Latest Embroidery

I finished this ages ago but forgot to post a photo.

For an Autumn baby this time so I chose The Acorn Fairy Stitchette from Wee Wonderfuls. I really love the colours on this one. 

At the moment I’m working through Jenny’s Pretty Maids All In A Row. I love these, so cute! 

I’m progressing very slowly, (this one’s still headless!), as I have so many other projects on the go.

My first pair of socks are still very much a WIP…

…and I have 4(!) Clothkits kits awaiting my attention, at least one of which was bought early last year!

Unfortunately I seem to have had no time to crafting things for myself lately.  Lets hope that changes over the next few months as I have already been eyeing several of the projects in this lovely book, well worth a look if you are that way inclined. For a review of the book and lots of nice pictures, visit Craftypod.

 

Finally here is a clue as to where we have been spending most of our time of late. Update to come.

Ancient Greece

We have been covering the Ancient Greeks in SOTW1 and I suggested to Millie that she could do a mini project on them before we move on.

I’ve put a bunch of links on my Tumblr for her to have a gander at but figured I may as well share them here as they might be of use to others.

Sewing and Sowing

I’ve been so busy the past couple of weeks, hence the lack of updates. First priority was to finish the remaining show costumes in time for this weekends dress rehearsal. I had to make 6 swirl skirts in black satin and they were not fun. I was convinced I wouldn’t be able to do them but when I showed my first attempt to the woman organising the costume making she said it was fine. I set to on the others and to my astonishment managed quite well! So I spent all of last Sunday and a big part of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday finishing them off.  Hopefully they fitted as I didn’t hear anything when Emily returned last night. She had been at the rehearsal all day 9.30-7pm, so was very tired. The show is next weekend!!

The rest of us were equally tired after two busy days in the garden. I finished preparing the veg beds for planting by adding manure, fertilizer and soil conditioner where necessary. I have now covered them with black polythene to help them warm the soil ready for planting.

Isaac helped me plant a couple of rows of onions, not much but it is really all we have the space for. We also added a row of late raspberries, yum! The ones we have are a early variety so it would be nice to get some more eventually that fruit around abouts July.

I  did a little  more sowing, this time mainly flower seeds  for my soon-to-be cutting patch. Lots and lots of sweet peas, cosmos, and rudbekia. For the time being, however, we are enjoying plenty of these…

The seeds I planted in Feb are looking good, the only failure were the peppers. I only sowed 4 seeds as last year all the seeds germinated and I ended up with too many plants. Not sure what went wrong this time, old seed maybe? I’ll try again and if no success i’ll probably just buy a couple of plants from the garden centre.

The frogs in our little pondhave finally woken up and there was much excitement from Isaac last weekend when he spotted one on our patio. Or as it subsequently turned out to be, two frogs mating!

Menu Plan Monday

I forgot to post this yesterday!

 

Monday Cheesy Potato Skins with avacado and tomato salad

Tuesday Pasta Bake From “101 Cookbooks”

Wednesday Fish cakes (Scroll to the bottom. The whole book is on this link, worth a look) 

Thursday Tomato & Lentil Soup 

Friday Easy Fried Rice   From “Planning With Kids”

Saturday Out

Sunday  Tuscan-Style Beans with Garlic Crust (Slow Cooker)

 

A new month, so I’m trying some new recipes. The first one is fishcakes. I’m veggie so avoid cooking meat/fish at all costs gererally, but find that as the children get bigger they want more meat/fish in their diet. This recipe looks fairly easy and “hands-off” so suits me! Second new recipe is the fried rice. I used to do a similar one to this ages ago until Isaac refused to eat it, so we’ll try again, fingers crossed.

Kid’s ATC Swap – Update

 

Snake

Originally uploaded by _zeospike

Here, as promised are the cards Emily has done for the Kids ATC Swap. She mainly used artist’s inks, wet-on-wet, but also some watercolours and felt-tip pens on some.

Her favourite is the Jellyfish.

 

Jellyfish

 

I can’t decide Between the snake or the Killer Whale. 

