J-a-n-g-o and Jango is his name-o

Meet Jango, the newest member of our family!

He is a 9 month old rescue pup, mixed heritage - he was listed as a staffy kelpie cross, but his foster mum was told he was a staffy heeler cross. Lots of people we have met while out walking think he is a Labrador. We just think he is gorgeous!

He loves cuddles and kisses - he had  licked my ear just before this pic was taken!

He goes crazy trying to pick up this large ball, it is half full of water and quite heavy, but when it has a rope through it ( he has chewed through 3 ropes so far!) he drags and carries it around the yard!

And he loves lying at the back door where he can see and hear us.

use the fork!

I usually take left overs to work for lunch, but there is always the challenge - will there be a fork to eat it with at work?

Problem now sorted with a quick sew the other day- 

Op shop cutlery plus a scrap of fabric = lunch roll!

one cake to rule them all

( of course if I had baked it in a ring tin then the title would have read " one ring cake etc". Which would have been a better play on words, if I thought of the title yesterday before I baked the cake and decided to write a post about it...)

Anyway- I have been baking this cake, from the Family Circle Kids' Cookbook for years. Like waay before I needed to bake allergy friendly egg free dairy free cakes. 

I have a couple of good gluten free cake recipes, but they have eggs in them. So I wondered if I could use gluten free flour in the recipe and pretty much cover all bases.

The result - yes! Chocolatey fudgy yum! Mixed in 5 minutes, baked in 35. Chocolate fudge cake for the win!

Saturday sewing challenge...

Involves the kitchen scales, a funnel, and some bargain sand filled weights from kmart. 

Plus a couple of op shop toys.

Half an hour of mucking about and I have 4 weighted lap toys to use at work!

stocking up

NSM foods in Victoria st Brunswick has to be the best smelling store around! You can smell the aromatic spices before you even step in the door. This is the best place to stock up on herbs, nuts and dried fruit (I love the semi dried cranberries!). A quick detour around the corner to The Royal Nut Company for a bag of Dutch Cocoa ( much darker and richer flavour) and my baking supplies are sorted!

Hmm - except I forgot to get pine nuts so might just have to go back again...

backyard bounty

plus

Equals

I haven't made lemon butter for years, but it is so easy and so delicious! Might have to get the breadmaker going to have some home made bread to go with the lemon butter!

vintage op shop treasure

Did you know that the Don Bosco op shop on Sydney Rd Brunswick  ( near Albert st, next to Volaris music) has a room of furniture out the back? ( I say room, but it really a verandah and car port!)

Here are some vintage beauties I spotted there yesterday- 1940's kitchen cabinet, vintage baby bed, crystal cabinet, and the most amazing leadlight windows!

spring colour

My in-laws have an amazing garden- flowers, fruit trees and a very productive veggie garden! When we visited on the weekend I just had to take a few photos ( and I didn't even get to the front flower garden!). 

anyone need some knitting inspiration ?

So many lovely books at Glenroy Salvos yesterday afternoon!

q q c 2

Another birthday quilt for a lovely work mate- we have  had a couple of " special" birthdays in the last 12 months! 

I love all the shades of blue in this, I was a bit tempted to keep it actually! The back is a gorgeous indigo cotton weave from Spotlight, but it is a heavy fabric and I broke a couple of needles before swapping to a leather needle to quilt the layers together!

quick quilt catch up

Posting some recent- ish projects, I am soooo far behind with posts! (And yes Vicki I still need to finish the Cosplay post!)

First up - Quilt for our manager who retired recently, in her favourite red/ purple colour combo ( yes, same as the bunting, it was made for her send off party!).

I used 2 calico bag panels on the back for people to sign - written in fabric marker.

Green is for go!

This old timber traffic light has been sitting in the shed at work for years, unloved, gathering dust, and under threat of being thrown out.

So when I spotted it recently, I decided all it needed was a makeover. 

A light sand to remove the old varnish, and 1 coat of matt black paint, and it is already looking completely different!

The colours stand out so much better against the black, even though I sanded  them back too. Planning to glue discs of bright craft foam on to  make the lights look really bright!

Of course the girls were quite intrigued by what I was doing in the backyard!

super quick bunting

3 op shop sheets

+ rotary cutter & cardboard template

= Lots & lots of triangles

+ overlocker

 = miles of super quick bunting!!!