Scatterbrained

Yesterday was Australia Day

I am in the habit of doing my blog posts first thing in the morning. I usually write about the day before but I am thinking about changing it and doing it of a night time instead. Yesterday of course was Australia Day. We had planned a day BBQing on our river bank and having some friends over but Scott's fishing partner really wanted to go on a practise fish for a big fishing competition in a couple of weeks, and to tell you the truth, all the summer socialising is wearing me out a bit.

So I happily gave up our Australia Day plans so he could go fishing. Instead, I took the kids fishing for trout on our river bank. We almost caught a big eal but no trout. Luckily Scott caught some fish which we had for dinner along with the traditional BBQ sausages.

After the fishing it was swimming and play time at our favourite spot on the river.

I went to Launceston the other day and bought four more books in the Sookie Stackhouse series. This one of course is number three!

The kids got naked and decided to to some nude construction building. They dismantled the steps I made to the water on New Years to make an underwater bridge.

 

Then they dismantled the bridge and made a bathtub in the middle of the river.

So we had a nice relaxing Australia Day this year and we woke up this morning to find this, AT LAST!

Clover, the last of my cows to give birth finally had.

Sometime early this morning. We didn't think this one was ever going to come out. Poor Clover could hardly walk.

 

Now there is only one more baby left to be born and this one will be the owner of 'The Secret Project' I am still yet to finish.

Some of the other creative things I have been doing lately are making pineapple vinegar.

If you want to try this go here.

I have started crocheting scarves for my market stall. Not that anyone would buy a scarf in this weather but on a cold Sunday morning at the Evandale Markets a scarf would come in handy if you don't have one already so I am stocking up.

 

This is a little Valentines Day present for Scott. For his phone.

I made it out of thrifted recycled wool yarn which I dyed myself.

I finished another vampire. This one is The Vampire Le Feu.

I spun this wool,

into this yarn.

I'm crocheting this into a scarf as well.

I have a lot of unfinished projects I need to get on with so that is what I'll be doing for the rest of this week. We have an overnight birthday camping party this weekend so I might take a bunch of crocheting along for that.

Vampires and vegies

We had a little vegie harvest.

Big yellow zucchinis, two different kinds of squash, beans and two different kinds of tomatoes. They are all delicious.

I have to find some good zucchini recipes because these yellow ones are growing fast!

This lovely wool came in the mail at the end of last year from an online friend and I pulled it and spun it on Saturday night.

Here it is drying after I washed it. I'm not very good at spinning but fortunately I love the over spun bits as much as I love the underspun bits :)

I have already crocheted it into a little purse. I haven't taken a photo yet but I'll do that today.

I spun this one from wool from my own sheep. Some is dyed red but most of it is natural. The yellow and orange wispy bits are locks from those curly wooled sheep. They are not mine but I think I need some :) I have already crocheted this into a little 'pot'. Photos to come.

So here is the Vampire Isabell (with no E on the end). She didn't take as long as Petunia because there wasn't quite as much stitching but I like her. I still haven't quite gotten her fangs sharp enough. I like how the ink comes out on the cotton fabric. I need to get some more of this.

I am starting another vampire today.

I also have a new kitchen bench :) This is what the old one looked like.

Pretty ugly hey! I got our builder to use plywood for the new bench because I wanted something cheap. Eventually this kitchen will be pulled out and will become a walkway to our extension when we get around to doing that, sometime in the future.

Here the new bench is in its raw state. Looks nice.

And then I rubbed it down with linseed oil.

A year of creativeness

So I have been doing something everyday like I promised and it has been easy to find something quick to do. There was one day I was feeling unmotivated and didn't do anything but I made up for it by working on two projects the next day.

This is a little vampire lady I am stitching up. I was inspired by Charlaine Harris's Sookie books. I used white ink for her face and a little water colour for her make-up and lots of stitching. I'm really enjoying this and expect you will see a few more vampires coming from me in the future. It is my original design. She needs ears!

I have finished the vintage duck but I didn't do a very good job on it. I have a habit of using too much thread on projects which are too small.

I finished Dustin's scarf too. Ruby asked what I was making and I told her but said "Don't tell Dustin. It's a secret". Dustin came back forty-five seconds later to see his new scarf :) 

The answers to some questions

Fleasha asked "What is dampa?" It is Aussie bread traditionally cooked over a camp fire. You can cook it in the oven as well. Like Sam said it is nice cooked with cheese although I haven't put sage in it before and now I have to because cheese and sage dampa sounds great. What kind of cheese do you use Sam?

The thing about dampa is it is only really good warm out of the oven or camp fire with loads of butter. After that it goes a bit dry but maybe you can find a better recipe. I'll make another dampa this week and post my recipe on my blog.

Sandra asked "How big is the island and what is on it?" (about Flinders Island) I am not really sure how big it is. It has 450km's of dirt and sealed roads, I remember that. Probably the best way to understand how big it is is to look it up on Google Earth. We spent a lot of time doing that before we went away. I wonder if I can save a Google Earth pic and post it to my blog?

Most of the island is farm land. There are a couple of very small towns with not a lot in it. The island only has two pubs. Loads of cows and sheep. Most of the island is quite dry. There is a national park in the south of the island.

The population is 850. The people are pretty... basic? They live simple and uncomplicated lives. They were all very friendly and welcoming.

Tracey asked "How on earth did they get the rope up that high?" (About the swing from this post.) Can you believe someone climbed all the way up that tree! Jesse has a tree trimming and removal business and one of his employees has a bit of a talent for tree climbing!

These photos were taken before we went on holidays. The potatoes were coming along nicely and the hay was ready for cutting. The two freishan cows, Willow and Clover, are due to give birth this month. Probably later in the month but I am keeping a close eye on them now.

Here is yesterdays 'creativeness' for the day.

It is a tea towel I began embroidering while on holidays. Almost finished now.

Ba ba black sheep!

One of my favourite things is to embroider on plain white tea towels. I have been begging online friends in the US to send them to me because you cant seem to get them in Australia. If anyone knows of a source please let me know. I have even tried making my own but I am yet to find an appropriate fabric. All the fabrics I have tried haven't been as absorbent as these lovely Indian cotton ones.

My plan is to replace all the ugly tea towels with pretty new embroidered white ones. The problem is every time I embroider one I give it away. This one is for a lady who likes sheep.