Quilt Show!

After 10 years it's finished (or will be by tomorrow evening)!

Friendship Baskets - Queen size

If you want to see it on display, and are in the area on Saturday (27th August), come along to our show.
10am - 3pm at Milton State School (Qld Australia) in Bayswater Rd, Milton.

It's not just my quilt of course, you'll see a whole selection of the past two years output of my quilt group, Inner City Circle, in a huge variety of styles. Definitely something for everyone.
We are raffling a beautiful quilt with hand embroidered blocks. And there is an apron draw, 14 aprons to choose from, all different styles made by the members.
Add to that a sales table with many hand made items - looking for Secret Santa gifts anyone?
Your entry ($5) includes refreshments. And all proceeds go to Karuna Hospice, a local Buddhist organization who provide wonderful in-home palliative care, to anyone.
Hope to see you there!
Ravs.

Spring is Sprunging

Signs of the coming of spring are in the air!

Kangaroo Paw Spike

One of the Kangaroo Paws is coming into flower.  The spike is about my height (the photo was taken 1/2 way up the front steps).

Apple Blossom

I have my first apple blossom! No expectation of any fruit though - the other tree needed for cross-pollination hasn't even developed any leaves yet.

Carrots, Beetroot, Calendula & Garlic

The veges are still growing. The garden isn't overflowing as I would really like.  I put that down to a number of things: Lack of experience; lack of sufficient sunlight in their position; lack of sufficient water (we've barely had any rain & I am hand watering a couple of times a week); and the earlier depredation by the Brush Turkey.

Peas

The pea plants actually have pods on them though!

If you want to see a beautiful & prolific vege garden - go and visit Northey St City Farm.  It looks magnificent at the moment!  I am helping to take J4's kindy class on an excursion there on Friday.  They have started a bit of a garden at the centre.  I am looking forward to seeing their faces as they explore & discover all it has to offer!

The birds have also picked up considerably (magic stuff yoghurt!). Compare Blacky now:

Blacky after the moult (and probably with a gut infection).

 

 

 

To then (May):


You'd think it was a different bird.

I've also managed to do a tiny bit of refashioning.
I bought a denim Regatta jacket from our lovely local cafe, Bowerbird, great versatile colour and a really good weight for Spring (and Autumn) in Brisbane.
But it was a bit boring.
So I jazzed it up just a little.

Suffolk Puffs (or yoyos) added to front placket, pocket, & collar

It was a bit large & shapeless - so it got a 'tuck' to bring in the waist.

Closer detail of the collar & placket.

And of the fake 'belt' to dress up the tucks.

I wore it today to lunch at 'Sails' restaurant.  Early celebration of Mrs Skivvy's birthday.
Sat outside - and the kids were able to go play on the beach when they got bored - leaving the grown-ups in peace! Wonderful!

Bye for now, Ravs

Learning Curve

http://www.flickr.com/photos/funfearlessfoodiephotos/sets/72157624618089285/

 

 The other day at work we were discussing how to cut onions.  Can't remember how we got there but never mind.  A couple of us cut the top end off first, leaving the root end intact, then cut vertically in half and peel.  The next step is to lie the half flat side down and chop from top to bottom, perpendicular to the rings, without chopping through the roots, then chop crossways, parallel to the rings. This way the onion is held together until you have finished cutting, making it quicker, easier & safer (my fingers don't get in the way as much). According to one of the participants this also reduces the amount of crying because the most potent store of the aromatics is in the base of the onion, she could very well be right.
Now it is fairly recently (in the scheme of things) that I learnt this method, but once you have learnt it you wonder why it took you so long, it seems so obvious.  And this is how another participant felt, she had never come across this method before.

http://images.cdn.fotopedia.com/flickr-7472855-original.jpg

 

 To reassure her that she isn't the only one who doesn't recognize what later appears to be blatantly obvious, I had to admit to planting whole bulbs of garlic without separating them into cloves!

