Pride comes before a fall

Well maybe not really a fall, but still maybe I should be a bit more humble about my day’s work.  After all the lovely things in the past two days, I was left with almost three hours of housework that i had to get on with this morning.  All the horrible dishes that didn’t fit in the dishwasher, vacuuming, and two loads of washing, oh and last nights toy pick up.  That will learn me aye?  And lets not forget feeding the critters too (in my dressing gown and gumboots no less).  I did finally manage to get dressed at about 10.30 just before Mum got here for a visit.  Cam was very obliging and had a nice afternoon sleep, and I was able to sew up his new waterproof overalls.  I think they turned out pretty good, the fit well, and yes they do have dirty marks on them already (from trying them on and rolling on the floor), but I”m sure there is worse to come, and that’s what they are for anyway.

I even did double cuffs (one goes inside the gumboots, and one outside) like a well known brand available.  I did have plans for a rain poncho as well, but i might need to make one without a hat and maybe sew a souwester type hat, as Cam hates hoods, but will wear a separate hat.  Mmmm, might have to think on that.

Now as a reply to a comment on the last post, just because it’s too long to go in the comments section   Mama-2-many, thanks for your comment, I’m flattered that you are reading my blog   I only wish that with my older kids I’d had the confidence in my own abilities with regards to Home Schooling, which is way above any other kind in my opinion.  I wish I had been able to meet people like all the ladies on TNN who are keen to share their knowledge and experiences on educating at home.  Maybe I will get there before Cam gets to “school age”.  In the mean time, we will have fun learning as much as we can at home. 

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Home educating :-)

Haha, bet that got your attention.

Cam and I have been doing a fair bit of exploring around the place in the last couple of weeks.  Last week while out mushroom picking in the paddock we checked out all the worms underneath the cow poos.  Big worms, fun to try and catch.  Cam had fun tryng to cary them without letting them fall off.  A few days before that we were checking out some baby snails (can’t find any big ones), he liked watching it crawling along.  Today I found a dead blackbird when I went out to weed the garden.  Must have hit the window and died.  Bummer for the bird, but Cam got a real close up look.

He even carried it around for a while.  It was very soft.

When the big kids got home we played shaking the tree to make the leaves fall down.

We are lucky here that apart from the pines and the fruit trees most of the others are evergreen, so while we get some lovely autumn colour, we don’t get too much mess. Though I would love a maple or two

Here are the pics from my last post.

The dressing gown, well into being used now.

No pic of the track pants, the fleece ones were good, and the brown sweat shirting, but the blue ones shrunk almost two inches in length when washed   That will teach me not to pre wash all my fabric aye?

The leeks.

And the tired troops home from camping in the rain.

The lovely Gypsy left a nice comment yesterday, so i was feeling all fired up, and by lunchtime yesterday I had made fruit buns for afternoon tea, a loaf of grain bread, and the casserole for dinner. Of course I was shattered after all that, but went out and weeded the main vege garden (well some of it). 

 The baking was because I didn’t buy any muesli bars with the last shop (almost two weeks ago), so the troops needed something to eat.  The fruit buns are great as it makes 20 and there is only 2 teaspoons of sugar in the whole mix (oh and a little for icing, but it’s pretty thin).

I have also stopped using pack mix stuff for casseroles, and I must admit the flavour is better, and not so heavy either.  Jeez I won’ have to buy much next time I shop, now that I’m not buying so much processed food.  Anyway here is my bread.

And if only there was smellovision……………

No sewing got done though.  Bummer.

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Hello out there :-)

Just a quick update, as I’m too lazy to add pics tonight.

My quilting course on Saturday was fun.  A little daunting for me though, as there is no pattern for our quilts, its all about getting creative.  The lady teaching us is a guru and has beautiful quilts in shows and magazines all round the world.  My quilt top is about 70% finished, and I have a few weeks before our next days sewing, but the top needs to be finished in time as next class we will be learning free motion quilting.  Scary stuff!

I made Cam’s spare dressing gown finally on Sunday, and a matching pair of fleece slippers, which have been getting a lot of wear.  I have a pic, and will load in next time I’m on here.

Today I made 3 jars of pickled capsicums, from our home grown capsicums, which Ian picked on Saturday.  They are green, so I hope they will still taste okay.  I guess we will know in a few weeks   Ian also dug up the last of our Karaka potatoes. Yum.  Tonight I harvested the first two leeks.  We’ve never had much success with them before, they are usually too woody in the middle, but we seem to have it right this time.  We had them with with dinner and they were great.  Not huge, not baby ones either (maybe adolescent ones?), I wish we had more planted, as they are one of my favourite veges.

