Carried Away!

Just a quick post to say how much I adored the Sex and the City movie! There were just so many fabulous things about it, I don't know where to start.

A few of my favourites...

Her quote about about her love of the smell of library books!

My favourite bag of the movie had to be the 'Eiffel Tower' bag by Timmy Woods

How adorable (if you have a spare $4,000)!

And finally the gorgeous letters of Ludwig van Beethoven 'Immoral Beloved'

'ever thine
ever mine
ever ours..'

Simply fabulous... x

Read More

Hooked on Hooks!

Happy first of the month, how fast the time is flying by! Only a month until school holidays and I just can't wait. Well I have had a very productive week, especially in the crochet department. All of sudden it all made sense and now I must say I am a little obsessed (in a good way!) I just love it and had to take two trips to spotlight over the weekend to stock up on lovely supplies. And just look at my stash!

This is just yesterday's lot, I just love the green and purple bamboo cotton!

And how could I resist the 80's inspired hooks that Courtney found for me!

On the way back from Spotlight i got a little sidetracked and ended up in Target, which was lucky because they had 15% off everything. So I also stocked up on a few winter essentials.

A cute little top and lovely knitted vest and I couldn't resist these crazy coloured knee-highs! So adorable..

So when I got home, I was like a child in a candy store, I didn't know where to start with all my beautiful yarn! I have been working on a few things, I really wanted to try a really sweet flower pattern from Creative Yarn. Her website has been such an inspiration, I think she brings crochet into the modern day. So here is my result..

It's a bit big for my hair so I'm going to sew it onto a cute black and mustard tote.

One of my other projects is the perfect bed beret for my bestie Courtney, we are doing a craft swap, she is knitting me mittens and in return I'm crocheting her a sweet little red beret also from a Creative Yarn pattern. I was almost finished yesterday but ran out of wool, so hopefully I will have it looking all lovely in the next few days. Here is the work in progress.

All red and lovely like Kirsten Dunst's in Elizabethtown... see!

In other news I got a little creative in the kitchen this afternoon, I made scones! Thanks in part to dad's old recipe which he told me over the phone (with no measurements) which is where Margret Fulton came in handy. Amazingly their recipes are identical! And may I say the results went down very well, as my hubby and I sat down to high tea on our first winter's afternoon.

The recipe and the results..

The crumbs..

I will finish my post with a new photo of Mallee, he was settled in very nicely and is now singing every time a song comes on the radio or the TV. His favourite is the 20th Century Fox theme!

'Cheep Cheep'

Oh I can't forget this photo. It was a bit of a fluke, as we were outside having afternoon tea a amazing little green bird landed on our crazy Narnia Lamppost..

Look carefully.. Isn't he lovely?

I hope everyone has had a lovely relaxed weekend and is ready for a wonderful new week. Our Book Club is still reading Chocolat and I am just adoring it, lovely to go to bed with a good book.

So rug up, crank up the heater, get a glass of red and a beautiful book and enjoy..

xxx

Read More

A chirpy weekend!

What a big week it has been, they just seem to be going by so fast. And it is already Sunday night and the week has begun again. I can't wait to fly up north in five weeks, for some shopping and fun! Although I have had a fabulous weekend in old Mildura. My most exciting bits are that we got a pet parrot and I taught myself to crochet!

First our new family member. We have been looking at birds for a while and on Saturday we decided to buy a lovely native red rumped parrot. We called him 'Mallee' after the local area. Here is a photo of him, will take some more once he settles into his cage.

'Mallee'

And now to my favourite new thing to do, Crocheting! What fun, after Courtney and I realised that all the adorable berets, beanies and mittens were all crocheted not knitted, we thought we just had to learn, so off I went to spotlight and after just two hours (of cursing) I can actually crochet! And its so much fun. I can't wait to make cute berets for Courtney and my mum and sister. Here are some of the cute things I made today as practice.

'Lavender headband with flower'

'Lollipop Brooch'

I am really enjoying learning new patterns and improvising my own. Just can't wait to go back to Spotlight and buy some more lovely yarn. I'm even thinking of trying to make something wild like a rug from old jeans. The sky is the limit!

I will leave you tonight with a picture of one of our lovely rose bushes in the front yard. It looks so pretty after the rain we have had.

As winter fast approaches I am getting into the groove of putting on a million layers of clothes and remembering to turn the heater on and off. Maybe I should crochet a hot water bottle cover. Is that too much? :)

Much love, have a wonderful week!

Read More

A day in the life..

The days are getting shorter, the nights continually colder and the beauty of country Victoria could not be more amazing. The shades of autumn leaves and the distant aroma of wood burning on an open fire, Mildura dances upon the senses. To try and capture so of these inspiring moments I took my camera to work with me today. So here is a day in my life.. (ps. I did cut out all the boring teaching bits)

Our little cottage complete with roses (just don't look at the lack of grass)

The beautiful trees that line Walnut Avenue

Leaves from my favourite tree (I love Autumn)
A self portrait as I was walking as you can see I was quite cold!


