2010

seagull foot prints taken this morning at South Beach

2010... I love you! I've had such a great year, the best yet!

I spent most of the year being pregnant and loved it*
Gave birth to our gorgeous baby boy and loved it** 
Getting to know our sweet little man, looove him!
Spent too much time reading other peoples blogs, and loved it.
Met some other about to be new parents, and loved them.
Got my first DSLR for my birthday, and love it.
Started to have much more of a relationship with my Granny, and am loving it.

Happy New Year!!
I'm excited for 2011, I hope you are too.
How was your 2010?

Mx

*(minus a queasy month or too in the first trimester)
**(except for the blood loss and fainting afterwards)

Freo Friday

 
This one is along Henry Street. I love it.

Mx

Poppy Doll

 

made just in time to send off for Softies for Mirabel 2010, organised by Pip from Meet Me at Mikes. You can buy the Poppy Doll pattern here from Hop Skip Jump, really cute patterns, I think I'll have to get the Gerald Giraffe one next.

Mx

Freo Friday

I haven't made it in to Freo for a few weeks because post natal yoga is getting in the way of my usual friday lunch with the girls, so I only saw these lovelies yesterday. The guess was they've been up about three weeks already.

Along High Street in front of New Edition (the best bookstore in town) right next to the backpackers.

Have a lovely weekend. We're going to have a housefull (flatfull?) of girls* over making softies for Mirabel.

Mx

*not real girls as in teenagers or younger, but my mates, the girls. I probably should start using the word ladies, but it doesn't feel right... maybe when we're in our forties...

Yarn Along

Playing along with Ginny again this week.

I've had this project on the needles for longer than I care to remember,  but I'm so pleased that three solid days being driven all over the country side has given me many hours with my hands free to knit. This slouchy beret is so close to being finished, and look at how close I was to not having enough wool left! (dang, I cut that off in the photo, but trust me, there are mere millimeters on the other side of the photo edge). The pattern is the alice beret from knitting little luxuries.

And I'm reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel for book club. I have read it before and loved it, so I've chosen it for our current book club selection.

Head on over to Small Things to check out other Yarners.

Mx

Breakfast of Kings

Of The King... PB and banana hotdogs, a simplified version of Elvis's fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches, soo delicious! I love a lot of butter (real butter, organic and most definitely salted) and smooth PB, put on while the bread butts are hot enough to make it melty.

I've Nigella to thank for putting me on to this wonderful flavour combination way back in 01 with her Nigella Bites Series and cookbook. That cookbook is hands down the most cooked from cook book that I own. I have a goal to cook at least one dish from every cook book I have (to justify keeping them all), but alas most of them just sit in the book case and I get most of my recipes from blogs or the internet.

 I just did a search and Nigella's recipe for Presley's Fried Peanut-Butter and Banana Sandwich is available here.  Unfortunately you miss out on the preamble you get to the recipe in the book, which is one of the reasons I love her cook books so, as much for the food as to read her stories. After all these years, I still have a girl crush on her.

Try them, you'll only be sorry calorifically...

Mx

Yarn Along

Ginny over at Small Things has started a new meme - Yarn Along, a photo of what you're reading and knitting/crocheting.

I have the granny shrug by Kootoyoo on the hook at the moment (it's been on there for a while), and I'm reading The No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley, trying to get a little insight into the sleeping habits and needs of babies.

Aparrently the wee man could be giving me another 5 to 6 hours a day to catch up on sleep and housework (16-17 hours a day instead of 12). Things have gotten better though and I think 5 years of night-shift at the Mail Exchange are finally paying dividends.

Pop over to Small Things to check out other crafty readers.

Mx

Freo Friday

So much more interesting than a plain wall. I took this photo last summer and I think it's been painted again (not as nicely).

Mx

Sunday Quote

“Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”
- Elizabeth Stone

 
We had our first scare with our precious wee man today which really bought home this quote. Now I will be sure that anybody holding the babe is no where near the car when I shut the boot.

The strength of feeling I have for someone I've known for eight weeks is frightening, obviously you can't walk around every day thinking about how bad it would be if anything ever did happen, but today...

The enormous love I have for this little man has opened me up to the preciousness of all children, I have a new understanding that all these little people walking around are carrying their parents hearts with them. Somebody would feel the same despair I would if anything ever happened to them. It makes me drive more carefully. At the same time, seeing kids makes me smile now, because I also know the joy they are bringing to someone.

Hope you had a lovely weekend with no scares
Mx

Freo Friday

A photo of the backpackers on High Street in Fremantle.

And a very green pano (panel van) parked out front.

Have a great weekend!

Mx

Granny Rug

If only there was a one handed craft I could do while sitting on the couch feeding the little man I'd have plenty of self made craft to show you. In the mean time I have a few gorgeous handmades to show you from friends and family, like this crocheted woolen baby rug made by my Granny.

Mx

I'm so crafty!

I'm so crafty I made a baby!* I may not make as much craft as I'd like, or finish projects in a timely fashion, but here is a little project I've been working on, that was actually delivered ahead of schedule.

Little Charlie arrived nine days early on Tuesday morning. We had a quick 4 hour labour and birthed in the pool in our lounge room.

