Cats

Ever since I was a little girl I have had pet cats. Before I had human babies – they were my furry babies. There have been a few over the years…at one stage somewhere in my twenties I had 5. I can tell you now – that it was full on. I would get home from work and there they all were at the front door to greet me – they must have some kind of built in alarm clock because they were always there when the key turned in the lock. Singing for their supper and meowing their greetings.

It all got too much in the end and one got adopted out, one left home and sadly one died of cancer. Now I just have my two old boys above.

FB (Fatboy) is the black one and is 12 this year and Zippy is the stripy one and is 14. They have had a good life and have now settled in to retirement pretty well. When my daughter Kitty (gee I must like cats!) was born there were jokes about me adding another to my litter….(after all my star sign is Leo and I was born in the year of the Tiger)…the boys didn’t take to kindly to being kicked out of the family bed and weren’t to impressed that she took all my attention away from them.

When Milo was born – FB took him in like a kitten and on a couple of occasions decided that the furry down on his head needed a good lick and clean…all the while purring away happily. Zippy on the other hand would rather Kitty and Milo buggered off so he could be numero uno once more. I can’t imagine my life without cats by my side. They really have been such dear friends.

Cardigans

My favourite item of clothing other then A-Line skirts would have to be the cardigan. My uniform therefore is an A-Line skirt, a t-shirt with a cardigan over the top and a pair of Birkenstocks. You’ll be able to spot me a mile away now. The gorgeous red cardigan pictured above was a recent gift from my lovely husband. He is such a gem and knows exactly what I like!

The history of the cardigan began in the mid 1800's during the Crimean War. James Thomas Brudenell was the 7th Earl of Cardigan - and he is who this versatile garment was named after. In this day and age though I am slightly suspicious of a man wearing a cardigan…..I wonder when women started to wear them?

Anyway thank goodness for the 7th Earl of Cardigan – if it wasn’t for him….what would I wear! At last count I had about 15. They are on a pretty good rotation; however there is always one (like the one above) that gets a good airing more often then the others.

Calico

I love the sound of the word calico - kal-i-koh. I also love the creamy oatmeal naturalness of it. The clean flat landscape of fabric and slightly mottled colour that is just waiting to be made into something else.

It’s the worker bee of fabric. I often use calico to make samples of things I’m designing…to see how they work out before I start hacking into the ‘good’ fabrics. In my fabric stash I have bits and bobs of ‘good’ fabrics that I LOVE so much I can’t bring myself to cut into them. Especially if I know that it is a vintage remanent that I have found somewhere in my travels.

That’s the good thing about calico you see. You can be generous with it – you can cut and sew to your hearts content and if you bugger it up – you know what. IT DOESN’T MATTER!

When I was designing my Bushka face – I knew from the start that I was going to have it screen printed onto calico - and now, those dear little calico faces feature on the ‘good’ fabrics – that go into making my one off Mumma & Baby Bushka dolls and rattles. A match made in heaven.

Cake stands

My lovely husband Sam found this cake stand in my favourite Op Shop - Merrijig, The Joseph’s Corner Shop at 128 Somerville Road in Yarraville. As soon as he saw it he knew I would love it and that it would go perfectly with my modest collection of cake stands. Note the word ‘modest’.

The multi-level aspect of this kind of cake stand is what appeals to me. What a fabulous way to display little morsels of the yummiest things that you can’t help but try…..ohh yes thank you , I’ll try that cucumber sandwich, and perhaps I’ll try one of those asparagus rolls…..oh and yes – is that a mini chocolate cupcake?

Speaking of chocolate cake…..I have the yummiest recipe for one that I have been making for almost twenty years (now that’s saying something). Here it is:

Morgan’s Deluxe Chocolate Cake Recipe

Ingredients:
¾ cup hot coffee (real coffee preferred but instant can be used)
½ cup cocoa
11/4 cups white sugar
125g butter
3 x eggs separated
1tsp salt
1tsp vanilla essence
1tsp Bi-carbonate soda
½ cup sour cream
2 cups plain flour
½ cup sugar (extra)

Icing (Ganache):
1/3 cup King Island Cream
250g Dark Cooking Chocolate

Method:
Mix hot coffee & cocoa. Beat sugar, butter, egg yolks, salt & vanilla. Alternatively mix flour and coffee/cocoa mix in to the butter mixture. Mix bicarb and sour cream together. Mix egg whites to stiff peaks adding extra sugar gradually. Softly fold sour cream mixture and egg whites into cake mix. Bake in moderate oven 180 degrees for 1 – 1 1/4 hours.

Once cake has cooled. Make Ganache. Combine chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir with a metal spoon until smooth. Remove bowl from heat. Set aside at room temperature to cool, stirring occasionally, until ganache is thick and spreadable. Yum Yum!

