Cheep Cheep.....what's that little birdy?

For anyone who missed it, I won a lovely little nameless birdy in a cage from Jodie last week.......

This list of fabulous names has been entered to choose from:

Flyaway
Bertha

Blythe (means happy)

Betsy

Beauregard (beautiful, handsome)

Bonnibel (good and beautiful)

Budgie (obvious there)

Beatrice

birdy num num
Michael
dog
Fred
Mr. Harriman the Second
Flossy
Freda
Harvey
Captain Barnaby
Miss Curly
Monsier Oiseau
poppy
Mr Henry Ford

Miss Sunday Roast

Miss Green Budgie

Errol
Ribbon the Robin

Cotton Canary

Button the Budgie

Walter
Spunk
Tweety Bird
Drumsticks
Millet
beak
Eggy
Eggins
Brad
Robin
Bruce

and Mr CurlyPops has picked a winner...... Congratulations to Sherrin, the little birdy is now a boy named Walter!

I have to award a consolation prize to Jess's 2 year old daughter who suggested Dog because that got the biggest laugh (he nearly took my eardrum out, he laughed so loud)....

A big congratulations to everyone who entered, there were so many fabulous names to choose from!

Owlspotting on a Monday morning

I was just sitting in my kitchen drinking a nice hot cup of tea and looking out into the backyard when I spotted what looked like two blobs on the branch of the tree just over our back fence (I wasn't wearing my glasses at the time).

Upon closer inspection.....look what I found!

Two little owlie friends sunbaking in a tree.......

They're actually Tawny Frogmouths which are not really owls but close enough!

More knitting.....

Now that I'm on my way to knitting something other than scarves (after the two that I currently have on needles), I thought I'd invest in some reference books to add to my ever growing craft book nook.

Lo and behold, Sam from Whizz Me is having a craft book cull via her etsy shop so I was able to pick up these three lovely books. I haven't had a chance to sit down and read them just yet but I'm hoping to get to them this week some time.

I also want to buy the new Vickie Howell book that I saw over here on the Mixtape blog and over here on Stephs Shabby Chicken blog. I might just need a little afternoon shopping spree to the local bookshop!

This is ........what scrambles my brain when I try to understand it

Phew! That was a long title today....


I've blogged about this before but my unused unloved ebay overlocker fits both categories today....... it gives me scary goosebumps and it scrambles my brain when I try to understand it!
I'm going to issue myself a challenge to actually read the instructions and try to use it to make something sometime in August.

Thankyou Angela and Juddie for another great week of 'This is'!

Sunday Supper - Savoury Mince

I'm joining in for Sunday Supper hosted by Pip at Meet Me at Mikes....

This is another one of those recipes that is based on whatever I can find in the fridge.

Ingredients:

500g lean mince beef

1 tsp minced garlic

1 brown onion - chopped

1 green capsicum - chopped

1 zucchini - chopped

1 large carrot - chopped or grated

2 cans tomato puree

2 heaped teaspoons Smokey Tomatina spice blend or just use any spice blend that you like

This one is really simple......add the garlic and all the chopped vegies to a large frypan and saute in a little olive oil. Once the vegies have softened, add the mince and brown. Then add the two cans of tomato puree and the spice blend and simmer for 15 minutes.

Serve with rice or pasta. This would also be great as a taco or burrito filling with lettuce, diced tomato and cheese.

How Now Brown Owl

Here's another sweet little pressie that came in the mail this week from Hollie over at Hokey.........
This is one of her brand new resin brooch creations.
It's the perfect accessory for a night out at Brown Owls!

Name That Birdy

This sweet little birdy in a cage arrived in my mailbox yesterday all the way from chilly Ballarat!

I won him / her in Jodies retrospective been away giveaway earlier this week.....so to celebrate, I'm having a Name That Birdy giveaway.....

All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment with a name for the Birdy..... I have no gender bias, the birdy could be a boy or a girl (if anyone knows how to tell the sex of the birdy then please let me know). I will get Mr CurlyPops to pick his favourite name so there is no bias from me.

The winner will receive an apron and a potholder made by me, and some chocolate not made by me. The winner will be chosen Monday night.

There are lots of other bloggy giveaways happening at the moment too so make sure to check out: Lino Forest and Silly Gilly especially if you like vintage items.....

