
As in rare copperplates abounds,
Large paper, clean, and fair to see,
Uncut, unique, unknown to Lowndes.

Bibliophilism

2011-09-23T21:13:00.002+09:30

I cut back on the amunt of magazines I buy years ago. The reason, apart from a distinct lack of interest in what celebs are doing, is I hate to throw out any sort of printed materials. To the extent that when the Husband threw out some of my favorite books things got decidely tense. Divorce was threatened and he's still not game to throw out anything on paper twenty seven years later. I did sort of forgive him, well stop reminding him of his sin. I don't even think of it that often.

Bibliomania is the collecting, some might say hoarding of books to the point where relationships or health are damaged. Obviously I don't have that because we are still married despite the sin of throwing out a bag of my books I had carefully put behind my arm chair out of the way. No hoarding or obsessing would be not forgiving him eventually when I found out he'd thrown them in the rubbish while I was at work and the garbage truck had been before I got home and noticed the loss the minute I walked in the door. Not that I hold it against him.

When is it hoarding? Who decides what is hoarding? I'd hazard the guess it would be when your kids sign you up for one of those reality tv shows and some out of work TV wanna be is luring you away with a free trip to the biggest book store on Earth and horrible home invaders are packing up your stuff and having a garage sale while you aren't there. Not that I've thought that some day the family might do that to me.

I don't collect just any book that would be hoarding. I have standards. They have to be something I am interested in.
Mostly, of course sometimes the book is about something I might be interested in in the future. But if it looks interesting and it is a good price it would be silly to not buy it just in case right? That's definitely not hoarding.
So I'd rather sit inside and read than go outside, I shan't get skin cancer and you can buy Vitamin D in a bottle. Sometimes I read on the back verandah.
If I can still get in the front door then I am not a hoarder. I do feel slightly sick when I throw out the free local paper but I close my eyes and just throw it in the recycling. That's how not obsessed I am.
There aren't books in every room in my house. There are none in the bathroom, the toilet is a really uncomfortable place to read. I know, I know some people take a book into the smallest room. Please stop the excuses, if it takes you that long to go get a laxative. If that is the only place you can get some privacy you need to learn to tune the rest of the world out. It doesn't take long to learn to zone them out. My kids soon learnt to give me a nudge if they needed something important like first aid. Because they damn well better have been bleeding before they interrupted me. No, not really. Well alright sort of.

Bibliophilism is the love of books. Healthy love not sick porn love, no sticky pages in my books unless I get some of my breakfast jam on there and don't notice. A bibliophile is a person who loves books or collecting books. A bookworm cares about the contents, they love reading. We need a new word for that. One that expresses the true pleasure and normalacy of having a ~~couple of thousand~~ few books that you don't share with anyone because they just don't look after them. And sometimes forget to give them back or carelessly loan them to me which makes them mine, mine all mine.

(Deep breath, get a grip) It might be called bibliophilia by some but that sounds slightly rude to me and "Bibliophilism" sounds much more highbrow. The opposite of bibliophobia is abibliophobia. This is the fear of running out of reading materia. I don't have that problem I would just read something again or go online and buy something. Not have something to read that ~~freaking terrifies~~ doesn't worry me ~~much~~ at all.

So I get a little cranky if I don't get to have a little read while I am having my breakfast. Doesn't everybody have a book in their handbag, a couple of audio books on the ipod and a spare book in the car in case you break down somewhere. That's not obsessive that's just being prepared. You can only read a street directory for so long before it gets a little tedious.

Yes, OK I might be ~~screamingly~~ a little abibliophobic. But I am definitely not an obsessive book hoarder.
Perhaps there is a book on recovering from these conditions I could read. (I type and then laugh to myself cause that's a little joke sort of. Leave me a comment if you agree or know of that book).

I have no idea what I am doing - So I'll eat ice cream

2011-09-20T20:12:00.000+09:30

As my previous blog post said I am at a cross roads. I should be doing something positive but I am not, I am spending my days reading and procrastinating waiting for some sort of divine guidance as to the direction I should take. There is a saying along the lines of if you keep looking over your shoulder at where you have been you can't move forward.
Wise words.
So I shall start looking forward. No more looking back even if I do end up going back. I don't really want to go back but then I am not sure if staying where I am is a good thing either.
Darn it... I really have no idea what I am doing so I am going to go and have some ice cream. Really yummy Cafe Grande - coffee with scorched almonds and grande marnier syrup. I haven't given a recipe for a long time so here's a really good icecream recipe Not for cafe grande but nearly as good no added sugar unless you chuck some in the apples if you do those instead of mulberries. If you want cafe grande icecream it is in the freezer at the supermarket.

Ice Cream

Ingredients
2 eggs
500 ml milk
375ml double/heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla paste (or according to taste)
¼ cup real maple syrup put half into the custard and then taste and add more to your taste
2 cups mulberries or berries of choice or (1 ½ cups of cooked diced apples and ½ cup chopped toasted pecans or walnuts and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon)

Pour the milk into a saucepan place on heat and bring the pan slowly up to boiling point

In a bowl, beat together the eggs and maple syrup until thick. Pour ¼ cup of the hot milk into the mixture of egg and syrup whilst stirring. Then slowly pour in the rest of the milk stirring all the time.

Pour the mixture back into the pan and heat gently over low, stirring until the custard thickens. DO NOT LET IT BOIL. Use a double boiler if you are not confident. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Leave to cool.

Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks (This is important). Fold the custard into the cream.
Put the mixture into a bowl in the freezer and let it half freeze. Beat it with electric mixer or put it into an ice cream maker. Refreeze.
Fold 2 cups of fresh or frozen mulberries (or the apple/pecan/cinnamon) through the ice cream before it goes hard. Place in small molds or a loaf tin lined with plastic wrap. Freeze until solid and then turn out and slice if a log.
Because this is low sugar this is a hard ice cream take it out of the freezer 10 minutes before eating to let it soften.

A Fork in my road

2011-09-10T21:48:00.001+09:30

I have reached a fork in my personal road. I applied for the position I have been doing on a temporary contract for nearly a year and didn't get it. After a ~~few~~ lot of days of general foul moodiness I now know I have to get a grip and get over it. so I am at a fork in my road. I could turn around and go back to my old position I left last year.
I should say I left it because I was miserable there and it hasn't improved in fact the situation there is worse so I know I won't do that.
I could take a job at a lower level where I am. I would have a job in a place I really like with a good bunch of people.
But my pay packet will drop about $20 thousand dollars a year and that is a lot.
Or I can apply for a job on my current level in a place that is, apparently, about to implode. This couldn't be any worse than my old work place that has imploded. OK it could be worse because I could spend the time there kicking myself for leaving the place I like.

I have a bucket list that doesn't have much on it.
At the moment it simply has a trip to Europe on there. I am saving up for that cause I want to go on a Stitching and Stately Homes tour and they don't come cheap.
The other thing I would like to for my life to be easy. I am still working on that one.

On my daughters facebook page she had a link to The Bloggess who has a very funny blog and she had a link to Girl to Mom who has a F*ck It List, a list of things she never wants to do. I can really get behind that idea. I can put some thought into things I never want to do.

No 1. I really don't want to run my old manager over with my car. I just imagined doing it. I have a really good imagination and that was enough for me.

No 2. No bungey jumping or parachuting for me.

No 3. No bleaching or waxing of parts of me that never see the sun.

No 4 I will never watch Brokeback Mountain, The Hours or 6 Freaking years in Tibet ever again unless they remake them with aliens. I think all those movies would be better with aliens in them.

and then i pinched some from the other lists
No. 5 I don’t want to clean my house to spotlessness… it never lasts.

No. 6 I don’t want to be a stick figure… I love my curves (so does my husband)

No 7. I don’t care if my hair is done everyday… it’ll be messed up a few minutes after I leave the house anyway.

No 8. I don’t care if my husband and I are rich… our lives are rich with each other and our kids and grandkids.

No 9. I don’t care if I never own a pet… No matter how great they are, I have plenty to do and don’t want the animal to inadvertently starve.

No 10. I don’t care if I never have a threesome or attend a key party… one man is enough for me.

So now I know some of the things I don't want to do that's a start.

I am still here

2011-09-06T17:52:00.000+09:30

Despite my best intentions I have become a woeful blogger. I seem to have little time for it. Work and family are interfering with my preferred activities of cooking and textile arts. I have finished my grandson's christening gown. He looked beautiful. No 2 granddaughter always says "hello beautiful boy" she says we have to say that so he knows we love him.

His gown is skill twill, handsomocked the peterpan collar and cuffs are trimmed with entredaux and the hem is trimmed with cotton lace. I am having a bit of trouble getting a good photo of it but I will try.
I am also working on a secret project I will tell you about it when I can.

Vest

2011-06-22T17:08:00.000+09:30

I am still alive, I haven't posted for so long and I am sure we all feel like this year is streaking by. I see from the blogs I follow that I am not alone in my infrequent posting. I find that with working full time, family and life in general that I am having less and less time to do what I want to do.
I look on my blogs as a diary of sorts of my craft and cooking life so if I don't post often then it is because I have not been devoting as much time as I would like to these things.
I have finished something today though. This project has been on my mind for a while. I saw a pattern a few years ago for a travel jacket or vest. It is a garment with lots of pockets for people to wear while travelling. I was re-inspired earlier in the year when I saw the apron/overdress that India Flint wears. She told us she simply takes it off when she goes through the x-ray machine at the airport. An inspired idea.
I don't travel as often as India but I loved the idea of a garment with lots of secure pockets to hold things like my phone, ipod, money etc etc while I am out and about.

The pattern I saw was $30 and I thought I really didn't need to spend that amount of money. In hind sight it would probably have been quicker but nowhere near as much fun. The photos don't really show much however here's what I did. I took a denim skirt and a pair of cargo pants that I found in the local Op Shop. They both had a lot of Zipper pockets. So after some cutting and cropping and resewing I now have a long vest with 12 pockets most of which have zippers. I think I will dye it before I wear it as I am not a fan of the colour. Probably black. Then again I might just leave it the way it is.

So I am still around just a bit busy. I am enjoying reading your blogs when I get the chance.

FibreArts Ballarat 2011

2011-04-25T13:15:00.000+09:30

Where have I been? Well since you asked, I have been on my annual jaunt to Ballarat. The weather was beautiful, the company excellent and the class I did superb.
I have had a serious case of the "Blahs" for quite a while. I really wanted to make something but couldn't even find the initiative to finish one of my many WIP’s (works in progress).
The doll I made with Jill Maas changed that and I have recovered my drive.
I spent the 6 days in Ballarat creating up a storm. As always there was a class I would love to do in the future but for the first time I didn’t look at the other classes and think “Damn I wish I had done that one”.
Joss Farmer Jones is a truly excellent, incredibly patient teacher and an wonderful book maker. I can honestly say with my hand on my heart this was one of the best classes I have ever done. Fun, relaxing and filled with (for me) new techniques and lots of information.

We made lots of different coloured papers in a variety of techniques I have always wanted to have a go at. Itajime, marbling and dipping.
The blue book is a technique where you dip tissue paper in inks that you have splashed about on a piece of glass. After they have dried they are ironed onto a piece of freezer paper and then 3 coats of blonde shellac is brushed on allowed to dry between each coat. The freezer paper is left in situ.
I used it as part of the cover for my leather bound binding. The leather and paper were glued and stitched in place.

The orange marbled paper covered book is a simple spiral bound item, it is actually all our class notes that we made into a book on our last day. An excellent idea that I will use in the future.

The other 3 are concertina books, I haven’t written anything in them yet.

The teachers and classes for 2012 are up on Gleny's site FiberArts Ballarat
I am doing a Mixed Media class with Jenny Crossley let me know if you are going to come and I'll catch up with you there.

Jill Maas

2011-04-11T20:01:00.001+09:30

I spent the weekend making a doll 'Snowdrop and Frosty' by Jill Maas. I haven't made a doll for ages. I ran out of oomph for doing much in the way of textiles. I wasn't even that keen to do the doll workshop but I had made the committment to do it and didn't want to let my friend Christine down by dropping out at the last minute. Off I went on Saturday thinking 'Why did I commit to doing this'.

I made my favorite Spice Cake to take along. I hadn't made that for quite a while and it is an easy cake that everyone who eats it always raves over so it was a good choice to take along. I knew I would know just about everyone there and was looking forward to spending time with them, still I had a large case of the blah's.

Getting out and making something was just the thing to cheer me up. Starting and finishing Snowdrop and Frosty in 2 days gave me just the sense of accomplishment I needed to kick start me back into my textile adventures.

I hadn't made a doll with or by Jill Maas before her patterns are very popular. I know why now. The patterns are easy to make and the results are beautiful. Jill was a great teacher, she made sure everyone got the help they needed.
I also bought the pattern for High Octave Hester

and The Little Singers

Photos courtesy of Jill Maas's website.

I had the best weekend. It was just what I needed. I found my initiative. I'd left it somewhere and couldn't find it. Now I have and I am madly keen to go off to Ballarat on Thursday. Something else I was wondering why I had committed to.
I found talking to my textile friends that a lack of enthusiasm for our favorite past time is a common complaint. I put my own lack of enthusiasm down to a busy life, work and family don't leave a lot of time to do anything else. I have to make the best of my available time. One way to do that and get maximum satisfaction from that is to make small things. they get finished.
I am doing a book making class at Ballarat so I am confident I will not be bringing home a pile of raw materials that will still be waiting to be used this time next year like the fabrics I dyed last year that are still sitting in my studio waiting to be turned into the jacket I have planned.
I wonder if our modern lifestyle is one of the reasons so many of us are suffering from the blah's. I want to do so much, yet lack the time and then when I have the time I lack the enthusiasm and the initiative to even start let alone finish. I read and wrote about Getting things done excellent advice from Mary Gordon and Micheal Nobbs. I need to go back and read it again and get organized. I'll talk to you again after I get back from Ballarat.

