I made Strawberry Jam in December which I gave as part of my Christmas boxes. I finally got round to taking a photo of one of the jars! The felt topper changed between jars depending on what I had at hand but they were all tied up twine and finished with jingle bells.

Curtains!! 226/365

Yep, at last I’ve finished my curtains and they are up. I went to Ikea between Christmas and New Years. Amongst the things I picked up was this fabric, I had planned to purchase a more “demure” fabric but there was no way I could say no the slightly kitsch, slightly folksy fabric that is Annamoa Fabric … I picked up lining at Spotlight a week or two later… Then the wait happened whilst I tried to find curtain eyelets, eventually I found curtain eyelet tape at Lincraft. I made one curtain at my house on a Saturday. Yeah, let me tell you it was quite an adventure using the kitchen floor as a cutting table. The next day I headed over to Mums and borrowed the kitchen table (such bliss for cutting fabric) and some of her advice. I didn’t quite get the other two curtains finished that day but did the rest of the sewing the following Sunday when I was next over.

They make my room feel so cheery! And oh for lining as well now my room isn’t so bright in the morning and slightly warmer at night.
Yay for new curtains!

Patterned Legs, 227/365

There a few fashion rules I have for myself, one of these is no tights/stockings in Spring and Summer. Really because unless they are 8 denier or less it is just too damm hot to wear stockings in Brisbane during those months. I picked this pair up from Coles over the New Year for a very nice sum of $3.something!

Romatherapy Tomatoes???? 228/365

Yeah this is what Woolies calls baby Roma tomatoes…

Peach Upside Down Cake, 229/365

At what point did it seem like a good idea to make an upside down cake in a spring form pan….. Common sense did question it but no I was going to be good and follow the recipe. Let’s just say I had a ball cleaning a black sugary mess in the oven…. Upside down cake + spring form pan = mess!

Other than it was quite a success. The recipe is off Taste and here is the link Peach Upside Down Cake. I had almonds on hand but really didn’t feel like breaking out the blender to make almond meal so used hazelnut meal I had on hand instead and I think it made the cake even nicer. Had a slightly nutty flavour. One thing to note though is that I made this cake Thursday night to take to work on Friday. For morning tea, the cake was fantastic, just the right amount of moistness. When it came to divying up the last few slices for afternoon tea the cake was a bit dry.

Looking Up, 230/365

I saw The Blind Side on Friday night – man oh man what a movie. I was happy to see Sandra Bullock win the Oscar, man oh man that dress was gorgeous and the hair!
I was kicking back on my bed when I got home with a million thoughts going through my mind and I was struck to a degree by the way the posters look from below.

A single flower, 231/365

A single flower, a single plant. This dahlia is the only thing in the front garden at Mums currently.

Sore Toe, 232/365

A change from photos of metal adorned teeth… For the last week or so the tip of the toe next to my big toe has been quite sore. I thought my toenail was digging in but trimming the nail didn’t help it all. I just tried to ignore it, thinking that yeah it will get better. It’s no longer sore but when I decided to change my toenail polish on Sunday I discovered why it had been so sore! Check out that bruise! Four days after taking this photo, I can tell you it is a bit darker as well.

Welcome Lights, 233/365

On the same trip to Ikea as the one when I got the curtain fabric I also picked up these Welcome Lights/Christmas Candolier from Ikea for something like $3 after Christmas. I love them! I’m keeping these out all year! A much more modern version than the set my parents brought out from Iceland with them.

Melbourne snow dome, 234/365

I picked up this snowdome for next to nothing at Borders one day. I was going through photos the other day and finally found the perfect photo. In saying that, I’m still trying to decide what photo to put on the other side!

This hat, 235/365

I’ve posted photos of this hat before but I love it too much not to share more. I’ve moved it from hanging on the curtain rod to a hook on my door. Now it greets me when ever I walk into my room! I do wish my head was a few cm smaller so it did fit me.

Yeah, that is a whipper snipper, 236/365

Our lawn had a hair cut today or really it got a buzz cut. I’ld call it a number 4. Before it could be mown they “trimmed” the lawn with a whipper snipper!

It’s hard to believe that I am 236 days into my 365 day quest! When I tried in 2008 I lasted 75 days. I’m just about two thirds of the way through now, really happy with that.

And that is a wrap!

“Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.”
Joseph Addison

Sundays are nice days, out of Saturday and Sunday I think I like Sunday the most. Sundays are not so frantically filled as Saturdays. Sundays are about delighting in the littler things. Wiping the kitchen benches down and taking a moment to pause and smile at those clean surfaces. Ripping out 70% of the crochet you had done that day because you discovered a mistake which you know you could never ignore. Whipping up a very fast treat baked treat for Brown Owls. Sitting on your bed and just listening to James Morrison. Finding the basket for my bike that fits my criteria the most, now to get it painted white. This was my Sunday

This is my current wip, that I started this morning at Brown Owls. A granny square with larger than life dimensions, no idea yet as to how large it will get but thought is that it needs to be snuggable, so I’m thinking it will need at least 7 skeins. I am using Noro Taiyo in colour 11, which I just adore, it feels so lovely.

This arvo after I had done another row or two, I was looking at it closely and realised that on one side I had managed to get two extra clusters, gah. I thought about ways to reduce it but ended up ripping it apart till I had only three rounds completed…. I’ve done about seven rounds now and it looks much better than it did before.

Yesterday I made my book case curtains and today I borrowed the drill and put it up. It looks so pretty! I love the fabric. I had a fun time using the hemmer foot.

This is what I took for morno’s at Brown Owls, a pear and hazelnut torta which is a recipe by Belinda Jeffery in the May 2009 issue of Delicious. It took me about 10 minutes this morning to put it together and then it was in the oven for about 30 mins and ready to go. I am going to make it again in the near future but playing with different nuts and fruit.

If someone had told me a few months ago that I would have won Best Dressed at the work Melbourne Cup event I would have laughed. Somehow though I managed to pick up the prize. It wasn’t till sometime yesterday arvo that I decided to wear a hat for the happenings today. After SES, I stopped off at my parents and ummed and ahhed over the various hats. Then Matthew suggested I wear Karl’s WW1 Brodie Helmet, a little bit of fabric and a few ribbons later I had myself a hat which would protect my head from shrapnel and was classy enough for the “field”.

And a photo of me from today. I think this is the most me self portrait I have ever taken. I love it.

The blue and green fabrics have been painted with sun reactive paints with leaves, lace and shells used as masks. To stitch the face she used the Stitch a Sketch technique by Faye Anderson in the June 2005 issue of Quilters Newsletter Magazine. She has a few more things to quilt on there yet but I wanted to show it off I took it along to the meeting on Tuesday night as Mum is currently spending 3 weeks exploring the country west of Longreach and Birdsville. We had a phone call from her the other day and she is having a ball, lots and lots of native plants and birds to look at as well as seeing some very different country side to what she has seen before.
This was the roughly planned itinerary however I know it has changed since they have been out there due to where the rain has fallen and what creeks have flooded etc. I really recommend jumping on to Google Earth or Google Maps or whatever you like to explore the earth from above with.

To start at Longreach on May 2nd and travel to Birdsville by the shortest route. From Birdsville, travel down the Birdsville Track to Goyder’s Lagoon Waterhole where we will spend a couple of nights. From there we go to the Warburton Creek crossing, past which we turn back and travel up the northern side of the Warburton / Diamantina River, between the river and the bottom of the Simpson desert. This route will eventually bring us out at Birdsville or the Big Red sand dune west of Birdsville.
From Birdsville the course will be north by north west to Muncoonie Lakes from where we begin to follow the watercourses that flow here from the north.
Immediately above the lakes, the Mulligan River joins Eyre creek and after negotiating their confluence we will follow the Mulligan north through the western edges of several cattle properties. Crossing the Bedourie – Ethabuka access road we continue on up the river until we are near the source and as far as we are allowed to go. This point is on Glenormiston station and from there we travel back to Ethabuka, where we will stay, provided our interest is sustained, for 5 days. From Ethabuka we will return to Longreach by the most direct route hoping to arrive on May 23 or the morning of 24th.

and here is the quilt

In other news last night I lost a tooth I never had. That is right my false tooth broke off my plate, so just like my formal photos were in High School, my graduation photos will also be toothless. Luckily, it was just the tooth part that broke off, so I will be able to keep wearing my plate till I can get to the Orthodontist. Not exactly how I wanted the day to start but I guess that is life with a false tooth.

Yesterday I made these two headbands and cut out all the pieces for my 21st birthday quilt – Mum paid for the fabric and I am making it. It uses fabric from the Flowershow and Palazzo collections from Benartex.

