Finally Finished

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Posted on December 4, 2016

It is 2 months since I wrote this post about buying the fabric to make a new cover for the day bed. I had made a small start a few weeks ago but today I started seriously sewing.

I have now finished the cover apart from the fasteners for the straps which will hold it in place. I will buy some more this week.

Here is the end result.

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As described in my earlier post, the other side is vinyl so that I can leave it reversed when not in use so that if the cat sleeps on it the cat hair will be easy to remove with a damp cloth.

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I am very pleased with the result and the colours match the other furniture and details on the verandah.

Like a Duck

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Posted on November 29, 2016

I have been feeling a bit like a duck lately – all calm on the surface and paddling furiously beneath the surface!

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Work is busy and I have deadlines and targets to meet before Christmas. I am hopeful of achieving them but I can only do what is humanly possible.

On the home front it is about the mundane things – washing, ironing, preparing meals as well as keeping the house in reasonable order.

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A menu plan written on the weekend is a must to keep me on track during the week. Tonight was Mexican quinoa and while that was cooking I steamed a chicken breast fillet in preparation for tomorrow night. In the morning I will take a tub of sweet and sour sauce and some rice from the freezer. Tomorrow evening will be a simple matter of shredding the chicken, adding to the sauce and heating along with the rice. Dinner will be ready in no time.

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Last night I did some ironing and tonight the folded clothes were put away. A little bit each night helps to keep on top of the ordinary tasks and leaves me time for extra jobs on the weekend.

On Sunday we cleaned up the vegetable gardens and planted some new seedlings. I hope to have some photos of the progress in a couple of days. We also picked several kilos of cherry tomatoes which are washed, packed and frozen for later use.

Ferreting in the Freezer

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Posted on October 29, 2016

After 5 1/2 years of writing this blog, I sometimes feel like I am just going over same territory again and again. Tonight I want to share something that came to me in a blinding flash this morning.

I had done a menu plan for the next week and almost everything was from the freezer. I wanted to check what I had with a view to using some of it up. The fridge in the kitchen has a sizeable freezer at the bottom which is 2 large drawers and we have a small, upright freezer (the size of a bar fridge) downstairs.

Once I had cleaned the freezer in the kitchen, I had the bright idea of collecting all of the items I need for the meals for the week and put them all together on the left-hand side of the top-drawer.

There will be no more discovering that there is no pre-cooked rice left or that I need to make a new batch of refried beans and so on. I am not sure why I did not think of this years ago but I guess it is better late than never. It means that each week I will do a mini-stocktake of the freezer and locate what I need for meals in the coming week.

The home-made pizza bases are on top of the other containers and the rest of the space on the right-hand side has other meals for future meal plans. Having them here together means that at a glance I can see what meals I have available.

I have tried various lists and inventories of my freezer but none have been terribly successful as the state of my freezer is dynamic, a moveable feast, you could say. I am hopeful that simply having the next things that I plan to use all in the same place will assist in keeping some order in the freezer.

Technology Marches On

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Posted on October 28, 2016

I planned to write this post several days ago but life managed to get in the way.

Anyway, here I am back again.

We are usually fairly prompt in organising our tax details to send to our tax agent but this year was a different story. We headed overseas in the middle of July and did not return until the end of August. There were plenty of other things that seemed to demand our attention so the tax was put aside. Last weekend we finally collected up everything we needed to send. There were several digital files which we saved and attached to the email.

However, a couple of things almost defeated us. There was an email which we needed and we could not figure out a way to save an email as a file so decided to print it and then scan it and save the scan. Sounds easy? I thought so but that did not turn out to be the case.

We have recently upgraded our desktop computer and have a Microsoft tablet/laptop. Both of these are running on Windows 10 and we discovered (after much trial and error) that our printer is not compatible with Windows 10. Aargh!!

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The printer sits on top of the desk and is very rarely used. We could have waited until the next day and printed the email at work but decided to resort to another rather circuitous route. GMan retrieved our old laptop from the cupboard where it had been gathering dust and connected the printer to it. Thankfully, that laptop was still running Windows 7. So, we printed the email, scanned and saved it on the old laptop, copied it to a USB drive and thus transferred it to a folder on the desktop computer and we were back on track. It was a somewhat convoluted process but worked adequately for our needs.

At some stage we need to decide what to do about getting a new printer/scanner. It is something we want to have but are not desperate to have it immediately when we know that we have a workaround solution.