India Flint and The Leafy Sea Dragon Festival

2011-03-26T22:01:00.002+10:30

Today I set off cross country to lovely Yankalilla. The day was overcast and miserable and then it rained. I didn't mind though. Yankalilla is one of my favourite places and somewhere I'd love to live.
Yankalilla is just inland from Normanville, half way between Yankalilla and Normanville would be an ideal place for a home. I could walk on the beach every day.
Anyway the reason I went was for a workshop with the wonderful India Flint

The Leafy Sea Dragon Festival is on from the 15th to the 24th of April and includes the Art show, an artists trail, Mix it up Media Exhibition and lots more. Go to the link and you can see the rest of the events in the festival.
One of the exhibitions is called Colours of Home. For this a grant was won from Festivals Australia. This funded the Wonderful India Flint to spend a week at Yankalilla. Today we worked on flags for the exhibition,

India demonstrated her use of eucalypts in dying.

We bundled up silk and different types of leaves

tied them up with string

and boiled them.

Here are some of them hanging to dry.

We are all going back this week to work on some more fabrics for a group piece for the exhibition.
For full details on the how's you’ll need to buy India’s books and for lots of eye candy there’s her blog.

Challenged

2011-03-14T13:14:00.001+10:30

I am off to Fibres Ballarat in a couple of weeks and I have a couple of things to do. One is make a 15 x 15 cm piece for the fund raiser and the other is to make a cocktail outfit from an Op shop buy.

I bought this dress at the Salvos a couple of years ago and it has been hanging in the wardrobe in the spare room ever since.

Here's a photo with the tag still attached to prove I did buy it at an Op Shop. I am pretty sure this was one of those bride maids dresses some poor soul had to buy and I can just hear the bride saying "if you shorten it you can wear it again". Please like that ever happens.

This dress was definitely made for someone shorter than me. I have to fiddle with it quite a bit and it is a couple of inches to small in the bust so that needs to be fixed but it fits me in the waist. I did wonder for a few minutes if it had been made for a cross dresser as I am not to big in the bust department. I do like the colour and as the theme is gold it fits the bill there.
All I have to do is make it longer in the shoulders, chop about 50 cms off the length and add some material in the under arm so it fits there. I might make some sort of shrug with the leftovers as Ballarat in April can be really cold. Nothing to it. More photos to come.

New Grandson Aaron Gregory

2011-03-09T11:53:00.000+10:30

Aaron Gregory Stuart arrived on 4th March. Although he's 5 weeks early he still weighed in at 5 pounds 1 ounce. He is a beautiful baby, a little jaundiced and still sleeping most of the day and night. He's out of the humicrib and doing really well.

Breaking out of a creative rut.

2011-02-27T10:39:00.000+10:30

I think this post says it all about my current state of mind and what I need to do.
Ali Edwards shares her thoughts as a guest blogger on Kelly Raes blog. Some body give me a big ladder so I can climb out of my rut.

Lil Blue Boo

2011-02-23T19:28:00.000+10:30

I can't believe it has been nearly a month since I was last here. Between work, life, kids etc time has just flown. I haven't done much of anything since the Summer School. I have cruised the net quite a bit though. One interesting blog with lots of tutorials and info and eye candy is Lil Blue Boo
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Silk Paper

2011-01-26T20:30:00.007+10:30

Today I did quite a bit of tidying up in the various areas of the house I have scattered with my art supplies. It is our 31st Wedding Anniversary, so we went out for lunch, we had thought of going to lunch and then too the movies. We couldn't find a movie on at our local theatres we wanted to see so we didn't bother. We had a very nice lunch out and then came home.

I spent some time playing with my gummed silk supplies this afternoon. As you can see I made 2 types of silk paper. The one on the left is the fluffy gummed silk and I simply teased it out into a thin layer on Bake paper, misted it with water and then covered it with another piece of bake paper and ironed it dry with a dry (No Steam) iron. For the right hand sample I ironed some of the silk rods flat with a steam iron and then seperated the layers and wove them together, misted them and then ironed them dry between layers of bake paper. You really do need the bake paper as other wise it sticks to the iron while it is wet. It doesn't stick when it is dry. Over ironing can cause some interesting scorching. I have read about this type of silk paper quite often but didn't have a go until my class with the lovely Isobel Hall. She demonstrated the cocoon strippings type and I just used the same technique for the woven silk rods one.
Apparently you can also put silk dys or heat activated paints in the misting bottle and spray it with that for a bit of colour. I haven't tried that yet but I might have a go.
The silk strippings and the silk rods came from Beautiful Silk.

I am planning to do some samples with machine embroidery on both. I can't do anything I have to wash so I am going to use the thermo gaze I already have as a stabiliser. I want to try out my flower stitcher as I bought it at the Quilt and Craft show and it hasn't seen the light of day.
I have used the thermogaze before and it does iron away. There is a powdery stuff you have to get rid of but at least you don't have to wash it. There are other melt aways on the market but I haven't used any of them so please tell me your favorite if you have any other suggestions. The silk strippings and rods, Thermo gaze and the flower stitcher and a book on how to use it are all available from The Thread Studio.
I don't get a kick back from any one for my advertising.
1533

Fibres Ballarat

2011-01-23T18:50:00.002+10:30

I have decided that I am not being unfaithful to my love of textiles by sneaking off to do a book making class. I was feeling a bit like an unfaithful lover. I have decided that my desire to explore a new path is not denying my long love affair with fibres. I am going to be ruthless and sell off some of my fabrics and quilting stuff. I also have a huge pile of doll stuff that I will probably not use. I am not giving up on making dolls or my other textile pursuits I am just taking them down another path. I am a collector and I hate to part with anything because you and I both know that 2 weeks give or take after I dispose of anything I will find the perfect spot for it. But I am drowning under a mountain of stuff and the time has come to simplify and declutter. The big question is can I do it. I believe I can. I read (somewhere someone and apologies I can't remember the source)of a person who culled their house by looking at things and using some simply rules to cull it. Rule one was is this a precious heirloom/memory object that I can never replace.
Rule two was would I replace this if the house burnt down.
An interesting approach. If an object is replacable then I can replace it with something else. I have a large collection on quilting fabrics. They can go. I am probably never going to use most of them, I will sell off what I can and then consider the rest. I also have a big collection of books I will probaly never use. I think it is time to look at Amazon, Ebay and Etsy I am not sure of the rules for Etsy so some research is required to destash.
I don't know if I can actually part with piles of my stuff, but I am going to try. wish me luck.

Making stuff

2011-01-22T18:55:00.003+10:30

As you know I am off to Fibre Ballarat in April. This is my favorite time of year. I have an ongoing obsession with fabrics and books. So now I have a dilemma. I really loved the book making class I did with Isobel Hall. But I also love fabrics.
So my dilemma is should I change to the book making class at Ballarat or stay in the screen printing class. I have lots of stuff, probably enough to do both. Oh what shall I do.
If the silk class was cancelled I would happily jump at the book class. Damn it. Every year I do one class and there is always another I wish I had done. I have to decide and soon.... I need a list of Pros and cons. But I can't decide which is a pro and which is a con.
I am sure I have enough of everything except time to do both classes.
The books are smaller.
I have heaps of fabric I haven't used. So do I really need more.
I love books and my friend Wendy will teach me how to use a silk screen.
Oh crap... what should I do. I really loved making those books... I could use some of the silk I have already in the books couldn't I.
I haven't used the fabric I made last year. Nor have I made any more, so I think that might be a sign I am not as in love with the techniques I learnt as I thought I was. If I had more time I would spend it making books.
I'll see if there is any room in the bookmaking class. If there is I'll change.

1520

Isobel Hall

2011-01-19T19:14:00.004+10:30

I have recently done an Embroidered Book workshop with Isobel Hall. It was a real pleasure. I learnt so much. I haven't quite finished my book but I will have it done soon. This photo is of the inside of the book. Black card was used for the signatures. I used my own hand dyed perle 8 thread over tapes I painted with the paint I used on the cover. All the stitching details are in Isobels Book "Embroiderered books".

I bought a lovely array of handmade papers and ended up using the brown paper all the lovely papers were wrapped in. This is the front cover which still needs to be stuck down properly. The first step was to paint it with two coats of blue folk art paint. This was allowed to dry and then the painted paper was crumpled and then ironed flat.
Next was a coat of Art Van Gogh Byzantium heat activated purple paint. This was allowed to dry and then gold encuastic wax was smeared over the raised bits with a hot iron. Then I gave it a coat of satin varnish, stitched it and then another coat of varnish. A piece of silk cocoon stripping paper was torn into bits and cobweb stitched onto the base. The back is the same.

I also played with Lutrador crash this was painted, coloured with chalks and then sealed. I will go into more detail on the hows in future posts. In this photo there are also some printing done on teabag paper and the piece of silk paper. I still have lots of bits and pieces for future art works.
Isobel was lovely, her husband Eric was there doing the drying and teaching too. If you get the chance to take a mixed media class with them don't hesitate it was wonderful.

Sketchbook Challenge

2011-01-05T11:23:00.003+10:30

I am very interested in Journalling and scrapbooking - A journal to me is more of a diary where as a scrapbook has bits and pieces stuck in and other stuff. So a sketchbook will be a combination of the two.
I have started sort of a cross between the two. Here's my first page. I found the quote on someone else's blog and can't remember who they were so sorry about that. This is the first page. I am not going to knock myself out to finish a page a day. I shall do as I please.

The demise of the Patchwork/Craft Shop

2011-01-04T12:45:00.004+10:30

I am quite sad to say our local patchwork shop is closing its doors. I didn't get the chance to chat to the owner as the place was packed for the first day of her sale. I haven't been in for quite a while as I don't do much patchwork these days. I did spend up big though. I was after some quilters muslin as it is my preferred fabric for doll bodies. I was too late. Others had bought whole rolls and there was none left. At 30% off who could blame them. While I waited in line for the checkout I had time to ponder on the demise of the local craft and patchwork shops. Is it that we are spending more at the big craft shows and chain stores? Or is it that the owner has been in business for 17 years and she is tired. We all move on in life and hopefully that is what is happening. I know she will still be at the craft shows and on line so not completely gone. I am well stocked with fabrics so I shall not be running out and now I work in Adelaide I can pop into some of the shops down there without too much trouble.
We need to buy from these people to see them stay in business and I only go to the chainstore when I am desperate for something. I shall have to make do with what I have...it will last me a long time. Perhaps I need a plan... on and a big dose of motivation.

2011

2011-01-02T18:56:00.004+10:30

Well here we are in 2011. I always ask where did the time go? But really time passes because we are busy living. I have a busy January. I am doing 4 days of workshops with Isobel Hall at the Embroiderers Guild of SA's Summer School. I am also doing a workshop with India Flint making flags for the Yankalilla Fibre Festival at Easter. I am not sure if that is the name of the thing. If you are in Yankalilla at Easter we will be at the show ground in the hall next to the art show in the big hall. You'll see all the flags outside. I also want to go to Sydney to see the First Emperor Exhibition at the Sydney Art Gallery but Greg is makin "It will cost how much noises" so I am doing some overtime to get the money. I am determined to make a GiGi doll for the raffle at the Exhibition or I might keep it. So much to do so little time.

Happy 2011 for me

2010-12-30T18:11:00.003+10:30

In 2011 I am going to make no resolutions, plans or promises. I will have no expectations of myself. I cannot fail.

I will make no excuses for things undone but I will apologize.
I will set easy goals for myself so I don't aim high.
I am going to resign from every committee I am on.
I will just do things I want too. I haven't done this before so it will be an adventure.

Last year I made some resolutions.
Things I am going to do in 2010

- Fibre Forum in Ballarat where I am going to do a Shibori class. I have everything I need for this except for 3 meters of light weight silk I can get that there from Marion of Beautiful Silk.

Did It

- Tasmania Holiday. All booked and just have to pay the deposits. We are definitely doing this.

Did It

Things I should/must Do
- Spend less on supplies and use more of what I already have.
Ummm well I had good intentions and started off well but you know how they say'When the going gets tough the tough go shopping' that's me. things got tough and I went shopping. I love my books and well I don't need to say anymore.

Things I want to do
- Finish the doll I sculpted with Susie McMahon, all she needs is the rest of her clothing and shoes.
Didn't do it
- I want to finish more than I start. This year I tried to finish one WIP for each new thing I started. That went pretty well most of the year. To Keep track of this I am going to put a column on my blog with things finished and WIP's finished.
I am taking the column off my blog as it is quite depressing to realise how little I finished.

I am off to Fibre Forum again. It is one of the highlights of my year. I dyed a lot silk and cotton, designed a jacket and didn't do anything with it. I am going to do a silk screening class in 2011 so I am going to take all the silk with me and do some more with it.
I haven't done anymore with the Doll I made with Susie, but I will.
I think I did finish more than I started but I am not absolutely sure. I did work a lot with quite a bit of time away from home, study and go on holidays. I did a lot for others and I ended my year feeling like very few people noticed and even fewer appreciated my efforts. I got a bit depressed about it all and did myself no favours.
I realised I did not have to stay in a situation that was not good for me and got the hell out of there. I am happier now and my only goal for next year is to maintain that.
So yay for 2010 I learnt a lot and yay for 2011 it will be even better.

Christmas Spirit

2010-12-23T11:18:00.004+10:30

I have nearly finished the Christmas Shopping just a couple of more Santa gifts to buy, wrap the presents, do some cooking, decorate the tree and tidy the house. Our gift giving for Christmas is smaller than the birthday gifts we give.
For us a Christmas gift is an acknowledgement of our Christian beliefs and therefore is a special thing. The joy of a gift is knowing someone thinks enough of you to find or make something that you open and just know they have put a lot of thought into.

