Windy August

August has started to blow up a gale after we had rain and it has brought another chill in the air. We did have some fine days, fine enough for me to take some cuttings from the flowering containers and dry them. I have mint, cat mint, pansy flowers and parsley drying. A random mix which has the scent of mint more than anything.

I've also been working on a few craft projects. I'm getting more adventurous with crochet and trying different things. Youtube is so handy for someone like me who is a visual learner rather than a text learner. Even though I like today's technology I still write down what I've learnt so I can understand written instructions. You never know when you'll be without the internet or computer and can't access  electronic things, always write down what you can. This pom pom edging looks complicated but it is super easy. I'll put up a lesson for that soon, get your notebook and pen out.

I've also been doing some new tea towels. I've a half dozen checked tea towels and was trying to think of what to do with them, eventually I cut up an old white table cloth and I intend to appliqué  to the tea towels and embroider button hole stitch around the edges in different colours at least that is the plan.

The crochet motif is a strawberry dishcloth, looks cute with the fruit designs.

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening where ever you are.

Garden Markers

Spring weather is trying to make a showing. There were a few cold day, although, not really cold. With the warm weather a lot of things are starting to bloom and grow in my container gardens.

I saw these garden markers or plant pokes on line to buy and I thought to myself: Oh, I can make those. So I did. As always you know if I'm making something it will be frugal. The spoons are from the thrift store and depending on where you buy they are pretty cheap. These ones were a bit pricey at 50 cents but I liked the decoration down the spoons. They are all different size spoons but that works for me. 

The Basil I have growing came from an 'Italian Herb' mix from bunnings on sale. I also have a larger one growing amongst a tomato plant. The plant I picked up off the swap table from the simple living group and it surprisingly survived the winter. The Basil plant growing with that came from Dad's garden. 

The Parsley I have also is from Dad's garden. I changed it over from a smaller pot into a bigger pot. The pots I have came from an Aunt.

 The Rosemary is also a cutting from Dad's garden and the pot from the collection an Aunt gave me. 

The Thyme is planted in a vastly reduced in price terracotta pot I brought from bunnings. I thought $10 was a bargain. I brought that and dirt and some more plants out of the money I received for the baby quilt.

The Sage is from the Italian Herb mix I brought. The mix has Basil, Parsley (flat leaf), and Oregano.  I still have to give the markers another coat of indoor out door varnish to protect them against the weather, I can likely find that in Dad's shed.  If you want to make these, first paint  a base coat in Gesso. Then paint. Then varnish. I used an artist varnish but I do intend to use a good outdoor weather varnish to make sure the markers hold up in the weather.

Gardening can be expensive, but there are a lot of things you can get for free if you ask around or try your hand at making something your self too.

With Christmas advancing these plant markers would also make really nice gifts for a gardening friend.

Hope everyone is having a good day or evening where ever you are.

Crochet Shawl

Crochet triangular shawl

My video for crochet triangular shawl:

Original instructions for the shawl came from: Bobwilson123 youtube channel.

Instructions:

Chain 4

join to make ring

Double crochet into ring three times

chain 3. turn 

Work 2 double crochet in stitch at base of chain 3. Chain 3 counts as 1 double crochet

Work 3 double crochet into chain 3 at end

Chain 3. turn work

Work 2 double crochet in stitch at base of chain 3

Work 3 double crochet into next space.

Work 3 double crochet into chain 3 at end

Chain 3 turn work

Work 2 double crochet into stitch at base of chain 3

Work 3 double crochet into next space

*Repeat until shawl in required length and width

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening where ever you are.

Use it up

Un-ironed quilt.

I've been offline pottering around. We've been having some really nice weather mixed in with odd weather, rain and fog. It won't be long before spring is around the corner although we still have windy August to go through yet. 

While at home I've been trying new recipes. I made a goulash and I'll put a video of that up soon along with instructions for a crochet shawl. I've also been managing to get some finishes done.

I've been working on and off of the baby quilt and it is finally heading to it's new home. A baby girl will hopefully like this.  The only thing I brought for this quilt was a flannel set of double bed sheets on half price and I used the flannel for the batting. I wasn't sure if it would work as a batting but it does make the quilt very soft and warm, but not hot. 

nicely ironed

The rest of the fabric came from my stash. I used, yes, another bed sheet to for the embroidery blocks and coloured in the blocks using crayon tinting technique: Technique can be found here. I embroidered through out in one strand of embroidery thread in DMC 310 black. 

