down to earth

down to earth by rhonda hetzel

i received this wonderful book from a friend for my birthday recently.

i love it.

the photos and styling of this book are beautiful.

 chapters include spending and saving, home, organising your life, home grown self reliance, the sustainable backyard and nourishment all written with practical wisdom and life experience, encouraging the reader to find pleasure and meaning in a simpler life.

i am looking forward to trying out her method for making home made yogurt, of making my own cleaning products and organising my time and home a little better.

right now...

right now i am...



wishing it would rain tonight.

listening to the chairs out on the decking being blown across it by the hot dry wind.

working on the little knitted vest for jess... still!

hoping to have it finished by this time tomorrow.

enjoying that the days are getting shorter and it is easier to get jess to bed a little earlier.

readying myself for making easter treats next week.

looking forward to getting into the gardening this weekend.

deciding that i will cook a few new recipes over the coming week from the wholefood kitchen online workshop... they all look so yummy and healthy.

noticing that jess's language skills are coming along in leaps and bounds.

reminding myself, constantly, that jess still isn't two as she seems so much older at times.

wondering what camera club will be like on monday night... being new to it myself.

looking at the beautiful sketch that eloise gave me for my birthday yesterday... again and again and again!

remembering my week away and how good it was to see friends and family.

being inspired by the book i am reading, down to earth by rhonda hetzel.

feeling  so lucky for having three such beautiful daughters.





don't you think the tree photographed above is amazing? it's a carob tree and was at a park in adelaide. i love the way its trunk wraps around itself.

birthday

a birthday gift from eloise. 

she has sketched the picture of jess from a photo taken last july, when jess was barely 14 months old.

i think the likeness is remarkable and she has captured jessica very well.

 i love it.

i will have to have it framed one day.

and what a sweet girl to make me a birthday cake.

cup of tea

its my birthday today (a significant birthday at that).

but i am feeling a little flat.

i may be coming down with something or the long drive home yesterday has worn me down.

tea, tea, tea is all i want today.

green tea or peppermint tea.

i have some vegetable broth bubbling away on the stove for a very simple dinner.

some knitting and an early night, will hopefully do the trick to help restore my energy.

images are from my pinterest board cuppa tea?

home

so good to be home tonight.

i like going away, i like the change of scenery, i love catching up with old friends and family but i am always so glad to return home.

there is, after all, no place like home as the saying goes.

our day

today has been lovely!

another playground to explore.

lunch with an old friend.

and some time at the beach.

kids clothes week challenge

love this.

elsie marley is hosting another kids clothes week challenge later next month.

i have signed up for it and will be making autumn/winter clothes, being that time of year down here in australia.

the challenge is to sew for one hour a day, each day for seven days and if we achieve that, we will have some very well dressed kids. gotta love that. 

i love sewing for children and my pinterest board is so, so full of ideas for clothes i want to create for my little one. i have to keep reminding myself she doesn't need too many clothes.

i have made quite a few items lately but we need some more pajamas, pants, jumpers, a winter jacket, maybe a dress and a top or two...

exploring

we spent the afternoon exploring at the adelaide botanical gardens.

i love all the green. i love all the textures, forms and shapes of the plants.

jess loved seeing the birds, ducks and fish in the pond.

she also loved running around looking at the different cypress trees and feeling their needles. we used lots of describing words as we felt each one... soft, draping, spiky, prickly... this was quite a new experience for jess as we pretty much only see rugged, old mallee type gum trees where we live.

jess pretended to be in a forest as we walked through the wisteria tunnel and to be in a cave when we were at the base of a tree whose branches reached the ground enclosing the space. it would seem jess's imagination is beginning to take shape. 

road trip

road tripping alone with a toddler.

quite a scary thought really. 700 kilo meters is a long, long way for a toddler to travel in one day.

one nap for around an hour...

but we had not a grumble, not a grizzle.

i can hardly believe how well jess travelled.

