inside, outside

 : : inside

A spot cleared for my craft bits and pieces in the play room. Formerly it had become a spot for everything that didn't have a place (ie a big mess) now it is a breath of fresh air

buntinting I made last week from some peter rabbit fabric scraps, flowers brought in. The tiny posie off daffodills has filled the room with its sweet scent

some of my home spun wool being knitted into a little something. I love the feel of the lanolin

: : outside

our peas got damaged by fierce weather yesterday, they were reaching to the very top of the poles and now they are all blown down(you can see the poles are wonky too!). A bit sad but their still healthy and full of peas so thats what matters the most of course

 bennys parents dropped off about 10 bales (!!!) of pea straw as they were sick of bits blowwing into their pool. The garden and apple blossom kids are appreciative!

 my very favourite place to sit (my $2 garage sale chair)

A dinner I looked forward to all day, leftover babi kecap my by my Opa, the best cook ever (my slightly biased opinion of course)

harvesting

 Yesterdays harvest, broccoli, parsley, carrot, eggs, rainbow chard, spinach and the peas that we eat straight off the vine

Today- spring onions and celery for tonight's chicken soup, Chinese cabbage for coleslaw. And again with the peas. Oh yes we love peas!
As much as I like planting, growing and harvesting, I'm not a big fan of washing the freshly picked veg. A few weeks ago it occurred to me to let the Apple Blossom kids take over the veg cleaning. Because whats more fun than bowls of water, scrubbing brushes and a whizzing salad spinner. It takes a ridiculously long while for the veggies to get clean but I have some very willing helpers.
After these pictures I filled the big tub too and they added their own 'sharks' (big Cameron had a little shark toy from home, our new friend little Cameron improvised using our veggie scrubber as his own shark, Mitch had wondered off to play in the kitchen some more ) The sharks so happily hid and swum through the celery swamp that I felt sad having to take them inside for nap. Some days flow so nicely

kitcheny fun

I got the little cupboard on Sunday and have started turning it into a play kitchen. I cut a sink hole, put a metal bowl in as a sink, added wooden draw nobs for the stove and tap nobs. 

Benny is making us a stainless steel tap and stove elements at work. I love that he loves to help me with my making projects. He always thinks of good ways to make things that I never would have thought of. 

I was planning on cutting off the top shelf as I thought the shape would be cuter but instead I think I will keep it. Its always nice to have an extra shelf that the children cant reach!

You can see on the left side I have curved the cupboard side. The right side is still as it was. I will get to that perhaps next weekend. I still need to borrow my Dads edge trimmer to curl all the edges and corners too. 

 For the moment we have paper stove elements and the children use the imaginary tap.

 I also added cup hooks and hooks on the side for oven mitts and aprons.

 I was going to needle felt some eggs but didn't get around to it. Now I see there is no need (they made their own with play dough. Yes I am reminded, less is more

 Muffins bake in my oven and theirs. The play silk is the 'hot'

 bulbs are beginning to bloom in the garden and we brought this pot inside. We cant help sing on our favorite songs. Indeed Spring is coming! Not for a while, but we can feel it in the air and smell it in the breeze

making and planning

 Last night I was listening to an audio book and cleaning my glass doors that are in the playroom. The old window stars were looking a bit sad and well loved so I made this picture by tearing kite paper (idea from pintrest, my new favorite site)
I also made some soap but its still too soft to take out of the silicone molds. I tried removing one and it broke. Any one know if it will dry out yet or if it hasn't yet would it be no good?

edited to add**

all good, I left them a few extra days and they turned out fine, phew!

 The one at the back is the first one I removed, can you tell why I was worried?:)

They are chamomile calendular, colored naturally with carrot juice. They don't look very bright so i'm not sure I added enough carrot juice. Might add the pulp too next time as I've seen others do. To think I was worried about them coming out bright orange!

