Taking a break

Hello everyone. I just wanted to let you all know I've been sick so I'm going to cut back on my work, which includes this blog, and rest until I feel better. Don't worry, it's nothing serious. I have osteoarthritis in one knee so I've been hobbling around, and I've had three colds in less than a month. I usually don't get colds or flu so it's been a struggle dealing with it. The current cold has really floored me so I'm going to do what I tell other people to do - rest, elderberry tonic and rest. Then rest some more.  We have school holidays here next week and we have big plans which include grandchildren. I have to be well for that.  Bye for now, I hope to see you all soon.

Planting roses with the vegies

I've been kind of busy here lately with family dropping by, looking after Jamie, winter cooking and baking, gardening and a few small changes in the house. It's slow work with plenty of opportunities to sit and talk but the time slips by and before I know it another day has gone. Another day without doing everything I planned. Not that it matters, the work I do now can easily be slotted in the following day.

Early morning in the backyard.

As soon as the coop door opens, the first of the chooks race out...

and are followed by their sisters, all looking for whatever fell into their run over night.

Weekend reading

Congratulations to Meg Hopeful who has won one of The Simple Home books for her encouraging and helpful comments over the past few months.  Meg, please send me your address so I can post the book to you.  The final book will be given away in December.

Preserving food and drinks

There are many food products that are easy to preserve at home. They are usually tastier, healthier and cheaper than those you can buy, and by adding them to your stockpile you’ll be increasing your options when it’s time to prepare a meal. The trick is to find a few hours when you can make some of your favourite preserves, pickles, spice blends or whatever you want to store. 

Weekend reading

Hanno and I are off to lunch with Nanna Chel and her son today. It's nice to keep in touch with her and luckily I can see her when she comes to the Sunshine Coast for her break. Apart from that we have the last bit of interior ceiling painting being done today by a painter.  Life's good here - the garden is growing well, the chooks are happy and back to producing eggs and Gracie is progressing well with her training.

The honour guard of chooks.

More sewing and a touch of glue

Hello friends!  Here are the cushions I made yesterday. The pink is a Tilda fat quarter found with the other one I made into a lamp skirt and showed yesterday. I remembered I bought these when Tricia was last here and I went home, put them in the cupboard and forgot all about them.  I really love this pink fabric, which I call pixelated rose, and have teamed it with beige linen from an old skirt of mine. 

Home sewing in the lounge room

I've been sewing a few odds and ends to suit our new lounge room colours and style.  I didn't want to spend much, or anything really 🙄, so I looked in my fabric stash to see what cotton or linen I had in the right colours.  Out came some blue and white cotton I've had for at least 15 years, that made a skirt for a large lamp, and a Tilda fat quarter from last year that I'd forgotten about. That fat quarter made a skirt for a small lamp. I also had some dangly pink edging and that added just the right finish.  It's amazing what you can make from what's sitting in a cupboard.

Weekend reading

I had a few emails from readers asking me to list the books in the bookcase I showed last week. Well, that would take too much time but here are three closeup photos so you can see the titles. When we moved the bookcase, I went through all the books and culled quite a few, these are what survived.

I've had a cold this week and I was sitting around and not doing much. I'm feeling better now so I'm looking forward to making a small lamp skirt and some cushion covers for the lounge room.

What are you doing this weekend?

Monte Carlo biscuits

As promised, here is a recipe for an Australian biscuit called the Monte Carlo. I think they started selling Monte Carlos in the 1920s and when I was born in the late 1940s, they were a firmly established favourite for morning or afternoon tea.  Basically they're two butter biscuits sandwiched together with the help of butter cream and raspberry jam. Most people buy their Monte Carlos and I'm guessing they're thought of nowadays as being slightly old fashioned, but no matter, that is what I specialise in. 😊  I think you'll find that the homemade MC will win you over.

The simple art of stockpiling

There is no doubt you'll save money if you keep a clean and well organised stockpile and you don't waste the food you grow or buy.  If I were out working for a living now, I'd make sure I had a full stockpile and a working pantry. Not only would it save me money to do that but it would also mean that if I didn't have the time to buy what I needed for the evening meal, I'd have enough good quality food in my kitchen to see me through quite a few meals. I learnt the benefits of an organised kitchen long ago when my kids were young and we lived three hours from the shops.  Hanno, the kids and I would do a "big shop" every four to six weeks, and we manage on that until we went back for the next "big shop." That taught me valuable lessons.

We emptied the stockpile cupboard yesterday then cleaned and repacked the cupboard.

Weekend reading

Monte Carlo biscuits, I'll write about these and give the recipe next week.

It's a public holiday today for Maleny Show Day. We'll have Jamie here during the day and I have no doubt I'll be out in the garden celebrating show day my own way.  I made a batch of monte carlo biscuits for morning teas yesterday and I'm doing some school fete knitting for my grand-nephew Jonathan's school in Blayney. I'll be sending organic cotton dishcloths and homemade soap down for one of the stalls and I hope it contributes to a very good fundraising event in October. Country school fetes are such worthwhile events.