Great skirt tutorial........

Been looking for a pattern for one of these for ages. I have tried on heaps of tiered, gypsy or peasant skirts over the years but they are always too short on me, making my legs look stumpy. This tutorial is great, you just enter your measurements and it calculates the size of each piece! There is a choice of two lengths as well..... Now excuse the pics, I have had this fabric in my stash for about 10 years and I still have 10 kgs to lose on WW so those two factors combined don't make for the best shot lol...... However I was really pleased with the result and it is soooooo comfy, great for the hot days ahead. Now I know the pattern works I might just splash out and buy some more fabric to make another couple.

Clever composting

My brother Nick and his wife Kirsten have a great site with loads of cool links for organic gardening and permaculture. Check out their how to make compost video, isn't Kirsten just so cute? I just wanna put her in my pocket and take her home! Then she can turn my compost for me lol........ Nick (clever boy) has designed a compost calculator to make it easy to work out how much of each type of material to add to your compostto ensure success. Check it out, definately worth a look.....

Nick's serious pose

Love that hat K!

Harvest....

I just love eating from our garden....... Here's a sample of recent harvests.....

Broadbeans, snowpeas, peas, radishes, carrots and lettuce
Shelled peas and broadbeans
More carrots, beans and snowpeas + multi-coloured silverbeet and broccolli.

I also have pak-choy, rocket and herbs ready to eat, and have loads of seedlings in. The kids can't wait for the watermelons and rockmelons, but aren't so keen on the idea of pumpkins lol...... The beans are up, and the tomatoes are starting to flower, zucchini are fruiting, and everything has just taken off with the warmer weather. I am busy seed saving radish seeds for sprouts, and chive and onion seeds for future plantings.... very satisfying to sit back at the end of the day and survey our efforts. Hmmmm, now what's for tea?

Not prim, but so much fun!!!

I made this for myself yesterday, sooooo not prim but OMG I love it! Been wanting to make one for ages, now I just have to finish his twin..... If you want to know how to make one go to http://www.craftbits.com/viewProject.do?projectID=1104

I got the socks from Big W, 2 pairs for $3.97, this guy's brother will have the spotty body and stripey limbs. I can see how little kids would love these, they are so cuddly. Seeing as I don't have littlies the cats have now got a new friend, and don't they just love him!

I have been crafting - honest!

I know I haven't posted anything crafty for AGES, but I have a good excuse.... I am part of a great swap on http://forums.delphiforums.com/passionforprim/start which has kept me rather busy. It is an advent swap, each of us sends 24 little presents to our swap buddy, one to be opened each day leading up to Christmas. At least half have to be handmade by the sender. The final gift for Christmas Day is to be extra special. I haven't made the big gift yet, but the other twenty four are on their way - look out Mill! Here's a teaser for you - Can't wait to start opening mine lol... I love presents.....

Worms, worms, worms.........

A wonderful way to compost organic matter is to make a worm farm. Of course you could buy one ready made but as usual we decided to make our own lol... luckily we had an old laundry twin-tub sink that we could use. We covered the drainage holes with mesh to prevent escapees.

Cut a hole for a PVC "tunnel" between the two sinks and used silicone to seal it.
Added lots of bedding, we used straw and horse dung, other alternatives are shredded paper etc....Bought some composting worms, these are not the same as garden worms, and are great little workers.

Added some food and the worms to the sinks and covered with damp hessian. I have spared you the pics of the food as we are using our worm farm to dispose of dog poo! This means we won't be able to use the castings or worm wee on our vegies, but it will be fine to use on the flower garden. A great way to fertilise the garden, clean up the yard and reduce flies.
A lick of paint so it is less visible in the yard and a piece of tin for a lid and it's all done! The cupboard below provides great storage for the bucket to collect the worm wee. Shame I forgot that dog wormer kills all worms, so I will have to wait for a while before feeding the worms their special food.... until then it's kitchen scraps!

Gourdgeous!

I looooove these..... I was passing the second hand bookshop last week when I noticed some gourds in the window. I got these beauties for just 50c each! The lady who grew them didn't have enough water to clean them properly so I will have to get the bleach and a scrubbing brush onto them. I have no idea what to do with them, I just love their shapes and colour. I have three gourd vines growing at the moment, I had a dozen seedlings but most didn't survive the transplant shock or the dreadful drying winds we've had. Hopefully my seeds will arrive soon and I can plant some more direct now that the weather is warmer.

It's raining, it's pouring.........

As you would know Australia is in the middle of one of it's worst ever droughts. We are lucky to have a good bore we can pump from, but there is nothing like rain. The past week has been gorgeous, lots of overcast days and over 2 inches (50mm) of rain! And it's still coming..... Nutmeg is only 12 months old and is very curious about all this strange stuff outside. She's an inside cat so she hasn't been out in it, but as she's a water lover I'm watching her whenever the door opens!