Mind you we do go crazy over the grandchildren mainly because there is no joy compared to seeing the pleasure on a childs face when they receive a gift they love and no fun as great as a little one with a great big box and a pile of Christmas paper balls to throw around.
Sharing with family and friends is a great joy for me. For me there is no greater thrill than having someone say unprompted "This is great I love it".
Sharing with others should be what Christmas is about and yet every holiday is becoming more and more about what is given. Commercialism, shops and the media pressure us to prove our love by buying big.
Personally, I find the best things are knowing my family are around me, we are blessed to live in a country at Peace, we have an abundance of food and what could be better Peace, Joy, Love, and Faith.
I was reading a newsletter from Punch with Judy a really great on line craft shop. Judy gave an excerpt from "All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten" by Robert Fulghum. If the whole world lived by these simple guidelines we would all have Peace, Joy and love. The faith part is a personal thing and each to their own. Robert has the important bits though.

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.

These are the things I learned
*
Share everything
*
Play Fair
*
Don't hit people
*
Put things back where you found them
*
Clean up your own mess
*
Don't take things that are not yours
*
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody
*
Wash your hands before you eat
*
Flush
*
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you
*
Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some
*
Take a nap every afternoon
*
When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together
*
Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that
*
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we
*
Remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK!

Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm.

I really love all these rules, I think that "Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you" should be the beginning of every meeting of every group be they government, social or anything else.
If they started off with a big warm cookie and a glass of milk the World would be a happier place.
I will be making cookies or biscuits later today. My family have some very firm favorites. Cat Biscuits are at the top of the list. Gingerbread is a close second and the Taste website has lots of Christmas Gingerbread recipes. Lebkuchen is a real favorite of mine and I'll be making those as well.
I'll make lots and send them home with the kids and take some to work.
That's the other kindergarten rule, Share Everything.
I would like more time, time to share with those I love and time to make all the things I want to give to them. I really need to manage my time better. Something to think about for New Year.
Merry Christmas

Glass look eyes

2010-12-19T18:47:00.002+10:30

Marinas dolls blogspot has a great tutorial for making dolls eyes. Glass dolls eyes are expensive and in Adelaide really hard to find. I haven't made a doll for a while. I won a free workshop on Cloth Doll Artistry for Connie McBrides pattern GiGi and she will be my next doll. Probably after Christmas now. Where did 2010 go. 2011 is going to be a great year.

Getting Stuff Done

2010-12-08T13:28:00.002+10:30

I have finished Matthews Stole. The Ordination went really well.
So now onto the next thing. I have been thinking what will I do next? I am finishing off a couple of small Christmas gifts for some special friends and to tell the truth procrastinating by cruising the web and looking at other peoples stuff.
My biggest problem is that I want to do everything and I never really seem to commit to one craft or activity. I am not going to change this is me. I spent quite a bit of time between Midnight and 8 am thinking about this. I was at work, which last night entailed walking around in the rain quite a bit. It is raining here is South Australia, we claim the title of driest state in the driest continent. You would not think that this week. We had our whole months rain in the last 24 hours. This was accompanied by hail, lightning, thunder you get the picture.
My biggest problem is that I put things off because I think I will get to that on my next day off or when I have time.... I will then sit down and read a book for half an hour. That time wasted well not really wasted but I could have done something else. I want everything to look amazing and compare myself to others and then don't do anything.

Mary Gordon of Creative Voyage says
Joking aside one of the biggest blocks to being creative is to set a perfectionist bar which means that the drawing never goes beyond the first mark because it isn't 'right' or the article beyond the first sentence because it doesn't read 'right'. It order to do something 'good' you have to do a lot that is really 'terrible' These are just words and judgements. Remember in order to do something great you have to practice. We don't see the novels that don't work, or the films which never get released, or the pots which get mooshed back into clay and rethrown. We only see the end product. Much of being creative resembles the RTO. And its an essential part of being creative. If you refuse it as a creative person your art will never move forward and grow.

Mary also wrote this on Micheal Nobbs blog Sustainable Creativity
part of this is too make a grid of what you have done in the last week and focus on what you really want to do. I spent a lot of time vegging out on the net, sleeping and working. Not so much on creating something.

Mary suggested that a secret journal is one of the things that can help get the creative juices flowing,

So 20 minutes a day, I can do that. So a small journal and a felt tip pen is a first step. I can do this.
I will make a committment here now to spend 20 minutes a day on doing something creative even if it is a flop. Maybe that stitch book I have been thinking about for so long will come about, maybe not. At least I will draw something.

Matthew's Stole

2010-12-04T22:21:00.005+10:30

Our darling eldest son is being ordained tomorrow as an Uniting Church Minister. He needed a red stole for the service and I wanted to make it for him. Matthew wanted something simple. The stole looks like hessian but is actually lovely soft cotton. In April I dyed the scarves that I bought from Beautiful silk, I also dyed a variety pack of silks from the same source.

I stitched a celtic cross that Matthew designed onto a piece of raw silk in butterfly gold thread.

I then sandwiched the embroidery with another piece of red cottton stitched around it and clipped the back and turned it through and then hand stitched it onto the stole.
I was finished hours before he arrived to pick it up. I also had to hem up his alb. This took nearly as long as making the stole. He was really happy it was just what he wanted. I am going to make him a whole set of stoles. One down five to go.

Kayla coo

2010-12-03T12:20:00.005+10:30

Kayla coo is the blog site of Michala Gyetvai. Her work has been featured on the cover of the British Stitch Magazine
These beautifully stitched little landscapes

are a particular favorite of mine and I have added her to my huge list of blogs that I follow.
Her work inspired me to do this postcard a couple of years ago for an Embroiderers Guild of SA Christmas Challenge. This is my interpretation of the view from my sunroom window.

Stuff - Clip Art

2010-11-26T11:14:00.003+10:30

I have a long obsession with stuff. I love the term Ephemera which really is just another word for stuff. I am easily distracted and the Graphic Fairy is one such place. I saw this link to Pugly Pixel on there and sure enough more stuff.
so if you are looking for some clip art why not go take a look.

Re-new, Re-use, Re-Cycle

2010-11-24T14:37:00.001+10:30

Great scott have a look at this Tissue box challenge.
Lots of great ideas but this was my favorite. Is it silver? No.

Top Tip for Gold work

2010-11-24T14:08:00.005+10:30

I have finished the gold work on the cross I am doing to put on Matthews Stole. He is being ordained in a few weeks as an Uniting Church Minister. The stole had to be red and I dyed two scarves and a selection on pieces of silk at Fibre Forum back in April. Matthew designed the cross and I have embroidered it in double whipped running stitch. I still have to add it to the stole and then shape the scarves somehow. I'll show you when it is done.
I have a long love hate relationship with metallic threads. They split and shred and get hard to work with. No longer, now it is just a love relationship.
I did an Elizabethan Embroidery workshop with Maree Talbot recently and she recommended Dorothy Clark's book 'Exploring Elizabethan Embroidery'. this is an excellent book I sat down and read the book right through when I got it. It is peppered with hints and advice and there on page 11 under Handy Hints Dorothy said and I quote"When using DMC gold or silver thread I dab the cut end, where the threads have a tendency to seperate, on to my UHU glue stick."
Well how brilliant, how simple. Dorothy goes on to say that it won't hurt your embroidery because you are going to wash it and it will wash out.
I have a small acid free glue pen I bought from a scrapbooking shop and it was just the thing. I dabbed the glue on as soon as I cut it and then dabbed the cut end on the reel of butterfly gold thread I was using and good heavens, It works. No shredding no seperating like magic. I didn't waste a bit of thread. I am in love. Thanks Dorothy I'd send her an email but I couldn't find her address.

Peta Eats

2010-11-23T12:48:00.001+10:30

I have decided to have two blogs. You might be thinking what is she thinking. Well I am thinking that I have two obsessions - Textiles and Food and my textiles blog is getting so overloaded with food and it is time to seperate them. So I hope you will join me there if you like my food stuff and I will be putting more textile stuff here on my textile one.

Blue Cheese and Mustard Souffle

2010-11-20T19:12:00.004+10:30

Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided many of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate soufflé recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.
I am late with the challenge as always. My excuse this time is we were on holidays.
Audax Artifex had heaps of advice too and I read it with great interest after I read Dave and Lindas advice. Of course I ignored most of it and well the result while not the prettiest however it rose like magic and tasted great.
My recipe is a bit of a mixup of both.

Blue Cheese and Seeded Mustard.

3 oz / 90 g blue cheese
3 tablespoons Milk
2 Tspns seeded Mustard
1 1/2 tsp corn or tapioca flour
Salt and pepper to taste
2 egg yolks
2 Egg whites
pinch cream of tartar
1 oz Butter

Prepare 2 1-cup soufflé dishes by buttering them, put them in the refrigerator while you do the rest.

Chop up or grate the cheese.

Heat the milk gently in a medium saucepan. Stir in the starch and stir to dissolve thoroughly. Add the cheese and mustard and stir until the cheese melts. Remove from heat. Keep beating with a spoon until it cools a bit then add the egg yolks,mix thoroughly and salt and pepper to taste.

Beat the egg whites and a pinch of cream of tartar until they are stiff peaks.
Scoop up a small amount of the egg whites with the beaters and mix it into the cheese mix with the beaters. With a metal spoon, fold the remaining egg whites through the cheese mix.

Remove your prepared soufflé cups from the refrigerator and gently spoon the soufflé mix into them. smooth the tops with a spatula and clean thoroughly around the rim – if you don’t do this last step the soufflés will rise at a rakish angle.

Bake 20 - 25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately.

So what did I do that would cause one to be a little volcano? I thought the mixture was too thick and added a bit more water. It would have been perfect without this. Also as I hadn't spilt any of the mixture on the edge of the pot I didn't worry about wiping them. Another mistake. Oh well I'll know better next time. Infact I knew better this time but didn't worry about it. Still they were really good with ratatouille and a big glass of red wine. Yum.

Re-new, Re-use, Re-Cycle

2010-11-20T15:21:00.008+10:30

We are home from holidays. Holidays ae lovely but home is best. We really missed our homemade yogurt and bread while away so last night I made yogurt and it was ready this morning for breakfast and I made bread after breakfast and it is just out of the oven and the whole house smells like fresh bread. There are two loaves, one is wholegrain and the other is the same dough with honey, almonds and cinnamon. The taste test proved it is delicious.

We spent the last ten days driving through Victoria. Australia is a great place we drove from the beautiful Great Ocean Rd beaches to the hills around Beechworth to the flat of Yarrawonga and Mulawala and along the Murray River and then home through the middle via Bendigo and Horsham. The sky was so beautiful yesterday and the clouds were amazing. I love clouds.

Have you ever noticed how many storage places there are now. We have become a race of hoarders. We are more affluent than ever yet for many our level of health and life expectancy is lower and the food many eat is of poorer nutritional value. Stress and depression is an epidemic that is killing thousands and the sale of prescription drugs has never been higher. It makes you sit back and wonder what the hell is going on.
Before we went on holidays I sorted through my wardrobe and I now have three garbage bags of clothes that I don't wear any more. They were bound for the op shop. But after thinking on it and walking through the local K-Mart looking for shorts for Greg I might keep them a bit longer and re-fashion some of them. I have the time and the skills to do it so why not. I was inspired by this blog called GrosGrain.
I bought all these clothes because I liked them so refashioning it is. As soon as I get a spare minute of course.

Creating something

2010-11-18T21:23:00.002+10:30

I am on holidays in Mulwalah, it's on the Murray River and a very nice spot. My parents have a time share and got the place for a week and invited Greg and I to join them for a week. We didn't get here until Sunday because we came the long way. We drove through Victoria to Queenscliffe took the ferry to Sorrento and spent a couple of days in Mornington. I did a teddy bear class there and then we drove up here on Sunday. The week is over tomorrow and we are heading for home. I have been stitching Matthews Stole for his ordination as a Uniting Church Minister on December 5th and it is nearly finished. So I have been creating something, I also created the journal cover. I seem to be lacking in inspiration lately and the doing of these things is a good kick start. Anyway here are some thoughts from Permutations in Fibre please go and read the whole post it is very interesting my favorite bit was
" - Create! There is no substitute for actually doing the work and making something (many somethings).
- Make small studies. Working on many small samples at once can help if you get stuck on one piece. Just go on to the next one. These small pieces will teach you so much that can be applied to larger works."
this is from Ruths "Thirteen Rules to becoming a better Artist".
I have so many ideas and so few done I think it is time to shrink things. Smaller will be better

Family favorite - Cat Biscuits

2010-11-09T17:34:00.005+10:30

My husband and kids have a favorite biscuit, Cookies for my American friends. It is a recipe I got from my Mother-in-law a lot of years ago. Greg's family always called them Cat biscuits I am not really sure why and neither are they. In Greg's Mothers cook book they were called Foaming Biscuits.
It is a great recipe, easy to make and keeps really well in an airtight container. It doesn't have any eggs and can be made with any type of flour including almond or coconut. It can be made with margarine or butter (not oil) and changed really easily by adding chocolate chips, chopped nuts or dried fruit or flavorings such as spices or lemon or orange peel. Anything that takes your fancy.
This is the basic recipe it makes a lot. they are nice with some icing drizzled over.

Foaming Biscuits or Cat Biscuits.

4 cups plain flour
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup milk or water
1 teaspoon bi-carb soda (In USA it is called baking soda not baking powder)
1 tablespoon hot water.

Method
1. Put the butter and flour into the food processor or rub the butter into the flour if you don't have a food processor.
2. Put the flour and butter mixture into a bowl. You can't leave it in the food processor trust me.
3. Place the milk and sugar into a pot and heat over a low heat until the sugar melts.
4. Dissolve the bi-carb soda in the hot water and add to the pot of sugar and milk.
5. Quickly pour it into the dry ingredients and mix it until it is smooth. It will look runny but will thicken up and it cools.
6. Either put it into the fridge in the bowl or once it has cooled roll it into logs wrapped in gladwrap. Chill in fridge or freezer until firm. It can be left in the freezer and used over the next month but this is not really required as they keep really well cooked and in an airtight container.
7. Once chilled and firm either roll 1 teaspoon size balls and squash with a fork or roll out and cut into shapes. Or cut the chilled logs into slices.
8. Place on trays that have been greased and floured or on trays lined with baking paper. Bake at 180 degrees C until golden. about 10 - 15 minutes.

