Defunct

To the 5 faithful followers of this blog who have stuck by me waiting for an update, thank you. Unfortunately, the update is that you might as well delete this page from your blogreaders because I'm shelving it! I haven't felt the love for this place since its inception - it never quite worked for me. I'm still blogging at Whisk and Whimsy, however (I've just taken an unintended break, so stay tuned for updates). In the meantime, I'm rambling on about home life related things at a new page, which I've dubbed The Little Whisk (as opposed to the big Whisk, which is my food blog).

You can see it here:

Thanks again.

Luxury Liberty Scarves

I've been fawning over the Liberty fabrics stocked by my local fabric shop for months now, pawing away at the beautiful silky cottons, marvelling at the stunning, classic prints. I've wanted to sew so many things from this luxurious cotton, but unfortunately the price has been too prohibitive, for me at least, having regard to my novice sewing skills. Nevertheless, I like to visit it from time to time, to paw and to dream, and I'm very much looking forward to picking up a few metres from Liberty when I'm in London after Christmas.


A few months ago, however, I came upon the Luxury Liberty Scarf Project at the Purl Bee and, with great excitement, realised there was something this amateur seamstress could do with a bit of Liberty! Liberty Tana Lawn cotton has such a fine weave, it has the softness and cool feel of silk that makes it perfect for a scarf. I am definitely a scarf wearer and this little project was right up my alley.

I followed the Purl Bee tutorial to the letter, and found this to be a simple weekend project which I would wholeheartedly recommend. It essentially involves cutting a 36" square from one fabric print and binding the edges with a contrasting trim. Straightforward, with a stunning result! The hardest part is achieving nice mitred corners (which I do find difficult sometimes, I must admit).

I wear my scarf a lot - the colours go extremely well with a vast array of items in my winter wardobe, and these luxurious squares of fabric make great gifts for special friends. :)

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For those interested, I purchased my Liberty fabrics from Tessuti in Sydney.

New Direction, New Blog! (Well, sort of...)

Hello friends!

If you know me or have been following my original blog, Whisk & Whimsy, from the outset, you may know that I started that website last year out of my love for the domestic side of life. I love to cook, to sew, to craft, to crochet. I'm inspired by design, I frequently feel the urge to create. I have a love for fashion, and I'm also on a quest to make my new apartment into a 'home'. In short, I started Whisk & Whimsy with no clear direction, but I wanted a place where I could ramble, and which would incorporate all of these things in some way. I also wanted to find some new friends in blogland who are similarly minded.

With time, however, it has become clear that my main focus with Whisk & Whimsy has been in the kitchen - documenting favourite recipes, reviewing cookbooks and discussing kitchen tools and the like. My Feedjit Live Feed tells me that most of my random visitors have come on the search for various recipes. It became clear to me that I needed to make decisions on the direction of the site and for a while there I was in a bit of a bind. You see, food is my big love, it's what I talk about, think about, read about (and, you'd probably not be surprised to hear, I also frequently dream about it..). However, I have other things to say, and other people to whom I wish to say them. I still want to use my blog to keep in touch with blog-friends through a means which represents the other facets of me, plus I like to have a little site where I can document the things I make and do to show my Mum, who lives in the country. For me, the world is a much smaller place through blogging.

So, to cut a long story short, I have elected to redesign Whisk & Whimsy. This weekend has been a perfect one to do so, as both Mr W&W and I are ravaged by the flu, and I have been able to spend some time learning new html tricks and losing my temper with finding my way around Photoshop. I think I am finally happy with the end result, which is of course that I now have two blogs. My main blog will remain titled Whisk & Whimsy, and it's content will be entirely food focussed. I have removed all non-food related posts from that site and these have been reproduced here, at Whisk & Whimsy: Beyond the Kitchen, which is where I plan to write about the other facets of my life, matters which - as the name suggests - extend beyond the kitchen.

If you are a follower of my food blog, please become a follower of this blog as well (click the 'Follow' button on the left in the sidebar), because you won't otherwise see any updates from this site in your reader. If there is anything truly significant to report, I will make mention of it between blogs, but otherwise I plan to keep the two quite separate.

You can always find your way to Whisk & Whimsy, the Food Blog, by clicking on the (expertly created after much agony!) button below, which has a permanent place in the sidebar on the left:

Return to Blogland, Blog Redesign and Crafting for 'Baby'

This post was originally published at Whisk & Whimsy - (click here to find out why it was moved).

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Hello friends!