Livin' in the 70's

Here's Moo Moo livin' in the 70's......

His daddy says he's not allowed to leave the house in this outfit........

Can Openers are dangerous...

Don't ask me how I managed this while opening a can of tomato puree......I have no idea!

No pants today....

......but I did manage to finish the fourth scarf (and I've bought more yarn for the next one....sssssshhhhhh)!

Personality Test

I saw this over on Brookes blog and thought it might be a bit of fun......


Your personality type:

Serious and quiet, interested in security and peaceful living. Extremely thorough, responsible and dependable. Well-developed powers of concentration. Usually interested in supporting and promoting traditions and establishments. Well-organized and hard working, they work steadily towards identified goals. They can usually accomplish any task once they have set their mind to it.

Careers that could fit you includes:
Business executives, administrators and managers, accountants, police, detectives, judges, lawyers, medical doctors, dentists, computer programmers, systems analysts, computer specialists, auditors, electricians, math teachers, mechanical engineers, steelworkers, technicians.


Hmmmm doesn't sound like I'm very crafty!

On My Desk ...........on a Wednesday

On my desk today is a funny little project that I finished at about 8PM lastnight (there was nothing to watch on telly)!

While searching through the fabric stash on the weekend, I found a piece of brown velour that I bought at the op shop a while back and I also had this brown cow print fat quarter that I picked up for $1.50 a couple of weeks ago. Moo Moo's daddy is not a big fan of the 70's pants pattern so I thought I'd take it one step further and make a real 70's outfit! Velour pants and a matching personalised bib!

This photo is here to shame me into cleaning up.....this is the aftermath of the great pants challenge, and me trying to find fabric in the stash to make some curtains for my kitchen door!

Don't forget to check Kirsty's blog to see who else is playing along, and you can also join up while you're there!

The Great Pants Challenge!

OK the poll is now closed and the result is .......................... triumph yah!

After not having enough corduroy fabric for the pants, I went searching through the stash to see what else I could find........and ended up with this camo print cotton drill. I made the pants according to the pattern which was a Size 2. I had to read the instructions about fifty times to see what to do next because I've never used a clothing pattern in my life....I usually just make it up as I go along. I'm actually quite amazed at how well they turned out (although I didn't like the 5/8 inch seam allowance...I think that's too much).

Here's Moo Moo trying them on.....they're way too big because he's only 17 months old!

I really liked the design of the pants so I decided to make a smaller version. I wasn't sure how to do this properly so I just made it up. I had some patternmaking paper in my cupboard that Corrie gave me, so I traced the original pattern onto the new paper but I used the seam allowance line as the cut out line and then made the torso section and the leg length shorter.

I had some denim in the stash so I used that to make this smaller pair. I added the star for a bit of extra bling....I wanted to put the star on one of the bum cheeks but Mr CurlyPops said that it would look silly, so then I suggested the knee but with Moo Moo's clumsiness, he'd wear away the felt, so it ended up on the front. Note to self - embellish before sewing pants together to make life easier! I encountered a problem with these ones because I didn't fold under the bottom seams twice....

So of course, they frayed in the wash!

The only quick solution I could find was to pop down to Spotlight and grab some iron on hemming tape.

......and here's Moo Moo modelling for the finale of The Great Pants Challenge!

The luckiest girl in the world

I've been chuckling away all morning reading all the comments from my Getting Old post yesterday.....
It's so nice to know that I'm in good company (hehe).....

Anyway, I'm feeling like the luckiest girl in the world today, and here's why:

1. I slept in until 10.00 AM

2. My kitchen smells beautiful today because my sister bought me these beautiful flowers yesterday and a really sweet card as a thankyou for helping out with the new babies and the older boys.....

3. This beautiful pressie arrived in yesterday mail from Fi over at Dear Fii.....

It's a floral wrist pincushion.....it's gorgeous and very comfy to wear. This will be fab when I'm flitting between the cutting bench, the ironing board, and the sewing machine (all I need now is something to stop me from stabbing myself all the time while I'm pinning things)!

4. I won a retrospective been away giveaway over on Jodie's Ric-Rac blog so one of these sweet little birdies is coming to live at my house! Even though I didn't officially enter, and there was no official giveaway going on, I still won! How lucky can I be?

Am I getting old???