For flavoured biscuits
- For chocolate add 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 tablespoons cocoa at step 2 and top with a chocolate button just before cooking. If you want to add chocolate chips do it after the mixture has cooled or the chocolate melts and the biscuit are chewy

- Lemon and Currants - Use lemon juice instead of milk or water in step 3 and add grated lemon rind and 1 cup of currants at step 2. After cooked and cooled ice with lemon icing.

- Orange and almond - Use orange juice instead of water or milk in step 3 and add grated orange rind and 1 cup of chopped almonds at step 2.

- Coconut and Jam - At step 1 use only 3 and 1/2 cups of flour and add 1 cup dessicated coconut. At step 7 roll the chilled mixture into golf ball size balls and squash down a bit. Make a hole with the handle of a wooden spoon and put 1/2 teapsoon of your favorite jam or nutella in the hole and cook.

These are only a few of my favorite flavour combinations the sky is the limit.

Craft and quilt Fair

2010-11-08T19:45:00.004+10:30

Well two posts in one day. Over the weekend was the Adelaide spending Spree. I mean the Adelaide Quilt and Craft Fair.
My favorite shop wasn't there and I haven't used the stuff I bought last year. I did manage to buy a few things.
I bought a flower stitcher and a curve master foot from Punch with Judy.

I also got some really unusual silk cocoons and the two balls of fibre, these are cotton and came with the pattern from Dairing
I could have spent a lot more but GOT A GRIP.
I bought three pieces of prefelt and did a journal cover class with Wendy Bailye

I did a fabric manipulating workshop with Sharyn Hall
and bought an embellishment pack in beautiful blues. A henna tattoo stencil and a monoprinting kit. and the green brooch in the photo if you can see it. I bought some folding scissors from the scissorman and five packets of hot fix crystals. They were 300 in a packet for $5 and you got 5 for $20 what could I do. I might need them, they were really cheap and my best reason was I wanted them.

You wouldn't believe how much money I didn't spend. I resisted the quilting machine with the biggest throat you ever saw and it's own quilt roller set up. I also didn't buy a fabric cutting thingey and I resisted thousands of balls of wool and millions of meters of fabric.

Doughnuts

2010-11-08T19:10:00.003+10:30

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.
I had good intentions of getting this done in time but life keeps getting in the way. We are supposed to use the recipe provided but time and my pantry got in the way.
We went out for lunch and pigged out on beautiful seafood and then were still full at dinner time.
Now I knew that we needed at least something or we'd be awake at midnight with grumbling tummies so I thought AHAH doughnuts I have to make them so I looked up the recipes and didn't have the time or most of the ingredients so I used a tried and true recipe.

Doughnuts can be quite simple to make and really don’t require a lot of special equipment. However there are a large number of varieties and many cultures have some version of a tasty fried dough such as beignets, crullers, fritters, Sufganiot, and krapfen, just to name a few.
Doughnuts generally fall into two categories: yeast and cake. Yeast doughnuts take a little longer as naturally one has to allow for rising time, but they create a lovely, fluffy and airy doughnut. Cake doughnuts are also popular and the batter allows for many different variations.
Some people may be a little timid of deep frying. Don’t. The most important thing is to be sure that you have everything at hand and are ready to go. Preparation is key when making doughnuts. It is important the oil be the correct temperature so that your doughnut is nice and crispy on the outside. If the oil is not hot enough, your end product will be too greasy. If too hot, they’ll cook too quickly on the outside and you may have an uncooked doughy centre.

Nancy Silverton's Buttermilk Cake Doughnuts
Cake doughnuts are different from yeast-raised doughnuts in that they get their lift from baking soda and baking powder. Here, Nancy has used a bit of yeast for just a little extra rise. But don't worry, these still have the soft, moist interior you associate with the best cake doughnuts.
OLD-FASHIONED BUTTERMILK CAKE DOUGHNUTS
Ingredients
serves 15 doughnuts and holes
• 1/4 crème fraîche or sour cream
• 3 1/4 cups unbleached pastry flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon (0.3 ounce) packed fresh yeast or 1 1/8 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
• 1 extra-large egg
• 2 extra-large egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• For decorating
• 1/2 cup nonmelting icing sugar or powdered sugar
Procedures
1.
In a small stainless-steel bowl set over a pot of gently simmering water, heat the crème fraîche until just warm.
2.Heat the oil to 375°F.
3.Over a large mixing bowl, sift to combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg; make a large well in the center. Place the yeast in the well; pour the crème fraîche over it. Allow it to soften, about 1 minute.
4.Pour the buttermilk, whole egg, egg yolks, and vanilla extract into the well; whisk together the liquid ingredients. Using one hand, gradually draw in the dry ingredients. The mixture should be fairly smooth before you draw in more flour. Mix until it is completely incorporated and forms a very sticky dough. Wash and dry your hands and dust them with flour.
5.Sift an even layer of flour onto a work surface. Scrape dough out of bowl onto the surface; sift another layer of flour over dough. Working quickly, pat dough into an even 1/2-inch thickness. Dip cutter in flour and, cutting as closely together as possible, cut out the doughnuts and holes. Place holes and doughnuts on a floured surface. Working quickly, gather scraps of dough together, pat into 1/2-inch thickness, and cut out remaining doughnuts and holes.
6.Fry doughnuts and holes immediately according to these instructions.
7. Sift a layer of nonmelting icing sugar or powdered sugar over doughnuts and holes.

My version of Cake doughnuts.
2 cups self raising flour
½ cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbs. oil - sunflower
1/4 to 1/2 cup milk (don't add it all at once you might not need it all)
1 egg, beaten

Method
Heat oil. Heat about 1 – 2 inches oil in a large skillet over medium heat, or heat 2-3 inches of oil in a large Dutch oven. The oil needs to register 170˚C before you begin frying. Use a candy thermometer or an electric thermometer that can be attached to the pan to measure temperature while frying. Oil must stay hot to keep donuts from getting too greasy.
Heat oil in Dutch oven. Use a wire rack over a sheet pan for draining the oil off the donuts.
Make dough. While oil heats, combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and cinnamon in a mixing bowl. Add butter or margarine and beat until combined. Then add milk and egg until combined.
Shape and fry. Roll the dough out on a floured surface. You want the dough to be about ½-in. to 1-in. thick. Using a glass or scone cutter, cut out circles. Then, using a shot glass or similar small glass, cut out holes in the center of each circle. I went to the kitchen shop and bought a donut cutter.
Fry donuts about 3 minutes per side, until golden brown. Be careful to not overcrowd the skillet. The holes will fry up in about 2 minutes. Drain on wire metal rack on a sheet pan lined with paper towels.

This is a lovely recipe but don't make it too sloppy. You have to cut them one at a time and put them straight into the oil or they soften up and end up mishappen.
We ate them anyway. We drizzled them with real maple syrup and cream.

November

2010-11-01T22:11:00.002+10:30

How can it be November already??? I thought we were still in well an earlier part of the year. It has been a busy year and now the granddaughters are counting down to Santa. No 1 GDaughter has had her ears peirced recently and wants diamond earrings... Yes she takes after her mother and No 2 granddaughter wants a purple My Little Pony to go with the blue one and the pink one. The purple one has wings which makes all the difference. We are off on holiday again soon and then back to a change of workplace for me and No 1 Son is being ordained as a Uniting Church Minister. So still lots to do. I have planned and started on a stole for him to wear. Actually I planned and started it in April as I didn't want to leave it until the last minute but I haven't gotten very far. Oh well I will finish it don't worry.

Laughter and Other Stuff

2010-10-29T21:02:00.002+10:30

It is a proven fact that laughter is very good for you. I haven't been laughing a lot lately. I finished the Blue thing and delivered it today it was not a lughing matter. I had the grand plan in my mind and spent hours stitching it and it looked awful so I spent more hours pulling stuff off. so I worked like a maniac to get it done and then made Greg stay up past his bed time and help me get it in the frame. It looked great so I delivered it to the Guild this morning and forgot to photograph the finished piece. Darn.
Work sucks No 2 granddaughter explained to me that"Nobody has fun at work" that made me laugh but this blog made me laugh a lot. If you want a laugh go to Hyperbole and a Half
Remember Laughter is the best medicine.

Blue on Blue on Blue

2010-10-13T20:24:00.005+10:30

I had great plans for the blue thing and it changed. I just couldn't get it right and spent a bucket of money on stuff I am not going to use for this project now. I will use them though just on something else.
So I have done more stitching, blinged it up and placed the feather for the quill. I hope it looks like a bottle of ink. I was going to put some poetry on there but i didn't like it so I took it off and just put Blue in different size script Greg suggested I add the 'ons'. I like it. Still a long way to go though.

This little stitched landscape is about A5 size. It is a class I did with Glenys Leske at the embroiderers guild. I love it. So much fun and finished in the two days of the workshop. I loved the layering technique and Glenys was a fantastic teacher.

Bits of Blue

2010-10-07T19:01:00.004+10:30

I am still working on the blue thing. I do admit I am having fun. I really enjoyed the Alice Gove workshop a few years ago and this is sort of nearly not quite similar. Except of course it is done in shades of blue. You will notice a little purple and green but look at the colour wheel and you'll see they are shades of blue too. There is more to go on this piece but I have given up on the shopping moratorium again and ordered some little bits and pieces from Essential Textile Art. I went to Adelaide today to the Embrioderers Guild and as I had to go to Troys to drop off somethings for him I went to Carolyn's Embroidery Shop. It was right on the way and of course I also caved in and bought more threads. Yes of course I needed them.

What's that photo?

2010-09-25T13:36:00.003+09:30

What is that photo? Well it is a photo of our beautiful newest grandchild. Matt and Kristen are expecting a baby in April. We are so excited. They said they don't want to find out boy or girl but I am hoping they change their minds. We don't care either way but it makes it easier to buy and make gifts for the newest little Stuart.

Textile-Something Blue and an easy to make top

2010-09-19T13:18:00.005+09:30

I'm stitching now on the blue thing well actually a section of the blue thing. One of the elements I will be adding. I have lots of mixes of threads with shades of blue so I am going to pick and choose from amongst those.
I have also cruised the net abit and found this easy to make top on No matter where I go I always meet myself
I really like the look of it so I am going to make one too.I have heaps of fabric so I just need to get on with it.

resting

2010-09-18T16:56:00.003+09:30

I am supposed to be resting. I had my hair cut the other day. the lady next to me was getting some smelly horrible looking stuff gooed onto her hair. In the end I had to tell the hairdresser to stop and flee the place before I threw up. Luckily she was close enough to finished it didn't matter. I felt marginally better once I got out into the fresh air.
But by 7.30 i was having chest pains, couldn't breathe and Greg rang an ambulance. I had an irregular heat beat and they carted me off to hospital after giving me some magic spray. Where I had a whole lot of tests more spray and finally sent home after two days with the news I did not have a heart problem and it may have been a reaction to the chemical stuff in the hair dressers. so I am just stitching on the blue thing adn cruising the web. Oh and I made a batch of biscuits for No 2 son. No eggs no dairy and gluten reduced flour. but the are yummy.
Here's a quote I found somewhere or other.

'Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too selfish to seek other than itself." Quoting the poet, Khalil Gibran,

Daring Cooks -- Food Preservation

2010-09-15T09:33:00.003+09:30

The September 2010 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by John of Eat4Fun. John chose to challenge The Daring Cooks to learn about food preservation, mainly in the form of canning and freezing. He challenged everyone to make a recipe and preserve it. John’s source for food preservation information was from The National Center for Home Food Preservation.
I have to say Thanks for a challenge that really is close to my heart. I day dream about living the country life - Self sufficient but still just a day dream. It is early spring here in Australia and we are just seeing the first of the new season apples. There's some citrus around but not a lot of other local fruit. I did do some of the tomatoes, the only ones available are hot house and still really expensive. Husband and I ate all the batch I made before we could put preserve them.

I made the apple butter. It didn’t need any sugar I used local granny smiths and royal galas and it was lovely. I haven’t made apple butter before.

In Australia we call fruit butters fruit paste e.g Quince paste, we also have pastes/butter made from lots of fruits including wine grapes. Our government in its wisdom some years ago paid farmers to pull up fruit trees and plant red wine grapes so now a lot of them have huge amounts of red wine grapes they can’t give away and fruit from trees is dearer.
I have made quince butter/paste but not for a while. I used to sell jams, chutneys and pickles at our local fruit and veggie shop which closed when a big supermarket opened up near us, I still make them for my family. the recipe below lists artificial sweetners as an option. I didn't put any sugar/sweetner in at all but if I was going to I would use either sugar or xylitol. If you want to use xylitol add it after the cooking process is finished but very quickly after turning off the heat then stir it in until it dissolves.
Apple Butter
Preparing Apples: 10 Minutes (if you leave the skin on)
20 Minutes if you peel and core apples
Cooking: 20-30 Minutes to soften apples for mashing + 2 hours to make Apple Butter.
Boiling Water Canner: 40 Minutes
Recipes: Reduced Sugar Apple Butter Recipe
My preference is to use sweet apples (Golden Delicious) so the need for sugar is reduced. However, tart apples (Granny Smith) can be used. It’s a matter of personal preference.

