bad days

there is an upside to having bad days. a week or so ago, i was having a bad day and seeing i was in the general vicinity of brunswick st in fitzroy, i popped into meet me at mikes and bought myself a copy of homemade. (such a fabulous recipe book made for the survivors of the victorian bushfires - check it out). and leafing through it made me feel so much better. and then today i was having another bad day. (long story, i won't bore you all with it). and i decided the best plan was to make something out of my new recipe book. these are the lovely choc-chip cookies on p122. cooking and chocolate - things that always make me feel better. so sometimes, bad days can result in good things...

another look

so i went shopping this morning and used my new post-life pillowcase veggie bags. seeing blooger and i are back on photo friendly terms, i thought i would post a pic of them in action... potatoes in one, and onions in the other. i love it!

my creative space

my space is filled this week with the best somebody else's birthday present i have ever received. see i was one of the lucky winners from gina's birthday soapbox giveaway. as i never win anything, i was most pleased to win this lovely bundle of stuff - some floral fabric and some vintage serviettes and a doily and a keep cup. and all wrapped up in such a fabulous bag, with a sweet little note. thanks gina - my head is bubbling with ideas... play along with kirsty here.

a little project

i have always found plastic bags a bit of a frustration at the supermarket. i take along my own bags for the groceries at the end and i always just pop my veggies loose in the bottom of the trolley. but beans and the like remain problematic - i inevitably end up having to use the plastic bags they supply. the bags (usually) work beautifully getting my beans from the shelf to my dinner, but then i just throw them out. they are too little to re-use as bin liners, and my imagination peters out after that. ahh, but not anymore. leonie's post about her hula potato bags got me thinking and gina's quick and dirty sewing project gave me further inspiration. i combined the two ideas with a little op-shopping and here we have it. four post-life pillowcase veggie bags. i picked this pillowcase, both because it is so pretty, but its also very lightweight fabric. and i used both white ribbon and yellow bias binding i had at home for the drawstrings. so now, off to the supermarket to try them out...

and the beginnings of the new

just a sneak peak of the new that i am making from my old, unfinished and tragically unfashionable jumper i posted about below. it's crocheting fun - how can i resist sharing...

where the old, unfinished and tragically unfashionable becomes new again

so, i posted about how i went to canberra a few weekends ago and got to hang out with some family. well, talk with my step-mother turned to crafting, knitting and my new found crochet skills. she then reminded me of the jumper i had starting knitting when i was in high school. not only that, she pulled it out of the cupboard, and asked me if i was ever going to finish it... ah, no. i do remember that i even had to knit the back twice, as my tension had gone way out, and it ended up far too big. but still, there is no way i would wear this - what was it with short and wide as a fashion statement? so after much reminiscing and a little discussion about the wool itself, i have decided the moment has come and the unraveling has begun.
watch this space for some fun crocheting goodness - i have such a plan!

my creative space

it appears i have a really bad habit. the habit of offering up our spare room (my creative space) to waifs who are in need of a place to stay. yet again, i have changed my spare room into a hotel room. but that's ok, for there are times when it is nice to share. so at the moment, due to our current house guest, i have gotten a bit creative with my space. see, i often create on the couch in the lounge room (where the heater lives). but my current project (or more accurately one of my current projects) actually requires a desk. i'm working on some papercutting, and have found that sharp scalpels, tender fingers and soft furnishings are not an ideal combination. so i have purloined a 'lap board' from a friend of mine. its such a great idea - just like a desk, with a hard surface to cut on, but sitting here on my lap on the couch. (i sometimes even prop it up on an extra cushion to bring the little cuttings closer to my old tired eyes).

creating can then ensue...

join in with kirsty for more creative spaces

busybusybusy

i've had a really busy week last week, and then a pretty hectic weekend. then this morning, a bit of opshopping with a friend, home for a quick bite of lunch and i'm heading out shortly to afternoon tea with another friend... so its nice to take a few minutes out and sit in the sun with a cup of tea and some biscuits. i made these yesterday, and they are so very yummy. the recipe is in a delicious magazine cafe recipe special, but it actually originates from one of my favourite cafes (sweet source on rathdowne st, carlton north), i usually adapt it depending on what sort of nuts i have in the cupboard, and this is the version i used yesterday... Oaty choc cookies 125g butter 1/2 cup caster sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 tea vanilla bean paste 1 egg 1 1/4 cup rolled oats 1 cup plain flour 1/2 tea baking powder 1/2 tea bi-carb soda 1/2 tea salt 1 block lindt 70% chocolate (which is 100g), broken into little pieces 105g almonds (dry fried in a heavy frypan and then crushed up a bit with a motar and pestle) cream butter, sugars and vanilla. beat in egg, then fold in oats. sift flour, baking powder, soda and salt and fold in. when nearly mixed in, add chocolate and nuts. spoon onto buttered trays and bake about 10 min at 170 degrees C. cool slightly on trays, then place on wire rack. serve with tea. mmm, tea.

knitta please

i am up here in canberra for the weekend, and decided to go see the soft sculpture exhibtion at the national gallery - it was brilliant (but no luck if you didn't get to catch it, for it closed today).

we parked and then walked through the sculpture garden to get to the gallery. and what fun - knitta please had been doing their work...

* with photo credits going to my sister - there is a fundamental lesson about using rechargable batteries in your camera that i seem to have missed

i love a bit of knitted graffiti, don't you?

one lovely blog award

how lovely! i got tagged by the lovely sayraphim of the page 63 of your manual with the One Lovely Blog Award. so very lovely - thanks sayraphim. so the rules are: 1. Accept the award, post in your blog together with the name of the person or people who gave it to you an a link to their blog. 2. Pass the award to other 15 blogs that you have newly discovered. 3. Contact the bloggers you award to let them know that they were chosen. such a lovely idea - without further ado (and due to time constraints), i pass on this lovely award to 7 of my fellow bloggers: 1. Clutterpunk (i know sayraphim tagged you but your blog is so lovely, that i had to tag you again) 2. little lovelies (whose blog brings me joy and inspiration) 3. sosewpoppy (who is amazingly talented) 4. kootoyoo (who makes thursdays creatively fun) 5. greedy for colour (whose current crochet obession brings me joy) 6. m* (aren't her wuppets fab) 7. vadjutka (who makes amazing jewelry) so big thanks to you all guys for making my world so lovely!

joining grannies

so, i've crocheted myself enough practice grannies. now i find it's time to join them up. again, my lack of ability to follow or understand patterns has caused a bit of chaos. i started off chaining them together, like this. but i was not really happy with the result. the great thing is that i popped over to little lovelies the other day and found that i wasn't the only one joining grannies. at her direction i popped further over to the lovely carina's craftblog for a fabulous tutorial! a-joining-we-will-go...