My Desk (things you might discover on it):
A pomegranate (a colleague grows them)
An overflowing things to do box
Students artwork (the bird, comic strip, butterfly and snowman)
Cards, a photo of my sister and bestie at my wedding
Lots of other junk!

The school grows incredible varieties of roses, this is my favourite.
It reminds of the colour of french champagne.

The sunsets and bare trees are stunning in the afternoon.
This is the view down 12th Street

One of my favourite gardens on my walk home, I just adore Cottage inspired gardens.

That was just a few photos from my day, I'm looking forward to wondering around town to take some more.

Now for a book club update, well Courtney's choice 'The tea house on Mulberry Street' by Sharon Owens was so fabulous I read the whole book over the weekend. What a delight! We will be writing our reviews shortly. For now it is a gorgeous weekend read about love, new beginnings and really yummy cheesecake!

Having enjoyed our first book club read I was very excited to choose our second. Keeping in the theme of all things to do with love and good food I have chosen the classic 'Chocolat' by Joanne Harris. I have been meaning to read it for years and can't wait to curl up by the fire and begin.

This library copy has certainly been well read.

Looking forward to a 5 degree start tomorrow, bring on those mittens Courtney! Will be updating later in the week hopefully with my finished baby blanket for Declan. My next project.. learning to crochet!

Hope everyone is enjoying their week
ttfn x

Read More

Busy days and book club delights..

Well its been a busy week in this little town, we are into week six at school which means only six to go before the holidays, so that means lots of planning, marking and everything in between. As I didn't get a chance to write over the weekend I thought I catch up last weeks adventures.

So last week I had some lovely mail, first a lovely package from mum to keep me warm as I was complaining about the 5 degree morning walks to work.

In my little package I got a lovely red turtle neck jumper, some cute wool tights and a beautiful soft black jacket and all knitted and yummy. Took a quick photo of my outfit before work this morning in my new bits.


My other lovely little package was from the lovely Tara all the way from the Lockhart River in Far Far North Queensland. It was so sweet of her to think of me and I received these absolutely adorable PJ's from Peter Alexander. I secretly want to wear them out! They are just so cute and very warm!


Well I didn't get a chance to do any sewing on the weekend but I did do a little domestic goddess work in the kitchen and whipped up a yummy carrot and walnut cake.

And what goes better with cake than a cup of tea and a good book. Well I have an enormous reading list at the moment but my bestie Courtney and I have decided to start a little book club, that is we read a book then have a chat and write a little review on it. And it was her turn to pick and she has done a delightful job choosing 'The Tea House on Mulberry Street'. Can't wait to start reading...


Well thats about it for me at the moment, need to catch up on some writing and creating so I'm off to be creative until I have to come up with something to cook for dinner.

Much love x

Read More

Moments of sewing room madness!

I ventured to my sewing room this afternoon for a little relaxation but I ended up with a 3.5 hour mission to create the ultimate satchel bag. And I did it! Still working on perfecting the seams but I am pretty happy with this one. It is similar to the one I made for Courtney last week but this time I made it wider and with interfacing so it has a little more structure.

I must say there were a few moments of madness, like accidentally sewing the strap on twisted and trying to sew with not enough light, but I got there in the end. So here it is the 'Wildflowers Satchel'.

The fabric worked out really nicely, I love the purple, green and chocolate together.

Sorry about the bad lighting, ran out of sunlight before I had finished so I had to take photos under the kitchen light.

I'm really happy that its roomy, fits plenty of things in. Thinking about making a shopping bag next to take to the local farmers markets.

Hope everyone has had a lovely relaxing day. I am going to pour myself a glass of wine and laugh at the crazy people in the Big Brother house!

ttfn x

Read More

Congratulations all round...

Congratulations and celebrations are in order for a few people this week.

Firstly after much anticipation my sister in law finally gave birth to a beautiful little boy. Congratulations to Anna and Matt on their new arrival. Declan Matthew Eves was born of the 30th of April.

Isn't he adorable!
Thank you to Matt for the gorgeous photo!

In other news, congratulations to Paul my brother in law for his appearance on the New Inventors! The Snake Pick was a huge success and is a sure bet for the People's favourite! For more info check out the website.

One more celebration for my grandmother, Happy Birthday for yesterday Nan! Sending you much love. Wish I was there to have a champagne with everyone! She is an incredible woman who inspires me everyday.

Mum, Nan and I together.

Well I best be off to mark some essays so I will have time this afternoon to try my hand at making another satchel.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekends x

Read More