Recipe: Reduced Sugar Apple Butter
Ingredient U.S. Metric Count Special Instructions
Apples 4lbs* 1.8 kg 12 Apples Cut into eights, peeled, stem and blossome end removed
Apple Cider 1 Cup 240 ml
Optional: Water or Juice
Sucralose/Splenda 1/2 Cup 120 ml
Optional: Honey, Agave or Sugar - to taste
Cinnamon, Ground 1 Tbl 15 ml

Allspice, Ground 1/2 tsp 3 ml

Cloves, Ground 1/4 tsp 2 ml

Golden Delicious and Gala
Gala and Golden Delicious Apples

Directions:
1. Wash apples well and remove stems. Cut apples into quarters or eighths and remove cores.

Note: I ended up peeling the apple at this step.
Cornig Apple

2. Combine unpeeled apples and cider in 8-quart (about 7 ½ litre) saucepan. Cook slowly and stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Cook until apples are very soft (falling apart).
Peeled and Cored

3. Position a food mill or strainer securely over a large bowl. Press cooked apples with cider through the food mill or strainer to make a pulp. Be sure to collect all the pulp that comes through the food mill or strainer; for example, scrape any pulp clinging under the food mill into the bowl.

Note: Since the apples were peeled, I just mashed in the pot.
Mashed

4. Combine pulp with Sucralose and spices in an 8-quart (about 7 ½ litre) saucepan. Simmer over low heat, stirring frequently.

Note: A stick blender was used to mix the spices and creates a smoother apple butter. Also, when cooking down the apples, you want to leave the lid ajar or use a splatter screen. This will allow for evaporation. Another trick is to support the lid by laying two wooden spoons across the top of the pot.
Stick Blend
Splatter Screen
5. To test for doneness, spoon a small quantity onto a clean plate; when the butter mounds on the plate without liquid separating around the edge of the butter, it is ready for processing. Another way to test for doneness is to remove a spoonful of the cooked butter on a spoon and hold it away from steam for 2 minutes. It is done if the butter remains mounded on the spoon.

In the photo is Apricot, orange and passionfruit butter, quince, plum and berry jam, quince apple and lemon jam, blood orange marmalade, tomato chutney (It was going to be sauce but I couldn’t be bothered with all the sieving etc so it stayed chutney) there are also bottled apricots and plums from our garden. I know it is not the recommended way to bottle fruit but what I do is cook the halved apricots, peaches or plums in water without any sugar added (although you can add it if you can’t live without) while it is cooking I heat washed jars in my oven at about 200° – 230° F for ten minutes or so. When the fruit is just cooked I put it into the hot jars (You have to be quick) making sure the liquid is level with the top of the jar and there are no large air bubbles. Then I quickly put on the lids and tighten them to firm. As they cool the fruit finishes cooking and the lids vacuum seal. Any that don’t we refrigerate or freeze and eat first. The lids pop in and you can see that they are sealed in the same way as when other types of canning are used. I have some plums that are three years old and they are still alright. I do put stickers on the bottles with the date so we eat the oldest first but a couple of jars ended up behind newer ones and I found them when I was fossicking around cleaning up a bottle of homemade wine we were given that blew its top in the heat last summer.
I have two favourite jam recipes. One is from
http://gourmettraveller.com.au/making-jam.htm
I couldn’t show you a photo. It is late winter here and we ate all that I made last year. I am really looking forward to November when the stone fruit starts. When I made this last year I peeled the citrus rind off with a veggie peeler and then shredded it into about ½ inch long by 1/16 inch strips and then chopped the rest in the food processor. I didn’t have peach liqueur so I used Grand Marnier.
Nectarine, Peach and Orange Blossom Jam
Serves 20
Cooking Time Prep time 20 mins, cook 50 mins (plus standing)

5 each firm, slightly under-ripe peaches and nectarines (about 1.5kg), scored
1 kg white sugar
2 oranges and 1 lemon, rind and flesh finely chopped in a food processor
1 tbsp orange blossom water, or to taste
50 ml peach or orange liqueur (optional)

1 Blanch peaches until skins split (30-40 seconds), refresh. Peel.
2 Combine sugar, oranges and lemon in a non-reactive bowl. Break peaches and nectarines into chunks over the bowl to catch juices, add to orange mixture. Stir, cover, refrigerate overnight.
3 Transfer peach mixture to a wide saucepan, bring to the boil over medium-high heat and stir frequently until mixtures forms a gel on the back of a wooden spoon and fruit breaks down (40-50 minutes). While jam is cooking, place a few saucers in the freezer.
4 To test setting point, remove jam from heat and spoon some onto a cold saucer. Return to freezer for 30 seconds, then push with your finger. If it wrinkles, it’s ready. If not, cook another few minutes, test again. Add orange blossom water or liqueur if using and stir.
5 Ladle hot jam into warm sterilised jars and wipe clean with a hot, damp cloth. Remove any air bubbles by running a hot metal skewer down sides of jars. Place a round of waxed paper on top of jam, seal, and cool completely. Jam will keep, refrigerated, for up to 3 months.

Note White and yellow peaches work equally well here I used yellow. You’ll need to begin this recipe one day ahead. This recipe makes about 1 litre.

The other is my own recipe done through a process of trial and error, it has never failed for me but I do make sure I use fruit that is not over-ripe, very fresh and citrus that is un-waxed.
Peta’s No Fail Marmalade
1 part citrus of choice (a mixture is nice) to 1 ½ Parts sugar e.g 1 pound or kilogram of fruit to 1 ½ pounds or 1.5 kilograms of sugar.
Put the cold sugar (No need to heat it) in a non-reactive container/pot/bowl. Slice dice or whatever the fruit – My preferred method is to peel off the rind with as little pith as possible with a vegetable peeler and then slice it finely so you get shreds of peel and then chop the rest in my food processor. Pour the fruit over the sugar with enough water so it is slushy and all the sugar is wet when you stir it. Cover and put into the refrigerator overnight. Stir it occasionally you want the sugar to dissolve.
Next day put into a heavy bottomed pan (You don’t want it to deep, it needs room to bubble up) bring to a rolling boil and then reduce to gently boil, stir regularly. Cook for one hour or until it is thick and looks cooked. When you drop a spoonful onto a cold saucer or plate you should have no excess watery looking liquid around the outside and when you run your finger or something through it the jam should stay separated.
Bottle in hot sterilized jars, I wash my jars and then heat them in a 230°F oven for ten to fifteen minutes. As they cool the tops should vacuum seal.
My best sellers were
1. Lemon and Ginger – I would add about ¼ cup of glace ginger and a tablespoon of crushed fresh ginger to 5 pounds of really fresh not too ripe lemons.
2. Brandied Mandarin or Orange – Bit fiddly as this is best if you remove the pith from the sections of mandarin not the peel. Brandy to taste. The flavour of the brandy does develop so go easy. I would add the brandy after the jam was cooked just before bottling.

Thanks for the challenge John, I am going to make more when the spring/summer vegies and fruit are in larger supply.

Chocolate who's got the Chocolate

2010-09-14T18:11:00.004+09:30

Chocolate.... Yes I know the diet, healthy eating blah blah blah... sometimes you just have to jump off the diet wagon and run screaming for the chocolate. My friend Jenny is deserting us for the sunny climate of Port Lincoln... seafood, close to the ocean, change of pace and a change of style you know the song. Anyway, Saturday night is a going away for her and we are all taking a little something to eat so I said to Jenny 'what would you like'and she of course said 'oh anything chocolate'. As I have a bit of a reputation for wowing them with food I thought of a few things. I am thinking chocolate mousse. I am going to go looking for disposable plastic glasses and put it in that. Or I might make mud cake....I might make both.
David Lebovitz shared a great chocolate mousse recipe on his blog, the following are his words on the subject not mine.

Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Knopf) by Julia Child.

I tried to reduce the amount of butter in the recipe and found it wasn’t nearly as good. Since I’m not one to argue with Julia, I stuck close to the recipe tweaking it just slightly.

6 ounces (170g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
6 ounces (170g) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup (60ml) dark-brewed coffee
4 large eggs, separated
2/3 cup (170g), plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons (30ml) dark rum
1 tablespoon (15ml) water
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Heat a saucepan one-third full with hot water, and in a bowl set on top, melt together the chocolate, butter and coffee, stirring over the barely simmering water, until smooth. Remove from heat.

2. Fill a large bowl with ice water and set aside.

3. In a bowl large enough to nest securely on the saucepan of simmering water, whisk the yolks of the eggs with the 2/3 cup of sugar, rum, and water for about 3 minutes until the mixture is thick, like runny mayonnaise. (You can also use a handheld electric mixer.)

3. Remove from heat and place the bowl of whipped egg yolks within the bowl of ice water and beat until cool and thick, as shown in the photo above. Then fold the chocolate mixture into the egg yolks.

4. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the salt until frothy. Continue to beat until they start to hold their shape. Whip in the tablespoon of sugar and continue to beat until thick and shiny, but not completely stiff, then the vanilla.

5. Fold one-third of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the remainder of the whites just until incorporated, but don’t overdo it or the mousse will lose volume.

6. Transfer the mousse to a serving bowl or divide into serving dishes, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, until firm.

Serving: I like to serve the chocolate mousse as it is, maybe with just a small dollop of whipped cream; it neither needs, nor wants, much adornment.

Storage: The mousse au chocolat can be refrigerated for up to 4 days.

Food - Friands

2010-09-10T15:22:00.008+09:30

As we are currently seeking a healthier diet we aren’t eating as many sweet things as we have in the past. I am a big fan of nuts and when we go out I will often have a friand. My favourite bakery on Glen Osmond Road – Jenny’s, does lovely friands.
I have been thinking for a while I should make some of those and this morning I dropped into the kitchen ware shop to see if they have received the crepe pan I ordered and also looking at cookie cutters because you can never have enough cookie cutters.

As I wandered the shop (HillBilly’s at Mt Barker), a bit like a junky looking for a fix there, on the shelf was a friand pan. Right next to that was a packet of paper linings for them. Well what could I do I had to have them. Then home again for a sleep (I am on midnight to eights this week). After my sleep I had to find a recipe for friands (In French Financiers) so I did what any modern girl would do and turned on the computer and cruised the net. I found a great recipe on Taste.com.au for Lemon Curd Friands with Blueberries

These are made with just the egg whites and I hate to waste anything so I wanted to use the whole egg.

Joy of Baking.com said Financiers (pronounced fee-nahng-syehr) are lovely French tea cakes that also go by the name Friands, which aptly means "dainty" or "tasty". Take a bite and you will be rewarded with the delicious flavor of caramelized butter and toasted almonds. Dorie Greenspan in her book Paris Sweets tells us that Financiers were first made in the late 19th century by a pastry chef whose shop was close to the Paris Stock Exchange. The location of his shop must have been influenced him as originally Financiers were baked in rectangular molds that were said to resemble bars of gold. Today you will find them baked in many shapes, including boat shaped tart molds, or even in small muffin tins.

There were a lot of other recipes from simple to complex and I really like easy so I came up with a mixture and did a taste test and here we are.

Friands
150grams butter or (weighed 150 g oil sunflower, macadamia, walnut)
50 grams gluten-free or ordinary plain flour
5 grams baking powder
5 tablespoons stevia or xylitol or 3/4 cup sugar (white or brown) or 1/4 cup maple syrup, honey or golden syrup
185g almond meal or any nut meal
3 eggs
Flavour options - see the notes I have given a range of options below remember though the possibilities are unlimited.

I made almond meal, blueberies,vanilla and cinnamon.

Method
- You’ll need a 12 hole Friand or ½ cup muffin tray, lightly greased or lined with papers.

- Mix appropriate nut meal, sweetener or sugar, flour and flavouring (see notes at the end)

- In a bowl, beat the eggs until very frothy. I find the more you whisk, the lighter the end result. You can mix it until it looks like yellow meringue if you want too.

- Add to the flour mixture and fold in to combine. Stir in melted butter and flavour options

- Spoon the mix into the trays.

- Bake until golden. This can take anywhere from 15 minutes in a fan forced oven to 40 in a not so great oven. Touch the top gently when you think they are cooked and if you get a sticky bit then they aren't quite done just stick them back in the oven for another minute or two.
- Cool in the trays 10 minutes then take them out of the tins and place on cooling rack.
Hints
If you use honey or golden syrup instead of sugar melt it with the butter.
An ice cream scoop is handy to make each one even.
I like the consistency to be like a cake batter. I scoop up a big spoonful and hold it sideways over the bowl and if it holds for a second and then falls back into the bowl with some of it still on the spoon that is good. If the mixture looks is too wet to do this add a bit more nut meal or flour. Too dry add a tablespoon of water at a time and mix it through.

Flavour Variations
Oh the variety you can find on the net.

One of the traditional ways to make Friands/Financiers is with Buerre Noisette or brown butter Put 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter has melted let it come to a boil, swirling the pan occasionally. As it boils you will notice that a foam will appear on the butter's surface. Continue to cook the butter until it looks clear and the milk solids have dropped to the bottom of the pan and have turned deep brown. Remove from heat and immediately pour through a cheesecloth-lined strainer. I don’t worry about straining out the little brown bits I think they add to the flavour. Make sure you don’t burn them black they should just be dark brown. Let cool to room temperature.

Chocolate - 1 heaped tablespoon of good cocoa reduce the flour by an equal amount.
½ Grated chocolate or substitute half the butter for melted chocolate. If you add melted chocolate add it with the butter. Hazelnut meal substituted for the almond is really great. You can drop a smidge of nutella (chocolate/hazelnut spread) and a whole hazelnut on top for real decadence.

Peanut butter – Substitute ½ cup crunchy peanut butter for ½ cup butter. Sprinkle peanuts on the top. You might need to cover with some foil if the peanuts look like they are going to burn.

Citrus - Grated Zest of 1 citrus – lemon, lime or orange. Lemon and currants is a particularly good flavour combination. I like to soak the currants in a little hot water for a while but it isn’t a necessity.

Spice options - ½ - 1 teaspoon depending on the spice. You will probably need only ½ teaspoon of Ground cloves.

