Category Archives: Homemaking

Flashback Friday

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This is what I need to do this weekend.  Some things never change………..

Today I had a deep clean in our bedroom.  I took the mattress and base off the bed so that I could vacuum properly underneath it.  I turned the mattress when I replaced it.

2013-04-18 01I cleaned the windowsills, cornices and skirting boards.

The valance on the base was washed.

2013-04-18 02The valance was replaced and the bed remade with fresh linen.  I have swapped the light coloured doona cover that we use during the summer months for this one.

2013-04-18It changes the look of the room.  Although it is the same fabric, the darker colour  feels right for the cooler weather.  I have not yet put the feather doona on the bed – we have a cotton blanket and lightweight polyfill doona at the moment.

The weather is still quite warm at the moment but we will make gradual changes as needed.

What seasonal changes do you make?

Little Bits

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If you haven’t already gathered from the lack of blog posts, this has been a busy week at work.  The next couple of weeks don’t look like being much better, either.

I have been getting along by just doing a little bit each morning and evening.  There are no major achievements but at least the household hasn’t fallen into complete disarray.

2012-01-20 04We have managed to have a home-cooked meal every evening, packed lunches and a healthy breakfast. I at least partly make the lunches the night before while dinner is cooking.

2012-05-05 04The dishwasher is loaded every day thanks to GMan and it only takes a few moments to unload it.

The washing is done and I have ironed enough clothes to see us through the week.  There are a few extra items that I will need to do on the weekend.  Having the clothesline on the verandah means that I can quickly hang washing out or get it in when we arrive home.  It is then folded and put away.

2013-02-15 02Everything has stayed tidy because there is no-one here to make a mess.

I hope to have something a bit more exciting to share with you on the weekend.

Sew My Stash Sunday – 13

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The black lawn to line the yoke of the blouse has been bought, cut out and pinned to the yoke pieces.  That is where the sewing stopped for this week.  A birthday celebration and houseguests, including grandchildren put paid to any more sewing.

However, there has been some activity in the sewing room.

I found a use for this set of mini-drawers which came from my mother.  They are now on my sewing table and contain various small sewing items.

2015-04-12 01Next, I repositioned this chest of drawers to sit under the table.  I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of that before.  I previously had to move them, and they are very heavy, every time we needed to pull the trundle bed out.

2015-04-12 02Finally, I did do some fabric work this afternoon, although it was not strictly sewing.  I started cutting some old t-shirts that i got on Freecycle into strips.  My plan is to make a plaited floor rug like this.

I have plaited this piece which is about 8 metres in length, so far.  I will need quite a bit more before I have enough so keep watching for the finished article.

2015-04-12 03The stash has grown rather than shrunk this week as I was given some fabric by a work colleague.  More about that another time.

Sew My Stash Sunday – 12

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I am pleased to report that I have actually finished something.  Remember this trial from a couple of weeks ago?

2015-03-22 02Well, I went and bought the silver/grey lawn to line the front yoke.  It cost me the princely sum of $1.80.  I then made the top with one slight alteration from the original pattern.  I made the front 8cm narrower as I felt there was too much fullness in it for my liking.

2015-04-05 02It was simple and easy to make and has no fastenings of any kind.  I am really pleased with the look of the finished garment and am looking forward to wearing it.  It is easy to forget that this was only ever a prototype so it is an added bonus that I get a pretty top to wear as well.

Buoyed by the success of my trial I was ready to cut out the next top.  Here are the pieces cut out and ready to sew.

2015-04-05 03

As with the first top, I need to buy some lawn for the lining of the yoke and the back neck facing so that is on my ‘to do’ list for this week.  I would normally use the same fabric for the lining and facing, however, in both of these instances the fabric is so fine that the pattern from the lining pieces could show through and disrupt the look of the finished garment.

Flashback Friday

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As with all new projects, ‘Flashback Friday’ is being fine-tuned.  As well as linking back to the original post I am going to copy and paste it into a new post.  So, here goes…..this is from August 2012 just before Izz turned 3.

