Pity Party- Table for One Thanks!

Gloria Gaynor sang a great song in the late 1970's about surviving a relationship breakup called "I Will Survive". I'm applying it to surviving this week.  Minor annoyances have felt like major dramas.

So essentially this post is bitching about my week and then I'm going to let it all go. But I'm not just whining-I'm going to come up with solutions to the problems so I can move on. I can't stand grizzling for grizzlings sake!

The devil quilt - what sane person considers taking their quilt and using it as bonfire fuel  -in the middle of fire ban season -on our tinder dry block ? I didnt really think about it seriously - I was more blogging for laughs - but I was pretty peeved about the quilt all the same. And since that quilt is finished why the hell am I still blogging about it?

Solution: Start something new , exciting , gorgeous and get immersed in it's wonderfulness. Not everything I do has to be perfect. (although I'm a Virgo- so it kinda does actually)

The car went in to get fixed yesterday and 24 hours later the powertrain light is back on and the computer is whoop whoop whooping like an aircraft about to crash everytime we turn it on.  This is the third time it's been in and checked out (and we've been charged for it being "fixed".) You can understand my reluctance to go back to get ripped off a fourth time. Just diagnose the problem guys - because your inability to do so  seems to be the actual  problem. Our mechanics are about as sharp as a bucket of nerf darts and as far as I'm concerned they couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery.

Solution: Buy a skateboard to get to and from work. I'm pretty sure that now the devil quilt is finished the car has been possessed.

SA Water- I dont need you reminding me on my bill that my water usage has increased since this time last year. I'm still using about 1/3rd less a day than you consider average. Where was my thankyou when I was using only 1/2 the amount of water you consider to be average for my home? Oh and by the way - my household size has doubled since this time last year - that would be why my water usage has increased 30%. And if my crispy brown front lawn isn't enough of a tip off for you about how serious I am about doing my bit to save water, please feel free to come and suss out my two minute showers (I dare you) where I dart through the shower with a cake of soap and catch all the water in a bucket at my feet so I can use it in my washing machine, then catch it in another bucket and use it to water my plants outside.  

Solution : Turn on all my sprinklers out of spite  and water the lawn while running through the sprinklers having fun like a three year old while holding a cake of soap. The sprinkler run can double as today's shower. Since it's illegal to use sprinklers here I'll probably be arrested. I wont be getting water bills in jail and they'll probably still time my showers.

I feel a lot better now...Thanks for "listening"  if you made it this far.

It's Australia Day next Tuesday, which is like American Independence Day - but with much less fanfare. We tend not to do parades. Actually we throw snags on the barbecue and have the day off work.  Mr. Pyjamas and I have decided to take the opportunity to go away for a few days. While we are away I'll  have an  attitude adjustment, and come back as little Miss Sunshine, instead of the wicked queen from Snow White.

See you all mid next week!

Avert Your Eyes !

I take no responsibility for any unnatural occurences or subsequent possession of your soul that might arise from you viewing this quilt.

It's Finished! I can move into something else with a clear conscience and with what is left of my tenuous sanity intact.

I am very very excited.

Ok its official .....I'm a true 80's tragic.

The excitement of my week , month , year , life came when Spandau Ballet announced their upcoming Australian tour yesterday double billing with Tears For Fears in April.

Faster than you can say "I'm soooooooooo there " I was on the phone calling all my 80's tragic friends and bullying them into coming with me .

I wonder how much other mutton will be there dressed up as lamb, because lets face it they havent had a hit since about 1989, so there wont be anyone under about 35 at the concert. I wonder if Tony Hadley will finally realise I'm the girl he's been searching for all his life....

Sometimes I'm just crazy

I'm going to try really hard not to come across like a raving lunatic with this post. It's been such a busy week. It's late. It's hot. I dont feel 100%. I'm tired...and it's that time of the month. (Sorry if that's TMI for anyone)

With all this going on, it's a miracle I'm not a sobbing heap in a corner somewhere.

If you've read my profile you'll see that I start with "sometimes a disaster" in reference to my creative projects...well this is one of those times.

Just to re-cap ...I made a quilt, I hated a quilt, I partially quilted a quilt, decided to nix the quilt, helpful people gave me suggestions about how to change it so I might be able to look at it without vomiting, I changed my mind, (unpicking the possessed devil incarnate quilt was not my favourite activity but I did it gracefully and without pitching a hissy fit once ) re-did the whole quilt top, still didn't love the quilt,  basted and quilted the quilt top. Actually started to like the quilt! Quite cute actually. Yay!

