Making

Mondays and Wednesdays are my usual 'work outside the home'days. It can mean that I get over excited about Tuesday and try and cram too many things in. I will initially think, ahh, Tuesday, I can take it easy abit, and then, I will start 'taking it easy' and that will lead to me creating a massive list in my head about all the things I want to do.

Take today for example, today is the first day we have a pretty decent crop of apricots to pick- so I think- 'great idea, I'll make jam'. The apricots are now picked (not by me, I probably should mention, in the interests of full disclosure!). They are now waiting to be washed, cut up and made into jam.

And then I remember that the fruit I have soaking in (3 different types of) grog is ready to mince and go on to the next step of my fruit mince tarts for Christmas. So I have made the pastry and minced the fruit...and walked outside and realised it's really hot (and look up the forecast and it's going to be 36 degrees). So that's as much of that as I am going to do today because I am NOT putting my oven on in this weather.

The natural thought progression then moves onto hot weather, inside, creative pursuits and I think, yep, today I will make progress on my list of things to make before Christmas. That might involve; a library bag, 3 more toiletry bags, 3 nighties,, and a few other things. There has been action in the sewing room, not of which I am ready to show because they are all presents and I forget which relatives read or know about my blog and don't want to pre-empt the gift giving. 
What I can show you though, is the 'was going to be a gift' dress, I saw the intended recipient on the weekend and I think it will be too small. This is the second Oliver and S 'Ice Cream Social' dress I have made.
I vaguely remember a few years ago there was an ice cream dress bloggy sew along, well, not out of character for me I am a late comer to this pattern. I really enjoyed sewing it, it was the first Oliver and S pattern I have made and I have just bought two more I liked it so much.
I liked that I understood what it was  telling me to do (sometimes took a few reads, or me to clarify it with my sewing 'help desk', but, for example once Karen cleverly advised me that I was looking at the wrong page and a good trick she finds is to follow the instructions in order!). When I had to match up notches, there they were, in the right spot.

I enjoyed the detail of the 'v' on the pocket, not too tricky at all (amazing what following instructions can do for you!). I hadn't done that before. 

These are not my preferred choice of fabrics and colours, but that's okay, because I wont be wearing it. I did it with the intended recipient in mind she likes butterflies, pink, yellow, girly, pretty things. I do find it much easier to sew with fabric I love though, colours I love. I mean, this was okay but wasn't my favourite.


On that note, I might go and get on with all the days 'making'...I possibly should include- make the dinner, make the clothes clean and dry and folded, make the place abit more presentable generally- but I don't find that making half as much fun!

Paddock to plate

I love those particularly abundant times of year when the garden is offering plenty. Especially when the plenty has a relatively short season (eg. asparagus) so we never feel the weight of 'what are we going to do with all these...insert name of vegie'. The short season means the produce isn't taken for granted. Berries and cherries are always pretty special too. If you ever wonder why raspberries can be expensive, spare a thought for the picker- and hope they are getting a decent cut of your money. They a little, fragile and tricky to pick compared to many of the larger most robust fruits. Paddock to plate in under 10 minutes. Nice. Sent from Yahoo!7 Mail on Android

Garlic time

At this time of year, the garden starts to burst..in a good way. The garlic harvest has commenced, this lots has been hung out to dry...kind of literally. It's in a room in our old shearing shed which has a slatted floor so air can circulate as the garlic 'cures'. So it will dry without going mouldy. I love garlic. Sent from Yahoo!7 Mail on Android

Clever phone?

Playing to see if I can work out how to post from my phone...may have been more handy when internet was down. A few weeks ago it was my friends 40th. The theme was 'movie stars'. Can you tell who I am? The bee from the bee movie. Sent from Yahoo!7 Mail on Android

Happiness of the crafty camp variety

If I had written a blog post last week, it would have been all about how incompetent Telstra is- I have been internet-less, or with intermittent internet use for two months...and been shoved from one (generally pleasant enough) customer service officer to tech support to complaint resolution (yes, I have my very own Telstra case manager now!)...to little avail.


Oh, how I have missed my blog, and your blog. I have been skimming on my clever phone, but that tiny screen is hardly satisfactory when we are talking about crafty blogs- I want to be able to see your photos, and the prettiness of your whole page, all at once. And I want to be able to write comments...I am not really 'down with' writing 'UR pix A1' (that's my attempt at text message language,which I find really hard, because I like spelling). Not just the text message language, I tend to be slightly verbose generally (sorry!).


Anyway, that was last week, we are into a new week and separating the two is Sewjourn. 

The fabric scramble- what to do when you can't pack  everything!

I have talked before about craft and spirit ... and I think this weekend it's those intangibles that made me happiest.


In many ways my life is quite isolated, we live on a farm, out of town, we do have close and wonderful neighbours, but on my 'home days' the only people I see all day, besides my family,  could be the other children (and sometimes adults) at the bus stop. I do enjoy the space, but I really like people too. 


I like what can happen when people come together- when 'the whole becomes greater than the sum of it's parts'. The engaging in conversation and building on ideas, sharing of knowledge (in all directions), the inspiration, encouragement, compassion, wisdom, acceptance. I like different people, different personalities, different styles, different ways of doing things coming together with a mutual respect.

I could show you lots of photos of our weekend but it's been done before, 

There was crocheting, patchworking, quilting, bag making, hat making, sewing for small people and sewing for ourselves, there was bathers, party dresses, shorts, knits and wovens. 
Does that sound overwhelming? I wanted to do everything- watch people, chat to people, sew with people. There are quite alot of photos floating around and I have yet to see one of me sitting down at my sewing machine (can't quite understand that!) while Lara has her big dot point list of completed projects, I am happy to report back that this is coming along quite nicely, thanks!

Thank you Nikki, Lara, Annie, Karen, Rachel, Kathryn, Megan for a really fun initiation into craft camp. You're all ace.