Wildlife

 The wildlife around here are enjoying the hot weather and the rain we've finally had!

There's the usual birds, frogs, wallabies, possums and hares. But we've also been lucky enough to see echidnas and bearded dragons! In the mornings when I let the chickens out I've been seeing lots of cicadas shedding, which is pretty cool to watch - I don't think I've ever seen a cicada, just their shells. And we've unluckily had a few brown snakes around the house, makes me rather nervous when I'm gardening as they're pretty hard to see unless they're moving.

Santa sacks

 I've finally made Santa sacks out of the Australian animal fabric panels I bought a couple of years ago - they match the panel I bought for this bunting.

I originally bought two of the panels because I wanted the red on both sides, but after washing the fabric it warped so I had to do the blue on one side and red on the other. And then I just had to deal with the wonkiness and the fact that they aren't actually nice even rectangles. Now I have two exactly the same... handy for Santa to quickly swap the empty sack for a full one!

Lily loves the empty sack, so I'm sure she'll love it even more when she wakes up to it full of presents on Christmas morning! So far she is excited for all things Christmas - except the train we attempted to put under the tree (it's just as scary as the robot vacuum).

Paint, Xmas stamps and paper bags

 We get groceries delivered and with Woolies no longer using plastic bags we have a ridiculous number of paper bags! So with a little creativity, a 3D printer, a little paint and a 2 year old, I now have some cute Christmas great gift bags!

The green paint definitely covers the green logo better so I'll have to remember that for next year.

These stamps (there are lots, so I've just linked the creators bio for you) are actually meant for cookies but I added this handle to turn them into stamps suitable for a toddler. If you want to print your own, I scaled the stamps up to 110% and the handle down to 80%.

Definitely my go to wrapping for gifts from now on - easier for me, and a fun activity for Lily.  We just wrote the recipients names using a white crayon, but I think next year I'll make name stamps or use a paint pen.

Christmas furoshiki

 Well I've finally made some fabric wrapping paper so I could do Furoshiki for our Christmas gifts this year. I actually completely forgot about this plan until I had already wrapped a few presents. 

I still need a lot of practice but I'm really enjoying using the fabric and not wasting so much paper! I've just been using everyone's intial in marker on all the paper wrapped presents, for fabric ones I used the 3D printer to make reusable tags.

If you're wondering, I used 1/4" hem and mitered the corners. If you have a 1/4" seam foot it makes things so much easier - especially when there is a toddler sitting on your lap while you sew!

I didn't prewash like I normally do, simply to make it easier cut, fold, etc.

Deciding on what sizes was the hardest part so I've just been making a few at a time then trying them out before making more. So far I have found 50cm a pretty good size and 70cm is a little big for most of our presents so far.

I still have another 2m of reindeer fabric so I might try some 60 or 65cm ones next.

Versailles dresses

 I still have fabric leftover from these nibling presents I made forever ago and decided to make Lily a Versailles dress before she outgrew the pattern without me ever sewing it!

This fabric is so cute with the little bird, bunny and mouse line drawings. For some reason I thought it wouldn't be a cute dress, but I love it, so much so that I decided to make her Christmas dress with this pattern.

And it turned out so beautiful! I made them in size 4 so they're a bit big but they should fit her next Christmas - although no doubt they'll be too short. I did cut some strips of the red fabric from her Christmas dress so I can add a band around the bottom as Lily grows. I think it's something I'll try and plan for on any future dresses so they can continue being dresses rather than tops!

I added pockets using LLK's free pocket pattern to the Christmas one - amazing that I actually remembered this time. My plan is to tell Lily that it has pockets while we're doing her Christmas photos - hopefully I get a good shot of her - pockets are very exciting for a two year old. To be fair, I also get excited if my dresses have pockets!

My one gripe with this pattern is trying to figure out which way to cut, and sew the ruffle with a directional fabric. Which is precisely why I chose to use a solid red for the Christmas dress.

Finally finished grey crochet blanket

 When I was pregnant with Lily I finished this crochet blanket, which was actually my first crochet project that sat unfinished for many years. The next blanket was started because I found a beautiful silky yarn that ended up being rather annoying to crochet with. That one was finished before Lily was born and has stretched into this long, skinny blanket.

And then I started this plain grey chevron blanket while I was still pregnant and made it a little wider than the other blankets. 

It's had a rough time, the cat knocked my soft drink onto it so I had to rinse that stickiness out. Then Lily kicked my pump and milk went all through my crochet bag so everything needed a proper wash mid project. Lily is now two and half and I've finally finished it - just in time for summer!

