Friday, April 30, 2010

Freckles


Dustin still hasn't been brave enough to catch the bus to school in the mornings but he has caught the bus home in the afternoon. His problem is not so much the bus but walking into his classroom on his own because he is so shy. At least until he warms up :)

I've been busy crocheting a blanket to throw over the back of the couch. Our couches are dark brown leather and our lounge is dark and dingy. We are planning on painting it and putting down a new floor, new plastering and even a new window and that will help to brighten it up but in the meantime I am making some furnishings to add some colour and comfort.

Karma has been helping me with the crocheting.


The potato harvesting has stopped due the the wet weather. They are hoping things will dry out enough to come back next week. We still have some harvesting of our own so we wont need to buy potatoes for a while. I might have to find some good potato recipes because we have a LOT!


I have found homes for all my chooks now. They are all going to friends. I have delivered a couple and might drop a few more off today. I am looking forward to getting new ones in Spring. It will be strange not having any hens. I haven't been without hens for about seven years!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Crocheted blankets everywhere

So finally I can make granny squares and of course now I cant stop. I started this one a few days ago and I have no idea what it is going to turn into but it is now twice the size. I've never really liked the huge granny single square quilts much. I like the small squares which are all joined together. I am making one like that but I have a feeling this one is going to turn into the former kind.

I am also making a granny square bag which I plan on felting. That is two granny rugs and a bag and I am also part way through making three double/single crochet blankets. I really need to actually finish something.

In addition to all the crocheting projects, I am also trying to finish off some quilt squares I owe some friends in an international quilt square swap I am very late on. Then there is the other felted bag waiting to be lined.

I better light the lounge room fire and clean up the house so I can settle down tonight to some serious crocheting!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

No bus trip this morning

We went up to catch the bus this morning, well Dustin did. It was his first time on the bus. When the bus came and stopped at the top of our driveway all the kids on the bus were so excited because they were stopping somewhere new and they all looked out the window to see who they were picking up and there was just too much pressure.

He went all shy and jumped into my arms. He said "everyone was looking at me". Poor baby :) So he is going to catch the bus home this afternoon. I hope. I think he will do better when I am not there and he is with other kids already.

He is only five. I thought five was too young to catch the bus by himself but half the kids in his kindergarten class catch the bus and a few are even on his bus so I guess it is OK. Living in a rural area where everyone knows each other makes some things easier. Scott even knows the bus driver.

Monday, April 26, 2010

A surprize on my camera

Every now and then I find surprize photos on my camera. Often they are self portraits of my kids but today I found photos of Ruby's latest painting.


It's me!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Last day of Green Week

The sun is out again. My animals are grazing in the sun and the potatoes are slowly drying out. The harvesters are not here again today but we are going to go out later this afternoon and pick up a few bins full of the rejected potatoes to boil up for Juliet our pig during the winter.

I have been reading 'The Road' and it is really good. I'm almost finshed it and I only started it yesterday. Scott has taken the kids to work two days in a row so I have some spare time.

I am going to post some of my favourite photos to end my Green Week. I'll leave my green Etsy favourites up top for a while.











Saturday, April 24, 2010

Green Etsy

I have posted some of my favourite green Etsy items at the top of my blog. My favourite is the lovely green hand knitted shawl which is perfect for weather like today (rainy, windy, cool), but how cool is the moss ring??

I buy a lot of my craft items from Etsy. It works out cheaper in a lot of cases to buy from the US and have it shipped than to buy the same thing from Australia. Then of course there is the selection which we miss out on in Australia, particularly Tasmania.

This is 'Budgie' my green and yellow budgie. Isn't he beautiful. I hate birds in cages but I needed someone to keep Whisper company as he was getting lonely. This is Whisper.

Whisper is my long time buddy, We have been together for about fifteen years now. He used to travel around on my shoulder. He likes to stay in his cage these days though. I liked it when he used to have a perch and when I got home from work I had to call him because I never knew where he was. I'd find him sitting on a book shelf or on a curtain rod.

Friday, April 23, 2010

The Lost Book of Salem

I just finished reading 'The Lost Book of Salem' by Katherine Howe. I liked it but it wasn't great. It had the potential to be great so I was a little disappointed but it was OK.


It is a good day for reading. It is rainy and muddy outside. The potatoes are half harvested but they cant do any work today or else they will get bogged in the mud.

Tonight we are off to some friends house for dinner. Yay!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Green Flickr


I can spend hours looking at everyones georgous photos over at Flickr. Click on the corresponding credits below to check out these great green shots. I'll also link to my flickr page at the bottom of my blog.

1. brown trout under water green river 2, 2. Green Python, 3. Untitled, 4. Green with Envy, 5. red, yellow, green, 6. Wellington waterfront night 2, 7. Untitled, 8. Kensal Green - April 2010 (22), 9. Baktus, 10. Hide-and-seek, 11. Lucky Shot of the Day!, 12. green bag - closeup, 13. green bling, 14. Day 20-Green, 15. The Eyes Have It, 16. american cemetery, 17. He posed for YOU :), 18. Black line, 19. pea palm, 20. Smile #2, 21. 3 fern leaves, 22. Vampire Season, 23. Green & Green, 24. Meeting the pregnant princess of the forest, 25. green ON green

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

My first grannies


I learnt to crochet about two years ago because I wanted to make a granny blanket. My crocheting skills haven't progressed very quickly though because I only just made my first granny squares the other night.


