Now we’re cooking!

Look, it’s only 48 hours since my last post.  I’m on a roll this week.

I wanted to post so I could show you the shorts I made for Cam (ottobre pattern)…………

Ain’t they cute???  I made them out of one of Ian’s old shirts.  Groovy!  Lovely soft fabric too.

Oh, here’s pic of the Advent Calendar now that it’s up.  I hung the pockets on some tinsel.

I’m pretty pleased with myself today.  I’ve been finding it hard to get organised, but today I wrote a list in the morning, and got almost all of it done, plus a few things that weren’t on the list.  One of the jobs was for me to make the Christmas Ornaments for the swap I signed up for.  Check.

I didn’t get the quilt ready for quilting that was on the list, maybe tomorrow for that one.

Oops. I forgot.

Sorry faithful readers.  I was meant to do a crafty update, but forgot. My bad.

I have made the front for my fall inspired mini quilt.  I found this one really hard, as there is nothing fallish happening around here.  I do have a neat idea for the quilting of my autumnal log cabin.

I’ve made a couple of pencil rolls.

I changed the applique on this dress.  I’m much happier with it now.

I made pockets for an Advent Calendar.  Which is something the kids have never had.  So 24 little pockets, numbered, which I will hang on a string of tinsel and fill with some goodies.  I have to put 3 of everything into the pockets, as I’m sure Nathan and Lilly aren’t too old to enjoy this treat with Cameron.

I’d like to make some new Christmas stockings this week too.  Nathan and Lilly have Jumbo ones (which are not likely to get filled this year), and Cameron and Matt have little ones.  So I think 4 medium ones with their names on them would be nice.  Anyway I’m trying not to be too ambitious about what I can achieve.

Spring in the garden

Well, after such a weird start to the season Spring seems to have finally arrived.  We are now getting more days of sun than rain.  So the garden is looking better.  I thought I’d show you  some pics of what we are growing.

Finally I have a decent strawberry patch

My herb garden is overflowing………… Rosemary, Lemon Balm, Parsley, Thyme, Oregano, Sage, Purple Sage, Chives, Tarragon, Coriander and Mint. Plus a few sneaky roses that grow back no matter how hard we prune them.  I guess they are determined to be there.

The nasturtiums have their first flowers………

The Zucchini’s are starting to fruit………….

We grew shalots for the first time this year, they are doing spectacularly well…………

The Broad beans are finally flowering, I’m not worried about them being late in the season as we had them right up until Autumn last year.

After reading up on growing peas, we’ve managed to grow more than one decent pea plant this year.  These have almost doubled in size in the two days since I took the pic.  Maybe this year the kids won’t have to fight over who gets to eat the fresh peas, there might be enough for everyone to have some.

Carrots are still doing great.  In fact we need to eat them faster.

The tomatoes are starting to flower…….

I now have masses of seedlings in the shed ready to plant out, but need to get another load of compost to build up one of the older beds first.  We are running out of space for all the things we want ot plant.  Things I haven’t taken pics of…………..  Artichokes, they are flowering like mad, we still have masses of spinach, our 3 cabbages are ready to harvest and we have some beetroot ready to eat. 

However it’s not all coming up roses in the garden.  Due to the excessive wet weather all of my Zucchini’s except one have powdery mildew and the tomatoes and potatoes are infected with a bug.  So, we need to spray   We will use natural products though.  Bit of  a shame eh?

I planted out the rest of my corn seedlings on the weekend.  I had 12 that were direct sown, but planted out about another 30 on the weekend that I had grown in pots.  Here’s hoping they survive transplant and we get a decent crop.   Out of 5 years we’ve only had good corn once.

So that’s what going on here, not forgetting the waist-high grass down by the fruit tress and in the big paddock.

I might even be back later with a crafty update, I’ve made a few small things.

I’m back!!!

I was kinda forced out of hiding, by a couple of lovely TNN friends who have nominated me for some blog awards.  Aren’t they nice.  It would have been churlish of me not to respond.

Mazzy nominated me for a gorgeous blogger award.

Hannah nominated me for the Kreativ blogger award.

So there you have it.  I’m gorgeous and creative, other people said so.  Thanks so much Maree and Hannah, I was in need of a bit of a pick me up.  In return for the nominations I have to share so things about myself……………..hmmm it’s hard to decide what to share.

Okay – I’m NOT a morning person, something my husband and children know well.

I have four tattoos, I’d like one more, but I seem to have turned into a bit of a chicken in my old age   Maybe I’ll do it, maybe not. 

I only regret one of my tattoos, because it was in a spot where it was munted by stretch marks, and looks horrible now, however it’s not on general view to the public, so it only matters to me.

I love to read, but don’t very much now, as quilting has taken over that time.  Which is probably okay, as when I’m reading I’m pretty unreachable, but I can quilt and talk at the same time.  It has taken me 7 weeks of very slow intermittent reading to get through Diana Gabaldons new book.  I’m nearly finished it.

I can’t sing, and I’m tone deaf (or maybe just ignorant).  But I always wanted to learn the piano when I was a child.  The kids have all had music lessons, I’m living vicariously through them

When I was little I was very accident prone, broken bones, cuts needing stitches, always bleeding from somewhere.  Luckily none of my kids seem to have inherited that gene.  Could have something to do with all the health and safety regulations nowadays though.

