My place and yours... collections

I stumbled across this lovely blog last night and just had to take part in this weeks 'My place and yours' which is all about collections. I am a chronic bargain hunter and as such I have amassed a good many collections. I am constantly buying, selling and reselling stuff... lucky my beautiful fiance is an vintage lover also.

A few of the things I collect are....

Kitch ceramics... and cheesy jesus stuff. My favourite is the dodo gravy jug which my MIL bought me.

 Brooches.. I always want more brooches!

And Vintage Sideboards. I have four and I love them all SO much. This one I got whilst working at Indigo Junction- for some reason it didn't sell, so I worked in exchange for it! It makes me happy every time I look at it. It's so sexy, in a 60's teak veneer kind of way!

I also collect chairs (I LOVE chairs), vintage frocks & handbags, old tins, vintage lamps,  enameled things, tea cups, old stamps (the kind you ink, not postage stamps), old bottles, vintage games and fisher price toys, vintage books with cool covers and of course... golden books.

What do you collect & why? You can see more fabulous collections over at Hello Owl!

My Creative Space..

 

..at the moment is all about wooly winter snugness. I am completely obsessed with this lovely alpaca wool from the Creswick Wool Mill, which lucky for me is very near by.

I'm having so much fun dreaming up uses for it and preparing for winter.

 

I have a pile of hot water bottle covers, finished and unfinished for the Daylesford Makers Market.

 

And some prototype fingerless gloves. Do you think they need adorning? I kinda like them plain and simple. What do you think? They feel lovely on...

Check out some more creative spaces here :)

Relishing

I've just finished making a wee batch of tomato relish with the gorgeous tomatoes I picked yesterday. Every year I make a batch to give away to my special friends. I like to make this first, before I make any for myself. It's my little tradition.

I think they look very sweet!

I just adore making preserves! This weekend we will make tomato sauce too. The kids absolutely love it! Hopefully we can make enough to last the whole year. Then next week I shall make green tomato chutney from my remaining unripe tomatoes. It was pretty frosty this morning, so I think their days are numbered!

Here is my recipe for Spicy Tomato Relish in case you feel inspired :)

• 1.5 kg ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 4 onions, chopped roughly
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 3 red chillies (I use cayenne)
• 2 1/4 cups malt vinegar
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tbsp dry mustard
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 cup malt vinegar

Method:
Put tomatoes and onions in a non-metallic bowl and sprinkle over the salt. Leave for 12 hours. Drain the liquid that has formed. Put vegetables in a preserving pan or large saucepan and add the sugar, chillies and first measure of vinegar. Bring to the boil and simmer, stirring frequently for about 1hr 20 minutes or until mixture is reduced and thickens slightly.
Combine remaining ingredients to make a thick paste.
Stir paste into the tomato mixture and simmer, stirring for 2-3 minutes until mixture thickens.
Pack into sterilised jars and seal.
Makes about 4 x 350ml jars.

Yummy x x

Autumn in my garden

It's nap time here & I really should be sewing for the next Daylesford Makers Market, but it's such a stunningly gorgeous day! I've been out picking tomatoes- of which there are so many. All different colours shapes and sizes. I also photographed a few of the lovely things around my garden. Veges flowers and animals! I hope you are enjoying the weather and some nature where you are?

My famous Fiance!

5 months in the country and he's already on the cover of Backyard Farmer Magazine! Not bad huh? :)

The Glenlyon Village Market

It's that time again! Hooray! My most favourite of all markets... The Glenlyon Village Market.
Do come along and say hi or if you are a local crafty type or if you have excess produce or a whole bunch of vintage stuff you've been meaning to sell- give Dan a call and have a stall, it only costs $5-! That's right, $5-!!

See ya there! :)

Meet Miss Lucy!

The latest addition to the family... Little Miss Lucy.
O' I'm so in love with her! She is just adorable.

She is up for adoption... you can see more here :)

Pretty Patterns

I'm so loving these! They are hand painted patterns on the covers of some vintage Readers Digests I got from the Yandoit Primary School Garage Sale months ago. I think I got them all for 50c!

Aren't they divine? Don't you wish books looked like this these days?

Daylesford Makers Market- Chillout Edition

Despite the pouring rain the Daylesford Makers Market was a roaring success. What a fun day I had! I met lots of fabulous people- talented, interesting and gorgeous, I sold lots of stuff (which is always nice) and I just had a jolly good time.

My new bunting posts worked a treat- and people loved my new alpaca wool hot water bottles covers.

The buttons went down well as always and I even got to see some of them looking totally fabulous on some things people had made. They just look SO much better than new buttons.


I can't wait for next months Easter Market... I will have to get busy making some more hottie covers as I can see they will be very much needed out here by then!