on the hunt for...

chambray or tencil, midthigh with darts please...

extra long, super soft & hot pink!

boat neck, 3/4 sleeves & perfect stripe to white ratio.

tweed, cord or velvet or maybe all three...

Today I headed to the shops, in order to pick up a few items for my wardrobe...  As usual, I had very specific ideas in mind and... as usual I came home empty handed. 

Mind you, I wasn't after anything particularly exotic or outlandish, quite the opposite really and for that reason, my usual 'go to' stores had elements of what I was after, but nothing that quite fitted the bill...

Might mean trying my hand at making my own... 

Bit daunting though, as I don't knit and I haven't sewn anything wearable  since Home Ec class. We made elastic waisted shorts from nursery print curtain fabric. Yep, they were all the rage circa 1988... 

Speaking of late eighties/early nineties style... does anyone remember the 'Chic Simple' book series??

I used to own a couple of titles, 'Clothes' & 'Home' I think.

The design and layout of these books was very fresh back then... so I'd be interested to see if they've stood the test of time.

Anyway, the hunt continues...

rain rain go away...

If you're here to stay however,  I'd like a pair of these please...

gloss hunter wellies

denim & tweed cont...

Autumn weather seems a little closer today... so I thought I'd get busy sewing up those new (denim with tweed) cushions I wrote about last week.

I made two cushions  in denim backed with tweed and one tweed and linen, appliqued with black pincord. They turned out quite well and are definitely cuddle worthy.

Much to my husband's bewilderment, I've been guilty in the past of buying cushions made of scratchy and/or overly embellished fabrics. He doesn't see the point if they're not a comfy addition to our sofa. Fair point I guess...

These hopefully will get the seal of approval, especially as they're made out of a pair of his favourite old jeans...




My first attempt at the denim/tweed combo, was less than successful though.
I thought I'd have a crack at patchwork and the result (below) was less than great... No square lined up and the whole panel ended up being very bumpy.  I think this was mainly due to my ad hock approach.

Patchwork might be one of those crafts where it pays to read the instructions. Anyway the process was fun and I'll definitely have another stab at it.

daily rituals & last minute sweet treats

It's one of life's simple pleasures...  A decent drop of coffee and fifteen minutes to yourself to enjoy it. I try and make this a daily ritual and always (and a tad guiltily) include a little sweet something on the side...

Faced with no such treat to be found in my pantry this morning, I remembered my favourite  (knock together) almond biscuit recipe. I've seen more refined versions of this recipe that require piping bags and call for the mixture to stand over night etc...

These biscuits, although quite 'rustic' are super fast to make, require virtually no baking skills and are in my opinion pretty delicious!

What you'll need -

1 cup of raw sugar (you can use white if you prefer a finer texture)
125g of Almond Meal
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon of Almond Essence
1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla Essence
A handful of blanched almonds

(Makes around 20 biscuits)

1. Beat all the ingredients (with the exception of the blanched almonds) together with an electric mixture for about 3minutes.
2. Spoon dollops of mixture onto a baking tray, lined with baking paper.
3. Pop a blanched almond in the centre of each biscuit.
4. Bake at 180 degrees for around 15mins or until golden.

Now while they cool... you can make yourself a coffee then put your feet up and enjoy the moment! 

the divine miss m...

Today's cleaning day... Actually yesterday was supposed to be, but umm somehow I didn't get around to it... 

Anyway, thought I'd share my new fave (cleaning the house) track, Tightrope by Janelle Monae. It's so funky and guaranteed to get you moving! Check out Miss Monae's style too, she's one sharp dresser!  

Anyway had better crack on...  Have a great weekend!!

green persimmon chutney?

Brought home half a dozen persimmons on the weekend from Cloudlake. They were picked quite green, to save them from a marauding flock of corellas.

I love persimmon's but they've got to be perfectly ripe and I'm not sure these will get there...

Definitely don't want to waste any,  so was thinking of making them into a chutney/relish. It would be very experimental though, as I can't find a recipe and am a total novice at preserving...

Any ideas on how to ripen them or recipes for green persimmons would be really appreciated...

In the meantime they make a nice little arrangement on my side table.

greening the fingers...

Both of my parents are incredible gardeners, as is my Nan... My Sister's not bad either and for my Brother, gardening is his bread and butter...

I, on the other hand, have always been absolutely rubbish at keeping anything green alive.

green inspiration at Cloudlake

However, with average to poor quality 'fresh' veg on offer  at our local supermarkets (or not, my husband went to 3 just to get coriander), I am determined to have another crack at growing your own...

So out I went and bought punnets of herbs, an 'easy grow' tomato, pots and potting mix, as well a couple of interesting succulents & a pretty ginger thingee (I know you can't eat those last couple but I'm a sucker for succulents...).

Got them home... a week went by and true to form no gardening happened (other than checking that my new little plants were still alive).

Then after spending an inspirational couple of days up at Cloudlake and motivated by a recent post about Anna's kitchen garden on Absolutely Beautiful Things, I finally donned some gardening gloves and got stuck in...

small beginnings

Voila!  Now we have (or will have with some ongoing tlc) lovely fresh herbs and the makings of a striking new 'green' centre piece for our outdoor table.

Those close to me are understandably sceptical... but I'm confident this time will be different.

Just have to remember to water...

the original Betty Draper

Saw an article in the SMH over the weekend, showing another example of Mad Men's design influence at the moment.  This time at the Autumn Racing Carnival, in Sydney.

It made me think of this photo of Grace Kelly (featured recently on The Impossible Cool  blog), the quintessential patrician blonde...  Sublime!

autumn inspiration...

After a very wet and refreshingly chilly weekend up in the hills, I'm hopeful that cooler temps may be on the way down in Bris as well... 

It may be a bit premature to unpack the winter woolies,  however this recent post on  The Sartorialist showing Denim with Tweed,  has definitely got me me in an Autumnal mood...

Love the loafers in the second photo too!   My best friend once had an enviable collection of beautiful leather loafers...  Should tell her to dust them off...

Back to the tweed/denim combo, it just so happens I have a lovely piece of tweed, bought at a favourite op shop some time ago.
Paired with denim from my husbands well worn jeans and a couple of other remnants I have lying about, could be the making of some new season cushions...

little treasures

There's a lot to love about living back on the bay... 

One thing being the astounding number of op shops still around!  Many of which I can remember scouring when I was a teenager... 

This week I decided a proper revisit was in order... Although not quite the rich pickings they once were and a tad tricky (in some cases impossible) to negotiate with a pram, I didn't come away empty handed...

friday night lights

Looking forward to cocktails with some crafty types tonight...

endless summer

We're well into March and days are still hot, hot, hot up here...  So a couple of weekends ago, we made the most of it of  and headed to the beach. On the way, this song came on the radio... "Naked Kids" by Group Love (an indie band from LA) So perfect!

On the deck,  Noosa Surf Club

Sun downers

Noosa, old school...

Anyway, the weather was stunning, the drinks ice cold and we savoured every moment of what we thought was the last weekend of Summer...

first post...

When my mother sent me this gorgeous series of photos of their property, Cloudlake Mountain Retreat, I knew they were too beautiful not to share... 

Then it occurred to me... Already a total design-blogaholic and always one to try my hand at something new... why not create my own and journal all the stuff that inspires me daily...  

The photos were taken by one of their recent guests, who also happens to be a talented photographer by the name of Lorelle Hawes. 
She's certainly captured the spirit of the place... So looking forward to getting up there this weekend, it's been too long...