I've had a little break from the blog as I've been busy studying for exams in my masters degree. I've finally finished my last exam for a while and have a little bit of breathing space for the minute. If all goes according to Hoyle, in that I pass all subjects for which I have recently been assessed, then I will have only one subject left in the degree before I am a Master of Laws. Keep your collective fingers crossed for me, I'm well and truly sick of the student life. My husband and I worked out only the other day that I have horrifyingly spent the last ten - yes, 10! - years, without a pause, studying at university in one form or another. As you can imagine, I'll be glad to finish up by the end of the year!

I've also returned to discover I have a fabulous 10 followers, which is quite an achievement for my quiet little blog! Welcome, new friends!

Anyway, since my last post I have done a lot of cooking, about which I plan to blog over the coming weeks. I've also slowly gotten back into the world of craft - taking baby steps. I have big plans but am easing my way into it with a few crocheted granny squares and the rediscovery of my sewing machine.

This last weekend, for example, I wiped the dust off my machine and set about making a blanket for Camilla the Cat. Before you all laugh at me, let me just say that my little cat has been with us for almost 7 months now, and, for 6 1/2 of those months, has refused to sleep on anything resembling a designated pet bed, instead sprawling on the sofa, the kitchen table or - shock! - our bed. Otherwise, if locked out, she will sprawl on the cold tiles outside our bedroom door and howl for hours. When we first talked about getting a cat, the one thing I said at the time in a vehement voice was that I Will Not Have a Cat Sleeping On My Bed. Unfortunately the little grey minx had different ideas, and I am of a weak character. We bought her the super-dooper Cat Igloo, which she hates. We tried to make it more appealing with the addition of a hot water bottle and a blankie - she continues to hate. It is now gathering dust. The other week, after saying that she would have to learn to love the Igloo, I caved, and bought her a $12 leopard print bed from Lincraft. I really thought this might be it, but the effect was amazing. It was as if the new Lincraft bed was comprised of hot coals, such was the reaction she had any time I sought to plonk her on it. Her paws had no sooner made impact before she was leaping away in horror and disgust. Finally, in my last, half-hearted attempt, I flung a scungy old bath towel over the cheap bed, a towel we've had since moving in together, faded and complete with bleach spots as a lasting reminder of my husband's overzealous bathroom cleaning attempts. And, amazingly and miraculously, the obnoxious spoilt grey cat finally slept in her cheap Lincraft bed! On top of the towel. Alas, I apparently have a snobbish cat, afraid of synthetic materials.

In an attempt to make the whole arrangement slightly more aesthetically appealing, I sought to make her a cosy little blankie (which would look a lot nicer than her oversized, multicoloured towel). Also at Lincraft, I recently picked up a couple of metres of snuggly soft 'minky fleece' in a light beigey-coffee colour, and some rich brown blanket binding. I simply sewed a couple of squares of the fleece wrong sides together, before enclosing the edge seams in the satin blanket binding and finishing the edges wtih my machine's blanket stitch (but a zig-zag would be fine). Easy to do, for cat or for baby!

I had spoken to my mother on this project prior to starting it and I could hardly talk to her, such were her hysterics at my 'sewing for baby'. She was, in between guffaws, curious if I had bought fleece complete with nursery prints, before suggesting I should source some blanket fleece decoratedwith little fish images. Oh, har har, have your fun. (I did remind her only half in jest that as yet I haven't any children to sew for, so I have to make do!) Anyway, whatever the case, I think Camilla likes her little snuggly 'baby' blanket:

It's lovely and soft - I'd rather like one in human-size, to curl up with on the sofa whilst watching the telly!

Otherwise, I spent some of the weekend just gone playing around with the new 'Template Designer' in Blogger, before cursing myself for changing something with which I was already happy! After spending hours trying to fix my changes and then redevelop design into something resembling the picture in my mind, I think I'm finally satisfied with the end result. There are still a few things to tweak and a few static pages under construction, but you get the gist of it. What do you think? For those of you who look at this blog in Reader or similar, click here and have a look. Tell me what you think :)

Meanwhile, back to the recipes tomorrow - with luck!

Cath Kidston Love

This post was originally published at Whisk & Whimsy - (click here to find out why it was moved).

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Image courtesy of Cath Kidston

Oh my, I have the severe Wanties over this sweet little iPhone case from Cath Kidston. My phone presently resides in this revolting neon purple silicone case that I bought the week after I got my phone. I'd always intended on making a new one but haven't gotten around to it and, hideous as the purple one might be, it keeps my phone protected in the bottomless pit that is my handbag.

