My Creative Space - Crochet

After my lesson last week I am now truly enjoying crochet. My granny square is still growing slowly and I've added a green into the blanket. When I started it last week I only had the blue and cream yarn so I worked with them and as it grew I thought it would make a perfect baby blanket but I think it looks more suited to a boy and the baby arriving soon is going to be a girl. Should I start again or try and add another colour that could make it a bit more feminine? I still think it would make a beautiful blanket but I don't know whether I should give it as a gift to them or not now, what do you think?



Still on the subject of crochet and babies, I found this sweet and simple crochet beanie pattern. My model for today is Miss 6's baby Brookie, fitting her very nicely I think.


I'm just waiting to be asked to make another especially for her but this one I made is for another little baby arriving soon.

For more crafting inspiration, stop by Kirsty's to see what's been going on.

Tonight

on the dinner menu was Spicy Tomato, Pumpkin and Chickpea Tagine cooked in the slow cooker. Hubby is at uni tonight, so I like to cook something that is healthy and easy to make and this recipe is perfect. My camera ran out of battery power just at the wrong time and the only photo I have isn't great so here is a beautiful photo of the cover of the book care of the internet, since my camera is still charging.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon allspice
400g canned chopped tomatoes
2 x 400g canned chickpeas, rinsed, drained
400g pumpkin, diced
2 cups reduced salt vegetable stock
1/3 cup couscous
1/2 natural yogurt
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley and mint to garnish

Method
1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the onion and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes or until the onion softens. Add the spices and chilli and cook for 2 minutes or until fragrant.
2. Transfer to a slow cooker set on high, then stir in the tomatoes, chickpeas, pumpkin and stock and cook for 2 hours.
3. Add the couscous, stir and cover, then turn the cooker off. Let sit for 15 minutes until the couscous is soft.
4. Serve topped with a dollop of yogurt. Sprinkle with parsley and mint.

Picture from here

It has been raining here for most of the afternoon, looking totally miserable, making it impossible to dry wet clothes but things are already looking green. Things have been very dry looking, so I'm enjoying the seeing the green appear. I hope you're day has been a happy one.

A Winner

Today was a slower, a quick trip to do my grocery shopping, a bit of crochet and a visit from my Nan bringing with her loads more lemons!!



I had my trusty assistant Miss 6 do the draw. Here she is putting all the names in,



giving it a bit of a shake



and now for the drumroll........... Jill!




Congratulations Jill and thank you to all the lovely ladies that entered in my giveaway. Thank you for all your sweet well wishes on my birthday and for always taking the time to stop by and brighten my day:)

Thank you

Baking

A day spent at home getting organized for the week ahead, baking coconut strawberry slice,


citrus poppy seed muffins with some lime icing



and




a loaf of bread using Meagan's recipe. Feeling a little quiet now so I'm off to do a little bit more work on this blanket.

I hope that you had a good Monday. I'll be back tomorrow to catch up and draw the winner of my giveaway!

Today

I finished my first crochet scarf.



Learnt how to do a granny square that has now grown and is now my new project, a baby blanket.




I bought some new supplies, a present from my mother in law.

What did you get up to today? I hope you had a good day:)

Don't forget my giveaway!

Fabric Bookmark

July is a busy month for birthdays and after celebrating my hubby's birthday on Thursday, my good friend is having her birthday on Sunday. I wanted to make something that would post easily with her card, just a little something to wish her a happy birthday. I thought a fabric bookmark would be a good idea so I did a bit of computer surfing and found these beautiful bookmarks and thought I would give them a go. Do you find that it isn't until you come to make something that you find you could have done things differently but it's too late to change what you've already done? I should have probably joined the two pieces of fabric together with a blanket stitch so the back wasn't untidy but I hid it with a felt flower and a button, problem solved.

So have you got any plans for your weekend? Tomorrow I'm going to a beginners crochet class at this place. I thought it might be a bit of fun and who knows what I might learn! Have a great weekend.



P.S. Don't forget to enter in my giveaway!

A Birthday Giveaway From Me to You

I firstly wanted to say thank you to everyone who sent birthday wishes to me I was really touched with all the sweet comments. My day was made very special by both my family and friends. I celebrated by having lunch with one of my closest friends and a yummy dinner of roast vegetable soup, getting the idea from this lovely lady and dessert of rhubarb and apple crumble made by my husband and daughter. I really had a wonderful day.



Because it's my birthday today, I promised you a little surprise to celebrate. I have many wonderful people who stop by and always give me kind and encouraging comments and this is a way of saying thank you. In my little giveaway I have some hand cream, organic lip balm, organic milk chocolate and a little book of inspiration. To win:

1. Follow my blog (to make it fair to all those lovely people who stop by regularly)
2. Comment on this post
3. For another chance blog about it

Good luck everyone and thank you again.

P.S. I forgot to mention how long the giveaway is open for, oops. I'll leave the giveaway open till next Tuesday and draw a winner then. Goodluck!

A Step Towards Friendly Shopping

On the weekend my hubby and I did a bit of shopping. I sent him off in one direction and I went in the other hoping not to cross paths because I needed to get his present but he on the other hand was more organised then me and had already got mine. Well I did get his present and in plenty of time, now I just need to wrap it and make a card! His birthday is this Thursday I'm sure there won't be a problem getting it made;) Anyway when I was wondering about I headed into the health food shop and spotted these great reusable fruit and vegetable bags.

