Friday at the Homestead.

It was a glorious day for my ego. My Takeaway Cappuccino cup holder bags were received with great enthusiasm and excitement and 3 were sold on the spot yet I only had 2 on me so it is a good thing I have some I prepared earlier at home. The response was fantastic and a good lesson in "having faith in your own product"
Anyhow, enough gloating......
The Homestead is evolving and growing as fast as we can make a latte. I am excited to be able to tell everyone of our new Tuesday morning group that Pam is running and has appropriately named The Homestead P.I.P's after half a day of deliberating over a name.

Every Tuesday from 10am - 12pm The Homestead will be running a group for Projects in Progress in the room shown below for women to come a long with their current W I P S (works in progress). For a small donation of $2.00 interested people can come and chat and craft with other like minded folk. I am definitely signed up for it and will sneakily lure Pam into teaching me more complex embroidery techniques and that ribbony type embroidery(it has a fancy name, not yet stored in my limited vocabulary)

Of course she will have the table cleared and the fire lit by then. Yes! An open fire place!

And don't think you have to rush out when you are done. If you bring your lunch you can sit in the gorgeous grounds and picnic or treat yourself to a Latte at the Cafe.

I am very excited to be supporting my lovely friend Pam in this as we needed an outlet in our area that was closer for us Berwick/Narre people and of course EVERYONE from any where is welcome.

This is a community run group and the donation will go back into the running of community projects.

Well haven't I had an exciting day?

I hope your Friday was and will be just as fantastic.

Cheers all

Melanie

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My creative space

My new bags. hot nundes!
2 cup takeaway cappuccino carrier
My creative space was my coffee table today. I scrounged a piece of old plywood to use as a mobile cutting board. Do you find that once you cut with cutter blade thingies you just cant go back to scissors for big production cutting?

Now to clean up the mess........ I am very very satisfied with how they turned out and content with my success. BUT What if Phyl hates them at the Homestead ?.... what if everyone hates them? what if the quality just isn't good enough....? Do you do this to yourself after you finish a job? lol
To have a peek at some fabulous creative spaces or to join in check out the list of awesome ladies at Kootoyoo's blog

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Well.....

Yes I am, Thanks for asking!

My virus has gone and left me looking haggard and tired but there's one thing I can say about a virus/flu...

You feel awesome when they go away!

So after a quick tidy up and a check under the rugs for any other hidden plagues, I commenced doing what I was unable to do for an entire week. Create!
This pic is snippet of a prototype that I have successfully constructed today by request of The Homestead and tonite I will draw up the pattern on paper for mass production. Oh, well what I mean by mass is maybe about 10 or so OK. Hey, for me that's mass !!! We will see how they go first. More of that tomorrow.
Thanks to everyone who wished me wellness or who made fun of my snottiness. And NO the cat is not going to replace me. Nice try fluffball. Great to be back on deck. Now I need a week to catch up on my blogroll. Don't you bloggers ever stop typing to BREATH lol. There are hundreds of them I am behind on.
Hope all is well in your world
Cheers
Melanie

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A message from Cat nunde

a message from team nunde's cat

" I have been elected to inform you that the nunde residence is now under quarantine because everyone in it has a plague of some kind. There is much snot, many sneezes and worst of all the dishes haven't been done, dogs not walked and I was given generic cat food by some dimwit because no one has done any grocery shopping. Look at me, I am wasting away!!!!!"

"No crafting of any kind has been done and shall not be permitted until I receive decent cat food and until further notice boss nunde is on sick leave" (housebound/trapped/miserable/useless)

"she hopes you are all well and in better shape than her."

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Trash Talk on Tissues

It is Tuesday again and on this particular Tuesday I am a walking ball of phlegm and I look like dead warmed up from feverish sleep. I sat at my desk and saw a pile of tissues which prompted me to practice what I preach and research what I am consuming.
I want to share this with you and even if it is Greenpeace bias, there is no other way to make tissues and using recycled paper tissues creates a need for new paper products to be produced in the first place.

Consume with a conscience

You Tube on tissues and deforestation here

I simply couldn't work out how to embed it today.

Questions to ponder
What do we use instead? Handkerchiefs? What impact does this have on the environment from its initial production to its rewashing to it's disposal.?

I don't have all the answers if any. I am merely prompting thoughts. Until further investigation my conscience can only deal with using handkerchief's for now.

Cheers

Melanie

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My Creative Space

My creative space is so full since I go my mojo back.

