Photo scavenger hunt - June

Here are my photos for June's hunt.  I've been scrambling the last few days to complete my list as June has been busy with the 21st and 18th birthday parties of my girls.  There are a few artistic interpretations of a couple on the list, but I think that is part of the fun of taking these photos.

1.  Something with my town's name on it.

Outside the local primary school.

2.  An elephant

My nephew drew this for me a couple of years ago in my sketchbook.

3.  A wheel trim.

Artistic license taken with this photo.  I could have used this for childhood memories too as I remember pushing this old wheel trim around when I was a little girl.  It has a piece of wire attached (you can see that at the top left of the photo) which means you can push it like a wheelbarrow.  I loved looking at the patterns it made in the very sandy ground where I grew up.

4.  Architectural detail.

A local boys private Catholic school.  This building is a new addition to the school and quite hideous in my opinion.

5.  Cheese

Brie and rice crackers.  The cheese was left over from Genevieve's birthday party.  Sometimes it's good to over cater.

6.  Night

Solar powered Chinese lanterns hanging around the garden room in the backyard.

7.  Tree branches

Winter branches of the Sycamore tree in the front yard.

8.  Cutlery

My cutlery drawer.  It would appear that it is my peg drawer too!

9.  A childhood memory.

 I can't remember where I was exactly when this photo was taken of me or how old I was but I do remember that little overcoat.  I loved the fur collar.  Look at all those freckles.  That's what the Australian sun did to my fair skin.

10.  A farm animal

Missy and Eagle free ranging in the back yard.

11.  Something beginning with Z....

Visiting Toronga Zoo in Sydney.  It was the best I could come up with for something starting with Z...

12.  The view right outside my door.

A very wintry garden view out the front door.

A very interesting list for the month of June which I have enjoyed immensely.  Looking forward to the July list.

Anne  xx

Denim skirt to shoulder bag

Does anyone else have problems finding the perfect hand/shoulder bag or is it just me?  They are either too big, too small, the straps are too thin and dig into the shoulders and on it goes.  I've been wanting to have a go at making my own shoulder bag for some time now but not at all confident about coming up with a pattern that would suit.  So what to do.  This skirt has been sitting in my wardrobe for some time not being worn.

Light black denim skirt.

With some snipping and........

 sewing I now have this.  Ta dah!!!

Front

 

 

Back

 

Button loop made from a scrap of left over fabric.

Nice wide shoulder straps.

I was going to photograph the process of converting this skirt to a bag but there were so many steps I decided it would be quite tedious reading and viewing.  This is what I did.  After cutting off the bottom of the skirt I took in the waistband on either side to make a smaller opening.  I added pleats to the bottom of the bag as it was too hard to gather the material to make the bottom of the bag smaller.  I triple sewed the bottom for strength and zigzagged all raw edges.

I made the straps from the part of the skirt I cut off the bottom.  They are hemmed, doubled over and I used a very small zigzag stitch to reinforce the edges of the straps.  After pinning them in place, I triple sewed them in place adding an X shape for extra reinforcement.  The pockets were sewn shut at the top as they were to shallow to be used on the outside of the bag.  I created one pocket inside by cutting a slit on the front of the pocket piece inside the skirt and hemming around it.

So there you have it, a new and hopefully just about perfect bag for me that cost me nothing more than my time, yesterday afternoon and evening.  I had the thread and the button already in my stash.  I'm just wondering now if I should embellish my bag.  Anyone with ideas or suggestions?

Have a lovely day,

Anne  xx

Chicken and pearl barley soup

There's nothing quite as nourishing and comforting as chicken and pearl barley soup.  I don't have a specific recipe with specific quantites of ingredients but I always use a chopped chicken fillet for the chicken meat pieces.  Here is what I used in Friday night's soup.

onions, diced

cellery, diced

chicken fillet, chopped into small pieces

carrots, diced

zucchini (corgette), diced

pearl barley

fresh herbs (parsley and sage from the garden), roughly chopped

salt and pepper

olive oil to saute onion, cellery and chicken

boiling water from the kettle

I start off by chopping the onion and cellery to saute and then add small chopped pieces of chicken fillet to brown.  Add the herbs and stir.  Add a kettle full of boiling water to the pan.  Nothing fancy about this, it just reduces the time it takes to get the water boiling on the stove.  Add pearl barley, I used about 3/4 cup 'cos I like thick soup.  Add chopped vegetables, whatever you feel like using.  I usually like to add parsnip, but it's a bit on the expensive side at the moment so I didn't buy any.  Season with salt and pepper.  Simmer until chicken, vegetables and barley are cooked.  Adjust seasoning.  Enjoy.