The gingham fabric came in a bundle from the thrift store a long time ago for about $1 (still had the price tag on it when I pulled it out.) The backing fabric is the same as the bed sheet. I actually used two different slightly pink sheets as I couldn't find the original one. Need to get organised in my stash I think. 

I used up a lot of what I had and even recycled the tag. The clay charm is a fish and it comes from When Laura Meets Clay who is on etsy: whenlaurameetsclay

The designs of the little girls come from : Q is for Quilter. They can be found in the colouring book section.

The blocks on the quilt are 8 inches square. Set four rows across and five rows down.

I also did a video of the baby quilt in this post here.

I'm no quilter and it shows, but I'm sure with more practice I'll get better.

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening where ever you are.

Quiche

Ingredients:

Pastry sheets.

Finely chopped brown onion

Bacon rashers trimmed

grated cheese 

Eggs

Pure Cream

Method:

Great oven to 200/220 fan-forced. Place a baking tay in oven. Lightly grease a  deep dish. Line base and sides of container with pastry and trim excess. Prick with fork. Line with baking paper.  Fill with pie weights or uncooked rice. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove baking paper with weights. Bake for 5 more minutes until pastry is golden.

Melt remaining butter in large frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and bacon. Cook.  Transfer mixture to bowl set aside for 10 minutes to cool.

Reduce oven temperature to 80/160 fan-forced. Spoon bacon mixture in pastry case. Sprinkle with cheese. Whisk eggs and cream together in bowl. Pour over bacon mixture. Bake for 45 minutes or until set. Cool for 5 minutes. 

Note: I didn't add the amounts as we made a lot to freeze. We also added silverbeet from the garden as it needed to be used up. I don't think I'd use silverbeet again as once defrosted the Quiche was very watery.

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening where ever you are.

Pen pal day

June first is apparently international pen pal day. I've been writing letters on and off for years and they are more than often a lot different to how I write up a post for a blog. I love sending long 'chatty' letters and often include little sketches in the lines to make them fun. The letters I receive are always interesting to read. I have a long time pal from Mexico and most of the letters I receive internationally are from America. I love reading about how folks live across the pond and having a peek in their lives, it is so different from blogging.

It is said letter writing is a lost art, but there are still many who keep the art alive and well. Here are a few groups to find pals that I also use:

Postal society Facebook

Sendsomething.net 

I'm always open for more pals so you can email me at vintagepapery@gmail.com to exchange snail mail addresses.

Yes mailing can be expensive but if you keep your letter flat and 'letter' size you won't be charged parcel rate.  In australia letters are about $1.00 and over seas mail is up to $3. For less than five dollars you can find out what another person is doing with their life and cheer up someone when you send them something. There's not many places these days where you can have a lot of fun for less than $5. I'm planning to use June to write a letter a day, I should start with the mail I have to do some catching up.

Get writing and have fun! 

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening where ever you are.

Sunlight & shadows

 We had frost on the ground this morning but the day is fair and if you can find a place to sit in the sun, it is a nice day. All the windows are open and we're airing the house out while the good day is warm enough to do so. It's still cool enough in the wind though not as cold as it has been. Our winter has really arrived.

A while back, our lady hairdresser who works from her home gifted us mandarins. This bowl has been brightening up the kitchen and they are really nice tasting. 

I've saved a few of the seeds to see if they will grow and I'll plant them out after winter. I also been saving the citrus skins of the mandarines, oranges, and lemons for potpourri. I dried out orange and lemon rings too to decorate potpourri.

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening where ever you are.

Classic Shepherd’s Pie

Classic  Shepherd’s Pie

Ingredients:

Olive oil

Onion halved and finely chopped

Carrot peeled and finely chopped

Celery sticks trimmed and finely chopped

Beef stock

Beef mince

Plain flour

(we also add a frozen mix packet of carrot, peas and corn)

Method:

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat add onion, carrot and celery. Cook stirring until soft. Add mince and cook, stirring to break up any lumps.

Add flour with beef stock and cook mixture until combined. Bring to boil then reduce heat to low and cook. Stir occasionally or until mixture thickens.

