Good morning!

What a crazy week I had. Every day was flat chat, I felt like I was running from job to job, getting lots done, but nothing to show for all the running at the end of the day. Well except for the most untidy house I've ever had - it is a disaster, so today will be tidying up and putting away day, then I can do the Monday cleaning and we should be back to normal. Phew!

Spoke to Sue Dunstan from ABC radio in Horsham about Christmas and how we can enjoy a fun and faith filled Christmas without going broke. 

All the Christmas cards are written and ready to post on Thursday. 

We also had rain, and a good drop too, on Friday and Saturday, so the garden has had a nice long drink, no watering needed. 

Making
Pot Puff Scrubby - a new pattern that will eventually get into the shop
Crocheted a face cloth
​Used the ends of cotton to crochet some dish cloths for the kitchen

Baking
Fruit cup cakes for lunchboxes
Made a double batch of potato salad to last the week
Made quiche to use up eggs, cream and sad veggies and Hannah and I had it for tea on pizza night with lots of lovely fresh salad, it was so good too.
Made berry jam
Made rhubarb apricot jam
Dehydrated rosemary
Made rosemary salt (it's so good on roast potatoes)

Growing
Put new stakes next to two pear trees and an apple tree and tied them up. The wind (or something) had blown them over and they were on a good lean. Now they're standing tall and straight again. 
Tied up the tomatoes again, they are growing well. 
Cut back the rhubarb that had gone to seed.

Sewing
Made four hanging kitchen towels.

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

Good morning!


We had a lovely week away, the weather was ideal and the company was wonderful. Lots of laughing, relaxing, plotting and planning was accomplished around the campfire, or on the bank of the river.


It's good to be home though, even if there is a big basket of washing and lots of cleaning and repacking to be done.


My making, baking, growing and sewing for the week was a little different, being away, but lots still happened.

Making
Daisy dishcloths for the shop
Spa set for the shop
Tanning puffs for the shop
Perle scrunchies

Baking
Creamed rice in the camp oven
Scones in the camp oven

Growing
The garden took off while we were away, I came home to tiny tomatoes on some of the plants, the rosemary is out of control again, Lacey's rhubarb is growing again, and there are lots of little apples on the apple trees, and the potatoes! 

Hello happy makers, bakers, growers and sewers!
​
Last week was frantic for me.

On top of getting everything ready to go away this week (yes I'm away again), I had to rethink the 12 Days of Stocking Stuffers due to a camera malfunction. 

That meant recreating the 12 ideas, photographing them, writing up the instructions, then uploading them. I was frazzled, tired, hot, bothered, cranky, frustrated and the whole time I was having fun because I had the opportunity to sit and craft for days. 

With the videos, I made every item, things I can use on camera, in real time. I love to do things in real time, so you know exactly how long the project takes, no speeding up the filming or cutting out the boring bits (sorry, you have to suffer through those!). 

So everything had to be made from scratch again. And that's why my week was frantic; the usual things still had to be done. I had lots of help, with boys getting cardstock and setting up the photos, and unloading the dishwasher and sweeping the floor and checking off the shopping list, opening paper packs and putting their weight behind punches. 

And it was all done.

So, if you'd like to see what I've making this week, hop on over to the 12 Days of Stocking Stuffers.

Baking:
ANZAC slice
Cranberry Hootycreeks
Fruit cupcakes

Growing:
Feeding the garden 
Tied up the tomatoes again, they are growing so fast you can almost see it if you watch long enough.
Fed the back lawn

Sewing:
Two lots of bowl covers (for an order)
Set of scrunchies (for an order)

What have you been making, baking, growing and sewing this week?

Good morning!

It's time for another Make It Monday round-up.

Last week was an up and down week in our home, and it showed with all of us being particularly stressed and frazzled.

But life went on, and we are grateful for that. We’re finally seeing some real spring weather too, with days getting a little warmer at last. Remember a week ago we lit the fire and there was snow on the hills? Today is going to be 30! Gotta love spring time in Australia.

Last week was spent tidying up the craft room. After a year of crafting, sewing, knitting, crocheting, stencilling, making cards and scrapbooks and everything else it was a bit of a mess. Two afternoons and the papers and cardstock are back in order, and the stamps, dies and embossing folders are sorted. The fabric boxes are nice and tidy, and the yarn boxes are back in order. This week I'm going to tackle the craft tables and get them tidied up, dusted and wiped over and make sure all the tools are in the right spots. When that's done I'll be ready to start on next year's handmade Christmas.