We ate our soup last night with mini cheese and corn muffin which were in the freezer left over from Genevieves party.  YUM!

Have you eaten something delicious or comforting today.  Includes chocolate!

Anne  xx

Flower mosaic painting update

Hello everyone.  I thought I'd show you an update on the flower mosaic oil painting I've been working on for what seems forever.  It's nearly finished, thankfully.  When I had the initial idea to do this painting, I totally underestimated the amount of detail and time it would take to complete.  However, now that it's nearly finished, I'm getting excited.

I've had the crochet hook out experimenting with making a coat hanger cover.  I made it a bit long, but for a first attempt it's not too bad.

Some of the Camelias have started to flower out in the garden and it's nice to have a little bit of colour on a dull winter's day.  I picked a couple of blossom and discovered to my delight that the Daphne has started flowering too.  I picked some of that too to put in the bathrooms as well as to add to the Camelia blooms.

On the kitchen window sill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the en suite.  The blossom smells divine.

Off to make chicken and pearl barley soup for dinner.  More on that tomorrow.

Anne  xx

Coffee, cats and colour

Good morning!  I love a good coffee mid morning and am very fortunate to be able to make one at home as  we have a small coffee machine.  I made myself a latte a couple of days ago and without realising, this is what happened.

My froth made a heart.  I didn't even notice until Charlotte pointed it out to me.  That's the beauty of having a daughter who is highly visual, she has a good eye for detail and noticing things others don't.  Thank you darling for pointing out my accidental latte art, something I would have missed entirely.

I know you have seen quite a few images of our cat Stripey, but he really is so cute I had to post a few more.

Here he is balancing on the back gate post.  In the background you will see hubby's domain.  A mysterious world of cars, timber offcuts, tools, containers of nails, screws, bolts, paint and other bits and pieces that shall remain in the garage/ workshop.  And here is Stripey  again doing what he does best, relaxing.

I've covered coffee and cats, now comes the bit about colour.  Friday of last week saw me up to my ears in party preparations which was briefly interrupted to take Charlotte to the bus.  While down in our local shopping precinct, I decided on a whim to visit the op. shop and found this tray.  I was drawn to the colours and pattern.

My camera hasn't shown the colours very well as there is a lovely green in there amongst the blues.  My idea was not to use this as a tray but as an addition to a little display area I have in the family room.

The ceramic pot plant was made by my mother-in-law when she was alive.  She was a very creative person and hubby and I have a number of her pieces of work that we love seeing everyday as a reminder of her.

  There is something about colour that draws me in.  I'm increasingly finding myself wanting more and more colour in my surroundings and am quite taken with the whole bohemian style of decorating.  I've found some amazing images that I've added to my Pinterest board to inspire me daily.  Here are a couple of them.

Image found here.

Image found here.

Is anyone else discovering that their approach to decorating and clothing is changing with the passage of time?  Perhaps it's just me and the artistic creative side wanting to burst out.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day,

Anne  xx

18th Birthday Celebrations

Saturday evening saw our family and Genevieve's close friends celebrating her 18th birthday.  In keeping with the personality of the birthday girl, I made a chocolate cake and chocolate cupcakes decorated with all sorts of nonsense.

It was all about colour, spots, stripes and patterns.  A little bit bright and bubbly to match Genevieve's personality.

The before picture.  Hubby had to do a little surgery to the main cake.  I like to keep things real.  :)

 

Here is Genevieve standing next to her cousin.

I don't think this photo needs any explanation.

As well as a multitude of balloons and streamers, I scattered fairly lights around which looked very pretty. 

The chicken balls, the chicken nuggets, sausage rolls were the biggest hit with the young ones.  The older ones, ahem, got stuck into the cheeses and other more sophisticated food.  Hubby had an emergency dash to buy more drinks as I underestimated the thirst of dancing girls.  Ooops!  And just to add a touch of something healthy, I made a huge fruit platter to snack on which was very much enjoyed.

Just because I can, I'm showing you one more photo of Genevieve which was taken in February this year before her school formal.  This would have to be my favourite photo of Genevieve, she's gorgeous.

Today was all about recovering from a very late night, the preparations and snacking on leftovers.