I AM a chocoholic.  I admit it.  I love the stuff.  Though I won’t buy Cadbury’s any more, as it’s now made in Aussie.  Luckily we have NZ’s best chocky shop just down the road.  YUM.

So that’s me, warts and all (just joking, I had my warts frozen off when I was 11) eewww.

Now I have to nominate some others.

Deb

Maria

Beena

Jodie

Ahava

Nova

Pleas consider yourselves nominated for both awards   You deserve it.

All of the wonderful ladies above inspire me. Go check them out. 

 

Grouchy

Come back in a week or so. No sewing happening. 

A bit of fun

I meant to post yesterday, but the broadband connection was running really slow, so I gave up.  Seems much better today.  Internet here in NZ is a joke !  There are 3rd world countries out there with faster internet than us.  Anyway, onto the post.

I worked some on my Bear Paw, another two blocks made…..13 to go.

Then I made up the top for Cam’s quilt……….

I have absolutely NO ideas on how to quilt this, so I have asked the oracle, Leah Day of 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting fame for some suggestions.  Leah’s free motion quilting blog is a fantastic resource, which I have found very inspirational.  So, I’m waiting to hear back, it would be great if the quilt front were used on her blog as it has some huge blank spaces for quilting.  So, we’ll see.

 

After working hard I needed to make something fun and something I could finish in a few hours.  So………………………from Matt’s jeans to my new bag.

I’d like to change the strap for a leather one that’s a bit longer (maybe studded), this ones a bit short and not quite what I wanted. Better go check out the Sallies to find one.  Love the lining fabric!!!  Of course Lilly tried to steal it the moment she saw it.  I might have to make her a similar one for Xmas.

Check out the muso……….

I got out Lilly’s old half size guitar to see if she wanted to sell it, but Cam has other ideas and gets it out every time he sees it. I guess we’re keeping it.

 

 

Dyed and gone to heaven

 

Chris over at the  Shady Dale is having a wicked giveaway.  Yes I am blogging because I want extra entries, but I have been coveting her goodies for ages.  Chris makes the most beautiful hand dyed fabric as well as quilty jewellery (how cool would it be to have a quilt pendant or pair of earrings, hint hint Ian), and the most lovely snowflakes.  Anyway, rock on over and enter.  I promise not to hold it against you if you win

A bit of progress

I have been doing a bit of work on my Bear Paw quilt, which is on the list for me to finish by New Year’s.  I got 2 blocks made today, plus all 64 of the half square triangles for the border.  So 10 blocks down, just 15 more to go.

After doing those I moved on to planning a new quilt, the pattern is from Material Obsession 2.  It’s quite ambitious, but I’m going to give it a go.  I have already cut out the inspiration fabric for the centres and was having a bit of a play on the design wall with different layouts.

They won’t be on a white background when they are made up.  I haven’t decided on what other fabrics to use yet

The boys transport quilt – I decided to go with design number 4, which got the most votes.  I’ll probably make the front of that up tomorrow, depending on time.  Cam is running a temperature tonight, so I’m not sure if he will be going to preschool.  Lilly is too, but not feeling unwell.  She has EOTC week and is meant to be doing white water rafting and abseiling tomorrow, so I hope she is going to be well enough.

That’s all I can think of for now. 

 

Blocks, blocks, blocks

Been catching up on all my bee commitments.

For Jennifer

For Ariana

For Leslie

For Tacha

For Melissa

That’s it.  I’m all caught up.  Now I can get back to working on the quilts here that are on my UFO list.  I have finished 2, Mermaids in the pink and Emily. So 2 down 4 to go.

I’m here

Lilly keeps harassing me to update the blog with pics of the weekend.  So here I am.

I was feeling a bit claustrophobic after so many weeks cooped up at home.  I am also missing the city a bit.  Sometimes living in the country is a whole lot of hard work.  We spend all weekend doing stuff at home, like getting wood for next winter, planting veges, mowing endless lawns, weeding, fixing fences, I could go on for ages.  When we lived in Upper Hutt it was only half an hour to Wellington, now it’s an hour and a half (over the Rimutaka Hill, which is a sucky drive).  I know the grass isn’t greener over the hill, but back when we bought stuff instead of growing it ourselves we had a LOT more time to play.

So Ian was happy to stay home after being out all week at work, and I was happy to take the kids and meet up with Matt and hang out on the waterfront for the day.  It was a beautiful day (in between rainy ones), not too hot.  We did the museum, the park, walked along the water front, another park, civic square, the museum again and then home.  No shopping.

It was great to let the kids catch up with big brother, they do miss him.  Me too, surprising a bit.  Nice to know that we can’t have done a bad job, he’s turned out great !!!  Nice to hang out with.

So onto pics……

We got to see some guys abseiling from the helicopter!!

A school of herring.

Up close and personal with the helicopter.  This was just a couple of metres from where we were standing.  Cam didn’t even freak out when it took off.  It was LOUD !!!

The city art gallery.

The stone pig in civic square.

Happy families No, they wouldn’t all look at the camera at the same time.

 

I’ll come back and do a crafty update tomorrow.  I have been very busy