Crafty

I just have to share what we did today, it is so much fun crafting with a group of friends and amazingly we all got 2hrs respite from our small children to share crafty ideas and life experience. Hopefully this will be the first of many crafty get together's. We were delighted and very spoilt to have Melissia come and be our first expert/teacher with freezer paper stencils. Most of us are huge Tinyhappy fans and very inspired by Melissa's creations. Lucky, lucky us!

I stuck with a simple and pretty popular image to make patches for my "skatey boy's" pants. I'm so pleased with how it turned out and he was quite impressed with it when I got home. I did a spider as well which he told me is "a bit crooked Mum". This old reference book has some great silhouettes of NZ birds and insects which I'm going to try over the next week.

The rest of the weekend is a bit of a blur, my teenager turned 14! I baked like a madwoman to provide 8 hungry mouths with enough to sustain them while they played paintball for 3 hours thisafternoon. It was a real treat for my teenager, a birthday he'll always remember. He came home very impressed with his old Dad's ability to outwit and outlast the young fellas. I was quite emotional when I saw all his old school friends together today, I can remember most of them at his 6th birthday party and now they're all bigger than L and I and turning into awesome young men. I watched the red head (2) sitting amongst them and thought by the time he's their age they'll be 22 yr old men! It's going so fast.

space suit

A space jacket for a rocket keen 3 year old. It's got a hood and a big rocket on the back, the pants didn't photograph well and they look more disco than space man but I'm very pleased to have achieved crafts on my crafty day. The video player babysat while I sewed and the red head called out "shut up Mummy" for evey seam I sewed with the overlocker!

Bird seed bell

Yesterday at Playcentre we made these lovely bird seed bells which are so simple that with a bit of help even a 2 year old can enjoy making one. We've been eagerly looking out the kitchen window all morning to see if the finches and yellow hammers have discovered them yet. I know the're hungry at this time of year because there aren't many seeds or bugs around. Here's how to make your own bird seed bell.

YOU'LL NEED:

A variety of seeds. We bought a wild bird mix from the supermarket, but you could save corn, millet, wheat, buckwheat, radish, sunflower etc in autumn. Grind up bigger seeds like sunflower and corn.

Egg whites. 2 for every cup of seed.

Small terracotta pots.

Glad wrap or an oven bag. To line the pot.

Thin wire. So you can hang the bell.

METHOD:

Beat the egg whites till they're a bit fluffy, but not as if you're making a pavolova. Kids can do this bit. (the 2 year olds had a go at seperating the yolk from the white with messy results as you can imagine.)

Then they can pour in the seeds and stir them up while you line the terracotta pots with gladwrap. When you've done that let them spoon the mixture into the pot and flatten the top.

Take a length of straight wire make a coil at one end, then insert the straight end of wire down through the mixture then out the hole at the bottom of the pot until the coil is submerged in the seed mix. Position your pots in a cool oven, right way up with the straight bit of wire pointing down through the oven rack, for one and a half to two hours. Allow to cool then tip the bell out of the pot peel off the gladwrap. Make a loop at the top ready to hang in a tree.

An alternative to the egg whites to hold the mix together would be melted fat, you wouldn't need to cook it but I don't think it would look as nice.

In my garden

So far the plan to seperate work and craft days is going OK. Tuesday was a craft day but my dear old angora rabbit "Snuggles" died. He was very old so it was a relief that he didn't have to endure any more of the cold weather, I will miss him though he was always there to talk to when I was in the back of the vege garden and loved to eat dock and chickweed while I gardened. He was a good listener too. Luckily a friend came by for a visit because I couldn't have concentrated on sewing anyway.

After work today I got about an hour in the garden to plant seeds and have a good poke around. The small children helped to sow pea, corriander and rocket seed and skatey boy covered a path with mulch. My old asparagus patch is getting some new babies this year, I was delighted to see these tiny spears poking up in a seed box. I've just about had my fill of winter veges and am dreaming of replacing brassicas and root vege for asparagus, salad greens and tomatoes.A peek at my new favorite bag. I fall in love with about one in every three bags I make, the lining on this one started life as a shirt, it looks much better in my bag. Somebody's getting all the vintage and retro fabric around here lately and it's not me. I'm getting withdrawal from the buzz you get having got an op shop or garage sale treasure. I settled for some fruity prints from the interior design shop today. They sell off bits from their sample books usually they're pretty awful but I found some with potential. Watch this space for fruity bags.