Making:
Face scrubbies
Shower puffs
Crocheted scrunchies

Baking:
Mini fruit cakes
All our meals were cooked from scratch using ingredients in the pantry
8 small garlic, sea salt and rosemary focaccia
12 pizza bases for the freezer

Growing:
Tied the tomatoes up again, they are growing so well with the warmth and rain
Picked the last of the broccoli
Collected the seed from the rhubarb crown I let go to seed
Picked rosemary and hung it in bunches to dry

Sewing:
Scrunchies 
Fabric gift bags (made from scraps of fabric - waste not, want not)

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

​Making:
Fabric gift bags from leftover pieces of material, all different sizes depending on the size of the scrap.
A spa set - shower puff and face scrubbies

​Baking:
We ate from the freezer for morning teas and snacks, to make room for Christmas baking.

All our meals were cooked at home using ingredients in the pantry, including some MOO convenience meals using canned foods:
Corned beef and potato salad
Spag bol sauce used a jar of mince, a jar of tomato sauce, some frozen garlic, dehydrated onion and oregano
Pumpkin soup
Wedges using canned potatoes

One dinner was simple baked potatoes, they needed to be used as they were getting soft, it was a quick and easy dinner. I stabbed the potatoes all over with a fork, then put them on a plate in a circle and cooked them in the microwave for 20 minutes. They were done to perfection! The toppings were simple: butter, coleslaw, grated cheese, sour cream and spring onions. 

Growing:
Started more tomato seeds
Started more beetroot seeds
Harvested rosemary and hung it to dry

Sewing:
Two sets of bowl covers made for orders

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

Hello!

Another week has flown by. This time of year everything seems to speed up. Days have been busy, a combination of garden, baking, crafting and the usual household chores. 

Making:
Finished off some tea cosies with cute buttons and pompoms.
Tested a crochet pattern for a gift idea. It is really big so I'll need to rejig it to make it a better size.  It's for a gift so I'm keeping mum about what it is for the moment.
Two batches of Gardener's Soap made and ready to be wrapped.
Started putting together card in a box kits.

​Baking:
Meat pie using a little leftover pasta sauce and pastry scraps.
Bread for lunches.
Foccacia for lunches. 
Five kilos of tomatoes from the freezer cooked down to make sauce.

Growing:
Planted more lettuce and beetroot.
Fed the garden with compost tea.
Picked rosemary to dehydrate, it smells divine.
Picked broccoli from the garden.

Sewing:
Gardener's aprons - I'll pair with a cake of Gardener's Soap.
Dish scrubbies.

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

Happy Monday!

I've just realised that last week's post didn't! It's out there in the virtual world somewhere. 

So what have you been making, baking, growing and sewing this week?

​Making:
​​I've emptied the present box onto the family room floor and started the sorting (and I'll do a show and tell once the parcels are in the post). I'm having fun finding everything and remembering who it's for. Thank goodness for a gift list.

Worked on Christmas cards so they'll be ready to send on 30th November. 

Baking:
​​More lemon butter using lemons found on my walk. 

The fruit is soaking to start baking Christmas cakes and puddings. I like to soak it for a week, giving it a little drink every morning. I'll start baking next weekend with the puddings so they have  time to mature. Then the cakes.

Banana walnut bread for Wayne's morning teas.

Onion jam.

Zucchini pickle to replace the jars that had dodgy lids.

17 pints mince; 2 quarts mince; 5 quarts meatballs for the pantry.

Growing:
​​Rhubarb - the plant Lacey-dog dug up has come back! And it is going great guns. Stalks were pulled from the other plant and stewed. I split the crowns and replanted to get three new rhubarb plants.

Planted out tomatoes, pumpkins, beetroot and lettuce. 

Sprinkled sweet basil, oregano and thyme seeds under the apple trees, and violas in some empty pots. 

Picked tangerines and oranges. 

Picked broccoli from the garden.

Sewing:
​Spent time each day finishing off the sewing for this year's Christmas gifts. While I was stitching on buttons and cutting threads I was thinking of next year's gifts.

