A Bit of Sewing Time....

Over the weekend I got a chance to whip up a couple of skirts for my little princess......

All I did to make them was cut a 12' x 32' rectangle out of some fabric from my stash, stitched the 2 12' sides of the rectangle together to make a tube, hemmed the bottom, stitched on some cute trim then hemmed the top and inserted some elastic. Too easy!!!!

I'd say it's about a size 2-3... I got the super cute trims from Reprodepot about 6 months ago and am so happy with the quality that I can't wait to head on over there again to buy some more of their trims...

Seen as though my little girl is pretty obsessed with putting things in pockets at the moment I added a pocket to the one below...

Next on the sewing agenda is a couple more of these aprons and some light weight pants for Spring...

Thanks for all of the advice on the gates from my last post... After changing my mind several times I've finally come to a decision... I'm going with the less-fancy option of the gate in the first pic, with the added swirly bit on the top of coarse.. I can't wait to pick them up this weekend from Mum's and when I do I'll show you all some pics!!!

Take Care... :)

Slowing Down A Bit.....

I finished that cardi that I started a couple of weeks back but am yet to take a pic of it all sewn up so this one of it finished and ready to be sewn up will have to do for now... :)Isn't that green just divine??? I used the same yarn that I did back here and loved every minute of it... It's so super soft and lovely to knit with....

We started pulling down and building a new fence around our farm house last weekend and I'm finding alot of my spare time consumed by this task so the knitting has slowed down for now.... I'm getting some specially made gates from my Mum's engineering business and from her many designs I'm finding it hard to choose between these 2.... I'm leaning more towards the first one as it was named after my little princess 'Connie' but I think it may be needing a little swirly thing added to the top like the one in the second pic to jazz it up a bit... The second one is good too but maybe the mesh down the bottom needs to be on the diagonal like the first one.... Decisions decisions???? I'd love to hear what you think??? Any feed back would be great!!!!!

Take Care and have a FANTASTIC weekend!!!!!

Still Knitting....

I still can't believe that I've now finished 2 knitted projects bigger than a scarf or beanie.....

This little 5 hour baby sweater (even though it took me much, much longer than that!!!) is so super cute I can't wait to knit up another one.... I knitted up the 8-10pound baby size (it's about the same as 3-6 month, my baby was 8 pound and there is no way that this would of fit her at birth). I finished it off with a little red velvet ribbon, next time I'm thinking a couple of buttons at the top would be pretty cute too...

I've now started on another cardie and can't wait to get it finished... If only the knitting bug had struck back at the start of Winter, not at the end... LOL!!! Oh well, just think of all of the cute Summer things I can start knitting soon.... Take Care :)

Knitting Bug....

With babies popping up (or should I say out?? LOL) every where at the moment the urge to pull out the knitting needles has stuck again... This time I've actually finished something bigger than a scarf or gloves... It's this cute little Debbie Bliss Shrug.....

Now I'm a pretty novice knitter at the best of times but with the help of You Tube and a few handy 'how to' video's it was a breeze mastering this super easy pattern by Debbie Bliss...

I started this shrug on Tuesday night and finished it last night, talk about instant knitting gratification!!! Seen as though the knitting bug has well and truly made it self at home I couldn't help but cast on this little number this morning before work.... It's going to be a gift for a girlfriend who's due to have a baby girl in a couple of weeks... Her colour preference was red, not pink, RED!!!! I can't wait to see how it turns out...

Just one last note before I sign off for today.... I'm so grateful for all of the inspiration and support that all you bloggers out there offer each and every day. If it wasn't for this 'network' of supportive people I really would find it hard to focus on a daily basis like I do....Take Care and THANK YOU!!

The Growing Challenge....

I've decided to join in with Melinda's Growing Challenge.... The #1 rule of this challenge is to grow 1 additional type of fruit or vegetable from seed than you did last year.... Now for those that have never grown any fruit or veg before, ever, well that's OK, there's a huge support network over at Melinda's website for gardeners of all skill levels.... The aim of this challenge is to get people growing more fresh fruit and veg at home....