 I've been drawing up plans for the soon to be play kitchen in my art journal. Not that I needed to as the alterations will be so simple and straight forward, but mostly just for fun. I found these paints that Mum gave back to me recently and had fun making the plans extra pretty

 I'm still deciding what design to cut into the door, what do you think? Which one is your favorite?

 I made some little oven mitts and plan on making some aprons too

Today I found some things for it at a local second hand shop and got wooden knobs for the taps and stove. I also gathered together some things I've slowly collected for our 'one day wooden play kitchen' at opp shops. These are my favorite pieces so far. The lidded pot this morning was my most exciting play kitchen find yet I think. You know, aside from the actual kitchen the other day. I'm feeling pretty lucky at the moment

yay for second hand!

For a long time I've been wanting a wooden play kitchen for my Apple Blossom day care.
I contemplated making one but it was far (far far) beyond my woodworking capabilities.
After months of looking for something second hand that I could make into one I stumbled upon this gorgeous little kitchen dresser!
I still cant believe my luck, once I add a sink, stove burners and taps it will be exactly what I wanted but didn't think I was going to be able to in my wildest dreams find! Beautiful handmade play kitchens are few and far between in Australia but I've finally scored us one. I pick it up on Sunday and look forward to sharing photos of it done up and polished very soon

 Martha B Rabbit, the fairies cook has been my favorite nap time book lately and I love seeing parts of it acted out in the children's play, so sweet:) I cant wait to see the day care boys play cooking and preserving in the new (old:) little kitchen

I'm afraid my socks haven't come along as much as I would have liked. There is a down side to tooth pick thin knitting needles, and aside from how fiddly they are.
I took my knitting along to my friends beach shack on the weekend and one of the tiny needles got snapped. Not that it was so bad, I really didn't need my knitting to distract me from the beauty and wonderful friends I was surrounded by. We had such a fabulous time and once my needles are replaced the sock knitting will continue. On the Saturday night we made friends with a fox. Sarah's boyfriend tempted him to the back door with sausage and bread and he was quite friendly. Foxes are introduced pest here in australia but they are so beautiful, much like rabbits

While I wait for new needles I make some little projects

green

Last week I visited my aunt Levin and she gave me this gorgeous Madeline tosh yarn. I'm so in love with it! Its slowly becoming the mermaid socks I dreamed up for it. I say slowly because I've only ever knitted socks in 8ply. I feel like I'm knitting these on tooth picks!

 this week the sun has been shining and days have been almost entirely spent outdoors. Ropes are so handy, they can become so many different toys. We make rope swings, bells on ropes to jingle and a basket tied to the veranda can be so fun to swing and twirl. A swing for toys or a good place for a collection of shells or rocks

With these warm days it feels like the garden is growing so much each day. Ive been spending so much time out there. My parents came over on Monday. We spent the whole day lazing in my veggie patch, snacking on a pancake picnic. They helped me build a big new garden bed and change the garden bed design a bit. Next time I will show a before and after 

 Potatoes are supposed to grow in the summer in Australia aren't they? I have quite a few volunteer plants from compost and I'm hilling them up to see how they go. I have to be honest, their doing a lot better than the summer potatoes I planted and lovingly tended to

 broccoli is surprising me. I haven't had a single successful broccoli since I moved to this town, each year I get little bugs that go crazy for them, this year I have the bugs but they just seem to be on the leaves mostly. Definitely wishing I had planted more. I will get a few seedlings tomorrow

 I like this old fence post with peeling paint that is now sitting in the middle of a veggie patch with no purpose. My cat mishka likes to sit on it for a good view

 Afternoon light peeking through the lattice fence

going cloth so far

Yesterday was our first day trying out the cloth nappies. It went great and as people have said, they truly are easy. Xavier was happy in them and he was extra cuddly with his soft cloth padding:)
I used 3 hemp inserts per pocket nappy (9 layers total) because they had only been washed twice so aren't as absorbent as they will be. We had no leaks and flushable bamboo nappy liners worked perfectly
 I had gotten a bit overwhelmed by all the washing advice on-line about washing with this and not washing with that, mostly all contradicting something that I'd already read so the comments on my last post were very helpful! I will wash on the first and third day, cold rinse, warm wash with 1/2 measure earth choice, 2 extra rinses

