a day of sewing.....a day of joy!!!

I love school holidays.....no getting the kids out of bed, out of the shower, out the door. Everyone can slip into their own little routine. They can wake up when they are ready and I CAN SEW ALL DAY if I want to. Justin's mum is staying with us at the moment and is an amazing knitter/sewer - an all round clever person when it comes to 'making.'

So for Wednesday Jude, myself and Rani all booked ourselves into a day of sewing on the verandah. It is the perfect location as it has huge tables and plenty of room to spread out and cut out, and pin together and what ever else needs doing on a 'SEWING DAY'.

Rani actually was still outside well into the evening as I think I 'kind of' dominated the sewing machine during the day. She chose a beautiful piece of fabric that I had stashed away in my fabric cupboard for about 15 years. I had bought it from an op shop just after she was born and it was perfect for a bag...

And here it is.....she is sooooo clever and extremely patient.....much more than I am when I am sewing.  

I made my first skirt with a zip..........out of a sheet I picked up at the op shop. 

and my first bunting......I was pretty happy with myself. I had fun shooting a 'bunting photo shoot' 

Guess which one is my favourite....?

Have you dedicated a whole day to something lately? 

Would love to hear from you ♥Jo

the adventures of a cardboard box....

                                      

This film was made for the Nokia Shorts 2011 competition. It tells the story of a boy who meets and befriends a large cardboard box.

The lovely Luisa over at Dance in my garden posted it on her blog and I just couldn't resist sharing it. I laughed out loud on numerous occasions. You really need to watch it till the end.

 It is wonderful!!!
♥♥♥

I am sooooo excited - we are having a sewing day tomorrow. Justin's mum is over from New Zealand and is very keen to improve Rani, Sasha and my sewing techniques......
I am sure you will hear all about it.

EATING: yummy chicken with garlic and parsley and lemon with a side dish of beans and broccoli. A Donna Hay recipe. Here it is....
NEEDING TO DO: make room in my office for my new IKEA boxy bookcase....that is a bigger job than it sounds but one that will be sooooo worth it.

Take care ♥ Jo

breathe out....it is school holidays.....

Well I think this....I think "yah school holidays" - time to breathe a little and slow down and get some of the much needed jobs done around the house and get on top of my business. I am fooling myself really as I always over extend myself and therefore everyone around me. I am a bit of a workaholic (I know where my Sasha gets it from) and I can always organise both Justin and myself and also the kids.

I have high hopes of painting the house..this is one that I really don't think will happen. For starters everyone is quite happy with it being blue - I am ready for it to be white. We are having building steps days and walk in wardrobe building days. The beauty of old weatherboard farmhouses is that you can cut out here and add on there and it all works out. We are also doing renovations to the chook house as the chickens keep going into Curly's (the sheep's) little bedroom to lay their eggs and then he comes along and squashes them which is not good.
Amongst all this I will be dyeing wool and felt to try to get ahead a little. Which brings me to today. I was going to spend the day sewing and crocheting my blanket together but instead I am a little tired. I heard an imaginary phone ring at 1.30 this morning and ran to answer it in the kitchen. Both my teenagers were staying out for the night so I immediately thought of them. But as I said it was all in my head...I must have been dreaming it. As a consequence I couldn't go back to sleep and ended up listening to podcasts of Women in business - Australian Business Network at 3am. I am working on an order for Luisa from Dance in my garden and she mentioned them the other day so what else is there to do at 3am (except sleep of course). It is the "can't waste a moment" part of me which was still working at that hour.

Here are some photos of the amazing vintage fabrics I picked up yesterday - some from op shops and some from a specialty fabric shop. The second one is of some Christmas bunting I have just started working on....don't you just love bunting?

And an update on the new family member.....he is sooooo cute. He comes for walks around the block in the mornings and afternoons with Puddles (the dog) and Sasha and myself. Sasha has been getting up at 6ish to feed him his bottle. Here they are....

Sasha is out there now with Pa building him a shelter. I will show you that next time.

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend were ever you are. 

I would love to hear from you so please leave a comment.

♥Jo

food for the soul...a community cookbook

Food for the Soul is a collection of more than 140 nourishing vegetarian recipes, beautifully woven together with food tales, seasonal blessings and delightful illustrations all donated by local artists, food growers, business owners and family and friends of Shearwater Steiner school.

Inspired by the abundance of fresh, local produce and wholesome lifestyles in the shire, you are invited to indulge in the book like you would a great big community feast – cooking, eating, laughing and sharing the joy of food together!

Food for the Soul is available for purchase for $25 plus $6.50 postage...just email me at sales@indigoinspirations.net.au with your postal address. 

It is a result of hundreds of volunteer hours and all funds raised will be used to build food gardens and creative play spaces at the Little Shearwater (Kindergarten & Pre-School).

It really is a wonderful book and a wonderful thing to encourage the children at Little Shearwater to get out there and get their hands in the earth and grow some of the food that they eat while at school...Wow I wish my school was like that. Mine was full of concrete unfortunately.

Have a lovely weekend and do you know of any other community cook books that have been published too?

                                     ♥ Jo

introducing our new family member....

This is "Curly"...... our new little month old lamb. My son Sasha has been quite obsessed with wanting a sheep since we spent a week at his Uncle Curly's farm near Croockwell in the Southern Highlands of NSW when he was about 9. He came home from that holiday and announced he wanted to change his name to John. 'Why' we asked (as it took us 4 weeks to finally choose his name when he was born) 'because I want to be a sheep farmer and I don't think Sasha is a good sheep farmers name'. Who could argue with that? His friend Mia from Sydney was visiting us at the time and decided she was going to be John's helper so she should change her name to Mary......

