Party, Party, Party……..Now For STOPTOBER

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Posted on October 1, 2012

We have been home for 2 weeks now and life just seems to have been an endless whirl. I feel as though my feet have barely touched the ground. The whirl culminated yesterday with taking Miss O and Izz to a friend’s birthday party, then we headed off to a picnic for a belated celebration of Belle’s 30th birthday and finally dinner with our neighbours. These were all enjoyable but now it is time to stop and take stock.

There are jobs to do at home which have been neglected so now is the time to get organised. The everyday stuff that keep the wheels running smoothly – making sure the washing and ironing is all up to date, menus planned so that we have meals ready for when we arrive home from work, gardens prepared for summer vegetable growing and so on. My sewing and other creative pursuits are waiting for me and I am itching to get back to them.

I also read this post from Frugal Queen and I am definitely joining in *STOPTOBER* While I am not sure that I can spend NOTHING for the whole month I intend to spend the absolute minimum, stop and think before I spend and generally make do with what we have. To keep me accountable I will post each day about my success (or otherwise) of not spending and keep a tally of how much I spend and what I buy.

I am really looking forward to this challenge and sharing with you. Please consider joining in (you can make your own rules) and let me know how you go.

Planning Ahead

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Posted on September 27, 2012

We will be going to a wedding in March 2013 and while that is still 6 months away I have begun to consider what I might wear. In fact, while we were on holidays I did look to see if I could find something suitable. I do not even know what I am looking for which does make shopping rather difficult.

While I was sorting out some items in my sewing room I came upon this skirt which needs to be mended.

The skirt is fine – it is the lining that is the problem.

The lining is much narrower than the skirt and it has split at the sides. I had only worn the skirt a couple of times before this happened and then I gained weight and it was a bit tight. Now the skirt is fine and once I replace the lining with an underskirt that matches the shape of the outer skirt it will be fine.

This is the top which I originally bought to wear with the skirt and although I have worn it with other outfits it definitely looks best with the skirt. The photo is not very flattering and the top looks better in real life.

I tried the ensemble on last night with black heels and have decided that it will be suitable for the wedding. I am thinking of making a black jacket – possibly velvet and also having a black shawl/wrap.

My only concern is that the wedding is in Canberra in March (early autumn/fall) and the weather is totally unpredictable. I could wear a camisole under the top and an extra slip if it is really cool.

I need to start looking at replacing the lining and choosing a suitable pattern and fabric for the jacket so that the sewing does not get left to the last minute. A little bit of lateral thinking and planning may have saved me a significant amount of money.

Back on Track

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Posted on September 20, 2012

It is now 4 days since we arrived back in Australia from our trip to the United States and I feel as though I am back into my routine.

I went back to work on Monday but yesterday was my day off so I caught up on the washing, packed the suitcases away and re-made the guest bed.

While I was emptying the cane waste paper basket in the guest room I noticed that the top edge was broken. It is not really noticeable because there is a plastic bag liner but I decided it would be better if I repaired it.

The cane binding had broken and the overlapping ends were sticking out.

I used some white kitchen string and a large curved needle which had been in some sewing notions that were handed down to me some time ago. I had never used the needle before but it was prefect for this job.

I tied the string in place at one end to anchor it and then held the ends in place while I wound the string around the damaged section and tied it at the other end.

It is not superbly pretty but the repair returns the baskets to its original shape and makes it easy to fit and replace the plastic bag liner.

Do you take the time to make simple household repairs? Do you keep a ball of string or do you see it as useless?

Garden Update

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Posted on August 15, 2012

Much of what goes in the the garden happens without a lot of input from us due to the fact that both The Duke and I work full-time.

Today I want to share some progress on a couple of different fronts.

On Monday we finally had the large poinciana tree near the driveway removed. This has been planned for over 12 months but when another large limb dropped a few weeks ago we were galvanised into action. The tree lopper came on Monday and by the time we arrived home there was no sign of it apart from a small pile of sawdust where the stump had been ground.

This is now the view from our front verandah. We will be replanting beside the driveway but have yet to decide exactly what we will do.

This is the remainder of another tree stump which we also had removed to make way for a revamp of the vegetable garden area.

The harvest from the vegetable gardens has not been as great as last year but today I was finally able to pick the broccoli.

2.1kg of broccoli from 6 plants is not a bad return and that is only the main heads. As usual, there will be more smaller secondary florets. We will use some of this before we go away and the rest will be blanched and frozen.