Binding was a disaster. Many many mistakes. Even the sewing machine doesn't really like this quilt. Perhaps it senses that if this quilt is given life it may breed and spawn other devil quilts.  Lots of mother-effing and assorted other sailor like language eminating from the sewing room ensued. Yeah Yeah I know I'm meant to pretend I'm a lady . Whatever... Ladylikeness is pretty over rated in my opinion.

Rationalised that  unless the quilting police are planning a raid on my house it doesn't have to be perfect. Perservered. Finished it. Breathed a sigh of relief. It's not utterly gorgeous but it's finished. Did a little happy dance. Mentally patted myself on the back. Tallied up pertinent facts relating to the making of this quilt like: I used  2 metres of sashing , 100 vintage sheet squares  and 346 cuss words during the quilt making process.

Ironing the binding...and dreaming of the impending unveiling of the quilt to the family in the loungeroom. Discover a whole 2 inch section not properly attached to the front of the quilt and it cannot be fixed  unless I unpick the ENTIRE binding front and back.(amended swear word total = 352 cuss words) 

I'm just off out the back with the quilt , a can of petrol and some matches....

Nerida , I know you check in here and I'm only kidding about the cuss words....you know I don't use profane language. ROFL...

Meatless Monday -Can You Keep a Secret ?

This recipe for Roast Vegetable Frittata is easy. I decided to use my omelette maker and just popped the roast vegies in and poured beaten eggs on top. They only take about 8 minutes. A few minutes before the finish I popped some edam cheese and basil on top and closed the lid on the omelette maker again.

This is the finished result.

Mr. Pyjamas couldn't join us due to another commitment - so his is plated in the fridge for him to enjoy when he gets home later .

I'm sure these taste scrumptious but since there was no adult supervision in the house to shame us into eating vegetables on Meatless Monday Miss Pyjamas and I did a covert Maccas run for dinner.

It was delicious !

I'm just going to dispose of the evidence and wash the plates we used for our McDonalds so it will look like we actually ate the Frittata....

And honey , if you're reading this , I'm sorry. I'm pretty sure that the stuff in  McDonald's burgers isnt ACTUAL meat so we haven't really broken the sanctity of Meatless Monday. 

Lazy Sunday (not)

I spent today quilting the vintage sheet quilt. It's done! Now that it's quilted I'm far happier than I was yesterday. It's actually quite sweet.  I just have the binding to do and it's finished . Once it's  done, I'll post some pics. I'm planning to hand stitch this binding on just for the experience, so give me a week or so.

I was  bitten by a baking bug the last 24 hours. I made gingerbread cupcakes, chocolate crackles, a chocolate slice, roast beef for dinner tonight and I roasted capiscum, onion, potato , zucchini, pumpkin and parsnip for tomorrow nights Meatless Monday dish.

It's 9.15 pm and I'm still in my pyjamas...at least I won't have to change to go to bed. I'm looking forward to collapsing into bed in an hour or so and reading a book.

A Lesson Learned and Random Musings

What a week!

It’s always a shock when you have to go back to work after holidays. However, this time next week I’ll be back on holidays until school goes back on February 1st. Yay! Quilting Party!

Miss Pyjamas is suffering from one of the worst cases of sunburn I've ever seen and has been completely unable to do ANYTHING for the last 48 hours. Even sitting is painful. I think she has learned a valuable lesson about applying sunscreen. A side benefit will be the Academy Award Nomination she receives for her touching and heartfelt portrayal of a dying swan.

A few highlights of this week:
~I managed to get the two filing cabinets I was after – completely free- which rocks.

~I got our household budget done for the first 6 months of this year. Wow if we want that new kitchen I’m gonna have to stop buying fabric! Shocker.

~I went to see a movie with my friend Sandra and Miss Pyjamas.  I had a near death experience while I was there when I choked on a half sucked Jaffa. (Maybe the NDE should be in the low lights section)

~I finished the devil vintage sheet quilt top. For a peek you can look here

~I got a menu plan happening for next week so the eternal “What’s for dinner” question is already answered. I'm on fire organisation wise!