jess read books, ate ( a lot! ), listened to some children's music, played with the few toys i brought along and as we neared the city, we train spotted, then traffic light spotted, bus spotted, ambulance spotted etc.

we had a couple of stops, went to a couple of different playgrounds to burn some energy and then had a short stop for more coffee for mum, late in the day. so three stops in all. 

nine and a half hours later we arrived!

phew!!!

beach walk

a small bit of calm in the day.

i am feeling a little under pressure at the moment. i feel like i am being pulled in a million different directions.

people sometimes ask me how it is having teenage daughters and a baby (or now a toddler) with such a big age difference. i usually answer with 'it makes life interesting'.

it does make life interesting but it is challenging juggling everyone's needs... including my own.

but it is how our life is so i do the best i can.

the girls

we have grown quite fond of our chickens.

it took us a while (longer than i thought it would) to name them all.

julia who is a brown isa was named first after our prime minister julia gillard. it suits her as she seems to be the leader.

then there is mavis who is also a brown isa.

esmay, rosemary and lavender were named last. they are the black australorps and are a little harder to distingish between as they all look much the same.

whenever they see us coming with some greens from the garden or the compost bucket they come scurrying up to the fence. they don't like being picked up at all but we can get them to eat from our hands now and then.

they haven't started laying any eggs as yet.

maybe soon...

peaches, peaches, peaches

i have had 14 kilo grams of peaches to peel, core and preserve over the last few days.

and a box full of apples.

that's a lot of hours standing at the kitchen bench.

i do quite enjoy it though.

it such a repetitive chore, quite mundane really. 

good thinking time, especially if the house is empty.

all done now, all packaged up and in the freezer, ready to give us a little taste of summer during those short winter days.

story time

a few books from the library to read this week.

i think our library must have just acquired some new children's books as there were lots i hadn't seen before.

we have a few of the classic beatrix potter books.  jess has been asking for them to be read to her lately, so when i saw this version of a collection of peter rabbit tales i knew jess would enjoy it as it contains some different stories to the ones we have at home.

pussycat pussycat, where have you been? by dan bar-el and illustrated by rae mate is delightful and has quickly become a favourite. gorgeous illustrations and a lovely tale in which the cat travels to many different countries.

cat's whiskers by lynley dodd is a collection of cat tales about slinky malinki and scarface claw. we have a couple of the slinky malinki books but there are also a couple we don't have that are included in this publication. jess is happy that she gets four stories in the one book.

hairy maclary's hat tricks also by lynley dodd is one of the tales about hairy that we don't own so we had to have that one to read this week.

the story about ping by majorie flack and kurt weise was first published in 1933. what a classic. i love this book and remember reading it when i was a child. its a delightful story about a duck who lives with his large family on the yangtze river in china.

and my favourite of the week but also being fequently requested by jess, is all through the year by jane godwin and anna walker. this is a lovely account of a year in the life of an australian family and explores each month, noticing a seasonal change or celebration. i love that it relates to how our seasons are, for instance, in february it is always hot when school goes back after summer holidays, its cold and dewy underfoot as we search for easter eggs and in september it rains and we have daffodils bloom and so on. i am yet to find another seasonal book suited for the southern hemisphere. i think i will have to buy this one.

 we have a few more titles from the library that we haven't had the chance to read yet but they all look wonderful.

we took part in "storytime" at the library for the first time this week. jess was a little shy at first but she soon relaxed and sat still to listen to the stories being read and watched the other children participate in the actions to the songs that were sung. her favourite part of the morning was when it was craft time and she got to use a glue stick to stick some animals onto "the old women who swallowed the fly".

she didn't want to give up that glue stick!!

friday's here

friday again... so soon.

i just don't know where the week has gone. i feel like i have been chasing my tail all week.

i have been without a camera for half the week so my project 366 is a little behind. i have still managed to take a photo each day but the quality is just not there with an ipod or iphone and i am still yet to load all my photos from the week onto the computer. hoping to catch up with that tomorrow.

also my computer has been incredibly slow all week so that has slowed down my blogging, as it has been all too hard for the last couple of days. oh well, better luck next week!

