Creating...Unfinished Australiana

I started this Australian bird/animal interactive wall hanging four years ago & while all the components are made & sewn on to the background the backing has been used for another project so I need to buy another big piece of felt & sew it together. Note to self...FINISH WALL HANGING SOON!

Tree with kookaburra, cockatoo & koala.

Cockatoo in wattle tree on actual
wall hanging background.

Billabong with water lillies & resident crocodile &
platypus.

Rock wallaby on its rock.

And last but not least...an echidna hiding in an old stump.


I thought that unstuffed my little critters would make make great finger puppets too!

Cooking...Australia Day Bread

Tomorrow is Australia Day & my wonderful (big) little brother (he is 6'5 while I'm 5'3) is bringing over lots of yummy goodies...prawns, lamb sausages, kangaroo steaks, gooey brie & stinky blue cheese, wines (beer for Daddy Rat)...you get the picture. So feeling a bit overwhelmed with his generosity I said I swap him some recently found op-shopped plates for the set I'm collecting for him (gorgeous NZ vintage ironstone made by Crown Lynn, called 'rambling rose'), some home-made rosemary pesto, some wonderful Aussie inspired sweets (desserts), various salads etc & home-made rosemary topped bread plus of course I would cook the BBQ & make everything look appetising. With all our rain & another few 100mm predicted for the next few days looks like BBQ will be oven & fry pan & big pot. Fear not as I had a plan B for the cooking time plan just in case *phew*...anyway I wanted to show-off my bread before I get dinner on & make said pesto!

Tested some with pickles, cheese & ham....yum, yum,yum!

'Rambling Rose' by Crown Lynn, NZ...dinner plates.

These are the first two plates that we gave Brother dear for Christmas just gone, which he loved. Mousie & I found 8 side-plates last week (in a totally different op-shop & town) for $1.60...bargain.
Off to the kitchen I go...now...

Creating...recycled material

With Mousie back at school & the rain bucketing down outside (lots of flooding going on in SE Qld & Northern NSW like last Jan!) I've cleared off my work table & uncovered the sewing machine again ( I did sew cushions at the beginning of the month but mysteriously things from other parts of the house seem to migrate to & breed in my creative space ;-(  )
Mousie needed a painting shirt/apron for school so instead of ripping the sleeves off an old shirt I decided to recycle some items from the op-shop to make a swish double-sided apron. I had a long cotton skirt I bought just for the material & some groovy looking pillow cases (where do all the matching sheets disappear to??) that I really love the colours & pattern of...

I based the pattern on Mousies vintage  'cooking at home apron' (op-shop $1)...

I'm really pleased with the results & am thinking about making a longer version with some pockets across the front for me, without the name tag...lol! I still have plenty of both materials (fabrics)...mmmm, I shall add it to the 'to-do' list :-)
xxx

Front with glimpse of back...

Back with a glimpse of the front...

Oh dear! Nearly forgot to actually post the final pics...hahahaha...Miss Mousie said she is going to wear the plain side outside so everyone can see how I embroidered her name...Isn't she sweet! x

The Sunflower Mystery continued...

The story began with my beautiful sunflower, growing its yummy seeds, & with me patiently waiting to harvest them...well someone beat me to it...

Cheeky cockatoo invites himself to lunch...

mmmmm....nibble, nibble....mmmmmm...

Going in for the kill...

Decapitation complete!

HA! HA!...(cheeky bugger)...

Thus ends the sad tale (not so sad for the lucky cocky!). While I was disappointed, I had to laugh at his cocky-ness (haha) & perseverance. The whole process took about 20 minutes & the bloody dog just sat there & watched until after the cocky had its fill & then decided to bark & scare it away!
Neens xxx

Growing...Our vegetable patch

I was over admiring the pics from the garden allotment of Scarlet at
http://talesfrombeyondthenook.blogspot.com which reminded me (thankyou Miss Scarlet) that I wanted to put together pics from our vegie patch & what we managed to produce in our small area. It is a work in progress as it was overgrown & full of weeds & rocks when we bought our house 2 years ago. Slowly but surely we're adding broken down poo & straw from our 5 lovely girls...

Miss Coco Chanel...Isn't she beautiful! lol

Here is some of what we managed to grow. As we don't use chemicals we had a few disasters in the first year, but gradually the good bugs are doing their work although there is still a nearly invisible tribe of grasshoppers who enjoy eating the basil...grasshopper pesto anyone?

Mmmmmm....mulberries

Chook pen & vegie patch...

Ravishing radishes...



Pear-shaped zucchini...

Chook bath...not technically a vegetable but they do tend
to have pea-sized brains (at times)...hahaha

Crazy, curly carrots...

Succulent sweet, sweet, corn...

My gorgeous, single sunflower that decided
to pop up. Oh how I watched you grow &
patiently waited while your hundreds of seeds
grew plump & delicious.....



Stay tuned to see the story unfold of what became of my glorious sunflower...did it become an oven-tray full of sizzling, roasting seeds? Or maybe some wonderful extra virgin sunflower oil???

Collecting...Trays

Today was back to school for Mousie & many other Qld kids. It was amazing to be able to walk through the loungeroom to the kitchen & see everything still in its place. No piles of Mousie crap paraphernalia (miscellaneous crap) on every available surface...sigh...how's the serenity!

Anyway, while having a peaceful afternoon tea...

My book of the moment ; My favourite Glasbake mug ;
Homemade gluten-free walnut/choc-chip bikkies on a
vintage sunflower tray (op-shopped) on vintage Aus flora
cloth made in Ireland (also op-shopped)

I said to myself "Self, you should use trays more often!"...because I do like to collect a nice vintage tray!    

            

Vintage melamine daisy tray

Vintage metal "country style" tray
50 cents at an estate sale

Vintage melamine fruit & wine tray...39cms high



Vintage melamine sunflower tray...32cms high



Neens xxx

Creating...Puppets

Puppets are a lot of fun to make & most kids I find still love them...big kids too lol!
I like to make finger & hand puppets, both being great for long periods of travel or waiting as they don't need much room...just a little imagination ;-)

Fingerpuppets...2 wolves, 3 pigs & Red-riding hood.

"Once upon a time"...The update set that includes
a Granny & friendlier looking wolves as these
where ordered by a friend for his nearly 2 yr old
niece...yes a sale!

This bag went with the "Once upon a time"
puppets.

"Princess Besties" fingerpuppet set + castle storage bag.

Monster handpuppets & carry bag...
(I made these for our nephew Jeremy who was
fighting liver cancer & had 3 years of nearly constant
hospital time. Unfortunately he passed away a few
months ago aged 6. A very brave fight...RIP)

Batman...nananananana...batman handpuppet.

And of course, you can't have a Batman
without a Robin (handpuppet).

Creating...Snugglebuddies

Cuddly, snuggly animal buddies...

Snugglebunny front.

Snugglebunny back.

Snugglemousie front.
(Of course this belongs to my Mousie)



Snugglemousie back.



Snugglepuss front.

Snugglepuss back.

I have plans for a dog, frog, and an elephant...cute!    

Neens xxx                                                  

Creating...Girls felt bags

I thought it was about time I created a catalogue of what makes up me & NinaV Creations. What I like to make, collect, cook, read & do etc etc...
I shall start with the things I make...

Girls Felt Bags...

Square bag/basket, lined with recycled cardboard to keep it stiff.

Monogrammed sweetheart shoulder bag.

Button-up monogrammed shoulder bag.



Monogrammed purse.



Inside of purse.



Purple daisy bag with contrasting orange lining

Pink rainbow pony bag

Monogrammed heart bag

Monogrammed gift bags.