Back to Basics

Thank you all for your birthday wishes!  It's so nice to have all of you around here!!

One of the birthday gifts I got were the beautiful books Falling Cloudberries: A World of Family Recipes and Apples for Jam - both by Tessa Kiros.  Totally inspired, my Mum and I went out and bought a 'minifirin' - a small oven and set to work in the kitchen.  We got back to basics and made pizza and it was so good!...homemade just tastes so much better than bought.  It is actually amazing.  So if you haven't tried it for a while I definitely recommend it.   What's your favourite topping combination?  And by the way, these photos totally don't do the deliciousness of the pizza justice.

We made up the dough and got all the toppings ready and then Yashar got artistic with the toppings.  Pizza is perfect for making with kids don't you think?   I also love rectangle shaped pizza a lot more than round...is that strange? :)  Actually I have a sneaking suspicion I'm not alone with that...???   

And I knew it was definitely a success in Yashar's books when he asked me the next morning for pizza for breakfast. Hehehe :)

Happy Birthday to ....

me!  Last Friday was my birthday...a milestone for sure...the big 3-0!   My dear Mum surprised me by flying the 24+ hours from Melbourne to Istanbul and then walking in to find me in my local coffee shop!  It was the best surprise I could have hoped for!   It's been almost a year and a half since we've seen each other and particularly lately I have been missing her a lot!  And thinking that it is sad that Yashar is growing up without getting to spend time getting to know his grandma.  Already they have been having lots of fun together and I can see the bond growing.  It is wonderful.

This is Yashar and I heading out for a lovely small birthday dinner with friends. 

And the love of my life, my amazing husband gave me a very very nice camera (how did he know? hehehe!) that will be getting a good work out around here.  How many times have I said...'if I had a good camera that would make an amazing photo'??...so I have lots of photography related ideas to get happening - yay!

It was a lovely relaxing day/weekend spending time with Mum and with scenes like this what could be better?!

Flossy P - Mural in the Making

Stop motion mural painting from flossy-p on Vimeo.

Check out this stop motion video (an animation of still photos taken every 5 minutes during the painting process) from flossy p.  I'm always fascinated by seeing how different artists work. 

The mural was for artisan bakery in her small coastal town in Australia.  Beautiful, don't you think?

Found via Poppytalk

Making Mondays: Hmm...what else can I make from suit pants...

I have something awesome that I carry with me everywhere but, despite how much I love it, it has a rough little life.  For a long time now I have been carrying my camera (a Canon PowerShot A710 which is a fantastic point and shoot camera by the way!) around loose in my bag...which also has all sorts of other things floating around in it...Yashar's favourite crackers, balls, bandaids, drinks, dirty toys...a little pouch for the camera was long overdue!

This was very, very easy!  It took me less than half an hour.  And I am definitely not a sewer.  Continuing my obsession with suit and shirt fabrics, I made these from a part of Senol's old suit pants... there are some benefits from having a husband that works for the man.  Remember this breadbag, the minik minik garland and these little pants, and this pillow all made from parts of Senol's suits and shirts.

So, this is how I made it - which was to make it up as I went along so hopefully this makes sense!:

1. I found an old pair of Senols suit pants - the style with the tab that goes over to the button (as this will form the closure on the camera pouch).  To get the right size for my camera I first put the camera directly below the button on the pants and wrapped the material up the sides. I added an extra couple of centimetres on each side for 'room to move' and  I also added an extra couple of centimetres on each side for seams...and just in case!  This forms 'Piece 1' - the front of the pouch.

2.  'Piece 2' of the pouch (the back) needs to be with the tab from the pants at the top as indicated in the photo.  I made this piece roughly the size of the back of my camera (with some room to move) plus 2cm on the sides and bottom to allow for the seams.

