blue + spots

Me.
The library bag I made Sophie and notebook from here.
Sewing a spotty blue dress for Sophie.

Snowpea

I have something very, very exciting in the pipeline..
A little project I have been working on..

Stay tuned people!

Pantry labels

How cool are these pantry labels from mae?
Available from Lark.

My (big) little one..

I can't believe how quickly she is growing up.. I wish I could just press pause for a little while.

Bensimon

Ever since our last trip to Paris in 2008, I have practically lived in bensimon sneakers.
They come in every colour under the sun and are super comfy, not to mention totally cool cause all the French girls wear them!

(Image: A Cup of Jo)

lounge pants

I made Sophie these little floral pants a few weeks ago.
Aren't they adorable?
Isn't she adorable?
Sigh.

Mandarin and lime cake

Tom made this cake a few weeks ago when we had a bunch of friends over for afternoon tea.
The recipe is actually for Mango and lime, but we usually make it with orange or mandarin and it turns out just as good (if not better). The recipe uses 200g of yoghurt, so it is always moist and really delicious..
Ooh I am so lucky to have a husband who loves spending hours in the kitchen making delicious things..

Liberty love

What's that there? Is it what I think it is?



Why yes! It's the new Liberty book on my sewing table.. Yippee!

Matilda Bay

These photos were taken a month or so ago, when we spent a lovely Sunday at Matilda Bay.
Can you believe this is Perth in Winter?!

(P.s We can't go anywhere these days without that scooter!)

Bill Granger's baked eggs

There is nothing like baked eggs on a Sunday morning.



These are from a recipe in his (excellent) book Holiday. They are so easy to make and are seriously impressive (and seriously delicious)..
If you ever had friends over for breakfast and wanted to pretend you were a domestic goddess.. then try these!

I served mine with some beetroot sourdough from the local bakery.

Bill Granger's baked eggs

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
200g baby spinach leaves
8 eggs
4 tbsp cream
4 tbsp grated parmesan
salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. Lightly grease 4 (large) ramekins and place on a baking tray.
2. Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the spinach and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the leaves are just softened.
3. Drain the spinach and divide among the 4 ramekins. Break 2 eggs into each ramekin. Pour 1 tbsp of cream over the eggs and sprinkle with 1 tbsp of parmesan. (I never measure the cream or parmesan.. but you can if you like to be precise about things).
4.Bake for 15 minutes or until the eggs are puffed (and slightly golden).
5. Serve with crusty bread and I love it with some chopped parsley on top..
Delicious with a capital D!

Pregnancy loss

This is by far the best book I have read on pregnancy loss.

And believe me, after two miscarriages and a stillbirth.. I have read a lot of books on the subject.
Pregnancy loss is a book that I keep coming back to over and over again. I highly recommend it for anyone who has experienced the tragic loss of a baby.


Grace should be almost 4 months old now. Instead I am staring at her ashes.

No-sew tutu

I made this no-sew tutu on the weekend.
It was so easy and Sophie had lots of fun dancing around in her new floor length tutu.
That girl loves to dance!

Natural beauty

I am forever on the hunt for beauty products that are free from toxic chemicals.

I remember reading years ago that the average woman puts over 200 toxic chemicals onto her body everyday (shampoo, make-up, moisturiser, etc.. and most are full of really yucky things!)

These are my favourite (mostly) natural products at the moment...



Kora tinted day care cream
-NO Sulfates, Parabens, Synthetic fragrance, Synthetic colours, T.E.A., D.E.A., Glycols, Silicones, PEGS. Ethoxylate and Formaldehyde free.
-Made in Australia. (Don't you just love Miranda even more now?)

Suvana bio-lash mascara
-Bio Lash contains no parabens, no artificial fragrances or colourants and no harsh preservatives or chemicals.
-Made in Australia

Burts Bees tinted lip balm
-100% natural.

Do you like to use natural products? let me know if you have any recommendations..

P.s I really like this video about toxic chemicals in cosmetics.

The weekend..

Sophie. The Vineyard. Dinner. Flowers.

Le stripe...

Is it just me or does anyone else have a serious obsession with striped t-shirts?
This is the amount of striped tee's I folded from one load of washing.. Gah!

Amsterdam...

When Sophie was 6 months old we spent two months in Europe. We spent most of the time catching up with Tom's friends in France (He lived there for a year when he was younger) but were lucky enough to squeeze in a week in Amsterdam.

My dad is Dutch (from Utrecht) and I felt so at home in Holland.
Maybe if we save our pennies hard enough, we can make it back there one day..

Dinner..

Sometimes when I rush home after a busy day out and about and I am completely stumped on what to make for dinner, I pop around to the local deli and pick up a couple of free-range bbq chickens. Add a colourful salad, some crusty sourdough bread and a bowl of stuffed olives.. and presto.. dinner in 5!

This morning..

Little lost girl.

On Saturday morning Sophie and I were walking up to the Subi farmers market when we found a little girl (about 1 year old) standing on the footpath by herself. I couldn't see anyone else around but I just couldn't believe that she was there by herself.
I kept asking her "Where is your mummy?" but she would just toddle off down the street. I picked her up and waited on the footpath with her.

After waiting about 10 minutes I decided to knock on the door of one of the houses on the street. I knocked on the door of about 20 houses before I found a woman who said "I know her, she lives in the yellow house around the corner".
We walked up to the yellow house, which was about 2 blocks from where I found the little girl and knocked on the door.
"Excuse me" I said "I think I have your baby?!!!???!"

The little girl had just wondered out the door and down the street. Her parents had NO IDEA that she was gone! (They thought that the screen door was locked.) She had crossed 2 roads to get to where I found her!
Can you believe it??
Her parents were incredibly embarrassed and incredibly grateful.

I cuddled Sophie just a little bit tighter that night.


*Photo of Sophie on the weekend.. she is growing up so quickly. Sigh.

Baby. Baby. Baby?

Remember this photo?

I can not believe that it was almost exactly a year ago that I wrote this post about how desperately I wanted to be pregnant again.

I can not believe that it's been 8 months since Grace died and I am still not pregnant.

I can not believe that we have spent the last 2 1/2 years trying to have another baby. Falling pregnant and losing the baby. Again and again.

I can not believe that the gap between Sophie and her little brother or sister will be at least 4 1/2 years.

I can not believe that my only hope of having another baby is to have a stitch put in my cervix (which has a 10% chance of miscarriage) and spend the entire pregnancy on bed-rest.

I can not believe that almost every single friend I have has either fallen pregnant or given birth in the last 8 months.

I can not believe how unfair it feels.

I can not believe how much it hurts.

Irish soda bread

Tom made Irish soda bread for lunch the other day. Apparently his parents used to make it all the time when he was little.
It was really easy to make (according to Tom) and was delicious served with smoked salmon, rocket and a squeeze of lemon! Yum!

Craft night

One of my friends emailed me the other day and asked if I have been doing any sewing in Perth.. Have I ever?!

For the first time in my life I actually have my own sewing room and I have been getting my craft on! (In Sydney I always worked from the dining room table because we lived in such little places and having my own sewing room was a fantasy.)

I have been doing soo much sewing and I even got an overlocker for mothers day a few months ago! (Thanks Tom Sophie!)

But the best thing of all is that one of Tom's friends from high school invited me to join her craft night when I arrived in Perth, so every Tuesday night I catch up with a bunch of really cool and crafty mums and we spend the night drinking tea, eating yummy treats and sewing! It is Awesome with a capital A!