Have a great week,

Anne  xx

Preparations

What have we here?

Party decorations to suit the personality of a young lady who wears shoes like these.

Yesterday's cooking and baking.
 Mini corn and chive muffins.  I added a little seasoning as the first batch were a little bland.

Recipe found here http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/17134/corn+cheese+and+chive+mini+muffins.

Chicken nuggets to be served with a homemade barbecue sauce.

Recipe found here http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/25556/baked+chicken+nuggets.

 Chicken balls to be served with a dipping sauce. 

Recipe found here http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/Chicken-Balls-with-Dipping-Sauce-L915.html.

All these goodies have been put in the freezer for Saturday night.  Much of the food preparation can't be done until Friday, baking the cake (decorating to be done on Saturday) and other yummy things like Smoked salman canapes, Pistachios and Brie on thin baguette slices and tomato bruschetta can't be made until late Saturday afternoon.  I'm going to cheat with the sausage rolls and spinach and fetta triangles and buy them.  Other bits and pieces will be done on Saturday morning.  Some of the decorations will hopefully go up today.

Off to do a BIG grocery shop followed by a thorough cleaning of the house.  Sounds like fun doesn't it?  :-/

Anne  xx

Introducing "Cooking with Freefalling"

Today I would like to introduce you to "Cooking with Freefalling", one of my all time favourite blogs.  If you are looking for a visual feast of superbly photographed home cooking and baking, check out this blog.  You will not be disappointed.  Here is a small sample from Letitia's latest post.

Photo from http://cookingwithfreefalling.blogspot.com/2011/06/flourless-chocolate-cake-with-pear.html

Photo from http://cookingwithfreefalling.blogspot.com/2011/06/flourless-chocolate-cake-with-pear.html

One of the most wonderful things about the blogging world is discovering people who have amazing talents.  This lady oozes photography talent.  I want you all to enjoy what I have been soaking up the past few months.

 Letitia had no idea about this post until I asked her if I might let my followers take a peek into her world which she agreed to.  Have a look at her other blogs too, the photography is fantastic.  Not only does Letitia take gorgeous photos, she has been very supportive during my low moments.  Beautiful photography, beautiful person.

Enjoy!!


Anne  xx

Venice, Italy

Hubby and I are starting to plan our holiday in Europe next year and on my list of places to visit is this canal in Venice.

I've shown you this painting before.   Here is the same spot although a different photo image than the one I used for my painting.

Photo by Stuart Black

I can enlarge the photo but it is blurry but I think you will see that it is the same spot I painted.  For a better view of the photo visit here.  Imagine my delight when after some internet detective work, hubby and I have found where this is in Venice.  It is on the canal Rio Fava and there are a number of hotels very close.  If I'm really lucky, fingers crossed, I might be able to persuade hubby to stay in the area one night.  It would be a dream come true.

I now have a Pinterest account and have been adding images of places I'd like to visit.  Some of them are so beautiful, I need to paint them.  Lot's of dreaming going on right now.

Bye for now,

Anne  xx

Pruning and gardening

A cold but sunny winter's day is perfect for a spot of gardening, so that's what I did today.  As my chooks have been free ranging, parts of my garden are looking like this.

Image from here.

While I've been happy for the sick chook to get back to good health, free ranging is going to be a little bit more restricted now.  I've lost some pansy seedlings but the primulas are o.k., just.  A creeping campanula is a little worse for wear but I'm sure it will survive.  So I've tidied up the affected garden beds and am thinking about what other plants I could risk putting in now that it is very cold.  I might just have to look around for some pots of colour which at this time of the year are usually polyanthus in a glorious array of colours.

Image found here.

Have a look at this.

 Image found here.

This is pretty much what I was doing this afternoon although I wasn't quite as precarious as this fella.  I quite like climbing trees so the height factor doesn't bother me.   I managed to saw through three large branches (about five more to go) without doing myself an injury.  I must have looked quite a sight balancing on branches and hanging clinging on with one arm.  Brute strength isn't something I'm known for so I had to have quite a few rests in between sawing.  Nothing quite like a little aerobic/bicep strengthening exercise.  :)  I'm a bit sore this evening but lucky for me hubby cooks dinner on Saturday nights, so I'm curled up on the couch blogging with a kitty purring in my ear.  Methinks it's time for crochet.


Anne  xx

P.S. Hubby is making savoury crepes for dinner.