The Herb Garden...

I spent most of this weekend at home working on the garden. The weather was so nice and it was lovely to be outside. I decided this year to move my herb garden up next to the house so it is closer for picking herbs while I am cooking. In the past I have grown my herbs in a fridge down next to the vegie gardens.

(Converting a fridge to be used for a no-dig garden should be done by a licenced Refrigeration Mechanic. My husband is a licenced Refrigeration Mechanic so he checked to see if the fridge needed de-gasing and helped me remove the element off the back. We then drilled holes in the back of the fridge for drainage. )

This year I will use the fridge for salad greens. At the moment I have a healthy tomato seedling growing in the freezer section. It came up on it's own so I don't know what type of tomato it is, I am hoping it is a cherry tomato. They seem to do alot better than bigger varieties. Last spring I had a beautiful crop of tomatoes growing but with all the rain we had they got some sort of fungal disease and I had to pull them all out.

I planted a mixture of culinary, medicinal and tea herbs in my new herb garden. I planted some leek seedlings and marigolds as well. In an old rusty wheelbarrow I planted some basil, chives, peppermint and marigolds.

In this garden there is also a tomato seedling that came up out of the compost so I am trying a bit of companion planting with the basil, tomato and marigold.

Happy gardening...Mel

Queen Anne's Lace...

I learnt how to make this beautiful crochet pattern last week. It is so pretty and easy to do if you have basic crochet skills. I found this tutorial to show me how to do it. I like it so much I have just started another one.  

Weekend Diaries...

I had a great time away with some of my closest friends this weekend. We went to the Queensland Baptist Womens camp She is...

I had been looking forward to this camp since last year's camp. I wasn't disappointed. It was a great camp with very timely and practical bible teaching. I also had a great time away with my friends.

The camp was held in Mapleton, on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. Such a beautiful place to be.

This photo is actually taken from Montville but you get the idea. We spent Saturday afternoon in Montville shopping, drinking coffee and generally having a good time.

Until next time, Mel...

Weekend Diaries...

I thought I would start to keep track of all the things my husband and I get up to on the Weekends. We always seem to be heading somewhere on the weekend. About a month ago we went out to Mt Cotton to visit the Sirromet Winery and two weeks ago we went for a drive through Brisbane and ended up at the Brisbane Powerhouse. We got to the Powerhouse just in time for some free live music and a lovely glass of wine from Bar Alto.

This weekend we were back at the Brisbane Powerhouse for the album launch of an awesome A Capella group The Idea of North. This group is amazing. I like all kinds of music but I'm not a big concert goer. Having said that, I really enjoyed the show.

Sunday afternoon was spent at Portside Warf, Hamilton at the Merlo Coffee & Chocolate Affair. There was lots of coffee and chocolate on offer as well as cupcakes, fudge, brownies and live music.

The Blue Sky Coffee that I had was really nice. I like strong coffee and this coffee was stronger then the other one that I tried. I have quiet dreams of doing a Barista course one day, then I would be able to do pretty patterns on the top of a coffee like this...

After exploring all of the coffee and chocolate stalls we enjoyed some perfectly cooked calamari and chips and listened to Firefly, a jazz trio.

We finished off the afternoon with fresh strawberries dipped in belgian chocolate...very yummy.
Hope you had a lovely weekend...Mel

Accomplishments of a Housewife...

I like being at home. My home is a lovely, comfortable place to be. I also like feeling that I have accomplished something. Sometimes in the evening I sit down and think " what have I done today?". Lately I have been wasting alot of my time. It was really nice to spend yesterday and today at home. Yesterday was full of all the usual Housewifely accomplishments (cleaning the house, ironing the Husband's clothes, cooking etc...). Today I spent a few hours designing and making a new bag for my Basilbee product range. It is a lovely denim bag with vintagy bits and bobs appliqued onto the front of it. I really like how it turned out. This afternoon I got cosy on the couch with my crochet and several episodes of the UK television show " Escape to the Country". I like seeing the houses that are several hundred years old and imagining what life would have been like back when they were built.

On the weekend I decided it was high time I collected all the ripe passionfruit that were falling. There are at least 3 Passionfruit vines growing wild in various parts of our 1.5 acre block. The possums are getting alot of the fruit, most of which I can't reach. I removed the pulp from all of the ripe fruit and froze it in ice cube and ice block trays. I would like to try and make Passionfruit Butter sometime.

Until next time...Mel

Hello All...
Sorry for the long silence, I have been a busy little bee. In the future I will endeavour to post a lot more regularly. There has been so much going on. My little market stall business is buzzing along nicely. I am in the process of making it a whole lot more professional with the purchase of custom made tags for my bags and purses and opening an online shop. There is so much to do though; a credit card to be applied for, paypal account to be set up, and photos for the Blue Caravan application to be taken and sent. My bags and things are also going to be stocked in a new shop that is opening in the Top of Town Precinct in Ipswich. The shop is called Cultiver and is owned by the lovely girls from Little Bird and Little Brown Dog. So much excitment and work. Anyway, must go and keep on working.
                     Have a lovely day...Melissa

a confession, an obsession and an introduction...

I have a confession to make; I have been spending far too much time looking at other peoples wonderful blogs to keep mine up to date. For this I am truly sorry. Here are some of those wonderful blogs…Dottie Angel , The Royal Sisters , Attic24 and About Mo and Me.

I have also been immersing myself in crochet. I am loving it. I love the colours, the textures and the many, many things that can be made. The problem is that I start making something then get distracted and move on to something else. At the moment I am making a granny square cushion cover, a scarf and a pair of mary jane slippers.

