The bag goes to...

Shaken round in my peg basket, congratulations Helen.

Bags available for sale at Mapua Easter Fair and maybe online later in the year if I can get organised enough.

2008 Harvesting

The last two days have been lovely. I'm beginning to think staying home in the garden all day would be the best way for me to keep my emotions on an even keel because I feel relaxed and satisfied after doing it. It is hard to see all the goodies in the garden as they are getting overtaken by weeds and seeds but I know where to look and was thrilled to find all these chillies, tomatoes and peppers that were red and not rotten hiding under the rampant growth in the tunnel house. Now I just need to make the right contacts to be bartering these goodies with. When I was a teenager there was a green dollar system set up here in town. Wouldn't it be great to be able to use your sewing, baking and gardening skills to pay the plumber, Dr, mechanic etc. I suppose it would be a nightmare to administer and before any of you suggest it, no I'm not up to it at all!Look at that though, real milk with inches of cream on top. Guess what I bartered for this? Live rats! I know! Brilliant!

Keep the comments coming below to be in for a bag, remember to add your name/contact. I'll draw it sometime on the weekend. I'm quite excited.

Belated 100th post giveaway

I'd been looking forward to doing the 100th post giveaway but when I looked I was up to 105. I've really enjoyed sharing my garden, crafts and family challenges benefiting alot from the feedback I've been receiving. Bloggers are a great bunch. My favorites make me laugh, make me think, and inspire me often. Thanks so much.

The top bag is my current favorite and if I didn't already have about 10 bags I'd keep it for myself. I'd love to give it away instead of selling it. The handles and contrasts are made of leather, the fabric is old curtain fabric and it has a simple pocket inside. The bottom one is also old curtain fabric, another favorite because of the colours. I'm offering it as a vegetarian option cos I know not everyone approves of leather. (I use leather that would otherwise be going in the landfill though) The middle one I would have loved when I was 18 cos purple was my favorite colour, orange is now.
So please post a comment weather you've commented before or not. I'll draw one winner and they can pick the bag they like best. I'll send anywhere in the world.

Just words for now

I'd prefer my blog to be a positive place that's why I havn't been here I guess. I've been away from my computer concentrating more on my kids who are missing their Dad and giving me a hard time. It's a real challenge not to snap back at them, we're all tired.
My beloved Bernina broke last week too, in the middle of the "Taste Tasman" sewing frenzi and a trip to the Bernina fix it man in Nelson only made me want a new Bernina which can sew leather without a walking foot. Dreams are free or so they say.
I'm making retro jam instead of sewing.
And I am celebrating the small triumphs. The "red head" has finally decided to do no. 2's on the toilet instead of on the grass or the carpet in the sunroom.. Yeeee haaaa fourth child nearly out of nappies!! I'm certainly a long way from where I began washing square naps in a stream whilst living in a 12 metre house bus on the West Coast.
-Slowly remembering to count my blessings.

Days like this.

A peaceful day was had here until 3 o'clock. I've been sewing for the Murchison A and P show. (remember plenty of water middle of nowhere) A and P shows are pretty old fashioned community shows. All ther farmers bring their best animals to be judged and the housewives bring their sewing, knitting, baking and bottling. When we were kids these were the best events of the year and now I quite enjoying entering, bit of a competitive spirit I guess. Murchision has a great selection of catergories and stiff competition. So here are a couple of entries from me for this year.

The same pattern as the skirt I showed a couple of weeks ago, except I sewed this one really carefully and hemmed it by hand.

These softies took most of the day to complete giving me new found respect for toy makers and the price of handmade toys. PJ came in from school while I was stuffing them and immediatley claimed the one on the left so the other one will go to the show. The pattern came from a new book in the public library simply titled "softies" and most of the patterns are from bloggers! Pairie mouse contributed the monkey and some other patterns in the book which I might just have to buy for myself because I don't want to give it back to the library.