The newly started (and already sitting in the cupboard) crochet project is a granny square blanket for our king size bed, I wonder how many years that will take...

Electric chicken fence

 Excuse my absence, life got in the way and I've been too sick to do much other than sit on the couch!

I have an electric netting fence for the chickens, well to be fair it started it's life as a fence for the cat cage, dog and chickens as our property wasn't fenced (Ray has nearly finished that project).

Now that it is solely for the chickens I needed a solution for holding the ends together, but wanted something easier than tying it with rope every time. I was hooking it on a star picket until I noticed was damaging the wire in that spot.

I was almost going to just use one of those spring clamps when I noticed these in the electrical section at Bunnings.

Now that I've been using it for a few months, I've decided it's time to share with the internet. I would prefer something a little easier to do with one hand, but most of the time I can manage. I like that it's all plastic on the outside - now I don't get shocked when I forget to unplug the fence first! Plus even though it's plastic, in full sun, it hasn't faded or deteriorated as far as I can tell.

I think I might even try the large size for the temporary gates - we're currently using bungee cords and carabiners!

New Veggie Garden

Well I finally have one veggie garden bed complete, and now it's so hot that the plants aren't coping in the full sun. Which means my next project is building a shade structure to go over the top.

I've planted a couple of tomatoes, basil, beetroot and zucchini. There's also hollyhock and marigolds in there for the bees.

I'm considering trying a dwarf fruit tree in the middle of one these beds just to create some natural shade for the plants. Honestly I need to get trees planted everywhere as it's just so hot being all grass around the house!

Pillowcases

 Last month Lily had conjunctivitis for the first time, luckily she got over it quickly and actually asked for her eye drops! But the hardest part was the pillowcases, she got upset that I was taking her bunny pillowcase away to give her a clean one. I thought I'd make my life easier and just buy some cute pillowcases, but turns out they're hard to find. Besides, I have so much fabric and a sewing machine so now she's got three new cute pillowcases - and no more tears whenever she needs a clean one!

I even found my notes from when I made all the kids in our family pillowcases for their birthdays. Although I still needed a pillowcase example since I couldn't understand my own instructions!

I found a native bee hive!

 I was so excited to find a native bee hive in a tree on our property. It was purely by chance as I was looking at a branch at the base of a dead gum tree and there was the beehive at my eyeline!

It's a very busy hive, and I assume they are the bees that were frequenting my flowers before I brought my hives here. The tree it's in is long dead, the neighbour told me it was hit by lightning. The old termite nest above it looks like it is being used as a nest by rosellas. I've popped an arrow on the photo pointing to where the bee hive is.

Petal wrap dress elephants and stars

 Well last week I shared the Petal Wrap Dress from Twig & Tale, and after I finished I decided I needed to make another one. Straight away...

As much as I love gathers and ruffles, this is much more enjoyable to sew. These are fabrics that I've had in my stash for awhile, technically the star fabric is a Christmas line from Spotlight, but I think it works any time of the year.

So that's two new dresses - with pockets - for my happy little toddler. Well I guess since it's reversible it's more like four new dresses! 

Petal wrap dress floral and May Gibbs

 So I finally made the Twig & Tale Petal Wrap Dress and I wish I had made it earlier!

If you haven't seen this site I suggest you go have a look, there are some beautiful wing patterns, and this reversible dress is a freebie! I really liked the pattern instructions, the layout, the photos and how it was written.

One side is a Floral May Gibbs from Spotlight, and the other side is a lovely floral Amelia from Frankie Bear Fabric.

Now I did this properly and actually altered length based on the patterns measurements. Lily's were mainly 12-18 month size, and then size 3 for length. I started with the 18-24 month size and added 2" to the length. It's a little big so it should fit her for awhile, and stay dress length for longer since she mainly grows up, not out!

As for notes on sewing this one, nothing, it's all in the pattern. I didn't get confused or frustrated at any point. The only thing I haven't done is put a size tag on it since it is reversible - I'm thinking I'll put it in the pocket and see if it holds up.

And of course it has a pocket, that is all that matters to a toddler right?

Banana planted

 Looking forward to seeing how this banana plant does here, so far it's looking good after one month. This is a super dwarf cavendish, which I found at Bunnings and as you can see it had a pup forming. A couple of days after taking this photo I noticed there is actually another tiny one popping up. I'll have to do a bit more research to try and figure out when is a good time to transplant them.

I've got it planted right near the kitchen as they only get 90-120cm tall, but I think I'd like them a bit further away so I can use this spot for herbs or veg. Although it should create a bit of shade, which would be a relief for the other plants as this is full sun - and by that I mean if the sun is up, it hits this spot! 

