how not to crochet a ripple blanket

February 4, 2013 By 10 Comments

Picture it. It’s a rainy and wet weekend. You’ve sorted the clothes, you’ve done the groceries, you’re getting a bit bored of your current knitting project and you know the preschool teacher is going on maternity leave soon.

 

The twins preschool teachers are amazing and so dedicated so you pull out some wool, try to find where you put the crochet hooks as your craft room is all packed up in boxes and you get the pattern for a ripple blanket.

You start and make cracking progress. It’s just the perfect weather.

You keep working on it while watching a few movies.

Then when you are watching Upstairs Downstairs (great series by the way, have you been enjoying it too?) you realise that on one edge instead of having 7 stitches you somehow have multiplied it out to 12. Uh oh. You pull back that colour, then another colour, then another one, then you just think what the heck let’s just start over again.

So the trick to doing crochet where you are building on the row before is to not add or lose any stitches. Golden rule. Easier said than done. That is why granny squares are easier for me because you are working in spaces rather than the top of the stitches of the row below.  Anyway. I’ve now pulled out the original (OK, it’s the only) ripple blanket I’ve made and I’ll be comparing my progress to this one.

Ripple blankets are easy if you can crochet. I wouldn’t tackle it as my first crochet project. I’d recommend something like my granny square blanket if you’re a total beginner. I found some awesome youtube videos and this one gives lots of great advice and he has loads of crochet videos on youtube.

oh and if you’re going to crochet, the golden rule is work out if you’re crocheting an aussie or american pattern. The americans call their double crochet what we call treble crochet. So I always work american way with my crochet as I’ve learnt via books and youtube from the states. Oh and if you need a little more crochet inspiration go to one of my fave crochet blogs, Attic24. She has done some lovely ripple blankets here and here.

 

Filed Under: craft, crochet Tagged With:

vegan chocolate fudge cake

February 3, 2013 By 37 Comments

I’m back in the kitchen, baby! It’s been a while and all due to the fact that the painters have been here and we’ve been upstairs and staying out of their way. Now we are back downstairs (yay) and I can just walk a couple of steps to the kitchen instead of leaving everyone upstairs and behind 2 sets of gates and dash down and then dash back up the stairs again.

It’s been a long time between cakes so I decided I had to make one. I found this recipe amongst all my class notes from when I did a vegetarian cooking diploma over in the UK. But it had a few processes and ingredients that took a bit of time so I simplified it, played around with quantities and am happy to say it was a real success. Retro daddy admitted he had his reservations but it was delicious. And he’s a man who likes cake and doesn’t really care for dairy free or vegan stuff.

This cake is so delicious and rich and is vegan, dairy free and egg free BUT tastes so good. I can’t say it’s fat free or calorie free but for a special treat it’s a winner. If you like your cakes really sweet or you’re making it for a party then add some icing using a dairy free margarine like nutelex, icing sugar, bit of boiling water and cocoa.

 

5.0 from 4 reviews
chocolate fudge cake
 
Print
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
delicious, rich and easy
Recipe type: vegetarian, baking
Serves: 16
What you'll need
  • 270ml can of light coconut cream
  • 50g cocoa powder
  • 275g brown sugar
  • 200mls vegetable oil
  • 450g plain flour
  • 3 tsp baking powder
Instructions
  1. Pour coconut cream, sugar and cocoa into TM bowl. Process for 10 seconds on speed 4. Add in oil and process a further 10 -20 seconds on speed 4.
  2. Add in sifted flour and baking powder and process for 30 seconds on speed 4, scraping down bowl once.
  3. **Pour into lined cake tin (I use a square tin that is always easy to line) and bake for about 45 minutes in a 180C/350F oven until a knife/skewer comes out clean.
  4. Leave on rack to cool but of course I enjoyed it warm.
  5. If you don't have a thermomix just put your coconut cream, sugar, oil and cocoa in a food processor and combine. Sift in dry ingredients and combine well and follow from **.
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

 

I’ve included instructions for Thermomix owners and just the regular way. I hope you enjoy it. I also looked into sugar for you, if you are making the cake for a vegan, and in Australia you will be fine with australian made sugar because there are no processes that add animal products. Phew. I just wanted to make sure because you have to be careful with these things.

Filed Under: baking, dairy free, recipe, thermomix, vegan, vegetarian Tagged With: , , ,

renovating days 10,11& 12

January 30, 2013 By 19 Comments

I had to work backwards to figure out what day we were up to. Hope I got it right. OK so the painters have been busy with windows, skirtings and started on the stairs today. It’s one big job that’s for sure. I can’t even begin to imagine how long it would take retro daddy to do it all. Or when he would have given up and turned it over to the professionals.

