Congrats to Will & Kate

To Will & Kate: Thanks for inviting me to your shindig! It was awesome to sit on the couch in my PJs and watch your splendidly well-coordinated event unfold. I certainly enjoyed the show, and hope you are as happy in the future together as you were on this day.

MY VERDICT

The bride - radiant. The dress - beautiful. The veil - gorgeous. The bouquet - could have been bigger.

The abbey - whimsical. The guests - fascinating. The hats - awe inspiring. The in-laws - frightening.

The prince - scrubbed up well. The groomsman - dashing. The train-carrier - stunning. The little bridesmaids - frilly.

The crowds - exciting. The horses - sleekly beautiful. The happiness - palpable. The kiss - a fairytale.

The hilight - the cartwheeling priest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFG5sDcv7bo

Oh and a big thumbs up to Beatrice's Philip Treacy hat! Why not have a little fun with it. I liked Posh's too and I wish I had a reason to wear a fascinator. I think Eugenie looked sloppy though.

Did you watch? What did you think?

yesterday and today...

yesterday appeared to be as good a day as any to:

1. watch a royal wedding decked out in red, white and blue upon my couch, whilst my becoming a little teary eyed

2. surprise Our #2 with an 18th Birthday Party and watch the moment of surprise, once again a little teary eyed

3. hear from my boys and my man, who are in St Louis competing at the world FIRST robotic champs and once again feel a little emotional long distance down the phone at their achievements

4. rustle up a little homemade rosette for a pedigree forsaken little soul who lost her way but may now feel like that show cat of long ago. her and myself felt a little teary at the recalling of her proud moments

(yes obviously yesterday was a day for teary eyes)

today appears to be as good a day as any to:

1: go out back and hang some lovely 'high hope' flags made by dottie angel's adopted auntie, so they maybe captured in all their lovely retro vintage glory and then placed in my little shop hoping to find other back yards to hang about in this summer

2: to take a sneak peek at the first issue of Mollie Makes, out in the UK on 12th May and Stateside 9th June (in barnes & nobles and joanns). they kindly came to visit for tea and a chat with me in Mossy Shed (albeit virtually) and you will be able to see the results of that and other wonderful crafty souls who are featured within its fine and creative 'living and loving handmade' pages. (my lovely friend Lola has done several star turns for them and will be featured in quite a few issues over the coming months, that alone makes it a mag worth reading for me!)

if you too think today is as good a day as any to take a sneak peek, then click on the line which says 'yes please i want to see molliemakes' and if you are overcome with wishing to get your little mitts on a copy then they do have quite a spiffy offer going on here. 3 issues for a fiver sounds good to me

she is also thinking, it as good a day as any to start moving beds around in preparation for her folks arrival on monday ~ Tif

footynote: and today would be as good a day as any to weep at those blimen' pesky gremlins messing with my head and line spacing

Ladies Night Out

Hello, I collected lots of these doilies whilst visiting op shops in Ballarat and Melbourne over the last few weeks! I have several of these buntings for sale now, I hope to take some to The Nangiloc Ladies Night Out .  I just wish that I was a better photographer!  Enjoy your weekend, I hope to finish off my mothers day orders. Leah

April flowers

 

 

Flowers and arrangements from the month of April.

signs of spring...

despite signs of spring for the first time this year, i am not willing to discard my thermal under vest just yet and it would appear, little 'loppy eyed' bunny is not willing to discard his woolly ear warmers either

she is delighted to have found the perfect royal tea towel to turn into wall art ~ Tif

dear william and kate...

i am writing to you with an apology. it would appear Our Shed and myself have been completely and utterly pants at getting prepared for your big day on friday. i fear we have let you down with our two year old, covered in green mold, union jack bunting i retrieved two days ago from around the veggie patch. to be fair i did give it a spin in Miss W. Machine but alas my high hopes were dashed when i retrieved a large knotty mess from her inners and still bearing the signs of green in places, from several winters hanging around outside.

after a few moments of 'knotted bunting' rage i admitted defeat and gave the responsibility of unraveling the mess to my man. in a trice he had it all sorted and with the aid of Our #4 i headed out to the front of Our Shed to hang our faded bedraggled bunting along the 'also greeny' white fence, so passersby would know where our loyalties lie. in my defence for only having this little offering to show for friday's big day, i must say 'wedding souvenirs' are in short supply in this neck of the woods and despite thinking it would be marvelous to handcraft a ton of union jack goodness to deck out Our Shed, i have been complete crappity crap in mustering up the energy.

