Scraps....

I have spied this project in blog-land many times over the past couple of years and I have been itching to give it a go. (Sorry I can't seem to find the original link!!)

The other day I finally bit the bullet and grabbed some scraps and got right to it.

They are padded with an up-cycled cloth nappy and kinda quilted with stitch in the ditch (or stitch in and outta the ditch in my sewing room!!).

They will be perfect for resting the cups on to dry after the washing up.

;)

My Creative Space

Usually I am really shy about showing off my creative space. Mainly becauseI share my creative space with the family dumping ground - you know that horrible space that we all have and use to place (throw) all our crap. Overcome with disgust at the state of the front room (read you couldn't even open the door anymore!! YUK!!) and urged on by my 2nd trimester creative mojo abundance I had a massive purge and reorganisation of this space. While it still may not look pretty it is definitely creative and presentable.

This is the most inspiring slice of our front room...... my desk.....

Its times like this that I wish blogger was more flicker-esque then I would be able to put those little info boxes all over my pix ;)

Amongst the button jars and tins of letters you will see one of Wyatt's very precious Lightning Mcqueen books that his brother ripped and the mama has yet to repair. Also nestled in here is one of my fave crafting books Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing with some doorstops cut out and waiting on sewing time.

One of my fave things on my desk this week is those painted egg cartons hiding in the back. I intended to make some spiders for Halloween out of this cousin-craft-session but time was against us and for now they sparkle at me with the glittery goodness while I sew, waiting till I can find another egg carton craft..... Christmas perhaps mmmmm???

Lastly my new loves..... see them sitting there in there black handled beauty..... my new pinking shears. ohhhhh bliss truly is a mama with pinking shears ;)

What is inspiring you lately??

;)

10 minutes....

I am sure I am not alone when I wish there was just more time in the day. Some days it seems that I am so busy just getting everything done that it is the end of the day before I realise it and I have not created one stitch.

So I grab 10 minutes while the James baths the boys.

Sometimes you can get a lot done in 10 minutes.....

Sew some tag stitches on the hand-me-downs to keep them sitting nicely on babes shoulders instead of sliding down his arms.........

Sew buttons on.....

Cut out pattern pieces or fabric for the next day......

Cast on for a new project......

Sew the ties onto your apron....

Hem a piece of fabric and turn it into a sarong.....

Drool over the newest addition to my bookshelf and dream of the time when I will get more than 10 minutes to read (see link on side bar for more info);)

What do you do when you only have a few minutes to create??

;)

Mama Pride

Look at what I found while cleaning up outside.....

What am I talking about????

Take a closer look.....

A little closer......

I know I should be mad but this is Axel's first drawing and his mama is proud as punch....

Did you notice the 2 colours!! OMG!!

;)

Better Than Flowers.

I was checking over the garden this morning when I noticed my onions were looking a little...... broken!! Guessing that the puppy had been wrestling them I figured it would be best to pull them up early.

I popped them onto the garden bench while we got on with the weeding.

When we were finished I called out to Wyatt to grab them off the bench for me. What he presented to me was enough to stop this mama's heart for a second or two.....

This truly is better than flowers...... thanx babe you made mum's day.

;)

Fry Up

It seems like summer is creeping in at a rate of around 5 degree's a day. With the temperatures pushing 40C you would think I was crazy for de-heading one of these.....

.......and frying it up into a big batch of these.....

OMG I cant tell you how good these tasted after a long afternoon cool down at the local pool...delicious-o!!

I have been dying to try these out for years and having my very own cauliflowers popping up in my patch left me no excuses. I used the Jamie Oliver recipe out of "Jamie at Home".but it was basically a SRFlour beer batter mixed with ground spices turmeric, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, black peppercorns and dried chillies.... coat vege with flour dip in batter and fry.

SO good...and just enough of our very potent home grown chilli powder to ensure they were adult only ;) The best part watching the parsley fry what a spectacular explosion and who knew fried parsley would taste so good. I guess Jamie did ;)

Moments

Today I found myself wondering around taking pictures of my babes enjoying the special moments of their day.

It was so peaceful and cool in the shade so I pulled up alongside them and started scrolling through my pix. I was surprised to find this little moment amongst them.....

Do you see those grey/green bumps...... that's me.....

Yup not just me but baby and me..... stretching out for all the world to see..... oh my!!

A quick round of mental arithmetic had me smiling as I realised that we are now 19 weeks.... whew almost half way. Must be time for another peek at baby!

;)

Yearnings

Lately I have been aching to get my hands wrapped around some yarn. With the temperatures rapidly rising you must think I have been driven made by hormones but oddly enough I had the same cravings around this time last year (admittedly I was heavily pregnant so maybe we should blame those nesting hormones ;) )

I have started slowly crocheting to satisfy my yearnings and I am slowly filling in bits of my day with some less sweaty pursuits. Such as turning my thrifted baby pillowcases into project bags.

Cute huh!!

