Have you ever seen a real car that is a patchwork quilt??

Well now you have. We spent show weekend at Geraldine. It is the best place to be. A market day with the streets closed and shops everywhere. Bands playing on all the village greens, It was very hot though - 29 deg C. 

And the most fabulous hanging basket I have ever seen. All the shops had competitions as to who could do the best hanging basket. This was the man from the post shop. Amazing.

Recreating - thanks Alison

A while ago my cousin gave me a circular table cloth. It was lovely but she could not think what to do with it. Well it has taken me a while, but finally I worked out a solution. My mother had asked for another apron as I make slightly oversized ones. So thinking of Christmas I started working. All I had to do was cut the apron shape, iron it carefully and overstitch and add some ties. It is so smart as the scalloped edge remains the bottom of the apron, nice shape and lovely finish. It is crisp and clean and white and looks 1920's ish when on. I want to keep it!!!

So thanks for the challenge Alison. I hate throwing things out and am thrilled with the result.

Look at the new blog - Recycle Me NZ

My sister and I have started a new blog together looking at all things that can be recycled, reused, remade, rehomed etc. Recyclemenz.blogspot.com

The end of the Broad Beans

Today I pulled out all the broadbeans, the plants were starting to get rust on them. We had a pretty good run with them. I planted them in April and we have been eating them since September. The earliest ever.
Now there is one big batch left to freeze.

I obviously was not thinking a lot though as I did not leave any plants in for seeds for next year. I know how disappointed Aaron will be!!! (NOT). I love this variety as they do not go grey when cooked but stay a bright green colour. But I have found that Kings Seeds have this in their seed stock, so we are on for next year!!

Summer is here - Strawberries from the garden

 This is the third picking of strawberries from the garden. The lovely hot weather has them ripening fast. A good bowl full every 2-3 days. This morning I got up at about 8.30am - went outside and picked strawberries - then came inside and made american pancakes. Topped it with Maple syrup and strawberries picked only 1/2 hour ago. What a fantastic fresh tasting breakfast.

American Pancake recipe

Feeds two in our house:

1 C Flour

1/2 t salt

add 2 egg yolks and 1 C milk. Mix well and ensure there are no lumps.

Whip the two egg whites to stiff and fold into the above batter. Heat heavy fry pan or gridle. Put a nob of butter on and a soup ladle of mixture. Wait for bubbles to pop and then turn over. Remove onto serving plate, add a knob of butter and a drizzle of real maple syrup. Top with as many sliced Strawberries as you can pick from the garden.

Eat immediately.

What to do on a hot day

 Lovely 26 deg C day. Eli is at a party and Jakob was out in the hammock, under the apricot tree, reading his first ever Famous Five book. Just to top it off he had a bundaberg apple ale - yum.

Retromummy.blogspot.com

If you have not already viewed this person's site - Retro Mummy - then this is the one for you. Funky knitting, hassles with kids, amazing material, great ideas - you name it. I have this site as a favourite. you should too.
She has a great competition going at the moment for some new fabrics by Rosalie - one of the ladies who took the course I did earlier this year.

My amazing 5 year old cooked his first proper dinner

I was making Green Thai Curry for dinner and Eli decided he did not want that. He wanted stir fry dinnner with rice and special sauce. His instructions were. Mum you cook the rice.

We picked a pile of gorgeously fresh veges from the garden "Yes I actually managed to grow a brassica. It is a broccoliflower.

Eli chopped all his veges and had to sit around for me to get my dinner ready so he chopped my veges too. I have noticed that if he makes food he eats all the vege!!

Then he put a bit of oil in the pan and the sliced chicken. Cooked it. Added the veges and stirred until cooked. Put the rice in a bowl, then the vege and then the special sauce (soya sauce) and he and Jakob ate the lot. I did not have my dinner finished cooking for another 15 mins!!! Things are definitely looking up in the kitchen to the day when I will be able to roster the cooking. Yipee.

But I am just so proud of him.

Have you ever seen a smoothie machine powered by a Bicycle?

Well on the weekend at the Steiner School fair - We did. It was hilarious. Fantastic fruit smoothies though.

Recycling a chair

Last week Steff and I had a day fixing up chrome chairs. Look at her blog for her lovely stool. My chair took a bit longer. I now wished that I had put the green spot on all the chair back instead of just the back. Hey I guess we live and learn.


This is the work in progress and the mess I make when I am doing things.

Grey Heron Baby

Yesterday I came home from work to hear Morris barking like crazy. He had a baby Grey Heron backed into a corner by the chicken coup. A very stroppy bird too - pecked like crazy as i put it into a box. After calling the bird hospital and the vet we were advised to take it to our local park where Herons were nesting. So down we all trouped and put it at the base of a tree where there were Heron nests.
It was all knees and wings. Could flap and fly a bit but had problems standing for long. Obviously got caught in the wind and deposited at our place (being only three houses from the park).