Showing off the garden produce.

Honeydew Melon, tomatoes, garlic, eggplant, zucchini and capsicum. The hens are laying again so there were 2 eggs also in this mornings garden pick.

My Little man

He's just so beautiful. He's growing so quickly. He's now fitting into the wool shorties Melinda made for him. He's also wearing the "bob the builder" nappy. They both looked so huge when he was born 13 weeks ago. Do I find homes for the newborn nappies he has grown out of, or hold on to them?

Chocolate and banana cake

Recipe from here.

It's so yummy!

One Hour Scarf ...really!

I came across this wonderful pattern for using up the bits and pieces of yarn left over from other projects.

The pattern is HERE

Thank you Sharyn for sharing your great pattern!

He's growing so quickly

I find it hard to believe Michael is 13 weeks old already. The time has flown by. He and I went for our 6 week check last week .. yes I was late again. He's putting on lots of weight and is a healthy little Dragon. He had his immunisations and cried for a little while but a breastfeed cures the pain quickly.

He still hasn't worn a disposable nappy! I'm really chuffed we've managed to avoid the disposables even when away from home. Modern Cloth is so easy for quick nappy changes and at this breastfed stage dealing with the nappies is still very easy.

Swarmies = Soakers + Legwarmers

I made Michael some legwarmers and matching soakers this week. The pattern for the soakers is the Dandelions Knit Soaker. The leg warmers pattern is from Here

I'm going to make a few more of these "Swarmie" sets. And mix match the legs. Cute and practical. The leg warmers should keep his legs warm when I change his nappy this winter.

Baby Jane Blocks

A-7 Dad's Plaids
D-13 Field Of Dreams
A-6 Uncle Homer

I've caught up with my Dear Jane challenge! I really need to practice my applique and learn to use my camera.

Personality test - A little fun

You Are An ISFP

The Artist You are a gifted artist or musician (though your talents may be dormant right now). You enjoy spending your free time in nature, and you are good with animals and children. Simply put, you enjoy beauty in all its forms and live for the simple pleasures in life. Gentle, sensitive, and compassionate - you are good at recognizing people's unspoken needs. In love, you are quiet and sweet yet very passionate. You love easily. You have an underlying love for all living things, and it's easy for you to accept someone into your heart. At work, you do best in an unconventional position. You express yourself well and can work with almost anyone. You would make a good veterinarian, pediatrician, or composer. How you see yourself: Sympathetic, kind, and communicative When other people don't get you, they see you as: Incompetent, insecure, and overly sensitive

What's Your Personality Type?

A little more informations Here

Top Down Raglan Baby Sweater

Pattern: Top Down Raglan Baby Sweater
Wool: Clekheaton Country Naturals 8 ply
Start: 15 March finish: 17 March

This was made using up the left over yarn from Vestee and the crochet set. I ran short on the dark brown so finished the arms in the beige. I really enjoyed this pattern. Very little seaming.

Today was another stinking hot day. Over 40C. Tomorrow is going to be cooler which will be wonderful. I sat in front of the air conditioner knitting and nursing Michael, it was too hot to do much else.

I'm waiting on the mailman. I have a couple of parcels coming including the start of a new commission, a memory quilt and a couple of knitting books.

Homemade Tomato Sauce

6 KG Ripe Tomatoes - chopped
500 gms onions - peeled and chopped
500 gms apples - peeled and chopped
4 cloves of garlic - chopped fine
2 cups of Sugar
4 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon cloves
1 tablespoon curry powder
Chilli powder to taste
5 cups of Vinegar

Put it all into a HUGE saucepan and cook until everything is mush around 2 hours.
Push the sauce through a strainer to remove the skins, cloves and seeds.
Rapid boil until the sauce is halved.
Bottle it.


It does take ages to make but the taste is well worth it. To make the job easier I need to buy a food mill.

The tomatoes came from our garden and a friends. Our friends brought us the apples too, also grown locally. The garlic was grown in our garden.

I should be able to make a few more batches of this sauce in the coming weeks as the tomatoes will soon be at full production.

Vestee For Michael

Pattern: Vestee
Yarn : 8 ply Naturals by Cleckheaton
Needles : 4.5mm



I knitted the collar on rather than as a separate piece.

I was really happy with how this turned out. Another nice quick project that took a couple of nights in front of the tv and a car trip to Pt Pirie.

We went to Pt Pirie to pick up the cheques for the settlement of the land we are buying next door. We will have a block of about 1 acre in town next Wednesday. That should be enough space for Peter and the kids to play in. I'm looking forward to ducks and a duck pond and Peter wants to plant even more fruit trees.

I think Peter has visions of us being an Aussie version of "The Good Life" (A BBC comedy series)We won't be growing our own meat! I just can't eat something I've named.

Two new water tanks arrived last week. One more for the house and another to catch the flow from the shed for the garden.

Crochet Outfit for Michael

Pattern : Cleckheaton Master Crochet Book 957
Yarn: 8ply Country naturals by Cleckheaton
Hook size: 3mm and 4mm
Date Started: 1 March Date finished: 13 March

We're still in a heat wave here and I'm crocheting for winter! Air conditioning is a wonderful luxury. The forecast is for this heat to continue until the middle of next week ..Oh yuck!

