Catch up pictures...

Mother and chicks, they are growing up fast!

I have re-mulched 1 side of the vegie garden, 1 side still to go

Corn is coming along nicely

Strawberries are starting to fruit - just a little

Garlic are ready to harvest - only tiny bulbs though

Broccoli

Potatoes coming along

Lots of eggplant fruiting at the moment

1 tiny capsicum starting to grow

Luffa's have been harvested

Silverbeet is looking good - the chooks love it!

Sage

Freshly mulched fruit trees - this is a fig tree, I am waiting for it to re-leaf

Diesel has a habit of sitting up right on his bottom - think he is crossed with a meerkat

Dogs and chickens enjoying the afternoon coolness after a very hot day

The naughty chickens unmulching my freshly mulched fruit trees !!

Handmade Sewing caddy

I finished off the sewing caddy I started last week.  It is from a Joypatch pattern called "Honeybun Fun sewing set".  The pattern has been altered slightly by using a special ruler to create the diamonds on the front and handle.  It was quite easy to make, the little diamonds on the handle were the most fiddly part because they are so small.  I am going to make a couple for different purposes, Kasey wants 1 in pink for dance, and I have downloaded some ballerina stitchery patterns to stitch out on to it.  I am also looking at making a larger one to put my thread cases in to take to classes, which I will make to specifically suit the size of the cases, as they are quite cumbersome to take to class.  I have so many projects I am wanting to make at the moment.......I have to stop looking at patterns....the craft and quilting show is on next month, so I will probably accumulate more projects there!!

I have had a nice day sewing, and Toni went and got a few movies and we all sat down and watched a DVD this afternoon, and I handsewed the binding to the caddy while we were watching the movie, so a nice relaxing day.  I was going to go to the markets this morning, but we were having showers here, and I didn't want to go in the rain.  I wanted to get some indoor foliage plants as I am replanting up our indoor planter box.  I transplanted some of the many bromeliads that are in the greenhouse in to it yesterday, and the Anthurium lilly which has not been doing very well in the garden, so hopefully it will fare better inside.  I am now looking at getting a few nice big plants to finish it off, so will post about that later when I finish it off. Hopefully I will get to the markets next Sunday to get the plants and finish it off. I am looking forward to that, as it hasn't had any plants in it for about 6 years...at least....I have to sit down tonight and work out some school holiday activities, I have a couple of trips to the movies planned, and I am also looking at going to the zoo with a picnic for the day, and also packing up a picnic and taking Kasey over to one of the big playgrounds for a day out....as well as some relaxing days at home of course

Lots to do....

Thursday already??  I've been pretty busy this week, Monday I was in the office all day, but managed to catch up on paperwork.  I also managed to clean out the filing cabinet, and bulk store last years files, so lots of room in there now, so I won't have to keep struggling to do the filing and trying to fit them in the drawer!! Tuesday I spent all day out in the yard, I got all of the mowing done, and also managed to spray all of the weeds, the shoulders are a bit sore though as it is a 20litre backpack and gets pretty heavy on the back and shoulders.  Toni also helped me move Kasey's trampoline out in to the backyard where it was supposed to be put 3 years ago....that was a struggle, just about turned my legs to jelly! Michael turned up at exactly the right time, after it was moved!  I also caught up on all of my wedding phonecalls to next months brides, as October is a really busy month it took me a few hours on the phone. Yesterday was my block of the month for my "back on the farm" quilt.  I managed to get all of the pieces on to the last couple of blocks, there is a couple of pieces here and there missing over the last 4 blocks, as there are some really tiny pieces, so it will probably take me about another hour or so, to cut out the new pieces for the missing parts and get it ready for free motion sewing.  Once that is done, it will be time to put it all together!!  I had a virus of some sort on my laptop yesterday, so that took me from 4pm yesterday until 11pm last night to get rid of.  I now have my antivirus all updated, as well as Microsoft Security installed and updated, so any viruses will have 2 lots of antivirus software and firewalls to get through...that should fix em! I have flowers coming this morning for my 2 weddings this weekend, as well as embroidery club this morning for a couple of hours.  This afternoon I will start on the weddings, and then tonight I have a sewing class to make a double diamond bag...it's quite a nifty little bag, will post pics when done.  I have quite a few finished items I have sewn over the last month or 2, I just haven't managed to upload them to my blog yet...I also have a few projects planned for the next few weeks for some interesting take along to sewing class items....which will make life a little easier for some of the things needed at club and classes.  Now, I just need to find about another 8 hours to each day to get everything done!!