Isn't this a fantastic idea??? With the growing cost of living these days why not ease the pain by growing your own produce.... I've had a veggie patch for as long as I can remember and the flavour of your own home grow fruit and veg is AMAZING!!!!

This year I've decided to have a go at growing green squash from seed. I came across these fantastic Jiffy Pellets (or seed raising pots) at my local hardware shop the other day and just had to give some a go..For $5 you get about 24, that's pretty good value don't you think????

Seen as though my hands were already dirty from potting my seeds I decided to plant 1/2 a dozen of these trees (I bought them from here for $1.80 each for those interested) outside the boundary of the house yard.... It's a bottle-brush and is among the hardiest of Australian native trees. This is a must, the hardiness that is, for where I live. Our annual rain fall out here is usually only about 6 inches (which translates into VERY BLOODY DRY!!!!!) LOL!!! Once they're established they should have beautiful red flowers through the months of Spring which will be great for attracting birds.

In amongst all of this 'planting' yesterday afternoon I couldn't help but snap this shot of Fog (our dog) keeping an eye on a potty lamb for me.... All of the potty's are back out in the paddock now but still like to come and visit me at the house in the afternoons....

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and in some way or other manage to get your hands dirty... Take Care :)

A Bit of Everything....

I found a great recipe the other day over here for 'beyond easy beer bread ' and just had to give it a go....

I added some mixed herbs and grated Parmesan to the basic mixture and it turned out absolutely delicious..... I still can't get over just how super easy this bread was to whip up, not even an hour and that's everything!!! Give it a go I'm sure you'll be amazed too...

There is one catch though, if you only enjoy the lovely fluffy white bread that you buy at the bakers or reproduce in the bread oven at home after several kneads and rises than this bread may not be to your liking.... It has a fairly heavy texture that resembles savoury scones so be prepared for more of a damper than a bread (maybe I've done something wrong here, let me know if you get a different result).....

I'll definitely be making this bread again!! It's just perfect served with a steaming hot casserole in winter (which is how my little family enjoyed it the other night)... I tried to toast it the next day for breaky but wasn't too happy with the result... I prefer it still warm from the oven lathered in real butter....YUMMY!!!!

I'd love to hear about any of the yummy bread recipes that you may have hiding in your favourite cooking book.... I'm dying to give this recipe a go over here... It looks sooo delicious!!!

On the farm front, we gathered up the old girls on Sunday so we could mark their babies... For those non-farming bloggers out there I won't go into too much detail but this is the process where the lambs are ear marked and taged, castrated, and have their tails docked (tail docking helps to prevent fly strike)... While the little princess was in the shearing shed 'helping out' she stumbled across a container of used oil that DH left laying around at just the right height for little girls to reach..... WHAT A MESS!!!!
Even though the nights and early mornings have been absolutely freezing compared to usual for this neck of the woods the days have been divine.... With both DH and I finishing work early yesterday, for a change, we loaded up the trailer and headed out with the little princess wood cutting for the afternoon...With all of this extra cool weather we seem to be burning a lot more wood... A trailer load that would normally last 2 weeks is bearly making it through one at the moment.... DH loves burning a bit of hollow wood in amougst the solid stuff, he thinks that it helps to get the fire roaring..... What do you think??? Do you have a wood fire? If so what's your wood preference????

Take Care.... :)

Great News on the Stove Front.....

After lots and lots of searching on the internet this week (what would we do without it???) I finally found a lovely older gentleman named Charles who is more than willing to help me out with my wood stove... He repairs them for a living/hobby and is just as passionate about them as I am...

(this pic is from Charles' website. The first one in the pic is the same model as mine.)

He thinks that my old girl is in great condition and that I'll have no problems making it look like new again. All I need is a bit of elbow grease and a few parts. He even told me that the hot water system in the back of it still works and that I can hook it up to use in my house when I put the stove in. He also said that he's more than willing to show me how to do all of this and at no cost....

