bread and cake

It's been a while between posts.  I haven't been on the computer much at all this last week.    I have had two very sick girls again and that zaps the little bit of energy I might have.

So creating doesn't get done.

I have been playing with paint for my online mixed media course but nothing blog worthy yet.

I have been baking when I have been up to it.   We ended up with way too many carrots last week so I have been putting carrots in everything.  

I made this giant carrot cake too and it's the first time I have made cream cheese icing and I can highly recommend it.  It's delicious.  It doesn't even need to be on the cake!  Straight from the bowl is just fine.

and of course I have been making lots of bread since getting my Bread maker for my birthday.  I had to buy a bread slicing rack though as some of my slices have been a little bit too thick...giant in fact.

hopefully I will be back soon with some crafty stuff and some book reviews too

coco and amelia

I did manage to have most of the weekend up.   I went art supply shopping today, yay! and still have some more to do.    I am saving Little Dorrit for another day soon as I rented 2 movies over the weekend and had to  share them with you. Especially the first one.

Coco and Igor, the story of Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky.

I found this movie to be breathtaking.    It follows on from the time frame of the Audrey Tautou Coco Before Chanel one.   It starts with a brief period in 1913 then onto 1920.

I found it a very intense and emotional journey.    There is a love triangle as Stravinsky's wife is there too.  I felt sorry for her.  The clothes are divine and apparently The House of Chanel have officially endorsed the movie as fabulous.

The movie touches on things like what a dragon she was to work for and also how Chanel no. 5 came about.  All very interesting I thought.

One of my fave all time books is Stravinsky's Lunch.  It is about the plight of being a woman and also trying to be an artist compared to how it is to be a man doing it.  Famous men like Stravinsky.  I think I may tell you about the book soon as I think a lot of you would love it.  I read it about 6 years ago and couldn't put it down and it's time to read it again I feel.

The other movie is Amelia.  I watched this a couple of months ago and got it out for mum to watch and just had to watch it again first.  I love it.

I had just the other day watched a documentary on the History Channel about Amelia Earhart.

I found it incredible to find out there are so many conspiracy theories as to what happened to her.  I love a good conspiracy theory, don't you?   Some say she was on a spy mission for Roosevelt and was caught and put in a prison camp.  Some reckon she went back to the USA and lived under a different identity.

It's all very Elvis don't you think????

Two fabulous movies.   Watch out too for Gracie next Sunday 8.30 ABC1, looks pretty good

...

I don't have any crafty stuff to speak of.  I have now had seven days in bed.  Thankfully today I have had a few hours up and about.  I am hoping that means tomorrow I will be up all day.

The bright spot of my week was Wednesday because it was my birthday and I did receive some wonderful gifts.

Mum and my sister gave me a bread maker which I have wanted for ages.  My bestie gave me goodies plus a gift voucher to buy art supplies which I am soooooo happy about.  I have been wanting stamps, inks, texture paste etc for my mixed media work for so long but never have the money to spare.    So now I can have a spend up.  The Eldest, Zoe gave me a gift voucher as well,  from my favourite art supply shop so I am one happy girl.    Just need to feel well then I am shopping big time. I will be in heaven.

My sweet Isobel wanted to choose a book for me so hubby took her to her fave book shop and she chose this delightful book of felties to make.  I love it and was so touched Bel chose a gift I would love so much.

and hubby gave me this......yipppeeeeeee........

so if I do end up still in bed over the weekend, well you know what I'll be watching.....

happy weekend xxx

corningware plus some

I had a lovely op shopping adventure a while ago.  It must be nearly two weeks ago but it's taken me this long to take photos.  A bit slack I know. 

I found this lovely CorningWare dish.  Mum has a couple of these in different sizes with this very pattern on them.    She has had them since getting married in 1958, which was the first year of manufacture so they must of been a pretty cool present at the time.

  I was so happy to find it even though it was in desperate need of  some TLC.  It looked like it had never been washed up properly.  But with some elbow grease it has come up a treat.

Apparently they have had this same Cornflower design on them until 1988.  The glass lid is made by Pyrex.

then I stumbled across this Tupperware container.   I love it and have never seen one quite this tall.   I am thinking it was designed for spaghetti??

and this very sweet handmade apron, someone has gone to a lot of effort to stitch onto this

I am hoping this is a week for finishing off a couple of things waiting on my work table.  I am thinking of the projects all the time but I have had a few days in bed after having sick girls for a couple of weeks as well.  This HAS to be a back to normal week..........or I may just go crazy

8 ply and needles

I am giving knitting another go after having my tantrum over it.   I must admit even though I have only done a few rows I am enjoying it.  I am using an 8 ply Cleckheaton and small needles and it has made a huge difference to the result.  The rib is actually stretchy.  Thanks Cindy for your invaluable advice and also to the other knitty peeps who encouraged me to have another go. That's what is really cool about blogging.

BUT, I will be putting it aside for the time being as I must finish off some other half done projects and then prepare for some online mixed media classes which I am very excited about.

Pop over to Kirsty's for lots of creative action around the traps,

extra extra

I was quite upset to read the news that our favourite zine Mixtape is no longer going to be printed on paper after October.  It will still be available online but we won't be getting it in our mail boxes anymore.

We shall all miss it very much.    

 This comes after recently another fave zine of mine World Sweet World ceased to be printed on paper and is only available online.

But all is not lost as there is another gem which I have blogged about before.