Weekend wrap up

So, I had a productive weekend.  I didn't do too much when I got back from delivering the wedding yesterday.  I did a little weeding in the garden, there was some big horrid, prickly weeds growing in there, and I didn't realise how many there actually were until I started digging them out...lucky I got to it, as otherwise I would have been really struggling to contain them, as they were spreading like wildfire.  Mum popped in briefly, and then, other than the necessary daily stuff, I just plodded along. Made up a lovely beef chow mein, from the new Annette Sym cookbook, it was really yummy, except Toni and Kasey thought it was too spicy. We then sat and watched riverfire on the tv, and spent the rest of the night relaxing.  Today, we rang Damian for fathers day, and surprise, shock, Michael had already rung him, only because he hadn't been to bed yet from the night before!  I then spent most of the day cleaning the house, and it is now a peaceful, tidy haven again....we then moved Toni's old desk in to Kasey's room, as she was begging for it to be in her room, and moved her bed and chest of drawers, and threw out some rubbish, and took her little dressing table out.  Because I have moved her bed back against the wall, it makes her room look so much bigger now. After dinner, I tackled the sewing cupboard. I went to Bunnings today and bought 8 wire stacking racks and put them in the cupboard beside my sewing cupboard, and moved all of my fabric, stabilisers and patterns into that.  I didn't realise how much fabric I actually had, so this tidy up should save me quite a bit of money over the coming months with the sewing projects planned, as I can see what is there and get to the fabric really easily. Unfortunately, my camera batteries were flat, so I wasn't able to take a before shot, but this is the end result:

I can't believe how quickly I filled up my 8 shelves...ooops....   The cupboard where I have my sewing maching and overlocker is so much more organised now, so it will be much more pleasant trying to get some sewing done in there, as I can't work for too long in a disorganised area, as it drives me a bit nutty.  I cleaned our office earlier in the week as well, before the accountant came, and that is so much nicer to work in now also.  so, that's my weekend done and dusted, ready for another busy week. 

Our day at the Garden expo

What a gorgeous day outside today! The weather is beautiful this morning, lovely sunshine and warmth without that horrible summer swelter..I have opened up the house to let in some lovely fresh air. I hate having the house all closed up over winter.  Kasey and I got up early yesterday and headed up to the Nambour garden expo. It was a lovely day. Kasey was pretty good considering that I was trapesing around from one end of the place to the other, in between lectures and workshops. She was getting decidely bored until I finally found the playground, then I had some bribing power! I attended probably 5 or 6 workshops, which I really enjoyed and learnt quite a bit. I spent most of my time at the Giant Kitchen Garden, as this is my area of real interest. I can get plants and buy garden bits and pieces any time of the year. I picked up a perpetual moon calendar for $12 which I can use year after year, and I also picked up a HUGE organic garlic from the same man. My other garlic that I planted the cloves of about 3 weeks ago is finally starting to sprout (yay) I had started to give up on it. Apparently I am best to put the garlic I purchased yesterday in the fridge for a couple of weeks, and according to the moon calender I am to plant it out on the 29th and 30th July.  This along with the sprouts I ordered from Vic should hopefully see a nice big crop in summer, and then I can plant my own cloves...here's hoping anyway.  There was a whole new concept in the Kitchen Garden with how to manage your vege and food crops, and your animals etc. I picked up lots of new info, and lots of info of day workshops etc coming up, which I have yet to read through. Here is a bit of a picture account of what we saw and did at the expo.

Protective planting for establishing fruit trees.

Frog  habitat using a black tub

Spiral herb garden

Ad Lib photo at the solar cooking demonstration

 Teacup ride 

 More teacup ride

Fun on the slide

Companion gardening

 

Protective growing frame for summer vege gardening

Teepee frame for peas and beans and other climing plants

 

Mixed planting vege garden

 

More mixed planting vege garden

 

More mixed garden planting.

  All in all a lovely, productive and enjoyable day. Will definitely go again next year. Seeing as it's such a lovely day outside, I will probably do a little mowing just around the house where it is a bit longer than I would like, the front paddock doesn't need any mowing, and I will probably pull out the pumpkin vine as it is now past it's prime, and will replant some new seeds later in the week, I will plant by the moon calendar which says I can plant from Wednesday, I think I am going to get a LOT of use from this little calendar.

  The vine has it's last 2 huge pumpkins ready to pick, but it is looking very scraggly and the new fruit is not growing, just rotting on the vine, even when hand pollinated, so time for a replacement.  I would like to put some climbing teepee style frames in this time for them to grow on, as they definitely seem to grow better when the fruit is elevated. The other option is some reo mesh, and either of these two options will hopefully contain the vine a bit as well, so it doesn't take over the garden so much.

Part 1 Make a Bag sew along project

Well the last couple of days has been busy as usual. Yesterday I went to sewing class, and started on the sleepover bag. I have a bit of homework to do before the next class, so that we can all finish it at the next class. Last night I worked on part 1 - week 1, of the MAKE a bag sew along project. These are the results so far - half finished, I imagine next week will be the lining and handles. I am pleased with how it is coming up.

Today has been catching up on bookwork etc, I still have probably another day in the office to catch up with this again, so no sewing tonight or tomorrow. I was going to spend tomorrow outside in the yard, mowing etc, but that will need to wait until Saturday unless I am really, really speedy tonght....can't see that happening though, there is a fair bit of paperwork to do.