These are what I have been playing with today

The family scrap book dragged out to update. I have decided to keep this close by for when I am watching TV and stuff. Good idea? It just gets lost and never done if it is in the shed. I should make a bag for it all, SWEET! There's another project to sew. Im not really a scarpbooker. I bet theres a tonne of things I need to do this project but dont have.

next in line cluttering up the space is this new yarn to add to my blankie. Reminds me of marshmallows.
Inch by inch the blanky grows. I will be knitting more during Greys anatomy tonight.

Next is my collection of leaves I collected with my son today after school to be pressed then made into a garland(idea was suggested by another clever blogger and once again I forgot which one, so sorry) . I need to make another press. I am hoping to press them flat but still maintain the texture and colors. I am running out of time and have to hunt for reddish leaves before they all shrivel up.


I cant wait until they are usable. I'm love love loving Autumn

If you are craft minded, check out Kootoyoo's post to have a look at other creative spaces.

If you love interior design stuff and all things pink and poodley, check out Daisy Pink Cupcake Its so girly and yummy and evidence I do have a froo froo side. I like leaving it until she has a few weeks of posts build up and then it is just like reading a magazine. Magaziney things always get me inspired

Now I am off to make myself a Vanilla Latte and I am going to check out all of you other creative bunnies and soak up the cleverness.

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Skinny Scarfs

Miss nunde stole my skinny scarf that went with my set of skinny scarfs

My first attempt at crocheting something I would be seen in public with.

Looks better on her I think

Yay me for learning to crochet better.

Just got back from lunch with Nanni nunde and Miss nunde

My diet just went to hell!

Later that day, yet another one of my skinny scarf set stolen, leaving me with 3. This time by my mother. I mean what am I gonna say after she shouted me for lunch, "give it back wench" I am starting to see a pattern here. Clearly skinny scarfs are in. Ill have to start knitting fat ones if I intend to keep them.....

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The Posty

brought me this.

sexy!

Micro router bits for making teency weency things that make me smile.


What am I doing today?


Having lunch with my mum and daughter, what the heck will I wear?


Striking some pellie cuttings for sale in September.


Working on my website - why is it taking me so long?




What are you doing today?

Whatever it is, have fun!


Cheers

Melanie

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Cotton dish cloths Done Mothers day Done Monday, bring it on! My Groove is back!!!

Mission Accomplished
Mission : Hand made 100 percent cotton dish washing cloths that can be composted
Materials : 2 towels purchased at Spotlight @ $4.99 each Total $10.00
Procedure: Measure 9.5"x9.5"

Cut

Sew with totally awesome Over locker for the first time.

Result: 4 x hand towels to hang over my cupboard door from left overs

12 Dish washing cloths

Cost $10.00

Time 1 hour

Cost of sponges that they are replacing @ $1 a week worked out on an average per year

Total $52.00

Cost to my family saved = $42.00

Cost saved to environment - Priceless

Now to Mothers day

Yay!, I was given a spotlight voucher. So off I skipped, no not really because that would look stupid, to spotlight.

I came home with a new sugar bowel & jug

A ball of wool to finish my scarf

and this is what excited me most and I may have even skipped a little bit in my head.

A bag pattern close to one I am working only this will save me hours of trying to make a pattern from scratch.

Brilliant!

Highlights of my weekend

my dishcloths

reading the comment where Baino called me anally retentive(priceless and so true)

receiving a whole day of massages from Master nunde (8yrs) that were so delicate it gave me the creepy feeling that insects were crawling over my shoulders, bless him.

sitting on my bum doing nothing but self indulgent things all Sunday

Deciding that Master nunde(8yr old) was finally well enough to go back to school after having 4 days of last week off and driving me BONKERS.

Getting my Groove back!

Hope you had a great weekend!

And just in case my mum happens to read this

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MUM XOX

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Philosophical Plaques and Plans

True story! It's not me it's them!!!

I have a goal this weekend and I am hoping it will get me back into a groove. With work, my friend Joyce having a stroke, taking her to Drs for follow ups and checking in on her and master nunde getting a virus that sounds like hooping cough, I have lost my groove. It wont be hard to find it again and I do have valid reasons for becoming too distracted to nurture said groove. Alas, I do need it back, a week without yer groove is to long man....

Totally irrelevant but not, I ran out of dish washing sponges and vowed I was sick of contributing to landfill with them so I vowed to make my own dishcloths. Sewn, not knitted and made of 100% cotton that can be thrown in the compost. Yay!
So this is my mission
Make dishcloths
Get my groove back
Start diet again
Make Joyce some date scones because she said she likes them
All done by Sunday night.