It’s looking great so far. A final coat is needed on doors, windows and skirtings downstairs and the white is such a big departure from the brown and green. And one of the nicest things when I look at these rooms is that I don’t have to look at old empty curtain rods and the old roller blinds that were on all of our windows and were original when the house was built. Some of the blinds were so old they were stained brown from age. It was pretty bad. I’m just keeping it real for you out there. This was no show home.

I’m getting very excited about the staircase and starting to imagine how it’s going to look with the dark floors and the carpet. I just can’t wait to get rid of the green carpet. Oh, have I already said that? Sorry. Just in case you have just come to this blog for the first time and thought wow that carpet is hideous.

And I’ll be waiting until floors and carpet are done before I start to add things to rooms and make them all perfect. That will be fun…………..and on a tight budget. I might be discovering white furniture paint, a paintbrush, op shops, Gumtree, my fabric stash and Ikea.

But it’s all worth it in the end and we won’t need to paint or do floors for a very long time.

Filed Under: homes, renovation, renovations

I now have a fancy pants knitting bag

January 30, 2013 By 12 Comments

Notice there hasn’t been any craft on the blog of late? Yes. Ahem, cough cough. I’ve been going very slow on a knit for keira. There is a bit difference between knitting a cardigan for a baby or a 2 year old and knitting a cardigan for a 6 year old. This is clearly why I don’t knit for myself. I started this towards the end of last year and have been so slow getting to it. It’s a Kina (no surprises there, what is this? my 6th Kina?). The last one I made was for elodie here. But it’s been hard in school holidays as I’ve been entertaining little ones and had quite a few posts to write.

But you know me. I haven’t been knitting but I have been shopping. I decided after all of these years knitting that I wanted to stop taking my knitting in a ziplock bag or wrapped up in a pattern and chucked in my handbag.

But I needed a proper knitting bag. I saw this bag online and loved it. Then I thought no that is too bright for me. It’s the Zuma by Namaste. Just be warned if you’re going to look at their bags you might be there a while. Oh and it’s not made from leather/vegan friendly which some people will like.

I kept checking it online and then decided what the heck, I’ve been so good and saving my money for the house and I’m sure I’ll put it to good use as a handbag and do more knitting at the same time.

I bought mine at The Wool Shack and I’ll have to show the other little goodies I ordered too, and they were sneaky and popped in a little extra wool for me.

And the verdict on the bag? Love it. Want it in more colours. It has a huge opening with magnetic closures so it easily opens for you and you can just pop a project in. The front pocket (above) has all these cute little pockets for circular needles, measuring tapes and all your little knitting bits and pieces. And best of all it’s bright and fun and so much better than any knitting bag I’ve seen.

Traditionally I’ve always bought my handbags in brown and black. But look at me now! bright yellow knitting bag and I bought a gorgeous big teal handbag from Novo which I’ve never shopped at before but got this for $69 and thought it was great for the size and colour. And considering rice crackers, tiny teddies and the odd jatz cracker will end up at the bottom of my bag I won’t mind when it gets really dirty.

p.s And I always get a few questions about the Kina and since I’m always happy to help here is how to find the pattern.  Now you will find the pattern links on the Ravelry page for Muriela here. And her website which is in french is here, just to the left hand column, scroll down until you find English patterns, find the age you want and you’ll find the kina patterns under each age. The sizing is doll, baby, kids and ladies. Don’t blame me if you get addicted. I am well and truly under the spell of the Kina. After this one I’ll be doing a little one for one of the preschool teachers.

Filed Under: knitting

my practical back to school tips

January 28, 2013 By 34 Comments

I know there are some mummies out there who have their precious little ones starting school for the first time this week………..and for some of you it’s your eldest so there is so much ahead of you. Wow that first year was a crash course in being a school mum. Making sure library books and bag were packed, school reader was in there, canteen money or $1 if there was a special treat day and the notes. Oh the notes. I now reply to notes straight away and put them back in the bag or on my fridge.

All the books and advice say not to rush your child on their first day of school and to make it all very calm and civilised and give them plenty of time to get ready so they have an easy first day. Well Elodie was admitted to hospital the night before keira’s first day of school. I told the dr she can’t be admitted because it’s my eldest’s first day of school. That didn’t go down well. So we were transferred to another hospital after midnight, retro daddy had to get her bag ready and make her lunch then bring all the kids up to the hospital so he could stay with elodie and I could get keira to school. And we did it all in peak hour traffic.

