Gypsy Art Group First Morning

 I finally got to go to the Gypsy Art Group morning, after visiting at the botanical gardens, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I would say at least 20 women were there, all doing different things. Art Journals, cards, eco printing, watercolour, that I could see.

 When I first arrived 5 mins late, everyone was huddled around a workshop on staining leaves onto a mug. This is done with steam via an electric fry pan, and I watched for a half hour, till someone sat down, so I went with her, to find out the routine, and luckily at the table there was a space for me. This was my new friends 2nd time and the 4  other ladies that joined in also their first time. Five of us around several tables, put together.

Eco Printing done by one of the members.

This natural staining is also done on fabric and paper and known as Eco Printing.  It was on at the Botanical Gardens visit, and selling beautiful lengths of fabric. At this stage I am not interested in doing it. 

I actually  took some cardmaking stuff as I didn't quite know what to expect and found at my new table all the ladies were making cards. Mind you I only made one in 3 hours.and took way too much stuff. Lots of chatting, and two other demos. Everyone started to pack up after 12 although it was supposed to go to 1 pm. So it was a hurry pack up for me, and now I can't find my card to show you. I think it is lost forever.

This is a quarter of the room with kitchen on right.

 We had a quick mini lesson on easy bookbinding, with heavy pages like  thin cardboard. I lot of emphasis is on the art journals and one lady, I know of,  sells them at the market.

 I didn't know it was such a going concern. Lots of stamping, ephemera like little envelopes tucked in, pages ripped out of old books, Cloth bits. Interesting to look at, and they are used as personal journals for writing on, no matter what the page looks like and some of them have quite a lot.

An example of one with a Forest Theme.

 To give those an idea, who haven't heard of them, this A5 one is $300 on Etsy. (DotsInspirationShop) A fair amount of work goes into them time wise. Any larger like A4 another $100 .

 

Hmmm, I might have to investigate how to use up a lot of my scrapbook, cardmaking, fabric, lace supplies.

On another note I finished my first oil  painting after 30 plus years, at the Saturday Morning Group. 

At the moment Art is all I can think of and suddenly lost interest in preserving, jewellery making, gardening to a degree, even spinning which I was doing last year. The miniatures I started photographing for an Etsy Shop, is on hold also.

I even joined Instagram and have 76 followers lol mostly miniature collectors and makers probably checking me out. They have to wait a long time though between photographs, 5 so far.

It is raining today, but look some of my seedlings are up.

For those who know my sister, her youngest daughter is having a son in September. Jan is very excited she has waited a long time to be a grandmother. As I tell my nieces and nephews I Am A Great Aunt.

Till Next Time

Taming the Jungle & Cooking Lessons

 It is beginning to feel a lot like Autumn. Certainly the humidity is easing off and I have managed to get out to the garden to do some weeding. At least the wheelie bin is full to the top of green waste this week.

Blueberry/ Strawberry and Rhubarb Jungle patch

By jungle I mean the weeds were really high and thick. Fairly easy to pull, although the nut grass is my worst enemy, but in the end 4 beds have been cleaned roughly and another one with leeks in it half way. It is a bit dicey as leeks can look like nut grass so have to go carefully in that one.

Miss P came over Sat. and the back bed above, was full of carrots, so got her to pull them all out plus the bed in the front garden as well. They had been in a long time, nearly 3 months I think, so time to start again. 

Left the capsicums in as still producing.

Such a mess in the back garden, but at least it is a start. I also planted some seeds in one of my plug trays. dwarf beans, broccoli, cabbage, beetroot and some flowers. This was done last Thursday and yesterday(Sat) they were up. One of the benefits of keeping seeds in the fridge as going from a cold environment to a warm one certainly hurries them up to grow.

The rain did arrive yesterday, after about an hour in the garden so I decided that Miss P could help me process the carrots and also a heap of cherry tomatoes. A lesson in blanching and freezing carrots and using the vacuum machine, was successful.

 

 This was followed by making some Mild Spicy tomato Salsa, which she took home, two jars, to put in a Salsa Chicken dish which is made the same way as you would Satay Chicken.

So while in cooking mode I bought a packet mix at Chrismas of a Yuletime Log Cake, so another lesson in Swiss Roll making, something I haven't done for many, many years. Luckily it turned out very successful.

Spread with Raspberry Couli, then Cream before re rolling.

Iced with Chocolate

Miss P took it all home bar one slice which I will have today. She is going to cook Salsa chicken and have the cake for dinner tonight. My DIL has been away taking our eldest grandaughter back to Uni and will be returning tonight. I am very proud of Miss P who will only be 13 this March.

The Easter Daisy is in full bloom, a little early maybe, they do last 3 - 4 months though.

 

Till Next Time.

A Clean Slate for 2021

 "A Clean Slate" I read this comment somewhere, and thought how appropriate for this new year of 2021. 2020 certainly bought on some difficult times for many  people but also many adjusted to a new lifestyle, like wearing masks, teaching children at home, as well as working from home, growing vegetables for the first time, learning to knit and crotchet, slowing down, the list could go on and on in learning  new things.