Anyway as I was saying life was great until 3, I had watched Dr Phil and was feeling all calm and inspired to be a thoughtful Mum but dispite my best efforts the kids were determined to be grumpy and horrible all afternnon, grumbling and fighting til about 10 minutes ago when I sent some off to bed and some to have showers and do homework. I'm missing my partner, I havn't got anyone to back me up when I have afternoons like this. To top it all off, now instead of conversing with bloggers and searching for the ultimate piece of fabric on "Trade Me" that everyone else has over -looked, I will go and fold washing among other boring household chores and put myself on auto piolet til the weekend as the diary this week is full of things I don't really want to do but feel I have to. See you on the other side. (of the week I mean)

Remember fingerknitting?

I have offered PJ crochet, knitting and crafting oppourtunities alongside me for years but I'd completly forgotten about fingerknitting. She's acting like I do when I've got a craft project in motion, can't put it down and showing everyone. My neighbour who has three girls taught her how to do it yesterday and there has been a fingerknitting frenzy here since then, see the pile growing next to her. It's exciting to see her enjoying crafting stuff as much as I do!! I might have to keep an eye on my stash of wool though.

Beach bag.

The big kids have been away with friends this week so the two small ones and I have developed a routine that suits us all perfectly. Housework, sewing, knitting, gardening or visiting in the mornings. A wee nap for the children after lunch and the reward for not teasing or yelling at each other during the day is a trip to the beach about 10 mins from home. It's working so well I wish summer holidays could go on for weeks. Today I set about making myself a bigger beach bag, I was getting sick of carrying about 3 bags and one toddler down to the shade. It's big enough for towels, clothes, toys and food with 3 pockets in a row for keys, phone etc.

Watch this space for a bag giveaway soon.

Our water

I know I've posted pumpkin pic's before but I just love their form. This one is my favorite to eat called "Marina de Choggia" absolutely delicious to roast or make soup with.
Immature butternuts, can't wait for them either!

Another great thing about pumpkins is that you don't really have to water them once they're established. Water is so precious here at the moment, our area has water restrictions in place and even though we had a bit of rain recently our bore ran out of water in the weekend sending me into a panic and then a bit of a tantrum at L to get the plumber in immediately. We held off until this morning though, the plumber had to blast out our well to unblock it and lengthen the pipe so hopefully that will do the trick. He did advise us to start saving to put down a new well. Yet again I feel frustrated that the local council and government don't give loans or subsidy's to install rain water tanks, solar power etc. SURELY it would be a good investment in the future. L and I are not at all in the position to install a rain water tank or sink a well. I did suggest we have a hose going from the washing machine straight to the garden, in fact I even tried stuffing a garden hose up the outlet pipe myself but the pressure just blew it out. L replies with lots of reasons why things can't be done (I know there must be a cheap way). I shall just have to carry on with the bucket line up for now. Lucky a lot of the garden just needs to ripen now so will not need too much water. At the height of my tantrum (picture 34 yr old pouting and stomping) I threatened to put the house on the market and look for one in Murchison. (plenty of water, middle of nowhere)

Old shed pics

Our old sheds.

Playing with black and white.

Wind and rain

We got our much needed rain today, a great excuse to do some sewing. Usually when I make things for myself they're too big or too small but this skirt was spot on. I only got the fabric yesterday, in a previous life it was a halterneck dress that didn't suit me at all. I over- looked it at first but when I didn't find any other goodies I bought it for $4. I'm so glad I did now cos I have heaps of tops it will go with.
I have to keep myself busy during storms because high winds really freak me out, the wind blew over my sunflower house and 3 out of 4 plots of corn but every thing else survived and is looking much better having had a good drink. I was very relieved when it stopped blowing that all our old sheds still had their roofs. I finished sewing up a woolly vest for the "red head" pity it won't fit him till he's four. That will teach me, I'm always too impatient to do a tension square.