Softies for Mirabel

Pip posted this video on her blog yesterday!
Pip organises the Softies for Mirabel drive.
I joined in last year for the first time and I will be doing it again this year.

 I was very curious to see if either of my softies made the cut!

I had to pause the video a couple of times so I could have a close look.

I spotted my Blue Ted at the top right of the letter M. 

Oooh, how exciting!! 

You can see my softies in this post.

You can learn more about Softies for Mirabel over at Meet Me At Mikes

Recycle a Shirt

My local op-shop sell men's business shirts for $2! Bargain! 

One day they had a 50% off sale! Big Bargain!

I now have a 'few' men's business shirts in my material stash.

I have made Evie a dress from a shirt, which you can see in this post

Last Sunday night, I used these 2 op-shopped items

plus a piece of lace crochet (also from the op-shop),

and turned them into this;

and the back looks like this;

The pocket is a great place to put the remote!

Not bad for less than $4!

A Meal in a Bowl

I enjoy cooking. In fact, I love cooking.

I love providing my family with healthy & nutritious meals that I have made from scratch, 

(even though the little one usually only picks and grazes).

One of my favourite light meals/side dish is cous cous.

Cous cous is a simple, quick, and versatile dish.

What I like about cous cous, is you can have it plain or add any of your favourite ingredients.

This is one take of how I serve cous cous.

All I do is cook the cous cous following the packet instructions.

I pan fry any of these chopped ingredients: onion, garlic, bacon, baby spinach, roast pumpkin, snow peas, and either chick peas or red kidney beans.

I then mix the above ingredients with the prepared cous cous.

And there you have a quick and easy meal in a bowl!

Pumpkin update...

Yesterday afternoon I decided it was time to cut open one of our pumpkins!

I have never grown pumpkins before and I was concerned that I had picked them too soon! 

And then I was worried that they had not had enough time in the sun.

I told myself to get over it and just cut the damn thing open!

(I must sound like a fruit cake - who worries about growing and harvesting pumpkins??)

I had to find a very large knife to do the job, I did contemplate getting the 

small axe out but I thought that was not the best choice!!

After a bit of muscle-usage...I could see that I was not going to be disappointed.

ooh la la.....I was getting a little bit excited at this stage.

And then...

I was one very happy Mumma.

Guess what is going to be on the dinner plate most nights this week??

*Edit- note to self* - the pumpkins were picked when the stems began to turn brown-ish. The pumpkins were cut from the plant with approx 10cm of stem. The pumpkins were placed on a table with a good amount of direct sun for 7-10 days, before the first pumpkin was cut open.

Pink

This one is for Abbey;

and she's chuffed with it!

I like the shape of this one better than the green beanie.

I used up scraps again and I'm very pleased with this pink one. And I know Abbey will wear it!!

This one I made for Evie last winter;

and still fits this year.

I found the pattern here.

Green

Abbey's friend recently turned 10. Her favourite colour is green.

Abbey and I talked and thought for awhile on what to give this little friend, something hand-made and something green...

So, first to be made was this 'quilt', really it is more of a throw than a quilt.

 I wanted it to be lightweight but have a quilted look.

The top is quilted using up all of my green scraps, a men's cotton shirt, and some squares 

collected from charm square packs, randomly sewn together. 

The middle layer (batting) is a thrifted flannelette sheet.

The backing is a thrifted cotton sheet. 

And sticking with the green theme, the second gift made was this quirky beanie;

happily modelled by Abbey;

The birthday girl loved her green gifts!

Snapshot of Today

A sunny autumn day, time for;

a little bit of house cleaning;

washing hung out, dried, and folded;

pest control in the vege patch;

playtime and kisses for a sore toe;

admiring our harvest;

pickings from the vege patch;

loving the efforts of precision;

a batch of yummy muffins;

creative expression;

a little more baking;

and a little time for clickety-clack...

Of course a lot more happened here today, it is no wonder I'm feeling a little weary!

Picked!

and now sitting in the sun...

We are a little excited to have our very first home grown pumpkins!

and they're huge!

I am eager to cut one open to see the result of these pumpkins. 

The plants that they came from popped up from our compost! 

I'll be patient and allow them time to sit in the sun, I'm counting down the days...

See, even Bella is interested!!

One dress

I managed to photograph Miss Evie wearing one of the dresses that I recently made.

It began with co-operation from a strong willed 2 year old;

Then things changed!

 Miss Evie is beginning to not have afternoon sleeps!! 

Some days she just needs a little nap to keep her going, 

but not everyday as she will be awake until 9:30pm!! 

This Mumma enjoys a little reprieve when Miss Evie does have a nap... 

Happy weekend to you and yours!

In My Garden

A little pink fairy in gumboots doing a little house-keeping....

A rather large spider...

at the top of the trees and just above my washing line!

Fresh corn cobs...

and cherry tomatoes!

Delicious..

What is happening in your garden??

Summer Sewing

This post has been sitting as a draft in my list of posts for several weeks and now that summer is over I thought I had best post it!!

Strangely, this summer season has not been a warm one here in our part of the world. 

Disappointing for more than just wanting to enjoy warm sunny days at the
beach or beside our pool.

I had a sewing frenzy one week when the weather was *crappy* and turned out
some summer clothes for the girls.
They have not had a lot of wear but some can be layered with long sleeve t-shirts, leggings or
stockings for the autumn weather.
I was hoping to snap the girls modelling these clothes, but it has been rather difficult to organize. 

So, here we are:

Almost matching dresses - the girls wore these to my big four-o and looked gorgeous!

Matching shorts - at Abbey's request. I think she likes the idea of matching clothes
since wearing the above dresses!

A little 'gypsy' top for Evie.

A 'twirly' skirt for Evie.

A pair of 3/4 pants for Abbey.

Simple summer dresses.

And a Shirt Dress for Evie. 

I found a men's shirt at the op-shop and re-made it into this dress. 

I followed this tutorial!

Most of the clothes were made from patterns from these books;

Purchased on Etsy