Finding a balance

Crafting and gardening seem to have taken a back seat in my world for a couple of weeks and when I stop long enough to realise it I get a bit resentful. I like to keep busy and involved with my childrens activities, work and volunteering but it seems it's all out of balance again. With the arrival of my seed catologues and a warm spell I want to be gardening not filling out forms and making phone calls. In the evening I'd rather be sewing than working on assignments! I don't quite know how to tip the balance back again either because I like to finish what I have started and committed myself to. I may try setting myself sacred crafting/gardening days which work and volunteering will not interfere with. I found this bag while op shopping last week. It's such a cute and simple design, I'm going to replace the fabric cos it's pretty stained, then I might have a go with L's skill saw to make a few extra sets of handles. The challenge will be to scedule in that free day in which to give it a go. At least I know I'm not alone it seems to be a recurring theme amongst busy Mums. My daughter PJ revealed last week her new favorite colour is brown not pink or mauve any more like all the other 5 year old girls, yay for being unique! I made her the skirt this afternoon when the rain set in outside, she'll be able to wear it to school this week and I feel a whole lot better for getting something other than paper/computer work finished.

Yesterday to keep my mind off the dentist I whipped up a couple of shoulder bags for 2 friends who's birthdays are coming up, I didn't want to do anything too tricky as I was having trouble focussing. This pattern is so simple but the result is lovely. You can check out the tutorial here at Tiny Happy. Thanks Melissa for sharing such a neat pattern, I know my friends will love their presents and I'm going to make one for me too. In the evening the kids helped me fossick through the button tins to pick out the buttons. Skatey boy has a really good eye he chose them both. I could also refer to him as arty boy or sensitive boy he's very complex.The dentist went well, not too painful on my wallet and as I had braces as a kid the needles didn't freak me out too much. I was more scared of a root canal or them telling me the tooth needed to come out. I can't afford to loose any more, 4 came out for the braces when I was 12 and I had 4 wisdom teeth out after PJ was born, if I loose any more I'll have to mouli all my food. The dentist congratulated me on the overall good condition of my teeth and asked if I'd had flouride as a kid which we did. I immediatley felt like a rotton mother as I havn't given my kids flouride tablets or immunisations fearing unknown responces later in life and I've seen anaphilactic shock and it scared me so much. I often second guess myself on these descions and would be interested to know weather other young mums give flouride to their children and if not why not? Is there any research to suggest it's damaging?
My first day back at work today and I've lost my voice entirely. No I wasn't yelling too much! My cold developed into laryngitis. My workmates found it quite amusing it's really frustrated me and it better come back by tomorrw afternoon because I've got parent teacher interviews with the grumpy teen's English, Math and Science teachers. I need to find out what's up in English especially because it was one of his strongest subjects at primary school. He tells me he hates the teacher. Anyone got any home remedy's for a lost voice? I'm drinking allsorts of herb teas hoping I'll strike one that does the trick.

Mid winter break's over

I'm feeling revived after having a break from work. It's been very busy although not so productive on the craft or garden front. I've been visiting friends which always revives me. Everybody has their fires burning as we've had bitterly cold weather. It's quite alot colder than last winter. I had another frightening power bill which inspired me to put pots on top of our poxy woodburner in an effort to save some money. The water doesn't boil but it's hot enough to do the dishes in or warm up the bath or put in the kids hotties. If I won lotto this winter I'd put in a wetback fire or solar panels. Batts in the roof would probably help too. I can forget saving for it this year though as I need to visit the dentist tomorrow, I have a killer toothache! I've been sewing but only bags and booties which are my sure sellers. I'm dying to develop some new stock but feel like I havn't got time to sew things then change my mind, adjust patterns, rip seams etc. So I've stuck to things I can do in my sleep so to speak. For a couple of days my tooth was too sore for me to do anything other than feel sorry for myself, I read blogs those days and am delighted some bloggers who were having breaks are back on the scene.
My baby turned 2. The Red Head celebrated his birthday with his Granny fresh back from holiday in Australia. His volcabulary is really coming along now with his favorite phrase being " no I don't want to" and he's suddenly very intereseed in potty training, Yay.
I survived the first Aid course, no hairy fishermen or forestry workers which was actually a bit of a let down, after all I'd talked myself into it. The best part of the weekend was a visit to the fabric shop after the course and scoring a whole lot of fabric for $1 a metre.

