Today I'm.......

harvesting the first of my red cocktail onions as well as some more green beans and snow peas. It's so rewarding being able to provide for my family in this way....When I first stopped bringing in an income 12 months ago (just before I had Millie) and the novelty of 'staying home' wore off I really started feeling insignificant...

I had to sit back and re-evaluate my situation, who was I and more importantly, who did I want to be???? I'd always been a working woman bringing in, what seemed to me, a good income. This new life as a SAHM was very unfamiliar, and I must admit I was a little scared.

It took me a while, but I realised that I was now doing the most important job of all, raising my family..... I was no longer a 50hr a week working woman, I was a Mum raising 2 beautiful little girls.

I now provide for my family in a different way. I do little things on a daily basis that in the long run really pay off. They can be any thing from re-purposing or 'Junksmithing' (don't you just love that word???), to making clothes, to growing fresh fruit and vegie's, to caring for chooks that in turn produce delicious eggs and meat, to fattening lambs for eat and much, much more.....

All of these things are saving our family in one way or another so I really am providing for my family and providing quite well.... I have a plan, or should I say 'dream', to be 90% self-sufficient within the next 2-3 years. I'm so looking forward to this challenge and can't wait to take my family on this journey.....

I'm so lucky to be able to live the life that I do even if I do get insecure about it every now and than and question my significance... I just need to remember to regularly take time out to appreciate what I have, a loving husband, 2 beautiful healthy little girls, a lovely modest home and much, much more.... Boy I sure am lucky....

What is your dream?????

Take Care :)

Giveaway #1

I can't believe that my last post was my 200th.... To celebrate I thought it would be fun to host a couple of little handmade giveaway's.....I've been so inspired by lots of different people through blog-land over the past couple of years and recently I stumbled across this gorgeous blogger who's blog has inspired me to crochet a potholder for the 1st of my 2 giveaways....

All you have to do to is leave a comment and it could be yours. I'd love to hear what kind of potholders you use at your home, if any that is. I've always just used a tea towel but am seriously thinking that 1/2 a dozen or more little crochet/knitted ones are definitely on the to do list before the year is out...

Take Care :)

I'll draw the winner next Fri, 6th Nov....

Fresh Beans....

In amongst kitchen Reno's this week I whipped up another little hat for my new nephew....

This was just as super easy as the one I made here and if you'd like to make one yourself here's the pattern....

Jelly's Striped Slouch Hat

This hat is sized for a newborn

Cast on 60's using 4mm circular needle and what ever yarn you like as long as it's 10-12ply....

Knit in the round for 10cm, alternating between two colours every 2nd round.

Don't worry about cutting the yarn every colour change, just bring the yarn up and continue knitting as normal... Because the stripes aren't very big you barely notice where you've bought the yarn up through the previous colour and started knitting again....

Once your work has reached 10cm in length, place markers every 15st's as you're now ready to start your gradual decrease.... Knit to 2 st's before st marker, knit these 2 st's together. Continue like this all the way round (a total of 4 decreases per round)... Knit 3 rounds as normal without decreasing, incorporating the stripe pattern.

Repeat these 4 rows until you have 4 st's remaining... Cut the yarn leaving a 6' tail, thread it through the live st's, pull tight and weave in ends.... You're now finished... A pompom on the end would look super cute too, the choice is yours... :)

I've been lucky enough to be enjoying fresh beans from the garden this week.....

They are super delicious raw, chopped and added to a yummy green salad.... What are you harvesting this week in your garden???? Take Care :)

Special B'Day....

It was a special bloggers B'day on the 10th of this month and to celebrate I made her her very own one of these peg aprons....

I love how the whole front of the apron is one big pocket, how clever is that???

I also made a table runner (in her favourite colour, purple, of coarse) using this paper piecing tutorial...

This is the first time I've ever attempted anything like this and I'm so thrilled with how it turned out.... At first the process of paper piecing was SO extremely confusing but by the time I got to the last block in the series of 4 it was all starting to flow along just nicely... Don't you just love learning something new??? I do, especially when it actually works!!!

I hope you had a fantastic time on your special day Abby, I love you very much and am so proud to have you as my beautiful and ever inspiring sister...

Take Care :)

Dusty....

We sure have been having some crazy weather of late with this pic taken last week while driving through yet another crazy dust storm.... I am soooo totally over these storms for the year... LOL!!!!

Amongst all of the chaos I've been working on some washers for a special blogger to replace a parcel that seems to have been lost in the post......

They are both freebie patterns and you can find the red one here and the brown one here....

Here's hoping your having a lovely weekend...

Take Care :)

Outside To Play....

I don't know what its been like at your place but here it's just miserable..... The wind hasn't died down for days and the Suns been too scared to raise its head for fear of being blown away....

But without fail every morning Miss Connie rugs up and insists on going outside to play.....

I don't know how kids do it???? I love being outside, don't get me wrong, but when it's like this I'd so much prefer to snuggle up on the couch with a nice warm cuppa out of the elements clicking away on some knitting but no they love to be out in it... So we all rug up as a family and head outside for some play time together regardless of the weather. Yesterday we managed to make 2 more of these garden beds using up some more of the old homestead bricks that we have laying around........ I have big plans for agapanthus in this one and can't wait to pick some up from my Mum's this weekend.... :)

I decided to crochet my cloths for this round of the swap (I knitted them last round).... So using one of my all time favourite crochet cloth patterns I whipped these 2 up for my partner....