Sasha/John has researched everything....made lots of phone calls to farming equipment businesses and timber companies in his search for getting the best item at the best price as we didn't even have a fenced area for him.. He has also had lots of long conversations with Curly (the human) making sure he had all the right info. So after working in a 35 degree spring day yesterday with his dad and his Pa, we now have a wonderful 60m fence to keep Curly (the sheep) and as a bonus, the chickens in as well.

So here are a few adorable photos of our new little CURLY.

 He is still bottle fed so Sasha/John was up at 6.15 this morning making his bottle and feeding him.

  His mum was unable to look after him and his twin died not long after being born so Sash is his new carer.

I am looking forward to when he will need shearing so I can spin the wool and crochet a blanket to keep us warm in winter.

And I am sure this will not be the end of posts on Curly and Sasha (it really is hard to call him John).

What do you think...are we mad??.....maybe just a little???

I would love to hear from you ♥ Jo

a new groovy online craft magazine not to be missed.....

Etzcetera......a brand new Australian crafty lifestyle magazine is available online only. Published bi-monthly, Etzcetera Magazine is loaded with step by step projects, inspiring interviews with creative people, interesting family and lifestyle articles, tasty recipes and fun and inspiring ideas.....wow....who could ask for more??

As Kim Archer (the founder of Etzcetera Magazine) says "it is a visual feast of pictures, projects and stories all in one place that is easy to read and enjoy.

The magazine is divided into three sections....
*The Projects (and lots of them)
*The articles
*The advertising...the crafty advertising is as visually appealing as the rest of the magazine and contains clickable links to take you straight to the website or product......how cool is that?

Issue one and two can be found here....the first issue is free....and issue 2 can be purchased for $4.50 or you can also grab a 12 months (6 issues) subscription for only $22.50.

As a special bonus (for me) one of my hand-spun, handpainted, hand-knitted scarves (below) was featured on page 42 of the second issue in an article titled "In the mood" by Lisa Pate.

Happy weekend everybody....this is the first day in a while that my 'to do' list is not a foot long.....only 11 inches.....

Would love to hear what your weekend plans are.

Oh, and call by tomorrow as I will be posting photos of our new addition to our family....what could that be??????

Lots of love ♥Jo

check this out...making newspaper yarn....the ultimate in recycling

                         I just came across this...thought you would love it.

                                        Let me know what you think?

                                                             ♥Jo

what a wonderful day....

I just thought I would do a quick post to show you a few photos from my wonderful day yesterday at the Shearwater Threads of Life Spring Fair.....it was such a lovely and colourful day and I was lucky enough to meet a couple of my online customers in person which is always really nice..

I am a little tired from the hectic week preparing for the day....making sure I had enough of everything (which of course I did) so photos is all I can get my head around today.

                             

I hope you had as nice a day as I did yesterday....what exciting things did you get up to....I would love to know.

                                                                   ♥Jo

Shearwater Steiner School Spring Fair this Saturday..........

Shearwater - The Mullumbimby Steiner School is holding its annual Spring Fair this Saturday.....it is always such a wonderful, colourful day with lots of yummy food and craft activities for the little ones. Not only will you be fed, and kept busy with crafts.....you will be entertained as well......
The primary school children will be performing in the morning, followed by the bush dance band, and then to finish off the very talented high school students will perform in the afternoon.

I will be there with my Indigo stall - so don't forget to say "hi" if you come by...

The Fair will be held on the school grounds at 349 Left Bank Rd Mullumbimby.....love to see you there!!! It is truly a wonderful day......

                                                              ♥Jo

a day of celebrations....

Today is Fathers Day......

Almost every Sunday we have a lazy family bacon and eggs breaky. We cook up fresh tomatoes and mushrooms and squeeze fresh juice from our fruit trees, with cups of tea and the paper. Today though was a little bigger than usual. My parents are visiting from Sydney and all of Justin's family came over as well to celebrate a combination of Fathers Day and his sisters birthday.

We had four fathers, one very soon (as in any day now) father and one birthday to celebrate. We had our yummy breakfast cooked on the bbq with cups of tea, then the birthday cake and coffee......our tummies were a little full....

We then decided to take my mum and dad for a drive up north a little to a picturesque little village called Tumbulgum. It is on the Tweed River and has a cafe called "House of Gabriel" which is in a one hundred and twenty year old historic homestead which has been restored to its former glory. It has a really cool antique shop out the back and a clothes/gift shop.

My dad's name is Monty and on the drive home we saw a stall on the side of the road - 'Monty's Strawberries' so we couldn't drive by without a photo.....and buying the yummiest ever strawberries.

And because every Sunday night we have a roast with Justin's parents and another family we finished the day off with more yummy food....I don't think I will need to eat for a while.

What else is happening this week.....
Eating: very excited to say - the first very mulberries of the season....I will take a photo of the poor tree laden with fruit....branches almost touching the earth.
Reading: the latest issue of Mollie Makes.
Working on: frantically getting ready for Shearwater - The Mullumbimby Steiner School Spring Fair this Saturday.
Lovin': this sunny weather....it means all my wool dries faster...yeh
                                                                 
                                                    ♥Jo