Good morning Cheapskaters, it's Make it Monday, week 44. The year is flying by. 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?
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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. What did you make, bake, grow and sew last week?
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. What did you make, bake, grow and sew last week?
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. Make ItBeanies Dishcloths Tea Cosies Fingerless gloves Bake ItMOO rice bubble marshmallow bars Dehydrated celery Canned mince Prepped chicken for freezer Mini fruit cakes Pickled Rhubarb Marmalade Six Minute Lemon Butter Grow ItSilverbeet Oranges Rosemary Rhubarb Started seeds for more cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli Made compost tea and fed the garden Sew ItBowl cosies for the camper
Canning mats Kitchen sets Pot holders It has been very busy here in our home among the gum trees, as evidenced by the lack of MIM posts! That doesn't mean I haven't beem making, baking, sewing and growing, it just means that posting and editing photos hasn't been top of the to-do list. Last week though I managed to get a few photos as I finished things off. I don't carry my phone on me, it sits on the desk, not in my pocket, so I need to remember to pick it up to take photos. It's a phone primarily, and a tool, not an extension of my hand :) Anyway over the last few weeks I have been busy. I am using up the beautiful wools that my friend Keren gifted to me to make beanies that I am passing along to our Church welfare to add to winter hampers. I needed a new tea cosy for my tea pot, they really do make a difference to keeping the pot hot. While I was on a tea cosy roll, I added some to the present box for Christmas and birthday presents. I've been busy making cards for orders and for the retirement village. Hannah and I were in Coles on Sunday afternoon and the barbecue chickens were marked down. One was $9.60, the others were all $4.80. We scored four barbecue chickens for $24, or $6 each. We cut them all into meals, and then pulled the rest of the meat off the bones to use in curry or soup or pie filling or chicken salad, bagged it up and froze it. Then the bones were vac sealed and frozen to make stock later. The citrus trees are full of fruit! We have oranges, lemons, limes and tangerines all ripening on the trees. I have canned mince, ugly chicken and corned beef for the pantry shelves. In the garden the cabbages, cauliflower and sliverbeet are doing well. We have so many volunteer potatoes popping up, every time I turn aroudn there seems to be a new one poking through. I've been pulling parsnips and turnips (I planted the parsnips out early and they've done really well) for the soup pot.
I found 50 cent strawberries on the throw out trolley at the nursery and brought them home and soaked them in compost tea for a week before planting them out and they perked right up and are doing really well. The winter lavender is out and looking pretty under the windows. I made a triple batch of Miracle Spray. I made a quadruple batch of Cheapskates Washing Powder to refill the tin. What did you make, bake, sew and grow this week? Not much to report this week, Wayne and I have come down with head colds and we are both pretty miserable. But we have plenty of eucalyptus on hand to use in the vaporiser overnight. I also made a roller of thieves oil for him to use during the day; I keep mine in my bag, on my desk and next to my bed. *Tuesday was a gorgeous day, warm and sunny with a light breeze. We spent time in the garden, getting more beds ready for winter. It's almost done! *Turned the scrapings and scraps from soap making into liquid soap for hand wash. *Cut rhubarb from the garden and made rhubarb scones for afternoon tea. *The sourdough starter has took off, then if fizzled. Right now I'm trying to rescue it as per the advice from Cheapskaters who are all expert sourdough creators. It is amazing and so exciting to watch it. Even more exciting to make pancakes with some of the discard yesterday - they were delicious. *I made mini stuffed cob loaves for a luncheon I attended. They were a hit. Made two potatoe bakes. One we ate during the week, the other has gone into the freezer. And yes, I used disposable foil trays, so that if the potato bake goes in a food hamper I don't need to worry about getting a casserole dish back. *Spent half an hour every day decluttering somewhere - linen cupboard, our wardrobe, the laundry, the kids' bathroom cupboard, the kitchen dresser, the bookshelves (that one is hard, I don't like parting with books). And dropped the donations off every day too, so there was no temptation to put things back "in case". *We had rain so no need to water the garden. *The raspberry canes that were cut back and transplanted last week have new shoots already. What did you make, bake, grow and sew last week?
Hello! Last week was rather busy, with plenty to do all day every day. *I re-scented the air fresheners, ready for winter when I can't have all the windows wide open all day, every day. *I made a double batch of Iced Coffee Syrup *I made soap for the bathroom (scented green apple so I coloured it a light green - it smells so nice) *Wayne and I worked outside every time we had a few minutes to prepare the garden, yard and verandah for winter. *Moved the raspberry canes to a bigger garden bed. Not the right time, but they seem to have taken the move well so far. Cut them down, it is the right time to be doing this. *Moved the strawberries to a bigger bed; again, not the right time but they have settled in well in their new home. *Made some bookmarks for a friend (she uses them as rewards for her students). *Cooked all our meals from scratch, including three family sized pasta bakes from 2 cups TVP and 1 jar of mince and 2 jars of my homemade tomato sauce. *Made a sympathy card. *Crocheted a daisy dishcloth for the present box. *Started sour dough What did you make, bake, grow and sew last week?
Oh boy! Who doesn't like something for free!
Tomorrow, 19th April 2023 Stampin' Up! are offering free shipping on all orders over $65AUD. If you have been checking the Last Chance products (up to a whopping 60% off!) you'll save even more with the free shipping offer. Or if you have some basics you need to restock, you'll save on postage and beat the price rise if you order before 2nd May 2023. BUT it's only for 24 hours so........ If you don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, I'd love to help you and I'm happy to tell you about my favourite products and how I use them, just ask! Visit my Stampin Among the Gum Trees shop to see the Last Chance products and while you're there have a look at the online exclusives - they are divine (and I have a workshop coming up using the stunning Irresistible Blooms) https://stampinamongthegumtrees.stampinup.net/ |
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