Innamincka in-my-house!

There's an obvious overlap between this blog and the original Happy Hamby Campers (which is generally more active cos I do enjoy our adventuring).  At times it's tricky to decide where to post, as is the case today.

Although I haven't shared any progress here, I started revamping our bedroom earlier this year.  Around that time I created a pseudo walk-in wardrobe by positioning two tallboys across one end of the room, opposite our bed - blocking various storage from view. 

After returning from Miles, I very wisely decided our "monogrammed luggage" should be on display at home (as well as away), so our bags sit atop the chests.

It took a little while to effect the next part of my grand plan.  I ordered an extra large (1000x1500mm) canvas print, featuring one of my favourite images.  I took the shot during our Innamincka trip in 2014.  It's an  oldie but a goodie!

In discussions with the lovely printer, I commented that as well as size etc considerations, the print needed to co-ordinate with our luggage (and showed him a pic). I knew he was the right man for the job when he said "we need to match those bags"!  Please consider using Stella Canvas for your custom printing, I'm stoked with the wonderful work they've done!

In early February we celebrated our fourth anniversary as QLDers, still at the same address.  That's the longest we've lived anywhere together!  Ordering the print then wasn't intended to mark the relocation achievement but it's interesting the events occurred close together.

In spite of having images for commission sale (some with Getty and others on my Redbubble account, which is linked on the sidebar), I don't have many hanging at home. It can be difficult to decide on something that fits space/decor and that I'd be happy to live with indefinitely.  I have a few - a Yowah rock stack, some "stairs" from a bushwalk, several geckoes, a frog, a waratah and a sunflower (with bumblebee).  I use my images for custom diaries and calendars, so have those on/beside my desk.  

My Innamincka canvas was safely delivered yesterday, which was quite exciting.  It's about five times larger than anything else I've ever printed - and stunning!  As you can see, it's now displayed in our bedroom, above our Gladstone bags, reminding us of excellent adventures we've had and the promise of more to come!  

In splendid synchronicity my huge canvas arrived just prior to the release of Nick's latest song, which is all about photographs, memories - and me! Well, us and our life together - but I'm the album's cover girl!

Dye-ing to know?!

I've been interested in natural dye-ing for a long time, though hadn't actually tried to do any.  

This week I discovered many YouTube dye-ing tutorials - which led to my first experiments in tea-dyeing.  Finally!

I had tea-towels to play with - two that a dear friend had made and gifted, as well as other, less precious versions.

Some information suggested I could dye with tea only, while others used mordants and fixatives (yep, I've watched lots of YouTube and read blogs also).  

I decided to try the most basic version first - and see what happened.  I made a big pot of tea on the stove-top and then put wet tea-towels in it.  

The tea returned to the boil for a period of time and I then extracted the tea-towels at what I deemed was a suitable interval.  The rabbit/hare pair were fished out first because I didn't want to wreck them!

I started my experiment around 10:00am.  The hares came out about four hours later.  The others stayed in overnight.  I didn't add anything to the tea.  It was just standard, strong tea (a variety that hadn't been popular in our tea cupboard)!  

The tea-towels were rinsed and then hung on the line.  (It was pretty working in the afternoon light, both in the kitchen and in the back yard).

I'm happy with how the hares have dried.  One is paler than the other though they had the same amount of time in the tea.  I think the difference is one was freshly washed, while the other had been re-wet in the sink. Maybe?!

I'm not so chuffed with the other tea-towels.  They had a lot longer in the tea and are definitely darker.  I'd read that it was a good way of revamping stained linen though and it's not been so great for that, or my expectations were far too high!

In any case it was cheap entertainment on a quiet day at home.  I bought some soy milk when shopping today, to use as a mordant for my next fabric experiment.  I'll do some more YouTube research and raid the stash for suitable test materials.  

The hare tea-towels have been ironed, folded and stored in my box of Easter mugs and decorations.  I'm deciding what to do with the other six.  Of course, they are fine to be used and washed, which will be a good test.  

It will be interesting to see if the colour holds and I guess the worst that can happen is that they fade back to their starting colour.  

Happy Easter!

Facebook reminded me this morning that in 2012 I first started using a bread-maker for Hot Cross Bun (HCB) production. I'd made them by hand the previous year with Vaughan's assistance (bottom collage pic) and was keen not to knead so much, given our multiple batches.

(Recent investigations revealed some arthritis and small ganglions in my left wrist but both wrists have had niggles for quite a long time).

The breadmaker was a $10.00 bargain, sourced second-hand.  Such a great investment!  I was very pleased to find it still going strong in 2017 (after 18 months or so in storage).  It gets a big work-out at Easter!  

Quick calculations. Ten years of home-made HCBs with batches made for all but one Easter. I'm not sure how many individual buns have been made. I've noted five dozen in 2019!  I only make them at Easter, so we indulge but we gift them also.  It's rare for Nick to be not-working at Easter and we often send some with him to share with colleagues.  

In 2014 they were made at Yowah on our Cobb Cookers and then in Lui's fuel stove when we ran out of heat beads. 2016 was missed, cos the gazebo kitchen was even trickier than its tent successor!

I've been happily pottering today, baking several batches of HCBs.  Well, technically these were Hot Cross(less ) Buns cos I wasn't feeling up to the angst of failure!

Some years I excel at piping crosses - but most years I don't do so well.  2015 was a good year (see the third and fourth collage pics). You can see Vaughan  wearing the same shirt in 2015 as he did in 2011, which was pure co-incidence!

The house smelled so wonderful as I was baking. By the end of the day I'd made three batches, 16 in each. 

I use the breadmaker to mix the dough, a cycle of one and a half hours. 

The breadmaker beeps at a certain part of the dough cycle for any inclusions to be added.  I haven't had great success doing this.  Chocolate chips have completely melted into the dough, and sultanas have been mashed to a sticky paste!  Given that experience I prefer to knead the fruit and/or chocolate in by hand when the dough is ready. 

I stood at the kitchen window dividing and shaping the dough into buns, watching the breeze in the trees and listening to a few birds. It was quite meditative.  "Mine" were the first batch. Heavily spiced and fruited. Baking in the turbo oven caused the sultanas at the top to swell hugely and candify - perfect! An experimental batch were next. White choc and cranberry. Not so spiced, which meant the dough rose a little higher before added the choc and fruit. Interesting.  

Miss Erin was the official taste-tester of "her" batch and was delighted to declare them "better than the shop's"!  Vaughan prefers a double choc version.  Lightly spiced chocolate dough with choc-chips mixed through.  The chocolate bits tend to melt when baked - which is a bonus!

From time to time my mother baked Hot Cross Buns.  I can remember her doing so at Yowah because they wouldn't have been available otherwise.  I may have made them earlier than 2011 but I can't clearly recall doing so.  Why did I start making them?  Well, I don't like orange peel and am not a fan of bland supermarket offerings. It was tricky to find somewhere that made HCBs how I liked them and then they were usually more expensive, so I decided to perfect my recipe!