If anyone knows of a way to save an email as a file (preferably a pdf) I would love to know about it.

Finally Finished

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Posted on October 23, 2016

I finished making a top for myself which has been a long, drawn-out process. I bought the material about 3 years ago because it caught my eye.

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Am I happy with it? Not entirely.

Will I wear it? Definitely.

What is there not to like? It is a bit on the short side but still wearable. The style is too boxy so I would not make it again. I would prefer something with more shaping through the body of the garment. However, the fabric I used is a knit but does not have a lot of stretch so probably would not work in a more fitted style.

I am happy with the final finish on the v-neck which was my own creation. I did have 3 attempts before I was satisfied.

I have been making clothes for the best part of 50 years but I still struggle with sewing knit fabrics, in particular, getting a professional-looking finish on necklines and hemlines. I have never owned an overlocker and continue to vacillate about the value of them. Would it make a real difference to sewing knit fabrics?

Since the spotted fabric did not have a lot of stretch, I managed a hem that looked acceptable. I then turned my attention to a plain navy top which I bought in Canada. It ticked almost all of the boxes – navy, v-neck, fitted style – the only thing wrong is that it was too long on me. It was quite a bargain so I decided to buy it despite the length as I felt that I would be able to shorten it.

I did the alteration but due to the fact that the fabric has some elastane in it and consequently more stretch, the finish is less than perfect. Once it was pressed it is OK and I will wear it but I still feel a degree of disappointment in the result.

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I really want to be able to make my own v-neck and scooped neck fitted knit tops in a range of sleeve lengths from sleeveless and short sleeved to 3/4 sleeve and long sleeved versions that are the correct length in the body for me. This would allow me to choose colours and designs that I like and not be limited to the range which some fashion buyer has deemed will be available this year.

Would an overlocker help, do you think? All comments gratefully accepted.

Meanwhile, I will go back to sewing garments from several pieces of woven fabric which are awaiting my attention.

A Quick Return

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Posted on October 22, 2016

Today I picked the first zucchinis of the season. For an outlay of $2.50 for a punnet of 4 healthy seedlings on 12th September I have harvested 4 zucchini with a total weight of 1.2kg.

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This is only the start as there are plenty more small zucchini and flowers yet to mature.

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In just less than 6 weeks – 40 days to be precise – the transformation was complete. The leaves are drooping in the heat of the day. You can also see the last of the lettuce and bok choy which were planted at the same time and we had been harvesting for about 3 weeks.

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I have not grown a great deal over the past couple of years as I just seem to have been too busy but I am determined to make more of an effort and successes like these definitely inspire me to keep going.

Stockpiling

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Posted on October 12, 2016

This blog post is copied from a post I wrote in another forum. I am interested in your thoughts.

Is stockpiling a saving or ‘dead money’?

I do not stockpile to save money as such but I do have enough basic foods and essentials such as toothpaste and toilet paper to see us through a minimum of 4 weeks and in most instances, much longer. I am very confident that I could feed us for 3 months. There might be some odd meals but we would be fed.

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Why? It is generally acknowledged that supermarkets carry 3 days worth of stock and rely on ‘just in time’ deliveries. As we endure more severe and frequent weather events it is prudent to consider being independently responsible for your wellbeing during and immediately after these events. You will never find me queuing for fuel, buying bread or filling gas bottles as a cyclone approaches. It is already done as part of our day to day routine.

It can be something as simple as being unwell or busy at work and you can feed yourselves from what you have on hand. Some years ago I was snowed under at work and barely had time to do the basics so each week I would grab some fruit and veg and everything else came from the freezer or pantry. I did this for 7 consecutive weeks!

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By having enough on hand you will be less likely to pop into the shop and grab unnecessary items while you are there = savings.

Remember the mantra – “eat what you store and store what you eat”. In other words, do not store ‘special stuff’ for your stockpile. Do not keep 100 tins of baked beans if your family do not eat baked beans.

Whatever stock you have should be rotated. I keep 2 large tins of tuna in my pantry. When I use one I buy another. I always place the new can on the bottom of the pile.

Consider using a permanent marker to write the purchase date and month on bottles and cans eg: 10.16 for October 2016. This means that you can see at a glance what needs to be used first.

Keep track of what you have by doing a regular stocktake.

Make sure you have suitable storage containers and conditions. Food which deteriorates is a waste of money.

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My recommendation is to try to store enough food to feed your family for 2 weeks beyond your normal shopping cycle. Start small and add an extra can or packet as you can afford.