i am in between books at the moment, so am feeling a little lost sometimes... thinking there must be something i should be reading...

in between sewing projects as well. or should i say i have finished all the items i had cut out and ready to sew up and the sewing basket is empty. have another batch of sewing in mind though, just need some more fabric...

i am about to start knitting the vest for jess... finally have the right yarn and needles ready to go. very excited... although... i might need a bit of luck to come my way with this one...

my packet of umbrella prints trimmings arrived in the mail today. i am so pleased with the selection and the colours they sent me. they are just perfect, neutrals, navy blues, a touch of tan and a touch of mustard. super happy and can't wait to get started on my little project for their competition.

looking forward to a weekend of days at home and catching up on everything...

bedtime story pajamas

i have just finished these new flannelette pajamas for jess. 

they are made with oliver + s bedtime story pajamas and like all the oliver + s patterns i have tried so far they went together like a dream. i was really pleased with the result.

i used Cape Ann Crème Brulee with Sunset Pink Indian Summer   as the main fabric and Cape Ann Crème Brulee with Sunset Pink Folly Cove Dots 

for the trim, both in brushed cotton. i love this fabric, it is so soft and pretty.

jess loves these pajamas too. so much so, that i was still trimming the strings off when she insisted on trying them on and then wouldn't take them off again. we even got a little twirl as they were modelled for us.

 a very happy customer.

i intend to make more of these for winter.

i have completed quite a few things for jess's winter wardrobe recently and will post some photos soon.

angus

a few photographs of angus and his new jumper.

jess is very pleased that angus is all set for winter, although she is still dressed for warm weather.

sock love

 i picked up some needles and yarn recently and have begun making a small jumper for jess's favourite teddy, angus. 

a little project to practice on before i tackle a vest for jess.

but my thoughts are with knitting socks.

i love woollen socks and would really love to be able to make my own. 

as my knitting skills are very basic i am not sure how i would go with socks. they look complicated but can they really be?

i have downloaded a free pattern from ravelry and maybe i will give them a try soon. i think i may need a book from the library for some tips and pointers too.

images from top

1. from etsy, love these but a little out of my price range for socks (okay a lot!)

2. also from etsy found here

3. my favourite from my pinterest board

4. the pattern i downloaded from ravelry

5. also from ravelry but look far too complicated for me.

surely, knitting socks can't be too hard to do!

this moment

inspired by soulemama

this moment - a friday ritual. a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. a simple, special, extraordinary moment. a moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

eggs and bunnies

i have been thinking about easter lately as its only a short time away.

we don't celebrate easter in a huge way.

but we do love hot cross buns and an easter egg hunt.

having a little one in the house again has reminded me of easter times when my oldest two were small, pajamas on with dressing gowns over for warmth, gumboots, baskets in hand excitedly running around the garden finding hidden eggs. always so early in the morning and always so much fun!

they had chocolate eggs but jess is yet to discover chocolate and i would like to keep it that way for a little longer. so what to do?

i have found many images and tutorials on pinterest for the most gorgeous eggs. i always thought that these kind of eggs were blown but some i see seem to be hard boiled. less breakages i guess.

so i think i may dye some. i love the ones pictured above that are dyed using natural dyes made from plants and roots. i think they are so pretty. i also like the marbled ones but they look like a bit more work.

i am also thinking of making a few little things from felt. maybe a collection of chicks. i love the carrot pocket with the bunny inside and the little white finger puppet rabbits would be great for storytelling.

i quite like the purple rabbit garland and it would be cute to hang in jess's room. this is available as a free printable from here so i think that will be on the list as well.

and i wish i could figure out a way of making the bunny hanging on the pot of eggs at the top. it is made from some sort of metal and sold from a european website but maybe with the right thickness of paper a similar result could be acheived. adorable!

so many things i want to make! thanks to pinterest where all of the above images have come from.

oh and jess may be lucky and get one chocolate easter egg... maybe!