'Crafting On'

 The past few days Ive been getting back to working on my hand stitched quilt. I'm just about half way finished the quilt top!

On Saturday night we had a barbecue out the back and I stitched as we waited for it to cook. All day we had been looking forward to having an outdoor fire but instead we got lots of rain which was nice too.

I love the mess of colour that is my embroidery cotton

I had such a nice Monday yesterday. I went to Kadina and was able to get lots of bits and pieces done. I finally took my engagement ring in to the jeweler to get re-sized so that I can wear it on the right finger after wearing it on my middle finger two months.
I also visited with a good friend who id not caught up with propperly in a few years. I spent time with my friend Kylie and my little god son Jayden. I started working full time just before he was born and one of the big down sides was that I had been looking forward to being able to spend lots of time with them and help her with him so we are deffinately both very pleased that I will be able to pop in many Mondays now. I had yummy soup for tea at Mum and Dads and then came home with enough time to do a little knitting and stitching before bed.

 More and more bulbs are coming up around our garden. The day care boys love the green spikes. We also have seeds coming up. The most exciting for us all are the peas, a definite winter favourite here. I only planted a few to see if the weather had cooled enough for them to survive. So far so good! Ill be spending ANZAC day tomorrow putting up poles for lots more peas to grow up.

 Hello calendulars!

For more crafting on visit Frontier Dreams

Yarn along

Two years ago i knitted this peasy cardigan

  I was never very happy with the colour as id bought the wool online and the colour wasn't what I expected (I'm not sure if you can tell its sort of a khaki green colour). I decided to dye it blue instead

 First time I pulled it out of the dye pot I washed it and it was an even uglier green! Thankfully after anther soak with extra colour added it came out just right

So perfect in fact that when I pulled it out the colour looked familiar. I went and got my favourite beanie that my Oma knitted me a few years ago and realised that they were almost a perfect match! I love it and I'm so pleased that I finally got around to dying it.

Considering I admitted that I finished knitting the peasy two years ago I better stop cheating and post something that I am still knitting:) Ive begun a citron shawl with the left over yarn from my grey cardi. I love this yarn and I'm loving this easy pattern

For my birthday that's coming up in a month and a half Benny's getting me a spinning wheel and I'm wondering what to get. Ive spun a little before but the wheel I have is rather shall we say 'antique'.  

I'm wanting to get an Ashford and I'm thinking a Kiwi or Joy. Id like a kiwi because I've heard they're good for beginners, I like that they are mostly solid wood and id love to paint the wheel.

On the other hand I'm wondering if a Joy would grow with my ability longer as I get better at spinning (not sure about this, opinions..?) I love that it folds up as our house is fairly small and half taken over by my daycare. I also think the larger bobbin size would be good.

Benny loves the look of the Joy because its more modern looking I suppose but I kind of love the cuteness of the Kiwi.

Price isn't too much of a problem as I've been saving extra so that I can make up the difference if I decide to go with the Joy.

If anyone has experience with these wheels or opinion id love to know what you think would suit a beginner with a small amount of experience best. It would be helpful as I've been obsessing over the decision just a little!

anyhow, happy Yarn Along!

yay for Mondays

Jams and preserves, garlic chives drying to save for winter

 My heart is full. Life is wonderful and im thankful for all the good im blessed with. I had my first monday off and it was good but wierd.

I re arranged my draws and managed to empty a draw to use for my beeswax and candles. As you can imagine its a pretty good smelling draw. Full of sunshine for the cold days ahead 

I was a mixture of loving it and feeling guilty that I'd felt the need to take it off. I am glad that I did though and i feel like these past weeks I've had a new lease of life just knowing that calm and rest was in sight.

chamomile, calendular, mint from my garden. Next to my favourite vintage thermos that sits out by the kettle all the time. Just because I like to look at it:)

There were lots of things that I had to let go of because I just didn't have time and energy for them, the saddest was not having as much time to put into my veggie patch which is so important to me. Way too many times I planted seeds and they just got forgotten about.

Vegetable soup. Otherwise know as breakfast lunch and tea. Not quite but almost!

Anyhow, its going to be nice. Monday I began a big clean and sort of the house. After weeks of doing the bare minimum to keep the place liveable it needs it! Life is Joy and im thankful. I think youl probably hear from me a lot now that I have more time to breath and more time to think. Life is good

goodmorning

 Goodmorning everyone. I hope you all woke up to a morning as beautiful as mine. I love a misty morning dont you? Time to pick the last of my herbs in case we get frost. I already have handfuls of them drying in the kitchen smelling delightful

 After a long hot summer the veggie patch is starting to come back to life. I still have pumpkins, watermellons and corn growing. Some broad beans have come up so I planted some peas. Fingers crossed the weather stays cool enough for them. Im so excited for my first winter with this veggie patch. Last year we moved in about june and got some winter veg planted but this year I have twice as many garden beds and a fow extra months of planting. Ive been adding lots of lawn clippings and compost to each bed and rotating the chickens to fertilise and turn each on. One disadvantage to housing the chickens on the the garden beds will be less self seeding but for the nutrients they give and how easy it is i decided I could live with that. I hope to still get a few self seeded plants because I love the suprise!

