This is...The contents of my handbag

It looks like the inside of my bag is very clean but the zippered pouch on the left holds all of those little nic nacs that accumulate in a bag,receipts,gum and so on.The ipod keeps me entertained on my commute to and from work.You can't tell in this pic,but my wallet is this really dark navy,violet,i chose it for the colour.

More participants in This Is at Three Buttons

Silhouettes

Looks like silhouettes have been flavour of the month for a while now and I love the look of them so decided to join the bandwagon and make my own.

First step was to take a photo of myself from the side,developed the photo then traced the silhouette then decreased the size to fit the photo frame.
Then using carbon tracing paper i traced it again this time on the black sheet of cardboard then cut it out and applied some spray adhesive to the back and pressed it down on the white background.I should have first traced it the wrong way so that it was flat when cut but that was easily solved by just applying some pressue to the silhouette and keeping it straight between 2 books overnight

Home made Hot cross buns

Piped and ready for the oven

Love seeing the mixture rise to double its original size

Enjoying a bun on Easter Sunday

For years I have said I would make some hot cross buns instead of just buying them and this year i took the plunge.
I had some problems with the piping,i decided to bring out a piping kit I had bought but never used and the instructions on how to assemble it were terrible so i decided to just put the paste in a glad bag and snipped off a corner,there was much more pressure than the bag could handle and it broke so half of them look messy,then i had some extra buns without crosses and figured out how to use the piping accessories just by looking at the picture(should have done that first) and finished off the last row with some much more decent looking crosses.

Recipe from the Sydney Morning Herald

1/3 cup caster sugar
2 x 7g sachets dry yeast
11/2 cups warm milk
600g plain flour
Pinch of salt
11/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice
60g butter, chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
2/3 cup currants
Paste for crosses
1/2 cup plain flour
4 tbsp water
2 tsp caster sugar
Glaze
1 tbsp very hot water
1 tsp gelatine powder
1 tbsp caster sugar

Combine caster sugar, yeast and milk in a bowl, stir until smooth, cover and rest in a warm place for 10minutes or until frothy.

Sift flour, salt, cinnamon and mixed spice into a large bowl. Use your fingertips to rub butter into flour mixture. Stir in yeast mixture, egg and currants until well combined. Cover and rest in a warm place for 45minutes or until mixture has doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 220 degrees.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (about five minutes). Divide dough into 16 even pieces and roll into balls. Place balls into a lightly greased square cake pan lined with baking paper. Rest covered for 10-15 minutes or until balls have risen to the top of the pan.

Combine paste ingredients in a small bowl and, using a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle or a plastic bag with a snip off one corner, pipe crosses over buns.

Bake for about 20minutes or until well browned and cooked. Combine glaze ingredients in a small bowl and stir until sugar is dissolved. Brush buns with warm glaze and cool on a cake rack.

(Hot cross buns are traditionally eaten on Good Friday, so you could begin the dough the day before. Let it rise, punch down and place in a large, lightly oiled bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight. The next day, punch down once, knead and form into buns and allow them to rise before baking.)

Makes 16.

Can be stored in an airtight container for two days.

This Is...My demon

Chocolate,and how appropriate the timing since it is Easter Sunday,i'm guessing this will be many people's demon no matter what time of year.
We're lucky to have some great chocolate makers here in Sydney,and I was the very lucky recipient of a bounty of chocolate goodies from the Lindt cafe here in Sydney,This was my bunny minutes before it was attacked.

More participants listed at Three Buttons

Autumn is here

1. Autumn / Versailles, 2. the long way home, 3. snow of ginko snow, 4. Dandenong Ranges, 5. a tradition, 6. essence, 7. Reminiscenza, 8. Untitled, 9. late autmn, 10. Untitled, 11. color, 12. glow, 13. neon golden, 14. morning stairs, 15. Autumn Ride !, 16. reaching

Some beautiful Autumn images from Flickr to celebrate the new season,today the cold weather has arrived here in Sydney.

I love long weekends

Yay,it's finally the end of the work week,even though it was a short one,thought the long weekend would never arrive.
Well here it is and I cannot wait 4 days off,looking forward to some reading( have a stack of books including this new arrival in the mail this week,above) watching a few dvds,baking hot cross buns on easter Friday,and Easter Sunday lunch and maybe a new sewing project.
As I write this I can hear the rain starting to fall,looking forward to the cooler weather expected this weekend,hope you all have a great little break.