~And the Fringe Guide came out for 2010 and we’ve already bought tickets to 4 shows. Fringe is a  huge 3 week art festival with lots of different shows and performances. It's wonderful!

Low Light of the week

The powertrain issue with the car still isn’t fixed and it has to go back to the dealer. That’s two mechanics that haven’t been able to locate the problem and  fix it. We’re going for third time lucky. Thank goodness this isn’t brain surgery.

Enjoy your weekend  and do something  special that makes you happy and relaxed.

Back from the Dead.

With Mr. Pyjamas otherwise occupied today,  I snaffled the opportunity to do a few things round here. One of them was clean the bathroom properly ( Excitement Plus !)

The other one was to spend a couple of hours sewing my new /old, improved /re-hashed vintage sheet quilt top.

Remember this monstrosity?

Tweaked and Polished, it now looks like this

I'm still not completely in love with it but it certainly looks better. Maybe I'll love it when it's quilted.

That's half a UFO finished !

I Can't Think Of A Catchy Title For This Boring Blog Post

I pretty much live in  a zoo here. I'm not impuning the behaviour of the humans I live with ..although they can also be pretty gross. For example my daughter has a nose ring. Apparently that entitles you to pick your nose whenever you like. In addition let me just say that seeing the hilarity in farting and burping is not limited to 4 year olds. At least thats the way my house rolls.

I'm talking about the level of animal co-habitation at our place.  We have two dogs and two cats and a blue tongue lizard that lives in our yard. We also have assorted wild birds that feed at our place daily. Apparently word has got around the feathered community that there's a free smorgasbord going down at the Pyjama's house.

Given the level of animal feeding that goes on here , I buy all our animal food in bulk at the local "Buy BIG bags of cat and dog food Here" store once every couple of months. Bear in mind that I'm buying 90 pounds of dog food and 40 pounds of cat food at a time. Nobody bats an eyelash.

This week I discovered I could buy it cheaper at the local supermarket when it's on sale. And on sale it was!

Let me paint a mental picture for you. Set the scene as it were. At the local grocery store civilised people (who own pomeranians and other assorted small-ish type dogs ) buy 15 pound bags of dog food and a box of cat food and apparently it lasts them about a year. You can't get bags bigger than 15 pounds  because if you need more than that  for the lifetime of your pet  there is an unwritten law that says Thou Wilt shop at the "Buy BIG bags of cat and dog food Here" store.

Now picture me at the local grocery store tonight then with a trolley loaded with 90 pounds of dog food and 26 pounds of  cat food. ( I couldn't fit the extra 14 pounds of cat food in the trolley - I'm gonna have to go back ) EVERYONE was looking at me like I was the Crazy Cat Lady from the Simpson's. Or Cruella De Vil . Take your pick.

Smart arse checkout chick says to me with a smirk "This'll keep you going for a while then" to which I replied "Love, this is about 6 weeks worth " . I'm fairly sure she thought I was joking.

I stomped off before she had a chance to reply. Hey I saved $11.62 for the next 6 weeks. It was worth the minor embarrassment.

The Practically Oreo-less Country

It started like this....

I've been over at Infarrantly Creative a couple of times lately and have had occasion to comment about Oreo's, firstly in response to her Awesome Snack Mom post and then in response to her Peas in a Pod Baby Shower post . (Have you seen those darling little oreo pops in her post ? I so wanna make some!)

You might not think Oreo's are very exciting. But to me Oreo's are darn exciting because they've only been available for sale here in Australia  for around 4-5 years. Until 2004 I really felt something was missing from my life ya know? Bingo- Oreo's go on sale here and suddenly angels were singing , the sun was shining and I felt completely at peace.

I fully confess I'm Oreo obsessed. As far as I'm concerned they're right up there with Tim Tams. If there was only one food left on earth I'd probably want it to be Tim Tams or Oreo's. Or maybe salt and vinegar chips. Anyway, I guess you get the picture.

So last night I did some internet surfing and found out just how many oreo varieties are out there. I say "out there" with an emphasis on NOT HERE.

I feel completely ripped off !

I gotta tell you ...I took my life in my hands trying to get this hard hitting investigative picture for you today at my local supermarket. One of the store employees looked at me like I was a spy for the rival grocery store while I was taking my photo's. I wondered for one small moment whether I was going to end up in the same place as Jimmy Hoffa.  Maybe it's illegal to take pictures in supermarkets here or something. Whatever.  I escaped with my pictures ...and my weekly grocery shop intact.

