super sunday

My new love...



Last year a lovely cousin gave me her mother's sewing machine & overlocker. My Auntie went to heaven couple of years ago & she wanted me to have them because i guess she new i'd use them.

I call the sewing machine the fancy pfaff because it is compared to my $50 janome oppy find from 10yrs ago.

I didn't get to use it straight away because the manual was missing in action. I was getting around to ordering one when out of the blue my Uncle called to say he'd found it... woo hoo.

So, today was the day i finally got to have a go. And suprisingly easy to use ... now i know what all the buttons are for.

I can not tell you how excitied I am about this machine, she is just beautiful and has a lot more control than the janome.

From now on in, sorry Janome, it's going to be Pfaff all the way...

Iv'e been looking for a good time to make this cute drawstring bag from the Meet Me At Mikes craft book. so today was the day. Not sure if i read the instructions wrong but mine turned out quite small, i'd recommend adding 1cm to the entire pattern and go with that. My pocket turned out very small and i had to cut a new pen holder piece with the extra allowance for seam as my original would never have fit a pen.




Anyway, i think the bag is really cute so I will make one for myself next time to keep my crochet gear in for on the go.

Hope you had a super Sunday x

My creative space

This week has been very slow but with lots going on and doctors making more money out of us.

I've been working on a blanket for my little sister, it's going to be for xmas, early i know. I started making the blocks while we were travelling but ran out of yarn.
She doesn't have any kids YET and it seems to be that i am only making things for the kids and I didn't want her to miss out on some handmade goodness this year.



I couldn't decide on the pattern so fox decided it should be like this...



So I had to do more cream blocks. They are finally done and i'm now piecing it together.

But not finished yet...

For more creative space's tootle on over HERE.

My creative space

This week i've been making capes for some special boys.
I bought some magnetic clasps to use as the fasteners but they ended up being so strong i couldn't pry them apart. SO i had a change in tactic and put a piece of elastic at the front.
It was hard trying to get a pic of the cape in action... dman was running so fast so his cape would fly and looking backwards so he could watch it! A disaster waiting to happen, but so much fun :)

Living GF

I'm sure iv'e mentioned it before but incase you didn't know I have coeliacs and can not eat gluten at all. I just found out last year and was very unwell with a few hospital stays and many many tests until finally the penny dropped and a diagnosis was reached. Since excluding gluten from my diet my whole life has changed. No more pain, reflux, tiredness etc.

Lucky for me it's not as hard to go gluten free as it was a few years ago. There are many yummy gluten free products and really i don't feel like i go without at all. I know how bad those krispy kreme donuts make me feel up to a week after consuming them and so I don't crave these foods at all.

The hardest part of having coeliacs is trying to get a good gluten free meal while out and about.
Have you noticed that all GF food in cafes and coffee shops is nothing but friands and orange/almond cake? Not so good when you're trting to go low GI and lose weight on this seemingly high GI diet and all you want is a good salad with protien or some vegie risotto. Iv'e also found that a lot of places will just tell you the food is gluten free but really they have no clue that the salad dressing has a wheat product in it or they simply don't care and will tell you what you want to hear.

But it's not all bad really, you just need to be super organised with meal planning and make sure you have snacks on hand to tie you over if you happen to be out when the hunger strikes.

Being new at this game Iv'e had to educate myself in how to produce good healthy GF foods. Joining the coealiacs society has been helpful too.

The 4 Ingredients gluten free cook book has been pretty good. I thought it would be a little dodgy but suprisingly my very fussy 3 year old has enjoyed everything from that book.

Another great book is Low GI gluten-free living . This is the book I prefer to eat from as it has balanced low GI foods as the title suggests. However, the littlest one is not so keen.

I don't cook 2 meals for dinner, we all eat GF . Brekky & lunch is whatever the family wants so they still get to eat their sandwiches and weetbix if they like.

Anyway, I thought i'd show you some pictures...



THIS salad is delicious! I had to try as soon as I found it, it has sardines & pear, a strange combo but delish. I used baby cos instead of spinach. It's an awesomly filling lunch.