This is...My creation

Or creations rather
Whether it's art,cooking,designing,we're all creating.
There's a feeling of great satisfaction after you create something,the hard work and research pays off in the end.
When I first started cooking i just saw it as making food to eat but it really is being creative.
More participants are listed at Three Buttons.

Print Dolls

I've seen these old school style bus stop displays featured in heaps of Home and Interiors magazines here in Australia recently.There are a few available for different areas in Sydney and Melbourne,love the use of fonts as art.
Looks like their site will be live shortly.

Checked my site stats for the first time in a while today and was intrigued to see why so many people referred from Bloesem,one of my favourite blogs,it's always a daily read,thank you so much for the mention and welcome to my little blog.

More embroidery

This is the second teatowel I have completed.I think the hardest thing is deciding what stitch to use for each project and this time I used a splitb stitch,takes a little longer to complete since you have to go back to the middle of the previous stitch,like a chain.

The pattern at the back of my book was too small so I enlarged the pictures and found some carbon transfer paper and traced the pattern straight onto the teatowel,was very simple.

The great thing about embroidery is that time watching tv actually becomes productive.

Weekend of get togethers

There was a little road trip to the other side of town to get together with old and currents work friends over yum cha,and getting together finally for Sunday breakfast with friends,there were many exciting announcements.People moving,someone expecting,and someone being featured in print,all very exciting news.

It's very faint on screen but my new candle holder makes pretty patterns on the wall.

This Is..

This week's theme is Looking out my front door,more participants listed at Three Buttons
I don't get to hang out in the park across the road anymore but it is a lovely view to have when you open the door.

New season-Witchery

I love the beginning of a new fashion season,seeing the new trends and deciding what you would like while browsing catalogues,magazines and websites.Witchery always delivers the trends and makes it wearable,these are some of my faves.

First project completed.

It was a choice of teacup or fork and spoon for my first tea towel to use my new embroidery skills on.The latter choice was too small in the book but i just need to wait until i get to a photocopier to enlarge and then trace or draw my own.
Hope you can tell but to the right of the teacup is supposed to be a tea bag.To get used to this fabric i first had a practice run with a scrap of linen and it felt right so it was time to start on the real thing,then probably the hardest decision is choosing what stitch to use.

End of Summer

It felt like the end of summer a few weeks ago when it just kept raining everyday and now it's a little cooler,although right now it is sunny and warm outside.Perfect weather for my time off work this week.
This weekend I got to enjoy some of the last fruits of the season,some mango from our tree and fresh raspberries from the farmers market to make yogurt berry muffins.


Edit:Here's the recipe,I only used white self raising flour and full cream milk instead of buttermilk.These are great when you need something sweet but low in fat too.

Makes 12

185g (1.5cups) self-raising flour
150g (1cup) wholemeal self-raising flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

155g (3/4 cup) firmly packed soft brown sugar
250ml (1cup) buttermilk
125ml (1/2cup) low-fat natural yoghurt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
440g (2cups) chopped mixed berries
(eg. strawberries and raspberries –
frozen variety is fine)

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/
Gas 4). Line a 12-hole 125ml capacity
muffin tin with paper cases.
2. Sift the two flours and cinnamon
together into a large bowl.
3. Stir in the sugar and then make
a well in the centre.
4. Pour the buttermilk, yoghurt,
eggs and oil into a large bowl and
whisk with a fork until just combined.
5. Pour into the well the dry ingredients
and stir with a wooden spoon until
just combined.
6. Add the berries and stir until just
combined (do not over mix or your
muffins will be tough).
7. Spoon into the muffin tin and
bake for 20 minutes, or until golden.

This is...my inspiration board

There have been some changes to my board since i last posted about it in October last year.There have been some new fashion additions to the board as we get ready to face autumn here in Australia.You can't see the colour very well in the pic but I love the dark blue of the trenchcoat on the model.
And how could you not love the image on the left from last year's Toast catalogue,makes you yearn for lazy Sundays still in your pajamas and drinking lots of tea or coffee to stay warm.