What I see though is most of us adapted to these changes, and hopefully a lot of good lessons were learnt, but it is sad to see currently that there is yet another small wave of new clusters of virus in Australia, because of  ignorance, selfishness, or just plain bad luck, who knows! 

This article is the saddest thing I read for 2020, and for some reason people really believe that this virus is a hoax despite now that there is  1.83 million deaths world wide. 

July 12, 2020 at 1:32 AM EDT 

SAN ANTONIO A San Antonio doctor says a man in his 30s who thought the coronavirus was a “hoax” died from the disease.“One of the things that was heart-wrenching that he said to his nurse was, ‘You know, I think I made a mistake.' And this young man went to a COVID party,” she said. “He didn’t really believe. He thought the disease was a hoax. He thought he was young and invincible and wouldn’t get affected by the disease.”

 

 A Clean Slate for me means let's start again. Re-write all the to do lists, plant new seeds and seedlings. Making decisions on whether to have my businesses, thereby giving up my crafts and just crotchet my life away in rugs or sew quilts. Maybe I should give up blogging also, with only 6 followers and very few comments I wonder sometimes if it is worth it? Then again my girlfriend in Victoria and  2 Daughters do read it so it saves me a letter each week lol. Lots of things though to decide about.

To start with, this week our first week back from Sydney, I unpacked, washed, iron, cleaned spare bedrooms all in readyness for the 3 grandchildren to arrive Friday or Saturday for a 10 day visit. Should be interesting.

I received from my girlfriend a fabulous garden diary that holds the seeds and labels in pockets set out for each month, plus a space to draw where I have planted things in the garden. Perfect for a clean slate and it allows me to work out a whole year so I started by digging up all the tomatoes,celery,lettuces, and some carrots. The rain has done a lot of damage, carrots rotting, things going to seed, and no sun for the tomatoes.

Old tomato bed took down the netting also.

Whats left of the cucumbers, trimmed them up and planted yellow climbing beans in spaces.

Rocket gone to seed so left it for salads. May move a clump or two elsewhere.

 

I also cut back the celery to see what happens it was going to seed.

Old climbing beans gone

So in the old tomato bed, planted butternut lettuce and pak choy. I gave in and went to Bunnings to buy some seedlings as no time to start seeds at the moment. January is usually not sub tropical time for growing as too hot but this weather has changed so much decided to give it a go.

New Apollo tomatoes where I had carrots. Never grown tomatoes in this bed before so relying on the structures to take some netting.

 

Butternut lettuce and Pak Choy in old Tomato Bed

The strawberries which produced well last year have taken off again with new runners. My dilemma is whether to keep the bed small or extend it out to take over. At the left hand end planted some dwarf beans which will start producing before the climbing ones. Using a whole bed for strawberries seems a bit much. My other alternative is to transplant more to the back garden with the rhubarb. None of the strawberries produced last year, probably because they were new runners then again I didn't cover them either and our water dragons love them. I am thinking about using one of the round gardens instead.

 

 The biggest disappointment is the nut grass. It has gone mad everywhere with all the rain, I keep clearing it but up it comes again. This below is the front rose garden which I weeded before going to Sydney. 10 days later and its a mess, as is most of the back yard. The paver path down the back rose garden you could mow. It is all getting a bit much for me alone to do so I am investigating concreting a lot of it.

 

My Enemy Nut Grass

 

Three days in to the year so not a bad start on my clean slate. There is a new calendar on the wall, a new 2021 planner, and I have lots of plans to think about now. Welcome everyone to 2021.

Till Next Time.

Collecting Heuchera

 I had a surprise turn up this week, John had bought some baby Heucheras and a couple of fancy leaf  Rex Begonias from   Australian Plants Online.

Heucheras I potted up from their tube stock.

Heucharas like semi shade to full sun, and I have had them before in the back corner garden but they died. They are a bit of a ground cover clump, but can grow up instead and you need to prune them every couple of years to take out the middle clump. from which you can then regrow from the stem hopefully.

Earlier this year I actually bought another group, of Heucheras from garden express and they have grown quite a bit. 

The little Begonias are the same variety, and I also potted them up from tube stock. They propagate from leaves placed on the soil with a small rock to hold them down. I haven't had much success doing that though. 

Painters Palette Begonia Rex

 Once the small ones grow a bit bigger I will put them in a nice pot and the whole lot is going to go in my shady corner.

 Yesterday I woke up with a  bad migraine something I don't get very often, and in the afternoon had a very painful  gallstone attack, so was reliving the year before when I had my gallbladder out. So today feeling very wiped out with a niggly pain in my stomach. 

If it happens again will go to the hospital but as I have already been there last week for bad heart palpitations, wasn't keen on turning up again. Will watch my diet, no fat, or meat, and go back to the vegetable soup I did before while waiting for the operation. Hopefully things will settle.

I had video call, before this happened, last Wed. to my RA specialist and he tells me I have to change medicine, as my Neutraphils are super low at .5 and probably lower now as the day before took my injection, I now have to wait a fortnight for new blood tests to get the ok to start again, and so the drama of arthritis pain goes on, he also is getting my knees x-rayed which is causing me the most hardship.

