Dirty hands and a hole in the garden

Over the weekend Aaron and I tried to catch up on all the jobs around the garden that just don't get done in the summer because of all our camping.

mulching like mad

Well my arms ached, my legs ached (and so did my butt - it felt like it should be really tight and small!! Why does it not look like it feels?). Anyway, I worked madly trying to mulch all the clippings and layer my compost with the pig poo from my sister (see her blog gardening in Amberley). Then on Sunday I mowed the lawn to add to that layering.

The hole and the stubborn stump

The dirt on my hands were a good representation of the hard work.

Aaron spent Saturday trying to dig out an old stump. Man did he work hard!! But the stump is still there. At one point I tried to help him I leant on the crow bar and heaved but all I ended up doing was falling on the end of the crowbar and smashing into my best zuchini (courgette) to absolute pieces. (I think some of my aches are from that as man it hurt all along my chest where I fell on the bar). But the stump is still there and all that happened was Aaron could hardly move as it really agrivated his back.

My sister wrote a poem once about my mothers' hands. 

Refashion an Op Shop find

This weekend I physically exhausted myself in the garden (did not take long!!! - a couple of hours each day), which left me with heaps of time to sit and sew for relaxation.

Inspired by my recent finish of a recycled quilt  I went through the stack of unfinished projects by my machine. There was a dress I had bought about a month ago from a Save the Children Op Shop in Christchurch.

I am not very good at sewing clothes for myself from scratch, but if something fits I know I can generally make it look better.

One of the things that really bug me about ladies clothes is NO POCKETS - why why why. Yes I carry a handbag but it is so handy to have pockets. And why was there no fastening at the waist? - so it gaped - no dome or button or anything.

So I made a new collar, new sleeve end, stitched a pocket into the waistband but floats externally, shortened the length and added some bias, added a $1 belt also from the Op Shop and presto - A new outfit that I am thrilled with.

I wore it to church today and heaps of people commented on it.
$10 dress
$1 belt
$5.50 fat quarter of green and black flower material from quilters quarters in Rangiora

The finished article.

The before (sorry not good photo)

The before on my dress model

Worn to church this morning

icky 80's collar

off with the collar and half the sleeve

On with a new collar

on with a new cuff

Add an external pocket

jazz up the bottom of the skirts. Shorten by 1 inch and add bias

DONE - I link up to these places






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Ellerslie Flower Show

NZ in flowers

Devonshire tea in the Dilmah tent. Very smart and nice

Well Aaron and I went to Ellerslie on Friday. I won tickets - big yahoo and yippeee. I get the NZ Gardener weekly email called Get
Growing and for $10 you get a VIP section with competitions etc. And I won (yes I know I said that - but I was very excited)

Loved this colour combination

So we went. The gardens were spectacular. The recycled and upcycled gardens so appealed to me. There was one that was made from old kitchen benches and drawers and pallets. Oh the pallet use was amazing. I wanted to zoom back to work and pull the two pallets out of the skip. But where would I put them???

What was disappointing was the size. It was about 1/2 the size of the first show we went to in 2010 which was amazing. The food tent was non existent, they said that the food area was set up as a farmers market look with straw bales etc, but there were only 8 stalls - yes 8!

Amazing garden with Moa sculpture

So I enjoyed it, some was amazing, but we were home by 1.30pm. I am so pleased that I had not paid the $42 entry but actually won tickets.

In the recycled garden

   

Great upcycling of old movie theatre seats

Pallet vege garden, look at the use of old kitchens and drawers

A buzzy bee flower garden - fantastic

Finally a finish

It has been most of summer since I managed to finish something. Yay, the quilt top for the caravan is DONE.  Well I still have to sandwich it and quilt it, but the patchwork is done. I love the repetition of the hourglass block. This is made with 100% recycled flannel. The white was a really good condition fluffy sheet that I bought at a local Op Shop for $3. The patterned material are all PJ's - again Op Shop purchases. (I have to say that I am a bit addicted to making flannel quilts, they are so soft and cuddly and making them from recycling just appeals to the frugal in me).
Finally I am able to link back to Finish it up friday. I also link up to places here.

Works in Progress - upcycling again

The start of our Caravan quilt - made from old Pj's

The start and end of the hexagons

20 Flags ready for Sunday School to decorate

Summer is so busy and this year with it being so hot we have been away a lot!! This means that slowly the garden gets on top of me, and the housework etc so less craft is done.

BUT this year I have been taking hand patchwork on my weekends and holidays away - yes the hexagon. I have been asking myself why?? I love doing embroidery and here I am patchworking by hand. Hmmm I think I was carried away with the hexagon fever without thinking about it. So I have decided to turn it into a cushion top so that it can get finished and not just languish as yet another project on the go.

I have been working on a quilt for Aaron and Me in the caravan for ages. Still not completed, but last night I started putting some of the hourglass blocks together to inspire myself to get it finished.

Sunday school has been doing some awesome stuff lately. Sarah (who makes the program) thought that flags would be great for the kids to make so they can have some of their own to wave during worship. So last night I made 20 calico and cotton flags. Ready to put a stake in and decorate. I can't wait to see what the kids will put on them.

So with Aaron being away a lot for work at the moment, quite a lot of paperwork happening in my job, I am pleased to have gotten a little crafting in.

I link up to some of these places

Zip Pouch Swap

I got an amazing pressie in the mail. This is the first time I have participated in a swap with other bloggers. I loved it. It was organised by Ros from Sew Delicious.

Eli wanted the chocolate

pillowcases waiting to be refashioned

I sent mine off - you can see what I made here. And I got the most amazing parcel from my swap person. Two zip pouches!! embroidered pillowcases, chocolate - WOW. Some of the sweets I had never heard of before - really interesting.

The big birthday

Wow, Jakob is now 10. On Saturday he had his party with some friends from his old school and some friends from his new school.

To start the day we had a healthy lunch. Tomato and cucumber from the garden with cheese from Evansdale and smoked salmon from the North Canterbury Seafood Market, finished with grapes from the vine.

The new decor at Laser Strike

Then onto the junk. No 10 year old boy wants to have healthy food for their party. (We did have them on that the cucumber was the birthday cake, put candles in it etc. But Jakob deleted the photo on his new camera before I could get to it.)

Through the portal and into battle

boys getting kitted up and ready to go

Anyway - Laser strike - was a huge hit!! It had only just reopened since the Feb 2011 quake and all the boys said they wanted their next party to be there. I even played the second game.

Lasers ON

The party afterward