It is now blogged so it must be done, right?
Show and tell of abovementioned dishcloths to be posted with in the next 48hrs.
Ta Ta for now

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Friday ...on my mind

I have been reading blogs more than blogging on my own lately and thought I would share sites that I have found inspirational. Links provided in the titles of each.

Clap for this!

Think on this:

Food and drink: Wasted after the party

Gasp at this!

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Trash Talk

Is your pantry like mine the days coming up to payday? Empty of all things deemed yummy by pantry stalkers? Mr nunde has an ongoing joke now because when it gets close to payday and the convenient food is all gone I go all Chef like and cook like I should cook for the entire fortnight. This is when mr nunde expresses his joy at the food he is presented with by saying "Oh, It must be close to payday" and depending on what kind of mood I am in he could be either eating or wearing that plate of delicious food.

Budget

We work to a budget you see. I am very strict about it so if the pantry is bare then I have to get creative and I hate waste. I have tried hiding food but they find it and upon discovering food deemed edible by children they must consume it all with in minutes because rationing isn't in their vocabulary. So like most households, the food just doesn't make it the whole term it was budgeted for unless you apply a lock to the pantry and that might not work either because my teenagers know where the Bolt cutters are.

Ingredients

These are the ingredients I used. Some are modified for 2 reasons a) short supply of said ingredient. b) some old recipes are heavy handed with sugar and butter and this has been reduced where possible because it is better for me and my kids. The taste is just as great I assure you.

Scrounged from the depths of the pantry

2 expensive cereal packets with a bowls worth of product left in each but no one will touch them because it seems in our house you might die if you ever ate the last thing left in any packet.

2 Apples that will never be eaten because mother nature allowed a blemish and in our house, clearly you can die if you eat apples with blemishes.

remnants of choc buds for cooking, yes, even the choc buds can kill you if they are the last few in a packet. 3 rejected packets were found on this occasion.

A packet of frosting - no idea where that came from, I hate frosting.

cream - I cant even remember what I bought that for and I have lost my fortnightly menu (yes, I write a menu, I am Virgo OK and apparently I am supposed to do things like that) I also list it and my fortnightly ingredients on a spreadsheet with cost of said ingredients are stored and totalled. Are you rolling your eyes yet?)

Spring onions roots?

Recipes

Click on pictures for recipes

Custard Cupcakes

Irish Apple Cake

Modified chocky rock (delicious and healthy)

The Homestead Scones - sorry, that recipe is a secret.

The mess

If you buy Spring Onions from the grocer like I do, don't throw the ends out. Plant them! They are awesome and will just keep producing. Great experiment for kids if you cant be bothered.

So there you have it. I have saved money, used up scraps to reduce landfill/compost and provided fresh cooked food for the family. I can hear my mother now...literally because she just said it yesterday,"Melanie, you know you are becoming just like me" to which I argued "I am not, stop saying that" but really I knew I was........ On ya mum!

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Oh Dear! I went and made myself sick

I tried and tested some old recipes given to me to modernise them for the weight conscious like me in the hope to share them with you. Now that's all great and heroic of me I know(insert praise here) but the one thing that one must not do when one attempts heroics is forget you are intolerant to just about every food on the planet .....so please don't try EVERYTHING THREE TIMES...

So I feel a little bit sick and in pain, but it was worth it because every single recipe worked out and now I have something to blog about tomorrow because the topic is "Waste not want not".
I may rename it to "Not Baking, Bloating" or some other witty title. At least my children have spectacular food to take to school so I have raised my faction as a good mother and that is what it is all about right?. I am in for a rough night. Bring back the days when I would wake up 3 times a night to munch on freddo frogs while I was half asleep and suffered no consequences........or did I?
Ta Ta for now!

Melanie

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All Dolled up on Sunday

No not me silly billies, the dolls at the annual Doll Show that was held at The Old Cheese Factory

Now, I couldn't get passed this old dear unless I had $5 for the entry fee so no photos sorry but I have a photo in lieu. One of Jane's creations which is just as good as any show doll , especially because she is also a volunteer at The Homestead.

Janes Doll, isnt she pretty?

While I am singing Jane's praises, she makes a wicked cappuccino AND she is a Lamp work bead Artist.

So we were flat out today. Boy those Doll Makin Ladies can drink coffee and they had us run off of our feet. Good thing our feet ain't made of cloth eh?

Now that my blogging is done. I am enjoying my coffee that I did not make and I am waiting for dinner which I am not cooking.

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