Posie Limp Bits Challenge - Week 2: craft & winners announced!!

Greetings all,

First up, some giveaway winners to announce . . .

my 600th post $200 crafty giveaway goes to random pick entry 99 Rachel from Blossom Possum &

the copy of Birth Stories by Leonie MacDonald goes to Mother Down Under who discussed hypnobirthing!!  Congratulations ladies, please email me a delivery address!!

Welcome to Week 2: Craft of the Posie Limp Bits Challenge.  Play the anthem!!

Link up your post of something you have challenged yourself to . . .

knit, sew, applique, stitch, crochet, macrame, spin, create . . . over the next 7 days.

My background is pharmacology & psychology, however, i often wonder if i should have done architecture or engineering at University.  Now our beloved Khaki Campbell ducks, Bugle, Calliope & Bongo have been muddy-ing-up the chicken run with their love for  spraying water everywhere, it's smelly, so i had to get creative to dry things up.  I guessed a fenced in water feeder might do the trick & it worked immediately.  The ducks now fill their bills & swallow here, rather than saturate everything in water.  They still have a large pot of water to wash themselves & i'll take a 'portable pond' in for them to swim every other day too.  Everyone is happy.

It's at the 'German Shepherd' end of the coop, so some crates protect them from each other, as unattractive as it is.  As an added bonus, the little fence (left over from last year's pumpkin patch,) lattice from an industrial site, wire from coop construction, a branch & old garden stakes - cost me nothing!!  It also acts as a neat wind break - there are 4 hens nesting on the other side - they love nooks & crannies!! 

Now i had promised myself i'd master crochet for my Limp Bits Craft Challenge, however, i've only done a little sewing for Aussie Hero Quilts when Jan-Maree came to Canberra last week, then i've spent the rest of the week blowing my nose.  Also had my final hand surgeon check up on Monday, thrilled with the results, yet still getting my hands back to their nimble best.  

Thank you to last week's Limp Bits Cooking Challenge participants, we have 

Becky from Becky et al's cheesecake winning GOLD; 

Rachel from Blossom Possum's porcini with SILVER & 

Shelley from Jelly Shane's pea & ham soup taking BRONZE.  

Special mention to Becky who managed to dirty every kitchen appliance & mixing bowl to create her cheesecake, Rachel is a sweet teenager who cooked the porcini for her family & Shelley used a recipe from a dear elderly gentleman.  Congratulations, cooking with heart & soul!!  

Grab the badge & have fun.  Week 3/ Closing Ceremony: Photography - challenge yourself to photograph something with a different lens, off auto, at night, on water, flying . . . a skill you haven't tried before.  Thanks for joining in, cyber medals will be awarded!!  Love Posie

Posie Limp Bits Challenge - Week 1: cooking

Greetings all,

Welcome to Week 1: Cooking of the Posie Limp Bits Challenge.  Sound the trumpets!!  

Link up your post of something you have challenged yourself to . . . 

bake, cook, roast, sauté, BBQ, grill, smoke, poach . . . over the next 7 days.

My lame confession . . . after 15 years of marriage & spending literally years home alone preparing dinner for my children while my handsome soldier takes all his culinary skills to war zones, i had never cooked a roast.  Oh the shame.  So last night, i made this, mmmm, Roast Pork.  I kept the vegetables simple (carrots, potato, broccoli) as my eldest daughter had a volleyball match at 6p.m. so i had to whip this in & out of the oven in under 2 hours.  Nothing says success like crispy crunchy crackling!!  My children gobbled it down (like they do at Christmas) & came back for thirds!!

My awesome tip . . . pour boiling water over the uncooked pork, pat dry with paper towel then dry thoroughly with a hair dryer.  Rub liberally with vegetable oil & salt for crackling heaven.  

 I cooked it over a foil tray, no washing up (i actually couldn't find the rack for the roasting pan so had to improvise & use an old cake cooler, worked just as well!!)

 Please include what your willing taste testers thought too!!  My children gave me the thumbs up & asked if we could have pigs on the farm, mmmm, homegrown bacon, ribs & roast pork, hell yeah.  

Grab the badge & have fun.  Week 2: Craft - challenge yourself to a new skill or pick up an old favourite you haven't utilised for a while.  I've had 3 crochet lessons & i still struggle, yet continue to try.  Thanks for joining in, medals will be awarded!!  Love Posie

a week of Olympic proportions & flash back to Seoul 1988

Greetings all,

I often use 'Olympic' as a huge-prolific-amazeballs adjective . . . we had one of those Olympic weeks: children thrilled to be back at school with their friends; successful parent/ teacher interviews; my eldest is in a new Volleyball team in a higher grade; dinner out; my husband started work locally; even the chickens are laying more eggs since the Winter Solstice!!  I wrapped up the week with a clean house; read a few magazines; wrote thank you notes; lots of exercise; cooking new recipes; tending to animals; somehow became the marketing manager for our school fete + consulting with Jan-Maree of Aussie Hero Quilts about her trip to Canberra next week (including a sewing Saturday at Duntroon) 415 patchwork quilts have been sent to our troops overseas already!!   

Olympic Poster of the Day: Seoul South Korea in 1988.  