​Yesterday Hannah helped me pull out the fabric boxes and they are now sorted into projects. Every piece of fabric has a project assigned to it, and it's been listed so I have an idea of what to work on. Next will be the cottons and then the wools.

It's Monday again, that week goes so quickly.

Last week was mostly preserving.

I canned mince.

I canned carrots.

I canned potatoes.

I did get some cards started. 

We ate all our meals at home, tempting though it was a couple of times to go out to eat - even getting take-away felt too hard because there would still be dishes to clean up. In the end, I looked at the meal plan on the fridge, gave everyone a job to do and dinner (and the dishes) was done.

We ate silverbeet and cauliflower from the garden. I picked oranges from our trees. I picked rosemary and hung it to dry. 

Wayne dug out the compost heap and topped up two garden beds. Now we'll let them sit for a fortnight then they'll be ready to plant out.

I didn't get any sewing done. My hands weren't co-operating; I'm hoping this week I'll get my hour a day at the sewing machine. 

Good morning!

All our meals were cooked using pantry ingredients, no need for takeaway or eating out. On the spur of the moment, I used some bread rolls from the freezer to make parmesan garlic rolls to have with dinner one night and they were a hit. 

For lunchboxes I made a batch of choc chip biscuits and two loaves of raisin bread. They like buttered raisin bread as a snack and it's easy to make and cheaper than the  $3.79 a loaf from the supermarket (and I have no idea how much it would be from the bakery).

I boiled a dozen eggs to use for sandwiches and snacks. Even with the price rises, eggs are a budget friendly source of protein and a whole bunch of vitamins and an inexpensive, healthy snack.

Two of the garden beds were topped up with compost and forked over, ready for planting. These beds will be for tomatoes, capsicum, egg plant, lettuce and beetroot. 

I didn't get anything sewn last week. There is a nice pile waiting to be done, so this week I have blocked out half an hour every afternoon to just sew. Even if the roof is caving in, I'm going to get the sewing done!

I did get some stocking stuffer type little gifts made for the present box. The production line method worked really well, and a lot of little bits of card and paper were used up, along with some embellishments.

To get ahead I stamped a lot of sentiments and cut them out. I found this little container in my shed and it's perfect for keeping the sentiments safe and ready to use. Lots of little bits of card stock were used up from the scrap bin. 

​Scraps of DSP came in handy to make little post it note holders. I love these, I use post it notes in my handbag for jotting quick reminders that I can stick on whatever when I get home.

​And it suddenly occurred to me that we are half-way through August already and it's time to start working on the Christmas hampers! The treat boxes for the caramels and shortbreads have been started. There are a few more needed, so I'll go through the DSP this week and pull out some Christmas themed odds and ends and get more made. 

Good morning!

I may not have posted for a few weeks - internet is sketchy in remote rural Australia - we absolutely enjoyed our holiday and I have been busy since we arrived home.

Lots of knitting and crocheting done in the car, using yarn that was given to me, to make beanies. I am so happy with the way they've turned out and they are packaged up ready to drop off to my friend.

I also knitted dishcloths and I gave some away to our camping neighbours in colours to match their caravans! I had no idea when I packed the bag with yarns that the colours I chose would match; I didn't know we'd have such lovely neighbours either.

The tea cosies are for the present box. I love the multi coloured one, it was fun to work and see the pattern.

On my walks I've been collecting fallen fruit - mostly oranges, lemons, limes and mandarins, and juicing, making marmalade, dehydrating and pureeing for cakes. This is fruit that has fallen off trees onto the path and is left to rot. Well this Cheapskate doesn't like that, so I carry a grocery bag with me and pick it up. Waste not, want not and every little bit helps the grocery budget.

​​Beanies
Dishcloths
Tea Cosies
Fingerless gloves

​​MOO rice bubble marshmallow bars
Dehydrated celery
Canned mince
Prepped chicken for freezer
Mini fruit cakes
Pickled Rhubarb
Marmalade
Six Minute Lemon Butter

​​Silverbeet
Oranges
Rosemary
Rhubarb
Started seeds for more cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli
Made compost tea and fed the garden

Bowl cosies for the camper
Canning mats
Kitchen sets
Pot holders​