Apricots and Patchwork

Our apricot tree is laden with fruit. However, because of the odd weather we have been having this summer, the apricots have taken a really long time to ripen. I have spoken to a few people who also own apricot trees, and they also said that their fruit was taking a long time to ripen. Two years ago, at this same time, I remember picking the last of the fruit off the tree to give away at my 25th birthday party, but not this year. It is only in now that it is finally beginning to soften and have some taste. This means that the next few days are going to be a bit busy washing Fowler jars, picking apricots, halving and bottling them, as well as making jam and chutney. I love this time of year because of how much fresh fruit there is around.

As you can see the tree is quite heavy laden. We did prune the tree during winter, but I think we will need to do a bit more this winter because for the past few weeks I have been worried that a strong wind would come and break a few of the branches.










Also, this weekend I am starting a beginner's patchwork class at Frangipani Fabrics in Sandy Bay. I am very excited about this as I have been wanting to learn how to make patchwork quilts for a while now. I went into the shop yesterday and choose the material I would use. I was extremely impressed with the level of customer service in the shop. The women who helped me went through the pattern with me and helped me decided which fabric I would use and where I would use it in the pattern. She made the whole process a lot less overwhelming than it would have been otherwise. I am very grateful for her help. Plus, the range of fabrics in the shop is large enough that there is something for everyone's taste. With so many beautiful fabrics in the shop, choosing which fabrics I wanted to use in the quilt was a little difficult, but I am happy with the final selection (even Daniel liked the selection).









I am not personally a huge fan of snails, mainly because they are slimy and have been chewing away at our vegetables this summer but this fabric was so cute that I couldn't resist.

The class is set out over 4 lessons, 12 hours in all, and this is the pattern we will be using. I hope our little boy will like it :)

Colour be gone!

Things here in the last few weeks have been a buzz. With Christmas and New Year things are always on the go, but since then it just has not stopped. The last few months have seen us spend many weekends painting the house, mainly the bedrooms but this weekend we attacked the living area.

It was a huge job, but thankfully it was finished by about 6pm last night. If it wasn't for our mums helping out the job would have taken so much longer. It is true what the cliche says - many hands make light work. I am so happy all the colour is gone and there is no resemblance of the ugliness of the rooms former-selves.



















I can't believe we lived with that colour for two years before we decided to take action. And what a difference a bit of paint makes. The room feels much more spacious and is unbelievably bright, even in the evenings!

And just for fun, here is the soundtrack to our weekend of painting (in no particular order):
- Triple J's Like A Version Four
- Olöf Arnalds
- First Aid Kit
- He Will Have His Way
- Florence and the Machine
- The Grates
- The White Stripes
- The Dandy Warhols
- The Doors
- Washington
- Godspeed You! Black Emperor
- 40 Most Beautiful Summer Classics
- Matthew (TNIV, read by an enthusiastic American voice)
- Radio

And now sadly, I have to go and clean up!

Cake, Sweets and Owls!

In the last few days I have eaten soooooo much dessert. Soooo much sugar. I feel desperately guilty and I really need to go for a jog. I have come to the point where I think I could be satisfied not eating another sweet treat for a long long time, and this for me is quite surprising seeing though I love chocolate.

For Daniel's birthday we had a dessert night and everyone brought something to share. I made a banana cake, some muffins and a Mississippi mud cake. It was delicious, but by the time we sang happy birthday to Daniel everyone was so stuffed with food that hardly any of it was eaten. I will take the left over half to school where everyone else can eat it.

Daniel and his cake

We also got to taste this wonderful ice-cream cake this evening in honour of a friends birthday. It not only looked great but it tasted even better. I want an ice-cream cake for my birthday next year please.


To celebrate my friends birthday this year, I decided to make her an owl pin-cushion because I know that she does a bit of sewing and cute pin-cushions always make sewing a little more fun. I have never made a pin-cushion before, but decided it wouldn't be too hard considering I had made a few owls before. It didn't take too long to make, and for my first pin-cushion ever I am pretty happy with the outcome. Maybe next time I would make the owl a bit rounder in the would-be stomach area and I would blanket-stitch the bottom so you couldn't see it. I might also put some kind of flat weight in the bottom of it to stop it from falling over, as I can imagine that could become annoying when taking pins out of it regularly.

