Happy Dance..........

O.K... The lucky winner from last post was Lissa Jane... Email me your snail mail Lissa and a special something is headed your way.... ;)

So here they are, in all of their glory, Millie's Crawler/Walkin' pants with extra padded knee/scruff pads, to stop those damn burrs burrowing in........
After an afternoon of fencing out in the paddock with Dad yesterday I can firmly say that they have definitely passed the quality assurance test....
Little Millie played and crawled and and played and crawled and even through in a bit of walking and dirt eating for good measure too... This all took place in the roughest of terrains, my big back yard, and at the end of the day I'm happy to report...... NO BURRS, YIPP-EE!!!! (now, that's a first)

That's definitely worth a happy dance, don't you think.... LOL!!!

This little pants pattern was so easy to draft up I was thinking of doing it as a tutorial, what do you think????

Hugs............ Jodie.............

'free time'.................

While DH and Miss Connie took a load of goats to town this afternoon, little Millie and I got to work utilising our 'free time'....

First up we made a lined dress for Connie. She goes to town on a Monday for 'school' and being St Patrick's Day this Monday coming a new green dress was definitely on the cards...

We then worked on something super cute for Millie.....
It even has a little hand stitching in a couple of spots........

Can you guess what it is???? The first person who does will get a special little something.....

Here's' hoping you have a chance for some 'free time' this weekend...

Hugs...... Jodie..............

Pumpkin-y Goodness.....

Today growing in my cedar tree I found the most perfect little treat..... It was a golden nugget pumpkin just right for the pickin'.........

Not being able to help myself I chopped it open straight away and to my surprise it was just perfect....... So tonight we'll be feasting on delicious homegrown pumpkin with our dinner, YUMMO!!!!

I can't wait for the rest of my pumpkins to ripen now!!! I have visions of tiny little jars filled with pumpkin-y goodness lining the shelves of my pantry in the not too distant future.... I have a recipe for pumpkin jam that sounds divine but that's it... Do you have any great pumpkin preserving recipes???? I'd love to hear them if you do....

Hugs....... Jodie.....................

New Found Obsession!!!!

I'm absolutely loving ric-rac at the moment... Not the kind that you buy in the shop, no, this stuff is extra special!!!! It's handmade, well hand crocheted to be exact, and sooooo TOTALLY ADDICTIVE!!!!! (Oh and super simple too)

I'm attatching it to everything but am loving it most of all when I sew it on to the bottom of super cute little skirts for my girls....

For those crochet minder crafters out there I'll share my little pattern with you...

Crochet Ric-Rac : : 1st row - Chain 3, into first ch (DC, ch2, DC) turn. 2nd Row - ch2, in ch2 space from previous row (DC, ch2, DC) turn. Repeat 2nd Row until ric-rac is desired length....

How easy was that????? If you're having troubles working out my 'crochet' talk let me know and I'll try to make sense of it for you.... :)

I don't know if you can remember but back here I talked about making some Grape Jam..... Well I made it alright and it was super simple and super delicious....The jar on the left is green grape jam and the one on the right is black grape jam... How gorgeous is the green grape jam now that its turned a heavenly deep pink after the cooking process...

To make your own grape jam just rapidly boil 1 cup of sugar to every 1 cup of grapes... To prepare the grapes just rinse your grapes and don't worry about the seeds, they'll float to the top as the jam boils, I then just scoop them out with a small sieve.......

What's your favourite jam recipe???? I have one that I'm going to give a go in the next couple of weeks for pumpkin jam, sounds very interesting doesn't it???

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

Chance Meeting.....

I got the chance to meet up with the sweetest blogger over the weekend who just happened to be passing through my town, Janice....

She even bought me a pressy, can you believe it???? Some gorgeous thrifted corduroy that I'm dying to turn into matching skirts for my girls.... If you can see it past my pesky ginger cat that you're doing well... I love cats and with another kitten arriving in the wee hours of the morning over the weekend I now bring my running total to 6... I know, I know, I really am becoming a bit of a cat lady these days... LOL!!!

Anyway, back to Janice... It was so great to put a face to the name!!! Janice has joined in on every one of my washcloth swaps so I've gotten to know her fairly well via email.... We have great plans of meeting up again soon in her home town of Bathurst and I just can't wait, especially after she told me that she loves to 'collect'... Boy are we going to get along well as I'm a bit of a hoarder as well, oops I mean 'collector' (hehehehehe).................. :)

Here's hoping you're having a great week thus far...

Hugs................. Jodie..............

Do I Look Tired?????

It was 1:37am and I was just turning the hall light off and making my way to bed when the screaming started...... For some reason Little Millie was in a horrible start, trying her hardest to scream down the house..... When I finally settled her after an hour and a half of rocking and walking she decided that it was time for something to eat........

Maybe my poor little sweetie was just terribly hungry for some reason or maybe she had a nightmare or maybe she was feeling upset in the tummy, God only knows but all that matters is that she's fine now and a good sign is that she has an appetite...

