from the mending basket

 I hadn't really felt much like sewing over Summer. A few halfhearted attempts ended in a couple of disasters, so I thought it better not to try to push it while my heart wasn't in it. I knew that eventually I would feel like sewing again, that the interest and enjoyment I once felt would return. It always does eventually, doesn't it? As Summer turned into Autumn and life calmed down somewhat, I did feel that pull to get back to the sewing machine.

The biggest hurdle was that darn mending basket sitting at the entrance of my bedroom as a glaring daily reminder. So one rainy day I tackled it. It took about 3 days on and off, and then it was done. Not so hard afterall, but the seemingly unsurmountable sewing hurdle has been accomplished.

After the usual sock and tiny hole t-shirt mending (what is with t-shirts these days?), there were a few patches  (you might recognize the fabric from here) to sew on some jeans for Violet, an adult dress and skirt to convert into skirts for Violet, and a dress for myself to take in. I couldn't resist the $5 dress sale at the local op shop and I had a feeling this dress would be easy to take in. I don't know about you, but I just can't pass up a good floral. With no zipper, and only the bodice being lined, it was thankfully quite easy to take in. But I'm still wondering if I can get away with a dress that short.

My quilt had long been waiting for some kind of closure. Poor thing had been sitting in the mending basket for some time. Me being the lazy sewer that I am, popped a few lace ties on, rather than time consuming buttonholes. As I hadn't had it on the bed for so long, it feels like a new quilt again.

I also came a across a whole bundle of half finished dish drainer towels (last batch seen here). I'd started them about 6 months ago and I had wondered if they would ever get finished. I had roughly put together some vintage tea towels backed with old towels. Isn't it funny the drama you can have with the simplest of things? I guess that's what happens when you don't measure properly and try to skip the pins. The first one I finished I had to unpick an entire row and broke two needles. Not fun. But after that things went pretty smoothly and I finished them before school pick-up.

My mental sewing space now appears to be cleared and I feel ready to move ahead with some bigger and better (hopefully) projects.


Does this happen to you? Do you too suffer from mending basket/unfinished project guilt?


What projects are you working on?

Or have you been taking a break too?

christmas holidays

Nigella's Italian Christmas Pudding Cake. Just like last year.

Violet's Christmas stocking made up with a little old wool, needlework doily, ribbon and a little appliqued Liberty.

Christmas came and went this year without too much of a fuss. Sure there was that dreaded last Christmas shop, a fair bit of cooking (but not nearly so much as in other years past), and many days spent at home both with family and just ourselves. There has been some adjusting and compromising along the way as we haven't had the liberty of time that we've had in previous years. Sad to say not much at all in the way of handmade. Though Violet did finally get her stocking on Christmas Eve.

Brown paper, stamps we already had, string, bark, black marker and gumleaves made for budget wrapping this year.

 It has taken almost three weeks to really get into the routine of holidays. Holidays should be easy, right? Well, it is nice to imagine that it will be, but reality often reveals a different story. Sometimes all that time together brings out the very worst in us. There were clashes (I felt like I did nothing but break up fights amongst the kids for 2 weeks straight), there was the annual analyze your life discussions, as well as stopping to count all the jobs that need to be done around the house.

So although I have a small pile of pretty fabric just sitting there waiting to be made into a summer wardrobe of sorts, my house is only half clean and I have a sore throat, I can happily say that we are just now beginning to get into the swing of the holidays and truly enjoy each others company.  We've been enjoying homemade ice cream, allowing a few more treats than usual into the house (anyone else love panettone?), changing rooms around, long talks and having movie nights at home.

Funny, isn't it, that the week full of swimming lessons that I had been dreading has turned out the be the best week yet? But life is like that. Swimming lessons have gotten us all into the pool, with a coffee, lemonade or ice cream afterwards. Followed by a few lazy afternoons.

Our bottle fed calf has kept us grounded at home this holidays, but I think this has been a blessing in disguise. It has been good for us to just be at home doing home things.

Sadly it may be the final week that we are together as Daniel may be back to work next week. But I'm hoping that we can bring just a little holiday feeling with us as we get back into the daily grind of life. The odd movie night and a few more ice creams may be just what we need.

I do hope you are all enjoying and have enjoyed your christmas and new years break. Happy new year!

popcorn, books and grass roots

It's Friday! It's been a fairly busy one around here with a few extra errands to run, book week costumes to organize (always rather stressful and always only ready the night before), local playgroup and another sports carnival in Canberra today.

