Bad, bad, bad

I got an email from Fishpond this morning that contained a $10 off voucher, however it’s only valid till midnight tonight.  Oh those evil people there sure know that I have a huge wishlist of lovely crafty books that I would love to get.  I’ve been surfing the net most of this afternoon, mostly hunting down some fabric for a quilt that a friend has asked me to make, but sometimes having a quick look on Fishpond, adding another book or two to my wishlist.  It’s pretty hard to resist a discount, plus free shipping for orders over $50. Grrrr. If only December wasn’t full of birthday’s as well as the dreaded Xmas, and a bunch or school camps to be paid for in the next week or two.

So, this evening while trying not to spend money online I checked out this blog, and discovered that today’s post is about a giveaway.  I love the quilt’s on this blog, as well as the personal touches.  I’d love a quilt like that for Cam’s cot.  I think it would look great with some yellow, aqua and lime colours

I think next post I will share some other blogs that i love to read, as I’m too slack to add a list to my sidebar.

I did get the baby shoes finished, but only got 5 bibs cut out ready to sew.  I’m not convinced I’ll have time to sew them up tomorrow as Cam has his first dental check up in the morning, we have a visit to Quilter’s Lane, and then visitors in the afternoon.  Good thing there is no definite time frame for them.

Okay, off to read the rest of the blogs for the day, then off to bed.  I will not buy any books today

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Mmmmm Asparagus

Ian and I really love Asparagus.  It always seems like the season is so short.  We are very lucky that we have friends who grow lots, so it was a lovely to be given some on the weekend. I even got to eat some that i picked myself from the paddock.  It’s fantastic raw, I really like it just to munch on.

I got a bit of sewing done on the weekend (though not as much as i would have liked).  This stack of nappies for Cam was high on my list.

I did a selection of styles, because it’s really hard to get a decent fit on him at the moment.  3 fit well, 2 are marginal, and 2 are too big (and yes it would be the rainbow one ).  So he still needs a couple more.  I’m tempted to try velcro closings, but know that he would be able to take them of himself   It will have to wait though, as I really need to get onto a few other jobs, like the shoes for Kaiyah and Iris that i need to do today.  Later today or tomorrow I will make the 2 nappies and 4 bibs for the gift basket I’m making.

The fabric I had ordered for Matt’s new quilt arrived in the post today, really impressed with the service at Grandmother’s Garden.  I ordered the fabric on Sunday, and it was here this morning, pretty good for rural delivery.  I’m not going to show a pic of the fabric, you’ll have to wait till it’s made.  The pattern is in ‘Last Minute Quilted and Patchwork Gifts’ book, page 90.

I went back to sewing class last night.  I wasn’t going to go this term, as finances are a bit tight, but i sold a few craft items, so was able to afford it.  It was nice to feel like I really fit in there and had been missed   It was good to work on the free motion part of my quilt which has been sitting in the cupboard for quite a while.

We got plenty of gardening done on the weekend, even in the rain on Sunday.  Ian dug another garden bed, so I think we are up to 8 now.  Most of the seeds I planted early last week have come up, so I know we will have to space for them. 

We had so much rain last week that our tanks were overflowing again.  A wonderful sight as we had to buy in water the first week of Nov last year.  I’m pleased that our grey water recycling is set up too, at least the plants will be okay this summer.

We had the pleasure of going to a friends wedding on Saturday.  It was a really nice ceremony, it was a second wedding for both the bride and groom, and was a nice relaxed event.  We were home fairly early though as Cam was not feeling great after having been up at the hospital the night before with bad Croup.  He’s still really snotty and coughing heaps even today. 

Okay, now everything is up to date. I can relax.  Ian had been harassing me to get this updated, so he knows what I’ve been up to while he’s at work. 

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Gardening challenge update

I was given a present yesterday.

My neighbour gave me 7 tomato seedlings, which are Oxheart, a good saucing variety and a pumpkin seedling.  Isn’t that nice.  We don’t have many neighbours, so it’s nice these are good ones

These are my beetroot seedlings.  Planted a couple of weeks ago.  I read in the Vegetable growing book that i shouldn’t plant beetroot in fresh manure, so I’m hoping the compost isn’t too strong for them.  I read the book after planting them out of course.  I did plant half in another garden. I can’t wait until I can make some lovely beetroot soup.

Broad beans:-), yes Mum i know i thought i would never eat these, but they sure taste different than the nasty grey frozen ones.  My friend Clare cooked some up in a meal for me last summer, and they were great (a bit like large peas), so I was gifted a packet of seeds for Xmas last year.  I’ve only planted a few, so we’ll have to see how it goes.

I don’t have pics but last weekend Ian fenced of half the small gum tree paddock (where the big trees came down) so we can expand a bit more.  A new potato bed has been dug not far from the first one. We will plant out in that this weekend.  We are hoping to plant 4 lots of spuds this year.  A family of 6 goes through a few

 All the radishes and carrots are coming on nicely, and we will be able to plant out some more vege seedlings this weekend.