I have been making a gift for Izz for her birthday.  She has a doll’s bed which has been passed down to her but no bedding.

I bought 2 u-shaped pillowcases recently from the op shop.  Here is one that I have unpicked ready to use.  Note the roll of fabric which is the dismantled and pressed frill.

2012-08-06 01The Duke bought a piece of foam cut to size for the mattress and I have covered that using some of the pillowcase fabric.

2012-08-06 02The next step was to make a patchwork quilt.  I worked out the size and number of pieces I would need.  The plain pink is more of the pillowcase, plain mauve from a piece in my stash of fabric, Dora pattern is a few leftover scraps from the doona cover and curtains that I made for Miss O last year and the pink patterned fabric is from a blouse I picked up at the op shop.  The frill is the one I unpicked from the pillowcase.  The hemmed edge remained intact so I simply regathered it and reapplied to the quilt edge.

2012-08-06 03I bought a large piece of cotton/bamboo batting for a bed quilt I am working on for Izz’s bed so I used a small piece for this quilt.  (I think this is a rather spoiled doll!)  The backing is more leftovers from some op shop fabric.  I quilted it by simply machine stitching along the seam lines which is nothing fancy but seems effective.

2012-08-06 04The finishing touch was to make a matching pillow.  A couple more fabric scraps and some salvaged filling from an old cushion and I had a complete set of bedding for the doll.  Here is the mattress with the pillow.

2012-08-06 05The total cost of things I bought specifically for this project was $6.60.  This is a gift which I know will be loved regardless of the cost.  I am looking forward to seeing Izz’s face when she opens the gift.

Now I need to work on the the bed quilt I am making as well since her birthday is in 2 weeks and I want to be able to give her the present before we go on holidays.

2015-04-03 01In the interests of presenting a complete picture here are a couple of photos I took when she received her parcel.

2015-04-03 02

Tracking 2015 – March

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It is a few days into April and you could be forgiven for thinking that I had forgotten this series.  But no, I am just running a little late.

BudgetingHere are the monthly totals so far:

January – $2,628.73
February – $1,783.49
March – $4,320.56

Well March really blew the averages!  What did we spend our money on?

The blowout in our March spending has highlighted the precise reason why I wanted to track our spending for a whole year.  I knew that our variable spending was very patchy.

One example is the category “Pets/Vet/Registration”.  Our combined total for January and February for this category was $43 yet in March it was $673.  The dog had his annual check-up and annual heartworm medication, we bought 2 large bags of dog food, chicken feed and a fancy chicken feeder which will hopefully save us money in the long run by not allowing other wildlife to access the feed.

2011-12-12 04Food was also higher due due some bulk buying of nuts and dried fruit.

We both bought clothes this month – 2 dresses, a bag and shoes for me and Gman bought 2 new business shirts.

2015-03-21 01One of the cars was serviced and we continue to spend on things to do with house maintenance and developing the garden.

The spending was carefully considered but I certainly would not want to be spending like that every month.

The regular Friday Flashback post will be up this evening.

Sew My Stash Sunday – 11

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The recurring theme of these posts lately seems to be how little I have done.  This week has been no exception to that pattern.

2015-03-29 01This photo of my ironing board covered in fabric tells this week’s story.  I decided to take a break from dressmaking and make a start on a cover for my KitchenAid mixer which lives on the bench in the corner of my kitchen.  I bought this fabric a few months ago.  It is off-white with black silhouettes of kitchen utensils which seemed perfect to use for this project.  I washed and ironed the fabric this morning and found various pieces of calico for the lining.  I intend to use some bamboo batting to pad it and machine quilt the pieces before assembling the cover.  I have cut out the calico pieces.

The mauve and blue floral top which I started last week has come to a grinding halt as I need to buy some fabric to line the front yoke and cut a facing for the back neckline.  It is not feasible to use the same fabric because the pattern will show through.  I thought I could use some plain white lawn but it shows through a too bright, if that makes sense.  I tested for a suitable colour by placing a pale grey t-shirt behind the fabric and that colour works perfectly so I will buy some silver/grey lawn fabric this week and hopefully will get back to that top before next Sunday comes around.