Fruit – 100 grams berries or fruit of choice. Fruit should be chopped to about the size of a blueberry. You can use any fruit,cooked or uncooked, glace dried or fresh. Pear and ginger is a winner. If you use dried fruit they can be soaked in hot water, a liquer or fruit juice.

Jam - add ¼ - ½ teaspoon on top of each friand prior to cooking. Marmalade, lemon curd or any type of jam is fine. In the cafes it is always a smooth jam but there’s no reason not to use one with chunks of fruit. After filling the tins just spoon a little jam onto the top.

I hope you enjoy the friands as much as I do. Let me know if you make them I’d love to see your results.

Chocolate and Zuchinni

2010-09-09T08:58:00.004+09:30

I know it is a bit late but if you would like a lovely desktop background of the foodie persuasion the go to the web site Chocolate and Zuchinni
Clotilde has a great blog about cooking in Paris. I have her book too love it.

Textile - Something Blue

2010-09-08T15:59:00.004+09:30

Something Blue is how I am referring to the new project. I painted another coat of Prussian blue onto the board just a cheapie from the junk shop. After I had slapped on the paint I took some off with scrunched up gladwrap

It looked like water and I thought hmmmm a sea scene would work. But then I thought about coral and seaweed and I would really want lots of colour for that so that ideas on the back burner for now.

I ironed the canvas and hessian and layered them on top of the canvas.

I went to Spotlight the other day for some calico and spotted a lovely blue feather that I had to buy because even though I have a bit of a moratorium on buying more stuff I didn't have a lovely feather like this one so I ...... yeah I'll stop with the blather I saw, I wanted it, I bought it.

No excuses,stuff the moratorium on buying things.

The calico didn't have a price and I tried to tell the girl I thought it was the $6 one and she insisted it was the $2 one and my self control stopped me buying the whole roll I just bought 2 meters instead of the 1/2 meter I went in for so yay for self control.

So I put the fish idea on hold and got out the feather and thought ' A quill'.
So then I thought pen and ink... I needed a bottle...I cruised through a few image sites and then thought 'A real bottle would be good'.

I didn't have a blue bottle of any size but just as I was about to pour out some food colouring because the bottle was right I remembered some essential oil in the cupboard in the bathroom. I looked at the bottle some months ago and opened it and it wasn't smelling too good so I put it back in the medicine cupboard. As we do... So I put the food colouring back in the pantry and here it is all washed and the label peeled off well scrapped off with some silent swearing and my thumbnail, you'd have thought that the washing would have taken the blue paint tinge off my nail and from under it which is what happens when you paint fabric etc without gloves.

It is just sitting on the canvas for now nothing stitched I am still planning and auditioning stuff.
More to come soon.

Textiles - A new project and the cupboard

2010-09-07T19:11:00.007+09:30

Ah I found my inspiration. I knew it was here somewhere..... tidying up the studio obviously meant I had put it somewhere safe. So enough of this light hearted frivolity...
for some time I have wanted a display cupboard on the wall at the end of our entry way and it is finished. Greg did most of it while I was away in Mt Gambier so it is not exactly as I wanted it but it is close enough and I shouldn't be so damn fussy. He has done a beautiful job as you can see. The cupboard is 3.5 x 2.1 high

I had some of this canvas stuff that I bought when our local wool and embroidery shop closed up after a chain store opened.

I need to do a blue piece for my part of an exhibition for the SA Embroiderers Guild and I need to get my finger out and start it and whats more finish it bfore the end of October.
So I dug into the studio and pulled out some hessian, the canvas and some blue paint and tah dah ...

I have a plan that is based in Zentangling so now I just have to see if it works...

Tangle Patterns-Rosewood

2010-09-03T21:40:00.001+09:30

My Tangle Patterns-Rosewood, originally uploaded by molossus, whose Life Imitates Doodles.

This is a tangle pattern from Life Imitates Doodles on Flickr this is a great place to look for patterns

Zentangles

2010-09-03T21:06:00.002+09:30

Zentangle is the term for doodling gone mad.
If you want some more info then go to Quilting Arts and you can download a free article. There are lots of sites
Beez in the Belfry

Life Imitates doodle
Perhaps this is my inspiration.... In fact I am sure.

Last Day of Winter

2010-08-31T22:30:00.003+09:30

Here is the last day of winter. It rained, the wind blew straight off the South Pole and the Sun didn't make an appearance at all. Lucky us. Our water catchments are nearly at 80% the fullest they've been for years. Tomorrow Spring will sprung, the grass will riz and the little birds are busy making more little birds. Perhaps a new season is a time for a new burst of enthusiasm.... I'll let you know

Daring Bakers August Challenge

2010-08-29T13:45:00.009+09:30

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alasa or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

Each month there is a challenge with recipes and you are supposed to make that.
Recipe Source: The brown butter pound cake recipe is adapted from the October 2009 edition of Gourmet (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Brown-Butter-Pound-Cake-355435). The vanilla ice cream is from ice cream genius David Lebovitz (http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2009/02/vanilla_ice_cream.html), adapted from The Perfect Scoop. The chocolate glaze for the petit fours is a larger adapted version of this ganache from Godiva Chocolate (http://www.godiva.com/recipes/recipe.aspx?id=482) and the meringue for the Baked Alaska is a larger version of this meringue from Gourmet, May 1995 (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Lemon-Meringue-Pie-10149).
I made the cake and the glaze to the recipes provided.
OK I didn't make vanilla ice cream I made caramel the vanilla recipe would have been easier but since when do I let that affect what I am doing. I can't call it Salted Caramel Icecream because I didn't put the salt in Greg is not a salt lover and I did make the ice cream for him. Currently the ice cream is churning the cake is cooling...Cake you ask yes, brown butter pound cake recipe courtesy of The Daring Bakers website.
So I websurfed my way through three caramel icecream recipes and came up with this mixture. My cream was only 23% not the 34% recommended in the recipes so I substituted a cup of cream for the milk. Erin's recipe didn't have butter but Cindy and Davids did so I put in 100 grams of butter.

Peta's Caramel Ice Cream
1 cup sugar
100 grams butter - chopped into small bits.
3 cups cream - seperated into 1 cup and 2 cups
3 eggs
1/4 cup caster sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Firstly read the recipe through now this is not a read a bit do a bit recipe.

Put the sugar into a thick bottomed pan and place over low heat. Don't plan to go anywhere. You have to be right there not looking at the recipe (Like I did).
You need a fork to stir the sugar with as it toffees it doesn't matter if you get crystals this is for the sauce so don't panic. Stand there and watch it melt and give it a bit of a stir.
Let it colour until you can see a slight haze, it should be dark like it is about to burn. Take it off the heat and quickly stir in the butter and 1 cup of cream. Stir like mad and put it back on the low heat until it melts together nicely. Pour into a metal bowl and sit it in a sink of cold water (NO ice you are only cooling it.
Next I put the eggs and 1/4 cup caster sugar in the bowl of my mixer and beat them together. I also put the two cups of cream in the pot I made the caramel in and heated that until it was about to boil then tipped it slowly into the eggs with the mixer running as slow as I culd get it too.
Then I tipped the egg mixture back into the pot and stirred it like mad over low heat until it go to 150 degrees F on my sugar thermometer. Then I strained it back into the mixer bowl and back on low speed.
Next add the vanilla and then I slowly added the caramel mixture and let it whisk for a couple of minutes.

I strained all that into a metal bowl and sat it in the sink of cold water until it cooled and then I put it in the freezer until it was really cold. I did stir it a few times and Greg did a couple of taste tests to make sure it was alright...I think he likes it.
Then into the ice-cream churn, this was my first use of my new toy and I think next time I will let the mixture get colder and I am storing the bowl part in the freezer as I don't think it was cold enough the instructions said to put it in the freezer for 24 hours and it was barely that. But it had started to freeze when I took it out and put it in a container in the freezer to firm up.

I made cake and ice cream sandwiches and drizzled the chocolate sauce over them. The photos were terrible I must find my tripod.
These recipes were easy to use and tasted great I am really looking forward to tomorrow when the next challenge comes out.

Food - Ice Cream Maker part 2

2010-08-28T20:55:00.003+09:30

Well I did go shopping this morning and on my way to the Farmers Market I stopped at Harvey Norman and browsed through the small appliances section. I nearly bought a rice cooker in a moment of shopping obsession but managed to get a grip on myself in time. I don't need a rice cooker for heavens sake. What I did want was an ice cream churn. The first one I looked at was a thing of beauty.... Own freezing motor, lots of bits and a good brand...and it cost over $330 dollars. Cripes I thought well I thought something else but it is a rude word so I won't bruise your ears with it. Right beside the gold plated one....OK I couldn't really see any gold but it should have been... anyway right beside the expensive one was a much cheaper one. It didn't have a freezer unit you put the bowl section in the freezer and then add the cold liquid to it and put the motor part ontop and mix away.

For under $60.00 it was a much better buy I will only be able to make a Litre at a time so hopefully I won't blow the diet. I am going to make a sugar free sorbet as well for those times when I just have to have something yummy.
I have been directed to another Salted Caramel Ice Cream at Figs Cheese and Lavender (thanks Cindy) and I am going to make it first thing tomorrow. I was going to do it today and put in the refrigerator overnight but I didn't get around to it. I'll show it to you after it is done.

Food - Pierogi and the Daring Kitchen

2010-08-28T18:59:00.009+09:30

The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.

A couple of months ago I joined "The Daring Kitchen" and then went on the diet and drove into the Sunrise to Mount Gambier for months on end and deferred starting until things calmed down a bit.
Greg and I have dubbed Saturday "Anything goes" as far as food is concerned so this seemed the ideal time to throw myself into a Kitchen Challenge. The August Cooks Challenge is Pierogi
what better I thought for my low carb diet than dumplings stuffed with potato and other stuff.
So I thought I would halve the recipe and so I mixed
1 and 1/4 cups of wholemeal flour with half a beaten egg and 1/2 cup of water and a pinch of salt

Then I had to let that sit for at least 20 minutes it was more like half an hour. While it was sitting I cut enough potato for what was supposed to be 3/4 cup of potato and cooked that. I bought a bunch of fresh dill this morning at the Farmers Market in Mount Barker and so I chopped up a couple of tablespoons of that, a small onion finely diced, some fresh cream and butter and mixed that into the cooked potato and mashed it all together.
Then I let it get completely cold (Very important)

After the dough had sat I rolled it out to about 3 mm thick. This is a soft dough and still quite sticky so I needed too have plenty of flour on the mat while rolling it out. I cut it into 10 cm circles, I wet the edges and put a teaspoon of the potato in the center and folded it over and pressed the edges with a fork.

Then I put on a pot of water on let it boil and put the dumplings in. After they floated I let them boil for a few minutes and then pulled them out and drained them. Then I put some lemon infused olive oil and butter in a pan and fried them until they were crispy and golden brown

I drained them on some paper towel while the salmon and the beans I added for a token gesture towards healthy eating.

Topped with some natural yogurt mixed with a bit more dill and lemon juice. Greg gave it a big thumbs up. He doesn't like potato so that was good. Half the recipe gave me 15 large dumplings. We ate most of them and I froze 5 so we can see how they freeze. Everybody else who has made them says they freeze beautifully.

Food - Ice Cream Maker

2010-08-27T20:27:00.002+09:30

I have decided to start giving a warning in the title of each of my blog posts. Food, textiles etc. I looove food as much as textiles so bear with me. I have been lurking around at Daring Bakers and Cooks and as the diet is relaxed now and Greg is getting a bit skinny I am going to make him something special so I am off tomorrow to buy an ice cream churn. I am going to make the Salted Caramel IceCream without the salt most likely as Greg isn't a salt lover. I am thinking a small one is the most useful for us. Also if I make Greg's favorite then he will eat most of it.

Tah Daa

2010-08-25T14:23:00.003+09:30

Tah Daa - Two things of great interest. I have finished the jacket it took a lot longer than I thought but that is mostly because of my Aquarian nature. I haven't decided yet if I need to put some sort of closure on it or not so the jacket is hanging on the dressmakers dummy in the studio while I decide. I haven't quite finished running in the ends but that will come. I have started another in purples and blacks and I am going to run the ends in as I go.
Also It is raining...We live in the driest state in the driest country in the world so real winter rain is a usually a thing of memory. We used to get winter rain but haven't had much to speak of for some years. So this winter has been a real winter. It has rianed for the last week so our tanks are full and the ground is wet. It is cold and miserable outside and unfortunately I have to go to work which means getting out of the recliner and going to work. Darn... But I love the rain so yay for rainy weather, I was moaning not long ago about the lack of rain and now we have lots so thanks God.
This is the view from the window in our family room.

Real Food

2010-08-25T12:25:00.002+09:30

Real food is a hot topic these days. Surely all the additives and preservatives can't be good for us. I am not giving up ice cream or any of those things I love but I am going to make my own. I made coconut icecream (no dairy or added sugar) and the grandkids loved it and so did I. I think I really need an icecream maker. My next venture into the land of icecream is caramel Greg loves caramel icecream and if I make his favorite he will eat most of it. Here's a great sounding recipe for Salted Caramel Ice Cream

The Things We Do or Diet dessert

2010-08-18T19:27:00.007+09:30

The things I have been doing lately are a bit humdrum but they had to be done. Firstly Greg and I pulled all the stuff out of my studio that was on the floor and I have put most of it away/back/somewhere else.

My work table is what Greg feels is a handy place to dump stuff and then he wants to know why I don't use it more.

But I shall tidy that too.
So I have put away/shifted/rearranged until it is starting to look a lot better. I shall show you when I am done.
Other things I have done. I have nearly finished my scumbled jacket just need to crochet some ties for the front. I win there, since I have taught my friends how to scumble they are working on their own and I felt I needed to prove I am not a total slacker and finish mine. It looks nothing like what I had in mind when I embarked on the journey but I like it. I shall show a photo when it is done.
In between work and sticking to the diet I am a busy bee.
The diet is still a success. I stuck to the three weeks of maintenence and I have lost a little bit more which is a big yay for me as I was worried that when I started to eat more I would put it back on.
Tonight Greg had chickpea and vegetable curry with rice and I had the curry with chicken and no rice.