This is the entire Oreo section of my local supermarket.

Plain Oreo's and Oreo Wafer Snacks....That's it. I bet you guys have whole freaking aisles of Oreo's. Whole Oreo Stores even! I get 3 square feet of Oreo's. It doesn't seem right.

Where, I ask you  are the double stuffed,  double stuffed golden, or chocolate oreo's, or oreo chocolate fudge, fudge rings, double delights, banana split creme, or cakesters  that I read about ? And thats not even the whole list of what I'm missing out on! Where are my Christmas and Halloween Oreo's Mr. Kraft ? It's just not fair...

So while I'm on the subject of food, I have some questions about other stuff I'm missing out on since I'm geographically deprived of all the cool stuff in the world.

Are Lucky Charms as awesome as they sound? And why do they cost $14.00 a box? Are there real charms in there?

Should I start a movement to get Marshmallow Fluff to Australia? When it gets here what do I do with it?

Is Cool whip really that cool?

And does anyone really eat cheese whiz in  a can?

Meatless Monday on A Tuesday

Again, I'm flaunting all the rules by having Monday's dinner on Tuesday . I'm one wild and crazy chick!

I made sure I filled up on meat eating the equivalent of two sheep and a small cow  yesterday since I wont be seeing meaty protein again till Wednesday. That's not cheating ! That's good planning!

Tonight's delectable vegetarian dinner  was a copycat Olive Garden Fettuccini Alfredo. I have to confess we dont have Olive Garden here so I dont know how close this comes to the original. At 52 grams of fat PER SERVE I don't think it's particularly healthy either.

You can get the recipe here and it got lots of good reviews from people who know what Olive Garden Alfredo tastes like.

You will need the following ingredients.

You will also need  a defibrillator on standby when you have a heart attack from immediately clogged arteries, given the fat content of this dish.

It's pretty easy to do. You chuck everything in 2 different pots and stir a lot. I added extra cheese, butter and cream cheese to mine to disguise the taste of the cardboard ....err I mean pasta.

It smelled great cooking, and looked good plated. I had very high hopes.

It's 30 minutes after dinner time and I'm sitting here stuffing my face with mandarin jubes....and I'm already planning a ninja raid on some vegemite on toast in about an hour. Miss Pyjamas will no doubt be joining me. In my own defence I had spaghetti for lunch so maybe I'm just pasta-ed out .

Or I'm just not cut out to be vegetarian. Or maybe I'm just picking shit recipes.

Till next week...This is meatasaurus signing out.

Round up of my week

Meatless Monday is on hold this week since we’re going to be at my in laws for dinner tomorrow to celebrate my father in laws birthday and they have decided on Chinese. So we are having Herbivorous Tuesday instead and will be pretending pasta is a plant. Awesome vegetarian and pretend play all wrapped up in one meal! How can we lose?

Just a couple of other observations. I want to reiterate that while our northern hemisphere pals are experiencing ridiculous levels of cold and snow, we are having ridiculous heat here. Most days this week have been over 100F. I’ll send you some sun if you send me some snow and maybe we can get the weather tolerable for all of us.

My husband saw Hot Cross Buns in the stores this week for Easter. All I have to say is WTF!!!! Apparently they are there because of consumer demand. Exactly which twits are demanding Easter arrive three months early?

I’m going to round up my week from this post , because I am going back to work tomorrow (boo hiss ) and will go back to having about 10 free hours a week in which to craft and quilt….I have sooooo enjoyed being on holidays. (insert long and wistful sighing noise here –making sure you use an Australian accent for authenticity)

Gobble Gobble coin quilt.

Cant find a backing I like for it, so it’s on hold. It’s in my WIPS and I’ll get to it (eventually)

Beaded Curtain tiebacks

Done, installed, and looking positively fabulous.

Mirror Mosaic

At last count I had earned myself about 21 years of bad luck with my mirror smashing, and I have one more to smash . It’s been too hot to glue anything here this week unless you want the glue to dry as it’s coming out of the “instant nails”gun. I don’t, so I’ve laid the pattern out and when the weather gets tolerable again I’ll glue it and go from there. Another WIP.