Between cutting out all the blocks I also made two headbands

The one on the left uses a pattern from Heather Bailey – Hooray for Headbands and the one on the right uses a pattern from Katie Sue – Reversible Fabric Headband

Now that I have played with two different patterns I plan on merging them a bit for the next one as I like the ties on the Heather Bailey pattern but prefer the tapered cut from Katie Sue as I prefer how it sits on my head.

Now whilst I was having fun at home, Mum went out to a little class and made this most adorable little pouch.

The little stone affair in the middle is one of those glass pebbles that people put in vases covered with a scrap of chiffon. How cool does it look!

Since this was no cheap fabric we played it safe and made a muslin first and decided to lengthen the sleeves by about 1″ and to skip the elastic casing below the bust. The end result is a top that I am super happy with, feels comfy and looks great.

We (Mum and I) made a few alterations to the pattern but the main thing we did was just to add a couple of inches to the bottom to make it a bit longer in the body and we curved in the side seams so it is more flattering.

Due to some staffing changes at work I am now back in the dairy and freezer where I belong playing the role of a “dairy fairy”. I was trained at my previous supermarket in the dairy but then due to a staffing change I was jolted out of the dairy and into grocery before getting a spot as a meat packer which I quite enjoyed. However when I got my job with the company I am with now, they only had night fill roles open so that is what I took and since then I have been moonlighting as a dairy fairy when they have needed me but alas I have always had to hand my “wings” back after a couple of hours but not any longer! Nothing like lifting milk-crates and filling the ice-fridge to give the arms a work-out Yay for the Dairy.

A while ago I mentioned getting some Japanese patchwork and quilting magazines out of the quilt guild’s library, well I scanned them in the other week and uploaded them to Flickr last night so for your inspiration goodness I share with you

The first set come from a magazine called Patchwork Club. Click on any of the photos to be taken to it’s gallery where there are more scans.

The next set come from Patchwork Quilt Tsushin, again click on any of the photos to be taken to it’s gallery to see the other scans, these come from seven different editions.

Hope you enjoying looking at the pages I have selected as much as I do

The bag was made using the Jordy Bag Tutorial at Crafster.org which is a slightly different construction method to how I made Rachel’s bag the other day. I created the shaping of the bag by first pressing the connecting lines between the four corners and then pressing from the corners up to either side of the handle which creates the sloping sides

I went with Mum to Queensland Quilters last night for the sole purpose of browsing the library for interesting books to check out and I came home with 6 issues of Patchwork Quilt Tsushin and 1 issue of Patchwork Club. All of which are chock full of great bags and very nice quilts

I have been after some new work pants for a while now but finding good work pants is hard as well. Pants need to be loose fitting, breathable, big pockets etc so that I can actually fill the shelves instead of standing like a bean post, well I found a pair in the most unlikely shop. I was in Mountain Designs and saw some travel pants, which fitted all the criteria – black, loose, pockets, breathable. Score! What makes them even better is that they are a 55% Hemp/45% PET blend, dude my pants are a bong! (yeah I know that the hemp they grow for fabric is different to the pot kind but still), the best bit? They were reduced from $90 to $40, score!

How cute is this little cake stand from Mikasa? It is 5.75″ wide and 4″ high, perfect for taking photos of a single slice of cake or some biscuits

Two more purchases, as my family and friends know, I have a very good relationship with Christmas Ornaments, we go together like Vegemite and cheese or milk and milo, so when I saw these in the Vileroy & Boch store at DFO, nothing was going to stop me taking them home with me. They are from the Scandinavian Christmas 2004 series, which was the second year in V&B’s Christmas round the world annual collection, Russia was 2003 and America was 2005.

This is a bag I made for a friend who loves cats and is quite fluent in Japanese, so what better than a bag based on a pattern in a Japanese craft book and Japanese quilting fabric? Idea for the bag is from this book (the middle one on the front cover) – ISBN4529040011. Crafting Japanese entry for the book.

I love Pandani! They were such cool plants to play with whilst in Tasmania, the way the leaves formed corkscrews was just so cool, so here is a layout I did on them earlier today

Well that is for the moment, I was in the middle of making a bag but I ran out of thread so now I am playing in photoshop and chilling out to the crazy/beautiful soundtrack.