The big sleepover

Eli and Spencer cuddled in bed sharing the MP3 player

Jakob and Liam in bed reading cartoons.

We came back from holiday and immediately organised the sleepover for Liam and Jakob. This had been cancelled twice last year due to someone not being well. Then I decided that if I am going to do the extra work I may as well get it over in one hit and Eli had his friend Spencer over for the night too.
It was fantastic, so much easier having four kids than three. Then the next day we had Mieke for the night. It was a great weekend.

Mieke and the boys all in our bed in the morning.

The boys on holiday

 The making ......                                                                   The potion......

Drinking it....

This morning the boys were getting into their dress ups and decided that they were Getafix's apprentices from Asterix. They dressed up and then the magic potion making started. This potion was to make you brainier. It was made from Milk, old cream, red food colouring, hot chocolate powder, hundreds and thousands, lots of pepper and salt, ice cubes, lots of chives and parsley, cinnamon and sugar. Then left in the sun and stirred. What got me was they drank it!!!! and worse they made me have a taste. It wasn't too bad but had a real pepper kick.

restyling a shirt

Well back at work after a fantastic break. The weather is hot and even though I have been given a lot of tops by a friend when on holiday, they are all too hot. Short sleeves were needed. So this was last night's project.
From this...... To this.....

 This is a closeup of the strip I put around the shirt.  The shirt was a good brand but from the Op shop for $0.50 and the band I put on was taken of a dress I had when I was 20. I chopped the dress up a couple of years ago and took the banding off. Not knowing how I was going to use it but it was too lovely to throw out.

Raspberry Jam time again

Yes I am picking all the berries. Raspberries, strawberries and blackcurrants have all been made into Jam this week. It is a form of procrastination as I am meant to be packing to go away on holiday.

(for this quantity) sterilise four jam jars.

Karen's Raspberry Jam recipe (minimum 800g raspberries)

Raspberries (weigh them)

same weight in sugar

Put Rasp and sugar in pan with juice from one lemon. Have pan on very low until the sugar has dissolved. Then bring to the boil and let boil for 5 minutes. Add 1 Teaspoon citric acid and stir well. Boil for another 4 minutes. Take off the heat immediately and give a good stir to cool down. Leave 2 minutes and give a good stir. Leave two minutes and give a good stir (do this two or three more times). What that does is ensures that the raspberries stay well distributed in the jar when it sets. Rather than have the raspberries all rise to the top and have set liquid on the bottom.

do not add more lemon or citric acid until you have over 1.5kg of fruit. (add 1.5 lemons and 1.5tsp citric acid). for 2kg fruit do 2 lemons and 2 tsp citric acid.

After years of trying various recipes this is my own take on rasp jam. ENJOY.

Mieke at four months

I had Mieke for the day on friday. It was lovely going out in the Pram with a little baby. Everyone oohing and aahhing and exclaiming about how quickly I got my figure back!! We went to Steff's to drop off some stuff and Mieke got a lovely buzy bee toy from her. These photos were from afternoon playtime. Full of smiles, looking at Morris and chatting to me while I folded the washing. I had some other photos but they were a bit rude to put up on the blog.

Wearable Arts

The school's end of the year art programme this year was wearable arts. We had a proper catwalk set up, funky music and each class complete their outfit according to a theme. Eli's class theme was "the Nutcracker Ballet". So he dressed as one of the toy soldiers. It was a fantastic show. Eli got to bring his costume home.

He was very particular about the moustache

Recycle me

I knew that I wanted a white peasant shirt but when I went to buy a pattern in the shop it was $16!!!

So I cut an old shirt I had to make a pattern. Then I went to the op shop and bought a size 22 ladies shirt for $2. It had long sleeves and business collar but a nice cotton material and I needed a bit of width to make a peasant shirt.

Here is the result of my $2 shirt. plus I know that I have a pattern that works for making other shirts. I quite like the fact that I have left the buttons and not sewn the front together. Am thinking of leaving the top as it is. I was going to put a big button or something but when I wore it today I decided that I liked it as is.

Doing it this way is no less sewing that starting from scratch with a piece of material but it is satisfying, recycling totally and cheap.

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!!