How lucky am I????? You see the first man I rang told me that it would cost me at least $3500 to rebuild my stove and that wasn't including the re-enameling, that was an extra $2000..... :(

I was very disheartened and thought that this wonderful old appliance was going to have to retire to the garden and be used as a pizza oven (which is still a pretty darn good idea if you ask me, I just need to find another one for $5 now so I can do that too... LOL) This man than tried to sell me a NEW Rayburn for $10,000, was he trying to take me for a ride??? I'm still unsure......

Thank goodness I found Charles!!!! He's been so helpful and his advice has been priceless... He's not trying to flog his products to me and is even telling me to buy certain things like the new flu, paint and cleaner from a cheaper place like Bunnings, now that's one genuine guy....

He has told me that I can get my wood stove looking brand new for under $300. I was willing to spend $1000 so you've gotta be pleased with that!!!!! I can spend that spare $700 on some new bake-ware now.... :)

Speaking of ovens, I baked that tuna-loaf that I was talking about back here (the recipe is over here) and OMG it was delicious!!!!! What we didn't eat for dinner that night we had cold with some salad wrapped up in flat bread that next day for lunch...Once again a big thank-you to all of the wonderful comments I got in the last post and the oven advice was awesome.... Until next time, take care... :)

HELP PLEASE!!!! Oh, and some exciting news....

DH, the little princess and I headed over to Bourke for a farm clearing sale on Saturday. They're always such a great family day out. Here's the little princess having a spell in a bucket of nuts and bolts that DH bought...

I always manage to pick up loads of goodies at these kinds of sales.... The 2 hoes in the pic above I grabed for $1 each and the Welburn wood stove in the pic below was only $5, yes that's right, $5....

I want to get it re-enameled so that I can put in my new kitchen (that's when it finally gets started in September) but I need a bit of HELP first.... I was wondering if there were any women (or men) out there that have one of these ovens in their home at the moment. If so, do you use it????? Has anyone ever put one in there home??? If so, how did you do it??? We have one in our cottage that's built into a fireplace so I was wondering if I would need to do the same thing if I was putting one in my home???? Is it hard to get the temperature right in this kind of oven when you're baking??? And lastly does any body know where I could find an old manual for this oven??? Wow!!! That's a lot of questions, I know, but I'd so love to build my new kitchen around an old classic like this....

On the farm front, I had a new arrival on Friday last week..... This little treasure is this little girls first baby and let me tell you now, she's doing a sensational job as a mother... :)
And hopefully I will be able to too when baby number 2 comes along in December (you can just see my baby bump in the pics above)..... Yes that's right I'm pregnant with my second bub, 16 weeks and 6 days to be exact... DH and I went to the doctors today to confirm our suspicion's and we even got a chance to hear the heart beat. I have a scan this weekend over at Dubbo so I'll post some pics of the little one next week.

I found out the sex with my first baby but was thinking about leaving this one a surprise... What did you do when you were pregnant??? Did you find out the sex??? I'd love to hear your story...

Last but not least, I whipped up these cord pants for the little princess this morning before I headed to town for my 'day job'. I'm so pleased at how they turned out I can't wait to whip up another pair....Thanks for all of the lovely comments in regards to my scarf from the last post. I'll be posting the pattern for all of those ladies interested in a couple of days...

Take Care :)

With all of this cold, no FREEZING, weather that we've been having over the past week I got the urge to ferret through my over flowing wool stash...

I decided to crochet a ripple style scarf for my little princess. It was super easy, no pattern required, and only took 2 nights curled up in front of the fire watching or should I say listening to the TV.... If you love to crochet and would like a copy of my instructions just leave me a comment saying so and I'll pop them up in my next post.