3.  First, to sew up one side of the camera pouch  I pinned the two pieces together.  However because piece 2 already had a nice finished edge, I wanted this to show, so instead of pinning them right sides facing, I pinned it with the piece 2 at the back with piece 1 on top (you can see this in the photo).  Then I sewed along the right side of the already finished edge (about 2mm inwards) to join the pieces.

4. Then I folded along the new join so that the right sides of each were facing and sewed along the second side seam.

5.  Then I moved the tube of material around so that the button and the tab were lined up, then pinned and sewed the bottom of the pouch like that.

6.  Then it just needed to be turned out the right way and it was finished!

I love how the loops from the pants are along the back of the pouch - I just like the way it looks but you could also attach something there - like a loop for your neck, or even a cute little decoration or keys.

Have no idea what I'm talking about??? Please don't hesitate to ask questions in the comments.

Oooh, look what I got!

Aren't these handmade earrings gorgeous!   I picked them up at a small shop in Galata last week (during a very rare Yashar free time that involved a little shopping and cheese and wine!) and have been wearing them ever since!  They are called Oya here in Turkey where there is a rich history and wide practice of this craft.   

Oya is made using a thread and sewing needle and is often used to make edgings on things such as pillowcases, bedsheets and headscarves.  The needlework is intricate and often beautiful.  My mother in law does a lot of this (in between knitting and crocheting) and is what I would call an expert.  She makes things from sight, or from her own experience and knowledge without the need for written patterns.  I am in awe of this work.

Oh...hello!

Wow!  Where did that week go?!  I'm back after a busy time, working on some projects and looking after Yashar who was sick.  :(  But on to the fun stuff... 

Fetta sure is popular here!  It's called 'Beyaz Peynir' which, literally translated, means white cheese.  There are many varieties and I love a lot of them!   My favourite combination at the moment is some lightly toasted bread with fetta, some pieces of walnuts, honey drizzled over the top and some cracked black pepper.  It's delicious!

Although cherry tomatoes, a little olive oil and cracked black pepper is also yum!

Friday Market - an old mint ute, some geraniums and a funny little boy...

I hope everyone had a relaxing and happy Easter.  I took the opportunity to spend a little more time with Yashar and Senol and to enjoy the sunshine!

This is at our local Friday market.  I have wanted to take a photo of this faded mint coloured ute for so long!  Often it is filled at the back with lettuces or tomatoes.  Today it had geraniums on the front.  Yashar decided it was time to pull some very funny faces but here are a couple that weren't too silly!

And continuing with the colour theme going on around here at the moment - here are some Spring colours from the Friday Market.

Colour

Thank you so much to everyone that emailed and commented about getting an agent.  You guys are awesome!

I really enjoyed putting the post together last week about colours that I loved and was inspired by.  And colour is definitely an area I am trying to work on at the moment.  So I thought I would share some more colour inspiration with you.  This week it's vibrant colour!  A little early but these colours have me thinking of the height of summer ... maybe a seaside home in Portugal or Mexico? 

I love the contrast of the vibrant colours with the muted worn background.  This is a carpet from the 'Tufted' collection (the image is theirs) found via the gorgeous blog Poppytalk.

These summery brights from Zara Home are also fantastic.    If you look at my artwork and illustrations you might think that my home is all light and soft colours ...but I always find myself drawn to these particular whites and brights too.

What would you call this sort of palette?   It also reminds me of this awesome handmade felted wool ball rug.  These are made in India and you can buy them at Krita here.  I would love one of these for Yashar's room!  Do you think they would wear well?

Entries for Banner Design Contest at Bloesem Kids

Over at Bloesem Kids today are all the entries for the banner design contest.   Last Friday (the same day as the meeting with the agent!)  I saw that there was a contest, so emailed to get information about it.  It turns out the contest closed that day.    This is the entry I put together quickly!  I kept it simple!

Irene is asking for feedback about which entries people like over at Bloesem Kids today so if you are interested click here.   And you know, feel free to say mine is the best ;)  But really there are some great entries over there.   Not to mention a fantastic blog!