The good thing about banana plants is that you do need to transplant or remove the pups regularly so it isn't a big deal if I decide this is the wrong spot. At least for now it is close for easy watering.

I'm trying out the Green Well garden ring, although I didn't install it correctly as I wanted a deeper garden bed. I liked this one as it is a sturdy plastic and slides apart on one side to remove, this will make it easier to create a larger garden bed later on. I've got two more to try - if I ever decide where the next tree is going!

Boho Romper Ducks

 I had to buy the rubber ducky fabric from Spotlight for my little chicken lover! When I bought this fabric it was while Lily was calling all birds ducks, then she called chickens boks and now she calls them "my chickens". To be fair we bought some ex layer hens back in May and she has been very insistent on looking after them from the moment they were in our car.

This one is the Boho Romper from Elemno which I have made before. With this pattern I just need to remember to press the seams as the pattern doesn't remind you all the time. I did make a change this time by cutting the pattern just above the pockets to add one inch. The size 18-24 month stills fits, but unfortunately it's still not long enough for her torso. It really is time for me to give up on the idea of rompers and overalls, and also expecting dresses to not quickly become tops! 

Maggie's Booties Pandas

 I finally finished some mummy/daughter matching slippers! Just in time for winter to be over of course...

These are Maggie's Booties, I've made a few of them as those tiny feet grow quite fast! For mine I didn't have enough of the non slip fabric left, but I did find some vinyl fabric at the op shop which is working well. And my little one was so excited when she realised we had matching slippers!

Another mulberry planted

 I have another mulberry cutting in the ground, I suppose it's not really a cutting anymore, but it doesn't feel right calling it a tree when it is so small!

But it is a great thing that it is small because it means I was capable of digging the hole to plant it. Younger plants are better to plant as they settle in much quicker than larger plants anyway, plus they're cheaper, and most importantly I only have to dig small holes in this rock hard ground!

The good news is that we bought a post hole digger, except I can't use that either so now hole digging is Ray's job. And I have to wait patiently...

Busy book

 Have you seen the lovely felt busy books some talented people create for their toddlers? I made a couple for a niece and nephew a long time ago now, and I figured I should really get started on one for my own little lady! 

While they are very cute, and my daughter is loving hers, I had forgotten just how long it takes - even with me using the sewing machine for as much as possible! My pages are certainly a world away from what I have seen online, but it has been a lot of fun, especially with my ever so helpful toddler enjoying the process as well as the finished result.

Now to see if I ever finish more pages... and it made me realise that I still haven't finished her busy board - which needs some replacements!

Native bees on begonia

 The native bees were absolutely loving the begonia flowers one sunny day. Normally they are enjoying the marigolds and violas in this planter and previously, I've only ever seen the odd bee visiting the begonias.

It is a keeper for our garden simply because our toddler loves eating the flowers, but it's even better knowing the bees love it too!

Without my little bee watcher who likes to get a really close look at flowers, I would have never noticed them on the anemone flowers. I've tried to choose the photos with the most noticeable bees on them. Red has one at the top, purple has two at the top left and pink has three.

Apricot retro dress

 This little dress is so cute, and gets so many compliments when we're out and about. Plus it has pockets!

I made this last year and completely forgot to share a photo. This is the Apricot from Boo & Lu. The gingham is from Frankie Bear Fabric and some red poplin that I had in my stash. The only issue I had with sewing this one is that I couldn't get the collar lined up properly, but that's on me for being lazy and not unpicking it (again). I am glad I made the size 3 in this one though as I always have trouble getting this style of elastic back on and off our daughter. Other than that, I probably should have done the longer skirt as this is now a top, but that is the fate for most of the dresses in her wardrobe!

Playground assembled

 I shared about the playground in a previous post, but this time it is to tell you that it is finally assembled and pinned into the ground so it can no longer fall over in our crazy wind!

Since the ground slopes we had to put in a bit of a pad with crusher dust so we'll need a solution for that as our daughter enjoys using it as a sandpit. We also need something soft at the bottom of the slide, she gets up quite a bit of speed if she's not holding our hand. But for now, it's done, and is making our little girl very happy, well, the playgound and the trampoline on the other side of the yard!

Finger limes coming soon!

 My finger lime was flowering before we moved but unfortunately I trimmed it right back for our move. Luckily it flowered again at the new house and now I have some adorably tiny fruits setting. They are so hard to notice - and the only reason I did was because I was looking at a caterpillar (dainty swallowtail I think).

Now to wait and see what colour they are inside! We were given a a pink one as a housewarming gift but it isn't as vigorous as this one. I plan to add both of these to the bee garden, but this one will have to wait until it has finished fruiting.