Keira took it all in her stride and had an amazing first day. Lots of other mums were all dressed up and we had to go up in front of the whole school and be introduced by name. I was missing retro daddy, worried about elodie who was just 3 months old and in hospital and I’d quickly thrown on a different t-shirt from the day before. Nice. Retro daddy picked her up at midday so we both got to experience her first day even though it wasn’t what we expected.

So my top tips for the school year:

– the night before is your best friend. When everyone is sleeping I am the busy bee making sure her bag is ready, lunch box is out with some of the food in it, water bottle in bag, undies, socks and shoes all ready to go and hanging with uniform.

– ask them what they would like in their lunchbox. don’t worry if they say chips or chocolate – 2 years on and keira still tries to get that one past me or tells me her friends had chips or something.

– do a midweek top up shop for fresh fruit and healthy snacks. I find my guys come home from preschool and school so hungry and eat what was meant for their lunchboxes

– morning tea here is grapes, a banana, rice crackers with cheese slices, homemade cookie, fruit bread, muesli bar, cheese sticks or yoghurt (be warned of giving yoghurt with winter uniforms – there is a high probability it will end up on the uniform)….. carrot sticks are always popular in keira’s lunchbox

– lunch is a ham sandwich or a wrap. Keira just loves a ham sandwich.

– use the canteen as a reward at the end of the week. Except for really hot days when an iceblock is in order, we only give out canteen money and do lunch orders on friday. It’s a great motivator for good behaviour during the week. And the canteen is a great way to learn about money full stop. Keira once lost $2 in the queue so didn’t get an iceblock that day but didn’t really look for it. It was a hard lesson to learn in kindergarten but she took care of her money after that. She has also used her money at morning tea instead of getting an iceblock then rocked up to the canteen with 10c wanting an iceblock. Again, another lesson learnt and she doesn’t do that anymore.

– when they get to school and have found a friend just hang back in the distance or leave. A couple of times I found myself hovering and keira would stay with me but you get to the point when you can go and they’ll be ok. It’s good for their confidence that you are not hovering around near them.

– volunteering is a great way to meet other mums – just don’t overcommit – she says after organising and then washing glasses all night at the school cocktail party she’d been on the committee for. My favourite job was doing canteen bookkeeping because it didn’t require me to be there. Just pick up and drop off a satchel with the office, write cheques and do the bank rec. A really easy job and didn’t require me to do too much.

– keep a close eye on friendships and always know who your little one is playing with and how things are going in the playground. We had some real bullying issues in kindergarten. Yes kindergarten with some mean girls and queen bees. It was a real shock to me, there were tears. Me, not Keira. Thankfully when they are little or always talking with you then you can monitor it and then take it to the teacher. I had to take this to the teacher and she didn’t realise what was going on but moved keira to another group of girls both in the classroom and in the playground which made things easier. Unfortunately in Year 1 another girl told her she was going to bring a gun to school and kill her. Nice. Year 1. Plus keira had to sit next to this girl. Again, it was important that keira told me what happened and knew she could trust me to take it to her teacher. I asked for her to be moved and this to be discussed and it was. It’s the biggest thing I can stress, keep talking and if they can’t solve it themselves then you need to get involved. Some of the playground stuff is easy to solve.

– don’t be afraid to talk to the teacher. If something little is bothering me or Keira then I’d often just write a little note and pop it in her satchel for the teacher. If it’s serious then I’d make an appointment to talk to the teacher. Just be on the ball, pay attention to what they’re saying and if you suspect something then just having a little chat to them.

– I won’t lie, Keira’s first year at school was a tough one in the playground as the youngest in her class BUT she finished the year with lovely friends and an award for excellence in all of her subjects.

– unfortunately there will be incidents and things that make you cranky, mad or upset. I am so happy that in 3 terms at our new school we haven’t had any. Fingers crossed we continue that way.

– Give your little ones strategies in case someone is being mean to them or they can’t find a friend. A great one is instead of telling them just to walk away from the mean kid,  you tell them to go to the bubbler or the library.  Give them something specific that they can do rather than walk away. Kids are still little so they kind of need a bit of a hint towards where to go and what to do. Our current school has lunch club twice  a week. One day it’s inside and another it’s outside. You can go along and play with other kids, do an activity and make new friends. It really helped keira settle into her new school and lots of the kids love to go to it. I think it’s the best thing ever.