Buttons

When I was a girl, my Mother had a big glass jar filled with all sorts of buttons. I used to spend hours sorting them into different colours and styles and running my hands through them. I loved them.

I remember there were a couple of silver buttons with boats or something on them – to me they were the most special. Like something from a Captains treasure chest, which a pirate might steal on the open sea. My Mother doesn’t know this but one of those buttons was among the very special things I put into a time capsule and buried in the backyard of our family home. I wonder if anyone ever found it?

Anyway, I found these buttons about 8 years ago in a box of junk at the Dandenong Trash & Treasure Market. I remember the feeling when I saw them – and couldn’t believe all the buttons were still on the backing cards and they were in perfect condition. From memory they cost me the grand sum of $1 each. What a find!

Bob Dylan

I must have been about 16 when I discovered Bob Dylan. His lyrics are what did it for me. I then went to see him in concert when I was in my twenties – and was so disappointed. He just stood there singing to his feet and mumbling. It’s funny that I am a child of the 70’s and yet the music of the 60’s is what really resonates with me……I suppose it isn’t that funny when I think about the records I grew up playing as a kid.

For Christmas this year I splashed out and bought myself a new record player. I have quite a record collection and had been lamenting for a few years that I couldn’t play them. Kitty & I have been putting records on during the day and dancing around the dining room. Milo thinks its great fun too. I have such fond memories of playing Mum & Dad’s records when I was a kid and making up dances. I think at one stage I even charged my parents to come and see my performance. Ever the entrepreneur!

Blankets

It was around 1990 when I first discovered woollen blankets in op shops. I found the one above and decided that I loved it so much I wanted to wear it. I drafted up a pattern on brown craft paper and my first “Blanket Jumper” was born. I was 16 and had a surfer dude boyfriend with long blonde dreadlocks. We had matching blanket jumpers – well actually I wore the one above and I made him one out of a grey army blanket. Very cool dude…or should I say warm dude……anyway my love of blankets has just progressed from there really.

At one stage I thought I was going to make a business out of selling blanket jumpers to friends and family. I was 16 remember and it was the 90’s.

Funnily enough I now have a business recycling woollen jumpers…which is not too dissimilar to woollen blankets!

Birkenstocks

On the week-end when I was setting up this photo I realized that between Sam, Kitty and myself we have 13 pairs of Birkenstocks (baby Milo is yet to get his first pair!). Sam has 4 pairs, Kitty has 2 and that must mean I have 7 pairs! One for everyday of the week!

I think we might have to look at changing our surname to Birkenstock. Morgan, Sam, Kitty & Milo Birkenstock. It does have a certain ring to it! I wonder if Birkenstock would bestow us with as many pairs of shoes as we liked if we did that. I can only dream.

If you haven’t already figured it out – it is not only me that LOVES Birkies in this house it is US! To me they are the most comfortable shoes you can buy. I remember when I saw my first pair though. It was the early nineties and my friend Julien (now my brother-in-law) came back from a trip to Europe sporting some. I was horrified. “What on earth are you wearing on your feet?” I said. I am funny like that – I often poo poo things and then somewhere along the line they become a number one love. A bit like Blogs!

Basil

I was reading the Age Good Weekend the other day and came across three facts about Basil I did not know.

1. The word basil comes from the Greek word basileus, meaning royal or king.

2. Basil is probably native to India, then likely spread to Iran and other tropical areas of Asia, where it has been cultivated for more then 5,000 years. European countries did not start using basil until the 16th century.

3. Basil alleviates constipation, diarrhoea, coughs and withdrawal from marijuana addiction, and is a cure for worms and warts. Applied to the skin topically as an oil, it can draw out insect, bee or snake venom.

Well – there you have it hey….I don’t know about its powers of alleviation and curative properties…but I do know that I really like to eat it.

We grow it in our garden every year and we eat it in salads, as a garnish on lots of things and of course we make pesto, a family favourite! Yum, Yum!

Band-aids with pictures

When I was 12 we had a Japanese exchange student – Akiko stay with us for a few months. She was sent lots of very cool parcels from home – filled with all sorts of exotic Japanese things….I am sure this is where my love of cutesy Japanese stuff all started. I remember being fascinated by it all. The dolls, the lollies, the origami paper and especially the band-aids with pictures on them.

We had only ever had straight up, no nonsense band-aids of the camel colour variety – no fun at all, especially because the only reason you ever needed to put a band-aid on was because you had hurt yourself.

The worst of course was when your mother ripped it off and took a layer of skin and hair with it….truly awful. Band-aids with pictures on it though….now that’s another story. Any excuse for a band-aid would have me reaching for one of these beauties.

