Our First Day Out

One week old today,

and we are out exploring our world...

On My Mind - Cushion or Blanket?

Joining with Down to Earth's On My Mind

On my mind today is this crocheting project that I started a few years ago.

I am shocking in the way I start many projects and never finish them.

I originally thought I might make a blanket with these granny squares, but out of laziness I decided to sew a few together to make a cushion cover. Now I am thinking that it would still look great as a blanket...

Here are the nine squares I sewed together and rested on another cushion...

I have some more granny squares to finish off with the green border, so I might just do this first and lay them out to see what it looks like as a blanket. If I like what I see I will continue on making some more squares.

I also found some other granny squares that I have made at some point, can't even remember what I had in mind to do with them. I was thinking I might put a border on these and crochet flowers to put in the middle and these can become a cushion cover.

What do you think?

*Update from yesterday's post...we have six little chickens and we have rain :)

Chickies and veggies

The new chicks are hatching, right on time, 21 days today.

The first one appeared yesterday.

I put 6 eggs under the bantam and so far there are 4 chickens. Hopefully the other two hatch out today. Bantams make the best incubators, we always have success with chickens when they go broody.

The garden is doing well despite the foul weather we have had this week. We didn't end up with any more rain, just a ton of dirt that needs sweeping up.

Beetroot...

The first time I have attempted to grow these.

Cabbages...

A few grub "chews" on them but still okay.

Self seeded bok choy...

Broccoli...

I had trouble with some birds eating a couple of plants down to the stalk,

hence the netting over the bed.

More beetroot among the broccoli...

Spring onion in flower...

Zucchini starting to spread...

Baby zucchini already forming, but I dont think there are any male flowers yet.

A stray potato plant came up in the zucchini bed...

Capsicums...

Lettuces...

The carrots are up...

I planted seeds that were out of date by 3 years, but they still germinated.

The new garden bed for the tomatoes...

Trying my hand with potatoes this year...

Apple cucumbers...

The garlic is finally taking off.

I had to remove them from where they were and plant them in another bed because I had them growing near the peas and they are not good companion plants.

Silver beet is still doing great...

The chooks are getting a daily picking from these.

Our garden from the entrance. I am still waiting for more garden beds to plant out pumpkins and melons...

Take care and have a great day!

This and that

3.30am this morning I was woken by very, very loud thunder and the sky lit up with constant flashing of lightening...

Then down it came.

and it was loud...

First a bit of hail then a bit of rain,

not much just 2.5mm (10pts).

Today the weather is a real "hang on to your britches" kind of day.

Very strong winds that will hopefully be followed up with a bit more rain.

There is a severe weather warning out for South Australia.

This week I have been happily just doing the things I like to do,

like knitting and crafting.

Making dishcloths is a favourite and I also tried a knitted scrubbie made with a plastic type string. I haven't tried it out yet but it should work okay as it is very scratchy.

I made this dishcloth last night and I am happy with the way it turned out and I like that it is fairly large.

The breast cancer ribbon has been in my thoughts a lot lately since finding a lump just over a week ago. An ultrasound followed, and now an appointment with the breast clinic in Adelaide for more tests very soon. I am trying to remain positive, although it is difficult with breast cancer on both sides of the family...

My first attempt at making some mittens/fingerless gloves.

Some recycling like what I found here

Thank you to Tania at Ivy Nest for recommending this site.

I will collect up some more tins to paint and then get some pretty plants to put in them, I am thinking herbs rather than flowers, so we will see :)

And a nice slice recipe thanks to Inner Pickle

A lovely place to visit...

Recipe can be found here

LAZY LADY

Ingredients

125g butter, melted

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

2 tbsp cocoa

1 cup self-raising flour

½ cup desiccated coconut

Method

Make this in one saucepan, save the dishes. Melt the butter, stir through the sugar and then egg. Stir through the cocoa and then the flour and the coconut.

Spread in a slice tin and cook 15-20 mins at 180°C.

Ice while still hot.

Icing:

1 cup icing sugar

2 tbsp cocoa

2 tsp softened butter

1½ tbsp milk

Mix all together in a bowl and spread on top of warm slice. Sprinkle with coconut.

Have a wonderful day everyone.

On My Mind - What to do?

Joining with Down to Earth's On My Mind

There are a couple of things on my mind today,

and this is one of them.

We have this area of lawn, that I refuse to water anymore. Our water bill has sky rocketed lately costing way too much to keep on watering just for looks. This is basically the only area that is green around here in Summer and it is always refreshing. We have another lawn area around the clothes line that also needs to be replaced with something else, that is not getting watered either.

The powers that be forget that we live in a very dry area with very little rain and we are punished for trying to keep things alive. Other areas get rain once a week or fortnight, we get not a drop for months....I have been carting rain water to the laundry for our washing and the kitchen for our dishes as the house is not connected up to the rain water tanks yet. We need to get a plumber in to do some work...

Anyway getting back to this area. We are thinking of paving this and closing it in as an area to sit under and relax...Fake lawn is not an option because it gets too hot and cant be walked on. Our swimming pool is located just to the left.

I suggested putting more veggie beds up there, but I dont think hubby liked that idea..."how many veggies do you need?" was his response. I figure if you are going to water it may as well be something edible hey? I have already replaced my inedible pot plants with herbs...

What's on your mind today?

On My Mind - Feeling Cosy

Joining with Down to Earth's - On My Mind today

This is a Friday photo feature that anyone with a blog can join. To take part, post a photo on your own blog, write a short caption explaining it, and link it back to here from your blog by saying you're part of "On my mind". Please write a new post, don't link to an older one. When you've done that, come back here and add a comment below, with a link to your blog.

On my mind today is this tea cosy.

I am running late for this post today, but I finally got to finish my tea cosy tonight...it has been a busy day.

I was taught to knit by my Mother and crochet by my Grandmother. I dont consider myself much of a knitter but I have had all these leftover balls of wool lying around, so thought I might seek out some of my crafty talents and put the wool to use.

I went on the web to track down some lovely knitting patterns to follow. The one I used is a mixture of two different patterns. I could not work out how to do the flowers so in the end I just figured out my own pattern to use. I am pleased with the results, the cosy is knitted and the flowers are crocheted.

I found a couple of vintage tea cosy patterns in a magazine that I have here, dating back to 1958. So I think I might try making these on my next attempt. I also found one with chickens on it, so have been fiddling around knitting tiny chickens...

"Chook Pecker"

Our new chook feeder arrived in the post today...

(sorry about the blurriness, I forgot to change the lens on camera lol)

We ordered this funny looking spring thing off eBay...

It came all the way from Bristol, UK ,

total cost $17.00

Then we took a 20litre bucket with lid

and fitted the "Poultry Pecker Spring Feeder" into it...

And filled it with wheat.

Wa la!!

Hopefully it keeps the pesky little sparrows, mice and pigeons at bay...

We have it hanging off the ground in the chook pen , high enough for the chooks to reach but too high for any "others".

We are on watch now to make sure the chooks are using it properly. They are able to see the wheat and all they have to do is peck the spring and the grain will fall to the ground...

Lets hope it will work!

And here is one of our little bantam girls, she is busy for the next few weeks keeping six "hopefully" fertile eggs nice and warm...

The weather is warming up to a nice warm weekend ahead, 34C (93.2F). Time to test how long I can go without putting the air conditioner on. My aim is to keep the heat out by keeping the house shut up and the block out curtains closed.

Wishing you all a lovely day!