The unveiling of The NEW Kitchen

So after months of washing up in the bath tub, lots of cereal, sandwiches and BBQ's on the back deck the New Kitchen is now officially opened.

Old Kitchen - Warm,  Cosy & TinyNew Kitchen -  Open, Fresh & Spacious 

 About 6 months ago when we found out we were expecting our 6th child, the first thing my husband said was, "We'll need to build a bigger Kitchen".  Now, when my Hubby says he is going to do something, he's not one to muck around! We were lucky enough to buy a  basic 3 bedroom home many years ago that has been easy to renovate (well hubby makes it look easy anyway!) Over the years, thanks to the sale of an investment property, we have managed to build on an extra lounge room, a couple more bedrooms, en suite and an office/sewing room to meet the demands of our ever growing family. Then there was also this built somewhere in between all of that as well!!  We're a busy lot here, there is always something on the go.  
I've still got a lot of pottering to do, finding spots for this to sit and that to hang but it's always fun redecorating.

 I am finding that the warmer colours I am usually drawn to like Reds, Yellows and Orange are not quite fitting in with the new modern style, but being so much bigger now and I am loving the space and freshness of it and am being mindful not to clutter it up so much anyway . . .
Mental Note: DO NOT CLUTTER, Fill with laughter of Children, gathering of Family & Friends and plenty of Home Cooking instead!

I still have an old cabinet to paint and add to the back dining room wall, pictures to hang and boxes and boxes of kitchen treasures to unpack that I have been collecting for many years, hoping to find a suitable spot for.     
    All in good time though . . . 
Once I finished these Stool Restorations,  (thanks for your inspiration ANNIE), I'm heading out of the Kitchen and into the Bedroom to get started on the Babies Corner.    

A bag for every occasion

 

A Tote or two... from this easy pattern 

 

 Totally Dotti inspired!

This one could be just what I need for the Babies Bag. 

Do you think it suits me?

 I am so completely hooked on Sewing now,  I cant stop! I find myself sneaking into the sewing room any spare chance I get, rummaging through thrift shops for fabric scraps and feeding my new addiction for vintage fabrics via ebay!  I have so many little projects on the go at the moment, I can get myself into a bit of a pickle sometimes with my daily family schedule and need to be a bit more mindful of the dinner menu and housekeeping plan but at 7 1/2 months pregnant you can probably imagine, its all such a chore. . .

I find sewing/crafting/creating so theraputic - Soul Food!  Can you survive on that?  Don't worry the children are still getting fed, bathed and educated... ; )

Most of my sewing projects are for practical use, completely inspired by Amanda Blake Soule's  Handmade Home, and not to mention the many, many wonderful creative bloggers out there. I'm on a mission to create as much as possible for my home decor and organisation.  

So after the Totes were created I moved onto a few drawstring bags, simply made with a basic rectangle pattern, sewn up the sides and added drawstring, these bags are useful for anything and everything.  

Bags for the little ones to keep their dolls and dolls clothes together, teddies, puzzles, lego etc... anything that usually gets scattered all over the floor, I will be making a few more of these in different fabrics, the plan is that the girls will identify what toys belong in what bags and Pack Up time should be easier, quicker and maybe more fun?

A Library Bag for my new little School girl

And a chalk bag (of course) for the chalk!

Bags are fun and easy to make and such a practical item to use in the home, or anywhere for that matter. If your interested in some easy bag patterns bookmark this page now, It's full of goodies. And go here to see other great bags used around my home. 
Happy Bagging!

Good Old Fashion Jam Drops

with home made Plum Jam . . .

and a sneaky peak at my New Kitchen 

Plum Jam

2 kg Plums

250 ml water

1 tab lemon juice

1 1/2   kg sugar

Wash the plums then quarter and stone them.  Place plums, water and lemon juice in a large heavy based saucepan.  Bring it to the boil on a medium heat and cook until the fruit is soft, approximately 15 minutes.

Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Continue boiling for approx 15 - 20 minute or until a little will set on a chilled saucer.

Remove from heat, allow to settle then bottle and seal.