This is the scarf the I finished knitting Thursday night...... Mr CurlyPops wore it to work on Friday and not one person even noticed that he was wearing a lovely handknitted scarf......

Anyway, I was sitting in bed lastnight in my pyjamas at 9.30 knitting yet another scarf and watching Valentines Day on the ABC when it suddenly dawned on me...... I think I'm getting old!
I rifled through my bedside drawer to find a notepad and pencil and made a list of reasons why I think I'm getting old......

• I'm going to the hairdresser today to have some more foils put in to cover the greys
• I'm knitting in bed and loving it
• I'm watching far too many tv programs on the ABC and SBS
• I can watch the 5PM news, then the 6PM news, then the 7PM news
• I'd prefer to watch a documentary than a comedy
• I'd prefer to curl up on the couch with a dvd than go to the movies
• I'd rather go out for breakfast, than dinner
• I only wear comfortable shoes (and undies)

Maybe that last one was far too much information!

Hmmmm, time for a cup of tea and a biccie......

This is.......my most treasured childhood possession

I've posted this one before during the week of 'This is my jewellery box'.

I don't have many childhood possessions left. I moved house at least 19 times in my first 21 years and since then (another 13 years) I've only moved twice. Most of my childhood possessions would have been purged during the many early house moves but I've managed to hang on to this one. This was my first ever jewellery box that I got it back in the 1970's when I was a little girl. I can't remember who gave it to me or what it was for but I think it was probably a birthday gift.

The music box doesn't work automatically anymore but you can still manually spin the little wheel to make it play 'Raindrops keep fallin' on my head'. I still think it's really sweet.

Thanks to Angela and Danielle for another stroll down memory lane.......

Sunday Supper - Chicken Fried Rice

I'm joining in for Sunday Supper hosted by Pip at Meet Me at Mikes........ this was our late dinner last Sunday night.

This is another one of those recipes that has been made up from leftovers and whatever else I can find in the fridge. In this case, I had half of a roast chicken left in the fridge that needed to be used (waste not, want not)!

Apologies to anyone looking for a proper asian style fried rice recipe....this is definitely not it!

It's best if you cook the steamed rice the day before. I just cooked it in the morning and left it in the fridge all day. To make the steamed rice, I used 1 cup of long grain rice with three cups of water in my microwave steamer and cooked it for twenty minutes on high.

Ingredients:

Cooked rice
1 teaspoon garlic
1 brown onion - chopped
4 mushrooms - chopped
10 snow peas - chopped
1 zucchini - chopped
6 rashers bacon - chopped
Roast chicken - chopped
2 eggs - beaten until just mixed

This can all be cooked in one large frypan or wok.

• Saute garlic, onion and bacon (with a little olive oil and butter) together and then remove from pan


• Add beaten eggs to pan and scramble into little eggy bits (yes, that is my technical term) and then remove from pan


• Add mushroom, snow peas, and zucchini to pan, saute and then remove from pan.


• Add the cold rice and chicken and stir fry until heated through, then add back all of the other pre-cooked ingredients until all of the flavours have combined and all ingredients are piping hot.

Serve and eat....this should be enough to serve four.

Found...

I've been checking out some new fun blogs lately (newly found to me anyway).... I love the discovery of a new blog, and reading the posts backwards from newest to oldest.... I could sit here for days and keep reading, but instead, I'm sharing!

Also check out Hoppo Bumpo....another goodie!

Swapsies

All of my swap parcels have now been received so I can post some photos......

Here are the pincushions that I made for Fi and Michelle.... they ended up being a little larger than I originally intended......

This is the apron that I made for Hollie as a thankyou for the gorgeous beret that she knitted for me and the Hokey Resin Hairclips.

I also made a little matching potholder.....

Seven Songs for Winter

I was tagged earlier in the week by Jen from August Street and then today by Steph from Drewzel.......

My song choices are completely random, they're mainly from the cd's that I keep in the kitchen.... Brooke Fraser, Angus & Julia Stone, Kasey Chambers (wanted to add a song from the new album with Shane Nicholson but couldn't find one), and Mika. The song by Camille is my ringtone, I hear it repeatatively every day but I still love it. I had to include the Kate Perry song because it makes me want to dance when I hear it on the radio. Finally the Rogue Traders....I've had that song in my head ever since they started advertising Project Runway Australia!

Enjoy! Time to go and cook some dinner....I'm starving...