I made Cam two pairs of track pants today, as he is going through two or three pairs of pants a day getting wet and muddy out in the garden, so it will be good to have some quick drying ones.  I have another pair to make up tonight, then I might made him a couple of matching tops, or I might not, cause I might get distracted by shiny things.

Nathan and Lilly seem to have had the most awesome time away at Scout camp on the weekend.  It rained the whole time they were there, but they  still had fun, cooking, tying knots, hiking, playing with pocket knives etc.  They came home whole (and with bags stuffed with wet and dirty clothes), so it’s all good.  They tell me there is another camp in few weeks to go to Worth every penny I say!

Well folks that about all for tonight, see you next time, same place, same channel.  Keep those comments coming, love to know who’s out there!

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Shhhhhh !

It’s very quiet here at the moment (about time too).  Ian has taken the kids to see the circus, and Cam is in bed, so it’s just me and my computer   I have given instructions for them to bring me home some candyfloss, yum.  Last time they went to the circus Lilly was only about 2 (now she’s 10) so it’s been a while.  Not that i felt like giving them a treat after the way they were behaving this afternoon, but I needed the rest from them.  Lilly and Nathan go away tomorrow afternoon, until late Sunday arvo on a Scout camp up at Mt Holdsworth, so it will be a quiet weekend too.  I am out almost all day Saturday doing another quilting course.  I wasn’t planning another for a while and was on the waiting list to do this course when it comes the third time, later in the year, but they had a cancellation and I was offered a place.  My tutor from Tuesday sewing class is doing it too, so it will be nice to have someone I know there.  Its a 3 day course, run once a month over 3 months.  I have no fabric put aside for this, so I’m off shopping tomorrow to get fabric (yay), maybe this time I will come out with a quilt that I will like for our room.  I was going to get Cam’s quilt professionally quilted this week, but now I’m paying course fees instead.  Never mind, I think he will wait.  I had some nappies made up that still didn’t fit Cam well, so I’ve put the on the trading post on TNN, hopefully they will sell and that will help pay for my fabric

I made this rabbit toy today (i know it looks like a fox with long ears), my second attempt at a soft toy ever.  Hmmm funny the other one didn’t turn out that well either.  If it were made of non stretch fabric I’m sure it would look worse.  Minky is very forgiving   I had a pattern, but no instructions, so I really had no idea how to sew the parts together.  It looked great when it was still in pieces.  I think the body is upside down, but what the hey, Cam won’t notice, and I think Lilly and Nathan like it more than him.  I might have another go with better fabric, and check out some instruction on sewing it together.

I got out a pair of mittens I was given for Cam today, as he loves to play outside in the cold.  HE thinks they are great, but they don’t stay on very well, I will have to make him some fleece ones.

 

Here he is in his little dirt patch by the driveway.  I dug some spuds out of here a few weeks ago, and he moved in afterwards.  He likes it more than the sandpit.  In the mornings he stands and the back door saying “tractor”, until i let him out to play.  Cute.

Don’t you love the way spiderwebs look in the morning with the dew still on them?  We had heaps on the hedge.  Pity I hate spiders. 

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Updates

Here is the update on the sleepout, for all of you who have been asking about the progress.  It’s hard to see how much work has gone into it from the pics, but basically most of it has been replaced, lots of framing, and interior and exterior cladding, powerpoints added and lights added and switches moved into the room (instead of the garage), pink batts in (nice and warm in there now )  The next jobs are to close off the old door to the garage and reclad that wall (the only one left to do), but we need to get more batts and another sheet of ply first.  All the skirting and architraves (sp?) need doing, then new carpet installed.  I am in the process of making up the roman blinds.  I think that is all, then move the boy in.  Hooray !

While i’m doing updates, here are recent pics of the critters (taken tonight).

Brian

Big cow

And Shirley

All the critters are looking pretty good, and are enjoying the lush autumn grass.  They currently have access to all 3 small paddocks, and we have shut of the big paddock in an attempt to get some decent growth in there (mushrooms are growing).  The chooks are not laying   So much for my young ones coming onto lay before winter.

I spent most of the weekend sewing curtains for the lounge, I got them all done (3 sets), and this morning did half of the ones for the dining room.  Looks like I might even get our room done with the fabric as well.  Not bad, I got 15m of 2.35 drop curtain fabric from TM for $86.  The colour is what we wanted, however we now have to wait until spring to paint the walls, the curtains don’t really go very well with the lime green walls. Here’s a pic of the old and new together (check ones are old).

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Animal, Vegetable, Miracle……….

