A Bevy of Bits

The reno's are steaming ahead, when the weather allows us and now becoming inside jobs that make living here just that little bit more challenging. However I have still managed to start some stuff and do some stuff so here is a quick rundown of some of the things that have been happening.

I have a table of body parts awaiting stuffing and some wooden disks that were posted today.

I have started this purple and green creation using the Flip La K technique, but now sure where I am going with this now.

Bought some zentangle books, still waiting for one to arrive, as fancy getting back into a bit of tangling.

Here's my practice page.

Re-discovered these, bought them a while back and forgot all about them, have now ordered 12 more colours as have become addicted to them all over again.

Had a play with my limited colours and a few other bits and pieces to make a couple of journal pages and tags.

Finished these

Started these

And nearly finished this.

Planted some seeds.

Managed to keep the herbs alive despite being covered in sawdust at least once a week.

Bought some wicker breadbaskets and a lame. 

I bought the baskets from Breadtopia, they were wonderful and quick with the delivery and have great tips and recipes for breadmaking. I'm still trying to make a crusty sourdough. I have another starter going and today tried making the dough in the breadmaker. As you can see, it is now sitting in one of the baskets, and fingers crossed, it's looking and feeling much better than my other attempts.

If it works out I'll let you know. By the way those bread lames are wonderful for giving yourself a quick hair cut! My hairdresser left to have a baby, and has decided not to come back to work, who can blame her really, but I have lost the only person that understands my bizarre hair, so in desperation took too it with the bread lame and gave myself the perfect hair cut. Just don't think too hard about the fact you could possibly scalp yourself in the process and you'll be fine, and yes I do change the blade before it goes back to the kitchen for it's intended purpose.

Lastly the three new girls have settled in beautifully, they are so well behaved and friendly. I emptied the compost bin a few weeks ago, and after lifting off the bin, left them to go through it and break it all down before it went on the garden. Was like the biggest chicken birthday cake for them and kept them busy for days.

And one final thing, I have fallen head over hills for the Blackcat Cougar and am desperately trying to convince Santa that I must absolutely have one for Christmas.

Little Progress, A Tragedy and A Show

I am not even going to bother to make excuses for not blogging, it just ain't happening right now.

Little Progress

The weather has continued to be awful making the progress of the reno's painfully slow. Hopefully as the evenings become longer and the weather dries up, for surely it must do soon, we can get back into it and make some headway.

A Tragedy

My three lovely girls pictured in the previous post, have, in the words of their former owner, been "kidnapped and assassinated". On a wild and stormy night, when part of our roof got blown sideways and let in lots of rain, a sneaky fox got in and took them. I felt absolutely terrible having been entrusted with their care and couldn't believe that a fox would come into suburbia with so many dogs around, but apparently they are everywhere. Having fenced off the bottom of the yard just for the chickens it seemed a shame not to have them scratching around. So after constructing a very tall side gate and fence, completely re-inforcing the chicken coop and pinning the bottom of the wire fence with very long stakes AND adding indian bells to the fence AND installing a sensor light, we went and got three new chooks.

So meet Lilly, Ruby and Dora, (chickens just have to have names!)

They were completely of the don't touch me variety when we bought them home, but soon learnt where all the treats come from and now when I let them out for their afternoon stroll through the veggie patch, they are quiet happy to come up and try and rip the buttons off my shirt or cuddle up and read a recipe book with me while I decide what to make for dinner. Ruby is even brave enough to follow me into the kitchen, there is something behind my fridge that just fascinates her, strange bird!

So I still have a constant supply of lovely fresh eggs and three new characters to keep me entertained.

A Show

A couple of weekends ago I went up to Dungog for the annual Quiltarama. This year is was held a month earlier and put on in conjunction with Dungog Railway Centenary. It was a busy weekend with lots of people coming through the quilt show. I had made a new workshop banner this year and decorated it with kanzashi flowers and Steve made a stand for it to hang on along with the bird quilt. I had dyed up about 80 new 1/2 meters and some other fabrics and threads so my stall looked especially bright this year.

I met lots of lovely people and hope to see some of them at workshops next year. I also met some lovely ladies that organise the Stroud Quilt and Craft Interlude, which I am going to visit later in September.

I have just bought some e patterns and have an online workshop I haven't had the time to start, so have plenty of new projects lined up, now I just have to find the time to do them.

Till next time, which will be - who knows when!

A Change of View and New Boots

The view from the back deck has changed, I have adopted three very cheeky birds that deliver three beautiful brown wholesome eggs every morning.

They have the bottom of my garden to scratch around in and a pumpkin plant to hide in. They came with their lovely coop, which they continued to lay in for the first week, but have decided a quiet spot under the pumpkins and beside the compost bin is much more to their liking. It's only a little space and they are queued up in the mornings waiting their turn to lay their eggs.

 I tried to encourage them back to their nesting box, but they seem so much more content with their chosen spot, that in the end I relented and rather than have muddy eggs each morning, lined the spot with straw. They have just about cleared out the old veggie patch of weeds and are doing a wonderful job of it too. They spend hours digging looking for anything that dares move. I'm amazed at how fast they have adapted to their new surroundings and have a daily routine and their own preferred spots for a afternoon siesta or a good old dust bath.

I have become a fan of the old Ugg boots, and mine were old beyond a joke, well they have been a joke with my family for years as I have a curly toe, one they like to point skyward and puts holes in all my socks and some of my shoes, the Ugg boots did not take long to surrender to the unruly toe and for years I have walked around with a grey tufty bit sticking out of my right boot, yes I tried to patch it and only had grey sheepskin to work with. They are beyond doubt one of the comfiest things I have ever worn and live in mine during, well most of the year. This year I did admit it was time for a new pair, they have changed the design slightly with a bit of reinforcement around the toe, so who knows, these ones might withstand the toe! My old ones are well battle scarred, stained with indigo and god knows what, but they are now my chicken boots, they can stay outside and I don't have to worry about chicken poop following me in the house. The chickens just happen to love that tufty bit, I sometimes find myself with a chicken attached to it as they are determined to relieve me of it.

 The Old and the New

The holidays are nearly over, I haven't done anything like the amount of things I planed to do and for the next 5 days Steve will be home so we will be working on the house, trying to make headway in the never ending reno. No Easter holiday here, but hopefully some progress.