The cauliflower has been a disappointment compared to last year but at least I got some. There was also 1 other small head which I picked for dinner last week.

Like everything else, the snow peas have not been spectacularly prolific but here are enough for the stir-fry tonight and the salad for my lunch tomorrow.

Finally, this is 836g of ginger that we pulled up on the weekend. It grew from 1 small piece that we planted last year. There is still more in the ground but I saw no need to harvest any more! We will be dividing it up and planting lots of separate pieces. The plants look lovely and thrive with the other ornamental ginger, cordylines and heliconias that are growing in the shade of the the cedar tree.

Last but not least I wanted to let you know about my 2 new blogs.

Eating For Health is about my decision to try a grain-free, sugar-free diet. Click on the link and find out more.

Somewhere, Anywhere is my travel blog. This will be an online journal of our travels, beginning with our upcoming overseas trip. You will be able to follow our adventures as all of the updates will be posted on there.

Split & Stacked

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Posted on August 12, 2012

Today The Duke split some more firewood and I stacked it. This is the perfect time of the year for this kind of job as the weather is pleasant during the day and we have had no rain for about a month so the wood is really dry.

Here it is all stacked along the side of the woodshed. This is in addition to the stack that we have under the house. We do not use a lot of wood so this will be a good start on our supply for next winter. It is a great feeling to know that what we are doing know will keep us warm next year.

Do you do any seasonal preparation ahead of time?

Show Stopper

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Posted on August 10, 2012

The wind blows
The show begins
Sneezes, sniffles and coughs abound

I dodge and weave
Sip more lemon
Hope to escape

Mid-August is eternally predictable – the Royal Show begins for 10 days where the country comes to the city and the seasonal cold/flu seems to catch up with everyone who has not succumbed so far. To fuel this we usually experience one last serious flurry of a sub-tropical winter. The westerly winds blow in with a vengeance and this year it has been right on cue.

Last night I pegged the sheets on the clothesline using 5 pegs on each sheet. The clothesline is under the verandah and just outside our bedroom and I was awakened several times by the flapping of the sheets as well the creaking of the fixtures on the line.

This year seems to have been a particularly bad one for some serious viral infections as well as more than the average number of cases of influenza. Doctors are snowed under by the workload as are hospital emergency departments. Several of my colleagues and extended family have fallen victim to the illness with some having up to 2 weeks sick leave.

It is now only 10 days until we leave on our holiday. I am doing everything I possibly can to avoid being ill on a long-haul flight at the beginning of our adventure. This time of year is generally a show-stopper but I am determined not to let it be a holiday stopper.

Back to the Bin

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Posted on August 8, 2012

Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment on my post about the kitchen bin. Today I remembered to chop up some of the bacon scraps and put them out for the chickens. I have not checked to see if they ate them but if they do I will gradually give them the rest over a period of time and that will be another thing that will not go in the bin.

When I next emptied my kitchen bin I took a couple of photos of the contents which I would like to share with you.

This is what 2 weeks worth of rubbish looks like. There are 2 adults in the household. I placed it next to a dinner plate so you can get an idea of the size.

Here it is on the scales. It weighed 411g.

So, what was in the rubbish bag for the week? An empty toothpaste tube, a foil sheet from medications, a plastic bag from the carrots, plastic packaging from a block of cheese, packaging from razor blades, plastic bag from frozen peas and elastic from several pairs of worn-out underpants. There were other items that I have not identified as well.

Next time I do this I will be a bit more specific about exactly what it contains.

Obviously our rubbish varies from week to week as some thing are only discarded a couple of times a year. It is a worthwhile exercise to check what you are discarding each week as a way of considering whether you can change habits to reduce the amount of waste.

A Unique Gift

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Posted on August 6, 2012

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.

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

The 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.

I 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.

The 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.

The 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.

Maintaining The Castle

A New Corner

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Posted on August 4, 2012

This afternoon The Duke and I did a bit more sorting out in the workshop. This area is almost the size of a double garage. It has a workbench and storage cupboards built-in as well as various other storage that we have acquired.

Keeping it neat and tidy is difficult as there always seems to be a project in progress. However, we do need to keep some state of order as it is located between the double garage and the downstairs entry to the house.

We had some shelving that had come from my parents’ home and we decided to rearrange things and put the shelving up.

Here it is in the corner next to the door into the downstairs entrance foyer. There is also plenty of space to store our garden shoes/workboots/gumboots.