I'm still in awe of how perfect he is, and how lucky we are. Thank you Universe!

* I don't know who first said this but I think it is hilarious and I love it

Mx

Baking in the Nude

and why it isn't a good idea...

I took a sour dough baking class the other weekend with the Queen of Sourdough Yoke Mardewi. Great class, Yoke's sample breads were delicious (as were the jams), and the pizzas we had for lunch made from sour dough bases were seriously good.

We made our own dough in class to bake at home. So I'm having a shower and the oven is preheating and I remembered that the grill tray from the previous evening is still in the oven with the sausage fat from Husby's dinner.

Of course a vegetarian baker does not want her sour dough tainted with sausage fat smoke. I acted with haste and didn't get dressed before removing the offending tray... pulling it straight out of the oven, onto my belly that sticks out far more than I'm used to allowing for.

Let that be a lesson, only bake in the nude if you aren't also baking delicious baby rolls in your own oven. Ooh baby schell, we are really getting excited to meet you soon.

Mx

I also advice getting your tongue pierced instead of your belly button, it heals much better once you grow out of it.

Posh Cake

Father's Day usually means baking my Dad's favourite cake if I'm organized, and this year I was. It normally looks a little fancier with thin curls of orange zest on top but I don't know where my zester is - might be time to buy a new one methinks.

The recipe calls it Posh Cake, I don't know its origins except that the recipe came to me through my old sister in law (it was fun being married into a family of foodies).

You could be boring and just call this an Orange Poppy Seed Syrup Cake, but that takes a lot longer and doesn't sound as mysterious. This cake is delicious, moist and perfect with cream. And, it is so easy to make you can trick people into believing you have baking skills.

Posh Cake

* 1 cup of butter (240g)
* 1 cup of sugar
* 3 egg yolks
* 1 cup of sour cream
* grated rind of one orange and 1 lemon
* 1 + 3/4 cups self raising flour
* 3 egg whites (beat until peaks form)
* 2 tablespoons poppy seeds

cream butter and sugar
add egg yolks, sour cream and rind - beat until light and fluffy
add sifted flour and fold in the egg whites, then add poppy seeds
put into foil lined cake tin and bake at 160 C for 1 hour or until cooked through
remove from tin and place cake carefully onto a large plate with a rim

Orange Syrup

* grated rind of 2 oranges
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* juice of one lemon and 2 oranges

boil syrup for 3 minutes
pour hot syrup over cake
serve with cream

Love you Dad
Mx

Dog Poo Heart

To add to my collection of heart photos.

I thought it might have been made from a smudge of dog poo on the footpath, but on closer inspection perhaps the heart is formed from a skid mark of another sort... a bicycle tire perhaps.

Snapped during the week on an epic walk (epic for a belly with 3 weeks to go) along the foreshore in East Fremantle. About the only exercise I've done recently unless you count cleaning.

Starting to get excited as we count down to bubba schell's arrival.

Hope your weekend is filled with random hearts

Mx

Freo Friday

Glorious day in Freo today. This is the side of the building that has the sitting bench I posted previously.

Do you see that little icon up there? made of tiles?

Do you have any idea what it means, who puts them up? There's one in Perth I've wondered about for years.

I always see it when I'm going through the city on the freeway from North to South, just after Parliament House (I took this photo in peak hour last week). It is on the foot bridge that connects the city with King's Park, joining Mount Street with Mount Street over the freeway.

Back in the day, I used to go there a couple of times a week to do Jacob's Ladder, a concrete stair going up the side of Mount Eliza on the boundary of King's Park. Nearly 300 steps of pain, just kidding, the first time it kills you and your not sure you'll make it back down your legs are spasm-ing so much, but if you go back the second time is not as hard and so on. I do miss it a little, summer evenings, the beautiful view, the zen of pushing yourself up and down and up down the stairs, the odd gaggle of football players with their shirts off...

Anyway, back to the space invader looking things, any clues? I've always wondered if they were some sort of secret sign, or secret society or something, like the freemasons. Or just random street art. The one over the freeway is in quite a prominent spot, and from my memory I would say it has been there at least 20 years.

Mx

Granny Gold!

My mother's mother (Granny) has just moved from her residence of the last 25(?) years from a small coastal country town to live in a granny flat built for her at my Aunts country block. Granny flat sounds small doesn't it? It's not, bigger than our flat it is!

I wanted to visit the house and the town I hadn't seen since I was about 12 before the move, so Mum, Dad and I went down earlier in the year to help Granny start getting organised.

Granny prefers to chrochet these days, so I happily saved her the task of having to pack these pattern books and other goodies.

 [one of the transfers from the red Semco booklet in the first picture]

The patterns are all draft yourself instructions like this. I'll probably learn a thing or two about pattern making and hopefully have fun in the process.

Really Cute Jacket

Wardrobe Refashion continues to be a source of inspiration even though I decided not to re-pledge while being pregnant.

Just the other day I saw this gorgeous jacket posted by Carolyn and am totally tempted to go and find that pattern for myself. Heck knows when I would get around to sewing it, but look at those cute sleeves!