– if you’re a new mum at the school and you see another new mum standing there then you better go over and chat! She probably feels just like you do. I had to learn this when keira started school and sometimes it’s awkward but some of my sweetest friends at the moment are those friends I made when Keira started school. We still stay in touch and go to the same things and I just love them. Go to the social events even when you think you don’t want to, make playdates when you can, take your little ones to the parties and get to know the other mums and always have a mobile number or two in your phone for emergencies. It’s so nice that if you’re running late that someone can watch out for your little one in the playground or if you can’t remember the news topic for the week that you can ask.

– I’d like to think that I’m the queen of taking 50 million children to school drop off and pick up each day. It can be tough keeping them entertained. Also little ones have a tendency to fall asleep just as you want to leave the house or get them out of the car. I would always keep a little snack or drink bottle in the handbag, pop a sleeping little one in the pram (even if it was one of the bigger twins) to keep the peace and let them have their nap.

– if you have little babies and toddlers to do the school run with then get prepared for the wet weather. It will always rain at school pick up time – I know this. It’s just the way it goes. Sometimes people are kind enough to pick up keira and run her back to the car. Most times I put raincoats on everyone at home, put the babies in the pram and run in. The twins love the wet weather. My advice, get yourself a rain coat with a hood. Umbrellas just aren’t going to cut it when you have a pram and other little ones with you.

– on days when it is raining really heavily in the mornings and just crazy rain then we tend to get in earlier than usual but still when supervision is on as they go straight to the classroom OR we leave it a bit later and run everyone in when I can park right out the front and run everyone in quickly.

And just have fun! School is fun. Don’t get overwhelmed with homework and grades and packing the most exciting lunchbox in the world. Honestly, what I remember about the first few years of primary school are that my mum made my own uniforms, did the best cheese and vegemite sandwiches, the smell of brown banana in my school bag and having my mum on canteen, gross motor and being a catechist teacher. So who is a first time school mum this year???? Or what is your best advice for the other mums out there?

Filed Under: school

anything I miss about my career?

January 28, 2013 By 23 Comments

I started a post on a couple of questions that I’d been asked recently. And then as I was answering this one I realised it was a whole blog post. And so here it is. A lovely reader Nikki asked about how I came from a professional career and am doing something so different and is there anything I miss?

And the answer is yes I miss things and no I don’t miss it but thankfully the no outweighs the yes big time. Like a lot of mums out there I spent a lot of time studying for a good job – high school, uni then my accounting qualifications. I worked hard and put the hours in. Late nights, weekends and doing work at home. For a long time I thought I’d be a career girl, it was something my mum really drummed into me. I enjoyed getting dressed up, having money and being with people but when I came back to Sydney from london I just knew this wasn’t what I wanted to do. Maybe it was an age thing, maybe it was because we were struggling to fall pregnant and I was stressed and also there were things I’d rather be doing. And the job was different here.

In london the financial market is huge, I had a specialised job and really enjoyed it. Analysing mortgage markets, going to roadshows (so many good lunches), putting credit papers together and presenting them to credit committee. It was a great job and one I left because I wanted to come back to australia to marry my gorgeous hubby to be.

I was desperate to start a family and obviously (judging from the ages of our little ones) didn’t muck around. But sometimes when I’m in the city or driving past it I can’t even remember what it was like to work there. That sounds crazy but I just can’t imagine myself in a suit and heels any more. How weird is that. It was my life for a long time.

I’m one of those people that likes to do 50 million things and when keira was a baby that’s when I did a few things to earn extra money (so I could at least have new clothes even if they weren’t anything fancy) and I’m still the same now. I went to sewing lessons, taught myself to crochet, sold a few different things from home, set up a fabric store and kept my brain busy. And if all my sponsorship dried up tomorrow then you’d still find me blogging here and probably selling fabric again or making quilts or teaching craft.  A 9-5 or school hours job would never work with 5 kids and routines. Plus after a while you  have the confidence to do something on your own and help out with the finances at home without working for someone else.

Wow, what was the original question again? Just kidding. When I say it I mean it. Hand on heart, I love what I’m doing. I love the lovely man I met on a Contiki trip all those years ago, I love 5 crazy and noisy kids, I love the total mess they create, I love that I drive a 7 seater bus around town and there are no spare seats, I love that I have a 9.5L washing machine, I love that I’d still have another baby and add to this family if retro daddy suddenly changed his mind (I just like to tease him with this one), I love that we’ve been through some tough times when money was really tight and I love that we’re teaching our kids that you don’t get everything that you want in life but that you have to work for things. I like that my kids have to share with each other, that some of them share bedrooms, that they’ve lived with green carpet for most of last year because we didn’t have the money to rip it all out.

