soaking up summer

 another weekend at Sarah's shack. Perhaps one of the last as her Dad is having to sell the place :(

I will miss-

late nights, fires

barbecues,

the rubber ducky shower curtain that we picked together when the shack was new,

spotting dolphins,

escaping to the shore at night for DNM's (deep 'n' meaningfulls) chats

having such an awesome place for us to come together

 I'm thankful for all the wonderful times we've had together at the shack

making a babies wooden toy bar

As I've mentioned, I've not looked after babies for 3 years. During those 3 years we've lived in small houses so in the interest of being able to 'breathe' in our little houses, everything that isn't currently being used goes straight to the opp shop.

I no longer have any of the baby things I've used for the bigger kids. I decided id like a toy bar for the baby (and possibly future babies i will look after and have myself)

my options were

 1)Find one at an opp shop

pros- recycled, can take it back when I'm finished with it rather than need to store it
cons- may take some time to find one, would probably be plastic and ugly

2)Buy a pretty wooden one

pros- pretty and natural, can find one handmade in Australia

cons- rather pricey for something that will only get used for a few month at a time here and there. I don't mind spending money on quality toys but they look so simple I could practicaly...

.3) make one myself!!!

Yep of course I went with option 3!

As I knew would be the case it didn't even take long to make. The longest part was screwing it together because the angles make that a challenge but my Dad was able to do that tricky part (while I was munching on apples from their tree:)

Because it screws together it can come apart and store easily when its not needed. Yay for the space it wont need to take up!

 I took a few photos of the process to share. Here the top piece is marked out and i'd started drilling holes for the toys to be tied to. I based my design on this toy bar.

 Next I had fun with my favourite tool the edge trimmer

 I hand sanded all the pieces silky smooth and polished them with home made beeswax toy polish. I went to visit my dad and...

It came back looking like this!
Ive not made any toys for it yet but as you can see our bell Christmas ornaments are doing the job for now. Turns out its not so bad having Christmas decorations still sitting around at the end of January afterall

apple orchard

 how i loved stitching this quilt block!

 probably mostly because as I stitched I envisioned having a real life apple orchard of my own. I dream of summer evenings spent laying in a hammock hung between apple tree branches. Looking up at leaves and the soft fading sunlight shining through them. Swaying in the breeze.....

(blossoms on my little apple tree last spring)

I ate my first apple of the year from my parents tree the other day. Small and no where near ripe, but delicious and tangy. A promise of what is to come this autumn. I wonder how long I can make myself wait before I give in and make the first apple crumble. Probably not long!

(apples from my parents tree last year)

This little lady reminds me of our corn plant at the start of spring. Id not grown corn previously but I certainly will do so again, if only for all the lady bugs it attracted to my garden

Head on over to Frontier dreams for more "Crafting on" fun

sugarless tomato sauce

 We've been bringing in so many tomatoes from the garden this summer so along with regular tomato soup, salads, sandwiches etc. I've managed to make two batches of sauce from all the excess tomatoes. Not all my tomatoes are perfect, some have grubs, blossom end rot or sun burnt patches but all these little imperfections get cut off so that we barely waste a single one. They all taste delicious in sauce

 I'm rarely short of a helper to wash them. The only pay they expect is a few cherry tomatoes to munch on while their hard at work

 Recipe-
9 cups of pureed tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 small onion
2 tsp garlic
1 cup vinegar
3/4 cup honey
handful of basil

*cook olive oil, onion and garlic on medium until onion is tender
* add pureed tomatoes, bring to the boil
*simmer until tomatoes have reduced to about 3/4 or the original volume (a few hours)
*add vinegar, honey and basil
*cook a further 20 mins or so. Turn the heat up and reduce a bit more if it seems too thin
*Puree again or leave chunky

Bottle and freeze or preserve (can)

Yum!

 Here's three of the 4 bottles that I made. they are 450ml bottles filled about 3/4 way (they needed room for expansion as I froze them)

And I bet you'd like to see the beautiful healthy plants that my abundance of tomatoes are coming from...

Yep seriously! These plants have looked terrible for weeks and I keep expecting them to die but they are tough and just keep making more fruit!

how to jinx yourself in three easy steps

* 1* Take a baby to your favourite cafe. Find the loveliest outdoor spot beneth a big old pepercorn tree that is so lovely that you could quite happily sit there all day long. Order large muffin that will take a while to get through. Take out your stitchery and supplies.

 *2* Sigh to self and think, I have the best job, how on earth am I being paid for being here relaxing while the baby quietly naps?

 *3*when asked if you've just got one for day care today enthusiastically reply "yes Thursday is my easy day, I've just got this little guy and hes such a happy baby"

 Um yes.... oh my! Xavier was not a happy little boy this morning, in the two weeks I've had him in  daycare (full time) iv not seen him so upset. In fact id not really seen him upset at all apart from a grizzle to tell me he needs something. There was a lot of drooling and fist munching happening yesterday so I'm wondering if he might be getting a tooth.

