Market Bags

I have been sewing like crazy every spare minute this week - and three jobs,  two kids and everything else there are not that many minutes to.spare!
I have sewed up 12 bags for the Twilight Market tomorrow, just putting the finishing touches on now ie.trimming loose threads and sewing on the button. Even choosing the buttons took time!
The bags are made from denim and are decorated with vintage doilies from my op shop collection. Some bags feature hand dyed doilies. 
No two bags are the same!
All bags are fully lined, have an internal pocket ( some with a zip), a clip to hang keys on, and a button/ loop closure. Or at least they will when I finish sewing them on...

Things to do in Moreland this weekend and next...

Holy Trinity Church fete in Pascoe Vale tomorrow; Brunswick Secondary Twilight Market next Friday 14/10; St Margaret Mary's school fete Sat 15; St Albans church fete Sat 15; Coburg North PS "Make Noise " music festival also on Sat 15. Looks like fun! Hope the weather is good.

School holiday roadtrip 2- the wildlife edition

We were pretty lucky with the weather when we were away, and so got to do a fair bit of walking, exploring, and nature spotting. We saw several lizards soaking up the sun, including some good sized skinks and young dragon (still need to research & confirm species). The dragon was a real sticky beak and appeared just as interested in watching us as we were in watching him!

The black birds were spotted at the park at Buchan Caves, they have curved beaks and distinctive red eyes, making it easy to identify them as Choughs.  

But the best of all was finding not one but 2 echidnas! The first ( lower photo) was just off the track near the Snowy River ( not sure what the area/ road was called, it was north past Buchan); and the second was walking across the grass at the Bairnsdale Archery & mini golf centre. It walked right past me as I filmed it, my own mini David Attenborough moment!!!

Other things to make with mars bars...

I just couldn' t resist grabbing a couple more $1 mars bars at the supermarket the other day. I had promised the kids I would make a cheesecake in the holidays, so I thought - why not a mars cheesecake?
I had made one from a recipe before, but it had a melted mars syrup and extra syruppy stuff on top, and was really rather too sweet, even for me! So instead I just used the basic Philly cheesecake recipe I cobbled together from several version in the Philly cookbooks ( found on a front fence last year with a note saying " please take"!!!
  I chopped 2 mars bars into smallish pieces- not easy as they are sooo sticky- and added them to the mix. Grated chocolate on top to finish, super easy, super yum!

School Holiday Road Trip pt 1

We had a family road trip in the school holidays and spent a couple of days exploring Lakes Entrance.We did some bushwalking and enjoyed the views. The bush had a different smell, not the usual eucalypt scent, nor lemon scented gum. It took me a while to figure out that it was the native frangipani blooms ( I think thats what it was, it was in bloom everywhere!).

We explored the amazing Buchan Caves.

We took a drive north to see the mighty Snowy River. Somehow the song " Snowy River Roll" is still  in my head - learnt in primary school in grade 5 with Mr Smith, written on paper, plastered on the wall above the blackboard we would spend the first 10 minutes at school every morning singing a range of folk songs/ songs from the ABC " sing" books.

And stanzas from " The man from snowy river" also came to mind, looking at the river and the hills and mountains nearby (also thanks to Mr Smith). Such a beautuful part of the country.  We saw plenty of birds and wildlife too, more in the next post.