What I do now is just so rewarding, so much fun. It never ends, you never get to clock off, the whole house could be fast asleep and I realise I haven’t done baby bottles for the next day or done something that I had to do. Some days can start to feel the same, sometimes you feel like you are saying the same thing 20 times over and no one is listening, some times you have to scream just to get anyone to listen to you, sometimes you look in the mirror and think you look old and fat, sometimes you wonder what your stomach looked like before you had 5 babies.

But at the end of the day though I’m happy and content. This house will be a home for my little ones to grow up in and I will be so proud of the family I raised just as I’m proud of them all now.

Best job in the world. And today I emptied and cleaned out the fridge and then had such enthuisiasm to clean the kitchen floors on hands and knees. So to still think it’s the best job in the world is saying something today.

And I know it’s not for everyone….we all do what is best for our families and the more kids I have and the older they get the more I understand other people’s situations. And I’m confident that there would be some people who would have a day in my life and go home to update their resume! Not me………….happy and loving it.

Filed Under: babies, baby, family finances

front door decisions

January 27, 2013 By 11 Comments

At our last house retro daddy just left the renovating decisions to me. I organised it all, he helped with picking the floors and that was about it. This time around in the new house retro daddy is having more of a say. Doesn’t bother me. So long as we’re on the same page. And he wanted double front doors with glass in them. I had my heart set on big solid double doors. How were we going to agree? This was my inspiration.

found here via pinterest

He was thinking something more like this?

 

Found on pinterest

We went to Bunnings (on the advice of our painter/handyman/can do anything) and looked at them all. We are leaving it to the last minute so decided we’d just go with the …………………………solid doors. There is actually a huge floor to ceiling window near the front doors which give us plenty of light so I’m happy we could reach agreement. Then we had to agree on door handles! I love the range at Hardware & General doors and locks (in Brookvale) and the kids just loved trying a whole wall of door handles and knobs. They were pretty well behaved considering this was the 2nd home related job we were doing. The sausage sizzle at the hardware store was of course a winner with everyone

Our first choice was out of stock but we settled on some simple chrome knobs with a key on one of the doors and plain on the other. It is similar to this one from restoration online.And that was just the front doors. Next on my list is lighting. I have a lot of plastic chandeliers that I will be putting on gumtree and lots of 70’s lights that need to go. Exciting but also a big job to get lighting right. Watch this space…………………and just in case you needed a reminder of what we’re working with.

 

 

Thank goodness that wallpaper is goooooooooooooooooooone.

Filed Under: homes, renovation, renovations

renovating days 7,8 and 9

January 25, 2013 By 14 Comments

I gave you a bit of a break from the photos of walls. I mean how many times can I show you pictures of grey paint on walls. Plus its more dramatic to show you now that they’ve finished painting all the walls and ceilings. Yay. We did have a moment this morning where I looked like the crazy lady questioning one of the painters about the colour. I mean we’re only using 2 colours so how could they go wrong. It was all fine and turns out that wet paint on the wall looks lighter than when it’s dry. We’re all friends again.

Keira’s room looks amazing. To think she lived with green wallpaper and a huge shiny curtain pelmet for most of last year. She’s going to love her room now and best of all be proud to have her friends over. She’d always come home from a little friend’s house to tell me how nice their room was and when were we doing her room.

And the living areas look so fresh with the grey. Just a refresher that this is Dulux Vanilla Quake half strength and I love it. Once the windows and skirtings are done and then the floorboards you would never know this room was once painted in biscuit with green carpet on the floor. Makes you kind of glad you’ve had most of your friends over so they can come and be amazed at the new look.

And my craft room once had a huge big old built in along the back wall but now look at it. Fresh and clean. I’m going to put another built in here with lots of shelving for the stash.

And how about the staircase? The carpet is off and let me tell you that less green carpet is a good thing. A really good thing. The staircase is to be painted white, carpet will go on the stairs and the downstairs floors to be stained a lovely dark colour.

Today work starts on the skirtings, doors and windows. It’ll probably be another week of work to finish everything as we’re also replacing 3 sets of external doors. That was a trip to Bunnings and taking photos for retro daddy. I want solid black doors for our front door, he wants some glass in there. We can’t agree. So we will be door shopping on Saturday morning. 