Jam Drops 

½ cup Sugar

125 gm Butter

2  eggs

2 cups SR Flour

1 teasp Vanilla

pinch of salt

Jam (Plum, Apricot, Raspberry, Strawberry, Gooseberry etc…)

 Cream butter and sugar, add egg and vanilla.

Gradually add sifted flour and salt to make a stiff dough.

Roll into balls, place on greased oven tray.

Push thumb into center to make a small indent and fill with your chosen variety of Jam

Bake in moderate, quick oven until just brown.

If your too cool for Jam (like a certain teenage son of mine) this mixture is a good basic biscuit mixture. Just add a handful of choc chips, walnuts, peanuts or dried fruit, roll out, flatten and bake as above. 

 Quick and Easy to make, and great to freeze for Lunchboxes.

As for 'The Kitchen' well after a 4 month extension/renovation it is finally finished... (breathing a huge sigh of relief), before and after shots will be released soon,  just awaiting a few finishing touches and a dabble of clutter. 
It's so good to be back in the Kitchen baking again! 

Happy Australia Day

Keeping off my feet...

Some inspirational reading I have been enjoying over the past few weeks while the holidays have been winding down.  

(Less one or two books my cousin borrowed 

while on her farm stay visit last week).  

I'm looking forward to trying a few new ideas I have book marked along the way.

I've still got about 8 weeks of 'resting' to go, which I am trying my hardest to do in between all the day to day goings on of looking after a family of  seven and a half !!  

 Would love some suggestions to add to my reading pile.

A Dry Harvest

This may just be my last harvest for a little while now.  

With the weather a little cooler and kinder yesterday I ventured down yonder to see what was really happening in the veggie patch.  

  After three weeks on and off away in hols, sky rocketing hot temperatures and not a drop of rain it was a very sad and sorry sight.  

The corn that wasn't picked before Christmas 

 was eaten by the wild King Parrots

The capsicum all dried and shriveled, such a waste...

The silver beet and chard have really had their day...

Doesn't look like these young  lettuce will be used in our salad anytime soon...

A few bushes of green tomatoes still stand awaiting to ripen

   but most of them withered and fallen to the ground if not eaten by the birds and grubs. I'm hoping to save some seed from these, most of them were heirloom varieties I had purchased from Diggers.
And this would be the forgotten Choko Vine...
I think I'll be needing to talk to that old scarecrow of mine about the importance of doing his daily job and maybe a stern word to the watering system that just happened to Kark It right when I needed it most!  I just can't stress enough how important water is for a healthy and productive garden yet, here I am in full neglect of mine....
Just Shameful !
    However, all was not lost, amongst the anguish and disgust I still managed to harvest up a few goodies...                 

I found a few Garlic hiding under the old bean stalks

I love the garlic flower bulbs, they are so pretty in flower and in seed.  
Anybody got any advice on growing garlic from seed rather than bulb?

Most of the beans left on the vine were well and truly dried out 

They will be stored away for the next seasons planting, as will the rocket seeds I had been trying to gather for months.

The Celery has gone crazy in seed and is just starting to dry out now, I have heard that Celery seeds can be quite hard to come by in the supermarkets so I will be storing these away in my herb cupboard for later use with my pickling spices.

 I managed to salvage a handful of coriander seeds as well, not sure yet if these will go into the seed pile or the herb cupboard along with the Celery Seeds.

So you see, all was not LOST.

 There are a few showers lurking around this week so with the children on their last week of school holidays maybe we'll get down to the garden and give it a bit of a TLC, rip up the old has beans and maybe start digging in a little mulch and manure, Weather and Well Being permitting of course, sound like a good plan, we'll see what the week brings. It would be nice to plant just a few salad and herb basics again but I really don't think the ground will be getting that much future loving from me. 
Counting down the days now, only 10 weeks to go until I'll have another little Bubba down in the garden with me ready for  the annual Winter planting....

Getting back to Nature . . .

 

 

While the kids amuse themselves, 

I'm locked away in the lounge room, with the air conditioner on full blast!  Is it just me or is it HOT!  I thought it was time my little blog had a bit of a face lift, please bear with me while I make a few new changes.