Now that I am grown up I have a collection of course – some I bought in Japan, some locally in Footscray and some have been gifts. My daughter Kitty loves looking at them and trying to think of an excuse for me to put one on her or her baby doll Mia. It’s hard though because I think they are too cute to use – and try to offer her the plain old normal band aids instead! Pretty funny!!

Babushka Dolls

My husband Sam gave me this Babushka doll for Christmas to add to my collection. She is small and very sweet. Once you crack her outer layer though it seems that her inner faces are a little worried……. as if they are looking out at something much bigger then themselves. Perhaps it is the immensity of the world we live in.

Metaphorically you could say that Babushka dolls reflect the inner aspects of our nature. Outside I am strong and capable, inside I am soft and reflective. As we open or peel off the outer layers like that of an onion we find our inner truth. Perhaps the baby babushka doll is like the inner child who is protected within by the many outer layers we develop as we grow into adults.

They also remind me of growing babies of which I have been blessed to experience twice. I suppose that is why they are also called Matryoshka (Mother) dolls or Nesting dolls.

Author Paulo Coelho

It was 1996. I had been traveling overseas and working in New York for 6 months and had just turned 22 on the 22 August. I had finished my VCE, completed a Certificate and Diploma of Interior Design & Decoration, worked as a Designer on the new Crown Casino in Melbourne, and spent a year living in the country, 30kms from the nearest shop – without running water and electricity but with a massive vegetable garden and chooks. I had also got my drivers license and had been going out with the same boy for almost seven years. What to do next?

It was time to fly home to Melbourne. I was excited about the prospect of seeing friends and family after so long but I was also apprehensive about the next chapter in my life journey. What did I really want to do with my time?

I was walking through the airport getting ready to board when out of the corner of my eye I saw a book. It had a purple cover with the image of a third eye on it. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I had hardly any money left – but I couldn’t resist. On the flight home from the moment I sat down I was hooked. I read it cover to cover. By the time I touched down in Melbourne I felt I had a renewed trust in my journey. Paulo Coelho through his character – Santiago, who travels in search of worldly treasure had shown me the essential wisdom of listening to my heart, learning to read the omens strewn along life’s path, and, above all, following my dreams.

I have all of his books to date. I have enjoyed every one but none has so transformed my path as The Alchemist.

My Mother gave me the illustrated version shown above for my 25th Birthday. When the boy that I had been going out with for seven years left I gave him my copy and bid him farewell.

Apples

I love apples – the taste, the colour, the shape. I’m not sure exactly when I started to collect them. I think it first began when my Mother gave me a very cool set of anodised fruit napkin holders – one of which was an apple. I loved it so much that I kept it out of the box on my dining room side board and it all went from there. Now I have quite a selection, bought here and there on my travels.









In 2006 I made a quilt called - The Apple of My I. It was selected as a finalist in the National Wool Museum’s Biennial Quilt Prize. Here are the words I wrote to explain my work.


The Apple of My I

A quilt, ripe with colour;
a warm and woolly wonder.

Cast Offs – discarded treasures,
a Eureka moment, beauty rekindled.

My creative life, my green apple,
Red is love, Red is passion.

A united seasonal celebration,
many tones, shades of one.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you have a lovely day.

Anodised Aluminium

I am a complete Bowerbird. From the moment I discovered Op Shops at about the age of 14, I discovered all sorts of shiny riches just wanting me to take them home. Anodised Aluminium had a particular allure.

It started off with things like teapots, milk jugs & sugar bowls and went on to trays, flour sifters, colanders, kitchen utensils, soda siphons (of which I have about 50), measuring cups, picnic cup sets and lunch box tins. Dare I say more?

My cupboards are overflowing with twenty years of accumulated treasures. I bet my children grow up to be minimalists. I am definitely a maximalist.

Oh, and Happy Birthday to my sweet daughter Kitty. She is 4 today. Hip hip hooray!

A-line Skirts

I am a pear. Well pear shaped that is, so A-line skirts are my number one friend.
The definition of an A-line skirt is a dress or skirt silhouette that is narrower at the top, flaring gently wider toward the bottom thereby resembling the letter A. Works well on most figure types; good for disguising bottom-heavy figures……I like the disguising bit.

I’m a huge fan of A-line denim skirts and most days you can catch me in one, however one of my most extravagant clothing purchases was the A-Line skirt above. I bought it about 8 years ago and it is one of those classic pieces, that every time I wear – someone says ‘Nice skirt’.

Aga Stoves

From the moment I first saw an Aga Stove – I wanted one. A big, beautiful red one. To me there is something so appealing about them……perhaps it’s the multiple cooking spaces and hence the various doors. Maybe it’s the shiny enamel. Maybe it’s the thought of taking a step back from the rush of my day to day life to enjoy a slower pace.

