Farmer's Markets

If you're at the Maitland Harvest Market tomorrow, do call in and say hello.

 This is us. We are easy to find!

We will have honey to sell

and chilli powder and flakes..

We also have a range of plants and some handmade children's clothing. All our products are from the farm.

My friend Jo joins me at the stall with her home made relish. Just delicious.

Please come along if you can. These local markets are so important for the local economy and we need local people to come along and support them. There's lovely coffee and things to eat. Come sit under the large tree and listen to some local Musos play their music. A great morning out.

My Creative Space

Finding the space within the busyness of farm life for a little creating has become a priority for me over the last few years. Whether it's sewing, knitting, spinning or whatever new thing that comes along, I make time for some each day.

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Just the odd bit of knitting happening here at the moment, so thought I'd share some creating that happened for Christmas...

A fishing game for a little grandson, made from felt with a touch of embroidery. A metal washer at the mouth, a little fleece stuffing and a magnet on some string, along with some watery blue coth and you have a sweet little game for a 2 to 3 year old.

One of my daughters felt that a doll's house would be lovely for her 4 year old niece, so we took a look around some second hand shops. We came across this one which we felt could come up to scratch with a little TLC. As it got closer to Christmas, my daughter was getting a bit overwhelmed with what needed to be done so I took over the project. Rhonnie had sanded the whole thing down, so I started on the painting. She decided to keep the floors wooden and to paint everything else.

A piece of timber beading was added to cover a few dents and curtains for the windows...

Paper bunting in the nursery...

 

And a bed for mamma and pappa....

Rhonnie was a little anxious about how the gift would be received as the family are not really into secondhand/homemade. But her niece was beside herself when she saw it. It was just what she'd dreamed of! Rhonnie had found some beautiful wooden furniture to add to the gift and I'm sure that there will be many more years of happy play from this little girl.

For our 6year old grand daughter I made an explorers bag from some curtain fabric that I had. And to put inside I made a pencil holder and journal. Along with a bought magnifying glass and second hand insect book I think it made a lovely discovery gift. The grand daughter was particularly taken with the pencil case, something she had coveted for a while apparently. You can be lucky some times!

For her four year old brother I made some things to throw. Don't small boys just love to throw things?

I made a parachute from some lovely blue silk and added a duplo man I had, and a shooting star streamer ball from some felt.

I really enjoyed creating these gifts. I find it much more rewarding than wandering around the shops with the hordes of Christmas shoppers (or at any time really).

My Creative Space

Finding the space within the busyness of farm life for a little creating has become a priority for me over the last few years. Whether it's sewing, knitting, spinning or whatever new thing that comes along, I make time for some each day.

* * * * * * * 

It's been so hot here. Yes, I know, it's summer and it's supposed to hot. But I can remember when we used to get afternoon thunderstorms which brought a little bit of rain and a whole lot of relief. Any way I digress.

It's been very hot and finding something to work on, in a creative way, that doesn't exacerbate how hot I already feel, has been a bit of a challenge. Normally doing a little sewing would be good, but my sewing room is just stifling, even though I had it fully insulated, ceiling and walls,when I renovated the room.

And so I pulled out something I started on about 2 years ago. A crocheted ripple rug made from cotton. I haven't done a great deal of crocheting, just a couple of beanies and a cushion cover when I was teaching at the Steiner school. The children are taught crochet in around 3rd class and I took it up then. But it was just basic double crochet. I saw other bloggers making such beautiful things from crochet and thought I'd teach myself a few more stitches, but unfortunately I got a bit bored with it.

I don't think I'll ever be a crocheter, I'd much prefer knitting. But I do need to finish this rug. Because it's cotton it's not so hot to have it sitting on my lap, like wool would be, so I'm soldiering on. It's not that bad really. I think I'm getting the hang of it.

 This photo shows the colours quite well. Colours of the ocean is my intention. Cooling colours for summer crafting!. I have the rug and all the yarn sitting in this basket alongside my chair, so that when I sit down to relax I can just pick it up and start. No having to look around and find everything. Mark sometimes wonders why I have a craft room when all my bits and pieces end up in the loungeroom. Oh well. I have to have something to do while he watches the cricket.

The following photo doesn't show the colours so well.

Does it remind you of the sea?

Look at all those ends I have to weave in when I finish.

Yesterday when I woke up I still felt so very tired. I got up and did the morning farm chores, had breakfast and went back to bed. That's just not something that I would normally do but I just couldn't seem to get going and it was Sunday after all.  I'm entitled to have a slow and restful day, I told myself. I'm finding the older I get the more that summer saps me of my energy. So I lay there thinking of all the things that needed doing and that was the end of my rest. I got up and cleaned out the fridge. Now when was the last time I did that? A long time ago by the look of it, and then putting away some jars I was prompted to clean up the back room where we keep all our preserving jars. It's amazing that once I get going and just start on something, my energy returns. Does that happen to you?

And the best thing about the weekend was that finally a cool change came through. Didn't last long though!

