tomato, basil & rabbit love

 I absolutely love garden fresh tomatoes, nothing beats them if you ask me!
 I mentioned recently that I was having problems with the first of my tomatoes being eaten from the inside out by caterpillars. I will be quite honest and say that I was more than a little stressed and worried! I have about 20 tomato plants and I had visions of every single tomato being ruined and going to my  chubby little chooks.
I am so pleased to say that I learnt on Down to Earth blog a while back that tomatoes can be picked green and brought inside to ripen. The advantage of doing so is that you can keep them away from hungry bugs- or in my case, contain the hungry caterpillars.

 Each day I went out and picked all tomatoes that had anything that resembled a caterpillar hole (they were about the size of a pin head) and brought them inside. I stored them in a sealed container. The tomatoes gradually ripened. Once red I cut each tomato open. Some I could save much of the tomatoes, others went straight to the chooks. The chooks feasted on caterpillars and tomato and I was pleased to each time have one less pest in my veggie patch.
I also brought each tomato that had begun to turn orange inside in case it had a caterpillar that I hadn't noticed. Above is my bowl of presumably all healthy tomatoes  slowly ripening. When we have a banana or two in the house I lay them on top of the tomatoes as it helps them ripen quicker. I cant remember why but it certainly works well!

 Ive now not had a bad tomato in over a week, Yay!
I'm still cutting them open to be sure there aren't any 'suprises' inside but I think soon ill be able to let them ripen on the vine and confidently eat them straight from the garden, warmed by the summer sun just like I love them best. I think after a little the scare my tomatoes taste all the sweeter and juicier

 Can you tell by these rushed dark and blurry photos that all I wanted to do was put down the camera and eat my tomatoes already? They are seriously delicious and there are loads more in the garden so fingers crossed they remain healthy and happy and produce all summer long

mmm basil, soon to become pesto

Remember Bunny? I'm happy to say that he has been played with a lot more than I expected. Ive made dolls before which the children I look after at the moment don't play with much so I didn't really have high hopes for bunny leaving the toy shelf a whole lot but I'm pleased to say I was wrong. Bunny has a cheeky personality and he loves veggies and muffins. Sometimes if the children aren't eating their food I tell them they better eat it up or else bunny might sneak it which they find hilarious and it usually makes their food disappear quickly. At nap time he sleeps with Cameron and at night time he sleeps with Josh. Bunny has another advantage- his dark colour means that I can happily let him be taken outdoors to enjoy the fun and sometimes messy play. It warms my heart to see something I made receive such love and care

more summer solstice and Christmas decorating

 After a busy and messy day involving three little boys, a lot of mud and a lot of soap (you would think the soap was the clean up part but it actually got as messy as the mud:) Josh and I decided to spend some quiet thoughtful time putting together a wreath for our front door.
I like to use what ever plants we can find that I think will stay green a while under our summer sun, last year we chose rosemary as our house had a huge lush bush of it, this year we have lots of beautiful Australian native trees in our garden to choose from.

 I'm not sure what type of tree this is but it smells great (sort of like eucalyptus or tea-tree) so it was a winner!
We bent a coat hanger to a circle and twisted thin pliable branches around it. The first few branches needed to be fastened into place with some fabric scraps but after that we were able to weave the ends in between the coat hanger and the branches that were already twisted on.

At the end we added some bell ornaments. I put these same ornaments on mums wreath at her house the other day and they jingle each time the door opens, fun

 Last week i was laying at the park in my home town waiting for Benny to come from his dentist appointment. I was marveling at these beautiful bougainvilleas which were in full bloom and had spread their beautiful flowers all over the grass.
 I remember visiting that same park when I was little and making cubby houses under those very bushes. I also have fond memories of walking past them on the way to school on summer mornings and grabbing hand fulls of blooms to scatter on the rest of my walk.
They scream summer to me and also happen to retain their colour for a long while as they dry out so I knew they would make a wonderful Summer Solstice garland

 I simply tied sewing cotton to a needle and threaded them on. Now I can enjoy them until the colour has gone and then they will go back to the earth and I will look forward to next years blooms.

Those of you who have a Summer Christmas, I would love to know what you are doing! Also if you have blogged about Summery Christmas ideas/decorating/preparations please leave a link in the comments section so that i can find inspiration from your ideas:)

Head on over to Natural Suburbia to see more creativity on this happy Friday

stars that shine so bright and yarn along

 I absolutely love stars. Some of my favourite memories with my childhood best friends are of dragging a camping mattress into our back yard and sleeping under the stars:)
This week I've been making lots of festive stars.
Ive made a garland of these stars

 I also re-filled these star candle holders with sweet smelling beeswax. This is my tricky pouring-boiling-wax-while-looking-through-camera-view finder photo

 In case your wondering, yes I did over fill them and have to pry the pegs out. All good!

 Ahh pretty

for yarn along I will share these knitted play veggies even though I already blogged them the other day.
Links to the patterns-
Mushroom-
Radish
Cucumber
Carrot- loosely based on this pattern (I changed it to be more pointy)
Tomato- made up (yet to get around to the green top)
Corn (the half done yellow thing!)

Little M had the greatest time washing his hands (and the bathroom vanity!) today for a good half hour. A bar of soap can provide endless entertainment  

around here ive been

 ::Measuring-Mixing-Pouring
Making soap! Ive been wanting to try this for a good while but put it off because I couldn't find the ingredients and was rather terrified of lye. Finally Ive done it and so far so good I think. I made it last night and it has solidified. I will cut it tonight. Yippee my very own natural hand made soap that doesn't cost $5 a bar.

