Today I'm....

SIGN-UPS ARE NOW CLOSED..

....organising an Xmas Washcloth Swap.

Can you believe that it's only 4 weeks til Xmas??? I've been dying to do an Xmas round of my Washcloth Swap but really wanted to wait for the start of December before posting about it, whoops.... :)

For this round of the swap you will make one Xmas themed washcloth for a secret partner as well as 1 little Xmas ornament, and I mean little, lets keep it nice and simple here to help keep the postage costs down.... We'll plan to post our washer's out by the 18th of Dec, so that's just under 3 weeks to whip them up.

Sign-ups start today and will close when we have 10 swappers registered (lets keep this one nice and small)....

So if you'd like to join in on this round of the swap just leave me a comment and within the week I'll be in contact with you regarding the rest of the details...

Take Care..... Jodie.....

BTW... Thanks for all of the great feedback on my washers and the fantastic shop ideas... It was so hard to pick 2 winners so I drew them out of a hat... Sue and Maria you are the lucky ladies and have one of my new washers headed your way, thanks for your comments...

Also, I forgot to mention that the winner of my 2nd giveaway from back here was Meagan. So if you could all forward me your snail mail addresses that would be great (except you Sue, I already have yours)........ :)

Treasure's.....

This afternoon I was out in the garden doing my thing when out in the distance I saw a sweet little fairy...

When I called her over and asked what she was up to she promptly answered "picking treasure's Mummy", and boy what treasure's they were....

A bucket full of them actually, little yummy cherry tomato treasure's......

The last 3 days have seen me travel just over 1200km's... I've been down visiting my Mum in the Riverina, catching up before the hectic festive season settles in.... On the way there I pass through a town with the most precious little op-shop... I love stopping in there and this trip I picked up a square of linen and a bundle of knitting/crochet books...

These are some of my favourites from the batch of books I bought....

The most expensive of the lot was $1 with the cheapest being 10c, can you believe it??? They just don't make pattern books like these any more!!!! I also scored the linen for a wee 20c!!! I love this shop and always find new and exciting treasures to bring home with me each and every visit... So if you're every passing through Ungarie you really must stop in, it's up the end of the main street opposite the Police station, I'm sure you'll find a boot full of treasures to take home with you... ;)

Take Care..... Jodie.....

More Washers....

After a lot of consideration I decided it was time to start trying to make some money out of my washcloths.... I love making these babies and have so many around my home now that I nearly don't know what to do with them all (I did say nearly)......

I came up with a couple of new designs and after asking around town to my surprise people might actually want to buy them!!!!! (total shock)

So my first batch of washcloths has been made, a total of 7, and I've put a price tag of $4 each on them... They are 100% cotton and measure approx 7' x 7'.

So far so good I have sold a couple already to some ladies in town.

Now time to get selling online..... In your experience what is the best way to do it??? Should I start an etsy shop, sell on eBay, what do you think of Made-It, or is starting another blog/website which is strictly for 'selling only' the way to go????

I've tried an etsy shop in the past with very minimal success, maybe it just wasn't the right time for me, I don't really know but whatever it was it just didn't work as I sold nothing....

Now don't think I'm expecting all of this advice for nothing, I wouldn't do that to you.... I have 2 of my new washcloths up for grabs, so a couple of lucky commentors will be getting a little treat for popping by and lending me a hand....

I'm really looking forward to hearing all of your advice.....

Take Care... Jodie..... :)

Yarn Stash Swap...

I'm in the process of cleaning up my sewing room... We're slowly renovating our home and the sewing room is next on the list... YIPPEE!!!

Today my yarn stash has been getting a clean up and I thought that it was time that it had a little clean out as well...

I've had these balls of yarn for a couple of years now and have made several projects using them but now I'm happy to let them go, it's someone else's turn to create something with them....

They are novelty type polyester 12ply yarns and after several machine washes I've found them very compatible with various cycles in the washing machine.... There is approx 480g of yarn in this bundle; 80g hot pink, 30g apple green, 175g violet, 200g lime green.

I'd really love some more cotton's for my collection and am not too phased as to what colour, ply or composition, as long as it has some cotton in it, that would be great....

So if you'd be interested in a little yarn swap leave me a comment to let me know....

Stay tuned for a few more 'yarn stash swaps' as I slowly go through my stock pile, hey, why don't you tell me if there's something that you're looking for, I might just have it and we could do a swap... ;)

Take Care...... Jodie

Today I'm.......

....watching the last of the grain trucks drive down the road with a big grin on my face....... *^_^*

It's so good to be at the end of harvest and be able to say 'it was all smooth sailing'. It's not unusual to have at least one breakdown when your operating machinery like this, especially when it's being worked round the clock. And for the weather to stay fine at this time of year when we usually have thunderstorms is a big fluke...