So it's now 3:12am in the morning and we are sitting at the kitchen table having some toast.... What do you think, does this face look tired to you????
Well I know that mine sure does, for fear of scaring you all I won't show a pic, instead I'm off to bed and I'm taking my little girl with me.....

Here's hoping your day starts a lot better than mine.....

Hugs....... Jodie....................

Very Special Something......

I've been working on a new washcloth pattern, this time something crochet for a change....

All that's left to do is weave in some ends and she's all done.....

Also, seen as though we had a very special trip to town this morning for a very special something I thought that Miss Connie needed a few little goodies to keep her occupied.....

So while both bubs slept this morning I whipped up some scribble pads to load into a bag with some crayons...
These pads are super quick and easy, all you have to do is sew a few random pieces of paper together with card-stock on the out side and hey presto, instant scribble book....

Now, the very special something that we had to go to town for this morning was a tasting of my newest range of preserves....

The day was a huge hit!!!! My little table sat in the doorway of the local florist and had all passers by stopping for a look... Out of everyone who tasted my products 90% bought them, gotta love those odds.... So after a very big day, smiling and chatting up a storm, it's time for this Mumma to curl up on the lounge with a good book and a nicely brewed cup of tea...

Hugs....... Jodie.......... :)

Wish Me Luck.......

The preserves have been pumping out of my kitchen with 82 jars of relish made yesterday using half of my zucchini stash. I decided to put some cucumbers on the chopping block today for a bit of a change....

So with my heirlooms being the first cab off the rank I chopped and de-seeded like a mad woman and I now have 3 big pots full of chunky goodness. They'll stay like this for 6 hours, soaking up a bit of salty goodness, awaiting to be added to a new pickling juice that I've been working on over the past couple of days. This new brew is sure to pack a punk..... *wink*

Now, before I start on the green cucumbers I really must tackle this..... The big pile of waste from the heirlooms... I want to save some of my yummy seeds for next year and for any one else that might like to try some in their garden...... Then the chooks can have fun playing with the rest......

O.K.... Here's my pile of green cucumbers, wish me luck because in about 30 minutes I'll be tackling this baby with hopes of reaching an end to the pile before Little Millie wakes from her sleep in (fingers crossed) 1 hour.....

Here's hoping your having a great day whatever you're doing....

Hugs................... Jodie..... :)

Oh My.....

Well, when it rains it really does pour, literally!!!!!

My veggie patch has turned into some what of a jungle over the past couple of weeks while I've been away.. You see, we've had over 7 inches of rain over the past 10 days, how awesome is that!!!!!
I'm picking golden nugget zucchini the size of basketballs and green ones that look more like a giant butternut pumpkin than a zucchini....
The apple cucumbers are as big as rock-melons and my green cucumbers are as fat as a beer can and at least a couple of feet long, each, and there's dozens of them..... IT'S CRAZY!!!!!
A corner of the cool room is now slowly filling up with over sized produce as my fridges will hold no more.... Today sees me with big pots over flowing on the stove top as I start the long process of turning all of this gorgeous home-grown produce into yummy jars of delicious preserves....


Wish me luck........ Jodie..... :)

Home Again.....

It was so nice to get away and just forget about everything for a couple of weeks but on the other hand it really is nice to be home again.....

My time away has given me a new zest for life and I'm now really motivated to get my but into gear with a few things that I've had in the pipeline over the past couple of months... So as my DH would say, "watch this space...." LOL!!!

While we were away Miss Connie had the thrill of her life when she got to travel to big school for the morning with her Aunty MeeMar....

It's about a 40min bus drive to my little sisters (Sam) school from where my Mum lives... Sam is in yr 10 and thought that Connie might enjoy a trip in with her to meet some of the big school kids. Boy was she right, Connie hasn't been able to stop talking about it ever since....

Here's a sneak peak of some of the knitting that I did while I was away..... A cute little brown and yellow top with a feather and fan trim.....

And this little purple and cream one with a stripey garter border.....

I'll post some better pics soon as I get them, promise....

While away I also took the plunge and got all of my hair chopped off.... (this is me at 6:15am this morning, not a good look)

It's been 15 years since I've changed the length of my hair this drastically and I love it..... It's one of those wash and wear styles that's not supposed to need much work, I'll be the judge of that come the end of the month but so far so good, I love it!!!!!

Thanks for all of your kind words on my last post , I don't know why it happens but sometimes life just gets too much and it's nice to be able to step away for a while, thanks for understanding......

Hugs... Jodie..... :)

A Little Time-Out....

Just thought I'd let you know that I'm taking a break with my girls... I'm in desperate need a of little time out so we've headed down South for a while....

I've been enjoying passing the time knitting with some harmony yarn but as for some pix of my new creation, well that will just have to wait.... I can't upload photos on the computer that I'm using at the moment but promise that when I get home I'll post plenty of pix to make up for it....

Hugs..... Jodie..... :)