Netted & Patched

The day after I last posted Mr Skivvy did come over, first thing in the morning, to help me put up the net over the vegetable garden.
And a good thing too - on a second look the Brush Turkey had done even more damage than I first thought.  I will have to replant a considerable amount.  Hopefully, given Brisbane's climate, it isn't too late.
When we put the net up we discovered that it wasn't quite big enough to fully enclose the ends of the frame - bad move thinking I could get away with the slightly smaller standard size of net and save money.  I will definitely not be fruit fly proof - but I'm not planting a lot of susceptible veges anyway.  And it will be safe from possums and turkeys and chickens.
Especially as a week later Mr Skivvy donated the remainder of the the net from their mango tree, which they had cut down for their vege garden.
With this I was able to cover the frame over the potatoes - becoming more tempting to chickens & turkeys as they poke their green shoots above the surface, and the open ends of the large vegetable enclosure.  I used baling twine from all those straw bales to 'stitch' the ends together.
And here is the result.

 I haven't had much time to sew - but I did manage a couple of repairs.
J4 had put holes in the knees of three pairs of trousers - so I had to patch them.  But no reason to have boring patches.

I patch both inside & out to make them stronger & longer lasting.  I use iron-on applique webbing on both the inside & outside piece of fabric, then zig-zag around them.
Here are a couple of earlier trousers.

The boys are really happy to wear them.  Might change when they are teenagers though!
Ravs

Productivity Plus

It was a bitterly cold day (for Brisbane) when standing in the wind at soccer - but once I was out of the wind and in the sun back at home, it was just perfect for gardening.
Which was a good thing because I really needed to get some planting done.
The strawberry hanging garden & strawberries arrived in the post a couple of days ago.  They recommend planting straight away, but I had to get some potting mix first.  So, as per the instructions, the strawberries were watered and put in the fridge.  Today I planted them & hung the garden up.  This is what it looks like.

It contains ten Cambridge Rival strawberry plants and one Temptation in the top, which has been slightly neglected so may not survive.

I also got busy and planted all the rest of the fruit trees - six plants.

News from the Farm

Just thought I'd give you a quick update - no pictures though - sorry!

The chickens, Blacky & Elsa, and Fasty the guinea fowl, are looking really healthy now.  I really think the Organic Yoghurt has done the trick.  I'm continuing this, but 2nd daily now, to maintain their weight gain.  I'll probably reduce to twice a week sometime next month - just for maintenance.

I've planted some of the fruit trees - the Lemon, Orange & Mandarin along the side fence in the front yard, and the raspberry & blackberry in pots behind the safety fence - which will become their trellis.  I think I'll probably put the Tahitian Lime in a pot as well.

I need to move my greenhouse to somewhere with a little more sun - the seedlings are struggling.  I thought they would have been ready for transplanting by now.

Had a nice long weekend.  Spent Saturday at the Textile Art Festival at the Convention Centre.  Sunday we had a lazy day inside (it was cold and grey) and I actually read 2 books.  And a third on Monday night!  The kids were brilliant!
Monday was GOMA and then over to a friend's house for the kids to get together - and me to borrow her dress form for photos of the vintage clothing I hope to put up on Etsy soon.  This made me feel as if I achieved something over the weekend!  Assuaging the guilt of just being.

I'll let you know when I get myself organised re the Etsy stuff.

Ravs

Bye Bye Octopi

On Friday a good friend, who also happens to be a talented artist and J4's kindy teacher (and previously L6's) had her last day of work - she's off to enter the land of parenthood herself.
The kindy had a lovely morning tea send-off for her, with pink balloons, all the kids together (of course, the only way all the staff could be there too), and a few parents, like myself, who could make it.
As she is such a special person I had wanted to make something special for her, and as her favourite animal is the Octopus, and her class are also called the Octopuses (all the rooms are named after sea creatures), I decided an Octopus for the baby would be appropriate.



Made with fabrics from my stash.  All the body fabrics have fish on them.