Flashback Friday

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Here is a post from 3 years ago when I first tried my hand at making Tabasco sauce.  It was a great success and the quantity lasted for a couple of years.

Unfortunately, the chilli bush did not survive the changes to the vegie garden area so we bought another one in the middle of last year.

Today I am making more sauce and using just half of the quantity stated in the original recipe.  This has to be one of the simplest preserving recipes around.  I am looking forward to having a bottle on hand so that I can add a couple of drops to various dishes that I make.

2015-03-27 01

Little Things & Wordless Wednesday (on Thursday)

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Tonight I just want to share a couple of things with you.

You may remember this post from last month where I talked about making a ‘whiteboard’ to put inside the laundry cupboard.2015-03026 01I finally got around to cutting up the manilla folder and laminating the 2 sheets.  The second sheet will become a shopping/to do list in the pantry.  I have 2 whiteboards pens to go with them so now all I need to do is to attach them.

The other thing I wanted to show you is how to get labels off jars/bottles  I am sure you have noticed that the type and quality of the labels varies enormously.  Some can be peeled off with no residue, others can be soaked of in warm soapy water while others require differing amounts of effort to remove the residue.

I forgot to post a ‘before’ photo of this bottle so you will have to believe me.

2015-03026 02The plastic-coated label peeled off quite easily but left a full coating of residue.  I used my home-made cream cleanser and the steel scourer.

2015-03026 03I have seen tips about using eucalyptus oil for these jobs as it tends to dissolve the residue.  However, it is not terribly effective at removing the softened adhesive.  The bicarb and dishwashing liquid in the recipe and a steel scourer made short work of any last bits.

On to the second part of the blog –  Wordless Wednesday.  You may have noticed the lack of blog post last night.  By Wednesday evenings I am usually struggling to find some worthwhile content as there is nothing ‘blogworthy’ going on at work.  In order to maintain regular posts each day, I have decided to instigate ‘Wordless Wednesday’ which seemed to be quite popular on several blogs a couple of years ago.  Each week I will post a photo with no or minimal information.  Take the time to enjoy the photo and as always, I welcome your comments.

Sew My Stash Sunday – 10

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Another week has flown by and the sewing had not been touched.  Before I could start sewing I had to do the ironing and there was quite a bit as I did not do it last weekend and had just ironed a few things during the week to keep us going.  I got it all done early this morning and then we headed out for a few hours with our overseas guest.  This afternoon has been wet so it was a good excuse to sew rather than being out in the garden.

I could have finished the hand sewing on the green skirt or finished making the denim one but I decided that I needed a change of scenery.  The first thing I did was cut out a white shirt for my daughter from the pattern I had drafted a couple of weeks ago.

Then I moved on to drafting another pattern.  I have given quite a bit of thought to what style I would use for this piece of fabric.

2015-03-08 02I drafted the top from this ensemble but with a few modifications.

2015-03-22 01The neckline will be a ‘v’ rather than square.  The lower edge of the sleeves and body will have a few rows of shirring elastic rather than being gathered into a band.

I decided to make a prototype before cutting into my new fabric that I bought especially to make this top.  In the spirit of using up my stash, I found a pretty piece of lightweight fabric which was given to me a year or so ago.  Despite much thought I had never been able to come up with an idea of how to use it and there is just over 4 metres of fabric.  So at least some of it is now the prototype.

To get an idea of how it might look I decided to simply baste the pieces together in the first instance.

2015-03-22 02This is not a particularly flattering photograph but it gives an idea of the style.

Things I discovered:

I can easily get it over my head
The neckline is perfect
I will cut the sleeve a bit longer next time
I am going to recut the front body as there is too much fullness in the front
When I cut the pattern in the good fabric I will straighten the side seams and take out the little bit of shaping at the waistline

Even though this is just a test run, I really like the fabric and I am sure it will earn a place in my wardrobe.