I also made a sort of lemon delicious. I have cut down on dairy and had some coconut cream in the refrigerator which really needed to be used so I made it to be diet friendly and I really wanted something sweet other than fruit so I made this.

Diet Lemon Delicious
3 eggs seperated
2 tablespoons stevia
1 cup reduced fat coconut cream
1/2 cup wholemeal self raising flour
1/3 cup lemon juice and grated rind of 1 lemon

Beat egg yolks with 1 tablespoon sugar until ight and creamy. Beat in coconut cream, flour, lemon juice and rind.
Beat egg whites until stiff and beat in other tablespoon of stevia.
Fold into lemon mixture. Pour into greased 2 liter oven proof bowl and stand in shallow pan of hot water and place into 180 degree Celsius oven and bake for 50 - 60 minutes or until firm and golden. Serve with fat free yogurt or just some fresh passionfruit.

The Diet

2010-08-05T20:28:00.003+09:30

I have had several people ask for more details in regard to "The Diet" I am on. It is a bit of a story, anyway. some months ago I went to my Hormone doctor and she had lost a heap of weight. so as I had become in my own opinion FAT I said "WTFudge diet are you on and why am I not on it?". Turns out she was trialling a diet that is very popular in America and Europe. It is called "The HCG Diet" if you google it there is a lot of information on the WWW.
So what happens is you inject yourself with human growth hormone for 43 days. the first three days you pig out majorly and then go on 550 to 800 calories a day. No sugar, no starchy foods and no fat. Definitely no alcohol, chocolate etc. My doctor then gave me a list of web sites to go and get the info from and told me to have a good think about it and come back with questions. Now it is no use thinking I will cheat a little bit as you just can't. But if you stick to it then a woman can loose up to 15 kilo's in the 6 weeks. Once you loose the 15 kilos you stop the injections and if you need to loose more then you wait 6 weeks and then have another round of injections. I have finished the injections and I lost 14 kilos. After the injection phase you go onto phase 3 which is resetting your body clock so you must eat a certain number of calories a day which you work out using a BMI. You can also use that to work out what you should be eating to maintain your current weight and then reduce that amount by a couple of hundred calories a day to loose weight. I worked out that I should be eating 1550 calories a day and there is no way I was eating that much before. But my doctor told me that my old habit of eating less that I needed but a lot of those calories were starchy food and that is one of the reasons I was getting fatter. In fact when we were in Tasmania I warned Greg that i would be eating whatever I damn well wanted as I had decided to go on the diet when we got home and I lost 3 kilos and I was eating more.
After 3 weeks of phase 3 you go onto phase 4 which is for the rest of your life and you slowly reintroduce all foods but with the starchy foods grains potatoes etc you add in one a week and if you start to put weight on then you know that that is a food you should avoid.
Anyway. the injections are with an insulin needle and don't hurt and the hormone and diet stimulate your body to burn its own fat so you son't get ungry if you gorge properly on the three starting days. I don't know how many doctors know about this but it worked really well for me. Hope this is the info you wanted.

SALA

2010-08-05T19:38:00.004+09:30

It is SALA Festival time here in South Australia, SALA stands for South Australian Living Artists. Lots of groups and artists have exhibitions on and The Embroiderers Guild of South Australia is one of them this year. Now for some shameless self back patting. If you go to the link (just click on Embroiderers Guild of South Australia) and scroll down the page to SALA and look at the card the guild printed for promotion and you shall see the photo on it is the same as the banner above. That photo is of my work. I tried to copy it and reprint it here but couldn't. I am going to go on Saturday and see the exhibition and shall bring a card home and scan it into my computer and I'l post it then.

Healthy Ceaser Salad

2010-08-05T17:31:00.001+09:30

Low fat Ceaser Salad
Wash a baby Cos lettuce and pull it apart.
Cook 150 grams of chicken tenderloins in a cafe grill between bake paper.
Cook 50 grams of fat free bacon.
Skip the fried croutons unless you really want them try crumbling some fat free melba toasts instead.
Mix it all together with half the dressing below.
Favorite salad dressing - 1/4 cup fat free yogurt, juice of 1/2 a big lemon or a whole small one, tablespoon of pesto or the basil in a tube, two anchovies with the oil blotted off (or not), salt and pepper to taste. Mash it all together and if too thick just add a little water to thin it. If you must you can add a couple of drops of Stevia

Stuff

2010-07-31T13:17:00.002+09:30

Well, here it is a rainy miserable Saturday. I was toying with the idea of going to a Radical Craft Afternoon in Adelaide but I am still getting over my flu and it is cold and windy outside so I am sitting in the back room watching it rain which is a rare thing here in Adelaide. I have my laptop a pot of chai(no milk as I have given up dairy well 95% given it up as I am still having cheese and yogurt a bit).
The diet is going well. I have finished with the injections and although my weight has gone up a little I am still down 13 kilos. I have to have a 6 week break and then I am going to do it again I want to loose another 8 that will get me down to the top of the ideal weight range but I think those weight range things are done by anorexic midgets who think everybody should be a walking skeleton.
I have got the scumbled jacket together and I just have the front bands to finish which is a sit in front of the telly and do as it like a blanket and actually toasty warm. I went through my stash of yarns and pulled out all the purples/burgundys/blacks and threw them in a box I think a vest will be just the thing for those. I have a mauve jumper of my mothers that I felted and that will probably go in the mix too. I want a long vest but not sure on the actual design as yet. A crochet hook and a couple of balls of wool fit really well into my work bag though for night shifts and the jacket is too big to take to work now.

Food wonderful food

2010-07-10T20:31:00.003+09:30

I am eating carefully while dieting but there is life after this diet. I have been cruising through the links from Elana's Pantry and here are a few of the ones that appeal to my sweet tooth
White on Rice
Chocolate and Zucchini Check out the yogurt cake an the Rapberry Dacquoise Entremets
Tea and Cookies

Gluten free cooking and an uncooperative jumper

2010-07-10T15:49:00.004+09:30

I have learned so much this week. Including if you try to sew a sleeve on a jumper you may just end up sewing it to the front and then getting it in the right place but inside out, third time really is the charm. Just have One cuff and the bands and it will be finished. I might add a bit onto the front though as I made it longer and now it looks a bit strange.

I have had a full on week. working away from home and having to look after myself is not my favorite way to live but alright for a change of pace. Definitely has been a good thing while on my diet. I only buy what I can eat and Greg is eating up all the food I am giving up while I am away. I still buy him things he likes and I can't eat.

I have a long term interest in Coeliac cookery as for some time we thought No2 son was coeliac but a biopsy confirmed he wasn't however too much wheat is not good for any one so I have kept up my interest. I found this link through one of the facebook groups I belong to. Elana's Pantry is a goldmine of gluten free recipes and info. Including cakes you would think have flour and sugar in each and every crumb.

What am I up too.

2010-07-01T09:51:00.003+09:30

Just to prove I am not obsessed with only my diet (OK I am)It is going really well 7.5 kilos in 16 days. I am aiming for 15 kilos so yay half way there.
I am spending some time in lovely Mount Gambier. It rains here a lot. I am here for work and I am going home on my days off so I haven't had a lot of crafting time.
I really miss Greg not just because I have to take care of myself and this takes up a lot time. I have brought a few projects with me and not done anything on any of them. Today I am starting work at Midday so I got the scumbling out and I am going to stop reading and vegging out and get back to textile work. Here is the jacket so far. Front and back is one piece and then the sleeves which I don't think I have made big enough so I am going to tack them together and see if I have screwed up there. I used the measurements from Crochet Couture by Lily Chin for the Haiko Jacket. I think considering how loose my clothes are getting it will be fine in a few more weeks.

Birthdays, Mount Gambier and such

2010-06-23T07:26:00.003+09:30

My two eldest children are 30 and 28 today and here am I 500 KM's away for work.
I saw them on Sunday night but it isn't the same.
So Mount Gambier is a very nice place beautiful scenery and some interesting looking shops. It is 7.30 am and I sitting in bed with my laptop and book, a cup of tea and the tv on the news. I don't start work until Midday today and really life is pretty good.

What am I up too.

2010-06-17T13:25:00.002+09:30

Life is so busy I have to make time just to think. I have a new computer, I lease my computer and the lease was up so I have a lovely new laptop. The company sent out a nice young man who set it all up for me and loaded everything.
Work is manic, we sadly lost a long time colleague and friend. He was diagnosed with liver cancer last week and passed away on Monday. The funeral is tomorrow so we are closing up, leaving a skelton crew and going to support his wife and young daughter.
Also I am off to Mount Gambier on Monday for at least three weeks so I am getting organised for that.
Saturday and Sunday I have a leather bag workshop.
I have started the Hcg Diet. I had planned to start on Monday but that didn't happen due to issues with getting all the stuff. However by Tuesday I was stocked up and Wednesday I started the injections. My starting weight was 92 kilos (202 lbs). Which was a bit of surprise as I am usually about 95 kilos and had spent Monday anad Tuesday going nuts on KFC and icecream. Stress eater here.
Today I am into the second day of overeating and have probably eaten about as much as I do in a week and about as much fatty food as I would in a month. I can see why it will be so easy to stick to the 500 calories as I may never want to eat ice cream again (in reality not really). I had not given myself an injection before but the Hcg going in is more painful than the needle so that's all fine.
So I have to plan what to take to Mt Gambier as I will be all alone down there out of work hours. I have a cabin at the caravan park so I can cook for myself as eating out on the diet would have been hard it also means I can take whatever I like. I might take my scrumbling and finally finish the jacket. It may be a good time for UFO finishing as I won't be distacted by other things. I will also take my laptop and my winter woolies as baby it's cold down there. Greg might come with me for part of the time which would be good for him as we didn't spend much of our holiday time taking it easy. He can bring his art supplies and spend some time on that. I am going to take at least one art book. My friend Rossi showed me her adventures with Zen Doodling and I am going to explore that. Just what I need another thing.

What am I stitching

2010-06-10T22:08:00.003+09:30

I thought I should show you I am stitching in between work and obsessing about my weight and the new diet. I am stitching the fairy slipper from the December 2007 Stitch magazine. I only making one so far as it is going on my exhibition piece for the SA Embroiderers Guild. This may change without notice though. I couldn't get a photo that did it justice color wise but this gives you a bit of an idea. the back ground wool felt is actually navy blue and I overlay aqua blue throwsters waste. It is stitched with blue silk thread and then flower sequins. I'll show you the finished item soon. Have some work homework to finish first and Monday I start the pigging out portion of the new diet. My favorite coffee icecream with chocolate covered almonds and grand marnier syrup and a little bit of potato with lots of butter and sour cream followed by a huge chocolate mousse.... You get the picture.

To Diet or not to Diet

2010-06-08T14:14:00.002+09:30

I weighed myself this morning and didn't like it. Way heavier than I want to be. I have no self control in regard to food. I love food and it loves me because it always stays around after I eat it. My hormone doctor has recommended that I go on the HCG Diet which supposedly kick starts your metabolism. What do I have to loose (apart form 20 kilos). So I am going to do it. Greg came to the Doctor with me because he had some questions so we are both happy with the research I have done and it is time to bite the bullet and get some self control.
The HCG Diet involves an injection every day and gorging on fatty food for the first three days and then a strict diet for 40 days and then a maintenance diet. It is highly recommended for sugar addicts (Yes that is me) and people who are insulin resistant (also me). I am convinced that if I don't try these injections for the 6 weeks I will be injecting insulin every day.
So we are eating all the crap food around the place so I won't be tempted and then Monday it starts.
I won't have any trouble eating like a pig for three days but the rest of the time eating 500 calories a day could be a struggle. But I am determined to do this so wish me luck and I'll let you know how it goes.

Back to fibre work

2010-06-07T15:48:00.002+09:30

I was supposed to go back to work today but I've got the flu which on top of the headache I had on the weekend was too much so I had a Doctors appointment today with my hormone doctor and she wrote me a sick certificate for two days to get over the dreaded lurgy.
I am going to use this opportunity to rug up and finish the fairy slipper. It will be part of the blue piece I am working on for the Embroiderers Guild Exhibition in August. I thought I had plenty of time but June is here and August will be knocking on my door before I know it.

Great Ocean Road

2010-06-05T20:43:00.003+09:30

We left Melbourne on Wednesday and drove home along the Great Ocean Rd. It was so beautiful. We are going to go back and take more time there were a lot walks and places we were past before we realized. Here is a photo of some of the Twelve Apostles. We are home again and had a great holiday. I thought I would never get Greg to go to Tasmania he enjoyed it so much we are going to go again next year. Later this year we are off to Victoria for a week with my parents. I knew he'd like holidays if I could just get him to take one.

Dukkah

2010-06-04T20:46:00.003+09:30

What is Dukkah that is the question. It is a Middle Eastern nut and spice mix.
It is so delicious and not hard to make

I often buy it but I do like to make it as well. Some people just whack it all into a pan together and that works but I like to get out my big cast iron pan and take some time. I like all the ingredients to be as fresh as I can get them. The starting point is nuts - almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pistachios or any other nut, the choice is up to you. Also a mixture of nuts is very tasty. I would probably not mix hazelnuts with to many other nuts but that is just my personal preference.
To start I will give you my favorite mixture. This is not a process to walk away from.
1/2 cup slivered almonds. Put these into a hot dry pan and stir or toss over heat until they start to brown,tip them out of the pan into a metal bowl. They will keep browning after you take them off the heat so be careful.
1/2 cup sesame seeds and 1 tablespoon pine nuts. Into the same pan toss or stir until they start to color then tip them into the bowl with the nuts.
Next step is the spices I do them all the separately and put them into a separate bowl from the nuts and seeds. They cook at different rates and it is so easy to have burnt bits of spice. Not a good thing
1 heaped tablespoon coriander seeds - toss in the hot pan until you can smell them and they might start to pop.
1 tablespoon cumin seeds - same as the coriander
1 tablespoon black peppercorns - same as the coriander.
1 or 2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 to 1 teaspoon cinnamon or mixed spice - Don't heat these
Toss all the spices with the salt and cinnamon together and allow to cool. Put into a mortar and pound until the mixture is crushed. Or pulse in a food processor to a coarse consistency; do not allow the mixture to become a paste. I like to chop the nuts and seeds with a knife or really carefully pulse in the food processor. It is so easy to end up with a paste. Mix the two together and store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to 1 month.

