cookin up a storm...

oh I just love this country living!!! so wholesome, and busy and .....

roast veges to pop in the couscous for a salad - I have already cooked the cajun chicken....

and these plums are just everywhere in Twizel for the picking, apples coming up quickly, as is are the nectarines and peaches - we don't have a plum tree unfortunately, but a must for planting on our section I say, in fact a mini orchard methinks ... these are from a friends house, her tree is absolutely laden, plums for Africa!!

so into the pot...

and gently cook em up, remove all the stones, 'cos I haven't actually decided what I will make with them - maybe jam, maybe sauce.... so in the meantime I am just popping them in containers and in the freezer, as I have sooooooo many of these darn little things!!! ... and they are so so tasty!!

now, cleaning/tidying up/out the stash, and YES - NY resolutions (not that I believe in them or follow any), but I have decided to use up stash fabric before buying up too much more, delete rather then add, you know the drill, and it is still pretty early in the year, so I will try.... Following frugal Fiona's ways (thanks to you Fiona!)... anyway, I have 1/2 metre of each of the above 3 sisters range from Moda ...

and this lovely absolutely scrummy georgeous poppy fabric, not sure whose fabric range it belongs to, maybe about a metre. So thoughts guys, what should I do with these then???

time for this, while decision making on hold, it is the hour you know, and the sun is starting to head away, although it is still pretty darn hot! Looking at the barometer thingee, it reads ... yikes it is 28 degrees, no wonder I feel lacking in some energy - and before you say it,... it is not the wine as I haven't actually had any yet, I just thought it would make a good photo!... but I will... and then I will be ready for this...

p.s. the holes that I was digging this morning, and I tell you that it is not an easy task digging in this Twizel alluvial rock and stone laden soil... but 3 planted, and 5 more to go... tomorrow. (I was gonna get Rowing Man to help me tonight but he is on call and out saving lives - 'cest la vie!)

breathtaking views

look at the views that welcomed me on my morning walk today -


what a perfect way to start the day!!

Now let me show you what I have been up to for the last 2 days....

the weather has been quite hot, so I have been hibernating indoors with the air conditioning on...

I have had these charm squares for some time, so pulled them out and lay them out on the floor, what to do huh...

a little bit of sewing here, and there, and a rejig around a little bit, and hey, we have these...

and then we have this!

needs some backing, quilting and binding - my shopping list is growing.

...and then I hunted out this fabric which I have had for absolutely ages and ages, and pieced this together....

and then... found this selection

and started some more piecing....

and a bit more..

but right now, I am going outside to dig a few more holes before it gets too hot to do so!

see you later...will need to drop back in for a long cool drink or four, or five...

stitchin' Sunday

remember these fabric strips from yesterday's post - this is a challenge from my local quilt group

which needs to be finished by the end of February, ... I think???

so as today was really hot and sticky, I decided to stay indoors and stitch these together

and they all came together rather nicely even 'tho they are a pretty random assortment of fabric patterns and colours,

and voila!!!!

need some borders now, not sure if I have anything that is suitable, so I may need to wait for the next trip to town which is a few weeks away... oh well

let me leave you with these lovelies, I would love to take ownership, but these delightful heavily scented beauties are from my friends garden, she only planted them a few months ago - this land up here really produces wonderful stuff!!!

Enjoy your week,

and the week rolls on by...

we have a vegetable garden!! YAY!! ... newly planted out with a variety of lettuces, spinach, silver beet (one of my very very favourite meals is poached eggs on silver beet or spinach on wholegrain toast with fresh shaved Parmesan - oooh mouth watering!).... hmmm and a few cabbage and broccoli. Yum Yum!

and the lavender has all been cropped and hung to dry

the first batch all ready...

and some stitching at nighttime - I love these Cottage Garden threads, they are soooo lovely to work with,

and of course, I am a real fan of redwork, a gal can never do too much redwork now!

such cute girls these 2 - remind you of anyone...

the local group that I belong to - is currently on summer break until school goes back in February - but in October we were all issued with a challenge; we all had to contribute 3 x 21/2" strips so with the 12 or so all participating in the challenge, that's about 36 long strips of fabric,

what a mixture huh! Lots of lovely fabrics, but not likely what you might choose to put together in one quilt, BUT that is the challenge, should we choose to accept it - nothing will self destruct however - so not quite mission impossible then...

lots of lovely purples - if only purple was a favourite colour - but alas... anyhoo - Stephanie has a challenge going on over at her blog, and maybe, just maybe I can kill 2 birds with one stone (hmm that is such a dreadful saying!), pop over have a look, and join up in the "no strings attached challenge"...

this looks better in real life - truly it does, sometimes photos just do not do our work justice, but I put together several of these this week,

and this is the only one that I have left. Some of our Twizel holiday friends are plunger coffee addicts, so I made some much brighter cheerier ones for their coffee pots,


and I got the dregs so to speak.

and I did these gorgeous Rosalie Quinlan stitcheries and made up the cutest little needle cases from one of her patterns that I have had for bit now... ad made before, they are s quick and easy.

I quite like this life of mine really....

(and before you think that I am sad and pathetic posting on a Saturday night - Rowing Man is on call this weekend, and is currently transporting (via ambulance) a young tramper who has managed to fall off Mt Cook, and has chest pain (maybe fractured ribs??) and multiple lacerations - he needs a hospital methinks! Hence I am home alone, and making productive use of my time!

I hope you are all having a fabulous weekend,

we have a teeny tiny house, and not near enough storage, it was fine as a holiday home, but not quite enough room or storage for everyday living.. so out come the plans.....

and a little bit of co-operation, discussion, and then get to work...

and we now have one of these..

this is our new pantry! Just needs filling now...


it was very sunny 2 minutes ago, and then the thunder clapped very loudly, and the heavens opened!

we put in a new garden area this afternoon, and put the sprinkler on to water being a very hot sunny dry day!!!


but no need, as the rain is just pouring down right now, it is getting a double dose of watering, as I am NOT going out there to turn off the hose.

and the electrical interference has interrupted the news!

guess I will just have to find something to do from this basket then....