flannel bonanza!

Hi all

Well, as many of you know, I went to the stitches and craft show, and I did make some purchases, but then moved out to have the house restumped, couldn't find my camera charger, the list goes on!

At home with the dog today, sitting in front of the computer, quilt curled around me, drinking pineapple juice... (if I wasn't a snot monster this might just be heaven... oh, and of course if the hubby were her -- oops!), and remembered I hadn't done the show and tell with my flannel purchases. So here they are....

I only bought one fat quarter of each one (I was at a quilting stall, but had no idea how big that was... how embarrassing!), with the thought of stitching them all together to make a wrap or floor mat or something for our new person in the making. What do you think? This is what I think I will do with them....

It will be my first ever quilt though so I am a week bit nervous... any handy hints more than welcome. I am also interested if you quilters think that how I have mocked up the design on the computer is legitimate, or if I should be waiting til the pieces are cut before deciding on the layout?

Have a lovely Thursday, Friday and weekend x

chicken soup... no, not for the soul, for the 'flu

One of the girls from work brought her rotten 'flu to the office, and now I have it. Have been feeling gross all day (have discovered the 'flu is much worse when you're working on building a baby), and so decided it was time for some chicken soup.

Here is my recipe for chicken noodle soup... (makes enough for two to three people)

garlic - as much as you like

ginger - as much as you like (I put in plenty - I love it!)

onion - a small one, cut into little moons

chilli - as much as you like

chicken stock - around 4 cups

soy sauce - a good few splashed

mushrooms - a few, chunky slices

boy choy - quite a few bunches

coriander - as much as you like

chicken - I like to use chicken breast, but you could use thighs

enoki mushrooms - a good handful

noodles - preferable flat rice noodles, but udons are okay too

sesame oil

Pop some sesame oil (not much at all) into the bottom of a deep non stick saucepan. Throw in some slices of ginger, garlic, and some onion crescents. Then throw in your mushrooms (not the enokis just yet). Stir them around til they're coated in the sesame oil and starting to stir fry a little. Then, pop in a few good splashes of soy sauce, spin that around with the ingredients already in the pan for a short while, and then pour in your chicken stock. Slide your chicken (chopped into chunks) into the stock and bring to a boil. This is when I throw in the first handful of coriander. Pop your noodles in at the same time - these will not take long to cook at all. Once your chicken is looking just about cooked through, rest your bok choy on top of the soup along with your enoki mushrooms. Allow these to soften up and then serve.

You can garnish with some extra chilli and extra coriander (mmm...)

This soup tastes great, but also makes the house smell divine, and does make you feel better, even when you have a rotten 'flu! Oh, and the dog loves it... check him out in this photo, hoping to get some! (He didn't get any because of the onion and chilli, but he did win a couple of small pieces of chicken breast... spoilt little dog!)

Have a gorgeous week everyone x

books for kids... hooray!

Okay, I am not meaning to turn this blog into an account of my pregnancy or the upcoming birth of our first born (and there are some serious crafting questions and show and tell items once I can get some good photos), BUT, I am soooo excited about having another excuse to buy children's books at the moment!

Think it has something to do with my history... in a past life I was a speech pathologist, specialising in working with children, and kids' books were my favourite tool of the trade. So I have started my kids' book collection already. Usually, I am immediately sucked right in by a good illustrator, but if the narrative is terrible, the love affair doesn't last long.

So, I was catching up on one of my favourite all time blogs today - book by its cover ... if you love books you must visit this site! - and thought perhaps this was my opportunity to do a bit of a show and tell, too.



Here are some of my favourites:
Henry and Amy is sooo delightful and is probably one of my favourite books, for kids or for adults, of all time. It is essentially a book that suggests that it is absolutely ok to be different, and that our differences sometimes come together to create something truly wonderful (like Henry and Amy's amazing friendship). Everytime I read this I get teary at the page "and together they learnt how to fly". [sigh] This is a beautiful book. Oh! And the illustrations are gorgeous, and so much fun to look at with kids who really get a kick out of all of the squiggly details.

Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day is a gorgeous and fun book. I actually keep this one on my desk at work for when I am having a less than fabulous day, to remind myself that I have the choice tomorrow to start again, fresh from all of the stuff of today. It is also a fabulous book for those of us who are really not morning people. Probably my favourite part is the very beginning ... "I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day." Gorgeously written and simply illustrated in black and white, I love this book.

This one is not a complicated book at all, but is another one I have on my desk at work. The message is essentially what you would expect... "it's all okay" (and in the background there are some messages perhaps about tolerance and openness). Kids love the illustrations (some seven year old girls I used to work with would just laugh themselves silly when we got to the picture with the girl who has a fish in her hair), I don't know that I am that fussed, but the colours are great, and this is probably not (in my opinion) destined to be a great classic or anything else, it is just a nice, easy, good book, that can be enjoyed.

The Boy and the Tree (1978) is a lovely collection of translated Yiddish poetry. Stunning illustrations by Victor Pivovarov, which are a bit dream-like (sorry, have a science and linguistics background, so can't use any art terms here!). But just lovely. And the poetry is so lovely to read out loud, beautiful rhythms and sounds. I wish you luck finding this one, I managed to pick it up thrifting (one of my best opshop purchases ever), but it could be tricky to get your hands on. It is, though, well worth the effort!

