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Sunday, September 8, 2013

A floral update

We've had some amazingly warm weather the past couple of weeks so our garden is blooming.

 A baby cauliflower.  
We grew some cauli's last winter and after cutting the heads off I left the plants in the ground to harvest leaves for the chooks over the summer.  Then in late summer/ early autumn the plants sent up heaps of new shoots and over the past month we've been eating lots of baby cauliflowers.  One plant alone sent up four or five baby cauliflower heads.  So if you like cauliflowers and have space in your garden to leave the almost dormant plants over summer, you'll be rewarded with a crop in the second year.

 Nectarine blossom
We have a double grafted nectarine tree and  the blossom on the different grafts are slightly different pinks.  Both pinks are pretty and both are loved by bees!  This will be the third fruiting year for this tree, so we have our fingers crossed for a great harvest (if we can keep the birds away!).

 Cheerful spring stars
These are in a pot, but we are thinking of planting them under one of our fruit trees so they can spread through the garden.  A house not far from us has spring stars all through their front garden, it looks lovely and makes me smile every time we pass it.

Tulips
I never realised that some tulips have a scent - these have a gentle lemon scent.

Our lime tree had a good harvest this winter and I've been trying out Lime Pie recipes (but we eat them too fast for photos!).

Monday, June 24, 2013

Four Corners - Fashion Victims

Long time no speak (write?).  Sorry about that.

If you are interested in social justice issues around the production of cheap clothing you may want to watch tonight's episode of 'Four Corners', which reported on clothing manufacturing in Bangladesh.  If you don't have access to this highly respected Australian television show, you can read a bit about the story here - including some of the background research used.  'Fashion Victims' 

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Tick tock

On Saturday I'm flying to Queensland for a week for work.  It's a race against the clock for me to try and find time to finish this item because it will be just right for the warmer weather up there!


Monday, April 29, 2013

Learning to love Sydney

Since moving to Canberra a few years ago I've visited Sydney several times and I just never really enjoy it.  To me it is just a big, grey city without any of the charm of Australia's other big city (and my one time home), Melbourne.  But it is only three hours drive away and is full of sights, shows and shopping, so last year I decided that I needed to learn to love Sydney.  MH and I went again recently for a wedding, the weather wasn't very nice that weekend, but there was some yummy food, a couple of impressive views and a quick visit to a great fabric shop!

It's like a sushi train, but with desserts.  Sadly it sounds more exciting and delicious than it was, or maybe I just over hyped it to myself?


More desserts...


View through a taxi window - yes, it's the Harbour Bridge!


People actually live with this view everyday!  I can't imagine what the house prices here are like though...


Surely one of the best views from a wedding reception venue?  Later in the evening we could even see fireworks across the harbour.

So I still don't love Sydney, but I'm starting to like it (that's a good start!).

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Fit for a puppy...

Hurrah, MH has helped fix my photo issue!  So to celebrate, here is a cute photo for your Sunday night...


MH was taking photos of my latest toile when Tansy came seeking attention.

Woe is me

Is anyone else having problems uploading photos to blogger?  I've had this issue for a little while and though I have a couple of draft posts ready to post, they are drab and boring without photos.  So if you don't hear from me for a while it is because I'm still trawling the internet for help or sulking about my photo function loss..!

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Packing up

I don't know about you, but when I travel I always have lots of plastic bags in my suitcase.  For my shoes, my dirty clothes, to protect delicate items, to store newly purchased souvenirs - half of the items in my suitcase end up in plastic bags.  But there comes a time in every woman's life when even her shoe bags need to grow up a bit!  What a great excuse for a bit of scrap busting sewing.


I made three different sizes (each based on the amount of leftover fabric I had!).  They are a simple sack with a length of grosgrain ribbon for a drawstring.  Easy peasy to make and they will help the inside of my suitcase look so much prettier!  If you have any travel or packing tips (sewing or non-sewing!) please share them.