Possessed Vintage Sheet Quilt

Was on my WIP list , off my WIP list and is now back on the list . I unpicked all the quilting this week, unpicked the squares and re-sized them and am in the process of putting it all back together. If I get it together and STILL hate it – I’m warning you it’s popping up as a blog giveaway.

Kashmir HST quilt 

Nothing accomplished this week. I was too busy unpicking the devil quilt.

Mini Quilt and Pyjamas

Done! And those pj’s are oh-so-comfy. I spent about 140 hours in them this week.

Family History- I did quite a bit this week and found out some new things especially relating to Military Service of some of my ancestors. ( can hear you all snoring with boredom) William Wates remains largely a mystery and I think I’m going to have to dump him for a while and work on someone findable. It’s not like he’s going anywhere.

And to all of you that are on my blog roll , my Mum finally came onto my blog last night and spent 12 hours trolling all your blogs. She reckons you’re all pretty darn creative and she’s all quilting enthused again. She also understands why I spend so much time checking out blogs now!

Have a great week!

Before and After .....

Since we're blog buddies and all, I wanted to show you some pictures of my house.

Our house is  a standard 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 2 car garage built in late 1979. It's old enough to need lots of work but not old enough to have true character. With a house that's the vintage of mine you kinda have to breathe personality into them.

Mr. Pyjamas lived in this house BM...(Before Me) and when I moved in 9 years ago  it was decorated in the "really bad batchelor pad" style. Ugh! I got rid of the coffee table that had been spray painted silver and had carpet nailed to the top of it, the gross recliner chairs, the copper occasional table...the list goes on. Actually I got rid of pretty much everything.

 Two years ago we did a long overdue makeover on our master bedroom- taking it from drab to fab.  We stripped the room and started again- ceiling to floor, including knocking out a wall to build a HUGE wardrobe. The revolting white queen anne wardrobe we had might have been the height of fashion in late 1979 but it had certainly seen better days.

We went from this....

To this

But lately I've been getting a bit bored with the look of our room, so I just bought two new sets of completely different bed linen .

That's Mordecai... he's a star and I'm paparazzi

I think this bed needs throws and cushions,  but my white vintage hob nail chenille is currently on Miss Pyjamas bed and I haven't decided what colour cushions this needs. I dont think it needs more black and white. I'll shelve the cushion idea  for a while and think about it.

Last year we stripped the lounge room and started again , including taking out metres of cedar wall panelling and putting in a new wall. This before picture doesn't show the cedar panelling ..it was truly gross. I still dream about it's disgusting-ness. We had a 30 year old gas heater built into the wall at the other end of the loungeroom, and in built dark wood shelving as well.

This is what it looks like now...

Unbelievably this is the same view as the "Before" picture.

Other views:

That wall used to be cedar panelling shelving and a very ugly built in gas heater.

The other two bedrooms have been made over too. But I'm not showing them because at the moment our guest room is my sewing room because my sewing room is temporarily Miss Pyjamas room. Some pics of that another time perhaps.  

We are planning a new kitchen installation for mid this year , which I am wildly excited about. I cannot wait to have the kitchen done !

Look what I got!

Mr. Pyjamas went shopping for a birthday present for his Dad today and came home with this IPOD dock for me ........for my sewing room...I'm completely bragging and showing off and I don't mean to be but I'm just soooooooo excited!

Blackmail, Devil Wings and a Quilt Update

I went shopping today for some backing fabric for my gobble gobble coin quilt and I still can’t find anything I love. This might be one of those projects that gets put on hold for a bit while I scout for what I want. Once I put a quilt away for about two years until I found the perfect border. Thats just the way I quilt.

 

I also bought some fabric to use in my resurrected vintage sheet quilt. (that thing is on at least its third incarnation ) I got friendly with the unpicker this afternoon and will move forward from there. Stay tuned. As with all my projects I’m sure there will be much riotous drama before its finished.

 

While I was at Spotlight- So help me- I saw some Christmas fabric that I didn’t have in my stash and bought a metre of it for only $2.50.(Crazy Bargain!) This must have been the only Christmas fabric in the universe I don't have. I smuggled it into the house but Miss Pyjamas busted me and threatened to rat me out to her Dad unless I made devil wings for dinner tonight. What a squealer…. Blackmail is rarely pretty so I crumbed her devil wings with rat poison and arsenic. And squealed on myself to my husband. I like to cover all my bases.