Roses I picked today so beautiful and cheers me up.

I also saw my local GP  last Friday, as a result of the hospital and she is sending me to the Heart Dr. again for more testing probably a Holter Monitor, plus found another skin cancer she has to freeze off but due to the Neutraphils being so low which causes infections, I have to wait for the next blood test, so will see her again in early Nov.

 She also wants to send me to a therapist for depression and anxiety and give me some tablet to make me feel better. I turned that down, will try to cope on my own, for the moment.

For those readers who believe in praying, please add me to your list. As I ask for prayers I think of all those who are struggling with Covid, or Cancer and probably how much better off I am, but it has been a very long year though. 

 

Till Next Time. 

I made a Quillo

 It was one of my grand daughters 13th Birthday so all year I have been making a quillo for her. Sent it last week and she is very happy with it. 

I think it was last year, or the year before, no just checked 2017 lol,  time disappears so much, that I started the patchwork, and now finally  finishing the Muddy Garden Quilt by Lyn Anderson.

 So many pieces to cut out first and ended up each block looks like these above. 

Then it is a case of ironing on the different fabric cutouts using vliesofix, a fusible paper for applique. The pattern also called for doing buttonhole stitch around each one, I chose a fancy zig zag on the machine, and only hand buttonhole on the pillow part on the back of the quilt.

It is hard to see the zig zag, but I made the quillo 2 blocks wide, and added the border of each colour. The back was in a burgundy fabric I had, which I washed 4 times till the dye stopped running. Hope it doesn't cause a problem in the future.

I embroidered her name on the front and mine and date on the back. with the printed label that came with the kit. 

 The biggest problem was folding it up into the pillow placed as one of the squares on the back, so pre warned dad to check out a couple of videos. When I queried him after they got it in the mail, he replied he was a quillo master by the time they had to refolded it. Sent me a few photos also with huge smiles on my grand daughters face. My family don't like the children on social media but cut this one to show the actual pillow, being cuddled by a happy grand daughter. 

Miss J and quillo.

So it is on to the next one, and the current grand daughter who comes here to help me is next, she will turn 12 in March and be starting high school next year. The dilemma is so is Miss J's ( above picture) brother, so looks like 2 to do. It will be a first to make for a grandson who is also into scouts and camping.

The sweet peas are outdoing my picking this year. I have 5 stands of them, but cut a huge bunch for the Community Garden this week and sent in some limes as well for the market table.

Our garden is coming to life and the new roses are starting to flower. They look wonderful so very  pleased with them.  

The first of the bluebells and freesias are also blooming not up to the standard of their Victorian cousins but they came from mum's place originally and remind me of home so much. 

My first injection was successful, as yet noticing no difference, another fairly chilly week early morning, but Spring is definitely in the air. Started quite a few seeds off both for the Conmmunity Garden and mine. 

The Pantry is still a work in progress while I wait on more containers, hopefully next week will finish. 

So much work to do now the days are nicer, like painting the above verandah grey, only 2 years behind in that. Oh Well. 

Till Next Time. 

 

 

It's May Already !!

Goodness me where has the time gone, I hope everyone has spent it productively, despite staying home. This week has been rather slow for me. I don't know whether I have done too much, but very little housework and gardening has been done. Planted pea seeds I found from my Melbourne Bestie, so put all of them in as over a year now past the date. Hopefully they will come up.
 

One pea is up so far.

Introduced some climbing beans  also old, known as Northern White, and they have started to grow, so every hope for the peas.

Climbing Beans.

Planted out some more  of Chinese Cabbage and Broccoli left over, of which the latter has still more of them to plant somewhere. Protected of course by net. One cabbage moth laying eggs on these and you can kiss them goodbye.

Tomatoes have started to grow on the bushes, and have kept them uncovered hoping that no fruit fly is about, due to cold overnight.  They are all very healthy.

John went to Bunnings and I asked for some flower seedlings, so he got White Snapdragons, Red Primulas and Mixed coloured Stock. As yet still have to plant them. I pulled a muscle or tendon in my lower back Friday, vacuuming of all things, and it is very painful, so no gardening or anything for that matter, for a while.

 Our neighbour rang John, to say he saw free firewood and he went straight away to get it. Mainly pine but quite big and spent the next couple of days splitting it all to fit on the shelves on the side of the house. Mothers day has always been the day I light the fire if cold, but don't think it will be this year as quite warm at the moment at 25C. although nights are getting down to 13C or so. We shall see as the wind is quite chilly today.

John has been clearing up the side where this wood is stored. A few years ago he started a project of making a metal sheep, and has decided to finish it off.

Fitting the tail.

We need to find a spot and it is extremely heavy so won't be far. This garden is probably the best but needs a good clearing out as well.

The next door neighbour also had a garden in the same area but pulled it out to put a caravan which has now gone, so it will be seen when no car is in the driveway.

Everyone should have a metal sheep in their garden lol.


Till next time, stay safe.