Here is the owl posing in different places around its owners house :)

Birthdays

For Daniel's birthday this year, his parents gave him a DSLR camera. It is an older model, but so far Daniel loves it. He is continually pointing the lens at me, trying out different settings and playing around with it. This is problematic because I have never really enjoyed having my photo taken, and more often than not when Daniel points the camera at me I pull an annoying face.

Since receiving the camera on Tuesday, Daniel has already taken numerous photos and I am starting to learn how to ignore him when he points the camera at my face. I am very grateful though for all the time he spent taking photos of jars with buttons in them for this blog and for his expertise in all things technology :)

After a bit of discussion on how Daniel can practice his photography skills, we came up with the idea that after I finish making an item of clothing he could take photos of me and we could post them online. I am excited about this, as this is a project we can undertake together and have a bit of fun with. I am going to have to get over my fear of having my photo taken though.

This is a dress I made late last year for my parents 30th wedding anniversary. I made it from an old dress pattern that my Mum had been given by a friend. I really like finding great old patterns and then making them up.

This is the first photo shoot we have attempted (on our little digital camera). It was just a bit of fun after the party. Hopefully it shows the dress ok.

Kate's Wedding

Kate's wedding day finally arrived on Saturday. It was a lovely day, even if a little cold by the end of it, and by cold I mean it was 0.7 degrees C. in the evening after the wedding up at my parents place. We were all very thankful for the inside fire and the fire barrel outside.

Kate looked absolutely wonderful yesterday. I don't think she stopped smiling the entire day.

Here is a photo of her and Nathan after being pronounced man and wife.

After signing the register (Mum made all the dresses).

This is a photo of the family, and me wearing my finished dress.



Of Kate and Nathan's wedding cake. My mum made all the cakes while my sister decorated them all. It looked amazing and tasted great :). They both did a great job.





And to end with, here is a photo of the partial lunar eclipse which also occurred last night (as taken by Gerhard Schoning as viewed through Dan's telescope).

Busy Busy Busy

Things in the last few weeks have been busy, busy, busy, which is why I haven't really been online to post anything. So for this post today, I am going to post a few photos of things I have made in past.

I made this top for my unborn nephew in the Christmas of 2008.



Ryan looks very cute in this top and I am very happy with how it turned out. This photo was taken at the beach in January this year, when we got to babysit our favourite little nephew.

Dipping his toes in the sea.

I also had a go at making pot holders as presents for people. I have only really made clothes, not really accessories like this before, it was very enjoyable.



And lastly, here is another owl I made.

Almost Done!

With uni and assignments taking over my life at the moment, finding time to blog has been difficult. But the dress, thankfully, is almost done, and if I do say so myself, it has turned out quite nicely. The last few sewing classes I have forgotten to take the camera and so photos of the developing project are few. All I really have to do now is finish the bow and the hem.

Skirt and lining

Overlocking the lining

The skirt

The front

The back

A few things I like about the dress:
1.) All the lines match up. If you look closely where the zip is, everything is matching.
2.) I think it looks really good on.
3.) I really like the colour.
4.) It is going to be fun to wear a dress I have made myself to my sister's wedding!

Things I have learnt:
1.) How to use an invisible zip.
2.) How to use lining - I found the lining difficult to sew actually. Its slipperiness makes it a little annoying and time consuming.
3.) That it is possible to sew lining to an invisible zip after it is in. This was a great realisation, as it is MUCH faster than hand sewing, as long as no unpicking is necessary afterward.

I showed my sister (the one getting married) the dress this afternoon and got two thumbs up. So the dress is definitely a goer for the wedding. Yay :) All I have to do now is find a nice shirt to wear under it! And after the wedding I will post a picture of myself in the dress.