however i have comforted myself with the knowledge Mossy Shed is not 'en route' for the wedding procession and therefore you will not have to see first hand my pants attempt at being patriotic. to make up for our lack of regalia i will be staying up late tonight to watch an hour long 'behind the scenes' special on all your wedding prep. this is a huge sign of my dedication as i know out of the hour, only 28 minutes will actually be about you and your special day, the other 32 minutes being commercials but i am quite sure it will be worth it. talking of commercials i did catch one the other day offering me a replica of your lovely ring, Kate. not having seen your ring in person, i was not sure how accurate it was. however the folks trying to get me to buy one were very excited about it so i can only assume it was spot on. indeed they were so confident i would want to pick up my phone right then and there to own it for only $29, i was told to hurry as stocks were limited and due to popular demand only one ring per household.

and lastly, before i leave you to get on with all those last minute pesky things which need to be done for the show to go on this friday. i have been toying with the idea of setting my alarm for 3am so i may watch your lovely wedding live, but alas the old person in me just cannot do such a thing. therefore i wished you to know, despite my lack of royal 'swags and tails' around Our Shed, and indeed the fact i will be watching you say your vows on a recording several hours after you spoke them, (whilst sitting in pyjamas eating leftover easter eggs) and also not sending for an exact replica of your pretty ring to show my admiration. i am in fact very happy to know you are tying the knot and wish you the happiest of happy lives together.

yours ever so sincerely

Tif Fussell (a Brit living abroad in a Mossy Shed)

On my reading table

 I've just finished the first three books in the True Blood/Sookie Stackhouse series, by Charlaine Harris. I've been a fan of the True Blood TV show since it started, so reading the books is of course the next step. (If I watch a movie or TV show and find out it was based on a book, I always get a bit obsessed with finding and reading that book.) Luckily my very dear friend has the series and lent me the books, otherwise I would have been tearing my hair out trying to get them in order from the library - if there's one thing I hate it's reading a series out of order!

It's interesting how much the same and yet how different the two mediums are. TVBill is very much the gentleman, polite and chivalrous, while BookBill is quite feral and definitely unhuman. TVEric I found to be a rather cliched Lestat-like character, but BookEric is a lot more interesting. Pam I love in both TV and book.

Any other True Blood fans out there?

 The latest NZ Gardener magazine popped up in my mailbox last week (I was lucky enough to get a subscription for Christmas). It's feeling very hello winter with stored spuds on the cover, and featuring tips on pruning and some recipes for home brewed booze.

 There are some recipes for kumara and Maori potatoes.

And a feature on chrysanthemums, quintessential autumn flowers.

Cancellations

Unfortunately, I have had to cancel some of my upcoming markets. I hope that you had a wonderful easter,  I didn't make it back to Mildura for easter as planned. Thanks so much to my sister Sarah who held a stall for me at the Riverfront-Boutique-Markets-Mildura. My online stores have now reopened, I'm happy to take orders again!
Thanks for dropping in and for all of your kind wishes ♥ Leah

pottling with intent...

Marjan navigated and i drove. our mission? to 'pottle with intent'. do you like that? i do too, 'pottle with intent' sounds like you have something of importance to do. i am thinking i will use this phrase of words more often.

perhaps when out and about, a market researcher may indeed stop me in my tracks and instead of mumbling pathetically some feeble excuse for not wishing to spend 10 minutes filling in a survey, i can instead say with a voice of certainty "oh i am sorry, but i am terribly busy pottling with intent" to which the market researcher will nod a knowing nod, despite not really knowing and leave me to get on with my pottling.

i am also thinking this may come in handy when a clan member keeps rabbiting in my ear and i cannot hear myself think, i will be able to say "can you give me a minute, i am busy pottling with intent" there upon i will walk with purpose around the shed giving the illusion i have something very important to do, hence my manic pottling. oh yes this is a trick worthy of keeping up one's sleeve for many an occasion.

today's pottling with intent, was across the bridge in the big city to a destination called Assemble which is a gallery, studio and shop all in one creative little space. i heard about Assemble from Janine and after doing a little research online, knew it worthy of a pottle.

Andie Wurster the lovely owner was there with her equally lovely little furry friend, Grady. we had a nice chin wag, whilst admiring the lovely paper goods on display and noting the wonderful courses they offer. if you happen to be in the Seattle area and are looking for a lovely location to learn the art of crocheted granny squares then i cannot think of a nicer place to 'pottle with intent' to, so you may twiddle with yarn, hook and some likeminded crafty souls.

it is strangely quiet in the shed with one half of her clan gone for a few days ~ Tif

feeling crafty...

on friday when out and about doing easter bunny things, i happened to pass by our local thrift store. as i have not been for quite the while, i was overcome with desire to pottle amongst the shelves of despair. i am glad i succumbed to some thrift store pottling, for the little end aisle which does a grand job of holding lots of smallish picture frames came up trumps. i took my triumphant pair of brown frames home and pondered their fate.