 

P.S. The devil wings were awesome, although when I was melting the butter and tabasco sauce to pour on the wings I swear my eyeballs caught fire from the hot-ness. I hear not having eyelashes is very in right now. Probably just as well.

UFO/ WIP Challenge

Becky over at  The Sarcastic Quilter has a UFO challenge going for 2010, which I've decided to be a  part of. Wander on over and have a squizz and feel free to join us.

I don't have a lot of UFO's but the few I do have are weighing heavily on my conscience. I hate not finishing things.

Consequently I've put the wretched vintage sheet quilt top back on my WIP list since both Vivian and Suzanne were nice enough to leave me suggestions about what I might be able to do with it. Thanks ladies! Your comments helped me see that the quilt top didn't need  to be consigned to the rag bag  after all. I'll have to spend some time thinking about it before I attempt to do something new with it. I need a success before I'm ready to challenge myself again.

Speaking of vintage sheet quilts my Mum sent me pictures of the one she has just finished. I think it looks so pretty. That's how sweet mine was supposed to look! My Mum is a really talented quilter and probably the person who set me on my own quilting path.

"I See Dead People "

Haley Joel Osmont said it best when in the 1999 flick "The Sixth Sense " he whispers to Bruce Willis " I see Dead People". Completely creepy!

Here it is :

I don't like to brag Haley Joel,  but I've been seeing  dead people since 1995 and my people are way deader than yours. Some of them have been dead for hundreds of years.  However, I only see relatives. I'm selective that way.

You see Haley Joel,  I am a genealogist.

Sometimes days go by where I live more completely in the past than the present. These are the days where coffee cups pile up on the computer desk, beds don't get made, animals get ignored,  and I announce we're getting takeaway for tea when my husband walks in the door at 6pm, like I planned it hours ago. Chances are I didn't even know it was 6pm. As far as I'm concerned it's half past 1832.

Once we ate takeaway for 6 straight days when I was tracing my great grandfather who came from a Russian controlled country, jumped ship in Fremantle harbour and swam ashore changing his name to something anglo-sounding without the benefit of legal process. The man never filed a tax return. Never became an Australian citizen. Didnt he realise how difficult that was going to make him to find 100 years down the track? Eventually my  9 year old begged me for vegetables with tears in her eyes and whispered the magic words "I'm sick of McDonalds". Thank you Genealogy for setting my daughter on the path to righteous eating habits.

In the pre-internet days, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and man had not yet discovered fire,  family history was done the old fashioned way. You used to hand write letters and use an actual stamp and envelope. You had to wait weeks before you got a response if you got one at all. You used to talk to members of your family and take an oral history. The internet has changed everything. So many resources online, so many people willing to share , so many people with an interest in seeing their own dead people. Genealogy has exploded. What used to take months can now sometimes be found in an hour. Sometimes it still takes years.  Or never.

I guess with family history you're either into it or you're totally not. I am aware I can wax lyrical about  1738 in Ingoldsby Lincolnshire, and can bore you with the statistics of what an agricultural labourer earned in Sussex in 1851 and that not everyone is interested. Just let your eyes glaze over ever so slightly when I start talking and I'll get the message. And keep right on talking.

For the rest of us that share this obsession it's amazing when you find someone tracing the same family as you , even if they are your third cousin seven times removed and they live in some place in Wales you never knew existed and they think Australia is actually somewhere in Europe. ("That would be Aust-ria, I'm in Aust-ral-ia -southern hemipshere -bottom of the world- yes it is a long way away- no we dont keep kangaroos in our back yards") 

Dead people have fascinating stories to tell. It's better than any soap opera. My great grandaunt cut my great grandfather out of all his own wedding photo's because she hated him so much. Nobody knows why - or if they do they aren't talking.   I've found a few tragedies, and the odd skeleton and scandal. I've dreamed of having a convict pop up because it's just so darn trendy to have felons in your family branches. One of my family died tragically in a fire 90 years ago. I had him pegged as a romantic hero until I discovered he was a tramp living in a box and set fire to himself while drinking cheap booze.   This hobby is like having my own personal episodes of Days of Our Lives.

So next time Great Aunt Maud pulls out her photo collection and wants to talk about the good old days, let her. You might learn something interesting.

And if anyone is related to the elusive William Wates please contact me !

Mini Coin Quilt

Mini Coin Quilt Finished. (Doing the Happy Dance Here)

This is the back

This is the front . It measures 21 x 16 inches.

