Yoink!

Stolen from Shula...

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)
Suzannah Impreza

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)
Cookie yo-yo

3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)
Cdan

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Blue Cat

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Elizabeth Geelong

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)
Danca

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put "The")
The Black Botrytis

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)
Joe Woijciech

9. STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy)
Babydoll Lindt

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's & father's middle names )
Therese Peter

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)
Boyle Berlin

12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)
Boxing Bird of Paradise

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)
Cherry Shirty

14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree),
Toast Sequoia

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour")
The Sewing Heavy Rain Tour


Pass it on...

Sleepy kawaii

Every night, when the lights go out, Poika comes out, does a little flicker dance, and then pirouettes off to dreamland.

Jms got her for me for my birthday. I hope I never get too old for this sort of thing.

It was one of the many awesome gifts I received, not limited to, but including: the coolest torch (which I can't wait to take draining when the rain stops!), a super cute "Bear Paw" succulent, beautiful Dale jumper and beanie (obv cuter on me), kimono fabric, and this guy - who suspiciously looks like it might have been for the giver rather than the receiver (:P)

I am a very lucky girl. But enough of the gloating and stuff worship.

I do however wish I'd had a chance to blog about it all sooner. Lately quite a few things have been begging to be recorded - but alas, other things to do - and the moment passes. To me the joy of highlighting things is in their freshness and immediacy. Unfortunately, given that I am now a paid up and proud "wage slave" blogging is way down the list of priorities. Which is a shame because I really enjoy it and like the writing practice. In a previous life I was a professional writer (if you count legal documents and policy, nothing pretty). Words were very important to me and I really enjoyed flexing my intellectual muscle, grappling with the desire to create a precise turn of phrase.

Recently have been helping a friend get through a Graduate Diploma. An unbelievably talented person - but with no knowledge of academic writing. I've been pleasantly surprised how nice it was to put together something longer than a shopping list. Not to mention how easily I slipped into the rhythm - like a body memory. Years of essay writing built super-highway style neurotransmitters in my brain I guess. There has to be a plus side to having been at Uni for 6 1/2 years. And that was just the first time round!

God forbid I've been thinking about going back AGAIN. Only one subject though - I promise.


PS. Facebook is evil - spending 5 hours to become a Jedi Knight instead of posting. Aargh it robs me of my brain thinking!

Sunshine and Rain

Oh Hai!

It seems I have finally emerged from my creative hibernation - with a record 3 projects completed this weekend!

Firstly - the finishing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Admittedly not strictly my project per se - but as fellow gentle readers shall attest, it has been a commitment spanning several years. In many respects, as I had enjoyed the story so much, I was not looking forward to the final installment - the end of a fantastical journey filled with real tears and laughter. Not to mention nights cuddled up with my best beloved hanging off his every word. Yes I am the luckiest 32 yr old alive to still be read aloud to - he even does voices. But it is, or was, a privilege reserved only for the Potter series. No more arguments about pronunciation - cries of that's not Hagrid's voice - and the once surreal experience of discovering a small bat flying about the house during a particularly chilling chapter.

But without spoiling a thing for those who have not yet read - I am actually somewhat relieved now that it is over. Too many sleepless nights spent worrying about the emotional and physical wellbeing of a fictional teenage boy.

As a side note: the subsequent hysteria and caterwauling associated with the harm of actual people I know is a force to be reckoned with. And a warning to all vets: I am without doubt the most inept and appallingly behaved pet owner you could ever wish to deal with. Fortunately my brother is a vet, so you may be spared the indignity. Besides, years of abuse as my younger sibling has numbed him to all pain.

I digress. So the Potter saga is over - and while I may miss the thrill of the unknown ending, I am perfectly content in its conclusion and any pangs of longing I have for the exquisite world of Hogwart's can be instantaneously quenched by the opening of a book. Just as Narnia, Middle Earth and other such places will always exist on my bookshelf waiting to tempt an idle afternoon.

Second on my list of accomplishments is I have FINALLY put the binding on my quilt. Hurrah. Now I can rankle over what I wish I did differently and inevitably start collecting fabric for the next one. The sun even came out momentarily for a picture. Excuse the overly verdant garden but I also had to take a picture of my new sneakers. Not quite ruby slippers but just as magical (hey - they can put a smile on my face instantly - and I have been known to sing songs about them) I wonder if that's how it started for Imeda. First purple now silver. I have forewarned jms that this may become a problem. For him.

And finally the third project to have its eyes dotted and nose stitched - indeed the little face heading this post. Sometime this week M & J's new bub a.k.a. 'cashew nut' shall be making an appearance - so Aunty Cato had to extractus digitus and make a softie suitable for a lil 'un.






















Possibly a little too "if Jimi Hendrix made plush toys" yet for some reason this fabric always spoke to me of giraffes gone wild. Hopefully an ideal size for tiny grasping hands and a wee face ripe for sucking on. Partly "Splendid Toy Book" with a large shout out to julie giraffe, a treasured gift from Miss Red. And check out her sweet hiney.

Quick... look like you've been busy

Yay ! Only one more sleeps till jms gets home (assuming he's on the plane). Anyways - no cake this time but don't you think every good boy deserves bunting?

WIP update: I still haven't managed to bind my quilt that I picked up nearly 3 weeks ago - but this is slowly turning into this. Nevermind that it is supposed to be a birthday present for Gem (the party was only 2 weeks ago). Quite frankly its been too cold to sew (well my sewing machine doesn't fit under the doona I've taken to wearing around the house). So there. Hey - I made bunting!

The Crafter's Way

Read this. Found via My Little Mochi. Couldn't have said it better myself. Thankyou Poppalina.

Rogaliki with Rose

After waiting so long to get my recipe translated - it seems somewhat remiss of me to not pass it on. So here it is - enjoy!

Rogaliki półfrancuskie z różą (Polish Rose Crescents)

600 grams (3 cups) flour
1 cup cream (I used double - its much nicer than the thickened stuff and easier to mix in)
Pinch salt
250 grams unsalted butter, cubed at room temperature
Dash of oil
1 tablespoon sugar
Rose jam or paste
1 egg white (glaze)
Crystalised sugar for sprinkling

Cream butter, oil and flour (by hand or if your lucky enough to own a Kitchenaid make yourself a cuppa and watch as it does all the hardwork). Carefully mix in cream, salt and sugar. Refrigerate the shortbread for at least 30 mins, wrapped tightly in cling film.

Roll out to about ½ cm thickness. Cut into 6cm x 8cm rectangles. Spread jam along long edge. Roll into a tube. Slash tube along one side repeatedly and then twist into crescent shape (with cuts to outer edge. Alternatively cut into squares and make little danish style shapes with jam in the middle. As I did here. Glaze and sprinkle with sugar.

Place on lined baking sheet and cook in a hot oven for 15- 20 mins.

Note. try to use a thick jam - because once it's hot the jam will liquefy and dribble out. Not necessarily a cardinal sin - but its more likely to burn if it does.