after a bit of pondering i decided to go with turquoise, this is partly because my can of turquoise paint seems to be never ending and partly because i thought the colour perfectly fitting for the end result. as my paint dried i rustled around in my granny's dressing table drawer and unearthed two photos of my girls, taken nearly 12 years ago on the morning of my soul sister Debbie's wedding. they were sitting on the bed in their underwear looking lovely to me, watching all the goings on around them, their hair all freshly washed and their bridesmaid dresses waiting

i printed off a background paper from a photo of patched together lace and linens and then stitched my girls photos on, mirroring the stitching on the background paper. after a bit of a struggle with the frame and its backing, due to it being rather old and on its last legs, i had myself two lovely little frames which i promptly popped on the wall in my studio. perfectly suited for my melancholy moments.

i am especially feeling crafty this week, inspired by these two lovely 'how-tos' i came across. first my friend Lola has done wonders with some pretty butterflies and then my friend Jane has made the most brilliant display boxes for the wall. both these 'how-tos' have me wishing to break out my crafting cap and make little vignettes of crafty goodness all around the shed.

she is adding a few wares to her shop window this week whilst doing a sundance ~ Tif

A gardening weekend

We had beautiful weather this Easter weekend. I made the most of it with a big tidy up in the potager - pulling out the manky tomatoes and beans, weeding, and digging over the ground. I also planted out some more broccoli and silver beet, which maddeningly I had to buy as punnets. What with one thing and another I got out of the rhythm of sowing seed regularly, which means the broccoli I had previously planted was forming heads, and any seed I sow now won't be harvestable till spring. I did sow some anyway, but also had to go broccoli-hunting at the garden centres... and that stuff was scarce!

Here is the First Quarter looking luminous with the cosmos and calendula still flowering like mad. There is a valiant pumpkin struggling on, it has one fruit so we'll see how ripe that manages to get. Broad beans are at the back under the canes.

The Second Quarter is also full, mostly with broccoli which is forming heads (not very big ones unfortunately, they probably need more water than they got from me in late summer).

The Third Quarter still has capsicums and chillis along the right hand path. They are steadily ripening, I'll leave them there as long as possible until frosts take them out. The far edge of the garden is planted with a row of soldier-like spring onions. The curve of the path has been planted with calendula seedlings. They were sown in late Feb, about a month after the ones which are flowering so well now, but that month made all the difference as these tiny seedlings are refusing to do very much at all. I've made cloches out of plastic soft drink bottles to try and nurse them along a bit.

The Fourth Quarter is the one I cleared out and dug over. Since this photo was taken I've planted it with spring onions, broccoli and beet and there is room for some red lettuce too.

I had this post left over from the bean fence, and I thought it would be cute with some pots hanging off it. I made the hangers by wrapping some thin wire around terracotta pots, and twisting it to form handles. I'm thinking about putting a bird feeder on top of the post, probably just an old wicker basket.

I love pansies and violas. I love the way they self seed so freely - whenever I find a little seedling I transplant it to wherever needs brightening up. You never know what colour you're going to get - I've had some beautiful and unique (to my garden) colourings pop up!

Twilight and the lights come on. I can go inside and know I've done a good day's work.

Do you YoYo?

Take a look at this beautifully creative yo yo quilt. One of our wonderful customers came in to show us her beautiful work. Happy Quilting - Jane

a little iffy...

last week i felt a little iffy,
that iffy feeling led to a bout of flu.
after several days of feeling way more than a little iffy,
i am delighted to be back to just feeling slightly iffy.

so with all that iffy-ness being said,
i am going to give my slightly iffy self
the rest of the week off.
i have high hopes of being back next week
with a hoppity skip in my step
and not a whiff of iffy-ness about me

she is hoping the easter bunny hops through your back yards this weekend ~ Tif

Granny squares

 Ok, I've changed my mind on using the Daisy Chain square for the skirt. It's a pretty square and I'll definitely use it for something... maybe a bag?... but I've realised that the pattern designers were right and the plain granny works best in this case.

 I made some quick mock-ups in Photoshop to decide if I should edge the squares in black, which seemed like a good idea while I was working the first ones. Black is always a tidy colour with which to frame things.

 

 But once again I think the pattern designers were right, and using the same colour as the body of the skirt pulls it all together. Black just makes it look tacked on the bottom.

However... I do think I'll make mine a bit shorter than this one and have it above the knee (dare I say this, after all my deviations from the pattern so far have been disastrous?) Will I even finish it? Will I wear granny squares in public? Watch this space!

 

Whilst making one of the squares, I became enamoured with this combination of soft grey and white. It felt somehow magical, and when I put it down next to the book I'm reading, the connection became clear... it's the colour of moonbeams on clouds. How beautiful, I whispered, a moonlit night blanket...