But now, thank goodness, the crop is all off and the only thing left is one hell of a dusty road which in turn means one very dusty home..... :(

So, I'm off to do a bit of cleaning, wish me luck...

Take Care... :)

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today while tinkering in one of my tomato patch's out of the corner of my eye I spotted something.... It was green and wriggly and definitely should NOT of been making a meal out of my tomatoes, but it was!!!!!

It was a caterpillar looking grub thing and on further investigation I noticed that quite a few of my lovely big green tomatoes had diseased looking flesh like this.....

What's going on here??? What am I doing wrong??? I've never had problems like this before with my tomatoes.... Is all of this damage from the caterpillar grub or is it something else??? I would really love some advice if you have any.....

On a brighter note , I did manage to harvest something from the garden today, tomatoes (from a patch not infested by caterpillar type grubs), mini zucchini, cucumber, button squash and purple beans........

Yum-mo!!! What are you harvesting at the moment????

Take Care..... :)

Today I'm....

.....harvesting some tomatoes, spinach and green button squash for our dinner tonight....

As well as being appreciative of a very thoughtful DH, Brad.... While at a clearing sale this weekend he picked up this little cupboard....

You'll never guess how much he scored it for........

$1, yes that's right, $1!!!!!!

Now isn't that awesome??? I have the perfect place for it in my kitchen and after a little sanding and some wax this afternoon it should be ready... Thanks Brad, you really are the *greatest*

Take Care..... :)

My Creative Space...

I've been seeing some fantastic creative spaces around blog-land of late. This week I decided to join in on the fun....My creative space in seeing lots of green today and hopefully a little white by the days end. I've been crocheting-along with this great mystery Xmas project... Today is the 'big reveal', the assembly part of the project will be posted and I can't wait..... Check out some more great spaces here...

Take Care....

Tie One On.....

After speaking with my sister recently I couldn't stop thinking about the latest Tie One On theme... So late last night with ideas buzzing around my head I got to sewing and came up with this.....

OMG!!!! It's SO hard to take a pic of yourself, any pointers would be great... :( I used some red and white striped fabric for the skirt of my apron and and white with red flowers for the binding and strap... I added 3 big pin tuck on each side of the skirt to add shape and body, some interfacing to my waistband to help it stay upright, some binding all of the way around with curved edges and that was practically it.... I'm now trying to think of where to put a pocket or some kind of embellishment..... Ideas welcome!!!!!

Both fabrics you can see better in the pic's of the stockings below... The stocking 2nd from the right in the first pic is the binding fabric..... And the stocking 2nd from the left in the 2nd pic is the skirt fabric.... Oh yeah, onto the advent garland... I've been turning these out at a rate of knots over the past 24-36 hours... I just free hand drew each of the stockings as I went along grabbing fabric and trims that I had on hand in my stash so everyone is 'individual'. When I got to about the 5th one I started wondering how I was going to stay focused to the end but then by the 24th I was wishing for more, they were so fun to do!!!!!

Now I just need to come up with something to put in each of the stockings, without getting too much plastic-y kid junk... That's one thing for each of my girls for 24 days, 48 little things....????? Any ideas?????

Take Care.......

Thank-You......

All of the fantastic supportive comments that everybody left regarding my loss yesterday was so wonderful and I thank each and every one of you very, very much... It truly made yesterday a whole lot easier than it would of been without your support.....

While sorting though some old clothes of Connie's this morning I came across this little dress....

It fits Millie just perfect!!!! I can still remember when I made it for Connie and how thrilled I was at the end result.... I used recycled fabric and thrifted lace. The buttons down the back were also re-purposed from an old blouse of mine... I really loved this dress!!!

I've decided that I want to make more of these little dresses using recycled/re-purposed materials and am now searching for the pattern that I drafted up 3 years ago...

I think from memory I just made it up as I went along but wrote down some notes for future reference, too bad I can't find those notes right now... LOL!!! Surely they're in amongst my mess, oops I mean 'studio', somewhere....

Take Care..... :)

Foxes....

This morning when I went to collect the eggs to my surprise there was only 4.... On further investigation I discovered that sometime last night my poor little coop was prayed upon by foxes. Yes, I'm assuming that it was more than 1 as my medium sized flock of 30 has now been depleted to a small one of 10....

You can only imagine how upset I am today, I love my chooks, actually I love all of my animals. I really do try to keep them all safe and really wish this didn't happen but now that it has there isn't much I can do about it. Tonight I will tie one of the dogs up at the gate and hopefully that will help eliminate further devastation.......

Do you keep chooks??? Have you ever lost any to foxes??? What do you do to stop it happening???

Take Care......

Today I'm....