If you like things a bit more spicy then add some dried chili or substitute some garam masala or a Moroccan spice mix. Also a bit more salt some times is required.

This mixture is really popular here in Australia with bread dipped into oil and vinegar. Olive oil and balsamic vinegar is a good mix and lemon infused olive oil and strawberry balsamic is just excellent.
If you google Dukkah there are literally thousands of recipes and ideas for using it I hope you enjoy it.

My travelling pantry - things we Ate

2010-06-01T15:24:00.005+09:30

While we were in Tasmania we stayed in some great accommodation. Deliberately I booked us into accommodation with kitchens for three reasons
1. Too keep the cost down
2. I like my own cooking.
3. We like to eat a lot of vegetables and this can be in short supply.

So before leaving home I packed up a 50 litre plastic tub with some essentials. I also have a 2 sided cooler bag one that holds two bottles and a bigger one on the other side.
1. stainless steel frypan and steamer - I don't cook in teflon
2. A good knife
3. Roll of foil, gladwrap, bakepaper and a pack of zip lock bags.
4. 250 ml size screw top plastic container of caster sugar.
5. Cocoa
6. Plunger for coffee
7. Tea bags and Coffee grounds caff and decaff.
8. Flour
9. Some cooler bricks and some plastic containers.
To this as we traveled I added the oil, the vinegar, the dukkah and other stuff
So one night we had Fresh Salmon with Almond Dukkah Crust.
If I had been home I wouldn't have used this combination but as we traveled around I just kept buying food stuffs that appealed to me.
So in the traveling pantry I had a bottle of Lemon infused Olive oil, a packet of Almond Dukkah and a bottle of Strawberry Balsamic vinegar. All really delicious on their own but not a combination I would normally use. I just tried it out confident that Greg will eat just about anything.
I had 2 skin on portions of lovely fresh Tasmanian Salmon. In a frying pan I heated the lemon infused olive oil until really hot and put the salmon in skin side UP. Fried until crisp and browned, then turned over and repeated on the skin side with a knob of butter (about 1 tablespoon). Then I mixed a some of the dukkah with some of the olive oil plastered it all over the top and browned it under the grill. After it is cooked put in on a warm plate and drizzle with the Strawberry Balsamic vinegar.
We had it with creamy mash potato with fresh herbs mixed through and steamed broccolini.

The next day with lunch I mixed a little of the oil with the vinegar and we had soem toasted bread dipped in this mixture and then dipped in the leftover dukkah. YUM

I also took my Microwave Cup Cake Recipe I must confess the basic recipe is not mine but the adjustments are

Microwave Cup Cake

6 Tablespoons SR Flour (or 4 Tablespoons flour and 2 cocoa)
4 tablespoons sugar or brown sugar
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 egg
Teaspoon vanilla
Optional 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts, frozen berries or choc chips

Mix egg, milk, vanilla and oil add flour and sugar. Add walnuts berries or choc chips.
Grease 2 coffee mugs divide mixture evenly between mugs. Microwave 3 to 4 minutes on high.
Allow to cool slightly then tip out and eat or eat it straight out of the cup.

Optional –
- Put some cooked apples underneath cake.

- ½ mashed banana through mixture.

- Substitute 1 tablespoon maple syrup for 1 tablespoon milk. Fold through 2 tablespoon chopped pecans.

- Instead of milk use orange or lemon juice and add some grated rind.

- Substitute 1 tablespoon of milk for rum and add 1 tablespoon chopped raisins.

- Grease mug and then cover bottom of cup with teaspoon of your favourite jam. Then put the cake mix on the top.

While at the Salamanca Market I bought some pineapple quinces and cooked those A La Maggie Beer I didn't make it into a pie we just had this with custard.

Back On the Mainland

2010-06-01T11:19:00.003+09:30

Well here we are back on the Mainland. Our last 2 days in Tasmania we left Hamilton and drove down to Geeveston, went to the Tahune Air Walk which Greg did but I only got to the first deck and my fear of heights got the better of me and I went back. We had a leisurely drive back through Cygnet and up the coast. Truly one of the most beautiful parts of the world I have ever seen, to Kingston spent the night.
Monday we drove back to Devonport, had a cuppa with Rossi and Alan and then down to the Ferry.
We caught the ferry back last night it was a lot rougher than when we went over but not unbearable.
We are having a night here in Melbourne with Greg's niece and her family and then home again. We loved Tasmania and we are already planning another trip but I am ready for home and my own bed. We will decide tomorrow if we are going to go along the Great Ocean Road as was our plan or just head for home.

Saturday

2010-05-29T16:49:00.006+09:30

We've had a lazy day. Got up late, had breakfast and then relaxed with a book and some stitching on the fairy shoes. Roused myself enough to throw some lunch together

We ate on the verandah of our cottage, it was a bit overcast but not cold.

I just sat and looked at the view and didn't do much of anything at all for hours.

We've had a walk and are cooking a vegie soup for tea as we can't be bothered going out anywhere. Off to Huonville tomorrow and then Monday back to the ferry and Melbourne on Tuesday Morning.

Hamilton - Curringa Farm Cottages

2010-05-28T17:35:00.005+09:30

We are at Hamilton for 3 nights. Google was not our friend in our trip from Launceston to Hamilton. Google recommended we turn right just past Ross and take the Interlaken Bothwell Road. This turned out to be over 50 km's of dirt tracks that had been laid out by people chasing a goat up hill and down. But we arrived safely (there were a few close calls but oh well). Here's a photo of the outside of our Cottage overlooking Meadowlark Lake and the view from the verandah.

We went back to Russell Falls today, here we are at the Falls.

The temperate rain forest receives 3000 to 4000 mm of rain a year the swamp gums are huge and it was green and wet.

It was raining when we got there but the rain stopped and we had a lovely walk (2 hours) through the rain forest. It was much warmer than the other day. We have been to the Salmon Ponds as well and saw salmon and lots of different types of trout. Very interesting. Tomorrow we are having an easy day no driving around just relaxing.

Cradle Mountain and Launceston

2010-05-26T21:15:00.003+09:30

We started our day at Cradle Mountain. Beautiful, we have my cousin with us so we didn't do any of the long walks. We are going to save that for another time. We went on from there to Sheffield and stopped at a little wood shop on the side of the road. Greg as you can see was like a little kid in a lolly shop I thought I was going to be sitting on wood but I reminded him we still have to go to Huonville. From Sheffield we drove to Deloraine and stopped to see the four beautiful textile murals they have there. Just incredible. Then on to Launceston. We are in Paterson St at another great apartment. There is a needlework shop just around the corner and a really nice looking jumper shop right next door with a wool shop just across the road. Tommorrow I will shop. I didn't get enough of the variegated wool and so I think I might buy some black wool felt and use that with it. Somehow, I have a plan. I just need some black wool felt or fabric and a crochet hook.
Lauren is flying home tomorrow and Greg and I are off to Curringa Farm Cottages for 3 nights then the Huon valley for one night and then back to Devonport to the ferry. We had hoped to catch up with another friend Susie but couldn't get in touch with her. Oh well next time. We are already thinking we will be back next year, November for the Deloraine Craft Fair has been discussed.

Tasmania

2010-05-25T18:54:00.003+09:30

I really love Tasmania. Strahan is beautiful. We had a fantastic trip with World Heritage Cruises up the Gordon River. The scenery was incredible I took about 220 photos. This is my favorite. There was a line of sea mist with the mountains behind. Tonight we are at Cradle Mountain and we are on a tour tomorrow of the Park and then off to Launceston. I wouldn't be surprised if it snows it is bloody freezing we were going to take the torch and go and see if we could spot some of the wildlife but it is raining and cold.

Sunset at Strahan

2010-05-24T19:26:00.005+09:30

We've had another great day, I can't tell you any bad holiday stories in Tasmania yet...Hopefully never.
We left our lovely apartment in Hobart and headed for Russell Falls. When we arrived it was freezing Literally. We were going to walk to the Falls and the staff at the Visitor Centre said they weren't running as they were frozen. We changed our minds.
My eyes are shut so they don't freeze.

We had to stop at Derwent Bridge and see the carved huon pine wall called "The Wall" then lunch at The Hungry Wombat Cafe then down the scariest road in Tasmania and then we saw the only ugly town in Tasmania which is not really it's fault as it is a mining town, Queenstown.

Now we are at Strahan, above is a photo of the sunset complete with clouds.

More Tasmania Stuff - Some fibre stuff at last.

2010-05-23T18:26:00.007+09:30

Continuing with my theme of clouds. The photo above is of The Isle of the Dead at Port Arthur. There are between 1100 and 1700 bodies there. The number depends on who you talk too.
There were killer whales in the bay but we didn't see them.
Well Tasmania is great..I love it. Yesterday we went to the Salamanca Markets. Today we went to the Botanical Gardens to see Pete's Patch. The gardens are beautiful, then we went to Richmond to see the bridge and then to ZooDoo - The Zoo at Richmond to see the white lions,

they also had tigers and lots of other stuff. At Richmond I had to go into Ewenique and got this lovely Tassie wool.

We are staying at a Quest Apartment just outside the CBD here is the lounge room of the apartment.

Tasmania

2010-05-21T20:50:00.008+09:30

We are still having fun... Very important for a holiday. I have a bit of a theme going now with photos with clouds. So here is another one. This is yesterday morning just after sunrise at Diamond Island Resort at Bicheno.

Yesterday we went on the Wineglass Bay Cruise. These are Shags on a Rock.

The most important member of the crew was Rastus the dog.

He got a bit upset when he wasn't allowed to sit on Greg's lap. So he had to settle for getting as close as he could every chance he got.

For a little while I thought we might have to bring him home with us but he was fickle and chose to stay with the boat.

Last night we went on the ghost tour at Port Arthur. The Parsonage is the second most haunted house in Australia. I believe it too. I went into the front room with everybody else but there was no way I would have gone in there alone and I wouldn't have gone into any of the other rooms. I felt like there was someone right behind me. We also went into the Separate Prison which was the solitary confinement area. That wasn't too bad until I distinctly heard a door shut and no one else heard it. We sat down in there and I kept turning around because I could feel someone looking at me and there wasn't anybody there... Yes definitely creepy and great fun.
Today we went back to Port Arthur, we went on a cruise around the harbour. Isle of the Dead and Point Puer. I took 262 photos but I shall not be showing them all to you right now.
We drove over to Hobart after Port Arthur for 3 nights. Tomorrow to the Salamanca Markets for some serious shopping. Caitlin told me that we need to buy holiday presents for everybody. Four years old and already it is all about presents that's my girl.

Grey Stuff and Green Stuff

2010-05-19T19:04:00.005+09:30

For those in South Australia the grey stuff 'Clouds' Green Stuff "Grass. It rains here!!! The locals were really worried, it hadn't rained for a week.
We had a great trip on the ferry it was calm practically flat.
The photos were taken while we were around Stanley. We went there and had lunch... Fresh scallops and flake(Shark) it was beautiful.
Greg found a really nice piece of wood but it was attached to the wall at the Raspberry Farm.

I had raspberry and chocolate french toast and raspberry latte. Greg had pancakes.
My cousin from Sydney is with us now and we are at Bicheno, Wineglass bay tour tomorrow. The resort we are at has a fairy penguin colony and there was one just outside our cottage but I couldn't get the camera in time but I did get a photo of this one when we were at Penguin.

On the Road

2010-05-17T14:35:00.002+09:30

We set off yesterday from Adelaide before dawn. No 1 daughter is house-sitting so we left about 5.30 am.
The sky after dawn was beautiful.

Greg drove yesterday I was cheif navigator. We did have a mystery tour of Williamstown, Newport and the back of the petrol refinery near Altona.... Sounds much nicer than 'bloody lost because the map was in the back of the car and Greg doesn't always know his right from his left'. I was pointing to the right and saying go right here and he went left...
We stayed at a really nice B&B Stephanies
Had dinner last night with Greg's niece and her family.
today Greg's niece took us for a drive around Melbourne and then we had a nice lunch and we are getting ready to go and get on the ferry tonight.
Tasmania here we come.

Dolls

2010-05-09T19:18:00.002+09:30

I get together once a month with some friends and we do lots of talking and a bit of stitching. I am the doll maker of the group. Some of the others have made a doll in the past and after they saw my Lady Dances with Dragonflies and saw Ray Slaters book they decided they all needed the book and that they would like to make a doll. So I made some faces out of paper clay for them and we did the faces 'A La Susie McMahon' Here are the final results - Well Sandy's belly dancer is still a WIP but she will be done. I have started another doll as well that isn't finished yet. Work and Study keep getting in the way.
We are also leaving soon on the Tasmania Trip and the final plans are being finalised. Not long to go yay for holidays

Finished projects 6 to 10

2010-04-24T19:13:00.003+09:30

I am a terrible photographer, mainly because I forget to take them. Today I finished a major work for one on No 2 son's friends to wear to the Medieval Fair in Gumeracha next week. I finished a reversible cloak, a lined velvet tunic, a hat, a collar and an apron (Stone mason style). I'll get No 2 son to ask his friend for a photo of him wearing it all.