I had wanted to make some of my own but other projects have pushed their way forward and so I haven't managed to make any yet. I still would like to make them but when I saw them I decided to buy them and go forward another step towards being more environmentally friendly. Today I used them for the first time and felt good about walking out of the shop knowing I had come home with less plastic.

Because I do my shopping at Coles I do still end up taking home plastic because organic carrots already come prepackaged and so do potatoes but I know it's a step in the right direction. I need to buy some more but for now it's a good start.

Tomorrow is my birthday so I'll be back tomorrow with a little giveaway from me to you to celebrate. See you then!

New Experiences

Sorry I haven't been here for a while. My girls started back at school last week and getting back into the groove of things can take a little time. This week is going to be busy too with both my hubby and I celebrating our birthdays. We are both the same age and celebrate our birthday just two days apart, I'm older and my hubby always has a joke with me about it but I just say that I am just mature(lol). We decided to celebrate last night together, the girls spent the night at Grandma's and we got a chance to be a couple for the night. My hubby enjoys watching the opera, but me, not so much. He really wanted to go and see one live so the more I thought about it, why not experience something new. So last night after some dinner we went to see The Merry Widow. I really enjoyed seeing the opera with my hubby. There were sub titles so we could understand what they were singing and it was in English too which helped. The costumes were beautiful and it really was entertaining and if he asked me out on another date to go to the opera, well I think I would have to say yes. I really enjoy experiencing something new. Have you been to an opera before or have you experienced something new that you enjoyed and would do again?

Have a wonderful week my friends.

What better way to use up lemons then to....

make some pancakes and have it drizzled with lemon juice and sprinkled with sugar. It was a treat this morning for the girls to have pancakes for breakfast, a simple way to enjoy our last day at home together before school starts back tomorrow. This is our tried, tested and approved recipe for pancakes:

Ingredients
1 cup of plain flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup milk, approximately

Method
1. Sift flour into medium bowl, make well in centre, gradually whisk or stir in egg and enough milk to make a thin, smooth batter. Alternatively, combine flour egg and milk in blender or processor, blend or process until mixture is combined and smooth.2. Heat heavy based pan over high heat for a few minutes; pan should be very hot. Add about 1/2 teaspoon butter, swirl around pan until it is greased all over the base. Pour about 2 to 3 tablespoons batter from jug into centre of pan, quickly tilt pan so that batter runs from centre around edge.
3. When pancake is lightly browned underneath, turn and brown other side. This can be done with a spatula, egg slide or your fingers or pancake can be tossed and flipped over back into the pan; this takes a little practice.
4. Serve pancakes sprinkled with sugar and a little lemon or lime juice. (The Australian Women's Weekly Basic Cookbook)



I was really in the mood for soup for dinner tonight so I jumped onto the Taste website in search for a different soup recipe to make and found this corn, bacon and zucchini soup that I thought might be nice to try. It was quick and easy and was very tasty, a bit salty probably because of the bacon and butter. Also because I don't add salt to my cooking often so I'm not used to a salty taste. And to go with our soup some pumpkin bread, I also found the recipe on the Taste website. Tomorrow I'm thinking of trying this potato gnocchi recipe with some spicy tomato sauce. I love trying out new recipes!

P.S. Thank you for all the great suggestions to use up my lemon stash!

This was my weekend.

After being away for a week, this weekend we decided to stay close to home and just relax and catch up. When we were away Molly was looked after by my Nan who lives on acreage with my parents. So when we went to pick her up and were offered a bag full of homegrown lemons I happily said yes:) I passed on some to my kind neighbour who looked after our cat and chickens and kept some for us.



When my Miss 10 saw all the lemons she was keen to make her famous lemonade which both her and her sister adore but is a bit of an experiment. So with the help of Dad, a recipe was googled and some yummy lemonade was made.



With still more lemons left I made a banana cake with lemon icing. Now what else to do with the rest of my lemons? Any ideas?


It's getting to the end of holidays, boredom is setting in, so to keep the day flowing I set up the table on the deck with lots of crafty things to keep them creating for some time.

I hope that you had a good weekend. What did you get up to?

Byron Bay

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. SouleMama

My Creative Space

I really love Thursday's not only because it's getting to the end of the week and closer to the weekend but because I get to be inspired by creative people who without knowing spur me onto trying new things. While I was away I brought with me my crochet hook, some new wool and a great idea that I saw over at this funny ladies blog. So with my handy crochet book to give me a bit of help with the stitches and some yummy wool, I started crocheting my first scarf. I have used treble and double crochet stitches mixing them up as I went along. I'm not quite finished yet but having fun watching how quickly it's progressing.

If you want to be inspired pop by Kirsty's to see what's been happening in other people's creative spaces.

I know it's been a while I'm sorry. Holidays are here and an adventure was planned, a reunion. I have lots of photos to share with you, here are some of my favourite beach photos. It was a cold grey day but the most perfect day for collecting shells. Walking along the beach is one of my favourite things to do, calming and relaxing. What do you find calming and relaxing?

Have a wonderful Thursday! I look forward to stopping by all of your blogs to catch up with you soon.

Take care lovelies.