Surviving the Heat

Melbourne has been very hot lately in case you didn’t know. Yesterday the temperature climbed to 45 °C, which is just plain crazy if you ask me. I have been lucky that I could spend most of the 40 plus degree days bunkered up at home with the air conditioner running. It’s been hot but without the air conditioning, it would have been a lot worse. Thank you to our wonderful landlord who installed air conditioning in the house AFTER we had moved in. How fantastic is that?

My luck ran out a little last night when the power went off at around 6.30pm. Fortunately it came on again around 2.5 hours later. Yesterday evening was the first night since the heatwave started that the outside temperature was cooler than the temperature in the house so we were able to sit outside while there was no power.

Today is going to be cooler, thank god but still hot. We are expecting 37 °C, which will be a welcome relief from 45 °C and means I can venture outside today.

Australia Day

Here is my Australia Day pavlova. It is topped with whipped cream, white Kit Kat and raspberries. We served it with raspberry syrup. Awesome. There is still some in the fridge but I don't think it will be hanging around for very long.

Sunday Stash #8

I am a little late but here it is. I have already made brooches out of this one and I plan to make a clutch for myself when I get a pattern sorted out.

Watermelon Salad

I thought I would give you a recipe for watermelon salad, which is a favourite summer recipe of mine and perfect to have on the table at an Australia Day barbecue.

I am not sure you can really call it a salad, it only has two ingredients and one of them is fruit. But anyway that is what we call it and it gets eaten as a salad, i.e. with the main meal and usually alongside some barbecued meat.

I have seen similar recipes that add red onion or feta into the mix but I have found that I like this way the best. It is pretty simple really:

Ingredients
Watermelon, preferably seedless
A handful of Fresh mint

Method
Cut up watermelon into cubes. Chop up mint into small pieces and add to the watermelon. Mix the mint in and then put in the refrigerator. The dish tastes better when you make it ahead of time so that the mint has time to infuse into the watermelon.

I think I have been bitten by the oppshoping bug. It might have something to do with living in Melbourne and being inspired by local shops such as Made Café, and numerous blogs where people showcase their newly acquired opp shop finds.

I haven’t seriously opp shopped since I was a uni student, which was quite a while ago. Back then it was mostly for clothes, and stuff was really cheap too. I remember buying an as new velvet jacket for $1. You certainly can’t do that anymore. Eventually my clothing tastes changed and when I went to TAFE to study fashion I began to make a lot of my clothing anyway. This time I am looking for homewares, or fabrics/haberdashery that I can make into something.

The photos show my first lot of finds. A beautiful milky glass bowl, with decorative edging ($6.00) and a Sketch-a-graph Mk 2, still in its box and looking brand new ($2). The sketch-a-graph is pretty cool. According to the box it is a “scientific drawing instrument to enlarge, reduce or copy from any original picture.” Which makes it good for things like embroidery patterns and the like.

Sunday Stash #8

Pretty pink Liberty fabric from Patchwork on Central Park.

And Again..

It must be the week for treasuries. This one made it to the front page on etsy but I missed out on seeing it. It was curated by Howilli and is called "On Point".

Another treasury

Thank you to Huismus for including my brooch in her "My heart is in your hands treasury"

UPDATE Sunday 18th January
Would you believe this made it to the front page of etsy? That is twice in as many days I have been on the front page. I guess as they say it never rains, it pours. I expect that means I won't be on the front page again for quite a while.

Treasury Feature

Thanks to Vanilla Pixie for choosing one of my brooches for her King of the Bush is He treasury. My Rusty Rose brooch is bottom left and I am surrounded by other Aussies from DUST (Down Under Street Team)

Sunday Stash #7

Here's another Liberty fabric that I have made brooches out of. I bought it at Patchwork on Central Park. Here is a list of more stashers.

Finally a cushion

I have finally had time to sew up my sample cushion with the bird screen print but am not sure if I like the way it turned out. Maybe the linen in the centre needs to be a different fabric? I am not entirely sure. In any case it might be back to the drawing board for this one.

Sunday Stash #6

Here is some vintage fabric that I picked up opp shopping. It is actually a circular tablecloth with a hole in the centre for an umbrella. It is in really good condition and looks like it has never been used.

A new year and getting organised

Well I am finally back from holidays and ready to get stuck into the new year. After getting inspiration from Oprah (well I was on holidays and bored) and from estasketch’s latest post I realised that I need to get organised before I get started.

It makes sense that by getting rid of the clutter and mess in my workroom I am making room for new things and new ideas, which is a great way to start the year. I am currently mid sort out so there is stuff everywhere and I am already out of bin space. I will also have a few bags to send to Vinnies when I am done.

P.S The picture of the frog is a happy snap from Queensland. There seems to be an abundance of wildlife up there.