Here are a few little snaps from the week. I'm finding this dark, windy (and currently rainy) weather does not make it terribly conducive for photo taking indoors, which is where we mostly find ourselves these days. The girls have made orange juice ice blocks several times during the week, despite it not really being ice block friendly weather. There has been a little painting. I'm afraid I'm not very organized on the home crafting front and poor Violet had no paint. So I mixed a little food colouring for instant water colour "paint'. I don't think she minded!

A few books arrived in the mail today. A few on pattern making, which is something I've been curious about for some time. Sometimes you have an idea in your head or you remember a favourite dress from your past. It would be great to know how to recreate it wouldn't it?

I renewed my Taproot subscription some time back and the first new issue arrived today. I missed this little magazine appearing every few months in my mail box. The best way of putting it, is that I actually feel good after I read it. I have noticed a restless, unsatisfied feeling creeping in after reading a particular local, beautifully photographed, mainstream magazine. The ads are plentiful, as are many of the pockets of the city-part-time-country people in between the pages. I've been enjoying some simpler publications lately, especially Grass Roots magazine, which I find to be refreshing in an honest old fashioned hippie kind of  way. It doesn't try to be something it is not.

From Cleo to Grass Roots in the space of a decade. How things have changed!


So how has your week been?
Are you a magazine reader too?
What magazines are you into lately?

another food update

saurkraut

As I have previously shared our food journey with you before, I thought there might be some of you wondering how that was going. So I thought a little, or not so little update as the case may be, would be on the cards today.

We have continued to exclude wheat from our diet (though the kids still eat some when out and about), and we have now found that for us adults occasionally eating it has some pretty negative effects. I know now that that is because my body is just not used to wheat anymore. Even spelt flour (though the kids are fine with spelt). It will give me stomach aches, insomnia and leave me hungrier for several days. Which is strange when I have eaten the stuff all my life. But I know how much better I feel without it.

Wheat Belly bread with butter, strained yoghurt and maple syrup

Fortunately a properly fermented wholemeal rye, spelt or kamut sourdough does not have the same effect, and so I think I will soon (budget permitting) look into buying a flour grinder to make our own fresh sourdough. This heavy bread tastes very wholesome and doesn't leave you hungry like I find ordinary bread does. The ancient way usually proves best.

We don't eat a lot of grain these days, but we occasionally have some such as rice or porridge made from oats. I try to follow the Nourishing Traditions way of soaking grains and serving it with plenty of butter or cream. The kids eat homemade popcorn, cooked in coconut oil, quite regularly. It is a favourite lunchbox filler.

I can't say it is not difficult finding snacks for kids when you don't buy anything processed. Apart from popcorn, I also make activated nuts, chickpea bombs, crackers (all three recipes from Sarah Wilson's I Quit Sugar) or slice up some cheese. There was initially some "teething" problems, but for the most part the kids are now used to it. It has been a tricky and sometimes emotional process though. It is not easy when most of your peers are eating out of packets.

As for meat, we have a full freezer of it right now. Buying meat week to week was proving far too expensive for us, so we bought a quarter side of grass fed beef from a local organic farmer, of which he had butchered (or minced or made sausages) to our specifications. I was also given all the bones, which I make stock/broth with about twice a week. We also bought a whole lamb from him, and another lamb from a farmer down the road. We managed to pack it all into our freezer in the fridge and our freezer in the garage. I think it will last us at least six months, but it is too early yet to say.

Another big change here has been the now weekly arrival of our organic box. We order a seasonal fruit and veg box, cream in little glass bottles and a few bottles of raw "bathing only" milk. I was so happy to finally find a way to include a little raw milk in our diet, though budget only allows a few bottles a week. This milk is almost double the price of premium full cream milk. The taste though is a revelation of how real milk should be. It is beautifully creamy and yellow. Definitely worth seeking out.

The garden is a little dormant right now, but I regularly use the prolifically growing kale (both Russian and Tuscan) and rocket. The cabbages, broad beans, parsnip, and beetroot are slowly growing, but are still not ready.

Chocolate nut balls - though I sweeten mine with maple syprup

For the last few months we have been taking fermented cod liver oil along with butter oil. Every night I melt the butter down and add it with the cod liver oil to a a little orange juice. The additional flavouring in the cod liver oil makes it a little easier to take.

So I guess you might be asking the question is all this effort really worth it? Has it made a difference in our health? I can say for the most part yes, though it has been up and down, as we figure out what foods we react with. We found that once you take out all processed food you suddenly become very sensitive to wheat, white sugar, certain oils, some alcohol and additives. If weight is anything to go by, we have both lost some, and I fit back into my pre-Violet clothes. Daniel is back to the size he was before we were married. But the bigger indicator, I think, is the disappearance of niggling little health problems, the extra energy and clearer skin.