Teamed up with some yummy Spring seeds for her garden, I hope she likes them....

Take Care :)

Easy Dough Recipe....

I love making play dough for my girls and thought I'd share my super quick and easy recipe....

Mix 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup salt, 2 teaspoons cream of tarter together in a saucepan... Combine 1 teaspoon oil, food colouring of choice and 1 cup of water in a separate bowl and add to dry ingredients... Cook over medium heat until smooth.... Roll out on bench top and knead for approx 1 min and you're done.... It doesn't get that hot so there's no need to let it stand to cool before the kiddies play with it... The great thing about this recipe apart from it being super quick and easy is that the kids can help with the making too. It's low in cost which is a bonus for the budget, gotta love that.... :)

My brother welcomed his 3rd son into the world last week... So I pulled the knitting needles out and played around with baby hat patterns...... This little blue one was made by casting on 60st's and knitting in the round for 10 cms... I then placed a marker every 15st's and decreased by knitting 2st's together at the markers until there was only 4 st's remaining... With the last 4st's I made an i-cord and tied it in a knot....

I couldn't stop at just one so while the needles were still hot I whipped up a hat for Little Millie too and added a pom pom to the top in place of the i-cord.....
Take Care :)

New Additions....

Over the weekend I received a phone call from a neighbour a couple of farms over. She's moving to Coolabah next week and had 10 little chicks and 6 hens that she needed to find a home for.... I love chooks and jumped at the chance to turn my tribe of 14 into one of 30!!!!

So I loaded the girls up in the car and we drove the 90km's to the neighbours to collect our new additions....Miss Connie nursed one of the chicks all the way home and insisted on calling it Polly.....

Polly and Connie spent most of the arvo together so when she decided that it was time for Polly to join her Mummy for a cuddle that afternoon I was very relieved....

Round 2 of the washcloth swap finished today with most of the ladies having sent their packages on time... It's great to see blog posts popping up, showing what swappers are receiving from their partners... Abby, Bec, Janice, Liz, Carol, Sue, and Tammy have all posted about the goodies they received...

What would you all think about an Xmas swap??? Leave a comment with some suggestions and we might be able to organise something to get started next month...

Take Care :)

Etched In My Memory....

I love a good clearing sale and have been going to them for as long as I can remember... Our calendar usually has one marked on it for every month of the year... We always go as a family, DH, the girls and I, and have a great day catching up with the neighbours as well as others we don't see to often.... We went to a sale on the weekend and as usual I got heaps of goodies for my garden and a few for my house as well... DH always does a great job sharing the load with the kids with Little Millie falling asleep in this prime position several times during the day....

It was my 28th b'day last week. I was lucky enough to have a visit from 2 of my sisters and my Mum for the day... My oldest sister, Abby, bought out an amazing homemade pistachio and honey cheese cake to celebrate the occasion and we ate it while sipping chai tea, my FAVOURITE!!!! All of the kiddies sang a lovely tune of happy birthday to me, very sweet!!!! A birthday etched in my memory to treasure forever... *^_^*.......
Take Care.......

Pumpkin Soup.....

While spending some time in the garden this morning I decided to harvest 2 more of my potato plants.....

(spuds straight out of the ground)

Boy did I get a bumper of a crop compared to the one from a couple of days ago.... I love the simplicity of growing spuds and if you've never done it before it's definitely not to late to start now, I've just planted another 8 spuds in my garden, just ones that have sprouted in my pantry.

To start, dig a hole in your garden, throw in your sprouting spud (1 per hole is plenty), yes throw them in, then cover them with about an inch of dirt... As they pop their little green heads out of the ground dump another inch of dirt on top... Keep doing this until your mound is about 5' high. Now it's time for the potato to do the work so just let it grow, giving a drink every now and then...

(spuds after a wash)

My spuds usually take a month to mature after I've put the last inch of dirt on top... The taste of fresh, home grown spuds is amazing and you really don't need that much space to grow them in. I'm sure that if you wanted to you could even grow them in a pot...

On a non-potato topic...... I made the most amazing pumpkin soup yesterday that I just had to share with everybody.....

Pumpkin Soup

ingredients.... 6 cups chicken stock, 1kg pumpkin peeled and chopped, 1 onion chopped, 2 carrots chopped, 3 sticks of celery chopped, 2 cloves of garlic crushed, 1 teaspoon paprika, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric, 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg.

Bring the stock to the boil. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring back to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour, puree and serve.... YUMMO and so simple...

What's your favourite soup recipe????

Take Care :)

Garter Washer....

I love washers on the diagonal and after having made a few from patterns in the past I thought it was high time I made a pattern up for a simple one myself....

Wanting to keep it simple, quick and easy to make I stuck with a garter stitch pattern....

These cloths took me a max of 2 hours each to make, and that was between playing with 2 kids also, so they really are super quick, perfect for that last minute gift idea teamed up with some yummy homemade soap...

My free download is available from here.....

If you make one up for yourself I'd love to hear about it... How did you like the pattern??? Was there any mistakes in it???? Was it as quick for you as it was for me... *^_^*

Take Care :)