The last few frosty fine days have been spent spreading a bit of hay. I was given enough to feed a horse but it had got wet and soggy so the horse's loss is my garden's gain! Willow is looking for mice under the compost cover. They pretty safe as long as they stay in the middle and she'll be amused for ages.

The chooks are in the good books

The chooks are happy to have been let out to browse in the garden over the last few days and have rewarded me with an egg on the most dismal winter day yet, a medium sized brown egg so it wasn't from one of my new black Minorca chooks which lay lovely white eggs. It made my day! Can you tell I lead a simple life when and egg delights me?
The chooks having wheat to warm their bellies before dark. The speckled bantams are Pekins, the white are Light Sussex I think, and the black are the Minorcas. The bright red comb shows me who's laying or about to lay.


I'm on holiday from tomorrow. I'll be trying hard to get all my paperwork up to date so I can have a crafty break. My diary for the holidays is filling up pretty quick though so I'll have to pencil in craft days or I'll miss out. The garden is dying for some attention too, it's about the time to tackle the brambles and berry canes and move a few things about. I planted a new addition last weekend, a delicious greengauge plum. I've easily got six weeks to finish all the winter pruning, but better get all the garlic in by the end of the holidays.
Next weekend I have to update my First Aid certificate I'm hoping I don't get stuck in with a whole lot of forestry workers or fishermen, cos I don't fancy putting a big hairy bloke in the recovery position, I know I've totally lost my sense of adventure! You won't hear from me unless get totally bored with being on holiday.
Thanks for all the comments lately it's great to meet people, I can't always reply, but enjoy stopping by new blogs and old favorites.

Winter Blues

I'd like to say that I spent the rainy weekend creating and finishing all sorts of marvelous projects but the truth is. I argued with the teenager who keeps asking me why when I tell him something. "Take a coat for after Soccor" "Why, I don't need one!" "Four hours is long enough on the computer, hop off please" "Why, that's so unfair"

I tried not to get into a debate about it so he said "Why aren't you answering me?" Holy Moley I thought toddlers were bad, I had no idea did I?

The mountains of wet washing for a family of 6 can be quite a mission too. I don't believe in dryers, they make me feel lazy and like I'm wasting electricity but sometimes I wish I wasn't so damn stubborn about them. I never seem to get on top of the washing at this time of year. L did however build me a fancy new drying rack for over the fire on saturday, it was a pity I was in too much of a snotty mood to say thanks when he put it up. It's actually working a charm and skatey boy loves to load it and hoist it up, so that's a bonus. I sound like a real moaner, I'm not I promise. I made myself laugh later as L had said "what do you want me to do to help" my very irrational reply was " Push that bloody kitchen wall out so we've got some room for a start!" Sound like cabin fever? I'm better today the sun is out.

I'm quite liking frost photos and I'm still glad I'm not a plant, my fingers froze by the time I took the last one. It's good to have freezing nights to kill off these little critters , but some of my lovelies are coming to a sorry end. The lemon grass was one I really would have liked to get through winter but the huge clump in the glasshouse is brown now. I should have learned my lesson but I live in hope of a mild winter to allow things to get established. Confession: I have killed (by neglect) though I tried my best, 7 passionfruit vines, 2 tree tomatoes and the afore mentioned lemongrass. I have rushed 2 lemongrass babies inside for some intensive care but the dry heat from the fire will probably kill them too. I guess I shouldn't wish for mild winters either we don't want things to get out of banance do we? I can't believe it's only a week to the shortest day, that's something to look foward to. We had a bonfire celebration last weekend up the valley which the kids loved, hopefully there will be something on this week too. Mum's away in Aussie so I need to keep the kids occupied on the weekends. Now much as I'd like to check in on all my favorite blogs and sit by the fire, I'd better go and use my day off wisely.