This Week....

I'm lucky enough to be able to eat straight from the paddock where I live and this week saw us cutting up a couple of lambs to feed our family, and friends, for the next up and coming month...

 

DH is by no means a butcher but he sure does do a great job cutting up and preparing meat for his family... 

 

Sunday in my home is 'baking' day... Every Sunday I like to fill up the cookies barrels to last us the week and this week I pulled out some old faithful recipes that always seem to please... Fairy biscuits,

 

Monte Carlos - not even the littlest member of our family can resist these... 

and chunky chocolate cakes... Yum!!!

 

This week has also seen the girls and I planting seeds, excitedly awaiting what our most productive growing season of the year has to offer... 

 

And although this little Miss was feeling under the weather today I couldn't help but take a few snaps of her in this cardigan...

 

I made it for her back at the start of Winter and can safely say that it has been a much loved addition to her Winter wardrobe... 

 

She wears it all of the time and it's the perfect shape for keeping her chest and back warm without too much 'bulk'......

 

The pattern is 'Liesl' by Ysolda and for the version that my Millie is wearing I only used 1 skein of Malabrigo Rios - I know, awesome - right!!! I made the smallest size without sleeves and used 5mm needles...

Other projects I've been working on this week include this table cloth. I'm using a gorgeous cotton/wool blend, now to sew in all 176 ends - WOW!!!!

 

And with my eldest girl turning 7 in only a couple of weeks I've also been hooking away at a ripple blanket for her...  I love this pattern!!! For this version I'm using Cascade Pacific 12ply (acrylic/superwash blend) and a 6mm hook...

And because everybody needs to have a little fun every now and then, last weekend saw us attend the Louth Picnic Races... I can't believe the only picture I took for the whole day was of the fashions on the field...

What have you been up to this week???

Making Me Smile...

This week, with 3 kids under foot,I pulled on my boots and headed out to the shed for just a little while... DH has been collecting limbs from trees scattered over our farm for a good few months now and it felt so good to finally set to work making some rustic wooden buttons with them... I used semi green timber for this lot, 

 

and dry old aged timber for this lot...

 

I have about 60 buttons made so far and haven't even put a dint in my pile of sticks. I'm hoping to take them with me to an up and coming local market day in the park. I'm super excited and nervous all at the same time as this will be my first market day since closing my Shop over a month ago...

It's hard to describe in just words how I feel when I'm out in the fresh air watching my family..

My girls very rarely complain about the numerous jobs we set out to do on the farm and around our home each and every day, and 9 times out of 10 they do it with beautiful smiles on their faces...
 

Even the littlest member of our family loves to get out amongst it too...

 

Lately, whenever a moment is spare, my eldest girl has taken to making these...

Little fairy gardens for all the little itty bitty people out there that just might need them, and I love it!!! They're scattered all over our farm and often visited... ;)

Something that I get a lot of pleasure from, daily, is home-made bread... I've been making bread for my family for quite a few years now and hardly think twice about the process - it's part of my morning routine before we start school and and one of the last things I do at night before turning off the kitchen light. If its missed then we go without bread come lunch time. I like to prove my dough over night which makes the baking process come morning that whole lot easier...

We are big bread eaters in my home and I've now learnt to make just the right size dough to feed my family for a day, be it with rolls or in loaf form - I don't decide that til morning, today we're having rolls...

What's something that you do daily that makes you smile? Is it bread baking, getting your hands dirty in the garden, the smell of freshly cleaned clothes as you fold them from the line - I'd love to know... :)