Click on over to Carolyn's blog to see more gorgeous detail.

Mx

My Creative Space

I've been knitting this slouchy beanie since Bali in January. Knitting in humidity felt more like an arm wrestle at times, so I didn't get very far.

It has sat virtually untouched since then, and I don't have high hopes for it to turn out like the pattern since I am not using the correct size needles and I have no idea what weight this home-spun wool by Granny is. I should have knit a gauge square I suppose, but I'm always too keen to get to the 'real' knitting. I've never knit a gauge square before but I can see their usefulness before starting a large project.

So this little project has been turned into practice for Continental Knitting. Knitters generally have a looser tension with the Continental style and you can see where I switched. It still feels more comfortable to knit the old way even though I tend to knit very tightly in the normal style and hold a lot of tension in my shoulders. I'm hoping with a bit more practice the Continental style will feel more natural and I'll be much quicker and less bunched up in the shoulders.

I do love the smaller movements and the more relaxed feel in my hands and shoulders. This is the best video on the Continental style I've found so far.



Head on over to check out other Creative Spacers.

Mx

Husby

 [image taken from Acronym Finder]

No D**k Heads here... or dunderheads, damn husbands or dumb husbands.

Darling Husband does not read my blog, but after I posted about our 4WD weekend below I suggested he have a look to see the photos. Not only did he look at the photos but he actually read the post.

Him: DH? what's that?
Moi: Darling Husband
Him: Oh, ok, not D**k Head then?
Moi: haha, ah no, maybe I better call you something different...

I'm pretty sure we've had that above conversation once before, so from now on I'll be referring to my DH on this blog as Husby, or some other nickname.

Mx

Cervantes to Lancelin

Disregarding the BOM and forcasts of awful weather, we went ahead with our plans for this weekend to 4WD from Cervantes to Lancelin on what Australian 4WD Action magazine has listed as one of the "20 Tracks You Must Drive!"

At 7 months pregnant I'm not sure if it was the new brand of chinotto I tried on Saturday night, the veg quiche from the bain marie (I keep forgetting about not eating pre-heated food) or the constant jostling from the drive upsetting my pregnancy reflux that had me throwing up for the first time this pregnancy. I never feel quite so sorry for myself as when I'm vomiting, so I hope that makes me remember the bain marie rule and I don't think I'll be able to bring myself to drink that brand of chinotto again.

It was however, all worth it to seeing how much fun DH had over the weekend. Such pleasure that men can derive from conquering some dunes and driving along the beach. I love to see him smile like that.

I hope you had a great weekend.

Mx

It's been a cold week

Not that it's perturbed me at all with my elevated core temperature, but with the cloudless nights we've been having this week and the subsequent chilly-ness, we've tossed the unfinished denim quilt on the bed, pins and all.

Must. finish. before. baby. arrives!
Enjoy your weekends.

Mx

Perth Upmarket

This Sunday

[Perth Upmarket]

The weather has been just glorious, what could be better than strolling through awesome handmade goodness on a beautiful winters day? One of my favourite blogger/makers Two Little Banshees will be there too, I hope I'm not too shy to say hello.

Mx

Lemon Squeezy Baby Quilt

Still haven't finished the quilt for our bump yet, but I did finish this quilt yesterday with an hour and a half to spare for a friends baby shower.

And with all that time to spare I even managed a matching card (though there were no suitable wrapping supplies on hand, and it was gifted sans wrapping).

The quilt is actually 5 layers of fabric, no batting, sewn together with parallel channels. The top layers were then sliced through with a special cutter, leaving the bottom layer intact.

This is the magic tool and it was a first time date for us (I love gadgets!). The blade needed to be rotated about 5 or 6 times as it blunted quickly. I suppose it had a lot of cutting to do.

Hand basting was also done for the first time, and though it was a slow process it worked really well. There was no puckering, and with all those parallel lines of stitching it was great not to have to stop and remove pins as I went.

Looking out for somewhere more suitable to try and get full sized photos of my finished quilts now, our little balcony is not quite cutting it.

Mx

Sunday Market

Here's what I picked up at the Baby and Kids Market at South Fremantle Senior High School this morning.

30 organic cotton nappies, never used, for $100. I haven't done too much research into the cost of nappies but I think I got a bargain. How many weeks would it take to spend $100 on disposables? A quick check online has huggies newborns for $41.95 for 108 nappies, which would last about 2 to 3 weeks using approx 7 a day. Plus it would have cost me $250 to buy these new.

These nappies will be back up, for when we go out, and when DH wants to hold the baby without worry of getting messed on as we are planning to practice EC (Elimination Communication). Well, I am anyway, DH would really like it if I dropped the idea. And with EC it is always handy to have lots of cloths on hand even when they're not being used as nappies to place under baby as they sleep or for random messy mop up jobs etc, and they can also be used for burp clothes.

Today was my first time at the Baby and Kids Market, they are held regularly and there are also boy only markets too. Thanks Connie for putting me on to the markets. They'll be great after bubs arrives and we know the gender, to shop for clothes.

Actually, I think the markets are all over the country.

Hope you've had a great weekend.
Mx