Olympic Scandal: attention London Olympic organisers, there are two very different Koreas,   perhaps you might like to check the flags (at the North Korean Women's soccer) as they are separate countries.  'Peace & good will' at Olympics = don't upset the North Koreans!! 

 Then a Friday treat - brunch with Tania McCartney.  While we gobbled down panini, exchanged 'just because' gifts & chattered a million miles a minute, we hit our favourite haunts - Typo, Seed, Pepe's Paperie, Laura Ashley - then Tania dashed to meet some authors for lunch (socialite) i had time to kill at Kikki-K, Fossil & Witchery.  Lots of sales, the sequin & tulle skirts cost me less than $40 (total value $150) for my eldest to wear to discos, socials, parties - baby steps, she's not a girlie girl - so the sequins were met with a screwed up nose, however, amazing what you're teenagers will do when you pay the entry fee &/ or drive them to said discos, socials & parties!!  Plus i met her after a volleyball clinic with sushi, she loves me!!  Actually Tania sighed her daughter wasn't frilly either, would live in jodhpurs if she could, alas, i have two extra frill-sparkle-sequin loving daughters to dress & hand these down to.  

Tattoos & London cup cake wrappers (thanks Tania) i baked my English Mummy's fairy cakes for my little athletes today.  Adorable stationery - Squirrels with acorn push pins, Oh Deer stamp, dotty tissue paper, quirky clips, note cards & book (bunting, hello!!)  A bunch of little things that pulled at my heart strings.  I saw the Amanda Paino fabric on Kate from Foxs Lane blog.  Just realised that is not the current issue of Mollie Makes magazine, ooppss, i flick through them constantly. 

I was up at 5.30a.m. to catch the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympics, thrilled to find two of my girls already up watching, had to wake the rest.  The athletes parade - Italians, chic as ever; Australian team uniforms matched the French, only with bottle green jackets - we looked very smart (for once!!)  Very excited to see Patty Mills (a Canberra born & bred Basketball player) out there.  Then the Americans came out, oh Ralph Lauren, berets off to your classic style!!  We particularly enjoyed the Pacific Island & African nations with their glorious national uniforms.  Actually, i would have put the French in cravats or scarves (the ties were a bit bland) like my new red, white & blue Witchery birdie scarf!!  How i'd love to dress an Olympic team.

Now i don't have pay television & am suffering Eddie McGuire.  We picked up various faults in Eddie's opening commentary, including . . . this was the first Olympics where every team has both male & female participants (not quite) . . . & how ANZACs fell alongside British troops during the first few days of the battle of the Somme, France in WWI (no Eddie, they hadn't arrived yet!!)  Who researches this stuff & worse . . . who lets Eddie on television??  Just let Andrew Gaze do all the talking please (5 x Olympics, Sydney Olympic flag bearer, son of Olympian) as he actually knows how it feels unlike over paid, non athletic, television executives!!  What did you think of the Opening Ceremony??  I loved Daniel Craig with the Queen (corny but forever-hunky-in-a-suit); David Beckham looked pretty pleased with himself captaining that boat; the music was ace, although Paul McCartney was a bit off key; the cauldron was AMAZING!!  I didn't realise the British were such fans of the National Health System??  All my English relatives complain about it!! 

  Want to join in a blogging challenge during the Olympic Games??  My Limp Bits of cooking/  crafting/ photography improvement here, starts Wednesday 1st August with cooking.  Love Posie

my creative space . . . 'an Olympic challenge to improve the Limp Bits of your life'

Greetings all,

I'm Olympics mad.  I love sports & the Olympics take my breath away.  I was an athlete, ditto my husband & now our 4 children.  Track, field, teams . . . love it all.  I was lucky enough to run in the Sydney 2000 Torch Relay (i was so overwhelmed after my part, i didn't even recognise my own daughter!!)  SO in honour of the . . . .

 . . . where athletes have trained for years to reach the pinnacle of sports performance . . . for fear of being sued for using the sacred word 'Olympics' . . . i'm encouraging bloggers to peak too, in a Creative Limp Bits Challenge - that's right, sounds like Olympics, only it's Limp Bits.  Challenge yourself to fix the Limp Bits of your cooking, craft & photography.  

It will run 1st to 15th of August (3 Wednesday link parties) you're encouraged to join in & be challenged to find something you haven't cooked, crafted or photographed before to reach the pinnacle of creative performance.

Week 1 Limp Bits Challenge: bake, cook, roast, sauté, BBQ, grill, smoke, poach . . . something you've never tried before or haven't for a while.  One of the Limp Bits of my life is that i've NEVER cooked a roast, nope, never.  I'm going to try & shall present it on Wednesday 1st August for the first link party.

Who's with me??  Prepared to fix the Limp Bits of your life by Olympic proportions??  

Week 2 Limp Bits Challenge: sewing, crochet, knitting & design.  

Week 3 Limp Bits Closing Ceremony: Photography!!  

Gold, Silver & Bronze blog badges will be awarded!!  Are you a join'er in'er??  Maybe just the cooking, baking or photography challenges??  If it went for longer i'd add Bargain Hunting & Vintage Finds too!!  International players very welcome.  Australians like beating other countries in anything & everything!!  

For more creativity, check out Village Voices Creative Space, love Posie

Grab the badge & start planning.  I'll be practising crochet watching Aquatics.