Popping the Homespun cherry!

I am going to be at the civic homespun market this Saturday!!!!!!

I am freaking out, this is the first time I have tried to sell anything I have made, it's like baring part of my soul. I feel honoured to be included with all the stall holders, but especially to be part of a two-tabled gang, the members being my lovely, inspirational friend Isis, the smiley Abigayle, and the person who is going to be the sweetest smelling woman in the room, Annie.

Oh shoot! I did not even tell you what I had made! They are cards made with vintage children's books, using both the text and the gorgeous images. I have even made my own envelopes from the books too. But they are better in person, so I really think you should come check them out!

Raewyn x

Kindness

Yesterday, my husband, son and I were in the busy Vege Shed buying, well, you know, veges, and I saw my husband do something that made my heart burst....

There was an elderly couple, the woman was leaning on the trolley, and the husband was trying and trying to open one of those plastic bags from the roll. He was getting more and more flustered, so my husband ripped a bag off the roll, opened it up and passed it to the man with a 'here you go'.

I had to walk a few steps in front to compose myself, but my husband caught up to me and I grabbed his face, gave him a smooch and said  'you are an amazing man'.

I really do think my husband is amazing. I love him. And our little creation.

Smiling on the inside, snotty and poorly on the outside.

There are great things happening in my life at the moment, and if I only hadn't caught a cold I would be doing cartwheels down the street. The last half of that sentence is a blatant lie, but you catch my drift...
I am turning 30 in a few days, and I embrace it fully! I have always believed life gets better and better the
older you get, so I look forward to discovering more about myself with each day.
And to help me celebrate, I have some precious family members coming to see me, and I can't wait.

One thing I am sorely disappointed with is that I can't make it to the next Brown Owls meet, as I'm positive no one wants to hear me blowing my nose every 5 minutes. I really wanted to make my book, so I may have to bribe Isis with some wine and dinner and get a private lesson. But not in a dirty way.



So, I was asked by a friend to take some photos of her children and , while one co-operated, the other threw a wobbly, but I still managed a couple of goodies.

wobbly thrower.

softie made for friends baby. may will most certainly scare baby.

Hilbarn joy! Thanks Gemma for introducing me to this fabulousness! Must get well and have our kiddies meet!

Time to stop writing, this cold is messing with my brain and I'm not sure if I'm making sense...

Windemere

I spent a night with my friend Jen who was house sitting in Windemere, the house owners had six dogs, which is kinda funny as I am not totally crazy about dogs...
But it wasn't that bad, they fell asleep in a big heap in front of the fire, while we drank gin and ate cheese and crackers with jalapeno relish (yummo!)

In the early morning we went for a long walk and I got a little snap happy...

The sun was out, I had forgotten what it was like! Everything just looked so beautiful.
Bring on summer! Although it's pretty much guaranteed that I will be bitching about the heat in a few months time. Watch this space.

Ahhh, Raewyn Who?

Where oh where have I been? What have been doing? No idea really, but not blogging I know that much!

But here are some things that have me all fired up and inspired....

A beautiful sunset outside Ariki's window....

Experimenting with my new camera....

Books found at a church fair for the next installment of Brown Owls , taught by the lovely Isis...

This great fabric came from the church fair too..

Exciting op-shop finds,

Like this great flannelette sleeping bag....

I found this window box frame which I may or may not use for something exciting!

Buttons! Buttons! Buttons! Look at those stunners!

And these cool old playing cards...

I'm rather stoked with my bounty!

Ode to Rhubarb

Oh how I love thee!
Today I made some scrumptious Rhubarb and Custard Muffins. I found a couple of recipes on the internet, but had to mesh the two together, as one wanted you to cut the rhubarb up into little pieces and in the photo it looked unappetising, and the other called for a couple of ingredients I didn't have.
So here is what I did...


Firstly I roasted the rhubarb.

Heat oven to 200C. Rinse the rhubarb and shake off the excess water. Trim the ends and cut the rhubarb into little finger-sized pieces. Put the rhubarb in a shallow dish or baking sheet with sides, pour in roughly 50-60g of caster sugar , toss together, then shuffle the rhubarb so it's in a single layer.
Cover with foil and roast for 10-15 mins. Remove the foil. The sugar should have dissolved, so give everything a little shake and roast for another 5 mins or until tender and the juices are syrupy.

Secondly I made the custard.

2 tablespoons custard powder, ¼ cup caster sugar, 1 cup milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
Combine custard powder and sugar in small saucepan; gradually stir in milk. Stir custard over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens. Stir in extract. Cool.

Thirdly I made the muffin mixture.

Preheat oven to 200C. Line 12-hole muffin pan with paper cases.Sift flours and caster sugar into large bowl. Stir in butter, milk and egg. Do not over-mix. Fold in the rhubarb. Spoon half of the mixture into cases; top with custard. Spoon in remaining mixture to cover custard. Sprinkle with raw sugar. Bake muffins about 20 minutes. Stand muffins in pan 5 minutes; turn, top-side up, onto wire rack to cool.

Last, but not least, Ariki and I taste tested them!

They are really good muffins. Go and make some!
Raewyn xxx

P.S Here is one of the links to the 2 recipes I combined, for some reason that an amateur blogger such as myself does not understand, I could not put the other one on. But the recipe can be found on the ninemsn website.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1952/rhubarb-and-custard-muffins

One square at a time...it's the journey that counts, right?

One of my earliest memories of feeling totally secure and loved, happened when I was feeling the worst. I can't remember how old I was, but I was quite ill, and my father wrapped me in a crocheted blanket my mother had made, scooped me up and carried me to the car to go to the doctors.

I wish I knew what happened to that blanket, but, because I don't, I'm determined to make my own. The pattern is from Throws & Cushions in 8ply by Panda, bought from Knits, Needles and Wool in Launceston.

So far i have made 26 squares, and the pattern calls for 96...sigh. And then I have to sew all 96 squares together, and then crochet a border around the whole thing, holy moley! Don't get me wrong, it's fun doing it, but I'm always in a rush to get to the finished product, especially while it's still freezing in Tasmania!

I'm also knitting a jumper for my son. I love the pattern, although my husband is dubious. But he cannot be relied on for fashion sense, as he wears boxers with hamburgers on them.

I completed my red cable beanie too, and since I posted the photo on facebook , my sister-in-law has put an order in for one! She lives in Canada, so I think she deserves/requires one!

And last but not least, I have sewn a cushion up for my little sister who has just moved into her first flat with her boyfriend (oooohhhhh lala!)

The story so far.

Okey dokey. So these pics are of some of the bits and pieces I have made to date, as well as some of my photographs.

The last photo is of my first quilt, my first softie, and my first attempt at crocheting.

Once I get round to taking the pics, I'll show you , which is really only me right now, what I'm working on at the moment.

Bet you (me) can't wait.

ramblin' woman

Right now I'm writing to myself. I hope eventually somebody wants to read my ramblings, but for now I'll just ramble alone.

I have been following the Loz and Dinny blog for months now, and have decided to make my own. My plan is to post all my unfinished projects, and maybe it will guilt me into actually completing them...

Things i like to do (but may not necessarily be good at) :

knitting

sewing

cooking

scrabble

photography

reading

gardening

There is more but I will get to that later.

raewyn x