the red thread: April 2012

One Happy Little Customer

30 April 2012

I received this photo from a customer the other day and just had to show you. Joanne took this photo of her daughter Alexa snuggled up asleep with all her friends from the red thread. So sweet! Joanne has done a great job making a Roxy Longsocks, Ooshka Babushka and a Sweetie Bean for Alexa and it appears that they are well loved! I always enjoy receiving photos of the things people make with my sewing kits and patterns, so please email me if you'd like to show me your creations.

Alison Lawson Cakes

The abcd Saturday Soirée post is coming soon... I promise it will be worth the wait. Anni of Milk & Honey Photography did such a wonderful job photographing it for us. In the meantime I just have to show you the amazing Zesty Orange Cake that Alison made for the event [Alison's website is experiencing problems, so you can contact Alison on Facebook in the meantime].

Images: Milk & Honey Photography

I'm not sure what the best thing about it was: how amazing it looked, or how absolutely delicious it tasted. It was so light and moist. I mean seriously, it was the best cake I've ever eaten.

Alison told me that she made a syrup from freshly squeezed oranges and sugar and soaked the cake overnight. The buttercream between each layer was also infused with orange zest, and the outside was covered with white chocolate ganache and a thin layer of fondant. Then Alison painstakingly added all those fondant swirls.

Judging from the empty serving plate and the sounds of all the oohing and ahhing from all present I can safely say that I wasn't alone in my love of this yummy cake. Thanks Alison!
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Today :: Lest We Forget

25 April 2012

Image: RSL Western Australia

Armadillo & Co @ Temple & Webster

24 April 2012

Can you tell I have a major deadline at the moment? Yes, three posts in one day means that there is more than a little procrastination going on here. I have so much design work to do in a small space of time and I'm freaking out about it. So what do I do? Another blog post. But this one couldn't wait until tomorrow.

Remember recently I showed you the fabulous hand woven hemp Armadillo & Co rug I bought for my living room? Well, I've been wanting to get another rug or two for the apartment and when I received an email from Temple & Webster today announcing less than half price Armadillo & Co plus free shipping (for today only and within Australia) I jumped right in. Before you get too excited they don't have my Marigold rug in this offer, but they do have some beauties in both hemp and wool.

Check out the sale at Temple & Webster, the free shipping offer is for today only, but the sale lasts for 5 more days. You can read more about Armadillo & Co on the Temple & Webster blog, and view the entire range of gorgeous rugs at Armadillo & Co.

If you're into good quality homewares and furniture and love a bargain - up to 70% off retail - sign in at Temple & Webster to receive sale notifications.

OK, I must get back to work. It's the first day of term 2 at school so I've had a good amount of time to get things done (or not) today. Believe it or not, between blog posts and buying rugs I have got some work done. Do you procrastinate? I am certainly guilty of it. I have a mountain of ideas ready to be executed and so much to do, but I find it hard to get started. Once I'm on a roll, look out.

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Loving :: Eat Drink Chic Free iPhone Wallpaper

Get it here. Eat Drink Chic.

I Adore :: Claire Fletcher's Art

English artist and illustrator Claire Fletcher has a distinct vintage style which I just love. How gorgeous is the painted tambourine?! Yep. Adore it.

Images: Claire Fletcher

mmmm :: Pat and Stick's Ice Cream Sandwiches

23 April 2012

We had a whole platter of Pat and Stick's 'world famous' ice cream sandwiches to share at our abcd Soirée last Saturday (thanks to Steph for organising it) and everyone was swooning over them.

Made from "real" ingredients and not a whole lot of numbers, Pat and Stick's delicious ice cream sandwiches are such a treat. They are made by hand here in Sydney - the cookies are baked and the ice cream made the old fashioned way, using the finest vanilla beans, real butter, Belgian chocolate and espresso coffee. When you taste them you can tell they are made with love. They are so good and include flavours like Caramel Pecan, Mochaccino, Double Choc and Vanilla Lace.

Image: Pat & Stick's

If you haven't tried Pat and Stick's go treat yourself. (see where you can buy them here)

Photos (by Milk & Honey Photography) and a post about our fabulous Soirée are coming soon. Promise.

footnote: As you know if you're a regular reader I only ever blog about things that I truly love, never for any other reason!