So easy with a simple casing sewn into the top of the pillow case and threaded with some ribbon.

Digging through my littlest ones wardrobe earlier this week I realised that he was in desperate need of more warm weather tops. Seeing as though he is a few months of the next batch of hand-me-downs I appliqued one of these super cheap t-shirts that I snatched up a last year ($3 bargain!!).

Sadly this is my only boy colour left and I think the MOTH would pitch a fit if I dressed his boys in bright pink...... maybe I can get away with salmon.

;)

Babies....

The gardening gods have definitely been smiling on me lately..... look at all these beautiful babies defying the heat and popping up everywhere....

even in the compost....

;)

Feeling thrifty....

I hit the the local op shops last week and WOW-O-WOW the thrifty gods were smiling on me.

Check out this amazing table runner and linens that I scored.

I think have made a gazillion fine crochet runners as gifts over the years and am sad that I never kept one for myself.

The pillowcases will be whipped into project bags and the embroidered linen (slightly stained) ??baby shoes??

I truly HEART thrifted books.... mainly because my babes are still young and very destructo which means I don't get too upset when I hear "Mum I have to tell you something about this book.....". I can hardly believe how the good the condition of these books are - all the flaps and pop ups are still in tack and check out this painting book..... cool huh!!

One of the shops had the biggest basket of buttons I have ever seen.... but someone had painstakingly bagged them into sets.....mmmmmm.... not this time.... I did find some ribbon, self covering button kits (there is about 1/2 a dozen packs in that bag) and some knitting patterns.

lastly.... a basket for harvesting the vege and a 1/2 carafe'.

Grand total $4.10.

Whew ;)

Gifted

Last year my SIL surprised me with a gift of the best kind ....... FABRIC.

Amongst the treasures was some satiny/sharky fabric just perfect for turning into warm weather pj's for the boys.

Taking advantage of the cool weather change last week I grabbed a pair of shorts out of the boys drawers, improvised a pattern, teamed 'em with a singlet and viola....

New Summer PJ's.

;)

Wardrobe Refashion

Sorting through the boys clothes the other day I realised that Wyatt was in serious need of some shorts. At the same time I was shaking my head as I pulled jeans out of his drawers that were perfect size waist wise but length-wise left a lot to be desired.

This was a classic light bulb moment and within half an hour I had two new pairs of shorts and my ill-fitting jeans dilemma was solved!!

The best thing about this wardrobe refashion is that Wyatt thinks I made the shorts myself and proudly declares that they are "Just perfect mum!!". Ohhhh my mama heart is so very full.

;)

Khaki Day

I was driving into Melbourne over 3 years ago preparing to give birth to my first babe when I heard the news that Steve Irwin had passed away. I remember thinking the same thought that I had when I heard the Princess Dianna died and when I heard that Michael Jackson married Priscilla Presley.... 'Damn paparazzi will make anything up to get on the air!!". However it didn't take long to realise that it wasn't a hoax.

I experienced such an intense feeling of loss that stayed within my heart for days - it still makes me shake my head in disbelief today. Like many others I can hardly believe that this vibrant larger than life man is no longer around to inspire and encourage us to become the best that we can be.

Today I didn't wear khaki (must admit I don't own any-will have to fix this for next year!) but I did spend some time re-watching some of his doco's and considering my impact on nature and the environmental lessons that I am directly or indirectly teaching my children.

I hope that I am imprinting on them the words that Steve imprinted on us.....

"Whatever you want to do in this world it is achievable....... be passionate and enthusiastic in the direction that you choose your life and you will be a winner!"

Happy Khaki Day.

;)

Bad Lighting

Over the past couple of weeks I have been browsing through the pix on my blog and have become increasingly frustrated.

At first I thought it was my poor photography skills but then I noticed a theme....

.....all my pix seem to have a lot of dark corners and overuse of flash.

I mean just check out these pix of our fave reading spots YUK!!

I started wandering around our home to see how I could fix it and I realised that the house is situated in a bad position on the land and doesn't take advantage of the natural light.

Impossible to fix without moving the entire house UGH!!

But easy enough to improve..... I have sourced some lighting solutions from an Australian Company (YAY) particularly for this book lovers room.....

I have also had a serious talk with James where I kinda laid down the law and gave him (deep breath) no-limit-on-our-credit-card to purchase me/us (read me...lol) a new camera Christmas.

Maybe I should add a request for some bookshelves as well!!

;)

Cauli-love

You may remember this beautiful resident of our winter patch??

Last week we had an unexpected cold weather change so sent the MOTH out to the patch in the pouring rain to chop this little guys head off. A quick dash back into the kitchen, some chopping and spice throwing later and we had the warmest Curried Cauliflower Soup our family has ever tasted.