I had a nice morning all the same, id first taken him to the little jetty and gone for a walk in the water and even with a sooky baby I enjoyed my muffin and sitting in the not-quite-as-peaceful-as -usual garden

 Here's another old craft project from a few years back that I don't think id shared on here. Its a little Waldorf doll with a wooden curtain ring sewn to its hat for chewing and teething on. I found it among spare kids clothes a few days ago, what perfect timing! Its a bit of a funny shape, the arms a but wide and its body a bit small as I just drafted my own pattern for it but its quite cute all the same

Ive not got much else in the way of baby toys (not that they need much) but I do have a nice project in the works which I should be able to share tomorrow

quilt progress

I have re-found this quilt that I started months ago . Admittedly I hadn't actually lost it, I knew  perfectly well where it was but I just needed a break from hand stitching all those tiny little squares and that break went on longer than I intended! Now my enthusiasm is back and I'm enjoying it again. Ive begun working on the apple orchard block which is my favourite one

 While I was sewing and the baby was sleeping Mitch was making up a fun game. He would pull a pin from the pincushion and try to guess the colour (I don't think he thought of it as guessing, he was really quite sure he had them all right) and then place them under the "window" (my quilting ruler). He thought my sewing supplies were such a fun new toy, that goes to show its been a while since I've had them out!
(don't worry, I had an eye on those scissors by his foot and he knows their not for playing with)

I'm not sure if I ever did share the little ironing board cover that I made a while a go. Its quilted with a few layers of batting to make it soft just like a real ironing board.
Why yes that is a three year old sitting in a doll high chair. When we first got the doll high chair I found myself many times reminding little people not to sit in in until it occurred to me that its probably as solid as most children's chairs! The wonderfulness of  quality wooden toys just goes on and on. Who knows how many children played with it roughly before I got it second hand yet its still as solid as ever

Head on over to Frontier dreams for more "Crafting on" fun

ten little toes

 This week's been busy in the best possible way, we've welcomed an adorable 4 month old bub into day care. I was reluctant to add a baby to the mix, especially five days a week and beginning at 6:30 am (!) but his mama was pretty keen as she'd heard I'm pretty good with the young folk and what can I say? a little flattery can sway my mind far too easily:)

But seriously, how could I resist a little smile like that?
I'm thankful to say hes a keen little sleeper in the early mornings and hes settled in unbelievably quickly. I'm relay glad I agreed to have him, hes the sweetest little guy.

I wasn't sure how I would feel looking after a little baby when Benny and i have been trying for our own little baby for three years now. Ive not looked after a baby since I started having Mitch at 6 months old and hes now 3 and a half.

I didn't know if i would find it hard but at the moment I really don't.

If anything, having him sort of makes me feel better about it all. Its easier to be patient waiting for our bubby when I get to cuddle another sweet little one while I wait.
One of my best friends has just had a baby too and I love that I get to see him regularly and be a part of his life as he grows up.
I still think about wanting a baby quite often but for perhaps a year or so I've been feeling quite at peace with how long its taking.

For a long time I was so impatient, wondering why it has to be us that have to wait so long. I spent time being frustrated, upset, scared that it would never happen. I'm now at peace.
I still feel destined to be a mother. Ive stopped worrying about never being a mother because I know that it will happen. It wont necessarily be easy, it might be difficult, painful and expensive (IVF or adoption) but it will happen and it will be worth it.

I some times feel a bit judgemental towards myself for not trying hard enough. Every step of the way Ive been taking slowly, at my own pace. I was referred to a fertility specialist after a year but I didn't go until 6 months later. He recommended a key hole surgery procedure but I didn't feel ready so i decided to put it off for a while and go to a naturopath for a while instead. After going to the naturopath for a while I couldn't see or feel any difference and I was quite miserable on the crazy strict diet and going to so many appointments so I stopped going there too.

Time has made me feel a lot less fear full about the surgery so that is my next step but I don't really feel motivated to organise it just yet.
I feel silly and like some would think I don't want a baby bad enough but I sort of feel I'm my heart that the time isn't right yet. I sort of wonder if my instincts are telling me that if I just relax my baby will come when its ready.

Anyhow, I didn't intend for this post to get quite so heavy but its always healing to put thoughts into words and really think about how I feel about them. I am thankful for small children and their magical ability to heal hearts without even knowing it.

Kane & Anna's Engagement party

On the weekend my sister Anna (usually mentioned here as AJ or Sammy, yep I've actually got just the one sister:) and her fiance Kane had their engagement party.
We all had so much fun and are so excited to soon welcome Kane to our family "officially"

Anna and her brides maids (yep its the cousin club)

my awesome sister and I

This is all but one of my girl cousins from my Mums side of the family.
We are- Lisa (who is visiting all the way from Holland) Madi, Anna, Me, Lil, Elly, Emily and Monique
The only girl we were missing is Emma who is in Holland but I noticed there is a perfect spot next to Lisa for her to be photo shopped in:)

This is my mum with all her sisters and brother
Dineke (my mum), Jo, Els (also over from Holland), Helena, Levin and Paul.

I didn't get and photos of the whole family and all the cousins, if whoever has them can email them to me I will be incredibly grateful! I really want to have them printed out big to frame

Cousins from Mt. Gambier from dads side of the family
Me Kristy, Anna, Lisa, Amanda

Lil and Madi

Aunty Tine, Amanda, Anna

Lil, Elly, Jo, Madi

Kristy, aunty Sue

Harry and Louie climbing a big awesome tree

Opa, Anna and Oma

Emily, Levin, Louis

I like this pic taken during Kane's speech

Dad and Mum

What a beautiful day that went just perfectly (apart from us turning up late, battling the wind for a bit and having to move the food away from a swarm of European wasps!!!)

The weather was just perfect....

Until it all of a sudden started pouring with rain right at the end. I guess that's when you know the party
has officially ended. Or do you.....

Not so much with us, we all had fun running like crazy to put things away in the car and then getting silly photos in the rain

Yep, looks like the party's back on!!

time to jump in some puddles

and perhaps sit down with a bottle of wine to share