 

 

 

 

Deer

Sheep

 

 

 

 

 

The cards are now on their way to their new owners and Emily awaits hers with much excitement!

Many thanks to Blair and Erin for organising this, it has been a lot of fun.

Feeling Springy!

 

I know it’s still a little too early to get excited about spring but I can’t help myself. It happens every year once we get the first spell of milder weather and a bit of sunshine.

As the weather has been kind I’ve been spending a bit of time in the garden. I have my potatoes chitting and they are coming along nicely, ready for planting next month.  I did my first lot of sowing last week –  corn salad, peppers, tomatoes, leeks, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and chillis. So I have made a small dent in the 130 (no joke!) seed packets I have. The cabbage seedlings are already up. 

We have a lot to do in the garden this year. Our old New Zealand  boxes for composting have had it, they are completely rotten. I can’t decide what to go for next but I know I definitely don’t want wooden bins, lovely as they might look. I’ve been thinking about

• Link-a-bord   + It the same size as one of our current boxes and should be durable.

                                          – I  worry it would be too awkward to empty or turn.

•   Earthmakers +It makes compost in as little as 12 weeks (allegedly)

                                           -It is very small , so i’d need more than 2 and not exactly pretty.

•  Komp 800      + We can buy this through the council, it’s a reasonable size, should be easy to get to the compost

                                          –   Again not pretty but at least it would be camouflaged? The shape of it is not ideal for fitting neatly in the corner.

If anyone has any experience using  any of the above do let me know.

 

On a crafty note here’s what i’ve been up to the past few Sundays

 

It’s Dorothy’s costume for the dance show next month.  This is for one of the older girls so thankfully fitted my dress form perfectly, but of course now Millie wants one too – no surprise there.

She’ll have to wait though, I’ll be spending this Sunday making several swishy skirts in very slippery-not-nice-to-sew fabric, wish me luck!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday – Risotto (For us, from last week as we never had it due to my parents being here), Pacific Pie (children)

Tuesday- Gorgonzolla Gnocchi (us), Homemade Pesto Pizza (children)

Wednesday– Leftovers from last night

Thursday– Leek and potato Soup with Cheesy Corn Muffins

Friday- Quorn Mexican Stirfry

Saturday-Corn Fritters with Lime Mayo

Sunday- Thick  Onion Tart

Birthday Outing

 

It was Mick’s birthday last Tuesday so he took the day off work and we went on a family outing to this place , we had a lot of fun.

The planetarium was a big hit. We saw two shows there, a film show called “Astronaut” which Isaac, in particular, loved and a live show called “Flight Through the Universe” which took us on the most amazing journey. The woman giving the talk obviously had a real passion in the subject which made it very enjoyable, so much so she over ran the time slot!

Here is Isaac learning about pendulums - or more accurately trying to hit Mama on the head whilst she is busy taking a photo.

 

 

Here is Emily placing magnetic cogs in sequence so that the alram bell will ring.

 

 

Isaac having lots of fun.

 

You can't see this very well but it is a big tank of water used to demonstate a vortex.

Menu Plan Monday

Strange, I just posted this but it only posted the days of the week 

Monday – Enchiladas and Rice

Tuesday – Out

Wednesday – Homemade Veggie Burgers and Potato Wedges

Thursday -Celery Soup with Cheese Scones

Friday –  Spaghetti/Tortelloni with” Sneaky Vegetables” pasta sauce  (Isaac has become really fussy of late.

Saturday – Pumpkin and Hazelnut risotto

Sunday – Tuscan Style Beans with Rosemary (Slow Cooker)

Kid’s ATC Swap

Blair and Erin are hosting a kid’s ATC swap and Emily couldn’t wait to sign up.

ATCs ( Artist Trading Cards), for those of you that don’t know, are miniature works of art based on the old collectable sports- themed trading cards. They are always  2.5″x3.5″ in size. They exist as originals, or one of an edition(a set of identical cards) or series (a set based around a theme).

I’ll post photo’s of Emily’s creations when she has finished them. Meanwhile the swap Flickr group is here for anyone that is interested.