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Cloth baby shoes

Pattern found here.  This is a really easy pattern, and is the only soft shoe I’ve found that actually stays on babies feet.  I have made it in cotton, with leather soles for non slip (suede side out), all leather, which is very hard wearing and minky, which look pretty, but won’t last as long.  I made a some for Iris last week, and I’m working on some for my niece, some for a new baby basket I’m putting together at a friends request and of course a couple of spares for trading

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Flannel Quilt

The pattern called this a psychedelic frayed flannel quilt.  Mine is much more subdued that the one in the pattern, and these were the brightest fabrics that i could find.  It has turned out lovely though, very warm and snuggly.  Lots of work though, more than i expected.

I’ve been making heaps of pencil rolls too.

Now that I’ve finished the quilt i can get on with a few other jobs on the list.  Next up is baby shoes and nappy covers.

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Ouch!

Must have been Karma.  I was posting on a thread this morning on TNN about free ranging kids, mentioning that i was pleased that the kids seem to be much less accident prone than my siblings and I were, not long after I stubbed my foot into a large sleeper of wood and broke my toe.  It hurt so much I didn’t even swear.  Actually I didn’t even take my sock off to inspect the damage for about half an hour, till Ian came home for morning tea.

So two and a half hours was wasted of this lovley day up and A and E getting it X-rayed and strapped.  It looked more dislocated than broken, but it was.  Of the three bones in the toe the bottom one is broken

So after checking the break was in the right place the Doctor gave it a yank to pull in back into line.  Not very nice at all.  No walking on it for a couple of days.

The kids are running around after me this afternoon, but it is very frustrating having to ask them to do things for me.

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And the winner was……………

Mazz, who suggested the name “Neville”. Both Ian and I really liked that name, it just seemed to fit him well.  So Mazz your coffee and chocolate is on it’s way to a letterbox near you (hopefully yours) .

I”m beavering away on a bunch of pencil roll orders, so I’ll update with other stuff later, sufice to say the gale norwester hammered the beans, so I better grow some more

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Almost a year to the day……….

On the 8th of October we had two of our huge gum trees come down (onto the state highway no less) in the high winds.  Today (7th of Oct) we lost another gum tree out in the paddock in the high wind.  Freaky huh?  Here’s a pic of the critters checking it out when we let them back into the paddock this afternoon, we had put them in the stable during the really bad stuff.

The winds were so high that Ian worked from home, as the hill road was closed nearly all day.  I’m glad it’s settled a bit now, but still it put a bit of a dampener on the school holidays.

Keep those entries coming for naming the sheep, the draw will be tomorrow evening.

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Name the sheep……..

Wehad another arrival at the farm yesterday.  Friends of ours kindly gave us one of last years lambs, as the ewe that we sent to their place to visit the ram lambed prematurely and both the lamb and the ewe died.  I guess that is just the luck of the draw.  So now we have a black sheep.  I have to say the Shirley looks pretty fat compared to him.  We put him in the next door paddock last night, and then let him in with Brian and Shirley this morning.  I think Shirley is still chasing him around. 

Brian looks less than impressed at having another sheep in the paddock.

So, the new sheep needs a name.  It’s a boy, no longer entire (a wether), almost a year old.  This time I’m letting Ian decide the winner of the name comp, which is open till Wednesday evening 8pm.  So get those ideas rolling in.  Up for grabs is a some fair trade coffee and chocolate

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A work in progress

I’m working on a cute flannel quilt at the moment.  I like working with flannel, it’s lovely and soft, but a bit of a pain in the butt to cut as it doesn’t always sit straight.  Here is a wee sample of how it’s coming along.

That just 12 out of 56 blocks on the quilt. It’s a quilt as you go project, and the block are all joined  seam up, which gets frayed edges.  Looks pretty cool, it will be good to see it finished.  Unfortunately I’m unlikely to be able to keep it when I’m finished, as I need some $$ to finish off Lilly’s quilt before Xmas.  So if anyone looking at this blog fancies a handmade psychedelic fray edged flannel quilt, let me know (to go on a single bed).

You can always tell at our place when it’s nearly shopping day, it gets a bit like Old Mother Hubbards place, so I get baking.  If there’s plenty of baking I spend less at the Supermarket.  I don’t buy commercial biscuits or museli bars anymore, haven’t for months.  The kids have adjusted well to the change. 

Today’s effort was American Brownie, which is the easiest one i’ve made yet, and has few ingredients, Chelsea Museli Bar, again very easy (can you tell i like easy baking), I add about 2 cups of dried fruit though, not just one cup (usually sultanas, apricots and dates, yum), and last but not least Crockpot bread.  Now i feel like i can do the shopping list without adding any extras.  Right, I’m off to make the menu for the fortnight before making my list.  It will be a very budget shop as the truck failed it’s WOF and it going to cost me about $200 tomorrow.  Bugger!

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