Wordless Wednesday - Part 1 and 2

Part 1

 

Part 2

Who let the ducks out?

When graced with a wonderous winter afternoon of sunshine what else is there to do but get out in it. It has been ages since we have fed the ducks at the botanical gardens so I chopped up all our old bread, grabbed my camera, and the new remote control, and headed out with Mia.

It has obviously been quite a while since we had been there as the ducks are gone!. The pond, which in summer is brimming with 20+ ducks was empty, apart from the obligatory seagulls. To my knowledge, ducks did not fly north for the winter in Melbourne - they stuck it out in the cold with the rest of us. Bummer - photo op gone. So instead of throwing the bread into the water for the ducks we spread it out on the grass for the pigeons, sparrows, and other birds that live in the park.

the duckless pond

 

  A trip to the park is nothing without a turn on the swings, and since we were the only ones there (like having our own giant private garden) everything inch of ground had to be explored.

as well as all the rocks that had to be jumped off.

After many failed attempts, and shots of hands, or sky, or very close faces, while checking to see if the camera had gone off, I successfully mastered the remote control. Now, there is just the problem of hand placement and/or as I now find out using the 2 sec delay.

With everyone alseep early tonight I have a chance to get some spoons listed in my madeit shop and enjoy a nice cup of white tea.    Ahhhhhh.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

With the wet and dreary day that greeted us yesterday I would not have dreamt that this would be the heading for the day, however you never can tell what Melbourne weather will provide.
First was the plane part - fairly standard on any weekend around here where there is no wind. Brett had one student sitting his pilots exam and another needing to go through a final flight with Brett before sitting the prac part of his next flight level.
Secondly,Mia is absolutely besotted with trains. Way back in May we went to a friends 2nd birthday at the Diamon Valley Miniature Railway and Mia was in love. ( Sarah enjoyed it too but riding miniature trains is not the 'coolest' of things for a 9 year old girl to admit to). Since then Mia has constantly been asking me if we can ride the trains again. Unfortunately it is just over and hours drive so not exactly somewhere you just pop over to. But yesterday was different. Brett had been working a lot, and therefore not had much time to do anything with the girls, and the coming week was going to be even worse, so we dragged him away to do something special.
Although it was very cold, and I am talking only single digits, we rugged up and took the automobile to ride  the trains.

For $3 a ride, I consider it very good value for a 15 min ride on a train, through tunnels, across bridges, round islands etc. It is anything but a boring circular loop.

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Everyone needs an icecream after a train ride - even if it is mid winter and struggling to reach 9'C

Then it was home  in the automobile again before the nasty storm hit. - perfect weather to enjoy a roast dinner to cap off the weekend

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My remote control for my digital SLR arrived today so next on my list of things to do, after the necessary nasties, is to see how well it works and play with the camera.

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Tower building on a Rainy Sunday

Last week while browsing the blogosphere, Annabel from Bellgirl, challenged us to figure out what she was working on. I guessed it , a drawstring play mat,  but only because I had made one for my daughter.

My sister and I had a mat similar to this when we were little to hold all our lego so when I needed somewhere to keep all of Mia's blocks, it was time to raid the fabric stash and recreate a relic from the past.
So on this very miserable, wet and cold Sunday morning I thought I would show you our toy mat in action. What better thing to do when you cant go outside than build towers.

Now we know where all the blocks are at all times

Ready to go

Let the building commence

Now to sit down and plan the next project for my train loving daughter - a variation of My Little Gems' Car Cozie tutorial  to accomodate some trains with a loop of track running around the outside. Hopefully I will have something to show later this week.
That is unless the weather clears and we ride the trains at the Diamond Valley Miniature Railway.

My Creative Space

After a hectic week, this creative space finds me making muffins.My 'Best Ever Chocolate Muffins', ( so named by Sarah and Mia) are Mia's favourite thing to do in the kitchen as she can mix everything together and then it is a race to see if I can get the mixture into the muffin pans before her tiny little finger has 'tasted' all the mixture. It is surprising how much one little finger can collect when tested numerous times.
As we have no snow here in winter, the next favourite part of muffin making is putting the 'snow' or icing sugar on the muffins, as well as the bench and anything else within arms reach.

Showing Piglet how to make it snow.

