Bonfire night

We have just spent a lovely weekend away at my cousin's farm.

Seven adults, thirteen children (ages 1-13), a bonfire, a hearty beef casserole, homemade bread and marshmallows. With the little ones tucked into bed we sat cosy by the fire until the wee hours of the morning. I think we might have started a tradition here.

During the day, we helped to plant seeds in her new vegetable garden, talked about preserving and craft and drank endless cups of tea and coffee.

Another great weekend at the farm, made possible by my amazing cousin who makes having a houseful of people for the weekend look so effortless. This is something that she inherited from our Nana, unfortunately a trait I missed out on.

Did I tell you about the homemade quince paste we ate with our wine and cheese? the trays of home baked slices and cakes we ate with our coffee on both days? or that she made the freshly baked bread in between planting seeds and collecting eggs. Oh, and I must not forget about the homemade baileys we drank by the fire. And... she has five children.

Didn't I tell you, this girl is amazing!

Jelly, peaches and ice-cream

Some of you may have noticed that I have started another blog. A food blog.

I have been feeling so uninspired by the food that I have been cooking and eating in this house lately. I think we all have. I can justify my laziness in the kitchen with a myriad of reasons, but in fact, it is not good enough. Not for me or for my family. So the reason for my new blog, jelly peaches and ice-cream, is to inspire myself really. To give myself a reason to make a bit more of an effort.

I'm not sure if this is a good thing or pure madness on my part. Can I service two blogs? Only time will tell.

Pop over and take a look.

Too cute

I stumbled across these gorgeous baby bibs on Made It this morning. Sooo adorable. I'm sure there was nothing like this around when I had little babies in my house. You'll find these and many more lovely things at 'cook you some noodles'.

I'm bookmarking them as the perfect baby gift.

Snow white and rose red

Do you remember the story Snow White and Rose Red?

Not to be confused with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, that is a different Snow White all together. I had completely forgotten about this book until just the other day. My cousin owned a beautiful copy. I will be looking out for it now, on all the dusty shelves of the op shops that I visit.

I love the illustration from this book above, you can see more of it here.

My little trickster

Spunky Monkey has a very cute sense of humour. On the weekend he cut out this picture from the supermarket junk mail, he then came into me with a large plate and asked me to help him stick his picture to the plate.

"I'm going to trick daddy"

So he went into his father who was sleeping and said

"Wake up daddy, we have made you a cake"

What do you think? I'd jump out of bed for it.

Pod love

I can't tell you how much I love the wares in Pod. To me, it seems like the perfect general store. How lucky for the people who live close to the real store in Massachusetts. I want to touch the softness of pillows and quilts and to feel the weight of the glasses. I want to try on clothes, feel the smoothness of wooden bowls and smell the soft scents of soap and beeswax. Heaven. Have a look at their on line store. This is just a sneaky peek. They also have a beautiful blog.

And while it is a little too early to be getting silly about the silly season. I have, and I am. I have just bought this cute felt mistletoe from the on line shop. I had discovered it too late last christmas, but we won't be missing out on christmas kisses under the mistletoe this year.

Softies for Christchurch

This cute couple have been sitting by my desk here for about a month. I made them up in one weekend to be sent New Zealand for Softies for Christchurch.



Despite the fact that I have grown very attached to this pair of rather dapper rabbits. They will finally be sent off to Leonie today and then onto children of Christchurch.

If you want to see some more creative spaces, go over to our creative spaces and be inspired.

Wordless Wednesday - look! no training wheels

Go here to see more Wordless Wednesday.

Why do all children hate singlets?

On Saturday we were 45 minutes late for a play date because Miss Moo Moo flatly refused to wear a singlet. She screamed very loudly and threw herself on the ground, then ran and hid, naked under the bed.

After I eventually got her dressed and settled down, I went into Spunky Monkey's bedroom to tell him it was time to go. I double checked that he still had his singlet on. No, not a chance, he had hidden it behind the cushions on the lounge . When I asked him to put it on, he started to cry and told me that everyone would laugh at him.

What is it with kids and singlets?

I don't dare tell them that I hated wearing a singlet when I was a child.

images from here.

Flea market finds...

There hasn't been a lot of op shopping happening around here lately...... but this week I am happy to show off two my latest finds.