My Creative Space

Finding the space within the busyness of farm life for a little creating has become a priority for me over the last few years. Whether it's sewing, knitting, spinning or whatever new thing that comes along, I make time for some each day.

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The Wedding Quilt

A few months ago I offered to help a friend create a quilt for her daughter's wedding present. My friend is not a sewer but dearly wanted to make this quilt after her daughter made a passing comment about family heirlooms. She wondered if she could possibly make a quilt that could be passed down from mother to daughter . She had a project in mind..a crazy patchwork quilt that she had won a few years back was the inspiration for the wedding quilt.

 Now I've made a few crazy patchwork cushions in my time...

..and so thought I could be of some help.

My friend chose the fabrics and gave me the combinations for each block and I sewed the patches. It has been great fun working together to make this quilt. I have enjoyed teaching my friend some simple embroidery stitches and she has enjoyed learning them and feeling a great sense of achievement at completion of each patch.

There is the patch with a little piece of lace from her own wedding dress, another patch has fabric from her mum's wedding dress and others with doilies made by her grandmother..truly an heirloom.

And there are little pieces of embroidery that have meaning specific to this family.

I feel so privileged to have been a part of this creative project, spending time with this dear friend, sharing some of my skills, and creating something so beautiful and practical. 

Yesterday we decided to lay the quilt out in preparation for sewing the patches together. We placed them all down, then moved them round, and then moved them round some more. Stood back and decided that they needed to be more balanced so started all over again...

Here's what we come up with..

There are still two patches that need a little more embroidery and then we will be ready to sew the patches together. We will get together next weekend for a lesson on the sewing machine.

We have enjoyed these times together. Once we were joined by two of my daughters which motivated us to have ourselves a mother/ daughter craft day once a fortnight. And now there is a beginners sewing day in the pipeline. Once upon a time women got together to combine skills and teach each other crafts. I now understand why!

Edited to add a link to Linda's  post today. What a coincidence that we both post about quilts and the sharing of the making of said quilts.

A Little Bit Of Woodwork

To welcome the birthday child to the farm, and inspired by our newest additions, I made a sign for the front gate...

I started with a template. I divided the template into squares...

These squares were replicated on a larger scale onto a piece of ply. And then it was just a matter of drawing the pig, using the squares as a guide, onto the ply.

Using power tools has always frightened me a bit, but I was determined to use the jig saw that I've had for years and never used, to cut it out. Then I tidied up the edges with a sander.

Then after a coat of sealer I painted the pig with chalkboard paint.

The sign lets the party guests know where they are going and starts the party off nicly for the birthday child. On Sunday the mother of the birthday girl apologised for being a little late but her little girl insisted that she have her photo taken with the sign. Makes it all worth while really! And I enjoyed my little bit of woodwork.

Have you been put off by a fear of power tools?

Recycling

Gee it's been hot this year, and there's nothing Mark and I enjoy more, after a long hot day in the garden, then a nice cool cider. ( Sounds a bit like a TV commercial). And so after a few months of this, the bottle tops start to pile up, (not to mention the bottles, but that's a whole other story).

A few years ago my daughter and her partner went to Africa. Now there's a country that knows how to use every little resource. They came home with shoes and bags and wallets made from tyres and inner tubes. And Meghann brought home a trivet made from bottle tops and scrap fabric. Last year Meg made me a trivet  from bottle tops and scrap fabric and so that's what I decided to do with my excess of bottle tops and scrap fabric.

Here's how it's done....


First cut out your circles just a little larger than the bottle top.

Sew a row of running stitch around the edge

Place the bottle top onto the fabric circle and pull in the gathering stitches until tight around the top.

and then sew the ends together.

                            
 Make enough circles for your design and then sew them all together with a few little stitches where they meet at the edges.

Once all tops have been sewn together in your desired shape, trace around it. This will be the pattern for the back. Cut two frommatching fabric and sew a 1/4 inch seem around edges leaving one side unsewn so that you can turn it in the right way. Iron it and hand sew opening closed and place it on the back and sew edges where they touch the bottle tops to secure it in place.

I love that I can  use up scraps of fabric that are too small to be of much use for anything else and save the bottle tops from going to landfill. And they are turned into a useful and practical item.

They make a nice little handmade gift, don't you think!

Rainy Days

What to do on a rainy long weekend? Hmmm let's see.

First some pancakes for breakfast.

Plants some trees next

Take them from here where they are growing in abundance. These are Casuarina or She oaks which send up little suckers which are easily transplanted

And plant them here where we are trying to develop a windbreak. We like to plant on wet days to give them a good start.

Time for some crafting

A little cardigan for our grand daughter due in July

 A gift for someone special

A new top for me using fabric I bought from an Op shop. Still need some bias binding for the armholes. Some thing new for my upcoming trip to Melbourne.

Some wool. I think the dark wool will make a nice beanie for Mark!

 Some more Op Shop finds from during the past week

A little covered bowl to hold the soap at our outdoor sink

And now some left over rice for lunch.