Waiting for them to cool

 Still waiting, but getting closer

 

 Cool enough - This one's mine

 

To see what other creative people are up to this week pop on over to Kootoyoo .

Wordless Wednesday

Through the eyes of a 2yr old.

I am constantly humbled by the simple wonders of the world  as seen through the eyes of my 2 year old daughter. Saturday night found us sitting ( and shivvering) under the bigtop of the Perry Brothers Circus - a family circus since 1880 - watching what probably would have been a great circus 20 years ago. Now, to an adults eyes the acts are tired, the performers are old and the 'sparkle' of a circus is missing due probably to the fact that this circus used to have lions end elephants etc, but there are now gone , as they are for all circuses, and the acts have not been replaced by anything eye-catching. .... BUT.... In the eyes of a 2year old ( and a 9 year old) the magic is still there. The clowns are still magic, the tightrope man is awsome and so is the balancing acrobat. ( I have to agree the balancing guy was really good). Each act was followed by enthusiastic applause and constant 'Wow''s and all we heard on the drive home was..'I want to go to the circus again tomorrow Mummy'.

Sunday was a suprisingly sunny winters day so we took advantage of the lack of rain to get out into the vegie garden. The broccoli, cauliflower and beans had all finished and needed to be pulled out and added to the compost so the garden can be ready for the next plantings. While I was pulling out the bigger plants  it was Mia's job to pull out all the grass that had sprung up along the edge of the garden. To her suprise she found the absolute last of our carrots. She spent the rest of the night, and all through dinner, pointing out that we were eating our carrots and that she had found them when everyone else had said there were no more.

The proud haul - albeit a small one

One chilli plant has been devastated by the frosts so it was also Mia's job to pick the last of the chillies on the bush before it was pulled up. Again these were proudly displayed to all as she had 'tected' ( protected) them from the nasty frost.

'Tected Chillies

This coming week brings busy, busy, busy. Shop listings to be done, wholesale orders to be sent and a new 'day job' to start. I have good intentions to post as much as I can, especially since this blog will be used as a family update as well as craft for the next few weeks as the grandparents tour the great Australian Outback, but we will see what time allows...
So for now I'll leave you with the thought....'Dont over think things. Sit back and enjoy the simple happiness to be gained from looking at things through the eyes of a 2year old'.

My Creative Space

YAY - they arrived!! My stamp set that is.....

So this week has seen me dig out some old spoons and some of these  ( everyday flat washers, that is) .....

and make some of these......

...... More practice is needed to make sure the imprints are deep and even and silver spoons are much easier than the flat washers. Others have been made but they are now touring outback NSW and I forgot to get photos before they went to their new home.

(I know this isn't Basil but mid winter is not going to find much basil growing in vegie gardens. Plus I am standing in the rain on a very wet Melbourne morning to take these photos so parsley will do.)

( As the rain was getting heavier, only one shot of each spoon was taken so their was no 'choice' to be made for the best shot/lighting, lack of stray grass growing in the vegie garden etc.)
  

Practised versions of all of these will be available in my me2 madeit shop very soon....

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Today was the opening day of the Quilt and Craft Fair in Melbourne and many hours were spent fossicking through beads, fabric, silver blanks and the  best store for any sort of gadget you could think of. www.punchwithjudy.com.au . (Finally a supplier of freezer paper in Aus!) If I had the patience to make quilts there would be even more to choose from - especially a thing they call the Curve Master Presser Foot , solely for sewing curves without the need to clip or press the seam flat!
If I could knit there is also this great book called "Really Wild Tea Cosies" - hmmmm, now who do I know who knits and has time on their hands.......sis?
The day was not all spent drooling however - apart from a selection of charms, pendants and some sterling silver pendant blanks, I did buy myself a darning foot for my machine. ( my main reason for going to the fair)

I have watched  Alisa Burke do lovely free form stiching on her blog as she transforms clothes, furnishings etc and wanted to give it a go myself, so, first thing done on arriving home today was to play with my new toy. I only got time for one attempt but was very happy with it and can't wait for the chance to do more. If this is what a first attempt looks like, the future looks promising.

To find out what other creative types are up to today, pop on over to Kootoyoo and gaze upon some amazing talent.