Well, the book is awesome, I’m still only a couple of chapters through.  It’s funny that I’m so into it, as I’m usually a skeptic about most things.  However eating locally (and mostly what you grow yourself), or at least within your country is a subject close to my heart.  So today I upped the ante at home a bit (not Ian is as happy about it as me ).  I took $100 of the shopping $$ for the fortnight (a quarter of the budget) and did so local shopping.  A trip to the butchers, where most of the produce was local (Wairarapa), or at least from NZ (noCanadian pork products thanks).  Then the local fruit and vege shop, again some local, some no so local, and then to a vegetable grower just down the road from us, to get some extra vege, all grown a few kilometers from our place.  Here’s what I got……………

3kg of Gala apples, 1.5kg of Onions, a squash, 2kg of Feijoas, 2 parsnips, 3 ears of corn, 3 capsicum, a golden beetroot, ham, organic bacon, spicy chicken sausages (no fillers) and salami.  All grown and produced locally. (Plus 4kg of sauce tomatoes and a cucumber not in the picture).

2kg of Oranges, 2kg of Mandarins, 1.5kg of carrots, Smoked Hoki, Teriyaki pork steaks and some garlic bread.  All from elsewhere in NZ.

Not bad for a first go.  I do buy some local veges usually, but not as much as I got today, and I hardly ever go to the butcher.  We are better off than a lot of other people as the freezer is still half full of the last cow, which saves us a lot of money.  I will still be doing the regular shopping at Pak n Save tomorrow, but I won’t have to get as much as in previous shops.

 I have also switched to using all Eco Store cleaning products, which is good for the septic tank and our grey water recycling system.  They seem to go a lot further than what I was using, so the extra cost means it works out about the same.

Here’s yesterdays preserving.  Green tomato jam.  A bit strange, being sweet and not like a relish or chutney, but Ian and Nathan really like it.  I did 2kg of tomatoes and ended up with four small jars and four large jars. I also finally reboiled the tomato and chilli jam i made few weeks back, and it has set this time.

Today i made a loaf of grain bread (gone now), and 2 batches of roasted tomato sauce (good for just about anything).  Not too bad an effort, but no sewing done.

Here is a pic of the bag that Mum got from me for Mothers Day.

And Cam got this rattle (music maker) from his Grandad Kev, who is great with wood.  Neat isn’t it? I have to stop the older kids from playing with it all the time (it one of those tactile things people can’t stop playing with).

 

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Alrightly then

Here i am back again in only 2 days, by popular demand, hows that for efficient?  Always glad to know when I’ve been missed

I had a bit of a think about last week, I did do some sewing, can’t believe I forgot about it! Doh! I made two bags last week, one of Mum (for Mother’s Day), and one for the TNN Mothers Day swap.  Forgot to take pics though.  Maybe Mum will read this and send me a pic of her one so I can add it on here.  Quite a cute little bag (well I think so anyway).

 

I was a bit of a slacker and didn’t go to sewing class tonight.  Given that I have finished two quilt tops in the last week it probably wasn’t too important.  I have decided due to the size of the quilts that I will send both away to be quilted, so I haven’t got a project to work on tonight anyway.  I will sort out a cushion pattern to make from the scraps of each I think.  Probably a good idea as I will need my pennies to pay for the quilting and have no more to buy fabric for the three other quilts that I now need to make.  No hurry aye?  I’m sure I can find some other sewing (or gardening) to do.

I was busy yesterday and finally made Cam’s sleepsack.  Organic cotton outer, cotton batting inner (bottom half only) and superfine Merino inner.  Very cosy.  Now I can give Clare back her Go-go bag It’s only been on my need to sew list for about 3 months.  Used it last night and the  boy was toasty warm this morning when I got him out of his cot.

Speaking of gardening, I have about a kilo of green tomatoes rescued from the plants that the frost killed last week.  I think tomorrow may be the day for trying out the green tomato jam recipe that Allie gave me.

 

I have been reading a bit of my new book (see the last post), fascinating, loving it, feeling quite virtuous about our attempts to grow our food, and feeling lucky to live in a temperate environment.  Learnt quite a bit about growing asparagus (yum, yum), which a friend of ours grows, so I will be going on a little field trip to check theirs out.  They have masses of walnut trees as well, so I am going to see if I can do a swap for some jam or something.  It does make me feel guilty about having neglected our winter planting a bit, but I always feel limited, knowing that growing broccoli and cauli is a waste of time   The feijoas are looking a lot better now we’ve had some rain, looking forward to harvesting in a month or so.

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Happy Mother’s Day

I know its been ages, but sometimes I just can’t get on in the interweb cause others are doing their thing too.  Ian has been working hard and is sometimes on at night, and there would be very few nights that Matt isn’t on it too.  Makes for a very slow time uploading pics and stuff, so sometimes I just give it a miss.  Now I’m back so here’s our update (well what I can remember of it anyway)

Mother’s day was really nice.  Ian got up to Cam this morning and I got a sleep in, and breakfast in bed (pancakes with maple syrup and peaches), yum.  Nathan and Lilly then came in with the pressies that they had made me at Scouts this week.  Really cool.  A pair of earrings and a phone charm from each of them.