You can see the full size version in this post

I've also realised our house is too dark for taking good photographs. Or maybe I'm just crap at photography. Meh....

I'm off to find the mysterious William Wates.

A Fabric Dilemma

Should I bite the bullet and buy some of this.....

Another burning question...Will my husband divorce me if I do?

Just Chillin'....

In my holidays I get to live the life I dream about ...I love who I am during that time. Creative, completely calm, not juggling too many things at once, a go with the flow kind of girl, immersing myself in a project ( or maybe two )  I can just ...be.

These are the beaded tie backs I made yesterday for the master bedroom. The pair came in at under ten bucks. Suck on that Spotlight!- who wanted 20 bucks each for theirs and they weren't half as stunning.

I found this deco looking jar yesterday in my op shop travels,  that I'm using as a vase/display for some of our eclectic decorations. It was half price and cost $1.50 . Perfect!

I spent the morning smashing old mirrors into pieces for a project I'm working on. It was cheap therapy. I got the mirrors for free, so it was actually completely costless therapy.

I managed to sneak in some quilting as well.

I headed on over (methaphorically speaking) to my local freecycle group and begged for some filing cabinets. No responses yet but I'm hopeful.

I even got some housework and washing done and planned dinner. (Prawns with garlic parmesan cream sauce, wedges and salad- You're welcome to drop by and join us- we have two extra people  tonight so what's one or two more)

Seriously nominate me for sainthood.

Yay ! First completed project for 2010

2 new pairs of pyjama pants from old sheets. I'm on a creative roll.

Meatless Monday

I alluded to Meatless Monday on my Peking Duck post ( kind of ironic huh? since duck is meat) That’s the way I roll. Pushing boundaries all the time.

Anyway , Mr. Pyjamas tendered the idea that we go meatless one day a week after watching Oprah (he says he was channel surfing but I know the truth ) where some dude said if everyone in America went meatless one day a week, the carbon tradeoff would equal taking 20 million cars off the road a year. So we’re going meatless for America…in the name of international relations since we’re in Australia.

Confession: I am a carnivore. If it didn't moo, baa, cluck, gobble, snort  or swim in a previous life, it probably isn't worth eating.  As far as I am concerned vegetables are a garnish to make my plate look pretty. Yeah, Yeah -I get that they are healthy and all that jazz, but they just don’t taste the same as say a roast chicken  or a great fillet steak.

I’m trying to be happy and positive about this. What I actually want to do is sneak out of the house and find the nearest lamb chop.

Today’s recipe is eggplant parmigiana. You will need the following ingredients:

If you look very carefully in the left hand side of this picture you will see a pack of Samboy BBQ chips which I plan to have for dessert later because I am sure I am going to be starving from lack of meat. I also have snowballs and illicit mince pies squirrelled away somewhere...

 

Here is how mine turned out. I’m not sure why they call it eggplant parmigiana. It has only two eggplants and 2 kilos of potatoes, so at least I'm not carbohydrate deprived. I cheated a little. I used less potatoes but then put my body weight in cheese in there to hide the eggplant. The level of cheesiness was sublime.

 

 
It would actually be a great side dish and was pretty tasty.  I guess we need some time to get used to Meatless Mondays and to get a bigger vegetarian recipe library.
 

Miss Pyjamas stated "I wouldn't be tripping over myself to have that again but it wasnt too bad". I'm so glad we taught her to be tactful. She picked her way around the one offending slice of eggplant that somehow found its way onto her plate. Pretty sure she'll be hitting the Coco Pops later.

 
You can find the recipe here (and the mince pies in my underwear drawer, if you're interested )

I hope Monday gets better

I got up this morning to dog puke on my computer room floor courtesy of Indy and this ......

These garden beds were finished YESTERDAY. Mr Pyjamas is not going to be happy.

This is the culprit...at least she had the grace to look sorry.

Personally I think she was faking it.

Happy Monday!

The Week Ahead

Mr. Pyjamas goes back to work tomorrow. I have another week off work, and I'm going to try to use it creatively. I'm doing a happy dance here at the thought of another week off.

I'm hoping to finish the Gobble Gobble stacked coin quilt this week, (I still have to find the perfect backing) have lunch with a friend, and start another DIY project for the house from an idea I got in July of last year that involves broken mirrors but hopefully no bad luck.   I want to make some beaded tie backs for our bedroom curtains and have to start hunting down some old filing cabinets for another makeover project.