Harvesting some more red onions.....

And hanging them to dry in my fly room... It's really a room that you walk into before you enter our home. They're designed to drop all of the flies before you walk into a house, hence the name, and have fly mesh for the windows instead of glass, kinda like an enclosed veranda...

Miss Connie also picked our first cucumber for the season....

Isn't it a rippa'???? She thought so anyway....

Unfortunately we didn't get the cottage fenced off this weekend for my milking sheep... :(

DH was too busy stripping our wheat crop, I guess that does take priority after all, it does pay the bills now doesn't it... LOL!!!

So in between smoko runs, liaising with the grain truck driver and tinkering in my garden I worked on a little something that I've been dying to do for quite some time now.... It involves yarn, of coarse. I'll let you all in on my secret soon, promise.... ;)

(how on earth did those cheeky feet sneak into another pic??? LOL)

Take Care......

Homemade Ricotta....

Well my first attempt didn't quite look like this but I got there in the end.... I tried making my ricotta using the left over whey from my Quark cheese but that didn't work so I followed this recipe instead using milk and lemon juice and it tastes delicious!!!! (now how did those toes sneak into that pic... LOL!!!!)

From 1 litre of milk I got approx 250grams of Ricotta. I'm so looking forward to adding some of this fresh Ricotta to a lasagna tonight for dinner, but first I'm going to add some to a frittata for lunch..... YUMMO!!!!

Another thing I've always wanted to make is flat bread... My family loves it!!!! It cost me $4 for my last packet of 8, what a rip-off!!!! I was convinced that I could make it cheaper than that and boy was I right!!!!

I made 6 flat bread for less than $1, that's AWESOME!!!! But what's even better is that it was SOOOO EASY!!!!

Here's my recipe, I adapted it from several that I found on the net.... It took me about 20 mins to make 6 using this recipe. We ate 3 and I've wrapped the other 3 in a clean tea towel to eat with dinner tonight. With my next batch I'm going to try doubling it so that I can freeze some. I'd also like to see how they'd go chopped and baked as a yummy crunchy dipping chip, have you ever tried that before???

Flat Bread....
ingredients - 2 cups plain flour, 1/2-3/4 cup water, 1/2 teaspoon salt....
Mix together flour and salt, add half the water. Mix with your hands to form a smooth dryish dough, adding more water if you need to. Knead on a floured surface well then divide into 6 equal portions... Roll each portion out paper thin making sure to keep your surface and rolling pin well floured.
Cook in a hot frying pan, 1 at a time, for a couple of minutes on each side. I then like to place them stacked on top of each other on a dinner plate covered with a tea towel, this helps them from drying out, it kind of sweats them.... We had them filled with homegrown lettuce, tomato and homemade asparagus and ricotta frittata for lunch today. DH said they tasted SOOOO much better than the ones I buy from the shop (I agree with him), that's a win win in my books... *^_^*

Take Care........ :)

Homemade Cheese....

I've had making cheese on my list of things 'to do' for quite some time now. After reading a recent post by Rhonda I decided enough was enough and it was time for me to give it a go.....

I decided to make some Quark, Quark is a German cheese which is low in fat with a delicious tangy flavour and semi-dry texture. I used this recipe and 1 litre of homemade yogurt from my fridge. I allowed my Quark to drain on my bench over night, than this morning once it was nice and thick I mixed it with some fresh chopped garlic chives and cracked pepper. To get a nice rounder shape for my cheese I wrapped it in muslin and then pressed it into a small bowl.... Covered in the fridge my Quark should last a good couple of days... With the drained off 750ml of Whey I'm going to have a go at making Ricotta today......

After doing some research of late I've discovered that I can milk my sheep and then make cheese with this milk. I'm not going to milk all my sheep, that would take forever, we do have 1500 of them after all... LOL!!! I've hand rared 1/2 a dozen Damara sheep, you might remember some of them from back here... A couple had lambs about 8 weeks back and are lactating at the moment, perfect timing for me to give it a go..... With DH on the job of fencing the cottage off this weekend for them to live around I might be able to have my first milking expedition some time early next week.... Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well and I'm producing homemade sheep milk cheese for my family before we know it...

Take Care :)

Giveaway #2....

I know that I was supposed to wait until tomorrow to announce the winner of Giveaway #1 but I just can't help myself!!! So after hooking up to random.org to get my number this morning the winner of the potholder is comment #9 Becky....

Now on to Giveaway #2.... This giveaway is for 2 crochet coasters. I made them using some locally made fibre that a girlfriend produced on her farm down the road...

I love the simplicity of these little coasters, so rustic yet so classy....

Anyone can enter, all you have to do is leave a comment telling me what you most favourite locally made product is (if you have one)....

Take Care :)