When it rains - I cook

The week before the floods hit Brisbane, we were doing a lot of cooking at our house. It was unrelenting rain, so there was not much else to do. I was just clearing my camera and thought I would show you some pictures, even if it was two weeks ago.



We made baked doughnuts using this recipe. Yum. Yum. Yum!



We drunk hot chocolate, yes some days were actually cold!



I'm trying to stop cooking and eating so much pasta this year. One night we ate grilled salmon and pasta salad. OK, this is still pasta, but at least in came in a different guise. It was cold. It was salad.





Another night I cooked Filipino food. Chicken and rice porridge (Arroz Caldo), pork braised in sweet vinegar soy (Humba), braised greens and jasmine rice. So yummy on a cold, rainy night.





Nanny came over to our place and made a pavlova. Spunky Monkey was her little helper.



There were days of popcorn and the Fantastic Mr Fox. Many days in fact.



We even went out for breakfast during a thunderstorm!

Please don't forget that the Queensland Flood Appeal Auction has started and ends at midnight on Monday 24th January. A master list of other crafty auctioneers can be found here.

AND

Don't forget my Queensland Flood Appeal Dolly Drive. Perhaps you'd like to join us.

Just a few things....

(the photos are of two dolls I made over the weekend for the dolly drive)

• Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you, to all of the people putting their hands up to make a doll for the Dolly Drive. I am overwhelmed by the support coming from around the world. Along with the people listed in my side bar, many others, without a blog, have also contacted me and are making dolls as I write. I have sent off some e-mails trying to get contacts to help distribute them. Please if you have any ideas or contacts, let me know.

• Thanks too, to the lovely ladies who have either put my button on their blog or posted about the Dolly Drive. I have been trying to thank-you personally, but I think I have missed a few. I have noticed, thanks for helping spread the word.

• Jenna has sent in a great link for doll patterns. You might want to have a look. "Bit of Whimsy Dolls"

• Carol from 'naturally carol' is making cushions and aprons for the homes of flood victims and wants to know if anyone else would like to join her. Also if anyone has any ideas on how she can distribute them, please let her know.

• Catherine has taken a ticket in my raffle and asked if she wins, to pass it on. Perhaps you could do the same. I can donate the cat softie to the dolly drive and cushions could be donated to Carol (see above)

• Please, please, please donate. If not here, then on one of the many other auction or raffles listed here.

•I want to welcome my new followers, Alli from 'a beautiful pea green boat' and 'handmade in a pea green boat', Sarah from 'one perfect day', Sophie from 'her library adventures', Christy from 'a Christy production', 'felt like stitchin', Al, Mary and Siti Fatimah





• And finally, I am going to resume blogging as normal. It am still watching the flood news both here and now around Australia. My heart is breaking. It just hasn't seemed right to be blogging happy thoughts in this space over the last couple of weeks. But I need to get back to some pretty pictures, recipe posts and crafting. This blog is my happy place. I will, of course, be keeping you update with the dolly drive and the raffle.

Please don't forget that the Queensland Flood Appeal Auction has started and ends at midnight on Monday 24th January. A master list of other crafty auctioneers can be found here.

AND

Don't forget my Queensland Flood Appeal Dolly Drive. Perhaps you'd like to join us.

Raffle number five - vintage tablecloth cushion cover

• This cushion cover is made with a re-purposed vintage tablecloth on the front and thrifted unused brown wool on the back.
• The raffle is for the cushion cover only.
• It is made to fit an 40 x 60 cm cushion.
• I prefer to use the ikea fjadrar feather inner cushion to fill this size cushion, as it can easily be squashed into shape. It is the inner cushion I have used for the picture.
• I recommend hand washing only of this product.

Please take a ticket, it's just $5.00 for one raffle ticket to help someone in need. If you don't want it, and you win, you could put it aside for a present or donate it to a family devastated by flooding, either here in Queensland or in another part of Australia.

Raffle number four - vintage curtain cushion cover

• This cushion cover is made with a re-purposed vintage curtain on the front and new light blue heavy weight cotton on the back.
• The raffle is for the cushion cover only.
• It is made to fit an 40 x 60 cm cushion.
• I prefer to use the ikea fjadrar feather inner cushion to fill this size cushion, as it can easily be squashed into shape. It is the inner cushion I have used for the picture.

Please take a ticket, it's just $5.00 for one raffle ticket to help someone in need. If you don't want it, and you win, you could put it aside for a present or donate it to a family devastated by flooding, either here in Queensland or in another part of Australia.

Raffle number three - cat softie

• This soft toy cat is made from thrifted, unused pink corduroy. It's arms, legs and tail are made from re-purposed ladies pants. It has an hand embroidered face.
• It is filled with poly hobby fill.
• It stands 43 cm high
• I recommend spot cleaning or gentle hand wash only for this product

Please take a ticket, it's just $5.00 for one raffle ticket to help someone in need. If you don't want it, and you win, you could put it aside for a present or donate it to a family devastated by flooding, either here in Queensland or in another part of Australia.

Raffle number two - knitted baby blanket

• This blanket was knitted by a local lady. I am happy to raffle it on her behalf.
• It can be used as a baby blanket or lap blanket
• It is 95 x 95 cm square
• It is a combination of multi-coloured acrylic wool.

Please take a ticket, it's just $5.00 for one raffle ticket to help someone in need. If you don't want it, and you win, you could put it aside for a present or donate it to a family devastated by flooding, either here in Queensland or in another part of Australia.

Raffle number one - vintage fabric cushion cover

• This cushion cover is made with unused vintage fabric on the front and new charcoal grey cotton drill on the back.
• The raffle is for the cushion cover only.
• It is made to fit an 50 x 50 cm cushion.
• I prefer to use the ikea fjadrar feather inner cushion to fill my cushions, as it can easily be squashed into shape. It is the inner cushion I have used for the picture.

Please take a ticket, it's just $5.00 for one raffle ticket to help someone in need. If you don't want it, and you win, you could put it aside for a present or donate it to a family devastated by flooding, either here in Queensland or in another part of Australia.

Queensland Flood Appeal Auctions

It's been a harrowing day, glued to the TV and many, many, many phone calls.

Mr Moo could not get home from work tonight. We are grateful, that, after making a few extra detours, he could make it to my mum's place. It would have been nice to have him home.

Since my last post this afternoon, there has been many changes in South East Queensland. Many Brisbane suburbs are being evacuated, areas where we once lived and worked. My thoughts are now with my many readers and people from Brisbane and the surrounding areas. I hope you and your families are safe and dry tonight.

I sit here, stranded and feeling helpless, but there is something I can do. I will be taking part in the Queensland Flood Appeal Auctions that are being organised by Toni of 'make it perfect'. The Auction starts on Monday, 17th January and will run for one week. So what you need to do, is come back here on Monday to see what I will be auctioning off.

Take a button (see my sidebar) for your blog, even if you don't want to auction anything yourself, we need to spread the word. Support is vital, as 75% of Queensland has been declared a disaster zone.