Matt got me a neat fairy for my collection (which hasn’t been added to for ages).  Not bad considering I stated that pressies were not essential, and a day out would be just as good.  We were going to do the Zoo, but the weather wasn’t very good, so that will wait for another day.  Ian cooked a superb roast chicken for dinner too.  Time for dessert after I have finished on the computer

Friday was my night class for the “fat quarter frenzy” quilt top.  6pm till midnight (plus 2 hours at home on Saturday), and here is the result.  Very Austin Powers “Yeah baby”

Lilly is in love with it (which is good, cause I’m not sure that it’s right for our room now).  It turned out huge (almost 2m square), and I just have one very small piece to fix up on one of the borders and I will be sending it off to the quilters to be professionally quilted.  I have found a really nice fabric to back it with, now to pay for it.

Last week i harvested half of our 2nd crop of potatoes.  A newish variety called Karaka.  We had some with our dinner tonight.  They are very yum. A creamy white potato.  I will have to dig up the rest soon as they are in a place that gets flooded in winter.  We also picked the capsicums, chillies and eggplants.  Not a bad crop.

 

We had had heaps of rain.  45mm on Friday night alone.  Another game of soccer cancelled (you can tell I’m heartbroken), however hockey was still on.  Nathan had a really good game, and the team won 6-3.

I didn’t really do any sewing last week, so nothing to show there.

Oh, nearly forgot to mention the two pressies I got in the post this week.  I took part in a handmade bag swap on TNN and the Mother’s Day swap on TNN.  They both turned up this week.  The bag I got was what i would called a satchel (or messenger bag).  Made from black vinyl and lined with really lovely fabric inside.  Here is a pic.  I really like that Nikki made me something useful and not too frivolous.

The Mothers Day swap was very kind to me.  I got the new Barbara Kingsolver book “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle”, which I am so raring to read. A bar of fair trade chocky (how did they know I’m a secret chocoholic, I didn’t think I had posted about my “Big Nuts” addiction”), which I had a little taste of today, very Yum, a bar of fair trade soap and a scented candle.  Such good pressies, and The sender really took time out to get things the i would love. So if you are reading this, you’re a star!

One last pic.  The Scouts who did the Anzac day parade got a badge, its very cool, wish that i had one!

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Sew from stash stuff

Just two more pics for the day.  Finished the other two pairs of overalls.  Here are the blue cord ones (pic is quite dark).

And these are my favourite ones Got this stunning fabric and made Cam some overalls ages ago, and they didn’t fit.  I gave them to my sister for her baby, but have a sneaking suspicion that they won’t get worn as they aren’t girlie enough .  Lucky I had some more fabric, so more were made.  I used this pattern last week and found it too long in the leg, so instead of shortening the leg I used this nice stripe fabric as a contrast to turn up, so the length can be turned down as he grows (I know, but I am an optimist)  

Now i need to get him a couple of plain coloured skivvies to wear underneath them.  The stripe fabric doesn’t hold shape well enough to make a top, so will have to use it for lining things.

 

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A feast of pictures

Anyone would think it was winter here, forget Canterbury, this was taken from the backyard yesterday morning.  Brrrrrrrrrrr. Glad the fire was going inside. I’m not one to enjoy snow really.  That’s close enough for me.  Probably due to the two times we went  skiing on school trips, and I ended up injured both times.  Really its cold, wet and hard!  Still i do admire those who can ski or snowboard, and I would go and brave the horrid stuff to give the kids a chance to enjoy it (one day).

This was one of the wasp nests that Ian removed from the inside of the sleepout roof today.  Lucky they were all gone (thanks to a little help from pyrethrum poison a few weeks ago), quite small really.

This little mini one was up there as well.  Hard to judge the size from a pic, but this was only about the diameter of a 50 cent piece (old money, not new).

Then there was this mass of dead vegetation, and you will have to guess what was living in that.  Probably a few birds (there used to be a few holes in the side), and mice as well.  No rats, hooray.  Freaking  things creep me out!

And this pic, just cause its cute.

And this one cause it a mixture of cute and freaky all at the same time.  That must be one huge brain the boy is hiding in there!

 

I need to bugger off now and get something constructive done.  Like some sewing.  I sorted out my fabric yesterday, as we bought one of those pantry kind of cupboards for all my sewing stuff.  Am I a bit anally retentive for grouping all my fabric by type?  Possibly, but it’s tidy, if slightly intimidating, all that fabric needs sewing.  And none of my nappy stuff is in there (it’s in hibernation as we surely don’t need any more nappies), and I still have a bit to add.  I will take a pic tomorrow.

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