I will spare you a pix as my creation was scrumptious but not very pretty...... imagine pea and ham soup on a bad day!! ;)

Rainy Day Curried Cauliflower Soup

Olive Oil

I onion - diced

Salt

2 cloves garlic - crushed

Curry paste or powder to your taste (I used madras)

1 head of cauliflower - roughly chopped

1L Vege Stock

• Heat oil in a soup pot on the stove top.
• Add onion with a pinch of salt. Cook on med. heat till onion is translucent.
• Add garlic to onion cook till fragrant.
• Add curry to your tastes cook till fragrant.
• Add cauliflower and stock cook over low heat till cauli is soft.
• Puree soup. Add water if thinner consistancy required. Season to taste.

YUM.

This was a big hit in our house I would love to hear any of your bone warming recipes.

;)

Ohhhhh and let me know if you give this a go!!

How does your garden grow??

I love being in the garden with the boys. Looking over as the oldest one calls out "Is this a weed mum??" and laughing as the littlest one climbs into the weed cart and makes a nest.

I dream of all the produce that I will potentially grow, harvest, bring to the table or freeze and preserve.

However the reality is a little shy of this.....

Over the late winter early spring I got enough spinach and salad greens to keep us in salads one or two meals a week.

My broad beans showed promise but made it into about 3 meals.

ooooohhhh and I think I grew the smallest beets in the world!!

It is not all sad news though.....

My cauli's have been huge and so far I have harvest 2 of the 4 plants that popped up.

My broad beans are re-flowering .............fingers crossed and I have snow peas popping out everywhere.

As you know my spuds are out of control.

The 7 tomato plants that made it through the soil are almost knee high.

I am trying to increase my harvest potential by planting a few more seeds in seed pots instead of direct sowing and so far all but 1 of the 24 pots have babies in them.

So I am crossing my fingers that the gardening gods are now smiling this way..... even if it means they have to glance away from this fabulous garden for a second or two!!

;)

Craving.....

Last weekend we all come down with the dreaded lurgy. After spending a whole day pampering my babes and man and trying to keep myself hydrated I was really craving some starchy goodness. Perfect time for a vege risotto.

Vege Risotto

I used broad beans, 2 small zucchini and a medium sweet spud. But you could use whatever you have on hand 1/2 a red onion.

1 cup of alborio rice

1 litre veg stock

olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

Heat oil in a pan.

Add onion and a pinch of salt and cook till transparent.

Add garlic and cook till fragrant.

Add rice and cook till starting to change colour, you may need to add a little extra oil here.

Add any extra spices at this point I used paprika and cumin, cook till fragrant.

Add about one cup of stock and cook stirring till most of stock is absorbed add firm veges such as spuds, pumpkin etc

Add another cup of stock and cook stirring till absorbed. Repeat with remaining stock.

Taste rice if it is cooked and non crunchy add softer vege such as zucchini, spinach etc. If rice still has a crunch add a cup of water and stir until absorbed. Repeat till rice is cooked and then add soft vege.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Remove from heat and cover with lid for about 3-5 minutes.

Serve with fresh grated Parmesan.

Ohhhhhhh how I love risotto.

Do you have a fave risotto recipe??

;)

The Race that stops a Nation

Another first for us this year was hosting our first ever Melbourne Cup Party. The race that stops a nation hasn't even caused a blip in my radar since becoming a stay at home mama 2 years ago. With a surge of Aussie pride this year I put a stop to that.

It started with a race sweep amongst the cousins.....

We had cupcakes (of course ;) )...

I froze some of my Martha's from Halloween and they thawed out beautifully.

A cheese plate.....

Some fancy plastic glasses to cheer the arvo on.

It was great to see the kids dressed up (even though Mr 3 went into dress up mood 2 hours into the party with the end result - "Super Wyatt" with a Wags the Dog tail mmmmmm too cute!!).

I was excited to get the kids cheering for their horses but in true kids-run-the-party-fashion they spent the race playing dress-ups in the bedroom while we watched as "Shocking" trumpted to victory. I was so proud that an Aussie horse took the cup!! YAY!!

;)

Shredded

Earlier this month I was gifted a paper shredder. The MOTH was so very excited about his purchase he couldnt stop telling me how much easier it was going to be to get the compost to break down (read how much easier it will be for him to turn it over!!;)).

My first thought was mmmmmm.....awesome another gift that is more for the man than me. However after spending the morning hunting for and shredding paper I am have to stand proud and say I am totally hooked on the shredder ....... thanx babe you rock ;)

Speaking of compost isn't this the most beautiful compost you have ever seen.... seriously!!

Do you compost?? What are your best composting tips??

;)

Swap-O-Drama

I was so excited to join in with round two of the Washcloth Swap organised by Jellywares. Then I found out that I was pregnant and my mojo just up and ran away on me.

I tried my hardest to force it back but it was on a trimester long vacation *sigh*.

Then just as if nothing had happened it up and snuck back right in time for me to get together a package for my very patient and understanding partner Dillpickle..... not too late after all.... whew.

Pattern - tulip stitch cloth I first heard about here and I have rav'ed about here. This is such a super quick free pattern.

I would love to hear any of your mojo busting strategies!

;)