 

And you should see me find my way around a Bunnings store at the moment.

Filed Under: renovation, renovations

Cotton Time japanese magazine giveaway

January 23, 2013 By 141 Comments

Must be time for another giveaway. Last night I announced on Facebook the winner of The Athlete’s Foot Giveaway – Ariane. And the three winners of my EnergyAustralia giveaway were Carol Lee, Carissa and Kirst. Congratulations ladies and thank you so much to everyone who entered. Now it’s time for something crafty. I picked up a copy of Cotton Time magazine for myself, loved it and decided to go back to Kinokuniya and get another one for you guys.

It comes with a calender for 2013 with each month having a little craft project to keep you going. There is a nice little bit of japanese fabric in there too for you. Plus you get the cute japanese craft magazine, Cotton Time. What more do you want? These are pretty hard to come by so I’m excited to give one away.

This one is open to everyone, wherever you live in the world and just tell me why you’d like to win. I’ll pick a winner this sunday night.

Good luck………………

Filed Under: cotton time, craft, magazines

japanese craft books – part 2

January 22, 2013 By 10 Comments

Ok so I’ve showed you the two quilting books I bought at my little trip to Kinokuniya here  and now it’s time for the cute sewing books. I am a huge fan of the kids sewing books. As in you sew the clothes for kids. If only I spent less time reading and buying the books and more time at the machine. I do find it hard to buy simple little dresses for my girls because they are so easy to make. Ok here are the two that came home with me. Ive put the ISBN in because I have no idea what the titles are but you can google the books using the ISBN.

The cover on the left (ISBN978-4-7778-1004-8) just had me with the bright colours and cute clothes. It is beautifully styled and that’s one of the reasons I love my japanese craft books so much. The styling and simple clothes.

And dresses. You can never have too many dress patterns for little girls

and if you haven’t used a japanese craft book then you might be wondering how you follow the instructions. Here is a sample page from this book, it’s all about the photos and diagrams. Seam allowances are put in cm’s on the diagram and seam allowances are not generally included in the sewing patterns so I just got up a size rather than adding an allowance. It works well for me.

Now the other book on the right is a simpler book for quick sewing projects for your girls. ISBN978-4-8347-3227-6. I love these books because if I have  a bit of time on the weekend then I love to just get stuck into a quick project. These books aren’t styled as fancy as some of the other books but come in around $20 (aussie dollars) and are great value for the number of patterns you get in one book.

And tomorrow I’ll be back with the bento box books I bought……………..retro daddy didn’t get too excited about them and said he’d wait to see if I used them before he got too excited. I’ve bought them before and never used them. Oh well, plenty of kids lunchboxes to make in my future so its never too late to start.

Filed Under: craft, japanese craft books, japanese fabrics, sewing Tagged With:

renovating day 6

January 21, 2013 By 10 Comments

I had to have a quick think about what day we are up to here in the land of painting and decorating. Day 5 turned out to be the hottest day ever recorded in Sydney and of course I had people working in the house and heat. I offered iceblocks and cold water. All the doors were finished and just need to be painted and any rooms with wallpaper left had it taken off.

Day 6 and we moved upstairs and the painters moved downstairs. This required the installation of 2 safety gates and telling little people to shut the gate. Elodie is fascinated by the stairs but can’t get down them on her own yet. So we’re upstairs and the kids can play in their playroom all day. Of course someone still told me they were bored despite being surrounded by all those toys. Now in this pic you really see the difference in the colour – I never realised how peachy the walls were.

I’m still loving the paint colours. In the pic above it’s Antique White USA and below we have Vanilla Quake half strength. It looks great on walls. It does not look good when you find it in your bathtub. I need to have some words to the painters tomorrow morning (something I don’t like doing) because they’ve been doing all their brushes in my bathtub – the one where the little ones have their bath but I hadn’t noticed until today when there was grey paint in the tub. I had to scrub it all out and spray and wiped that bathtub over 5 times before I was happy that little people could bath in it.

oh and a couple of questions you’ve asked

Why are you replacing the doors?

Well the doors are a very thin and hollow timber veneer. They slam close with just a little gust of wind. And we’ve got a hole in one door from the previous owners. And I decided since we were doing the paint, trims and I wanted new door handles that we’d replace all the doors. Cost per new door is about $120 and then you need to add the handle to that price but the new doors are really substantial and look and feel better already.

Are we painting the skirtings?

Oh yes one of the painters will be doing all the timber work which includes skirtings, wardrobe doors and the staircase this week. He will be cutting out a few inches of carpet away from the skirting to make sure he paints right down to the floorboards since we are removing the carpets next month for floorboards.

