fresh milk

Early yesterday morning, the Curry family very kindly took us out to a friends farm, where they and two other families cow-share a jersey called Sandy.

We had a go milking her with our bare hands and then listened as the electric milker (made from converted parts of an old tractor) whirled away.

Full respect to Sandy, who at the time was technically 'tandem nursing' as she was also in calf.

There was something wonderfully warm and delicious about the whole experience from teat to

tall glass.

not forgetting the beautiful barn...

the light lending a cathedral like drama

a bone dry wood pile

stables littered with straw

getting fatter geese

the little boy and a big toy

the somehow captivating corrugated iron....

a lamp post shadow

and paint peeling from sign referencing Scotland.

Ti's the good life for sure.

cut it out

Sometimes the prospect of a sit down sewing session seems like too much hard work, to intensive and requiring too much attention to detail. It's on lazy days like these when I cut out a million things instead. Then the layers of fabric and tissue sit staked on top of one another, shelved until I feel more energized and purposeful.

Other days I feel the urge to sew, but are indecisive about what exactly to commit to, which makes it more convenient to have spent these lazier days lining up projects that are all ready and good to go. Beginning can be the hardest part right?

Shelved for days when I have more drive, are the following..

A backpack with HARD WEAR...yeah!

in this laminate by Nani Iro and contrast linen by Etsuko Furuya from these folks

50's fabric from Jan Howden at the Mayfield junk shop.... SSSsshhh its a secret.

and again, good for girlie summer smocks etc

And a duvet cover for the wee lass,- which I was persuaded into, having a little too much pink in it for my liking, which I am hoping I will be able to over look in favour of the minty/mustard tones.

down at the docks with hipstamatic

tilted

harbour

I used to live in the house at the top of that hill

beautiful sans beret

fisherman

save yourself

one glove

iron lungs

perched

two tanks one hill

Hipstamatic is an i-phone application that is downloadable from your phone for a couple of dollars. More than just cheesy polaroids, it has 3 film and lens options and juicy colour saturation.

potatoes and lavender

Yesterday, the 3 year old and I decided that we wanted to sew some lavender bags as gifts -from fabric printed with potato stamps and hand cut stencils.

Instead of buying specific fabric to print on, I cut up an old linen shirt- which was about six sizes too big for me.

Linen takes on the fabric paints beautifully and the weave in it suits these forgiving, organic looking techniques.

I cut some really simple stencil shapes free hand from an old soy milk container with a X- acto knife and carved up the flat side of a potato cut in half.

We mixed up two different shades of blue fabric paint onto saucers and went for it in own own instinctive way to cover all the panels of the shirt.

I got engrossed in the repetition of the potato stamp.... paint, press, lift, paint, press, lift...

For the stencils, we used a proper stencil brush -which you use in a vertical dabbing motion to prevent any bleeding of the paint under the surface of the stencil.

After we had dried and heat set the paint with an iron, we cut out some 26x19cm rectangles, including a 1 cm seam allowance around 3 sides. We opted to include some of the shirt cuff for interest and folded them in half long ways with right sides together ready for sewing.

We also made some small strap loops- kinda like bias binding, so you can hang them in your wardrobe (lavender repels moths) and on door handles (great for freshening up a stuffy room). They were sewn into the bag, with the ends extending beyond the seam edge.

Once two sides were sewn, we turned them right side out and stuffed them full of lavender that we had harvested earlier in autumn, ironed the opening inwards and top stitched it shut.

The wee man loves getting to push the foot control peddle on the sewing machine. It's got to be the next best thing to driving a car.

Also, just so those of you with children don't get the wrong impression, this was done over two afternoons- the printing on one day and the sewing the next. It's important to have realistic expectations and outcomes, especially when you're crafting with kidlets!

Et voila!

The printing resource book. You can get it here or here

Nothing nicer than falling asleep with a hottie AND a lavender bag in your pillow (it will exert a soporific effect)

... MMmmm bliss

kiwifruit jam

A friend of mine has a huge triffid-like kiwifruit vine strangling everything within reach, on an empty section he owns. He very kindly gave me and my gleaning ways, the full go ahead to help myself to them whenever the time was right. So, for the last six weeks I have been eagerly checking up on the ripening process, squeeze testing them and hoping to sense some softness. The birds finally let me know when they were ready and that wasn't until after we had a few frosts and the vine had dropped most of its leaves. I guess they are like some grape varieties and they need the frost to concentrate the sugars inside. It certainly looks a lot like a grape vine...on steroids!

They are best picked when they are still a tad firm, as they will ripen quickly in the fruit bowl at home ...nothing worse then having over ripe kiwifruit, which aren't too good for anything once they start to taste fizzy and alcoholic. If you have a lot that are ready all at once, they are quite nice frozen for sorbets and smoothies and slushy ice blocks for the kids.

I was a bit dubious about the idea of cooking with kiwifruit - it seems sacrilegious, but I quite like the idea of trying a kiwifruit cake and muffins for school lunches etc. I also read about fresh kiwifruit as an accompaniment to a curry which sounds delicious. I was however, completely sold on the idea of trying out kiwifruit jam and I'm so glad I did.

The recipe is basically the same one from this book, but I omitted the oranges that were recommended in favour for four lemons which I had on hand.

It goes a little something like this...

2 oranges

2 lemons (or 4 lemons as I did)

1.4 kg kiwifruit

6 cups sugar

Peel skins off citrus with a peeler and place peel in a piece of muslin tied with string.

Squeeze the juice form citrus into a preserving pan and add to this the peeled and chopped kiwifruit and the muslin bag. Cook gently on low until kiwifruit is tender. Add the sugar and stir continuously until dissolved. Boil until setting point is reached. Pour into warm jars and seal with jam covers.

I am a jammer. I love making jams. Previously pear and ginger was my favourite ...or grandmas raspberry jam. But now it's kiwifruit jam. Seriously divine. The lemons weren't dominating. The kiwis can hold their own. My taste buds were dancing and I can't wait for breakfast.

weekending

Castle Rock - up on the summit road. There's a track that loops the whole way round.

A great place to watch the sunset. Think we'll take a picnic next time.

stan the man

This is what happens when you're naughty. At least this is what happened to Stan The Naughty Fimo Man. He got tossed into our diorama prison and was left lying in a bed too small beside a blocked toilet. Was it an crime of passion? A robbery or sorts? The word on the street is that, I quote "he stole our money and used all our water and smashed our car up and smashed up our house too"

This recent stint at model making was prompted by a visit to the historic Oxford jail. The boys got to see first hand what these formidable jails they have heard so much about really look like. I was reluctant to explain that now days they have access to t.v, sky, junk food, drugs and a higher education, just in case it started to sound appealing.

The Fimo modelling compound we used to make Stan's hands, feet and head out of, is like plasticine, except it sets hard when it's been baked in the oven for ten minutes. We put holes into them first so we could stitch them onto the rest of his body, which was made with some bits of scrap wool rolled up into tubes. We inserted wire into them to make them bendy.

You can read a bit more about Fimo here, we're awfully fond of it.

Crusket boxes are easy to come by round these parts, so we cut one up along with some corrugated cardboard and painted them with poster paints to make the jail. Matchsticks were used for the bars on the window with plenty of PVA as always. It was a pretty quick and crude set up that took a couple of hours tops.

I am happy to report that I am getting some good mileage from it though. The addition of police cars and a zoo full of animals are making for some pretty interesting dramas being played out.

Actually, considering how tired I'm feeling today, it looks like the perfect place to get some peace and quiet and clock up a whole lot of sleep. I think I'll rename our villain Lucky Luke, set him free and get myself into some serious trouble.