Still, I got my Cath Kidston newsletter in my inbox the other day and I must confess to having to restrain myself from hitting "add to cart"! Maybe they will still be in stock when I am in London at Christmas!

I do love Cath Kidston, her designs are so bright and cheerful and feminine! In fact, they are everything that Mr W&W's preferred design style is not, which is why I have to limit my Cath love to a bunch of soap items in the guest bathroom which my husband likes to shove in the vanity cupboard when guests leave. Hmph. I really wanted to deck my bedroom out in Cath florals and spots, but noooooooo instead we have to have have dull masculine geometrical or monochrome designs, or plain white. At least I can sneak in a few floral accents by way of cushions and throws!

Mushy Stuff

This post was originally published at Whisk & Whimsy - (click here to find out why it was moved).

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Two years ago today I married my best friend.

It's amazing how quickly time passes by - it seems only yesterday I was running around like a headless chook trying to finalise every aspect of our wedding day. In the lead-up to the big day I spent a lot of time thinking about the detail, but not so much the occasion. It really hit me once we were on our honeymoon that this was the man with whom I would be spending the rest of my life. I remember the moment when our plane was taking off (we flew to the USA a day after the wedding) - I was clutching onto his arm since I hate take-off the most, it terrifies me. I was hanging on tight and looked down to see his hand holding mine, and spied the shiny new wedding ring which still looked a bit out of place. I distinctly recall smiling to myself in one of those emotional, eye glistening, personal moments at the thought that this man made me feel safe and comforted - where ever he and I are together, that's 'home', and if we are together then things will be alright. We have great fun, him and me, we're like two peas in a pod. If you see one of us, you usually see the both of us. We have trying times like everyone else, but he makes me happy like you wouldn't believe.

I can't easily remember the time when he was not in my life and I'm looking forward to seeing how our future unfolds. ♥

We celebrated our anniversary with dinner at Est. It was a nice night, but it didn't knock my socks off. Having said that, it was all good food done well - there was nothing to criticise but it wasn't outstanding either. My passionfruit souffle was divine, however - I'll give them that!

I wore a new dress which I'd actually bought to wear on new years eve in the UK. It's midnight blue, and has a lacy overlay on top of a tight navy satin sweetheart bodice and pencil skirt. It's very fitted, and it transpires that my nice new dress is also too tight around my ample hip region, a fact that had escaped me as I'd only paraded around the house in it and not actually tried to sit down! You know you've entered the realm of comfortable old marrieds when you find yourself asking your man in the middle of Ivy to check if you've split the seams of your sexy new dress and if your pink undies are showing. (I hadn't, and they weren't, as it turned out..!)

Happy Anniversary Hunny, I couldn't bear to be without you! ♥

Quiet Weekend

This post was originally published at Whisk & Whimsy - (click here to find out why it was moved).

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Typical - this is the first weekend when I've not got visitors staying and I don't have any essays to write, and I'm sick at home with the cold! I've been to the doctor and am dosed up on antibiotics - I am sure I'll start to feel better just in time for work on Monday, which is always the way.

This weekend has been a quiet one so far. Yesterday we took a quick trip to Chatswood to collect my sewing machine from repair, which has coincided nicely wtih the arrival of my magazine order from Interweave:

There are some great projects in the spring issue and I'm looking forward to having a crack at a few of them once I finish teaching for the semester (only a few more weeks to go, hurrah!). I've also got a bundle of fabric on the way to me from Sew Mama Sew, so this has all been timed nicely. Hopefully I can get a bit of craft action on the blog, since it's been pretty food-centric to date. On that front, to be perfectly honest, I'm just not that sure which direction I want to take this thing! Any thoughts?

Otherwise, we spent a little bit of time in Chatswood and had yum cha at Kam Fook, which was pretty good I thought. If Chatswood wasn't so much of a nightmare to get around, I'd go back there. I'm not sure Mr W&W can handle it again though, all those people! All those prams! We had some yummy plump dumplings, and the prawn rice noodles were a particular stand out - they had almost a honey element to the soy sauce accompaniment. I can still feel the magic of the jasmine tea which I think did my cold the world of good!

The rest of our Saturday was pretty laid back - we had a little wander around Borders before driving back home to the city. I spent the afternoon surrounded by the spoils of my Borders expedition:

(Yes, I read the highbrow stuff sometimes, haha!)

Dinner was not a gourmet extravaganza in my kitchen, I'm afraid, so nothing to report there. We walked to nearby Glebe for yummy, comforting Indian food and, unusually, I revelled in the spice. Just what the doctor ordered!

Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery, I'm over feeling revolting.