Rainbow

Apropos of my last post, from which you may correctly infer that I was a woman of the 70s, I spun some gorgeous rainbow-y yarn and knitted ma minette a very retro rainbow-y beanie.

I think she'll like it.

The (trying to be) Good Life

I have high hopes for my little patch of bushland. I don't want to interfere with the natural environment too much as I do love the frogs in the dam and the occasional kangaroo outside my bedroom window in the morning.  But there's plenty of room for me too.  And the dog.  And the chook.  And the vegie gardens.

I'm old enough to have watched the first run of The Good Life, and I know it's corny but I still watch the re-runs, and I just might even have the entire series on DVD.  How un-cool am I - I knit and I want to grow my own food.

Irrespective of un-coolness, I still get inspiration from those who are truly leading The Good Life.  This weekend, Allsun Farm near Gundaroo invited interested, trying-to-be Good-Lifers to see how they do it.

Joyce and Michael grow fields of organic garlic. 

They will be harvesting buckets of strawberries soon.

To say nothing of the chickens, the piglet, the broad beans, the herbs, the greenhouses full of zillions of seedlings, the orchards and the self-sufficiency in power, water and waste management.

I came home with my head full of plans and my boot full of heirloom tomato seedlings.

I've got a long way to go, but I'm trying to be Good.

An occasional walk - Mount Mugga Mugga

It was warm on Saturday but I didn't let that deter me from another occasional exploration of Canberra's nature parks. Mount Mugga Mugga Woodland Reserve is described as an endangered yellow box gum grassy woodland frequented by kangaroos and supporting a wide variety of woodland birds.  We saw those, and more.

 

 We started off at the access point on Mugga Lane and spent most of our time walking through the grassy slopes - not quite venturing to the top of Mount Mugga Mugga as it looked to be quite heavily wooded (and steep!).  This was more the scenery I enjoyed (that's Mount Mugga Mugga in the background).

 Weeds are a problem in these easily accessible nature parks close to the city, especially in the grassland areas.

 On the lower rise, one can see the city and Mount Ainslie to the north.  Clearly I wasn't the first ever visitor, as I deduced from the clues of the cairn (in the foreground)...

 ...and the fact that Hoggo wanted us all to know that he had been there too. (I assume 'he'. Is that wrong of me?)

 On our way down the slopes, I had a lovely view over to the east, where the clouds were building up and threatening rain that never eventuated. 

 

We met a brown snake on the way back, but fortuntately I can leap very high and very fast when I need to. Miss Lily is always on the lead, so she had no option but to leap with me.

A warm Spring day, a long walk somewhere new and the excitement of kangaroo and snake spotting makes for thirsty work.

Whither creativity?

After my recent burst of creative activity, that mojo seems to have gone into hiding. Only for a while, I hope.  I can't even be inspired to knit - gah!  But I did get to finish off ma minette's PJs - just in time for a sleepover last week.

 I put together the collarless shirt from McCall's 2146 and some standard kid's pants, using this gorgeous vintage fabric and flowery buttons from stash.   

It was apparently the perfect outfit for a post-dinner, pre-bedtime picnic with dollies and teddies. 

It's very satisfying sewing for littlies, especially when this little one loves the things her nettie makes for her.

An occasional walk - Mount Pleasant

At Floriade last week, I picked up a brochure on Canberra Nature Parks.  Did you know that there are 33 separate reserves around Canberra that are designated special grassland or woodland areas?  Living in (or near) Canberra gives us all easy access to these green areas - in fact I'll bet there's one at your own back door that you may even take very much for granted. 

I happen to think that we are very lucky living in (or near) the bush capital.  I've lived in this region for a lot of years now and I've spent lots of time bushwalking in Namadgi, but there is a lot of bushland closer to home that I haven't really explored. 

So with my new map for reference and individual maps readily available, I have decided that Lily and I will visit and explore all those parks that will allow dogs - and many do. I'm pretty sure that Lily misses her mate Ralph as much as I do, so long walks in new areas are just the thing for us both.

This week we had a wander around Mount Pleasant. 

Years ago, when I worked at Russell, I sometimes took a lunch time walk or jog around Mount Pleasant, but never did I stop to listen to the birdlife or notice the imperfections in the gum leaves.

 Or the heart-shaped bark, not yet sloughed off the tree.

Indulge me while I introduce you to my neighbourhood, occasionally.

Simple and secret sewing

Earlier this week, I made a couple of simple little treasures for birthday girl, Daughter1.  Although taking care of a toddler and a baby leaves her with little time for sewing, I know that she enjoys it when she does and I wanted to supplement her current fairly basic supply of tools and notions.  As well as buying her some excellent scissors, a new book, some gorgeous fabric and other bits and bobs, I made her a pin cushion (Amy Butler fabric) and a needle case (Ma's felt).

 

Happy sewing and happy birthday, my beautiful girl.

Sew Day Friday

It's the last day of the sewing week. And although I promised a Sorbetto muslin, this is all I have...

 Where did the day go?

I spent much of it obsessing about the detail in the MPB boxers sew-along. Today was bias day.  I've made my own bias before, but this time it had to overlap and then become a flat-felled seam lookalike.  I also discovered the bar tack stitch on my machine.  It's a bit wonky, but the other side will be better.

I'm still crazy about the flat-felled seam.  But my question is:  when they meet like this (below), should they be offset or matching?  I think offset is preferable as it gives less bulk, but does it look odd?  Granted, this is the crotch seam and I'm showing the wrong side, so you may think it doesn't matter, but this is an exercise in perfecting techniques, not necessarily in whipping up a wearable garment (of course, I want that too).  So... offset or matching?

Although this was not the productive sewing day I had planned it to be, I did manage to fit in a long walk with Lily, a hair cut and some chores.

I have really enjoyed my week at home sewing.  By proclaiming my self-imposed challenges, I felt committed to try my darndest to finish off an item a day.  Even if I didn't completely meet my goals, I certainly learnt some things of value:

• Sharp scissors are the bomb.
• Consider the appopriate machine needle for the job.  I started each day with a new needle - a bit of overkill perhaps, but it made me think carefully about the right needle for the fabric.
• Press, press, press.
• I can do flat-felled seams (I might have mentioned that already).
• When doing french seams, trim the first seam allowance of stray threads or fraying bits, so they don't poke through the second seam.
• Measure, measure, measure.
• Days can pass very quickly.  Too quickly.

Thanks for reading along.  I'll continue to post my sewing exploits, and will welcome your opinions of Sorbetto when she's done.