Some days I have questioned whether all the food preparation is worth it, the loss of fitting into society and being able to eat anything without apparent consequence when you are out and about.

The way you eat could be likened to a journey. Along the way you try to figure things out, and you might change or adapt as you go along. You might stumble many times. But there are always new things to learn. New recipes to try or books to read. Real food to enjoy. Above all it is really hope that keeps you going. The hope for good health.

 

Links to previous posts on this topic :

on food
the follow up food post
fermented

finding time for crafting

There are times, many times, where I wonder if I will ever have the time, or even the inclination to want to do any kind of crafting again. Projects can sit on the backburner for quite some time while life and all it's daily list of things to do seem to mount up. Between all the daily jobs to do, the dishes to wash, the meals to make and the demands of being a mother, it can be so hard to find even just a little time to set aside. I have gone through many a day planning a crafting hour for the afternoon. Only to discover that other, supposedly more pressing matters end up taking it's place. Things do come up, and days don't often go to plan. So crafting goes by the wayside.

Lately I have begun to revolve my day a little more around the crafting side of things. Funnily enough the other things are still getting done. I think the difference has been to prioritise it just a little a bit more. So I have managed to set aside a half hour here and there to do a little knitting, a half hour to trace and cut out a pattern. It's often not a lot that gets done, but a little everyday (everyday being the key word here) can add up to something substantial over the course of a week. It's not only the crafty achievement at hand here, but the act of doing something just a little creative, and the satisfaction that that brings. It not only feels good to be partway to ticking something off the list, but also to have just that little chunk of time to yourself (which makes toddler napping time a good time to devote to a little crafting, no one to jump on the knitting!).

Days may be busy and time may be tight at times, but I know that I will not magically have that time if I don't find the time for it. It hasn't been easy to change my way of thinking, and moving crafting up in the list of priorities, because there is that old guilt of crafting. It can feel like an indulgent way to spend time. No matter how practical the project may be, I have found it hard to shake that guilt of doing craft when there might be floors needing to be swept or washing to fold.

So I am learning to take Rhonda's (of Down to Earth) advice on viewing sewing and knitting as a part of housework and not a just a hobby. By seeing crafting as a necessity for myself, I no longer feel bound to my old attitude of housework. Craft can most certainly be a daily part of (busy) life.

Do you get crafting guilt too?
How do you find the time?

life and knitting

Somehow, here and there, between the many days out last week, the temporary single parenting and then the virus going around that had me in bed most of Sunday, I managed to find a little time to squeeze some knitting in. It seems I cannot put my mind to sewing when life is a little bumpy, but I can somehow manage to squeeze in a little time for knitting. My Tea Leaves cardigan, though started last year and then abandoned at the start of the warmer weather, is coming along slowly. I even justified buying another basket at the op shop just for this project. (Where do they all go?) Proof that you can never have too many baskets. I am enjoying the predictable stockinette stage of this project, and not really having to think about it for now. Knitting can be a soothing constant in life, kind of like hitting that pause or re-set button in amongst the daily chaos.

Because I am easily distracted I am also thinking of starting a cowl, and I was rather struck with this one. The cold weather has me reaching for scarves daily, and I'm getting a little tired of the two that I always wear. By now I think everyone in town must be able to identify my red floral scarf (which is not particularly warm anyway). I haven't bought any new yarn this season, as I'm trying to use up what is in the stash, staying away from those tempting websites with richly coloured yarns.

Most projects to date have been for the kids, but this season will hopefully see me adding a few things to my own wardrobe. Perhaps a scarf, a cowl and a hat. Just a few simple, but practical items. If I can manage to make them from the stash so much the better, but easier said than done.

What knitting plans do you have for this season?
Are you going to or are you already making something for yourself?
Do you have a favourite scarf, cowl or hat pattern?

mini me pyjamas

I hope you will forgive me for being a little obsessed with pyjamas this week. After sewing up the first pair, I quickly cut out and sewed another pair for myself. Not usually being one for the matching thing, so I'm not sure what came over me, but I soon had the energy to whip up another three sets of pyjamas, but this time in miniature.

I used two old single flannelette sheets in all, with some left over. Julia's pair were traced from her existing pyjama pants, adding seam, hem and elastic allowances, but I added more width in the leg to match my pair and a few extra inches on the length. This is a very easy thing to do and with something like pyjamas there is no precise measurements required, and a little more room for error. I first read about this method in The Creative Family. I then took one of her old tops, that was a little marked, and used a few flowers from the pattern over the marks, attaching with a zig zag stitch.