I've given up on one of my quilts from 2009. It's currently in my WIP's list on my sidebar. It's time to be realistic and take it off. I hate the vintage sheet quilt top as it is and to continue quilting it is a waste of time, creative energy , batting and backing. So it's off to find a seam ripper and recycle the batting.  Maybe I'll use pieces of the quilt to practice free motion quilting or use some of the squares in a scrap quilt later. I am "emotional quilter. " I have to love what I'm doing and believe in the project for it to work. Am I crazy or what?

The doomed vintage sheet quilt top

I'm a third of the way through sewing half square triangles for my next quilt, using oh-so -cute Moda Kashmir IV fabric. I love the paisleys in this line and this is the first time I've worked with triangles. Let's hope all my points line up when I'm done!

I was over at Teaginny Designs  yesterday where she was showcasing her stacked coin quilt. How sweet is this mini quilt! I really have to start making some mini quilts for my sewing room wall. Darn you internet quilters for being so inspiring!

I'm going to try and squeeze in some genealogy this week.My great great grandfather, the elusive William Wates is driving me nuts and I have to do something about him. And I keep having this insane thought about making some pyjamas from my sheet stash so I'll see if that happens this week....

Have a sensational Sunday!

Road Test : Peking Duck

One of the things I’ve decided to do this year is to extend my cooking skills. I’ll let you in on a secret here, I’m fabulous with everyday main meals but I can’t bake at all, so don’t expect to see fluffy sky high cakes and biscuits over the next year because that just aint going to happen. I once threw a cake out the back door when it collapsed after I spent hours making it. One of my other New Year's Resolutions is to try to control my temper.

My first challenge for the year was Peking Duck. I bought two ducks on special a while ago and roasted one and it was pretty ordinary. Ho hum. I hate it when that happens.  This duck has been cooling it’s heels in the freezer waiting for inspiration to strike. (Do ducks have heels?)

A quick toodle round the internet and apparently the best Peking duck is air dried for about 4-5 hours before roasting. I am by nature a worrier. What about food poisoning? I finally decide 1.3 billion Chinese people and 5000 years of Chinese culture probably render it safe enough. What a blessing today isn’t 42 C. Although that would speed up the air drying process.

Making the marinade. Then the ducky went for a swim in the marinade.

“ Air Drying” the duck. I put the fan on in my oven without turning the heat on and chucked the duck in there. I have two dogs, and a cat that I swear has opposable thumbs and a constantly empty stomach. No way am I leaving this to air dry outside or on the bench. I thought I was pretty hot crap for thinking of this idea.....

Unfortunately I realised three hours in,  that the air blows out of the top of my oven – not around the inside of my oven, so I took it out and put it on the table and then stood guard for the last 60 minutes yelling at the cat to get off the table approximately every three minutes. Gee that was a fun way to spend Saturday afternoon.

Making my hoisin sauce. Ok I cheated. I figured doing the duck the authentic way was challenge enough.

I did however make these pancakes. Dead easy.

I contemplated making spring rolls , but Mr. Wong's were so much faster.

The end result...Ta Da !

It tasted as good as the restaurant kind.

You can get the recipe I used for the duck here at taste.com.au. And the pancake recipe here as well.

Stay tuned for Meatless Mondays.

Happy New Year

In 2009 I finished 5 quilts and an extra quilt top among other crafts. Some of these projects turned out exactly the way I had envisaged and some didn't. That's the way the cookie crumbles I guess.

Disasters included the painted canvas for the loungeroom ( ugh -how I hate it- I hate it so much I'm not even going to post a picture of it  ) the small tote I made with disappearing handles and my vintage sheet quilt top which just didnt pan out the way I had thought it would.

I loved the Christmas bauble wreath, and the baby bibs.   Quilt wise my favourites were my string quilt, Sandra's string quilt  and the stacked coin quilt I've just done for my daughter.

I'm starting 2010 with mountains of ideas for new quilts.  I really must stop looking at quilting blogs because just this morning I saw more fabric and a quilt design over at "film in the fridge" that I love. Since I'm climbing over fabric for quilts in my sewing room already , I'll have to put that idea on hold for a bit.

I'm off to do some creating.