The sweet little aqua enamel teapot was found at the markets this morning for $2.00. And the sugar canister, made in Czechoslovakia was bought during our road trip from a very lovely lady in a very lovely shop. I don't even care that it is missing it's friends or it's lid. It cost $3.00 and I am a very happy girl.

Go here, to see what other treasures have been found this week.

Editors note: If you are popping over from 'her library adventures' I'm sorry to mislead you (not sure what happened??) but there are no vintage sheets here this week. I hope you are not too disappointed

The girly road trip

Miss Moo Moo and I loved our little road trip together.

Here are some reason's why girly road trips are so much fun:

• you can stop at op shops and antique shops and you can stay for a chat with the owner
• you can take detours to small country towns just because you like the name of them
• you can stop for photos of cows on busy roads
• you can listen to gypsy music very loud on lonely country roads
• you can miss a turn off and that's OK
• you can drive 20 minutes down one road, then decide that you would rather go a different way instead, so you turn around and go back. And that is OK too.
• you can look at bride books while waiting for you lunch to arrive
• there is more bad 'road trip' food for you, boys take such big handfuls
• no one is stressed out when your 'fuel empty' light goes on and your not sure how far the next country town is.
• no one is stressed out when you must be back home by 3:00pm to collect Spunky Monkey from school and you stop at one last antique shop (and have a chat)
• it doesn't matter if it is 5:30pm and your a stuck in peak hour Toowoomba traffic with no accommodation booked for the night
• mummy's have more tolerance for Justine Clarke (but definitely not for 3 whole days)



To give you an idea of how we spent our time. Our first morning away went something like this:

6:30am: we woke up to see the fog spreading across the countryside

7:30am: we were propped up with pillows in our cosy bed, each with a chocolate chip cookie from the tea tray. Me with a cup of tea. Miss Moo Moo with a cup of long life milk. Me with a Country Style Magazine and Miss Moo Moo with ABC kids.

8:30am: we shared a hot bath together - no mad school rush on this day

9:30am: We were sitting in the sun eating an very yummy breakfast.



You get the picture. Heaven.



It was lovely being in the country and seeing all the old houses. Their are not many houses like this where we live. Look at this one, someone has just restumped it and is about to start renovating it. I wish it was me.

Old houses: we ate lunch in some, drank cappuccino's in some, looked at antiques in some, took pictures of some and even looked in one that was for sale. Miss Moo Moo told me I had to stop saying "so old, so cute!"

And a few things that we saw on our road trip (we must tell the boys): 27 army vehicles, a yowie statue, a deer (?), a giant concrete ostrich, a little gruffalo, it was definitely not a statue, I did not see this one, and a toilet hanging in a tree. I did see that one.

Maybe next road trip the boys can come. I will be able to do a whole lot more looking out of the window and I might just see a gruffalo!

With sincerest thanks

Miss Moo Moo and I have been on a 'girly road trip'.

We drove to Toowoomba and then on to Kingaroy to see a friend.

All in aid of the Queensland Flood Appeal Dolly Drive.


(Miss Moo Moo, my little helper, was happy to carry a small box in from the car park)

On Tuesday morning we hand delivered 48 dolls/softies to the lovely ladies at the QCWA in Toowoomba. Jan and the other branch volunteers have been working closely with families in the Lockyer Valley, providing them with basic items when they return to their homes. When we arrived, other items such as children clothing and bedding were being delivered also.

What an amazing job these ladies are doing, working so closely with individual families in need. That afternoon they were putting things together for a family who are expecting their first child. So I guess that is one little softie on it's way to a new home.



The ladies at the CWA were eager to have a look inside the boxes and were truly astonished and touched by what they found.

Zoe, Treann, Alison, Heather, Lindsey, Crafty Mermaid, Elsa, Megan (Mousehouse), Jan, Melissa, Jane, Ceila, Roslyn, Karen (Weathergirl), Rachel, Fran, Isabelle, Vanessa, Amanda, Mary Jo and Prue.

Your dolls/softies have all been taken to Toowoomba and will be distributed in the Lockyer Valley communities over the coming months.

We drove through the Valley on our drive to Toowoomba and were certainly struck by the devastation that we were still able to see, particularly in the town of Grantham. Homes, without walls, just a frame and a roof, homes that clearly had half of the house missing, homes surrounded by barrier fencing, looking as it they would crumble in the breeze, barrier fencing surrounding furniture, a washing machine and debris, but no house, homes slowly being rebuilt, a corner shop, almost on it's side. Most roads marked "local traffic only."

