Update in brief

THINGS THAT MAKE MOVING EASIER
-A note of welcome from the previous owner.
-Discovering that we have moved into a good, old fashioned, friendly, everyone-knows-your-name neighbourhood.

NEW HOUSE
-Moved in, half unpacked, half settled (feeling a little bit more 'homey' every day, and less like I am staying in someone else's house!)

NEW GARDEN
-Left beautifully weeded and dug over, with some silver beet and strawberries already established.
-My transient pot plant garden is being slowly moved to new homes... some of the winter veg went in on the weekend, the rest are waiting for me to have a spare 2 hours of daylight...
-Established fruit trees - cherry, blueberry, lemon and olive, plus blackberry canes and a giant rhubarb patch.
-Glasshouse - oh the possibilities...

LUI
-Took a good week to adjust to the house before we could even consider letting him outside.
-Spent a lot of time hiding under the bed.
-Ventured bravely out on Saturday, has made several brief visits since then, but still prefers to be an inside cat.

CROCHET
-Incomplete. Sadly. I haven't touched it since moving day :( I am now officially Out Of Time to finish by my deadline...

STUDIO
-Neglected. Full of the boxes I don't want to unpack yet and not much else.

INJURIES SUSTAINED WHILE BIKING TO WORK
-1 skinned knee
-1 scuffed shoe
-1 punctured tyre
(I am not a useless cyclist, I hasten to point out! I slipped off the pedals because the gears were out of whack from being stuffed in the boot, and I count the puncture as a blessing in disguise, because it poured with rain the next day and I was given a ride!)

UPCOMING PROJECTS
-Be the official photographer at my brother's wedding this weekend.
-Frantically re-read all the "How to be a wedding photographer" websites I have bookmarked.
-Get my computer unclogged enough that it can handle mass amounts of photographs.
-Clear some space in the studio so I can fit an air mattress on the floor.
-Sleep.

Winner!

I have a winner for the print of Sweet House and matching ATC! It's #51 - Danielle! Congratulations - I will be sending out the prize as soon as the madness of shifting house has subsided!

For now, it's all go. We got our key yesterday so I've steam cleaned the carpets, and we've shifted several carloads of boxes into the garage to be sorted into the house as soon as the carpets are dry. Today I'm shifting the garden (all the potted plants that is) which is sure to be back-breaking, especially since it rained hard yesterday and overnight and they'll all be full of water...

Before I go I want to say a big thank you to everyone who left a lovely comment on my giveaway post. Thanks for all the well-wishes for the new house! You are all welcome to come around for tea and lemon cake :) But now it's time for me to go and load some pots and boxes.

Mystery

Does it look like someone is going somewhere?

Or maybe someone is building a fort out of boxes!

Careful investigation is required.

Evidence = inconclusive.

Never mind - I have a clever hidey hole. They'll never find me here!...

...oh. Bugger.

Crochet update

Here's where I'm up to on the cardie right now. I've restarted since I last posted about it, though - it finally got big enough to try on, I tried it on, and... it was too small. I'd only done the bodice and armholes, so I gritted my teeth and restarted it in the next size up. It got big enough to try on again, I tried it on, and yay - it fits!

However. Yes, there is a however. My gauge is still not correct (in the excitement of it actually fitting I forgot to check this part) so, while it fits, my shells are a lot smaller than those in the pattern. That means I have to do more rows - many more - to get it to the right length, which I wanted longer than the original pattern in the first place. Which is where I'm at right now. I'm thinking two more repeats of the shell pattern might finally do it, and then I can start on the side/front patterning (more extra stitching will be required), and then the sleeves - I'm leaving them till last so it can be a sleeveless vest if I run out of time!

My deadline is March 1st. And I'm moving house this weekend. And I still have oodles of stuff to pack. And I've developed a cramp in my left hand which I'm worried will turn into RSI if I don't rest it, so I really need to take it easy on the crochet today.

*Breathe deep*

Still. It's going to be stunning when it's actually finished, isn't it?

Say yes!

One World One Heart giveaway - and some Very Exciting News

**********GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED**********

Sweet House

Mixed media
123 x 174 mm

Hello again! It's been some weeks since I posted but I do have a good reason and some Very Exciting News... we have bought a house! So I'm busy busy busy cleaning, dusting and packing everything I own into a million boxes. Then on the 14th of February we will move into our new, sweet little house. The above artwork is a portrait of our new home. The big sunny room at the front will be my studio! And that is indeed a giant lemon tree outside the front door.