 Ive been moving about the garden beds on this side of the garden (the whole veggie patch is an L shape) . Looking forward to having fires very soon

Today is also such a nice cozy day for knitting (but then again, every day is good for knitting if you ask me)

Yarn along

 the original rainbow blanket became a scarf yesterday. Sure beats seeing all that hand spun organic merino sitting neglected at the bottom of my knitting basket.

 On the weekend we went to Broken Hill with Benny's parents, his sister and her two kids. It was a 5 hour drive, plenty of time for knitting and listening to audio books. I knitted this white hat. When I put it on I decided I needed a fringe. Uh oh!   
 You can hardly even see my fringe in this but that's a good thing, I've not cut a fringe for a good few years and its not hard to tell I was out of practice. Some of is too short as I forgot how springy hair is but oh weal. lucky hair grows back. For the first hour I regretted cutting it but now I think I like it

 In Broken Hill I got some buttons for my grey cardi. The weather has been cool the past week or so and I've been enjoying keeping warm in its grey alpaca goodness.

I even got to wear it at Broken hill a few times. This is a photo of Benny's sister Tegan and I before going down an old silver mine. I wasn't sure I wanted to go down the mine but Benny convinced me I did. Luckily I didn't know how small the tunnels were or I would have chickened out. Benny loved it, he loves all things history. I was mostly just excited that it didn't collapse on us, but it was pretty fun and the tour guide was quite entertaining

 We went to see some camels for camel rides. Terleah, our 4 year old niece was so excited to go on them until she saw up close how big they are, at which point she declared "No I don't want to go on those big fat ones, just little ones!"

 Here's Benny and Terleah on a ridiculously large park bench.
While we were away I also started knitting a hat for Terleah (which I forgot to photograph). She is very excited to learn to knit, she sits on my lap and holds the needles with me. Not exactly a fast way to knit but fun.

 Dylan sitting on a big old tractor

Starting next week I officially no longer work Mondays. Xavier's Grandma will be having him Monday and Friday each week so its win win for both of us:)  I'm jumping for joy at the thought of lazy Mondays at the beach, visiting friends and family, blissed out adventuring and exploring. Oh and sleep-ins of the not getting up at 4.30am 5 days a week kind of course!

'Jesus cross buns'

 We made hot cross buns on Monday (the last day I had all the little boys before Easter)
Often when Cameron draws he draws 'Jesus crosses' and he also makes them with building blocks etc. so to him they were called Jesus cross buns:)

 They were much enjoyed by all and I look forward to making them next year and the next. Benny loved them too so he will be waiting for next Easter too.

 I love this wooden lattice and gate in our outdoor eating area. It seems almost unbelievable that the plant growing up it has been there less than a year. I planted it soon after we moved in and didn't know how it would go because its quite a shaded area but its really taken off. I look forward to it getting big bushy and unruly!

I'm a bit late to yarn along because yesterday I was too busy knitting and binding off (and entertaining small children and keeping free range chickens off the garden etc.) to take photos
I finished my grey cable hoodie! Its pretty hot today so this is the only pic I've taken. Hoping for some cooler weather over the weekend so that I can wear it. It still needs some buttons, I might make some wooden ones perhaps.
I keep forgetting to add the book I'm reading with yarn along! This week I've been reading-

Work and Play in Early Childhood - being that my town has no book shop I often order books over the net. This book was a lot shorter than I expected but was a nice little read all the same

What is in a Waldorf  Kindergarten- Ive only just started this but its nice so far and has beautiful and inspiring photos (I couldn't resist looking at all the pictures before beginning it)

Ive also been getting some audio books on my IPhone. This is a fabulous new find for me as I have always loved being read to and I can do all sorts of things while I listen. It makes cleaning up the kitchen much more fun:) Ive listened to Jane Eyre which I found fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed the language used and found it quite funny that I started thinking in sentences with large words quite naturally by the time I got a few hours into the story.

Relay for Life!

On Saturday and Sunday we walked for a good cause with many others. We were all walking for those who have suffered with cancer. Much money was raised and we pray that it helps make lots of lives longer and happier.  

There were many teams walking the relay, work groups, school groups, sporting groups and various other groups of friends. Dad and I joined in the National Australia Bank group with AJ and her co workers. It began at 2pm Saturday and ended 9am Sunday. At all times between those hours three people were walking laps of the football oval. Every half hour the walkers passed their batons to the next three people.

We had shifts of walking for half an hour at 10pm, 2am, 4am, and 7am

There was lots of funds raised. Each resisted walker gained donations before the event and on the day there was food and other goods for sale with most of the money going towards the cause. Along with many others we bought these bags to write messages to our loved ones. A candle goes inside and they lined the walking track with positive messages of love. Each bag was $5 and there were many many bags. They looked beautiful but it was sad to see visually just how many people have had their lives turned upside down by this horrible disease

Messages of hope and cure were spelled out with some of the bags to light the night walkers

During the night there was speeches from courageous cancer survivors who shared their difficult stories. A table was left by the stage with candles burning and textas. by the morning it was filled with sad and loving messages

This was me between turns walking. OK so not really, but I was knitting away at the second arm of my cardigan and now I'm half way through the hood! I had lots of comments about my knitting, a few people completely amazed that I was making it instead of buying a pre-made cardigan:)

Here's AJ looking mighty enthusiastic considering I don't think she actually slept at all during the night!

There were piles of sand for weighing down the paper bags, the kids had fun with what was leftover

are my two favourite decorated team tents