2011 sewing round up

Everything I made in 2011.  Well, almost everything - there are a few dresses that didn't make it into the photo montage including a New Years eve dress that was frantically being sewn today!

Crazy climbing curcubits!

We've gone vertical in the garden this year with lots of trellises for the pumpkins, cucumbers and zucchini to climb up. And climbing is what they are doing!  With all the rain and now sun they are growing at a  rapid rate.  The trellises are working well  and I reckon they are a great way to grow rampant vines like pumpkins  if you don't want them to take over all the ground space.  Ours are nothing fancy - just some twine strung between nails in the fence and pergola for the smaller squash and zucchini, and thin wire for the heavier pumpkins like the Queensland blue (too thin and there is a risk of the twine breaking under the weight or cutting through the vines).  The cucumber trellis is a gate that we found on the side of the road and we are even using the chicken coop as support for a pumpkin! 

Gem squash - we've been harvesting lots of these

Trombone zucchini

Queensland blue pumpkin

Butternut pumpkin

Another Queensland blue on the back fence with some corn in front

Compost pumpkin (trying to encourage this one up the tree)

Can you see the holes in the the leaves of the bottom picture?  This is the result of the huge hail  storm that hit us on Christmas day.  We actually got off lightly compared to some.  Poor Phoebe's garden was completely trashed. :(  LittleFB is very happy that we are growing so many interesting (and big) zucchini.  In fact, he was so taken with this giant trombone zucchini that he wanted to sleep with it last night.  We compromised and it spent the night on his bedside table, "as decoration".

How are your pumpkin/zucchini/cucs going this year?

Christmas sewing

1, 2. Advent calendar
3. Christmas bunting for the kitchen
4, 5, 6. Gifts - Zip purses from this tutorial
7, 8. Another - Linen patchwork cushion (with a zip in the back - yes, I'm overcoming my fear...)
9. A doll for a neighbour's new baby using this free pattern

Have you been sewing anything nice for Christmas?

Harvest Monday Dec 12

It's all been happening this week - lots of lovely veggies to harvest.

Clockwise from top left: very big beetroot, salad leaves and the first dragon's tongue bush beans, shallots and  potatoes (unsure of what variety)


The shallots were planted out the front and did much better than the garlic.  I was planning on drying them out for a bit  on the porch - any suggestions as to how best to store them?  We have actually harvested  a lot more potatoes than those in the photo.  We dug up  one of the beds (we have 3 this year) and dug about 8kg of spuds. 

We've been eating then in a variety of ways, but a favourite is to cut them into large chunks, steam until tender and then fry in a little olive oil, smoked paprika, salt, pepper and garlic until golden a crispy.  Particularly delicious with some greek yoghurt on the side.  We also made a version with sumac and garlic which were good too. 

Happy harvests everyone!  Head over to Daphne's if you want to see some more.

My creative space

In my creative space this week I finished the the bike baby quilt. I've loved this project: especially choosing the fabrics which are a mix of new and recycled.   I quilted it with straight lines, roughly 1/4 inch apart but I didn't worry too much about whether they were straight or not. 

It's backed with some soft blue white and blue cotton (recycled pillowcases) and I decided to bind it in a green and blue stripe using the instructions in The Practical guide to patchwork which were really clear and easy to follow. The binding is machine stitched to the front and finished by hand on the back.  It's the first time that I have done binding like this - for the doll quits I used the backing as binding -  but it was actually quite straightforward.

I have found it really good  to practice on a smaller size quite before I take the plunge and finish  LittleFB's quilt which has been sitting waiting for a while now....  For more creative spaces, visit here.

Re-building the chicken coop Day 3 - It's finished!

Fence looking much better after a coat of paint

Food and water supply

Lots of room inside for nesting

It's all done. Quite an improvement on the last version, complete with feature door handle, chalkboard sign and easy-access door for food and water changes.  We even managed to plant an Apricot tree inside the run.  All the materials were salvaged apart from the stain/varnish and we had a fun couple of days.  A special thanks to our happy Friday helper Mr M  and our lovely neighbours, the B's.

Rebuilding the chicken coop Day 2

We made good progress today - today we just have  to cover the run with chicken wire, make a door and add the finishing touches.  And the chickens certainly seem happy inside their new home!

Re-building the chicken coop #3, day 1

The last chicken coop that we built from the old fence has served us well, but it was starting to fall apart and now that we have discovered the fantastic source of cheap recycled timber in the tip shop we decided to have another go.  As with most stuff that we build there was a design of sorts (sketched out in the pub the other night!) but we tend to make it up as we go along, making use of the materials that we have., or  get from our neighbours (thanks Mr B!)

Yesterday was spent building the frame, cladding and getting the roof sorted then the whole thing got a coat of stain.The side design was an accident - we were just trying to use as many pieces of  ply to fill the space-  but I love it : I think it looks like mountains.  The sign is painted in chalkboard paint, perhaps we can keep an egg tally or a note of which chickens are 'in'!

Today: cladding the back and sides,putting a door handle on, lifting it up into place, painting the back fence, trimming back a tree, planting an apricot tree in the coop and building the run. Yikes! better get on with it.