To celebrate I'm having a giveaway! It's also a part of the One World, One Heart blog event hosted by Lisa Oceandreamer. This is a wonderful event where bloggers all over the world will hold giveaways at their own blogs. To see the list of over 800 participants and find some new lovely blogs to visit, go to the official site here!

My giveaway is for a 5 x 7 print of Sweet House, and a matching original ATC. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment at this post. (If your comment doesn't link back to a public blog, please leave your email so I can contact you if you win.) That's it! The winner will be drawn on the 12th of February, which is also our settlement date - let's hope it's a lucky day!

Sweet House ATC

Here's some crochet

It's going to be the Go For Baroque cardie from the Happy Hooker book. It's also going to be finished by March 1st so I can wear it to a wedding.

Thinking positive here...

A close up under strong light so you can see the glimmer. How exciting to find glimmery yarn!

It's not like I didn't have enough to do in the next 6 weeks. However, I am determined... I will have a nice new cardie!

Tomatoes

The hot hot weather has been good for some of the tomatoes. They are ripening fast and it's wonderful to go outside and pick one, fresh and warm from the sun, and put it in a sandwich with some homemade bread and fresh mesclun salad.

Unfortunately, not all of the tomatoes have been so well behaved. Some of them have formed these black patches at the base of the fruit. I can't think why... it's happening on different plants, and it's been so hot and dry lately it can't be mildew. I don't think it's too much water forming on the fruit, as they are sheltered from rain and I make sure not to wet the foliage when I water. Does anyone have any ideas what causes this?

I got some Thrive Soluble Flower & Fruit to feed my plants with and it's terrible! Above you can see the residue left in my watering can after using it. The rose was blocked and I had to remove it and give the whole thing a good rinse out. I think I'll go back to using Miracle Gro!

Thrifted treasures

Here's a photo I took on New Year's Eve. I meant to post it straight away, but got sidetracked as usual... So instead of being symbolic of the last night of the year, it can now be symbolic of the last night of my holidays. Yes, I'm back to work tomorrow. Not really looking forward to it but the holiday has been nice - the weather's been about 98% perfect and I actually feel like I had a break and rested up a bit!

Here are some goodies I picked up at an op shop. I really prefer the American term - thrift store - it sounds so much nicer! But, no matter what you call them, these are some treasures...

Hand carved ivory toothpicks with itty bitty camels on top...

A gorgeous 1920s mirror with flapper girl painting...

And the buttons! Oh, the buttons. I spent at least 20 minutes fossicking through a basket (one of three) filled with genuine vintage buttons. My favourites were the tiny shell ones I kept finding which were obviously hand-carved. The more asymmetric the drilled holes, the more I liked them!

Tip out the buttons and here's what you get.

The other big score was a hand-carved bone crochet hook (see second photo). I can't wait to use it in a project! But that will have to wait for the weekend.

Handmade Christmas present round up, part 2

These were the most ambitious gifts I worked on - personalised embroidered pillowcases! I had a lot of fun designing and making them, even though I did start to wonder if I'd ever be finished in time...

Some girly designs with flowers, flourishes, birdies and dragonflies...

And one for a boy with SKULLS of course!

For more photos, see my Flickr page.

Mango chutney recipes

This was another handmade christmas present - mango chutney. I made two kinds - Sweet Mango Chutney and Mango Chilli Chutney, and packaged them in glass jars with a striped fabric cover tied with raffia and a handwritten tag.

Sweet Mango Chutney
4x 425g cans of mangoes, or 6 fresh mangoes, peeled and chopped
1 small (100g) can mandarins
2 cloves chopped garlic
2 tbsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp chilli
1 tbsp panch phora (spice blend of the seeds of fennel, nigella, brown mustard, cumin and fenugreek), dry roasted then ground
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup malt vinegar
Zest and juice of 2 limes

Bring all ingredients except lime juice to the boil in a large pot, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 50-55 mins or until mixture thickens and is syrupy. Stir in lime juice. Bottle and seal.


Mango Chilli Chutney
4x 425g cans of mangoes, or 6 fresh mangoes, peeled and chopped
1 onion
1 cup malt vinegar
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp panch phora (spice blend of the seeds of fennel, nigella, brown mustard, cumin and fenugreek), dry roasted then ground
2 tsp grated ginger
2 cloves chopped garlic
1/2 - 1 tsp dried chilli (or use chopped fresh chilli, to taste - I like it so it has a bit of a chilli kick without being overpowering.)

Cook onion, ginger and garlic in a little oil until onion is soft. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 50-55 mins or until mixture thickens and is syrupy. Bottle and seal.