Cook potato in saucepan and boil until tender. Drain well. Add butter and milk and mash until smooth.

Preheat oven to 200 C. Spoon mixture into ovenproof baking dish and top with mashed potato. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until mashed potato is golden brown. 

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening where ever you are.

Little Things

Winter has arrived and the days have been cold, wet, and windy. It is a good time to stay indoors when possible. My garden is loving the rain. 

Meanwhile I have been doing some mix media painting. I'm on a Folk Art style at the moment and using up scrap supplies. I used up alphabet letters I have and had to cut some down and rearrange the letters to make the letters I didn't have. The word 'little' uses L's for T's and F's for the E. 

The video below shows how I go about creating the art.

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening where ever you are.

House keeping

I've  been doing  house keeping on my blog. I cleaned up links and added links that needed to be updated. I made the blog look more simple and cleaner. It's not perfect but it'll do. This will hopefully motivate me to post a little more often and comment around again too. 

Here is a recipe for Citrus and Rose-Scented Potpourri

Dried Scented Rose petals

Lavender

Lemon Balm

Dried grated rind of 2 large lemons

1 tsp ground allspice

1 tsp ground orris root

1 container

Method:

Mix the flowers and herbs together in an airtight container add the lemon rind and leave for 2-3 days. Add spices and orris root, stir well and leave for 6 weeks stirring occasionally.

Lavender and Lemon Balm are good insect repellents, so this will also be useful in sachets among linen. 

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening where ever you are.

Winter Winds

Winter has arrived with a cold blast. We had heavy rain the last couple of days and it has cleared up with winds to keep the temperatures down. Just before May ended we took a brief trip up to Hervey Bay and on the way back we had breakfast at the Rusty Ute Cafe in Woolooga. The cafe has a vintage retro vibe and it's well worth the stop if you are passing through.

With Winter about the trusty slow cooker is out making nice comfort food to keep warm.  Nothing is as easy to do as stew in the slow cooker. There is really not much you have to do with a slow cooker and it is worth the investment.

While my plants are enjoying the rain, not so much the cold, I am in doors working on a few projects it's a good time to work on them.

I hope everyone is warm and dry. We are going to have a wet winter I think.

Have a good day or evening where ever you are.

Winter signs

We had some really lovely weather, and the change of the season into winter had to come with heavy rains. It's a very over cast, grey day at the moment all the signs that autumn is ending to bring in winter. Looks like we are going to have a wet and windy winter.

With the rain and cold coming in it's good time to start pursuing some new skills. I attended the Toowoomba simple living workshop on Tunisian Crochet, or Afghan Crochet. It makes a very simple stitch and works up quickly. Our worship co-ordinator, Margy's husband made the hooks for us to buy. 

 

I've also been out and about, driving. My first trip was out to Bunnings for the garden. I won't talk about how I got lost....but at least I managed to park the car fairly straight in the carpark.

At home, I've been doing a few crafts. I brought some very cheap face washers to add some crochet edging to. Cheap face washers usually don't feel nice at first but they wash up okay. I'm thinking of adding a crochet one to make them a little more fancier gift. I'm also still working on the baby quilt, more to come about that soon. 

Meanwhile I'm on another learning curve with a new computer given to me by my sister. It's an Apple Mac and very different to Windows.  The hard part is figuring out the new way to edit photos and making movies as everything is so different. I'll figure it out eventually. I'm sure my posted photos will look a bit weird until I get the hang of things.

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening where ever you are.

Autumn Orange

It was a cooler morning this morning and still slightly over cast. I've been painting of late but the truth is I'm not feeling it. I'm in a bit of a artist block and it doesn't help I can't seem to find a subject and style I like. I'll paint through the block and hopefully something will come of it. I did an art journal page cutting up a piece of art I did at art class and rearranged the image then added in a scripture quote I thought fitted. 

As you can see I was inspired by my pot marigolds. This is mixed media on paper. The scripture is Isaiah 40:8 - The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. 

At home, I've also been cutting up and using some pumpkins Dad grew in his garden. I'm saving the seeds to start my own. If you have this Queensland blue pumpkin type growing at home and using it for mash Mum told me to add some sugar into it before you mash to sweeten the taste of it. 

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening where ever you are.