Slow growing of veggies in the garden, slow gathering of wood and kindling to stoke up the Aga and slow cooking of wonderful one pot meals…..speaking of one pot meals - my husband Sam regularly makes me a one pot special that truly makes my heart sing….. it is a recipe handed down from his father George – Oven-baked Risotto. You do not need an Aga to cook it but it would be nice. Here is the recipe:

Oven-baked Risotto

50 grams Butter
1 finely sliced onion
2 medium garlic cloves finely chopped
1 cup Arborio rice
1 ½ Cups of mixed suitable vegetable (cubed)
2 ½ cup stock (boiling water w/ 2tsp miso dissolved through)
Season with salt & pepper ~ to taste
½ Cup grated parmesan
Fresh lemon juice

Fry onion in butter for 5 minutes on medium heat (add garlic near end of fry time).
Next add & fry rice for a further 5 minutes.
Then add vegetable mix and stir through for 1-2 minutes.
Add stock to dish, increase heat & bring contents to boil then season to taste.
Transfer contents to suitably sized casserole dish with lid on
& then bake in pre-heated 180ºC oven for 30 minutes.
Turn oven off. Remove lid. Lightly fold through parmesan.
Return to oven for 5 minutes.
Dress each dish with a squeeze of lemon.
Salt & pepper to taste.

Advent Calendars

The highly anticipated ritual of opening those little doors in the Advent Calendar as a child was definitely one of my favourite things. I suppose it was because I knew that in 24 sleeps it would be that magical day when I got lots of presents (and let’s face it – who doesn’t like presents!). I had to share this ritual with my sister Kelly. I’m sure there was more than one occasion when we bickered about whose turn it was to open the door – and of course behind the door was a little Christmas picture but more importantly – a chocolate!

And so, it is apt that on the 1st of December 2008 – I begin my blog ‘100 things that make my heart sing’ with an entry about Advent Calendars.

Now that I have children of my own – I am able to re-visit the excitement of opening those little doors. Last year, we made one for us and various members of our family out of a Christmas tree shaped series of drawers. I trawled the internet for little Christmas sayings I could write out for each day and had much fun hunting for little trinkets that would fit in each drawer. The idea was that each year we could re-fill the drawers with new trinkets and so start a small family tradition.

The month of December is a very special time for me because my daughter Kitty was born on the 22 day. She will be 4 this year and so heartily embraces the opening of those little drawers, it makes my heart sing to see her little face so filled with excitement. She knows that December means her birthday and three days later Christmas….it is a wonder that she can sleep at night with the thought of the treasures to come. The Advent calendar helps us as a family bring our focus in to the joy of living day to day, in the moment so to speak. There is so much to look forward to.

This is what is written on the little piece of paper, rolled up in the first drawer…..

1 December
And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?
Dr Seuss

100 things that make my heart sing

Advent Calendars, Aga wood stoves, A-line skirts, Anodised Aluminium, Apples, Author Paulo Coelho, Babushkas, Band-Aids with pictures, Basil, Birkenstocks, Blankets, Bob Dylan, Buttons, Cake stands, Calico, Cardigans, Cats, Champagne, Coffee first thing in the morning, Colour, Craft markets, Creeks, Crochet, Cubby houses, Cyclamens, Dark Chocolate, Dinosaur Designs, Dolls houses, Dr Seuss, Dress ups, Empire line dresses, Felt beads, Fornasetti faces, Frangelico, Gaudi, Gina Garan dolls, Gingerbread houses, Golden books, Grant Featherston furniture, Grass Roots magazine, Haighs Chocolate frogs, Inari, Japan, Karmann Ghias, Kewpie dolls, Kilt pins, Kitsch religious iconography, Laminex tables, Lanterns, Laughing, Lavender, Le Cruset, Lip gloss, MAC Cosmetics, Magdalena, Marrimekko, Metallicus, Mirka Mora, My children - Kitty & Milo, My husband Sam, 1950’s domestic illustrations, 1950’s kitchenalia, Op shops, Outré Gallery, Paper dolls, Pegs, Pocky, Rae Hamon (NZ Artist), Ramen noodles, Recycling, Red hair, Reggae, Rosewater spray, Scarves, Sewing machines, Shinto shrines, Silver jewellery, Singing silly songs, Soap, Succulents, Tapas, Tea cups, Tea towels, The Beatles, The number 22, The sound of my children laughing, Tiny drawers, Toad in a hole, Trees, Tupperware, Valiants, Veggie gardens, Vince Jones, Vintage sugar bowls, Wedding Kimono Fabric, Wicker washing baskets, Winter solstice, Wonton noodle soup, Yum Cha, Zucchinis.