Wednesday 29 April 2015

Everything but.....

Sewing!!
 I do try to sew, but someone likes to help!!
I'm not the only one she likes to help!
See daddy, I can do playstation too.
I did manage to get the next blocks for Christmas story all prepared and ready to appliqué.
 But the assistant likes to join me at the sewing machine. Little paws like to try to catch the needle.
The pesky thing keeps going up and down!
 *
Outside things are changing too. The garden progresses.
My winter brassicas are much larger than this now.
It's been a while since I took this photo in preparation for blogging!!
The greenhouse is almost finished too! It is up on the wooden base, (Used as a seat in this photo)
and needs only the two end panels to be finished. :-)
This weekend we are hoping to get it completed.
We did think about getting out into the garden for an hour in the evenings, light and weather permitting, but another project got in the way.
More about that another time.
Pretty much anything with any crafty content has ground to a halt. Even getting Christmas story to the point you see above was an effort. It's not all down to Belle, I think my mojo upped and left!
I do hope it comes back soon.
You could say I've been creative in other ways, what with getting the garden into shape, building the greenhouse and getting my winter vegies in.
I haven't read a single blog in weeks, I don't spend much time on facebook, but I am pinning away on pintrest. A few crafty ideas, but mostly recipes.
Hopefully I'll be back to my normal crafty and gossipy self soon.

Wednesday 15 April 2015

Not a single stitch!

My plans to sit and stitch went right out of the window yesterday!
Instead I met up with my sister in law Lee and we went off for an 8km walk, before lunch and then she did my nails for me.
Love them, thank you Lee.
I did get the rhubarb sorted and the chillies, before I left.
So not all of my plans were abandoned.
*
Last night as we prepared dinner Tony and I looked through gardening books and discussed ideas and plans.

Poppies! I love them. A neighbour saved me some of his purple poppy seeds and now I have red poppy seeds.  I shall follow the instructions carefully.
Those of you who have been with me for a while will recognise one of the quilts I made for mum here on my table. I did think I may hang it here in the house somewhere, but it fits the table beautifully, so that is where it will remain.
Mums quilt on mums table. :-)
I promised Janice I would show pictures of Belle helping me here in my wee room!
After she had inspected the tissue box and the pin cushion. (Must move that)
 She helped me to empty the bins!!
This morning, I'm off for another walk with Lee, then today I WILL spend the afternoon stitching!!
*
What do you have planned?


Tuesday 14 April 2015

Busy, busy, busy.

How long?
I realised today that it has been two weeks since I posted a blog!
I have been sooooo busy.
Sadly very little of that busyness involved anything crafty.
There has been plenty of work in the gardens though.
We are now the proud owners of a green house.
 
We just need to build it!
 There was an area in the garden, where the previous owners had a trampoline.
In the perfect position for our green house.
 So the area has been cleared of weeds and holes dug to support the anchors.
The supporting base layer has been built.
Then the weekend was over!
 We had a tree surgeon come along and tackle some of the larger trees on the property. He lopped the tops off them and gave them a good tidy up.
What a difference. There is much more light in both the house and the garden.
It has made it much easier for us to see exactly what we want to do beneath the trees.
And we have continued to clear things out.
Of course chopping things down is easy. The task of pulling out roots and stumps is not so easy.
But eventually we managed to clear a space to plant the pretty Escalonia bush that my mother in law bought for me. She tells me it will attract butterflies. I know for sure it attracts bees, they are always busy around it. You can just see it's white flowers here beneath the big cherry tree.
(Janice, this is the patch just outside your bedroom window)
 There is still one corner we didn't yet manage to start on!!
We didn't even decide what will be staying.
 Here is one of those bees I mentioned earlier.
I was picking the last of the tomatoes in our glass porch and two of these guys flew in.
They were huge, about 2cm long. And very noisy as they buzzed frantically trying to get out again!
Now that autumn has arrived work in the garden is changing, I find myself sweeping up leaves.
I love the colours of the autumn leaves and the rustle as you gather them together.

 
Huge numbers of bulbs have popped up, I have no idea what they are.
I wish they would hurry and show their flowers.
 There are plenty of mushrooms too, again, I have no idea what variety they are.
And I certainly won't be cooking them.
 I made time last week to plant a winter veg garden onto a small patch that was cleared a while ago.
We have turned the earth several times and pulled weeds time and again until they gave up.
 (We hope).
 I have cabbages, Caulis and brocolli here. On the end, in the sunshine, under the frost net are some beans. I'll move those into the green  house, as soon as it is built, then pop something else into that corner.
Amid all of the work in the garden, I have taken on more hours at work. So there are more of those 4.30am wake ups!
But that's ok, cause I get to come home to this wee cutie. I put this box out by the door to go into the recycle collection, it didn't take long for Belle to claim it.
Cats and boxes!
They like sleeping too!
Time to get on.
Debs gave me a bag of rhubarb the other day and I didn't do anything with it yet.
So that is one of todays jobs.
Along with the bag of chillies father in law delivered.
After I had cleared the last of the tomatoes I made a lovely tomato sauce to freeze. I'll use it for lasagne, spag bol and the like through the winter. We already used some, it was delicious. I want to grow more tomatoes next year!!
 I promised myself that after I get all my chores done today I WILL sit and sew a little on my Christmas story blocks, while I watch a movie.
Hopefully Belle will sleep and not try to help.
She is watching closely right now, very interested in my actions.
She keep attacking screen as my pictures move on it and the cursor could be hours of fun!
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