Baked Ricotta & Thyme Pie from 4 Ing - yum



Nachos 4 Ing style. not my favourite only because i'm not a cheddar fan, but the kids requested it and of course they loved it.



Sweet potato & fetta frittata again from 4 Ing. and with that yummy salad.

two is definately better than one

Feeling guilty about my pathetic dishcloth create a long attempt and only producing 1 when others have created many I decided to make another, but a more simple style this time. I managed to crank the second one out in about an hour, whereas the first took me a few days...

I used patterns from 'the big book of Dishcloths'. If you have this book I used #96 & #16.

The yarn used was Lion Cotton - colour 146 fuchsia

So now I have a lovely pair of cloths in my gift stash. The yarn I used was really easy to crochet so I will have to get some more from the lovely Gabrielle at American Yarns.

wash cloth create-a-long

Earlier this week I joined in on One Crafty Mumma's create-a-long.

The idea was to knit or crochet as many cloths as you like and seeing as my crochet skills are a trillion times better than my knitting skills I decided to crochet some cloths.

It's a good thing that I picked up a dishcloth pattern book before I left Brissy. I know there's hundreds of free patterns on line, but i really prefer hard copies. Anyways, I managed to make a whole 1 dishcloth. Thought i'd try something fancy... still undecided as to wether I should put a pretty boarder on it on leave it as is.

I plan to make a stash of these to give as gifts, so it may be the first of many.

weekend trip away

Last weekend we made a snap desicion to go down to Mackay to meet up with my lovely cousins from Canberra. We drove down on saturday & back on sunday.

On the way down we stopped off in Ayr to do some geocaching. It's so lovely and green in this part of Queensland due to all the recent rain and so of course the mosquitos were out in full force and had a feast. Dman & I raced back to the car covered in mozzies while con, meeks & fox weren't far behind. It didn't stop them, they applied reppelant and went back to it and came up with the goods. This cache is a film canister that has a film type log. The kids thought it was cool.


AYR

After our quick stop we were back on the road towards Bowen (famous for their mangos & the movie 'Australia') where we stopped for lunch. Then on to Mackay. Where we caught up with our lovelies, ate, drank & were merry.


BOWEN

We headed back home early sunday morning with our sights set on Airlie Beach for lunch. word of warning just incase you go there... lunch doesn't start til noon at most places but thankfully we found a sweet spot which overlooked the cafe strip called 'shipwrecked', the food there was fab.
Words can not explain how special this place is and not even the pictures do it justice.
The only bad part was that it is stinger season so there was no getting in the water, but look out Airlie Beach, we'll be back and you'll get to see us in all our bathing glory. yeah, i think that's a threat...lol

As we left it started to rain., then we had another quick stop in Bowen again before heading for home.

my creative space

this week i have been making water bottle holders, thanks to the inspiration from the australian homesewn mag.

i'm not sure how it works in your house but here, when the family sees you're onto a good thing look out!

So i made one for our youngest which then got hijacked by my husband who took it to work (and got teased but didn't care). Then I made another for my cousins boy in usa. Then the neighbour came over and saw them and she wanted one too! Then the twins were watching keenly to see if there's were next...lol

I managed to make 8 this week. They are really great for keeping the water bottles cool and soaking up the condensation, keeping whatever is in your bag dry not soggy. I can get a 1.5l water bottle in mine.

And HERE are some more creative spaces

my favourites

The past few weeks have been so hectic, organising new school gear, playgroups, daycare, sports etc. My friend who i made the crochet blanket for had a baby girl and she loved it.
Now, I'm going to have a rest before starting the next blanket.

Iv'e been thinking about my mum today and thought i'd post some happy thoughts...

Here are some things that I love...



I love this sign found in the Toodyay butcher shop window...

makes me laugh every time... a sign put up in the butcher shop looking for their missing sheep.




I love this china doll my mother bought me when i was 10. she was hand made by her friend





even the lace and her socks & shoes are hand made





and her beautiful hand painted face. i wish i could get one for my daughter too.





I love finding pretty things in unexpected places...





I love the beach... but not in summer













And finally, i love edamame...mmmm





chilli & garlic... just like wagamama :)