Other fun books to read aloud include Wombat Stew - "wombat stew, wombat stew, ooey gooey munchy chewy wombat stew" and of course Peepo. I have just bought Peepo this past month for our new arrival-in-waiting.

So many fantastic kids' books, so few posts on this blog! (so far...)

Now, time to share and delurk... which children's books are your favourites?

xo

what i did this easter

what we did this easter
Originally uploaded by summer pickles

1. new button bracelet 2, 2. gone!, 3. pancakes for Easter brekkie, 4. cheap entertainment

Hope everyone else had a good one! x

bonnie babes decision not so bonnie

Hi all

It's not every day that I get political on this blog (actually, I doubt I have done this before!), but today, well, I just I have to.

Last year, the Howard government (I have to admit, definitely not my favourite) promised Bonnie Babes a significant grant to support the amazing work they do. The Rudd government has recently announced that it will not support this promise, and has withdrawn the grant funds.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Bonnie Babes, the Bonnie Babes Foundation is a non government funded, non-profit, volunteer based charity. It provides:

• 24 hour, 7 day per week counselling for families that have experienced the loss of a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth or prematurity.
• Medical equipment to hospitals for premature babies.
• Support for vital medical research projects into pregnancy loss and complications after birth.
• Support for infertility issues, children born with abnormalities and childhood illnesses.

Here is a little note from one of the amazing team in at Bonnie Babes:

Bonnie Babes has never received government funding in its 14 years of existence. The services are now in overload as they have expanded enormously and a toll free number, the provision for grief books to be sent to hospitals, more counsellors being trained is all desperately needed. All our counsellors are volunteers and we counsel families 24 hours per day 7 days per week. We printed a book called "A Dads story" 5 years ago and our male grief counselling has almost doubled since that time. We see women every day who are absolutely devastated by the loss of their babies and reach out to our counsellors for support. We visit hospitals and sit in neonatal areas with familles who have prematurely born babies struggling for life in intensive care.

We are just inundated with familles who need our help and its the first time the government have ever come to the aid of the charity and now the Rudd government have decided not to honour the previous governments promise.

Its just shattering to everyone at Bonnie Babes as we struggle to continue to provide all our services.

So, what can we do?

There are 50,000 bubs every year in Australia who are lost to miscarriage or stillbirth. That is a lot of families who have been affected, who could change the views of the fundholders in government.

The team at Bonnie Babes are asking everyone who is concerned about this lack of support by the government, for a key organisation which has been supporting families in crisis, to write to three government and local MPs, local papers and local Mayor.

You can find a contact list for federal MPs here

Additionally, my friend in the team was thrilled to hear about the potential of spreading the message via blogland.

Let me know if you intend to mention in this in your blog or take action to support this amazing organisation. That's it for my political two cents.

Happy Easter everyone x

flashback friday! easter parade 1983

flashback friday! easter parade 1983
Originally uploaded by summer pickles

I remember being so proud of this bonnet with the rabbits all the way round. I was quite cranky that day when I saw that lots of the kids hadn't made their bonnets/outfits themselves... I think you can see it all over my face in this photo!

Not quite sure why Mrs Bell (one of our teachers) was wearing a balaclava... but each to their own I guess!

what i did yesterday... stitches and craft show

Image from http://www.livingcreatively.com.au/Whats-Next.html

I happily spent all of yesterday at the Stitches and Craft Show. And what a great way to spend a day! I don't have too much time to post (am taking afternoon tea from uni study... eurgh... power in healthcare organisations), so will just present the highlights...

1. Meeting the very beautiful Fi from dear fii , who is just as lovely in real life as she is in blogland. Fi was showing and telling some of her button accessories, which include some of the most gorgeous bracelets and brooches. (Check out my very favourite brooch at this post)
2. Meeting a bundle of other gorgeous crafters - totally unplanned and delightful, including nicole, stephanie, justine, kristen, angela, bianca and many others whose names I have completely forgotten (sorry everyone else!)
3. Seeing the most gorgeous garden made by crafters on the living creatively level of the show.
4. Finding some excellent fabric (when I get my camera back from hubby I will post pics) - gorgeous bright, patterned flannel which might just make the perfect wraps for our little wintertime family addition.
5. Learning about bloglines which I have now set up
6. Catching up with the lovely and very generous diana chalk again (remember, I went to one of her workshops last year?), who kindly answered some of my questions about cloth doll fingers and upside-down dolls.
7. Shopping (and staying under-budget!) - a Bethan Short cloth doll pattern (bethan still doesn't seem to have a website), an Anne Clemens cloth doll pattern, four handbag handles (I will learn to make bags this year... maybe from nicole), an embroidery hoop and a dozen papermache eggs for decorating this easter... am thinking I might use the idea by dear fii to try to cover the eggs with fabric... will let you know how it works out!

Oh, and I have successfully toilet trained the dog in his new routine, and also been studying like crazy! Whew! Now I just have to eat something, do some washing, clean the kitchen and do the grocery shopping.

Happy Sunday everyone x