Latest happenings in the Creek . . .

I have tried my hand at sewing something new lately - doll's clothes.
 It's a lot harder than it looks!

I think that my fingers and the arm of my sewing machine must be much fatter
 than other people's, 'cause I've found it very frustrating.
I have managed these so far . . .

(they are Blythe sized)

I might have to improve my hand sewing if I'm going to continue in this endeavour, or perhaps outsource! Muuuummm . . .

On the other hand, the youngest has used his new-found stitching skills to make his bear more comfy . . .

And seeing his brother's pillow, F conned me into making a bed for his action figures!

(Mattress, pillow, sheet and blanket, no less!)

(Doesn't Master Chief look cosy?)

We haven't just been sewing though, we've also been strawberry picking
in Eumundi ('tis the season, after all) . . .

and had a family picnic trip to Alma Park Zoo to celebrate R's 9th birthday tomorrow.

So back after tomorrow with gratuitous birthday cake shots! 

P.S. "Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life!" Albert Einstein

A Whiz Through the Past Few Weeks . . .

I'm baaaack .

Phew , been busy ! But a quick catch up should put things right . . .

The Winter Carnival was great . 

With stalls . . .

 and treats . . .

 and games . . .

and rides .

But the best thing about the day . . .

The weather fined up a few days before, so the oval was dry enough to get all the rides , stalls and equipment in , and the day was dry and clear. *sigh of relief*

On the home front , the art wall is finished !

We are really happy with how it turned out . Hubby was a bit unsure about the whole deal , until I told him what I was planning as a pretty cool art collection. What better to surround a TV than lots of images from popular culture - taken from some of our favourite books , games , movies and , of course , television shows ! With the help of Etsy , fansites like fanpop.com and my own creativity , I came up with enough postcards , maps , prints and cut-outs to fill all my frames, so now the lounge room looks like this . . .

instead of this!

If you're as old as me , you can probably recognise most of them ! Here's a quick round-up just in case .

In this section it's Doctor Who and The X-Files . . .

then Sherlock and The Princess Bride . . .

Ghostbusters and Back to the Future (sorry about the reflections!) . . .

Let's not forget the Big Bang Theory . . .

Game of Thrones (otherwise known as A Song of Ice and Fire series) . . . 

Skyrim . . . 

Harry Potter (again, the reflections! Sorry) . . .

The Hunger Games and The IT Crowd . . .

and of course, Star Wars .

 I love it!

In other family news, we have had a couple of musical events, sports day and the local show -

and on the organisation front - my fabric stash and sewing gear has been sorted , culled and is all tidy !

And that's it. All caught up.

P.S. "If time flies when you're having fun, it hits the afterburners when you don't think you're having enough."
       Jef Mallett

Leave it to Fete . . .

After this weekend ,  I might have some time to get back to my usual routine , cause it ' s our school fete on Saturday . Known as the ACSS Winter Carnival it ' s only held every second year , so everyone makes a big effort to make it a great fundraiser.

Anyway ,  I have been busy making goodies like these . . .

and these . . .

and these . . .

but now they are safely delivered and after tomorrow ' s displays and rides and music and food and fun I will get my life back.
See you then!

P.S. “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”  Winston Churchill

Coming Up Roses . . .

Well, Ranunculus actually.
I wanted to show you a quick gift I made for a workmate on the weekend. We had a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates for her, but the gift needed a finishing touch. So I made a quick flower brooch.

The recipient is like me and loves red - the flowers were striking Gerberas - so I chose a red ranunculus from my stash to match.
I started by taking the flower apart - you just pull out the centre out firmly and then the base will come away.

This left all the petals loose. I stacked them back together in size order, turning them just a little each time to give the bloom some fullness and putting a small dab of glue near the centre hole on each. (I did this over a wooden skewer, to keep the centre hole lined up neatly and my fingers out of the glue.)

Once the petals dried I added a pretty rhinestone button to the centre, stitching it through with embroidery thread.

 Then I used the same thread to tie on a brooch back, and secured it with a small piece of matching  felt and strong craft glue.

Ta daa! I pinned it over the ribbon around the chocolates to finsih the gift.

Now the birthday girl can use it as a brooch on a jacket, or scarf, or bag or whatever, or she can re-gift it the same way - as a finishing touch to gift wrapping.

P.S. “The greatest gift is a portion of thyself.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

My Adventures in the Land of Cheese . . .

Sorry about the corny title . A bit too much reading Enid Blyton with the small one
 lately , but descriptive nonetheless.

I have had my first go at cheesemaking!
It's something I've wanted to try for a ages, but many varieties of cheese are
 very complicated and take a long time to mature.

Ever one for instant gratification, I thought I'd give Labne a go.
I saw the recipe in the April issue of 'Better Homes and Gardens' -  it only has 3 ingredients and only takes 24 hours!

You need 1kg of Greek yoghurt, 1 cup of buttermilk and 1 teaspoon of fine salt - that's it!

Whisk the three ingredients together in a large bowl until well combined. Then refrigerate for at least half an hour.

When the mixture has chilled, lay a piece of muslin into a clean bowl (I used an old linen teatowel, but the cheesecloth would definitely work better if you have it) and spoon the mixture in.

Gather the edges of the cloth together and tie off (you can use string, but I ran out!). Hang the package over a bowl in the fridge overnight to let the whey drain out. 

N.B. *Don't throw your whey a-way (see what I did there). It's great to use in baking/cooking and also good for protein shakes and sprouting seeds in. I got about 1 and a half cups!*

The next day, unwrap your cheese parcel and use a teaspoon to scoop the mixture into egg shapes and drop into a clean glass jar. Then fill with olive oil, some sprigs of rosemary, some zested strips of orange peel and some black peppercorns.

You can use it straight away or leave it to infuse the flavours in the fridge for a few days. I got 2 full jars (I think they are 400ml) of cheese from the recipe. The kids loved it on crackers and I also used it on my sandwiches with ham and salad. Yum! There's a Labne & Spinach Strudel recipe in the magazine which sounds delicious, but you could use it anywhere you'd use either sour cream or cream cheese - it's kind of like a tart combination of the two.

Let me know if you have a go!

P.S. In decorating news, the art wall is 2/3 done. Yay!

P.P.S. "Patience is the companion of wisdom. "  Saint Augustine

Progress . . .

It's slow, but it's progress nonetheless .

This is how the living room wall looked before I began . .

And this is where we are now . . .

As I get each frame painted black (if it wasn't already , which was most of them) and find the right picture to go in it, I'm putting it up following my trusty photo guide in the last post .

I am using 3M Command picture hanging strips which are brilliant (absolutely no holes in this wall under the art) but are a bit too pricey to do all at once . So slowly , slowly with this project , getting a little painting done and buying another packet of strips each week .

Already the room feels different . It's making me move all sorts of things that have been static for the last 5 years ! Can't wait to show you it all finished .

P.S. In other organisational news , I have added some little shelves to the pantry to stop the tins and jars getting so out of control .

 Arrrgggghhh!

Ahhhhhhhhh.

Working well so far . Will let you know whan I get the rest of the pantry sorted . Hmmmmm. Don't hold you breath on that one - it's an ongoing, ongoing project . If you have any tips in this area , do let me know your secrets .

P.P.S. " Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. " Albert Einstein