Hello!

When I was a little girl, I thought being a mother and homemaker was the best job in the whole wide world, and I couldn't wait to grow up and get married so that could be my job.

I still think it’s the best job in the whole wide world, even though our children are now adults. I still get to be their mother, and Wayne's wife and create a home for them.

I get so much joy and pleasure out of canning corned beef for the pantry shelf or getting a load of washing out, dried, in, folded and put away. Filling the pantry with good ingredients to make tasty and healthy meals for my family makes me smile. Being able to pick apples of our trees, or rosemary from the garden not only saves us money, but makes my heart sing with joy.

When I sit down to write a Make It Monday post, and think about what has been accomplished during the week, I tend to forget about the things that are habit: making the bread, cutting flowers from the garden, canning meat and veggies for the pantry, sowing seeds, because they are habit,

I made another two tea cosies for the present box.

The Easter decorations came out and the house was decorated and readied for Easter and the rest of Autumn.

I covered candles for our Easter table.

​I repurposed some old jars to use as vases for our Easter table.

This last week the kitchen was busy every day. All our meals were cooked from scratch, using ingredients in the pantry and produce from our garden. I made pizza bases and focaccia and canned 6 quarts of canned beef for the pantry.

Hello!.

Autumn cleaning is almost finished. Just the last little tweaks to do this week and the house will be spic and span for the rest of autumn and winter, such a nice feeling.

This week's makes:
Finished a hunter green tea cosy for a friend's daughter.
While I was in a tea cosy mood, I found some pink wool and made a new tea cosy for my tea pot for winter, and then Hannah spotted it and asked if she could have one too, so that is almost finished. 

​Some cards for the Happy Mail Project.

​This week's bakes:
Not baking but made a big batch of Depression Era Salad and filmed it.
Made a double pasta bake, one for tea one for the freezer.
Made a double batch of wheat tortillas, used some and froze the others.
Dehydrated celery and celery leaves. Ground the leaves to powder to use in soup and Cream of Anything Cup a Soup.
Canned 8 pints of mushrooms and 4 pints mushroom stock from three kilos of mushrooms.

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​This week's grows:
Picked more rosemary and rhubarb and some raspberries. 
Used a homegrown cucumber and garlic, and MOO yoghurt to make tzatziki.

This week's sews:
​Hannah asked for something to store her knives in in her camping box so she wouldn't get cut when she put her hand in to get one out. One handtowel and 20 minutes and this is what I came up with. I used some silver iron-on vinyl and a free SVG of cutlery to decorate it. Now she doesn't have to be afraid of putting her hand in the box, the blades are safely covered.

Hello!

If you're in southern Australia I really hope you are surviving this ridiculous heatwave. It is exhausting, with overnight lows in the mid 20s making sleeping rather unpleasant.

Even so, looking back at my notes, last week was a good one for adding to the pantry and the present box. When I sat down I wondered what I'd be able to share. Thank goodness for notes and lists! It felt like nothing much has been accomplished. 

I made fig jam (my favourite).

I made another batch of tomato relish, using the last of the tomatoes from the garden. Some of this went into small jars for Hannah's pantry.

All our meals were cooked from scratch, using ingredients from the pantry, fridge, freezer and garden. Homecooked meals are so much nicer, especially the salads we've been living on. Bought salads just don't have the same fresh crunch or taste. I made a double batch of potato salad, coleslaw and pasta salad. These three are my stock salads, everyone likes them, they're quick and easy to make and keep well in the fridge. 

I made sandwich bread and raisin bread. Hot cross buns were on the plan for the weekend but honestly it was just too hot to even think of putting the oven on. I'll get to them this week when it is cooler, and do a few batches for the freezer. 

During the heat of the day I stayed indoors, and worked away on small projects. Some round dishcloths were added to my linen cupboard, some were put aside for Hannah's Christmas stocking, and some went into the present box.

​I finished knitting a dishcloth that had been on the needles for a fortnight!

I finished another beaded jug cover for the present box. Now I'm on the lookout for pretty milk jugs to pair them with. Op shops will be my friend for this, and I have Hannah looking out in the oppys in her area too.

​Pinterest brought up a pattern for kitchen towel toppers, and I love it. It's crocheted and uses the smallest amount of yarn, perfect for using up scraps, so that's what I did, and added three kitchen towels to the present box.

​The Easter cards have been made, written in, addressed and are ready to go to the Post Office tomorrow. 

In the garden, the last of tomato and cucumber plants have been pulled out, chopped up and added to the compost pile. 

Rosemary was picked and dehydrated and added to the pantry.

Rhubarb was picked, cooked and frozen for winter. 

I picked a handful of raspberries every morning and it was hard to resist eating them, they are so sweet and full of flavour. 

I'm not sure what to do about the winter garden. We will be away for nine, possibly 10, weeks. Timing the planting so things aren't ready too soon will be the trick to a successful winter garden, and that means timing the seed starting and planting out, and yes, it's making my head ache. It will work out I'm sure.

I didn't get any sewing done this week. I did get lots of fabric washing and cutting out done though, I'm hoping to get it all sewn this week.

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