I love the simplicity of this design. I'm trying to decide what to make next. I still have a few unfinished projects which I really should finish. Why is it so hard to finish and so easy to start a project?

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by Tikki. I have to share some stuff about myself...hmm.

Firstly, here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog
2. Share seven facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird
3. Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So here we go, seven facts hey....

Seven things ...

1. I went Bunji Jumping at Kuranda markets in Far North Queensland. I also went White water canoeing on the Tully River. I was much younger, fitter and sillier back then!

2. I've climbed Uluru (Ayers Rock).

3. I was the only teacher on a small outback community for three years. With my own power generator and silver caravans for a residence and school rooms.

4. I'm never craving apples just chocolate. I prefer Diet Coke to the real stuff and I'm a total addict. I would drink 3 litres a day if I had it in the house.

5. I've had a quilt published in Australian Patchwork and Quilting. I've had articles published in Educational Choices magazine. I've also had other articles published in a couple of smaller magazines.

6. I went to the Northern Territory for a year and stayed 16 years.

7. Peter and I were foster parents in the NT. We had the honor of looking after some of the nicest children you'd ever want to meet. I've discovered that the more children you have to love the more love you have to give. Love is the most powerful energy. Amazing stuff!

ok I'm going to tag ... YOU! Yep put your name and blog in the comments and you are it!!

Yummy garden produce

Zucchini, three varieties of tomatoes, miniature capsicum and eggplant.

We are just managing to keep the vegetable garden alive in this record heatwave. Water restrictions are making it very difficult to keep the garden alive. Many of our fruit trees were only planted last year and they are struggling.

I really resent these current water restrictions. We are careful in the house with water. The kids share baths, we only do full loads of laundry, we don't have evaporative airconditioning, we don't use a dishwasher. We are responsible with our water use. I just want to keep my garden alive!

Toesties

A nice quick knit really only took an evening in front of the TV to make a pair.

Pattern from HERE

I used Bendigo Woollen Mills Mystique 16ply

And 5mm needles because I didn't have any 4.5mm as specified by the pattern.

These would make great slippers for the kids, I'd just have to use smaller needles and thinner wool to adjust them to a child's size.

The kids have been wanting me to make them some fingerless gloves in navy so they can wear them to school in the winter. I should get started on them as winter really isn't that far away and I have 5 pairs to make! I think this is the pattern I'll use. I'll have to adjust it smaller for the kids.

Baby Dear Jane blocks C9 and B13

C9 Jane's Tears.
Reverse applique by hand





B13 Four Corner press.
Rotary cut and machine pieced.

I'm working my blocks scrappy. I lot of different cream and white backgrounds and a collection of reproductions.

A first go at learning to spin..it's all in how you hold the tongue!

Mum bought me a spinning wheel from her friend who was moving home. The Wheel is a Sleeping Beauty made in NZ I think the model is a Thumbelina. It took me a while to work out how to put the drive strings on and what to use for drive string ..I'm currently using kitchen string doubled.. no idea if this is good or bad but seems to be working.

I bought a fleece from the Craft Shop in Wirrabarra it was ready to spin no carding or scouring required. It's a Romney X, Lucinvale Coated Spinning Fleece. The lady who owns the sheep, that grew this fleece, is my hairdressers mum. If I went out to the farm at Mt Bryan I could even meet the sheep! The wool is very heavy in lanolin and if I can ever spin something knittable, I'll knit it into soakers for Michael.

My first efforts aren't even at all. Lots of unspun lumps and lots of very thin sections. I don't think this yarn will be fit to knit and lots of practice is needed but I had some fun!

Baby Dear Jane

My poor neglected baby has been dug out of the mountain of quilting fabrics and supplies. It took a while to find the little calico bag I had her stored in. But alas her tiny blocks seem to have been misplaced. I have no idea where they have gone too. I thought I had them all together with the book, the rulers and the reproduction fabrics. Oh well if they ever turn up they can be made into a cushion. It's time to start a fresh.

While surfing around the many blogs I enjoy reading I saw that my Twin Tracy had dug out her baby Jane blocks and joined a Baby Jane challenge. I'm following TwinTracy's lead and joining the challenge too.

Twin Tracy because her name is Tracy, she has multiple children, uses cloth, loves quilts and is a keen knitter too. We seem to keep finding more and more coincidences!

I have a couple of blocks to do to catch up with the challenge.

Michael's Clever Nanny

Mum made Michael this beautiful quilt. She designed it herself. It's a log cabin with lots of applique and freemotion embroidery. I addicted my mum to quilting a few years back and I think her skills are now surpassing mine. Her "stash" isn't as big as mine yet but she's working on it!

When I saw it I made the classic comment, "Oh that's too beautiful to be thrown up on!" But quickly told her it would be, as she loves her quilts to be used.

Action Shot of the girls smocks

The girls wore their new smocks to visit Nanny in Adelaide. Fern has been growing and those jeans won't fit her for much longer. Are ankle freezers in fashion?

Sort Of Dunno Nothin' - Peter Denahy

I so enjoyed this and thought you may all enjoy it too.