Baby blankets and raised beds

Hi All,

Yet another productive weekend has passed, with most of the trees in the yard pruned (at least, up until my arms won't reach any higher), a 12 year old's birthday, a whole bunch of crochet completed and the start of our raised beds in the front yard.

I've managed to complete a blanket for our impending arrival, in a mix of blue and beige.  Looking forward to snuggling our little boy up in it in around 3 months time.

Now just to add the little bundle :)

I also managed to complete a second, slightly larger blanket, for a family member who's expecting a little one early next year.  The colour on here is awful thanks to the camera flash and the artificial lights, so it looks really pink, but is actually a two-tone crimson and red.  It does tend toward the pink in certain lights, though.

Next up was our 12 year old's cake.  Inspired by polka dot cakes on the internet, Papa Sam went to work and tried a variation of his own.  We're usually a food colouring free house, but we've made an exception for a few of the birthdays this year, so figured we'd do the same again.

The only picture I forgot to take was the inside of the cake, which had polka dots inside, but we managed to ice it up as a watermelon.  It was great fun

First colour sitting in cake tin

Pouring in the second colour

The lurid mess before baking

Our completed watermelon cake :)

Papa Sam took advantage of the sun, and built the start of our raised gardens in the front of the house, out of macrocarpa.  The wood smells so amazing at the moment, and I can't wait to fill them with soil.

Eventually, these gardens will be taller, and in the next couple of weeks, we'll get them filled with soil, then plant them out for summer.  We'll also be putting up some trellis, and completing another set of raised beds in front of these ones.  I can't wait!

 Anyway, that's all from me at the moment.  Take care!

Love to all,
Mama Fern

Room re-arrange and more new arrivals!

Hi All,

We've spent the last month or so with myself sick and various others in the household falling prey to colds every few days or so - not fun at all!

But we still managed to get around to doing a few jobs which have been needing to be done for a while and are feeling more at home now.  I suppose it had to happen eventually - we have been living here for over a year now!

I didn't manage to get the camera into my eldest's room before a teenage girl sized tornado could sweep through, but we pulled apart her loft bed, Papa Sam worked his magic making new supports, and separated it into the separate pieces, giving her a lot more usable space, including a desk, lower bed and wardrobe.  My step-brother popped by for a day and sanded out the inside of her old wardrobe cupboard for me as well, so that I could give it a fresh lick of paint and make it look a little tidier.

A lucky find at the local Salvation Army store gave me a 3 metre long curtain that, with a bit of cutting and a little time on the sewing machine, turned into two separate, bright curtains for her room.  The main thing left to do now is to buy a closed-top curtain track and raise the curtains up an inch or so, and the room will be done!

But in more exciting news...  We have new arrivals!  Three new brown shaver pullets, fresh from the local battery farm.  Surprisingly, they were actually really feisty and full of energy this time.  They're locked away in quarantine for a week or so, but happily chatting with the current occupants of our run, and already eating and scratching away.  Eventually they'll have names and leg rings, but we're still deciding.

Fresh out of the car and waiting to be put into their temporary new home

Who are these strangers?

Checking out the scenery

Already active

Anyway, that was our last week or so.  Have a wonderful time, everyone.

Love to all,

Mama Fern