This is the 3rd issue of Extra Curricular.  It's fabulous.  It's great quality.  It has a lovely tactile feel about it and is a great read about creative peeps.  It too comes from New Zealand like World Sweet World did.

If you haven't checked this out yet, it really is worth a look.  I look forward to each issue and this one arrived today.    Please don't end up publishing only online Extra Curricular, I don't think I could cope.

Off to make a pot of tea and curl up with this wonderful real life in my hands magazine.....

enid is a must

Enid is the most wonderful film.  I enjoyed it so much it will be a DVD I buy so I can watch over and over.   I quite admire Helena Bonham Carter.  She is fabulous in Harry Potter and I loved her in Alice In Wonderland.  Of course her partner in life is Tim Burton and she and Johnny Depp seem to be in most of his films, which is a good thing.

But Enid is a different role and I have to say I think this is her best role yet. 

 Enid Blyton was quite a troubled woman.  A very dysfunctional mother.  I won't give away anything, suffice to say it was incredibly interesting to see into the type of person she was, and a shock.

I loved her books growing up.  Each week I would get a new Secret Seven or Famous Five from the school library.  I couldn't wait to get the next book. I loved them more than any other books.

We have many Enid books in our house.    My girls read some when they were younger, but not quite with the enthusiasm I had for them back in the day.  Although there are a few they loved.

The fashions in the film are gorgeous.  I have read a few different reviews which have stated some of the dresses are not authentic vintage.  They are made by Cath Kidston.  I don't think this matters at all because there is no way you would even notice they were not 70 year old dresses.  So many costumes are made new for a period drama.  The dresses are simply stunning, and the furniture and the whole thing.....love love love it

snuggle

I thought today I would clean out some cupboards and purge unwanted items of clothing and stuff, then do some baking for the week ahead and get a little washing done to put on the clotheshorse.     But it is such a bleak and cold day, I have not done a thing really.   We are lucky here in Tassie in winter.  Most days are frosty in the morning then blue skies and sun all day, but we do have a handful of bleak, grey days where the temperature may only just nudge into double figures.

So of course the best thing to do on said days is to snuggle up warmly and watch a movie one has been wanting to watch for sometime.........

when said movie is watched then of course one has the burden of dinner.  Once dinner is decided upon, cooked and dishes are done, one can snuggle up again to watch a much enjoyed BBC drama.

of course after such a full on day, one can then snuggle up in bed....

tea and cake

I had the most wonderful morning tea yesterday.   I had morning tea with a bloggy friend who until now,  I had never met.  We have been commenting and emailing for a couple of years, even though we realised quite sometime ago we actually lived in the same suburb!!!

But we knew as we both are unwell peeps a lot of the time, it would be hard to meet up but one day we would.  Well we finally did and I am soooo happy we did.  It was as if we already knew each other.  We had pots of tea and yummy food.  I do love a cafe that serves leaf tea and not teabags.

It was lovely to meet Cindy, she is soooo nice and such a sweetie. 

She even came bearing gifts!!!  A sweet little coin purse, it's adorable.  I think Cindy is a braver woman than I sewing in such a tiny zip

and a Tardis dishcloth!!  I am overcome.  I had seen one Cindy made a while back and completely gushed about it as Cindy and I both love all things Doctor Who.  Well now I have my own.  Of course it's too good to use in the sink!

Thanks for a lovely morning Cindy.  I am sorry if I kept you a bit long.  Next time I won't talk so much and we can get home for our Nana naps a bit sooner.... I am resting today as well and that is perfectly fine because it was soooo lovely to do Tea with such a lovely friend. 

After inspecting my knitting Cindy gave me some tips and encouragement which was just what I needed.    I also would really like to thank those of you who encouraged me too on my last post.    I have decided I will definitely give it another go and not sulk anymore.......

to knit or not to knit

I have sewn up the wrist warmers and I have to say they fail dismally.  This is the third pair of these I have tried and all of them just don't work out how I would like.  They knit up OK but my cast on is tighter than my cast off so they are tight one end and really loose the other.  I also seem to really stretch the fabric somehow when I sew it up.

This time I even consulted my good friend YouTube and we went through a few tutorials on sewing up knitting.

A couple of years ago I put up on Flickr a photo of some scarves I had knitted and a Flickr Friend contacted me and said she was a moderator on Ravelry and I should join the community.

I knew at the time a few Bloggers had been saying they were waiting patiently to have their Ravelry request granted and it was taking a few months for some.

I emailed back my Friend and said "thank you very much but I think you have me confused with a knitter, and that their were others more worthy waiting to join" she explained there was no waiting time to be "invited in" so to speak just they were really short on admin peeps and it was taking ages to get back to requests.  She also explained Ravelry was well and truly for beginners as they can get support and help.  So I joined happily and I think Ravelry is a wonderful place.. 

 I have to admit though two years later my knitting hasn't  improved and I am quite daunted and feel like a fish out of water on Ravelry only because I am hopeless at knitting.
I think a big part is I am totally daunted by knitting patterns too.  I tend to glaze over when I try to understand them.

That's OK though.  I no longer have false hopes and I will stick to scarves as well as sewing and artworks.

At least I feel confident with most sewing I do.....

Fair Go For Billionaires - Tough Times

This only goes for 30 seconds but it's 30 seconds of laughter!



post edit:  sorry girls like Cindy said I guess I should of had a warning about the Budgie Smugglers, it is a little alarming to see