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After some unexpected train delays last week I decided to just walk into the city,was glad i did as I'm never in this part of town,made a few discoveries on the way and of course had to take a photo of such autumn loveliness during my walk.


Took an unintentional blogging break these past few weeks.I haven't had the chance to do much,everything is allover the place,there's no workspace and right now I have to squeeze my office chair into a little nook in our spare room just to use the computer.On Thursday they began installing the cupboards,the kitchen is starting to take shape,they will be back this week to finish but we have to wait a little longer to have the granite cut and put in place.I cannot wait to be able to start cooking again,am craving a good home cooked meal.
Lunch today for Greek Easter was a very casual barbecue and now I'm sipping lots of hot tea trying to get rid of this cold before it's time to go back to work.

Lately

Participated in Earth Hour

Took advantage of the strong Aussie dollar and bought some material and stamps on Etsy

Can't sew at the moment but have decided on my next project with one of my favourite colour combinations at the moment

More goods on Etsy,practical and very pretty push pins

Saw a beautiful sunset on the last day of daylight savings

This is my jewelery box

This is where i keep most of my jewelery,just some drawers from Ikea that have been painted.
Some more precious items are kept in pouches so they don't tangle with other pieces.
Some pieces are cheap finds at markets or chain stores,others more expensive pieces with lovely details and some vintage finds.
Most mornings I'm in a rush and don't get time to select something to wear to the office but getting ready for a big night I will select some earrings or a brooch to give me a little pick me up.
All participants are listed at Three Buttons.

Renovation hell

We're currently going through renovation hell at home,but I'm looking foward to a new modern kitchen,Each day there is another part of the cupboards gone,on one side of our kitchen,the oven and cooktop only remain,there is no bench space apart from a small spot next to the sink or the dinner table nearby which itself is mostly covered with tools.

The spare room where our computer sits is cluttered with crockery,drawers and appliances,i sit in an awkward position to use the computer,i skip breakfast in the morning because it's all just too much,I spend most of the evening after work out with friends or in my room,there is no space to sit down and do something,just want to wake up and have a new kitchen.

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.

Saturday in Leura

We were so excited to see Mr Whippy arrive

I chose this wine because i loved the label,luckily it was yummy as well

We sat down for some coffee and tea at Cafe Bon Ton

On Saturday a friend organised a trip up to the mountains and we had a lovely picnic at the cascades just behind the main strip of Leura.The sun was shining and it was still warm but you could feel the crisp fresh air,such a big difference from the city.Cannot wait to go back again in autumn.

This is...Me taking a picture of myself in the mirror with my favourite accessory.

I've had to cheat with this week's challenge.I've just returned from a trip to the mountains and it's dark so no good light to take a photo.
But my camera is my favourite non fashion accessory,I've learnt my lesson and now take it with me wherever I go,so many times in the past I was caught out without it.
The photo was taken a few months ago after a trip to the hairdresser,in the changer ooms of my local DJ store.

You can see all the participants listed at Three Buttons

Learning and practising

I mentioned in yesterday's post about deciding to learn or probably relearning embroidery.I'm sure I was taught when i was younger,or was that needlepoint?

I sat down last Sunday afternoon and started going through Sublime Stitching and learning the different stitches, some were so easy that you just had to look at the diagram,some were just too hard and I'll need to go through those again or see if I can find some other instructions which are easier to follow.

I started with all 6 threads in the one strand but that seemed too thick for most stitches so I just split it in half and 3 seems looks much better.

The first transfer in the book is made to help you practice different types of stitches so I will complete that on a piece of scrap material before I start on the tea towels.

First project-still in progress

All sewn up and just waiting to be finished

Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter

A had bought Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing late last year and this year I finally have a sewing machine so it was time to start making something.I decided on the tea towels,probably the most simple project.I helped a friend make napkins last year for her wedding and I wasn't very good,lines were not very straight but it was promising to see I had improved,and thanks to the seam ripper,I could go over something again when it didn't look right.
I decided on a clean organic look and found some lovely 100% linen fabric,then I came up with an idea,I should learn embroidery,at first I thought maybe a tea cup,but have decided on a knife and fork.
Since then I have bought Sublime Stitching,it looked more like my style,much more modern,bought some supplies and have spent the last weekend learning the different types of stitches,stay tunes,more to come.

When Jack Met Karen!!

This is...What makes me laugh

With the rise of reality tv,there aren't too many great comedies on tv anymore.I absolutely love Will and Grace,but my favourite on the show are Jack and Karen,there are just too many funny moments between these two.I've recently bought the first 2 seasons on dvd and hope to add to the collection.
Above I've posted a videa from when the first 2 meet in season 1.

To find out who else is participating,check out Three Buttons.

I found some great things on my trip to Newtown last week.Most of them on the southern end past the train station and high school.When I walked into Pentimento Papeterie it looked like they just sold paper goods but it's also filled with great gifts,books,jewellry,and they also sell a large range of Mud Australia products which i love.I picked up this gorgeous black vase which i plan to use in my room when it gets colder and I change to a darker colour palette.