Aside from my developing obsession with Crochet, I have been very busy with markets and sewing. My trusty sewing machine is permanently on the dining room table surrounded by beautiful vintage fabric, doilies, vintage buttons and denim. A truly inspiring combination. Many bags, purses and brooches have been made and are now being enjoyed by other people.

Well, with all of that out of the system, I thought I might introduce you to some of the little souls that share my abode.

This is Venus. He has been with me since I was in high school. He came to me as a tiny little ball of fur with bright blue eyes. Many mornings I woke up to find he had crawled under the covers of my bed and was stretched out along my side. Very endearing when you are a teenager. I'm not so sure I would like it now.

This is Prince also known as the Little Angel. He is the perfect one. Always wanting to please and wouldn't dream of doing anything naughty. He is a purebred Tri-colour Border Collie. Apparently these tri-colours are not that common so I get questioned about his parentage quite often.

The youngest of the trio is India aka The Naughty One. She is a doberman with a kennel name as long as your arm and german bloodlines that are apparently quite sort after. If there is any sort of mischief to be done, she is the one to do it. She quite often leads The Angel astray and pesters Venus.

I also have a husband but I don't think he would appreciate having his photo here for all the world to see.

Well I must be off to work on some of my unfinished crochet.  

A lovely Ordinary Day…

I had a lovely ordinary day yesterday. It was a beautiful clear day here in Ipswich just bursting with possibilities. Should I do my housework and ironing…no, save that for tomorrow, what about a bit of sewing…no, I did some last night. I know, how about some baking, pottering in the garden and birdwatching.

I love these super easy corn muffins. I have to credit my sister-in-law for this recipe. I don’t know where she got it from but it is great. The basic recipe is 1 can of creamed corn, then use that can to measure out 1 can of self raising flour and 1 can of grated cheese. Mix it all together using a wooden spoon then spoon out into a greased muffing tray. The size of your can of creamed corn determines the amount of muffins. A 420g can will make about 12 muffins. I added some onion and ham to my mixture. Very Yummy!

My veggie patch has been much neglected of late but it is still producing food for us to eat. I picked 3 lovely cucumbers and noticed that there are more on the way.

This is a picture of the veggie patch early in summer just bursting with goodness.

For afternoon tea I decided to try a 3 Minute Brownie recipe that I found the other day.  You need:

A mug…into that mug put:

4 tablespoons of self raising flour

4 tablespoons of sugar

2 tablespoons of cocoa powder and mix

Then add

1 egg

3 tablespoons of milk

3 tablespoons of oil

Mix well and microwave for 3 minutes on high.

It will rise up in the mug and may spill a little so put the mug on a plate. Once the microwave has finished let the brownie settle back into the mug and it is ready to eat. I put some Rosella jam on mine and it was yummy.

I finished the day by watching these lovelies at the birdfeeder.

A lovely ordinary day. Now I must go and do the housework, I will reward myself with a spot of shopping after lunch.

Catch-up

I have been so busy the last few weeks that I haven't had much time for blogging, emailing, facebook or anything in computerland. My parents came to stay for a couple of weeks, I have been madly sewing for markets and just life in gerneral has been hectic. I thought I would post some photos of whats been happening as a catch-up.

 We went for a day trip to Toowoomba...

 Mum and I went to the Craft Fair at the Brisbane convention centre...

 I had a stall at the Top of Town Boutique Markets in Ipswich...

 enjoyed the beautiful Autumn days...

 I made this beautiful Birdie cushion. The pattern for this can be bought from here.

 Did some more crochet...

 Went shopping with mum. She bought me this beautiful teapot...

and did alot of sewing.

Hello Autumn...

I love autumn. I love the crisp, fresh air, the clear, beautiful mornings and the colourful autumn leaves. My husband and I went to Tasmania for our honeymoon 6 years ago and I absolutely loved it. Autumn and winter remind me of that trip.

I live in an area of Queensland that gets cold enough in winter to have a wood burning stove burning all night and some of the day. This year I have decided to make use of this. The top of it has a surface that you can cook on so I am determined to find recipes that I can use for this purpose. Last year I got as far as making scrambled eggs on the stove. I used freshly laid eggs from my lovely chooks and herbs from my herb garden.

We have been stockpiling fire wood all summer. I am really looking forward to it being cold enough to light the woodburner for the first time this year. It seems crazy to be thinking about this in March when it is still quite warm during the day but the evenings and mornings are getting cooler and sometimes even a little chilly.

To usher in the new season, I have taken up my newly aquired crochet hooks and am learning to make cosy necklaces and pretty hairclips. This necklace is my latest creation. I am planning to make myself a neckwarmer and mary jane slippers next.

Have a happy autumn....

February Market Days

The markets were very quiet during February. Here are some photos from my days at the Rivers of Life Market Baazar at the Tivoli Drive-in theatre, Ipswich, Queensland.

I was tickled pink to learn that one of the bags I sold is heading to Bega, N.S.W and another is heading to England.
I am having so much fun sewing and thinking of new things to make. At the moment I am trying to design a bag using the legs of jeans and vintage fabric and doilies. I will post photos of the results.

Red...

I have been craving red the last few weeks. Here are some of the red things I have been enjoying.

February Ten on Ten

 morning dishes

 capturing the sunlight

 on my way out the door

 a little shopping

 walking through town

 a visit to the library, opps my books are overdue

 thrift shop finds

 more captured sunlight

unpacking the shopping

afternoon sunshine