So while I did not organise shelter or food or counseling, I hope that we (that's you, the softie makers and I) can at least pass on some of the warmth that is the human spirit. I hope too, that in other parts of the world and during other disasters, that others will do the same, in whatever way they can.

Thank-you to the 27 women who made the 58 dolls/softies that I received.

In the words of an amazing lady doing great things on the other side of the world:

"Your doll/softie donations are quintessentially the meaning of hope" Stephanie, president of the Abundant Ground Foundation

And I must not forget to thank Sarah, because if it wasn't for Sarah, I would never have had the idea to have a dolly drive in the first place.

The last of the dollies have arrived

Some are bright and happy and smiling.



Some are sleepy.



Some are snuggly and tiny for babies.



Some are old fashioned.



With take off clothing and frilly knickers.

Thank-you Jan for your amazing effort in making these six adorable dolls.



Thank-you Prue. Another amazing effort. I love the gorgeous colours used for this little doll. So sweet.



Thank-you Mary Jo. I adore this soft flannel bunny with his satin trimmed ears and cute little carry bag.

I believe that these are the last of the dolls for the Queensland Flood Appeal Dolly Drive to arrive. I have packed these up and put them with the others, ready for the next leg of their journey.

Watch this space.

Have a great week.

Happy Mother's Day

(image from here)

Happy Mothers Day.

To all of the beautiful mothers that I know and love and to those that I don't.

I hope you have a lovely relaxing day with the special little people in your life.

Crafty flickr

I know I am a little bit behind the times, but I now have a Flickr page set up (see my side bar).

I signed up to be part of Five Green Acres Rumpelstiltskin Challenge and thought I would put all of the other crafty things I've made on Flickr too. I hadn't realised that I had made so much!

I don't come from a crafty family. My mother was a young mother who worked from when I was a baby. She did sew, but I think that was more out of necessity, there wasn't a lot of fashion choices in a small country town. And while my Nana did crochet, she had suffered from arthritis from the age of 23. When I was very little I remember her crocheting small things. But by the time I was old enough to learn, her needles had long been packed away. Craft was something you did at school.

After being so inspired by all of the crafty bloggers out there, I decided to give a bit of crafting a go. I started making things in December 2009. So 18 months on, completely self taught, I'm pretty happy with what I have done.

The things I've made are far from perfect but they have been made for my family with love. Lucky for me, they are easy to please.

Two heads are better than one

I was very short on time in between our beach holiday and our easter holiday, so I asked Grandma if she would make some pajama's pants for the kids. I had some beautiful thick flannelette in the cupboard that I have had forever, it was perfect. I then bought a couple of plain long sleeve cotton undershirts and I decorated them with an adorable vintage cot sheet my cousin had given me and some stitching.





What a team we made. The kids love their new pajama's, that were delivered especially by the Easter Bunny. It was so hard to get a photo, I just couldn't get these hoppy little bunnies to stand still. But you get the idea, right?

They never would have been made if I had tried to do it all myself.

Sometimes it is OK to ask for help. Thank-you Grandma.

If you want to see some more creative spaces, go over to kootoyoo and be inspired.

Stepping back in time

Over the Easter break we spent a fantastic afternoon exploring a local historical museum.

Yes, the little boy is real. He belongs to me, but I think he would of fitted in nicely in the late 1890's

Spunky Monkey, was happy to step back in time and loved pumping water from this old pump.



I love historical museums and houses set up like this one. You can read all about 'how life was' in books, but it's only when you stand inside a house like this slab hut, that you can really get a sense what life must of been like. A family, just like us, lived here. This particular house was moved from a community close to where I grew up.









The slab hut consisted of three rooms. I loved the kitchen and dining room area, and all of the cookware from yesteryear. Unfortunately the other rooms were too dark to take any good photos.



The kids loved the demonstrations put on by the volunteers, especially the wood turning. I think they stood here watching this man for about an hour.



There was also a blacksmith demonstration.





They were most excited by making their very own length of rope on a 98 year rope making machine and waited ever so patiently while a few big kids pushed in.



I loved the little one room school and the way it was set up for class.

The three R's, then back home to milk the cow, chop the wood, feed the pigs and pump the water.