There are so many antique stores along the strip and I found these funky salt and pepper shakers,I'm obsessed with things in that mustard colour at the moment.

Beehouse Gallery is a space where artists and crafters can sell their goods,I found this beautiful japanese fabric,I'm thinking of displaying some fabric in emroidery hoops,just like this idea from The Purl Bee.And I just had to have the little pouch,zipper bag with Florence Broadhurst fabric

Happy Valentines Day

I don't even celebrate this or know any couples who go to great efforts but it's all just a bit of fun.And I was given a heart shaped lamington from a sweet work friend.

What is everyone else up to?I'm just going to go straight home and relax with some wine or champagne and have a little mini spa treatment with a scrub and mask.

And without noticing the upcoming holiday,I bought some new pajama pants on the weekend,I just thought they were cute,I can't wait for the colder weather when I can start wearing them.

We have a winner!

Sorry for the delay in announcing a winner in the little giveaway i organised the other week.I was planning to draw the winner when I met up with a fellow blogging friend but we couldn't get together due to this crappy weather we've had recently.
So I added everyone who didn't say they didnt want to be entered,into a bowl,scrunched up bits of paper and randomly selected from the bowl.
And the lucky recipient is Ali
Can you please contact me at skokoris {at} hotmail {.} com and I can arrange to send of your goodies.

Some light reading

I made a trip to the local library last week looking for something easy to read.I really want to learn how to knit this year so I borrowed the top book to get me in the mood for learning.

I received Camilla Morton's first book How To Walk in High Heels,a few years ago as a gift and decided to borrow the latest,I'm just skimming through it.I don't normally buy fashion magazines but Harpers Bazaar had a very large issue this month for a new season that's approaching,and I bought Vogue for the free Karl Lagerfeld dvd that came with it,the man fascinates me and I think he's a legend.
Saturday afternoon got quite cold and I had a sore throat,felt like a cold was coming on so I curled up in bed and read for the rest of the day.
Sunday i decided to go to Newtown,I hadn't been in years,there are so many great antique stores along the southern end of King Street,I preferred this area to the main section of King Street,there was even a store called All Buttons which of course just sold buttons,unfortunately they were closed,but I will definitely be back.

This is...Sunday Lunch

Sunday lunch is always a casual affair at our house,most weekends when it's warm we usually have a barbecue,today it was home made burgers .
For me I like to lighltly toast the bread,add some cheese,a squirt of tomato sauce,beef patties,tomato,caramelised onions and lettice(didn't have any today).

I'm not always home for Sunday lunch so when I'm out it's either yum cha,or something casual at a cafe.

You can see more participants of This Is at Three Buttons.

What else is there to do while waiting for the bus,take a photo.

The icing didn't quite work out.

Thanks to everyone who has left a comment on my previous post with the giveaway,I will select the winner some time this week.

This weekend was pretty quiet and quite boring,so boring that I slept for a few hours on Sunday afternoon because I wasn't in the mood for anything else.I now know that no matter what my intentions,i need to be out on the weekend in summer.

saturday morning I paid a visit to the library and discovered I had to pay some fines,it would have been nice to be told and not just sprung on me while in the queue.The book I got didn't end up being for me and I lost interest in it by Saturday evening.

Sunday I decided to bake a lemon pund cake with lemon frosting from a Bill Granger book,the icing looked great once I was done whipping and was nice and stiff but as you can see from the pic(please excuse the darkness,it was very overcast on Sunday) it collapsed 5 minutes later,I think I had put in too much butter,now know to leave it to rest for at least 5 minutes before spreading it on the cake.Such a shame since it tasted quite good.

This is...My collection

I didn't know about this meme organised by Three Buttons when it first began and last week I was interstate so I have finally joined this week.The theme this week selected by
Hyena in Petticoats is This Is My Collection.

My fascination with spoons started last year,I jut love their shape,and I have started collecting spoons made from wood or ceramic.The two wooden ones in the picture I found at The Bay Tree,a store here in Sydney and the white ceramic ones with a diamond,heart and clubs I found last week at Husk,in Melbourne.Unfortunately they sold out of the clubs so I couldn't have the whole set.

It's only a small collection right now however it will certainly grow,as well as my wish to start a collection of vintage coloured glassware and teapots and teacups and saucers.

This is a test

I've noticed recently there have been more visitors to this blog,some have a quick look,some stay for a bit longer,so this I suppose is a test for myself to see if anyone actually reads my entries.If I get no responses then fine,i know nobody reads it,we shall see.

So I have a gift to giveaway,it's the latest edition of Delicious magazine,a gorgeous teatowel that came with the magazine plus some letteropress cards and gift tags.

Please leave a comment and I will pick a name out of a box or container or whatever i can find and pick the lucky recipient.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend,I'm looking forward to the cooler weather this weekend after a week of high temps here.