 Although I will miss my  goat milk soap that I get from the local craft co-op. Isn't it cute (this bar has seen some use but you get the idea)

::Enjoying the light and warmth of early summer

 ::Occupying this side of the couch

 ::Loving magic loop knitting and all I can do with it

 ::Wishing that big ripe tomato was from my garden.
 Ive had a few beauties so far though so I cant complain.

::Discovering beets that id half forgotten about
(oh that's right, underneath those beet leaves that our budgies and chickens love to gobble, there are actually some...beets! who would have thought)
They were ready to be picked diced and roasted up for with our barbecue lunch!

::Enjoying the pretty little cucumber plants that have begun flowering. After seeing the large zucchini and pumpkin flowers for the last month or so these tiny cucumber flowers look adorable. Id love to bring them inside and put them in a vase if I weren't so eagerly the delish veg the flowers promise

::Noticing that some little pumpkins have begun to form!

::Eating a lot of tabbouleh to make use of the ever abundant parsley. Yum!

yarn along

I'm still plodding along with my stripey blanket. I love having an easy project to do any time I'm sitting still for a moment. No need to think, just pick up where I left off

 The white knitting is the begining of a little project that I cant share quite yet. It turned out super cute so I look forward to sharing it soon

That poor Willow, has to put up with some seriously enthusiastic friends who love to rock him in the doll cradle:) I have no idea if he likes it or not, rabbits really aren't animals who show their feelings on most subjects

Her are some recent veggie patch photos. My garden is doing great except for some caterpillars eating some of my tomatoes from the inside out. I'm still looking for an organic fix for that so if you know one please do share!

 All my vines are doing great, especially zucchini and pumpkin. Cucumber and watermelon aren't too far behind

"Karen take pick-a-toes?!"
 Why cute little toes like those? sure why not

advent

a million rainbow seeds

My current knitting project is a stripey blanket.
Its similar to the rainbow stripey blanket I started a while ago, but doesn't involve all the spinning.
 I'm not sure if it was to do with how wobbly my spinning wheel was, the lack of proper cord or my lack of persistence but I got to the point that I wanted to keep knitting the blanket but didn't want to spend all the time getting frustrated with the spinning wheel. I never really 'got' how to adjust the wheel properly, hopefully one day I will get a better wheel and take some lessons because I know I would enjoy it once it got easier. Anyhow, back to the blanket!

 I got the wool from Bendigo Woolen Mills. The colours aren't quite as nice as the colours I dyed myself for the last blanket but they are close and I do love them.

 I was going to knit it with just a small seed stitch border but I like how the colours blend together gently rather than bold stripes of regular knit stitch so the seed stitch continued.. and continued.. and now I thinks its plain to see that it will be a seed stitched blanket!

 Its going to be so warm and cozy, I really do love it

I love that the seed stitch is so puffy and soft

Here are my silkies in a place they love and the place id really rather they visited a little less often, my chamomile patch. If they have their way I think I will be buying shop bought chamomile tea next winter! But still, its the only thing in the veggie patch that they bother so I don't mind too much

Christmas/Summer Solstice angel

Its a strange thing celebrating Christmas here in Australia. Although for us it takes place in the middle of summer we still decorate our trees with snow men, warmly dressed Santa's and the like.
For the past few years I've been really trying to make my celebration into something that makes more sense to me.
Its turning into a mix between Christmas and Summer Solstice. I want to mostly base my celebration on being thankful for the warm summer sun, all the beauty it brings in our garden and nature, being together with family and friends.
I love sharing the excitement with my loved ones of Christmas trees, making special foods, decorations etc. so I'm putting a lot of thought into how i can keep the magic of 'traditional christmas' but do it in my own Aussie nature based way.

So anyway, ill share how my Solstice and Christmas unfold as I go. Ive been working on this angel for the top of my tree. Ive had a few of these small waldorf doll heads that I made and never used, floating around my craft cupboard for a good few years now. This one finally has a body!
Her dress is made of vintage lace fabric and her hair is mohair. I made up the dress patern and im quite happy with how it turned out.

I'm looking forward to adding some wings, and perhaps some tiny flowers in her hair. I will add some gold to her as a symbol of the summer sun that shines bright on our world and gives us such wonderful long days.
And of course I will also add the less exciting thing like hands and a cardboard cone to help her stand up straight:)

I'm also going to be making ornaments out of shells collected from my favourite beaches and golden crystals.
 I've begun a paper mache summer sun to hang up too. I have lots of fun making projects ahead of me!

Our new friend "Bunny"

 I finished off our rabbit and we love him!
I'm not sure if I'm quite happy with his face but ill see if it will grow on me, if not try again.

 Hes been named "Bunny" and has had many adventures already. Last night Josh put himself to bed early like he sometimes does. I went in and he had fallen asleep on top of his quilt cuddled up with Bunny reading a story, with shoes still on no less:) I didn't even think to take a picture but it was so cute

 It didn't take the day care children long to discover what hadn't occurred to me- that he happens to fit the clothes I've made for our Waldorf dolls. So now he has a little blue coat (which I knitted a while ago but don't think I blogged) almost just like I was intending to make him!
 I would still really like to make him a light blue one with brass buttons though. And maybe some grandpa slippers (like peter rabbit)

 I finished the daisies and lavender socks and tonight is even cool enough to wear them (with a summer nightie but anyhow... :) The rabbit likes wearing woolly knitted socks too

yep, hes ready for Christmas