Lovely muslin blankets

 I loved these thick (3 layer) muslin blankets I made while I was pregnant, so much so that I luckily got the last three metres of the rainbow gingham from Frankie Bear Fabric so I could make two more!

Now I will admit at 1.5m wide, they are rather large for a newborn, but they are perfect for my toddler. She loves these blankets almost as much as the fluffy one on her bed! It is the perfect size for travelling so I like keeping one in the car and the pram.

I must say though, sewing with a toddler is difficult enough, let alone when they love a fabric so much that they've decided it's theirs! Trying to get it cut is impossible when you have to chase said toddler to get the fabric back every time you walk way from the cutting table. I'm so glad she can't reach the scissors yet...

Excess watermelon

 One of my favourite kitchen gadgets are these huge ice cube trays. They just make it so much easier and space efficient for freezing small amounts of excess food. In this case, watermelon!

These trays are about 1/3 cup each, so that makes it easy to work out how many cubes are needed for a recipe. I've portioned up custard, pesto, sauces, excess milk, leftover passata or stock. Popping them into ziplock bags once they're frozen saves so much more freezer space than individual containers.

With the price of groceries these days, it's certainly a good idea to cut food waste where we can.

Dragonfruit planted

 Does dragonfruit count as a fruit tree? Either way, I've planted one against a dead tree at the front of our property. It should do pretty well as the neighbours on both sides have them. They gave us some fruit as theirs are so productive and our daughter loved them, here's hoping this one does well so we have enough to feed our fruit loving toddler!

I bought this plant from a market awhile ago and it has already grown so much. It's definitely worth it to grow these from cuttings, the seedlings I had for years never got anywhere near this size! And the neighbour gave me a cutting from her red dragonfruit, so I need to find a good spot for that one now.

More Siena dresses

 I have managed to squeeze in a little sewing time at our new house, but these two dresses for some reason were impossible! And I haven't sewn since forcing myself to finish them. The weird thing is that these are the Siena dresses which I've sewn before - see here and here.

The first one is the beautiful Aria from Frankie Bear. It is such a cute fabric and even cuter as a toddler dress.

The other one is the Bluey family from Spotlight, and is the dress our daughter will choose every time we open her wardrobe! The ribbon trim at the bottom was a lucky op shop find.

I still haven't found a good place to take photos, these are in front of the concrete rainwater tank - it looks cool, but the sun was hitting my camera creating those light effects on the Bluey dress. If my plants ever grow this spot won't work for photos in the future, perhaps I should leave a gap in this garden?

My native bees are here

 My sister-in-law looked after our bees for us until the weather cooled down as I was worried about the heat here as we don't have a nice cool spot for them. But now they're finally here so that means we're officially moved in (we really should finish unpacking the shed)! Don't mind Archie in the background - he's loving all the sticks that fall on windy days.

This is the coolest spot in the yard thanks to the existing small trees and next doors lovely shade trees. You can see a few of my orchids as well - a good spot to keep orchids is also a good spot to keep native bees! I plan to add in bottle brush, geisha and my finger limes in between the existing trees. It should create a nice curved green wall and give us some privacy as well. I'm sure Archie will also appreciate the extra shade and shelter from the strong winds we get.

I've shared photos of our bee garden at our old house. They should be happy here as we've seen plenty of stingless, blue banded, resin and leafcutter bees, plus lots of different wasps and hoverflies - even those beautiful cuckoo wasps.

One sunflower bloomed

 One of the first things I planted when we moved was a whole heap of sunflower seeds, and the rabbits ate most of them. Only one survived long enough to have a full bloom free of nibbles, then it got chewed one night, leaving just enough stem to put in a bottle of water.

Thankfully it is still happy enough and the native bees are absolutely loving it - obviously my next project is some fencing around the flower pit!

Elderberry planted

 We've moved the chickens a few times, hopefully the lastest spot is going to stick for awhile, that electric netting is heavy and takes me forever to set up!

This pot of elderberry cuttings have a spot in the ground in the chicken yard, and it is another experimental planting. I was a bit lazy this time as elderberry isn't easy to kill and I have more that I can take cuttings from if it doesn't survive. Because of the slope, I dug a hole a bit bigger than the plant and mixed some clay into compost before planting. Then I made a mini swale by mounding the extra clay around the back to stop the water running straight down the hill. The clay will help store the moisture and give it a chance to soak in, which should really benefit the elderberry as they are rather thirsty plants.

