tuesday treasures

my dear good friends.




i'd be lost without them.



they're a little scratched up... but they're still good :D

more (non tech-head) treasures at clare's craftroom.

in the postbox.

a few weeks ago i won a little prize from clare's craftroom. one of her lovely patterns, and i was allowed to choose! after a bit of a think i chose one...
and it came in the post earlier in the week! i get ridiculously excited whenever i get mail that isn't a bill or a waste of paper from centrelink.


look how lovely clare wrapped it! the paper is really lovely. like the old lady i am, i opened it carefully and folded it up to use later.



but look what was inside! the cute pattern that i chose and clare wrote me a lovely card! she even included some spare coathangers. i plan to make lots of these cuties!now if only i can find my pesky machine foot (i've lost it, well it's been misplaced at least...)



i got even more excited after drooling over the pictures of the chocolate truffles on the front of the card, i turned it over and there was the recipe! i'll definitely be trying that one out!

thanks so much clare! you made my day!

diamonds are a girls best friend? don't think so.

the way to my heart is with shoes.
these shoes in particular...


my good friend heidi, pointed out the existence of these lovely heels and also where to get them!
the very lovely dell who runs this shop in my home town. she also crochets! like an absolute mad woman!!!


aren't they lovely? i think i need some new clothes to match these gorgeous things ha ha! or wear them with black... more clothes are more exciting though!

i do like to to-do (list)

i have a little obsession. ok maybe, it's more than a little obsession.
apparently though, my boyfriend noticed. and bought me this amazing little book, in which to document my obsession.


i dare say he's just sick of them being scrawled all over the house, on the whiteboard, on the fridge, on various pieces of paper and books...



in any case, it's full of horrid study things at the moment, but i have dreams when it's full of creative to-do's instead.

my creative space.

hearts have been on my mind the last week or so.
i spent most of the day yesterday trying to find a suitable heart pattern. i couldn't find one i loved, so i amalgamated a couple of patterns. it's actually quite heavily based from this one. i changed the shape and size a bit though...
i still have a bit of playing around to get them to do what i want them to do though...



today though, playing catch up with my lectures and rippling. it's been a while since i've been a-rippling but i haven't forgotten how. it's just like riding a bike really.

for more creativity, have a looksee here.

day of rest.

after working my absolute butt off for the last week and a bit with placement and a million assessment tasks due, i can finally rest.
i only have one last one due on friday but that seems ages away today.
today is a day of rest. well as much rest as i can handle. it'll most likely be a day of cleaning and crocheting. i've had this pattern floating around in my brain and i desperately need to catch it with some wool.


i'll probably do some cooking too. i've recently started getting organic vegie boxes every week from uni. full of lovely seasonal vegetables that i don't actually know how to cook. experimentation time!

and look! see that lovely greeny looking plant up there? well it's a bit of an old picture, here's a new one.


LOOK! it's flowering. i had no idea when we bought it that it was a flowery plant but apparently it is. can't wait for it to flower properly!

my creative space.

even though i've been a busy beaver with placement and assignments this week, i've still had a few moments for some cheeky hooking of hexies.
i had some lectures to watch you see, the perfect opportunity to get that wool flying.


in any case, the hexie blanket now contains 33 hexies! i absolutely can't wait for it to be lapsized, so i can keep warm as i work on it.



and lookie, i organised myself this little pile, so i know what going on next. these one's will finish off the first 3 rows!
now, now nicole, you must not start hooking now. it's time to pop on the train and head to placement!! there's some sunshine shining over the roof of the house, onto the fence. today's going to be a good day :D

for more lovely creative spaces, visit kirsty.

oh it's that time of year again...

it's wet and cold.

and i'm buried under a MASSIVE pile of homework. 4 assignments and 2 online quizzes.
oh and i'm doing placement all week.
early mornings + long days + hormones + piles of homework = very angry, stressed coley.
luckily my placement is actually quite lovely and i'm learning a bunch of stuff!
and the homework? well i'll chip away at it slowly...

the friendly addition of birthday pie and ice cream helps (thanks bri!).

anywho, not a lot of dabbling happening this week, every free moment is taken up with reading, reading of text books that is. anyone need to know anything about blood pressure, atherosclerosis or hypercholesterolemia? i'm currently becoming an expert! (well not really, i'll learn enough to pass my assignments...)
ok, whingy rant over!
tomorrow will be a good day :D

inherited.

i recently inherited this obese little box of knitting needles from my nanna.
sooooo many different sizes and lengths!


so i spread them all out on the floor, and sorted them out into the different gauges. the different forms of measurement for the gauges had me a little confused, but a quick google-ing session, and the gauge meter on the other half of the broken box helped immensely ha ha!


soooo many different sizes and types, some circular needles, some double pointed, lots and lots and lots of little tiny thin plastic-y ones.

after spreading and then sorting, i filled up my knitting roll. i think i've got plenty in there now, it's SO full!
oh and can you see those lovely pink bobbly wooden ones?



they didn't actually come from my nanna, nor did they come from a shop. they were a lovely present, from jodie at the haby goddess. i feel a little guilty, she sent them to me a little while ago and i haven't shown them off yet!
thanks so much jodie! if you aren't already a follower of the haby goddess, you should definitely have a little, look-see. lots and lots of cute haberdashery type crafty things!

hexagons, as far as the eye can see.

