Jewel Blue...

Today I sewed the buttons on the first of my Xmas gifts...

This little cardi was made using the super scrum-my Malabrigo Worsted in shade #32 - Jewel Blue and the pattern 'In Three's'. I've made the size 4/5 for my 5 year old Connie Girl and it's HUGE!!!! It will definitely fit her this time next year and this time the year after as well - that's for sure...

I also got the chance to pickle up some of those yummy beets from my last post.

I simply chopped off the greens, leaving an inch still on the root and boiled the beets until they were tender.

I then rubbed off the skins with a napkin and chopped off the inch of greens that I left on the top. While still hot I sliced my beets into wedges and stacked them into a sterilized jar where they sat while I prepared my brine...

To make the brine, bring 1/2 cup of white sugar, 1 cup of white vinegar, a few whole cloves, some peppercorns, a twill of Cinnamon and a little root ginger to the boil. Once boiling, turn off the heat and cover for 10mins. Strain the brine and pour it over the beet wedges in the jar and seal...

These are perfect to eat straight away or you could leave them in the pantry for a good couple of weeks for the flavours to infuse a little more...

What are you harvesting and preserving at your place this weekend???

We're happily harvesting beets and carrots at the moment...

It sure is a beautiful time of year to be scratching about in the garden. That is until you happen upon creatures of the slithering variety, they sure do mack my skin curl....

So long big brown snake - you are not going to be missed....

Corner of My Home

Thanks to an early start to the warmer weather this year my beans and pumpkin are coming along nicely, flowering and already producing fruit...


Over the weekend I was extremely fortunate to attend a clearing sale not too far from home. There I scored a 7 piece Olive vinyl lounge suite for only $50 and its history intrigues me. So now it sits in my home and here's a picture of just 1 of the 7 pieces...

On a wall in my study/office, a special corner of my home, this cosy seat sits. Many a sleepless night is spent in front of the computer here, where inspiration flows freely and motivation is abundant... Here I hope my new seat will find a well deserved home and although you can't see too much (and this pic may be a little blurred), from where I sit things sure do looks sweet....

Mustering...

'Round these parts we like to Muster our Stock by air...

It helps us cover vast distances in a shorter amount of time....

So thanks to the help of our friendly Gyro pilot - Luke, we were able to clean out some back paddocks and sell off some goats.

And all the while Miss Connie picked flowers.

This really is a beautiful time of year.

Art In Motion....

This week I've been hooking away on a couple of Queen Anne Scarves. I used the gorgeous Taiyo yarn by Noro which was a dream and they're now all finished, wrapped with a bow and ready for the giving...

I'm so thrilled I finally got some quality computer time this morning to upload what I have left in stock of the Noro Yarn onto my Website...

This stuff sells like hotcakes!!!!

And I can totally see why - it's like Art in motion when you're working with it. I love the colour changes and am always surprised at how they all just seem to work together.

Have you used Noro before??? What did you think of it???

**Shop Update**

I've uploaded 6 Malabrigo Yarns to my Website this morning and to celebrate I'm offering 20% off what I have remaining in the Malabrigo Chunky.

So pop on over if you're looking for a bargain as they're selling out FAST!!!

**leave now if you're a snake lover**

We shot our first brown snake for the season on Tuesday.

I was pushing a wheel-barrow full of sheep pooh back to the house yard from the shearing shed when I almost stood on this little bugger.

It was so close to the back lawn it wasn't funny - the very place my 2 girls had been playing not 2 mins before hand.

This has definitely been a wake-up call, yet again!!! Regardless of the size of these snakes they are DEADLY and when you live isolated like we do it sure does feel good knowing this snake won't be around tomorrow...

Today I'm.....

Putting the finishing touches on some hats for a gorgeous lady from Broken Hill

and enjoying wearing my Shalom just one last time before the heat of Summer arrives...

The wind must be blowing off snow somewhere today - brrrrr it's cold....