The main reason I wanted to get some in the ground early is so that I can use it to create mulch. It grew so fast at our old house and bounces straight back after a trim. My plan is to coppice this one and repeat every winter. I plan to pollard the mulberry to use as mulch every winter as well, I want to pollard rather than coppice so it will have some nice strong branches for our daughter to climb one day.

It's a multi use tree - mulch, berries and flowers! The chickens will enjoy any berries that fall, and they'll appreciate the shade in summer.

Mother's day candle holders

 We live 15 minutes from a main town, but it really is limited with what shops there are, as well as what they stock. Needless to say I am very quickly learning that I have to be a lot more organised - unless I feel like driving 40 minutes to the bigger shops - which I don't as I hate driving!

Unfortunately I was not organised as usual, so while I planned to paint terracotta pots with Lily for her Grandmother's and Great Grandmother's, we had to settle on these candle holders from Kmart. Which made the zygocactus I bought a bit pointless (yes, I am great at buying plants without even thinking about pots).

Our two year old did a bit of painting once or twice a day until we had enough paint on there (if this pot happens to move into the brush that the toddler is holding,  she is still the one painting right?!). They turned out pretty cute, and we already have our plan for next year, assuming I buy everything in advance!

Hand Balm

It feels like so long ago that I started playing around with beeswax and infused oils to make my own lip balm and hand balm. My latest batch is a lovely green thanks to the oil I put in the back of a cupboard to infuse in 2020!

This one is a mix of coconut, sesame, macadamia and olive oils infused with marshmallow, calendula and comfrey.

If you want to make your own I use the instructions from Grow Forage Cook Ferment.

If you want to see how I used to dry my herbs check out this post. We've got a bay window in our new house so I'll have to figure out a new drying rack!

Laminated colouring pages

Our daughter loves to draw on things purely so she can clean it off, which is really frustrating her when it comes to colouring pages. Not to mention her cloth of choice is a wet wipe which just doesn't end well for the paper.

My solution was pulling out the laminator and ripping some pages out of her colouring books so she can draw and clean to her hearts content! And to make it even easier, the Bluey one from Crayola is all loose pages already.

I just love a super quick and easy project, especially when there isn't a mess to clean up. Added bonus is that the laminator is very interesting to a two year old!

Too many garden projects

 As per usual I keep starting new projects which means I'm not getting anything finished!

I've got a crazy paver path going in to meet the gravel driveway of the carport. This is replacing the trip hazard of a very large paver sitting high, then a smaller paver sunk down lower which then creates a step up to the concrete slab along the front of the house! This is clay soil and it's all still settling around the septic tank that was put in before we bought the house. I'll let this settle, but no doubt it will need a proper base. What you can't see is the rocks in this area growing so many weeds that I still need to deal with...

We bought a playground for our daughter's birthday that I still haven't finished assembling - or decided where it's going. It also needs a fence around it as the property is not fully fenced. And after the crazy winds blew it over, we have some repairs to add to that list!

I planted my first 'tree', and it's not fun thanks to the dry, hard clay. For this one I added gypsum and a bag of compost that I forked through while I decide what my plan is going to be for planting future trees. This one is the arrowroot pot guild so the tree is just a mulberry cutting that I poked in the pot right before we moved. You can see it desperately needed to be in the ground (or at least given more water and fertiliser)!

Then there is the pit that was put in before we bought the house. So much bare soil, so many weeds to pull, and a round bale of mulch to finish spreading. I was meant to finish mulching before I started planting flowers, but I had to put some sunflowers in. Oh and then I was given some bulbs that were already sprouting, needless to say there is still a lot to do over the pit, but at least there are pretty flowers now.

And I've also got lots of bare dirt/and weeds where the trucks and excavators were driving. Thankfully we have a grey water sprinkler which I moved around regularly so the grass has covered most of the paths. You can even see our completed project in the background - a fence for Archie! This puppy pen area hasn't grown much so I've added grass seed and left the grey water hose there to help it along - the test patch is very thick and almost ready for it's first hair cut.

Frogs everywhere!

 While I am missing the blue tongues we had at our old house, I am enjoying the wallabies, heaps of birds, little red tailed skinks and it is still a novelty finding bandicoot holes everywhere! And now that we're rural, we have neighbours with horses, cows, sheep and alpacas.

Archie lets the whole neighbourhood know when he sees a frog! Of all the things he obsessively barks about at night, I'm surprised it's frogs - I wish he would scare off the rabbits snacking on my plants instead!

There are many others we've seen, or rescued from inside, and the ones we hear but never see. They're certainly enjoying all my pot plants - especially the birds nest fern and the pitcher plant, along will all my self watering pots. I need to build one of those frog hotels to encourage them to keep away from Archie.