Australia Day Pavlova, a first for us.

Littlest one came home from school Friday with a fist full of recipes for us to try: Lamingtons, damper, pavlova...

One thing to note is that "corn flour" is corn starch--not corn meal (ew! in meringue?).

Her class is researching Australia for their International Fair next week. Each grade has its own country it represents. And the kids get a passport and have it stamped at each "country".

Cute!

On another Australian note,--boomerangs, bush tucker, platypus and Holden cars...sorry, lots of trivia still floating around the noggin.

I'll try that again: on another note, I have finally received some hand printed textiles from that ace designer, Shannon Lamden, a.k.a. Aunty Cookie and I'm getting them into the shop slowly but surely. I ordered them way back in October. First they had to be, well, made, I suppose, as each order is unique. Then they had to be shipped. Seamail, which sounds like a great adventure. But they're here! They're here!

Those Most Remarkable Etsy Sellers

Well, the littlest one is fully recovered and I am enjoying my first day to myself after a good weeks' worth of being battened down. I did end up making some good use of my lazy time at home, though. I shopped like I had threatened I would. Shopped online, in my most comfortable slippers and pjs, on my couch, with the littlest one watching a little disney. And it's almost excusable, isn't it? After four days of cabin fever. But who could resist these little treasures?I warned you in my previous post that I was inspired by rosehip's pillowcases (scroll down to dec. 5th for the full impact of wonderful). And after searching on Etsy, I came across some gorgeous bits of vintage trim. These are by BumberShootSupplies and yes they came on the wooden spools with vintage buttons and brooch holding them in place. And no I don't know if I bought them for the trim or the spools or the brooch. I don't know. The long ecru piece in the back was from WillowGlassSupplies and was wrapped in the lovely bit of green calico fabric.

I have some more pieces coming as well...one's from France. France! That makes it international or---french, which makes it, well, much more sophisticated, of course. Um, I mean, bien sur.

And speaking of Etsy sellers, amazing crafty generous--etsy sellers, you must check out CraftHope for Haiti. I have a link over there to the right as well. Their shop has accepted donated items from all the generous etsy crafters and is selling them with 100% of the proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders for Haiti. The response has been overwhelming for them according to their blog, crafthope.com, raising $7000.00 within the first 48 hours.

As if we needed a reason to shop on etsy...but it's a pretty good reason!

Sick Days

inertia n. Physics . The tendency of a body to resist acceleration; the tendency of a body at rest to remain at rest or of a body in straight line.

Well that's it exactly, now, isn't it?

Littlest one has been home for three days (3!!) with a virus. Poor thing, she's had a steady diet of chicken noodle soup, sprite, tylenol, and motrin. Her hair looks like an unfortunate felted rag rug---is that how you make dread locks, felt it?

She's well on her way.

But she does feel better today! And I am planning what I will do with my precious free time after I drop her at school tomorrow! At 8:24 a.m.!

Now the inertia definition is not at all about my sick little chicky, of course. It pertains to her mother...I can't seem to get moving on anything but the most minimal benchmarks of what makes us a civilized society. Exercise, (just enough to qualify) check, shower, check, cut and ship fabric, check.

But my energy is divided, or maybe my attention is. So I've yielded to the circumstances. I sit with Littlest One wrapped up in a fleece blanket and brainstorm interesting facts about Australia for her school project. Do you know what bush tucker is? I like that term so much I'm going to try to work it into my future conversations. Or maybe I'll just name one of my pets after it. And we work puzzles and watch a lot (lot, lot) of Suite Life and Witches of Waverly Place. And she has slept a good bit.

Admittedly, I could have been productive during this time, but I stayed put, with the throw around me, surfing thru flickr groups, admiring fun new quilt blocks like these ,and these, and modern pillows with a vintage feel here. And that inspired me to...well, to shop---- for some crochet trim--- because I might one day soon tackle a handmade pillow case, but I'm just kidding myself if I think I'm going to hand crochet the edges. And shopping is one of my favorite parts of craftiness.

Now if you'll excuse me, my daughter has just handed me a comb as she is freshly bathed. I think our sick day is coming to an end.

The Fancy Schmancy Zoo of Love

Well, there's some new blood in the old family tree, and to welcome the little mister to the family, I made him a quilt from Michael Miller free quilt patterns, Giraffes, Elephants, and Hippos! Oh My! (Oh, yes, much inspired by Katy's version here)

I didn't have all of the kiddy prints they used in their version, so I opted for a lot of Love, because my animals live in a very fancy zoo, you see. Hmmm, and I didn't quite follow the pattern now that I'm seeing Katy's. Hate instructions! Just look at the pictures and go with it, right?

Actually I was wanting to tackle this quilt pattern and jonesing to cut into the Love stash, and I thought it was a fun spin. I do wish I were a really good stippler. I wanted to stipple all around the big animals. ...and you know I tried, like some one who doesn't have good sense. Let's learn to free motion quilt right here and now! Worth a try, because I always think that if I up the ante I will really follow through. But I ended up quilting around the animals in a wavy line farther and farther out each time. The back is a Heather Bailey's new Hop Dot in Sky, very sweet.

So there it is, fun, simple and sweet.

Happy Birthday, Joseph Paul!