Stockpiling may save you a little money but in the long run, I think the time and sanity savings are far greater as well as the peace of mind of not being totally dependent on the vagaries of the supply chain.

Four Fabulous Days

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Posted on October 3, 2016

I have had the most glorious 4 days at home. Friday was a well-earned day off followed by a long weekend. Most weekends I am left with the feeling of wanting a couple more days to try to catch my tail. I would not say I have done everything but I do have a degree of satisfaction that I have made some progress beyond the basics of washing and meal preparation. The best part is that I have worked steadily but not frantically for some of the time as well as simply doing nothing at other times.

Here is a snapshot of what I achieved:

Washing and ironing – the first 3 days were brilliantly sunny with a breeze so all of the washing was done and dried which left me with a pile of ironing. I tackled this with enthusiasm since I was armed with a new iron as well as the ironing board cover that I made on Friday.

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Shopping – most weekends I buy enough fruit and vegetables for the week as well as a few things from Aldi and Saturday was no exception. However, I also drove a bit further to go to Morayfield so that I could stock up at Simply Good, where I buy all of the flours, dried fruit, seeds, nuts and legumes that I use. I do this every 4months or so. Spotlight is nearby so I took the opportunity to have a look and found the fabric to recover the mattress for the day bed.

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Decluttering/recycling – as we change and re-arrange furniture there is often some to move along to someone else who can use it. This weekend I listed 4 outdoor chairs and a large pine chest of drawers on our local Buy, Swap, Sell Facebook page and they have now gone to new homes. I also tidied and sorted the shelves in the wardrobe in the sewing/spare room and put a few things in a bag to go to the op shop.

Gardening – when I was at the market buying fruit and vegetables, I noticed a neighbouring stall selling seedlings. I bought and planted out basil, beetroot and capsicum seedlings. GMan mulched the shrub we cut down a few weeks ago and planted out several native trees and shrubs.

Outdoors – we have taken a few more steps towards finishing our outdoor living area on the verandah. The newly painted table is back in position as is the day bed, albeit without the mattress yet. I spent a good portion of today cleaning up the large concreted area under the house. This is a lovely cool area in summer and I am trying to make it more useable. I sorted and stacked various building materials so that they are in a logical order and easily accessible.

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What a shame that I have to go to work tomorrow – there is so much more that I could do here at home.

I will some more details of some of the things I have mentioned tonight in upcoming posts this week.

Buying for a Bed

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Posted on October 1, 2016

It is 4.5 years since I wrote this post about covering the mattress on an old bed to use as a day bed on the verandah.

Unfortunately, it did not quite turn out as I had planned for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the cat thought I had made it for him and proceeded to lie on it regularly and blanket the entire surface with grey fur. Secondly, I realised that it was directly accessible to anyone entering our property and I would not feel secure being asleep there.

The second issue has been addressed somewhat by having a lockable gate installed.

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However, the problem of the cat remains. I have considered this for some time now and decided that the best option was to have fabric on one side and vinyl on the other. I will keep it vinyl side up generally so that any cat fur can be easily wiped off but turn it over to the fabric side when I (or anyone else wants to lie or sit on the bed.

Since the original post, we have painted the bed frame in a dark grey (the same colour as the surround of the gate in the photo above). Additionally, the outdoor table is now red.

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I had an idea that I could incorporate these colours into my new plans for the bed. So, today when I was shopping I went to Spotlight and was surprised and delighted to find exactly what I was looking for.

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The plain black vinyl will be for the cat while the stripe fabric which was described as ‘outdoor canvas’ will be perfect for the fabric side. I should have enough left to make a couple of cushions, too.

I was really pleased to find exactly what I had imagined and I am looking forward to getting it made and ready to use.

The Ironing Makeover

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Posted on September 30, 2016

As I mentioned in my last post, the ironing board cover really needed replacing so I made that project a priority for today.

I do not have a ‘before’ photo but I can assure you that it was ripped in a couple of places, very thin and badly stained.

Here is the new version which I made from a sheet which was no longer being used. The fabric is strong cotton that I bough and used to make a fitted sheet several years ago. I cut two layers for extra strength. The inside layer is cotton/bamboo batting.

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The straps, velcro and binding around the edge were all salvaged and re-used from the previous version.

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There are a couple of old layers from previous purchased covers which are under the new cover. It is firm but well-padded so a great surface for ironing.

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