31 October 2008

Skirty


Some bits of old fabric and ribbon...


make a great skirt to twirl and whirl and run and play in...


and one for mama too...

We're off to Melbourne for a few days for a wedding (hence skirts) and the zoo and museum. Hopefully a little inspiration too..

28 October 2008

Baggy Craft



Audrey and I had a few quiet moments so we whipped up this drawstring bag for her to decorate with fabric crayons. I love how her drawing is developing... love the attention to detail with the fringe and the borders, a new addition to most of her drawings. And of course, one must draw one's name right up the top front and centre... Cute huh?

27 October 2008

Lazy long weekend

We've had a beautiful four day weekend... time to breathe at a rather hectic time of year. It was Show Day here on Thursday, so of course we went to the show. Even though we said last year that we wouldn't. The show was loud and packed and smelly and we all left with worn out feet and ears. We did have a great time on the dodgems and patted a few animals and Audrey had a ponyride... and all the free apples we could eat!


We also discovered that our 9yo puss may in fact be a Norwegian Forest Cat, rather than just a plain old stray from Wantirna... Some of us have fallen in love with her all over again, but I remain unmoved... As does she.


So the relaxing bit came post-show. Dinner with a lovely friend, paddles at the beach and a weekend of dreaming, gardening and flopping. I must say I am feeling rather creatively frustrated, so I've been planning ways to do more. I made Audrey a skirt (below) with some bits lying around. So now there is a long list of sewing requests, as well as a return to screenprinting in the works...

18 October 2008

Two owlets and a box of facepaint...



Its all about the headband...


Its so much more fun when they play with the colours themselves don't you think?

17 October 2008

Harvest


Yay! Our little garden is producing food at last! Its not much, but we will have enough salad greens from now on and we've been eggsufficient for a while now... We moved the chooks yesterday and found a couple of eggs hidden away so yesterday's harvest was more bountiful than usual.


And with the surplus we made a lovely eggy sponge with blackberry jam and organic cream. It was the most beautiful golden colour and so yummy... All gone now!

Update: Recipe!

Allan's Easy Sponge Cake from Everyday Cooking by Allan Campion and Michele Curtis

4 eggs
110g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
100g (2/3 cup) plain flour
Jam, cream and icing sugar.

Preheat oven to 180degC.
Line a 20cm springform cake tin.
Beat the eggs and caster Sugar together until very thick and light. Carefully fold in the flour, then spoon the mix into the prepared cake tin and cook in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool on a wire rack, then remove cake tin and paper.. Cut the sponge in half and spread with a layer of jam and whipped cream on the bottom half. Replace top layer of cake and sprinkle with icing sugar.

13 October 2008

Dingle Dangle Scarecrow



We have a minor bird problem in the vegie patch now that our beagle has moved on to much greener pastures. A great big net over half of it is helping, but we've not made it to the shop yet to buy some more... We needed a temporary measure while our little seedlings settled in! The neighbours scoffed, but we thought a scarecrow would be a lovely addition to our garden. Her name is Daisy and she worked very hard for the first 24hrs, but seems to have been on a smoko since... still she is a colourful addition while we wait for some serious vegie and flower growth to happen. The girls like her too, especially Audrey who has just mastered winking!

11 October 2008

Spring Weekends

The days are warmer and longer thanks to daylight savings. Yay! Last weekend was Swayer's birthday and we started off with a garage sale crawl of our suburb which turned out to be quite lucrative! Check out our crafty loot! A whole tub full of buttons, beads, paper, paint, stamps and fun... Swayer was rather content with the two mini casio keyboards he found too.




So far this weekend has been spent floating with friends around Battery Point with a visit to the Mothers Market and lunch at the boat park. Fun times and pooped kids. Bliss!

9 October 2008

Begin again

This has been a big year for transition and change for our little family and periods of silence in blogland can only mean more of that is happening... In the last little period of downtime, we had school holidays and were reminded what a delight it is to have our big girl home with us everyday and to go with the flow. Its a lot better for the planet too, not using the car to burn a path between school and home four times a day! So with a little more planning and reading and lots of chatting, we've decided to make school holidays a permanent thing once the kindy year is over. Unschooling seems like an extension of everything else we've done thus far and it is such a relief to let go and watch as our little owlets learn things in their own amazing way and at their own pace... And so begins a new chapter for our family and this blog which will take the journey with us as well as follow my own creative travels. Yes, I am getting there - just need a few more hours in the day and I'll be set! So here's some evidence that not everything around here is planning and chatting...



The garden is growing and will hopefully provide us with some meals one day soon. It now has a herb spiral (more for looks than proper permaculture function), seedlings growing in the vegie patch, an interesting L shaped bed of potatoes, more trees, more beds and less grass! The girls aren't really that interested yet. They love climbing into a pea tee-pee and munching some peas, or looking for worms or faeries, but green thumbs have not been discovered yet.