As for Violet's, you may remember her two pairs I made last year. The tops have been well and truly outgrown, but the pants are still hanging in there. To make the new pants I simply traced around the old pair as above, but I added a few extra inches in length. I think I took the original pattern from tracing around her Quick Change Trousers. The second pair I used a piece of "new" flannel from the op shop. I then took a few hand-me-down tops and added a pocket on one and a few simple applique hearts on the other.

I really had fun making these, and it was a very quick and easy project, all completed within one day and really only spending a few hours. Sadly very "mini me", and feeling a little Sound of Music-like, but it is all in good fun. Not to mention rather practical too.

And for now these girls are quite happy for us all to be matching.

the gift of food

It never ceases to amaze me how generous most people are that live in this little valley. Over the time we have lived here we have been kindly gifted many eggs, bags of zucchinis, pickles, apples, pomegranates and numerous other vegies. Even a full load of compost. Interestingly, we don't live in a food growing region. The weather conditions are harsh, the soil eroded, and the whole region is in a rain shadow. Any local will tell you growing food here is not easy, to say the least. But not impossible.

So I try to find out as much as I can from these greenthumbs of the community. I think slowly we are getting there. We now know what is best to plant in Winter and when. That shade is very important in summer. We also know that we do need a green house and perhaps a poly tunnel to compensate for the short summer season.

ratatouille cooked from a neighbour's vegies

There is a lot to be said for the smaller communities, though living apart as they do in rural settings, there is a greater familiarity with neighbours than I ever did find in the suburbs. Perhaps a comfortable distance naturally brings people together.  I have seen this from various community gatherings, music bands, Sunday coffee drop-ins to the testing times of our recent fires. It is a reassuring to know that we live within a community of capable, down-to-earth type of people. Where old fashioned skills are not uncommon.

Sharing of food has it's way of bringing communities just that little bit closer. And isn't it wonderful to not have to put those items in the trolley?   If communities can grow what they can and informally barter then that has to be a very good thing.  For our health, the planet and our pockets.                                   

So meanwhile we make plans for chickens, new garden plots and a greenhouse. It has taken us some time to get to this stage, and while delays can be frustrating, I think we will eventually get there. Until then we are so very appreciative of the the occasional gifts of excess eggs or vegies that may happen to come our way.

repurposed : pyjama pants

My five year old favourite pyjama pants were sadly wearing very thin. Comfortable yes, but they certainly were not the prettiest site. On the weekend I bravely picked them apart to make one side into a pattern piece. I had been planning this for quite some time, but I suppose I was waiting until they had well and truly had their day. This is the first time I've tried this method, because it is a little scary to take a favourite piece apart. Knowing that you can never wear it again, even if it is no longer very wearable. But I love this method and I now have plans for another well worn but holey top in my wardrobe.

What I loved about this pair is that they were generously wide legged, not too high in the waist and so a little more flattering than most pairs on. For me, they were the holy grail of pyjama pants. Once apart I realized that there was only one leg seam in each side, which made the sewing part a whole lot easier. The pattern piece itself seemed absurdly wide and short, but it does work.  I kept the faux fly detail, which although it took a little fiddling, was not really difficult.

The only flannel I had on hand was some old sheets, but it does feel good to repurpose something into a useful item for next to nothing. I quite like the floral mustard tones, something you don't really see much of anymore.

All in all this took just a few hours to whip up, over the space of two days. And I now have a comfy pair of pyjamas to replace my beloved striped pair. Another vintage sheet is at the ready to make another pair this week, with future hopes of a fancier version for holidays etc with perhaps some Anna Maria Horner flannel.

I guess it's saying something that I'm still wearing them past nine o'clock this morning. (Luckily Daniel took the kids to school).

little projects

The weekend marked the start of Luca's soccer season, as Julia continues her weekend sewing lessons. So we return to early and often chaotic mornings, despite my night before attempts to organize things. But once the rushing around is over we return home and usually won't go out again for the remainder of the weekend. Which tends to leave a nice chunk of time to start and sometimes finish those little projects. Brick borders for the Robinia's were completed, and I look forward to filling them with some flowers. Those old (free) barn bricks have come in so handy. A few magazines were culled over a coffee. The garden map with fruit tree varieties and dates has finally been completed.

A practical sewing project for myself has been started. We ate salad fresh from the garden and a soup from beef broth that simmered for two days. But I have to say that there is nothing as tasty or as satisfying as starting off the day with bacon and eggs (scrambled on the weekends instead of weekday fried). Even better with some extras like avocado, mushrooms and tomato.

Weekend food and weekend projects, things we often don't have time for during the week, and yet by slowing down on the weekend and pottering around, we often find the time to do these things we really want or need to do.