In the Shadow

New York
Originally uploaded by Cheeky Mango

This is my entry for this week's Photo Friday challenge, the topic is 'in the shadow'. Now, I know this is not a new photo, but is just so perfect for this particular theme.
I took this photo in 2005 while visiting New York, from the viewing platform of the Empire State Building. We were lucky enough to be up there fairly early in the morning. Whilst the morning brought with it some smog laden skies, it did afford some pretty exciting long shadows.
Note, the photo quality is pretty poor because I reduced it for quick upload when I was on dia-up.. The good ol' days.

Marmalade Label

Marmalade Label
Originally uploaded by Cheeky Mango

I have been lucky enough to have been given lots of fruit lately. Much more than any single person could ever hope to eat. So I have been busily collecting bottles and making marmalade. I have made various variations of grapefruit, lemon, bush lemon, orange, ginger and cloves.
My favourite is grapefruit with lemon and ginger. It is delicious to the point of addiction. I even have a bottle of it in the fridge at work, to be used in the case of emergencies.. They do happen you know.
Unfortunately I am still haveing problems getting the consistency just right, but I do seem to be getting better now I have invested in a proper sugar thermometer.

Masterchef Finale Masterpiece

A delightful day, tinged with sadness as Masterchef draws to a close. Looking forward to the final, but I think a hole will be left in my evening viewing. I have been invited to a friend's place tonight for a bit of a Masterchef celebration. So, inspired by the chocolate mousse cake, I decided to tackle a fabulous desert myself.

Over a year ago, I was given a fabulous Woman's Weekly cupcake cookbook. Unfortunately, I don't use it nearly as often as I should, but when I do, I love all the compliments that come my way.. So, it was from here I spotted the toffee shards and began work on my Toffee-Apple Towers. They look absolutely fantastic, and I can confirm that they taste just as great!

Finished the Dog Coat, yeah!

How about this, I have finished my very first proper knitted piece - a lovely blue knitted coat for my little mate, Charlie. I am really pleased with the outcome and it was much easier than I anticipated, although I thought my arms were going to drop off after completing a row of over 200 ribbed stitches around the edging. I do love the colour on her though and was luck enough to find some very sweet blue and white polka dotted buttons to finish it all off.

Knit, Purl, Knit, Purl

I have been busily knitting away. Yes, that's right - knitting! Although I have never knitted anything in my life except misshapen scarves many years ago, I have tackled the task of knitting a coat for my dog, Charlie. I find it so difficult to resist anything to do with my little white furball and I came across and entire book of knitted dog coat patterns.

The coat consists of the back, which is the main part, the strap and the collar and edging. I am very proud to say that although I only began work on Saturday night, I have finished the back and about one third of the strap. I have really surprised myself with this progress because I always believed I couldn't knit. Here is what I'm working on (this is the photo from the book - this little one looks nothing like Clarlie).

One thing though -I'm worried because I have almost convinced myself that it really would be okay for a dog and her owner to wear matching knitted jumpers. Hmm

Ticking Off the Tasks

One of the things I really enjoy in life is to sketch. However I tend to get stuck a bit obsessed with certain subjects - mostly plants, nature and food. I love my own photos, collected objects and magazines. I'm sure I'm not the only ones to borrow or buy magazines only for the pictures! Anyhow, lately I have been trying out the idea of visual food diaries after seeing some fantastic examples on other blogs. This led to the idea of a visual 'to do' list. I love lists. There are few things as fulfilling as ticking off tasks from a list..

For the record, I did get some of the jobs done.

Come Share My Goals

Well, welcome to my blog. If you're reading here, you probably know that I have been wanting to get blogging for a while, so here it is. I have bitten the bullet and actually posted and published this first post, even though it is not at all perfect. I guess though, that this is like so many projects in my life..

Incomplete. That seems to be the story of most projects around here. As the title suggests, I start out with all good intentions to get things happening, but so rarely seem to be able to get things actually finished. I love creating and the process of creating so much that I take on far too much.

So, here it is: a list of projects that I would like to complete over the next few months - let's see if this blog gets me motivated and keeps me honest. (fingers crossed).

SEWING

• Blue skirt


• Green panelled skirt


• iPod case

ART

• Complete picture for guest bedroom

OTHER

• Re-organise wardrobe.


• Re-organise laundry cupboard.