The little princess is wearing her new scarf today and just loves it... I have another style floating around in my head that I just might have to get started on tonight so stay tuned for that one... :)

On the lamb front, this FREEZING weather sure is knocking the little one's and their Mum's around. A few more were rescued and added to the 'sick pen' over the weekend. The little princess is doing a top job feeding this lamb and heaven forbid if it ever decides to step a foot out of line.... She's quick to start rousing if it does, don't you worry.... And then it's back to being a good little lamb again, just like it's supposed to..... LOL!!!
I found a couple of recipes that I'm dying to give a try over the weekend.... The first is for a orange (or lemon) and poppy seed cake and the second is for a tuna-loaf, kinda like meatloaf but with tuna... YUMMO!!! Are you trying any new recipe's over the next couple of days??? I'd love to hear about them if you are...

Have a great weekend and Take Care.... :)

New Beginnings.....

My gorgeous little sister gave birth to her first child the other day, a beautiful baby girl... Can you believe it???? Well I nearly couldn't!!!! I still picture her (my sister) as a little girl herself... I know very well that over the years she's evolved into an amazing woman and she's going to make a sensational mother but I guess it's just that 'big sister' in me that's finding it a bit hard to get my head around it all......

She went into labour at 3:30am on Friday the 27th June and delivered her little bundle of joy which weighed in at 6pound10 at 7am that same morning, no drugs no stitches nothing!!! Was this woman born for making babies or what???? It took me nearly 2 weeks but last Thursday night I finally finished sewing up this cot quilt for my new little niece.....I went with a 'T' quilting block in 2 shades of pink and then added some green into the sashings to tie in with the nursery rhyme backing fabric that I used.... It measures about 1 metre by just under 2 metres and I hand embroidered the label on the front along the bottom... (you can just see it in the first pic if you look really closely)... I've also got my eye on these and this for my new little niece and am just waiting on some fabric from here so I can get started on them both....

Take Care :)

And the winner is......

First of all I'd like to send out a big thank-you to everyone for all of the lovely comments I received on my last post..... The winner's of my big fabric bundle giveaway's are.......Email me through your snail mail address ladies and I'll get your prizes in the post.....

I'm still keeping busy with the end of lambing.... Hopefully this little treasure will be my last bottle feeder...She's the runt from a set of triplets that just couldn't get a feed. I've had her for a couple of days now and she's really coming out of her shell... Before long I'll be putting her back in the paddock with all of the other lambs where she belongs...

I stumbled across this fantastic gardening club the other day that I just had to join 'The Digger's Club'... Has anyone out there heard of it before???? Well, for those of you that haven't let me tell you a little bit about it......

It began in 1978 as a gardening club for Aussie's looking for interesting plants usually unavailable at nurseries. They fight to preserve the best plants from the past, particularly heirloom veggies, fruit trees and ornamental plants. They provide seeds, plants and produce, along with advice for gardeners who want to garden for the environment rather than against it.

Where has this gardening club been hiding all of my life... LOL!!! I've been searching for something like this ever since I bought my first house almost 10 years ago. It was owned by a lovely lady in her 80's. Her husband had built the house for her and she established the garden. It was the most amazing heirloom garden I'd ever seen...

This garden inspired me to learn more about heirloom gardening. Every avenue I turned down I seemed to get blocked, was this gardening style a thing of the past?? After many failed attempts at trying to find info I finally came to the realisation that you just must not be able to purchase these kinds of seeds/plants anymore....

Boy was I wrong...... Very wrong indeed!!!! I'm so glad that I found 'The Digger's Club' and am now a member. I received my first magazine yesterday..... With 1 years subscription you get 6 of these wonderful magazines full of great gardening advice and the latest heirloom plants available to plant at that time of year, all of which they sell themselves.... I also got some free seeds in my package and couldn't help but purchase this book too while I was at it....I've already started designing my new and improved farm garden as we speak and can't wait to plant some of these gorgeous dwarf citrus.... Oh.... The possibilities are endless and I can't wait to take you on this journey with me.....

Take Care :)