What is the colour you are using?

Dulux Vanilla Quake half strength on walls in living areas and Dulux Vivid White for ceilings and trims. In bedrooms we are using Dulux Antique White USA. Not a complaint about the paint colours. We had the Vanilla Quake half strength recommended to us at our last house by the Dulux consultant and it’s an amazing colour. I just love it.

When are you doing the floorboards and carpets?

The floorboards will be done in February. After they are done we’re hoping there is enough money to do the carpets as they are the second most expensive part of the work we are doing. We are replacing 3 sets of french doors downstairs which is not cheap but has to be done as the glass isnt safety glass and I wanted them white so we need to do that now. So we’ll take stock after the painter and floor guys have been paid. We’ve picked the carpet but just haven’t paid the deposit yet as we are determined not to run over budget with this house.

How are we living through it?

Good question. Because our house is older it isn’t really open plan so we can close off doors but this week has been the hardest as we are upstairs and it was much easier downstairs. We will move out for the floors and now I see why. We’ve been airing out rooms after they have been painted but we haven’t been sleeping in them just to be safe.

And here is the spare room/home gym/anything room that is being painted. Keepin’ it real……..

Filed Under: everything else, homes

Kinokuniya and japanese craft books

January 21, 2013 By 16 Comments

I love Kinokuniya and I love japanese craft books. My collection is ‘healthy’ but I must admit I’ve had almost a year off buying books from the store. Trying to get some time to myself in Kinokuniya is almost impossible these days. Just getting to the city is an achievment in itself. But an hour in there on the weekend was just the inspiration I needed. For the uninitiated, Kinokuniya is a big japanese book store in the city. Most of the store is devoted to english books but as you walk through the store you’ll find  the japanese books, magazines and some chinese magazines and books too. I’ve been to their stores in Singapore and also Tokyo. Yes I am a fan.

For me it’s all about the japanese craft books. I could live in the japanese craft book section of that store. It’s like heaven for a crafter. And their overall craft book section is huge and has just about every craft book that is out on the market that you won’t find at other stores.

And I thought it would be fun to show you my purchases. This will keep me going for a good year and there is so much inspiration to get me at the sewing machine. First up two quilting books. The first one (ISBN978-4-529-04903-0) has 36 quilt blocks and very easy photos, numbers and diagrams to help you put them all together. This book came in at $23.88

I love the fabrics and styling and because I’m quite a visual person and like to follow pictures and diagrams rather than the words so they really work for me. No, I don’t speak japanese. I actually get a bit cranky when I follow a pattern and the words just aren’t making sense and there is no clear diagram or picture of the step. I often wing it. But a picture, I get a picture. I can see what they are trying to do. And it gets easier the more books you’ve used.

the book also includes a couple of cute projects to put those blocks to use.

And because I’m in a quilting mood at the moment I picked up another book that took my fancy (ISBN978-4-391-62952-1). I just loved the reproduction prints and the gorgeous combinations of print and little dots.

I adore this quilt. Oh it’s perfect.

again there are lots of pictures and diagrams to follow. You just follow the numbers and steps and you’re on your way.

I love to grab a pile of my craft books and just sit and flick through them. Getting some ideas, a good dose of inspiration and ways to use up the fabric stash. Don’t be afraid to give the books a go. If you don’t live near Kinokuniya then try etsy, ebay and yes asia (the trick is to go japanese books, lifestyle, home arts to find the craft books).

If you’ve got a question just ask and if you’ve got a favourite place to buy yours or a favourite book then do tell. I must share more of my books online. I just love the little library I have going on here. I’ll be back tomorrow with a giveaway of a copy of the latest issue of Cotton Time my favourite japanese craft magazine.

Filed Under: books, cotton time, craft, japanese craft books, japanese fabrics, quilting Tagged With:

eight years + five kids later

January 21, 2013 By 29 Comments

I’ve been a bit quiet here because we just had a weekend away in the city. I can’t wait to share the blog post with you and and all the photos I took. And since my iPhone died in the extreme heat of Friday (over 45 degrees here) it was kind of nice to have a little break from technology. I just borrowed retro daddy’s iPhone for a bit of instagram and that was it.

Now one of the best photos of the weekend that I just had to share today was this one. The church where we got  married…………………8 years later and look at us now. I never could have imagined that we’d stand outside that same church as a family of 7. It never occurred to me before to go back and have a family photo and now I’m thinking I need to do it every year as a little tradition. Not that I’m allowed to add to the family or anything.

