Archive for April, 2012

Hooded jumper


25 Apr

I made a hooded jumper for Toby recently, drafting the pattern by following the instructions from a pattern making book that I have been using. I need to make a few adjustments for next time….I need to lengthen it a bit, take some width off it, and make the neck opening smaller. However, considering I have never sewn anything like this before and had to work out how to put it together, I’m really pleased with it. 🙂

Last Import-0

Last Import-1

Farm Boys


10 Apr

Last Import-19

We are staying with Shirley and Silver for a few days. The kids are having a ball being ‘farm boys’ as they love to call themselves. Nathan has become Shirley’s little shadow, and Toby often isn’t far behind. There has been some quad bike riding, fence fixing, grape eating, dog patting, grape eating, chicken feeding and egg collecting, quad bike riding, grape eating, cat patting, dog feeding and patting, bicycle riding and grape eating. I think there will be more grape eating and quad bike riding during the next few days.

Last Import-10

Last Import-4

Easter egg hunt


09 Apr

Nathan was really excited that we were going to have an Easter egg hunt today. He remembers the one we had last year when he was 3-years-old and has been talking about it for a couple of weeks now. Toby didn’t understand what he was meant to do, so I helped him find the eggs.

Last Import-0
Here are the two boys, ready to go Easter egg hunting.

Last Import-1
Nathan was to look for the pink eggs, and Toby the blue/green ones.

Last Import-2
Nathan finding his first egg.

Untitled
Toby has one now too!

Last Import-9
Toby with his loot. Both kids got 6 little eggs.

Last Import-12
It is serious stuff getting into these eggs!

Last Import-15
Nathan is ready to eat his loot!

Last Import-22
We gave the kids a present instead of going overboard on the chocolate. A 100 piece puzzle for Nathan…

Last Import-24
…and some Duplo for Toby.

Custom hat


08 Apr

Last Import-3

I made my first custom hat this week for Wispy Threads. I chatted to a family at the market last month about making a hat for a little boy. His mother told me that she found it difficult to buy nice hats for him because he fits a very large size for his age. She spent a while looking through the hats I have and chose a fabric for the inside (orange monkeys) and asked me to find a solid, biscuity colour for the outside. I didn’t take any money because I wasn’t sure I would be able to find a fabric to match.

The day after the market I visited a local patchwork shop and found some fabrics I liked that I thought might work. I took some photos of the fabrics together with the monkeys, and also the monkeys in a different colourway. I sent the photos off to the mother and didn’t hear back from her for several days. Oh well, I thought, that’s what you get for not sealing the deal with money.

However, the mother did write back and told me that she had thought about it for a few days, and had changed her mind and wanted the blue monkeys instead, and wanted them on the outside. So I went ahead and made the hat, and emailed her with photos on Friday to let her know that it is done, and that I will have it at the next market for her. She wrote back straight away saying she was really happy with the hat, and that she’d see us at the market. So I have high hopes that it is sold!

Photo update


06 Apr

Photo Stream-898

Some photos from the last week!

Nathan adores dress-ups, and he found a bear costume at playgroup last week.

I don’t know why, but Nathan decided to set up a bed in the kitchen, and Toby thought it was a great idea.

I took a couple of photos of Toby feeding Angus Bear his breakfast of eggs on toast.

Andrew went to Perth for a few days and the kids and I took him to the airport. We found a mural on the floor of the international airport when we went exploring after saying goodbye to Andrew which the kids were fascinated by.

Last Import-2

Last Import-4

Last Import-10

All Imported-0

All Imported-2

Photo Stream-895

Photo Stream-900

Beans and garden update


03 Apr

Last Import-12

We have removed most of the summer veggie garden now, and have started on the winter one. We had more success this past summer than the previous one, but we can certainly improve. We did manage to produce some carrots, corn, green beans, yellow beans, golden nugget pumpkins, cherry and black russian tomatoes, garlic and lettuce. The big producers for the summer were our purple beans and a variety of small tomato called Tommy Toe. Both of these needed to be staked higher, but regardless they managed to do well. Andrew has a pole attached to the back fence, and some of the purple beans climbed at least 3 metres up the pole. The complete failures of the summer were our apples (which had coddling moth and some splotchy skin issue), the cucumber plants which died as soon as we planted them and the chives (which were decimated by aphids). the purple beans are still producing a few beans, but I am allowing the ones left to dry out. We will have quite a few seeds when they are all dried.

The kids and I podded some dried beans today, and they were quite interested in the different colored seeds. The green beans had dark brown seeds, the yellow beans had beautiful glossy black seeds, and the purple beans had pale seeds.

The winter garden currently consists of garlic, leeks, silver beet, dwarf peas and snow peas (they might have been planted a little early), and a small number of celery and cauliflower seedlings. We plan to put in some carrot seeds, but we will leave that until after Easter. It will be interesting to see how the winter garden goes.

Cork’s Corner

My little corner of the internet