First Batch of Tommies!

Our first successful batch of Tommies!!! After the miseries we had a year ago with possums, it's sooo exciting to pull in our first crop!!

Some of the got a little burnt with the hot weather we had recently, but we've got enough here to make a nice bruchetta for dinner tonight.

I'd love to grow more things in our backyard. We've got rosemary and mint and chives, but you just can't beat picking your own food and eating it - it tastes a million times better than store bought, plus knowing you nurtured it from a seed makes it all the more satisfying!

My Creative Space Thursday

My creative space this week has been sitting in the waiting room at the hospital.

I'm playing Nurse Nancy to my dear Mr Honi - and before you ask; No, there are no costumes involved!!!

He had surgery yesterday to strip the bad veins from his legs. This picture doesn't look nearly as bad as it looks in real life - so many little nicks and cuts, and they're all sticking to the TED stocking. Poor Mr Honi.

So, sitting in the waiting room at the hospital yesterday was perfect time to work on a bit of crochet. I've started on my first attempt of the 200 blocks - seems i need to brush up on ending my rows though, as I've not quite mastered that yet. I'm fine with Granny squares, but working in rows is a new skill for me.

Oh, and I was getting a hand cramp the other day, and rather than go out and buy a new hook, I fashioned myself a wide grip from Fimo - and viola no more cramping!! What do you think?

Jump on Over to Kootoyoo for more Creative Spaces!

I just had to get it...

Still not feeling 100% right but needed to get out of the house so Mr Honi and I are going to the movies! Am just sitting outside (posting this from my wonderful phone) and waiting to go into the cinema.....after a quick stop into borders to buy this!

It was a splurge, but after reading badskirts posts (and many others) I'm dying to venture past my granny squares!!

New kid on the block

Well, I spent most of the weekend on the couch with a charming little stomach bug. I had grandiose plans for sewing and crafting, but I felt so rotten that I couldn't even muster the urge to crochet .

Great way to lose a few kilos though! (ah, i kid, i kid. it's been hell)

So for a lack of my own crafty exploits, I thought I would share the link of a new blog that is sure to add a smile to your face. It's written by a very good friend of mine, whom I live through vicariously and details her horror stories of the dating scene. I guarantee you'll laugh and cringe at her tales.

Go check it out - Of Many Men

Tense moment

Mr Honi and I witnessed a bit of a tense moment in our backyard where we could see Daphne (the lizard) thinking "hhmmm.........should I go for the baby turkey.........nah, he's a wee bit big ..."



click the image for big size..

My Creative Space Thursday

Wow. It’s great to be participating in My Creative Space again. I find it gives me a bit of direction, a focus, something to work towards – a goal to finish a project so that I can blog about it.
EDIT - just checked Kirsty's site - is it still MCS happening??

I’ve got 2 things to show you this week. Firstly, I gave myself a little bit of colour therapy and colour co-ordinated my fat quarters. I’ll have to take some pictures of the cupboards because they look AWESOME now!! (click on the image to see it properly. Darned blogger cuts the edges off my pics!!) I can now easily create colour schemes for quilts etc.

The second thing I have to show to you is a little electrical experiment. I have always adored “mini” things - like little scenes, doll houses, viewmasters – little things that you can imagine yourself inside. I should post some pics of my glorious childhood dollhouse. I still dream about living inside it! Plus I have my little collection of Mini viewers.

So, I decided to make a prototype for a little mini viewer.

I bought a collection of mini circus people from Vinnies and have been thinking about what I can do with them. So I took an old film canister, some LED lights, electrical wire and a battery and created a little mini light box with a light-up scene showing a little sword swallower.

What do you think?? (click on the images to enlarge!)

This is a close up of the little guy using a flash

The blur that was Christmas...

Well Christmas whizzed past so quickly and next thing I know I'm back here at my desk at work. As I was on a big of a blog hiatus I thought I would share a few pics from the festive season. I found a cool application for my HTC Dream phone, called “Toy cam” which is AWESOME! Jess has a similar one for her iPhone – and I agree with her statement that you can’t beat a film camera, but this is still pretty darn cool

As mentioned Mr Honi and I drove up to QLD which was lovely. We saw the big prawn

And the big banana

Drove on dirt roads

And saw some cool things being towed

And we saw quaint little country homes that I would have KILLED to go into! I bet if Id’ dropped in we would have been served fresh scones with home made jams and tea in fine bone china teacups with matching saucers (well, that’s my little fantasy of country life!!)

We also got a bit festive at work and I made some HUGE spindles and baubles to decorate our team area

Bag Lady

Apologies for the teeny tiny pic - for some RANDOM reason I can't get the URL for my flickr pics unless I click on "all sizes" and then the pictures are rotated back to the original format. ggrrrr. So click over to flickr to see it properly if you'd like to.

*deep breaths*

Anyway here's a little look-see at my latest creation. I used my own pattern, IKEA fabric and I made the wooden handles myself too. I slaved away in the work shed with a hand saw, sander and lacquer. Am VERY proud of myself!

I've always loved wood work ( I grew up with a carpenter dad AND grandfather) and I'm keen to get back into it again.

It was meant to be a pressie, but I loved it too much!! I'll have to make another one for you Auntie!!
x

Well hello 2010...

Well hello 2010. You look nice - promising, adventurous and full of opportunities. I’ll try to make the most of you and get all I can out of you. I won’t waste you on sleeping in, watching TV, driving around and around in shopping centres or buying cheap crap.

I will instead try to spend you doing the following:
- cooking new and different meals each night, all from scratch. All from fresh ingredients
- buying as much organic produce as I can from small, local grocers or farmers markets, AND attempting to grow some of our own
- making clothes for myself and buying less. Especially from places that specialise in what feels like “disposable clothing”. A few nice new pieces here and there but NO poorly made rubbish.
- walking more (and hopefully losing 10kg!!)
- educating myself (I’ve already signed up for a learn to sew class)
- seeing more of our friends and entertaining more
- de-cluttering our lives. Clothes, bags, bits and bobs and just general crap that is cluttering up our lives. Both Mr Honi and I are over it.
- flossing EVERY day (dental hygiene is VERY important!)
- writing letters rather than emails
- taking more photos
- being more patient
- enjoying more of the outdoors
- crafting lots and lots
- getting honi design to where I want it to be (I’ll tell you more about this later)

Dear readers I know this is a bit of a belated “resolutions” list, but I’ve had to spend a bit of time away from my blog to realise what it was that I REALLY wanted out of this year- especially for honi design. I have a good idea now and am busting at the seams to start. There’ll be lots of stuff to show you in the next few months

I’ve missed you all dearly though and hope that you continue to come back and share in my adventures of 2010!

ps - I took this pic on my mobile at a roadside stop on the way up to QLD for Chrissie. Isn't it the most relaxing, peaceful scene?