after our jaunt to magnolia square, and about a zillion op-shops, miss rolling in fabric came back to my house and had a bit of a play with her hexagons.



look at her go, laying them all out like the amazing quilter she is ha ha!



and doesn't it look preeeeeeeeeeeeetty? much bigger than i was thinking actually, even with my horrible maths.



after much debate, and a fair bit of trialling (read: lots of frogging), we decided on double crochet for the edging. and i'm joining on the go! so much easier time wise, but a bit trickier brain wise.


i've even made a start to it! slow going at the moment though due to the mass amount of assignments currently being piled on.
expect to see it growing at northern craft bonanza on thursday night.

lust.

while at magnolia square on thursday...i came across this little beauty.


and i am in absolute love.
in fact i'm pretty much in love with everything miss kirstin ash has to offer.
now if only i could win tattslotto...

pictures from kirstinash.com

thrifted goodies.

thought i might make an additional post to share the goodies i bought op-shopping yesterday.
i was actually pretty contained considering the number of pairs of boots i was literally drooling over.
luckily for my hip-pocket, they were MUCH too expensive, especially considering they were in an op-shop. my hard and fast rule is, if i can buy it for cheaper in a regular shop, it's too expensive for an opshop.


so only two buys really, the wide red belt, $5 from the salvos oppie.
and that MAGNIFICENT bag, $5 from the epilepsy op-shop around the corner from my house.
i'm pretty sure it had a past life as a camera bag, but that just means it has enough pockets for all of my things. i love pockety bags ha ha!
i just spent the last half hour transferring all my bag things from my old bag to my lovely new one, working out which things needed to go in which pockets and such.

i swear i'm going to do some work now, especially as i just found out i have an assignment due monday. eep! going to be a BUSY weekend!!!

magnolia square madness.

and it was certainly mad.



ms. rolling in fabric and i arrived at about 10.30am. and started our day off with a nutritious breakfast.
then we battled the MAD and ridiculous crowds (full of DEADLY prams and strollers) to look at all the pretty and creative things that were on offer.

brianna quite fancied these two necklaces.



a hot air balloon from a skulk of foxes.



and a cute girl pendant from itchy bird.



and we both drooled over the silhouette cutouts from delilah devine.



i bought this cute ring from dames and divas,


and some chilli sauce for my lovely boyfriend from yarra valley gourmet foods.



we soon decided that we'd had enough of the crowds and the crush and headed to oakleigh for a little opshopping. after a couple of hours of browsing (and some book buying at dirt cheap books), we headed back to my place for some lunch.



monster sausage rolls with salad. mmmmmmmm. just what we needed after a big shopping day :D

my creative space.

182 hexagons. all done.i was actually planning on 196 but i am apparently, VERY bad at maths. luckily i don't quilt i guess.




so brianna's blankie may be a bit smaller than previously planned....

now onto the blocking, only about 100 to do... this could take a while...




oh and then there's the cream edging on each hexagon, but should i do single crochet or double? and how should i join them? queeeeeeesssssssssstions...




i guess i'll have a play around and brianna and i can figure it out later, after we get back from magnolia square!
tell you allllllll about it tomorrow!

for more lovely creative people and their creative spaces, have a look at kirsty's blog.

what are you having for dinner tonight?

my favourite meal at the moment is chicken, feta and spinach risotto.
i took the recipe from 'cook with jamie' by jamie oliver but i've tweaked it a little to make it my own and i must say, it's delicious!

pop 2 chicken breasts in the oven, sprinkled with some salt and pepper and, if you like, thyme. i normally put them in before i start preparing anything, that way they're normally done by the time they need to go in. i'm normally a bit slow and doddery though so keep an eye on them ha ha!


in a large pan, slowly cook 1 large, finely chopped onion and 4 or so stalks of finely chopped celery in some melted butter and a splash of olive oil until they're lovely and soft.


then tip in 500g risotto rice and turn up the heat.
pour in a cup of dry white wine and give it a bit of a shake. when the wine starts to smell fragrant and delicious you can start adding the stock, a ladleful at a time, until the rice is cooked (usually about a litre and a half). make sure you turn the heat down again so the rice doesn't cook too quickly.


while you're doing this, in a deep saucepan, pop in a little butter, a grating of nutmeg and a clove of chopped garlic and swish together a bit until the butter is melted and a little foamy. then chuck in about 200g of fresh spinach and wilt it down. when it's all wilted down (about 5 minutes), whiz it up in a food processor, or give it a fine chop. don't throw out any liquid that comes out of the pan, it'll make the risotto delicious, so tip it in!


when the rice is all cooked, stir in the spinach and the chicken (flaked up/diced) and then take off the heat. stir through about 150g of crumbled feta (or any goat's cheese really) and grate in about a cupful of parmesan.


and voila! it's done and delicious. serve with some crumbly feta on top and some more parmesan.
yummo!!!


thanks to my lovely boyfriend for taking most of the pictures, even if it did mean i had to sift through multiple pictures of close ups of various parts of my body, ahem.

tuesday treasures.

yesterday i received a little present from my grandma. a pair of freshly knitted socks!
as long as i've known my grandma has always knitted socks, normally for her brothers and son-in-laws and just recently, me!


there's nothing quite as warm and snuggly as a pair of hand-knitted socks :D

maybe it's time for me to start learning?



i'm more than a little keen, but i think i should be finishing some blankets off first...
for more tuesday treasures, pop over to clare's craftroom.