 I made some extra hemp inserts, these ones are long 2 layer ones for extra quick drying. Even though its cold here I haven't had trouble getting them dry on the line anyway, I hung these yesterday at about 5pm and got them off this morning so I shouldn't need the drier often

I had my first attempt at making a nappy based on this tutorial. Its a fitted pocket nappy with bamboo velour outer, hemp inner. No fastening as I didn't have anything to use but I think it will be OK under waterproof pants I have from the opp shop.
I have quite a bit of hemp, some 'PUL' waterproof fabric that I bought a while ago for nappy mats (I presumed it was wipe clean fabric which it isn't) and also bamboo velour which is apparently also quite good for nappies so apart from getting velcro and elastic they will be not only free but will also mean extra room in my craft cupboard. Stay tuned for nappy making once my elastic and velcro arrive in the post!

Creative Friday- buzzy buzzy bees and wooly wooly wool

 Buzzing bees, buzzing bees,
 Buzzing and bumbling from flower to flower
 Sucking sweet nectar out of the bloom
 To fill with gold your honey comb bower

 I've been crafting some things for the day care sleep room lately. The addition of new beds motivated me to to put some extra effort into this little room that has remained fairly plain since we moved in.
 . Bees are a special favourite here, we enjoy watching them in the garden and pretending our fingers are buzzing bees

 This morning while the children were busy playing I began needle felting some soft yellow bees. Although I've done quite a lot of  wet felting I've hardly ever needle felted. I enjoyed making these bees

 It wasn't long before we ended up outside so I took my work out to continue as they snacked. I worked on them while the children napped and then when the older two were up we headed back outside.

 Once the bees were finished the boys helped me weave together a wreath of  peppercorn tree branches, lavender and yellow flowers. The peppercorn branches came from over out back fence and worked fantasticly, I will use them for wreaths again if they still look nice dried out. I like them because they have a lovely smell and are very Port Wakefield. There are so many big old peppercorn trees growing in this town!
We added the lavender and yellow flowers as these are two main bushes that attract bees. How can you think of lavender and not think of buzzy bees?
I hung the wreath on our clothes line to add the bees and it occurred to me to add ropes to the corners for the boys to pull as I often do. They absolutely love pulling the clothes line around, we discovered this one day when a dressing gown cord was hanging down at their level:) It was extra fun for them to chase the bees and see them fly.

This fun lasted a good half hour or so and then Mitch was still asleep so we hung our bees above our meal table while we had afternoon tea. When Mitch woke up he was so excited to see the mobile all finished!

 In other woolly news, after years of buying pre washed and carded wool for crafts (always white to dye myself) I bought a few fleeces to wash and spin. This one is from a corriedale named Ursula. I got it from Moseley Park farm

 I picked through the fleece to remove any organic matter which there was barely any. I put it in a old lace curtain, soaked it in hot water with shampoo, soaked it in clean hot water I think twice or so until the water stayed clear. I then stuck it in my spinner and dried it on a towel draped over my drying rack.

 The whole time I was worried about it felting too much to spin. Even though I swirled it in the water a bit and seemed to handle it quite a bit when squashing dirty water out it didn't seem to felt at all.

I started spinning it. As you can see I only had a few spare minutes but already I think its safe to say i will never buy pre prepared wool roving again! The only carding I did was very quickly combing the ends if they looked a bit clumped and it spun like a dream. It still has some lanolin which feels lovely and the slight slipperiness made the wool  glide straight out of my hands  beautifully.
Now that I have discovered how easy washing fleeces is I'm fairly certain I will use them for all my felting too.   I used some of my fleece for the bees stripes you may have noticed.
I will deffinately never buy pre prepared wool for toy stuffing, thats for sure!! To think I've been buying beautifully prepared wool just for stuffing all these years!

feel free to join in the fun of Creative Friday and Fibre Arts Friday