Purple Bears

I swear it's coincidence that my latest project has been all about knitting purple bears!

I will keep you posted on why I'm knitting them, hopefully in two weeks or so.

But in the meantime...here's a photo...and I will keep on knitting until I'm told 'that's enough'.

My First Post of 2016

Happy New Year!
Yes, I have been absent...for many reasons, health not being the least.

But here I am again and I'm so excited by my newest patchwork project.

I've always wanted to try this!

Fussy Cut Hexagons & Diamonds - English Paper Pieced.

To achieve this pattern I had to play with mirrors...

  

The idea of the mirror is to play around with possibilities and then to choose one.

The one above is what I chose for my centre.

I've had the pleasure of attending a one day work shop at Post Office Patchwork Glenbrook

under the tutelage of Anne Sommerlad and using her beautiful designed pattern.

What can I say? 

 I'm hooked!

Linking to

Mufti Day

Here in Australia our schools have what is called "Mufti Day".  It is a day on which children and staff wear casual clothing, usually to raise funds for a cause. Those choosing to wear mufti on a set day may do so as long as they donate a gold coin (in Australia a one or two dollar coin) for the cause.

My Grand Daughter, Little Miss Seven (almost 8) has mufti day at her school today to raise money for Jeans for Genes Day.  She wore pink jeans to school and, as it was our turn to drive her today, she spotted the knitting I'd been making for her and asked if she could wear them to school.

This is a very simple beanie pattern where the top is drawn in with thread after knitting a rectangle.

The accessory I made from felt cut from a Bigz flower die on my Big Shot and stitched on to a brooch back so it can be removed. 

I've fallen in love with the fingerless gloves.  They look so cute.

And to finish off - a scarf.

I purchased the wool yarn from the Faulconbridge Blue Gum Rotary Markets in July specifically to make the trio for our Grand Daughter after she spotted my own set which I made last month. 

This red wool was a gift from my walking buddy who is a wool spinning enthusiasts. It's got such a lovely soft feel to it which makes it all the more wearable.

I used the same pattern to knit my Grand Daughter's set and scaled it down to fit her.

We've had such a cold winter this year that there have been days during which I've worn coat, gloves, scarf and beanie indoors in an attempt to get warm.

Tuesday just gone was the coldest August day (in NSW) since 1974. 

How have you been faring this winter/summer?

Happy Birthday Queenie Part II

Vivid 2015

Vivid Sydney was inaugurated in 2009.  Our first visit to Vivid Sydney was in 2013 and our second in 2014.

This year we attended on the penultimate day of the festival and were a bit anxious about re-experiencing a crowd crush.
Well, the crowd crush wasn't quite as bad as what we experienced in 2013, but it was a bit of a turn off and once more cut our night short.

I've probably said it in the past but I'm going to say it again...the best time to go is Monday to Thursday nights.

Weekends just get too busy.

This year, both Mr H.P. and I thought that Vivid was, well, just not as vivid as it has been in the past.

However, there were a few new installations this year and more venues added that were scattered a bit further out from the CBD proper.  Unfortunately we did not get to installations further out but we did manage to see a new work displayed in the Rocks area and involved a projection onto the ceiling of a tunnel (Argyle Cut)in the Rocks.

For a better view, much of the audience lay on the road to view the projection.

Music accompanied the light show.

The whale and its calf would have to be my favourite.

The peacock feathers are not bad either!

And then there was the selfie tunnel!  Ha ha, my first ever selfie. 

This image was projected onto a pylon of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

And of course, what would Sydney Vivid be without the Sydney Opera House.

We originally had walked from Milson's Point, over Sydney Harbour Bridge, to Circular Quay (above).  And Circular Quay is where organisers funneled the crowd to Customs House and after what amounted to around three hours of walking over the afternoon, we decided to call it a day and caught the train back to St Leonards where we had left our car.

Linking to Our World Tuesday

Shoes

Today, I was going to show you my new coral coloured sandals, which I only purchased last week, but really, how could I resist the opportunity to show off my beautiful red suede ankle boots? 

I must admit, I'm not really a heel person but these are so comfy, and they make that lovely clack-clack sound when walking on hard floors.

I don't wear them often, usually for very special occasions or I when I just want to feel a bit glamorous.

I don't have an overly large shoe collection, but I truly believe every man, woman and child should have at least one pair of red shoes in their footwear collection.
I always do!

Sunset Spectacular

I just wanted to share with you the most spectacular night sky I think I've ever seen.

Right here, in our back yard.

Skies such as these have been spotted all along the south east coast of Australia tonight.

I hope you enjoy the photographs.

Happy Birthday Mr Honey Pie

It's Mr Honey Pie's birthday and I couldn't wait to try out the new toy I received at Christmas time.  This is the first opportunity I've had to use it for gift giving.  I will update you later with the wonderful things this toy can do.  But for the moment, you can see the paper doilies I made to embellish some upcycled paper sacks and a birthday card.

I spent a whole day baking and decorating a birthday cake for Mr H.P.
I'm getting a bit tired of making the same cake for birthdays so I decided to try something a bit more adventurous.

So I made a Battenberg Peek-a-boo cake (instructions here). 

This cake is a bit reminiscent of my rainbow cake from last year 

  

(The above cake is the cake I made for Miss Six and my niece's shared celebration).

But I still felt a little surprised with the height of the cake even though it was a four layered cake.

A little hint, or maybe two hints...first individually plastic wrap and freeze the layers or chill them very well in the fridge before you start cutting into them. Then, make sure you clear ALL THE CRUMBS AWAY before you start to cut into the cake and while you're working...I had to brush off all the crumbs before I could coat the cake with the jam wash to prevent a big mess.  I used a cream cheese frosting rather than the marzipan used in the recipe because our Daughter does not like marzipan.

I only used one batch of frosting but I should have made two...The amount I made barely covered the cake.

Little Miss Six was as excited as Mr H.P. to about his birthday present.

We have a running joke in our household now that both of its occupants are hexagenarians and it goes like this: too many candles, not enough cake.

So you see, that is why the cake needs to be a little more outstanding the older we get!

What do you think?

And I will certainly be making this again...this was just a practice run!

Oh, and by the way, I'd run out of pink food colour without realising it (who checks their food colour before shopping?) so I used green instead!

Holiday Play With Miss Five #3

More Marbling! 

This is what Miss Five and I did on Thursday while trying to survive a heat wave sans air conditioning.

Take an empty chocolate tray and add poster paints and marbles of various sizes

Place inked up marbles onto art paper placed into large baking tray with high sides

And roll!

Creating random patterns.

Preparing for a Detox

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

I have never done a juice fast before but I'm seriously thinking of doing one this year.

In preparation I'm replacing one meal each day with a juice - mostly of vegetable.

Even though it's only been three days, I've had some 'interesting' side effects; from nausea to a huge burst of energy.

Have you tried a juice fast before?

How did you find it?

What effects did you experience?