Today at The Easter Show

16 April 2012

Roxy and her friend Avah swinging out.

LOVING :: Caine's Arcade

13 April 2012

Have you seen this? I noticed it on a couple of blogs, but didn't stop to click on the little movie and watch it until now. It's the best thing I've seen in such a long time. Inspirational, sweet, uplifting, fun and just plain wonderful. I've been sitting here sobbing happy tears! (OK, so maybe I might be a bit hormonal or something)

For your viewing pleasure: Caine's Arcade. Seriously. Watch it.

Found via Swiss Miss.

'70's Patchwork

11 April 2012

How was your Easter? We've had a very quiet time, with Roxy home from school sick for the last week of term and over Easter, and now I've had the lurgie since Monday. We were booked for a short break in Fiji next week, but I've cancelled because of the cyclone and potential health and safety issues following it. So all in all a disappointing start to the school holidays!

Totally unrelated - but something to brighten my day - is this totally fab quilt that was on my bed as a child. I found it and washed it when I was packing to move. Although my mum did sew she didn't make this, but I have fond memories of it and I'm really happy that she saved it. Mum was a chucker (or gifter), not a hoarder, so I'm grateful to have the few things she hung on to. When I get the apartment organised I'll find a place for this quilt, it's so bright and fun and the fabric is so of the time.

What Are You Reading?

06 April 2012

I've just finished reading these two books... I couldn't put either of them down and I devoured them within a couple of days (very late nights!). I also recently read An Object of Desire by Steve Martin, which I loved.

What are you reading? Any recommendations?
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My Home :: The Dining Corner

03 April 2012

Here's another peek into a corner of my new home - the dining area. I bought the amazing Armadillo & Co rug to go in the centre of the living space, but today I moved it under the dining table and love it there. It's such a gorgeous statement piece (especially on the dark floor), that I'm thinking it dominates the room too much when it's in the centre.

I'll leave it under the table for now, and wait until I get another plain rug to go in the room and play around with them a bit. I also need to find something to put the TV on so I can get rid of the Ikea drawers that used to be in my office (you can see the corner of them in the photo). They don't go at all, but they are a stop gap solution. At least they're white.

The table was a major bargain find at the Citta Design outlet store (secret's out: run, don't walk, for amazing bargains on beautiful homewares and furniture) and I got the Nudle stools at a Freedom half price sale.
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Megan Morton :: The School

On Saturday afternoon I was lucky enough to attend the launch of Megan Morton's latest venture: The School. Megan has a fantastic space at Rosebery from which she'll run styling masterclasses, together with crafternoons and make it classes which will be taught by the who's who of art, craft and design.

The classes Megan will teach include: the use of colour in your home; how to display art; inspiration; and of course how to style a space. Other classes cover creative topics like making lampshades, short film making, screen printing and flower bombs. There are great classes for kids too. You can see The School syllabus here, and the calendar of classes here.

Megan is always a lot of fun and she was on form on Saturday. And looking fabulous as usual. Holly Hipwell of The Flower Drum (in vibrant yellow) taught us how to make flower bombs as we ate sweet treats and sipped on sparkling water and wine. It was so much fun and I got to hang out with old and new friends.

Belinda, Viv and Lexi.

My ombre flower bomb. They are so much fun to make and truly gorgeous.

Loving :: my Frenchie sofa

01 April 2012

Until I get more storage this is what my work space looks like on a gorgeous Sunday morning with the sun streaming in through the verandah doors.

I bought my fab retro stylin' Frenchie sofa from Freedom's new range. I love the colour and it's name - Scooter Highlighter - just as much. I went for a big comfy conservative-won't-date linen sofa for the living room and couldn't resist the bold pop of Scooter Highlighter for my bedroom.

I have an old Ikea Expedit book shelf behind the sofa for temporary storage and have just put some books and prints on top for now (needs a bit of styling!).

It's very different to be working from my bedroom after having my own studio/office space in the house, but thankfully it's not a bad different. Five weeks and counting until the built in storage is installed. And there is something fabulous in the works to hang in that big white space above the sofa.

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