Beyond the Ordinary Front Yard

Goose Clothes by Kathy

Go beyond run of the mill garden ornaments. These people have certainly got a niche market going on here. There's an outfit for every occasion. This should get your neighbours' attention. I promise.

More op-shop-ness

I loved this material so much when I saw it that it was with great selflessness that I gave it to my sister (and the fact that I even said that must mean that really I am incredibly selfish?).

Doesn't it make you want to curl up in bed or do finger painting or something?


And who couldn't love a pink ice-cream tin? Made even more lovely as Neville has an identical one in his shed, full of nails, and remembers when they were common rubbish. Ahhhh.

This one wasn't my op-shop find, but was found for me by Mum & Mim sis. Love the grandma nighties, especially those involving pink AND lace. And funky retro patterns.

Speaking of grandma nighties, I was on a girly group op-shopping trip recently and upon my purchase of two grandma dressing gowns, both pink, several people exclaimed disapprovingly of one dressing gown's particular grandma-ness and the shop lady then became offended as she was a grandma, and didn't like the dressing gown at all. I loudly proclaimed my affinity for all grandma-like op-shop products and my pride at being daggily grandma-like myself. My not-grandma-like sister actually commented on it recently. I think it was the crocheting that did it. Should I now admit to my fascination with the CWA and the temptation to go along to their next open meeting just to take a look? I don't think I want any long-term commitments here though. I just want to go. That's why I haven't gone yet. (??)

Now, this find takes the cake. Could you get any better than a tiny golden poodle? Actually, I think a tiny enamel pink and white poodle just like this one would be highly prized.

Crocheted Cupcakes

My mum was very pleased with her latest birthday present. (Thank goodness for that). It's actually a pincushion, but the bigger white and pink things are just beads, sewn on. The rest are lovely pearly pins.

And the real cake wasn't too bad either. (Chocolate and Clinkers, you can't go wrong there.)

Comfort Food

On a related but much nicer topic, I have had some hankerings for awesome comfort food lately. My list of comfort food is long and never runs out. I forgot to take a pic of the gooey golden-syrup dumplings I made a few weeks ago, but they really weren't very photogenic. My sister visited on the weekend and bought vegie soup and the preparations for some golden-syrup dumplings. Very appreciated, that was :) I don't know what her recipe was, but I used a combination of these two ones recently. I think I use a different one each time! Mmmm, comfort food.... Mashed potato Cake, especially cheese cake Chocolate- although I'm not sure if that really counts, it's just good anytime Milo Rice Pudding Cauliflower & cheese sauce Golden-Syrup Dumplings Chocolate pudding Chips & gravy Custard! Is there such thing as a universal comfort food? I wonder.

Grandmothers and secret recipes

My sister has taken on the mantle of the family special-pastry apple-pie maker and I have been bestowed with my great-aunt's famous Christmas pudding recipe, which I am going to attempt much earlier than Christmas :). One day my great aunt will not feel up to making 20 Christmas puddings for all the related family groups & then what will we do? (My grandma stopped her pudding and fruit-cake making years ago).

I dream of finally getting the secret family recipes for my dad's partner's Christmas fruitcake (with pineapple, carrot and pecans?), and for the iced tea I drank while staying at a bed & breakfast on Staten Island, where the lady comforted me as I sat crying in her kitchen (long story, that one :)).

Wouldn't it be terrible to die and not pass your secret recipes on? Or to have no-one to pass them on to? I found it quite amazing that people even die (as in, in hospital, not suddenly) with no-one even really knowing that they are there, let alone coming to say goodbye or spend time with them. That may be terrible naive of me or something but it really never occurred to me before. I am finding this incredibly depressing.

i can't help but love my rabbit (or The Proud Rabbit Mother Who Never Shuts Up)

Yes, I do love my rabbit & go on and on about her latest adventures.

This is what the crazy, possibly hormonal adolescent rabbit did one day while home alone. Not sure what else it was about. I'd just cleaned her litter and food tray, so she wasn't cranky about that, just messed it all up.

She bunched up her food-tray paper and shredded it all over the carpet. She moved her food tray and litter tray all around. She even up-ended her water bowl (bottom right of photo) and threw it across the floor.

A very sneaky & suspicious looking rabbit....

And no it isn't gorillas in the mist, it's rabbit in the curtain...

On this particular day, she buried herself in and was rummaging around in the curtain on the front door. I was trying to leave for work but couldn't find her in all the layers of curtain. My inability to get her out probably wasn't helped by my inability to stop laughing at the ridiculous strange behaviour that was going on in the curtain.


And here's just one fat bunny, communing with the dust bunnies.

If ever I loved the internet (or, life-changing revelations)

I have discovered a previously unknown (to me) universe of crocheted wonders. I would have been content with blankets, stuffed toys and the occasional doily or clothing item*, but no, I have been beset with the most (disturbing?) range of crocheted food, animals, and household objects (I don't mean pot holders either). I feel like I have found some missing piece of my imagination on the internet...... (that may be a little too melodramatic, but you get the picture).

I was so excited and overwhelmed that I couldn't think straight. There is even a whole (craft?) called amigurumi which in part basically includes crocheting a whole bunch of food. The astonishing revelations just kept coming. I have immediate plans for cake and a variety of vegetables.

Here are some of my favourites:

A sushi toilet roll

Cakes that I would be proud to bake, let alone crochet

And of course, don't forget that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

This has just changed my life, I tell you.

*I forgot to mention tea cosies.

I crocheted it all by myself

Little easter bunny egg cosies. I'm quite proud of them (even easter bunnies can be born with a few missing hairs and bumps and bruises).

(Pattern here)

Which brings me to my next post.....

Older still

Another year older. Well, I like the excuse for a family dinner :) There was a surprising absence of menfolk. My mum outdid herself with the pink cupcakes (my favourite), I was speechless. (I think I was also quite hyperactive?) Some Scenes from a Birthday Tea.....

Wonderful cupcake tree

Presents :)

Much eating enjoyment of cupcakes

Indiace and his Nanna

Famblies (and long lost relatives)

Family lunch, involving relatives of all kinds and a long-lost cousin who I haven't seen since I can't remember when & who hadn't seen his mother in several years either.

(So many people have been visiting a certain ill relative lately that it's almost like the family's Last Farewell).