 And my sister reminded me this morning that it’s my parents anniversary today………

So I’m sending my love out to my Dad who is without his lovely wife but who both set such a great example of marriage to their own children. It’s been almost 2 years without my mum but some days it feels like yesterday and other days it feels like forever since I saw here. We all miss her so much and special occasions are the hardest.

Filed Under: my beautiful mum, wedding

renovating day 4

January 18, 2013 By 30 Comments

I really hope this isn’t as boring as watching paint dry! Today was pretty exciting because 15 pairs of door handles arrived. I was a little nervous as I hadn’t seen them in real life, just on the internet but loved the satin chrome finish, the price was ok (until you multiply it by 15) and had a really classic look about it without being too fussy. And here it is. Keira asked are we painting the doors. Yes, Keira. We are definitely painting the doors. This handle is called the Bedford range in satin chrome finish from Restoration Online. They are about $66 for a pair so you can get cheaper but you can also pay a lot more. I’m in love with them and think it was worth spending a bit more than what I saw at Bunnings.

Work has continued upstairs with all the bedrooms almost finished and most of the big areas. Work on the timber will start tomorrow and the painters will start to move downstairs on Monday. The hardest room upstairs has been Keira’s room. That green and gold foil wallpaper has been a killer to remove. So glad I didn’t leave that to retro daddy or I’d be hearing about it. Forever. Today they will finish getting the paper off and start painting. It’s going to be a big change. Here is how it is looking now………………..

And the hallways are looking great without 50 million picture hooks and cracks in the wall. We are thinking of family photos up the staircase to finally make this a real family home and then some giant french posters framed at the top of the stairs. There is a whole lot of wall that needs a bit of covering

Oh and our bedroom. Looking so much better now that the floral wallpaper is out. We’re going to replace the doors on our ensuite and walk in and are thinking that in the grand scheme of things we might turn the two into one lovely big ensuite and put a built in wardrobe at the end of the room. It’s such a huge room that I think we could get away with it. Plus it was retro daddy’s idea and he is usually looking to save money and not knock down walls so I’m going with this one.

And that’s a snapshot of day 4. I am getting excited about floors and carpets next month but less excited about the fact we really now need to get blinds in all our rooms in this heat and the sun beating down. And that is not going to be a little or cheap project. But we’ll get there. Just freshening up the house like this will keep us going for a few years which is all worth it.

Filed Under: hamptons style, homes, renovation, renovations Tagged With:

renovating day 2 & 3

January 16, 2013 By 12 Comments

One of the downsides of having people do work at your house – the early starts. And we’re on school holidays. What was I thinking? Today I jumped in the shower at 7.30 thinking I had a good half hour up my sleeve, just wet my hair and heard the gates open. Painter was here……………..early. Jump out of the shower, get dressed, let him in, ask him what colour is on the upstairs loungeroom because that doesn’t look like vanilla quake. He then realises he thought all upstairs was to be antique white, he checks the email and realises it’s his mistake. By this time emerson is up and my window of time to get back in the shower is gone.

The rest of my day flew by and I was in and out of the car until 7pm. I did manage to sit down while watching swimming lessons and grab 2 rows of knitting while watching the twinnies and giving lots of thumbs up signs to them. But this is a post about how much work has been done on the house and not how many things I did today. OK, lets get down to business. So the wallpaper is out of our bedroom revealing a wonderfully fresh green colour on the walls. Not for long.

Vanilla quake half strength is up in the hallways upstairs and I’m so glad I’m doing it. Retro daddy has at a few times questioned the vanilla quake but now that its up he is loving it. Well, that is what he’s telling me. I just love that colour. I just love the coolness of grey with the white trims.  If retro daddy let me I probably would have done every room in the house.

I’m just keeping it real with the painters towel in the corner there! The twins room and the nursery have been painted with the windows and built ins to be painted tomorrow. Can you believe this wall was once full of shelves and desks. You would never know.

So the upstairs will be finished by friday and then the work will start downstairs. It’s all coming along nicely. The highlight of the day was keira jumping up and down squealing now that half of the green wallpaper has been taken down from her room. We’ve always told her that she is so lucky to have her own room and that the green wouldn’t be forever. Now she knows that we meant it.

So much has been done in 3 days and best of all retro daddy just gets to appreciate the work at the end of each day instead of staying up till the early hours with the portable lights and old paint clothes on.

Filed Under: homes, renovation, renovations
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