Good morning!

Summer is peak preserving time. It feels like every day there is something that needs to be processed and preserved, because there is. This week I've been busy with tomatoes. Lots of tomatoes. 

I am over the moon excited because this is the best year for tomatoes in ages. The bushes are just full, and still flowering and producing. And I am not wasting a one. 

​Of course we are eating them fresh, but there are enough to make relish and salsa and passata.
On Monday I made tomato relish and zucchini pickle, before the weather turned to searing heat.

​All our meals were made using ingredients in the pantry. I'm trying to use up what's in one of the freezers, so the meal plan is a guide and our meals have been slightly different to the plan. They've been good though!

Then on Wednesday it all ground to a halt. On and off over the last couple of weeks I've had vertigo. Since last Wednesday the head spins and nausea have just about brought me to a halt so there has been no crocheting, sewing, knitting or preserving done. 

Everything has just kept rolling on though. That's the beauty of a routine, even for household chores. Washing has been done. Meals prepared. Bathrooms cleaned. Floors swept and washed. Even the shopping was done.

Everyone knows what has to be done when, and just gets on with it. 

This week, vertigo and weather permitting, the plan is to get the cucumbers and tiny tomatoes pulled out, and those beds turned over and compost added to them, ready for planting in a couple of weeks. 

What did you make, bake, sew and grow last week?

Good morning!

We had some very hot days, all in a row, so the poor garden suffered. 

Every morning I was up and out early, picking tomatoes, cucumbers and berries. 

This week I made yoghurt in a new, electric yoghurt maker.

I made a toolbox gift box for Wayne's Valentines surprise.

​There was a very cute little watering can in the craft stash, and with the help of the Scan and Cut it is now decorated, wrapped, labelled and in the present box. 

No. 2 Son requested more Iced Coffee Syrup, so I told him where the recipe was, and where he'd find the bottles and he made a double batch.

I used two jars of potato to make an easy potato salad.

For Valentine's day I made a blackberry mousse for dessert. It looked so pretty in some of my vintage dessert bowls. 

I made a card for the Happy Mail Project.

I managed to get a set of coasters done, using a pretty pale orange cotton from the stash. I'm not usually a fan of the colour orange, but this is so soft and pretty, and these little cotton coasters can be tossed in the washing machine over and over so they are great for everyday use.

And this is today's offering of tiny tomatoes from the garden. A whole colander, almost full. All washed, draining and then they will be turned into relish.

We had visitors one night, and it was easy to put a nice meal together and get the guest beds ready on the spur of the moment. 

And of course all the usual goings on in our house: the cooking and cleaning and gardening and general plotting and planning all happened.

What did you make, bake, grow and sew last week?

​Good morning!

The sun is shining and it is already very warm. We are heading towards 40C today, far too hot for me.

I've been out and watered and picked tomatoes. I picked raspberries too, but I ate the as I watered, a tasty start to breakfast. 

Last week's plans changed. That seems to be what happens when I make plans - they change! 

I didn't even sit at the sewing machine, and oh boy do I want to. Just a couple of hours to get through the pile would be lovely. Maybe this week. 

But I did get some cards made. I found a lovely template and bulk made some Happy Mail Project cards.

Then I attended an online workshop and made some new (to me) fancy folds.

When I couldn't sleep, I worked on beaded jug covers.  I learned to make these last year, crocheting the doyley and learning how to attach the beads, and I love how they turned out. In my stash were some doyleys without a project in mind, so I've been adding beads to them to make little milk jug or water glass covers for the present box.

​In the kitchen, all our meals were cooked from scratch, using our pantry. 

I canned corned beef.

12 quarts of meatballs were added to the pantry shelf.

I made tortillas for a dinner of street tacos one night. 

I made Penny Pinching Pizza Bases. 

I packed Wayne's lunch every day. He had salad sandwiches (that didn't go soggy); egg and lettuce sandwiches; ham, cheese and mustard sandwiches; chicken and coleslaw wraps; ham, cheese and tomato sandwiches. I've been experimenting with tomato, cucumber and beetroot on sandwiches so they don't go soggy and I think I've conquered the soggy sandwich problem. 

In the garden two beds have been cleared and enriched with compost, ready for autumn planting. I've started cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower seeds. 

I picked more rosemary and dehydrated it for the pantry. 

What did you make, bake, grow and sew last week?

​Good morning!

This past week has been a week of tomatoes, lots and lots of tomatoes.

Hannah was home for the weekend and I sent home a big container of tiny toms and some freshly picked cucumbers with her.

I used the slow cooker and cooked some down to make pasta sauce. This has been frozen because I didn't peel them, and for canning tomatoes need to be peeled. 

I roasted some in the oven with olive oil and rosemary and used them on our pizzas.

We ate them everyday with our salad for dinner and Wayne took a small container in his lunchbox every day.

I picked raspberries every day. They were washed, drained and frozen and when there is enough I'll use them to make jam.

I made some cards to add to the present box, and some to send to the nursing home. I also made my happy mail cards for the week.

Remember when I said I was going to spend some time every day at the sewing machine? I do - and I haven't! I did get to the sewing machine this week though and made some kitchen towels for the present box and worked on a new gift idea I had, a carrier and heat mat for a hair straightener. Hannah claimed it as soon as she saw it, and she loves it, so I'll add more to the present box. 

Looking back, it was a productive week!

What did you make, bake, grow and sew last week?