So now I have two granny projects on the go. I am finally making that blanket and I am also crocheting up a bag which I am going to felt. Yes, I know I still haven't finished the other bag that I just felted but I'll get to it :)

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Spin or Felt?

I cant decide?


I have this dilemma every time I buy wool.


I also have a nice little bundle of pretty green fabric waiting for me to create something out of and since it is 'Green Week' I might even put it to use.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Green week!

I don't have a favourite colour. I go through stages where I like particular colours or colour combinations. Lately I like green. So this week all my posts are going to be green!

It is pretty green around here lately. We haven't had as much rain this Autumn as we usually do but it is still looking a lot nicer than the dry brown summers we have.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Pumpkin season


The last of the pumpkins will be harvested today plus a friend of a friend has offered us some of theirs so there will be pumpkin cooking non stop for a while.


This one is about to become pumpkin soup for tonights dinner.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Smokey skies

The forestry are burning off again and the skies have been full of smoke. The industry in our area is mostly wood plantations and farming. There are a couple of big mills here except they are all closing down, or have closed down. I'm not up to date with all the local business politics.

This time every year after the forestry have harvested the wood they burn off all the left over stuff. They were burning off on the other side of the hill opposite our farm and it looks like the fire may have escaped because on Thursday there was a helicopter delivering water beyond the hill.



Yesterday there was a strange mix of smoke and clouds and it seemed to insulate us from the cool weather and it was very quiet.




The last time they burnt off a few weeks ago the wind blew the smoke all over the place and it was so smoky you could hardly see the hills.






Today I cant tell if it is cloudy or smokey or both. I am hoping for rain!

Friday, April 16, 2010

Doing their chores



Working hard for their pocket money :)

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Walnut Cookies

Not surprisingly the kids didn't like the coffee and walnut muffins I made, so yesterday I made them some walnut cookies.


These were really yummy but they still were not impressed. I guess you have to like walnuts. I LOVE walnuts. Scott doesn't but he even liked these cookies. I found the recipe at Madam Kwong's Kitchen.

Just click on the link for the recipe and check out some of her others. Her foodie photos will have you drooling.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Walnuts and mohair

A friend of ours has a walnut tree so he brought over a big bag full for us. Yesterday I showed Ruby how to crack them with a hammer. I have funny memories as a child cracking macadamia nuts from my grandfathers tree that way. The walnuts don't run away from you as much as the macadamia nuts did and their shells are a lot softer.


After we had a cup full of cracked walnuts we made coffee and walnut muffins. This was a baking experiment and it turned out alright so here is my recipe.

Coffee and Walnut Muffins

1/2 cup of butter at room temperature
1/2 cup of brown sugar
2 free range eggs (please don't ever buy caged eggs they are yucky and very sad)
1 cup of light sour cream
1/4 cup of milk
1/4 cup of espresso coffee
2 cups of wholemeal flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 1/2 cups of
roughly cut walnuts

Beat the butter and sugar together until it is soft and creamy, then add the eggs, sour cream and milk and coffee. The mixture might be a bit lumpy because the milk and coffee wont blend well with the butter but that is OK.

In another large bowl sift the flour and baking powder. Then add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix with a spoon until only just combined. The mixture will be quite lumpy but don't mix it anymore (or they won't come out fluffy).

Then add the walnuts and carefully mix them through. Over mixing and over baking is what will make them dry and you will loose that lovely fluffiness.

Put the mixture in a greased or non stick muffin pan. You should get a dozen medium sized muffins but you can also make the larger ones or the mini muffins if you prefer. Into a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees C.

I don't time my muffins. I keep checking them with a skewer every few minutes when they start to brown on top. The best time to pull them out is when the skewer is mostly clean when you pull it out but there is still a bit of moisture inside the muffins. Usually this takes 10 - 15 minutes.

When you take them out leave them in the tin for at least ten minutes. If you take them out right away they will fall apart. Then you can put them on a rack to cool or eat them right away.

These muffins are not very sweet and so are perfect as a breakfast muffin served warm with butter.



When I was away in Hobart last weekend I bought some pretty mohair yarn from a fancy knitting shop. On Monday I crocheted it together with a wool and alpaca yarn into a bag.

I chose the colour because it reminded me of early Autumn but this bag is looking more like Spring now.

Some mohair is itchy but this is very soft. I thought of crocheting a scarf out of it, but I really need a new handbag so that is what I am making.

Yesterday I felted it. It didn't felt as well as I expected but it is alright.

It is a little wrinkled but I'll get that fixed up after I have sewn in the lining and the shoulder strap which I am probably going to do today.