So I made this mockup to check if I really really liked it, and I really really do. Especially when I thought of adding some shell buttons to alternate squares. I like it so much I want to start on it right away, but I need that yarn for the skirt project... must finish the skirt first!

On my reading table

 Oh library, I've been missing you. Most of the libraries around town are open again but not my local, which means I had to resort to actually buying magazines. The Mobile Library has been in the neighbourhood (this is a library in a bus - very cool and I'll see if I can get some photos when I go next weekend), but it is by nature small and rather heavily depleted at the moment.

 So a couple of weeks ago I went to Borders and fulfilled my craving. Country Living (British edition) is my absolute favourite magazine, I love its seasonality and I usually get the issue that corresponds to what season we are in here in the southern hemisphere. Unfortunately I couldn't do that in the shop, so I got the January issue (which was cheaper, I guess because it was about due to be pulled from the shelf). Winter will be here soon enough, I figured. I also got Country Gardens (US edition - spring), it doesn't matter quite so much what the season is with this one as they always have beautiful photos.

 As usual with Country Living, the most beautiful page is on the cover. I wish I could get my kitchen to be pretty and functional, unfortunately it tends to be just functional and completely messy.

 Bright ideas for dark days - I like the hyacinth bulbs in the tin pots, and the bird feeder in the terracotta pot. I think I'll make some feeders like that.

 Country Gardens has cute ideas for spring posies - my favourite is the ostrich egg vase in the lower left corner.

 And a primula auricula theatre - apparently this used to be the way to display your primroses! "...the tradition dates to the 16th century in France and Belgium. Legend has it that Huguenot weavers carried their beloved auriculas with them when they fled to England. By century's end, primrose pandemonium was almost as hysterical as 17th-century Tulipmania with prized specimens going for small fortunes."

Can't say I'm all that keen on primroses, but maybe if I had a darling little theatre like that to display them in. Guess I've got all winter to construct one!

Red lentil lasagne

There was an interesting discussion on Facebook this week, when I asked if anyone else is cooking more vegetarian meals due to the cost of meat. It turns out many people are - even the "cheap cuts" aren't that cheap these days, and personally I like to eat "happy" meat, which has been humanely raised (not what you typically get at Pak N Save).

So, bring on the lentils! I've experimented a bit with them and the texture when cooked is not that dissimilar to mince. I made a lentil dhal which was really good served with wedges, and this lasagne, and I'm going to try something like spaghetti bolognese or maybe tacos... I think I'll cook up a big batch, maybe in the slow cooker, and freeze it in portions. Then I can have quick easy meals after work. Here's what I did for the lasagne. Let me know if you try it!

RED LENTIL LASAGNE

Start off frying a chopped onion and 2-3 chopped garlic cloves. Rinse 1 cup red lentils and add to the pan with 2 cups of water and 1 can of chopped tomatoes. Add about 1/4 cup tomato paste, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp cider vinegar, and any herbs you like such as basil, oregano or thyme (fresh or dried). Cover and simmer for 35-45 minutes or until lentils are tender. It's better to have it slightly runny - add a bit of water if you need to - so that the dry pasta sheets will soften and cook properly. (Or precook your sheets!)

Keep checking on the mixture while it cooks, it may need more water. Mine took quite some time to cook, probably because I didn't cover the pan.

While that's cooking, make a white sauce with 1 tbsp marg, 1 tbsp flour and 2 cups milk. (If yours turns into a lumpy mess like mine did, sieve it and thicken it with a bit of cornflour dissolved in milk. Then resolve to make it in the microwave next time because at least it won't burn on the bottom.)

Spray an oven dish with oil and layer up the mixture alternating with a packet of lasagne sheets. I layered thusly: lentils, lasagne, lentils, lasagne, white sauce, lentils, lasagne, white sauce, grated cheese. Then bake in the oven at 180 C for 35-40 mins.

Falling sunshine

 My favourite tree is doing its autumn thing. Even on a dull grey day it radiates golden light, and is a most beautiful thing to see from out the windows and when I'm pottering around outside.

The bird feeder is slowly being revealed as the leaves fall. Soon it will be time to mix up some birdseed cakes and see what wildlife I can attract this winter. I saw a fantail at the botanic gardens last weekend, so I'm hopeful that perhaps it may wander over to my side of town? And maybe bring some bellbirds with it? (Fat chance I think.)

 I love the golden carpet on the grass. These leaves make a great mulch, so I got out my rake and raked them into piles. Then I put the piles into a wool bag. They'll break down over the next few months into leaf mould, and I'll use them on the garden in spring.

 I love raking leaves, so I didn't even mind when a wind sprang up after I had cleared these away, and a new sprinkling appeared. I'll get them next weekend.

Fingers crossed for a lovely sunny Easter weekend, so I can get some more tidying up done.