Good Day Crafting

A good start to the morning, post has been, envelopes made into internal patches for my retirement patchwork quilt and excess shredded for the composter.

Six firelogs made and ready for the chiminea.

The crochet pink baby blanket is increasing and am enjoying watching it grow. The double knit wool crochets very smoothly. Still got a little way to go, but looking good.

Another mistletoe sampler using a red background.  This only took 2 hours to make using 14 count Aida.  

I rather like this, it only a personal opinion, but it does look 

Christmasey to me.

The retirement patches are coming along well too.  Managed to hit my goal of another 3 patches this week and it is feeling good.  Have collected nearly 100 now and although I have a long way to go, each one contributes to my future.

  

Mistletoe Sampler with Blue Frame

Composter number two was fed after the mail drop this morning. We had the apple peel and cores from yesterday plus the left over paper to put in it. Feeding little and often, and with the help from worms I hope to have a good compost in approximately 3 years from that one.  It took me nearly a year to fill composter number one, and with two years to mulch down, it should take approximately 3 years.



As the weather is inclement I thought it better to stay indoors and continue with another Mistletoe sampler for my Christmas Cards.  I sat down and calculated how much each card cost and was surprised that it was only 22 pence in material costs.  That is inclusive of Aida, thread, card and insert. Perhaps I am wrong but it seems cheaper than the cost of a card at the local supermarket.

This time I chose to make the sampler with a lovely blue frame.

The Mistletoe Sampler with Blue Frame

I have continue crocheting the pink baby blanket.  It is gradually getting bigger.  Am loving it, very relaxing.

Harvesting

Today has been a fantastic day!

The post arrived and was dealt with.  Thank you to the companies who sent me your advertising material, the worms in the composter will love them.

Being September it is Harvest time.  It is no different in this household. This year, we haven't had a lot of food plants in the garden, as it is in its infant stage and what we have I am very proud of. Next year, hopefully things will be different.

Rhubarb crowns are still in their tubs, but are producing a small crop, enough for a crumble.

Rhubarb Plant

I found an old saucepan than needed some help (brown cooking stain) and stewed the rhubarb down.  The acid from the rhubarb cleaned the stain away.


Red chilli plants are producing quite a few chilli's.  The first pick will be frozen down.  They will be washed off, individually laid on a lined flat tray and open frozen in the chest freezer.  Once frozen, then placed into small freezer bags/containers and placed back in the freezer.

Chilli Pepper Plant with Red Chilli

The apple tree, was cut back last year and this year seems to have excelled itself.  I set myself a task of taking approximately 5lb of apples off the tree.

The Apples on the Tree

The apples were skinned, cored, diced down and stewed.  The stewed apples were allowed to cool before being placed in the freezer.  I've already designated them for apple sauce for Christmas day.

While I was at it, I made a crumble for dinner with left over rhubarb and apple.  The crumble was made from:

6oz     Flour

3oz     Margarine

4oz     Sugar

Rub flour and margarine together until it resembles crumbs.  Mix in sugar.

Place rhubarb and apple in a pyrex dish.  Put the crumble mix on top and bake in over Gas Mark 6 or 200 degrees Celsius for 20 - 25 minutes.  Cost - 17 pence at today's prices, to serve 4 people, just over 4 pence each.

Rhubarb and Apple Crumble

The tomato's have given us a fantastic crop.  We chose miniature plum and cherry tomato this year and it was a good decision.  Preserving them, whether it be freezing or pickling is not being considered.  The lovely truth about home grown tomato's is that they taste a lot better, more intense flavouring, than shop bought ones.  They don't last long and we have a tendency to eat them straight off the vine.

Cherry Tomato's on the Vine

For my evening entertainment I thought another Mistletoe Sampler for my Christmas cards.  Will try to make it a different background to individualise it for somebody special.

Cross-stitch Christmas Cards

We're into September now and although a bit late starting, it is time for making Christmas cards.  I love making cross-stitch Christmas cards and try something new each year.

There are a lot of freebie patterns on the internet that can be downloaded and adapted for use.  The Aida and Dmc/Anchor thread can work out to be expensive if you allow it to be.  Alternatively, I have found that going on e-bay and always put in for "free delivery" helps. (On principle, I never pay delivery charges).  

Recently I have found that I can purchase 14 count Aida, with free delivery, from America for an average 64 pence.  The same size piece of Aida from local hobby shops costs between £2.99 to £3.99, so immediately we have a saving.

Dmc/Anchor averages, depending where you shop, 79 pence per skein to over a pound.  To me, that's not good :(.  Once again, e-bay, or even Fabricland who have a nice choice of embroidery threads available.  They may not have a brand name on the label, they are just as good.  

Making a card doesn't have to be financially expensive.  The enjoyment of making the card and giving it to somebody you love is priceless.

I've chosen a mistletoe this year as my theme.  It takes 4 colours to make and looks really good.

I started with the dark green and cross-stitched part of the mistletoe leaves. This is followed by the lighter green, white and orange.  The cross-stitch was finished off with back stitching around the mistletoe berry.

This will be enjoyable and I think I will be making a few of these for my friends and family.  Just to change the back ground from orange to different colours will make them individual for different people.

Composting and Creative Crafts

Every day is a recycle and compost day in this house.  We have a bigger exception to the rule today. 

Number 1 composter is full and it must be good as we have some very happy worms in there and it is time for them to do their work.

In between, Number 2 composter needs to be started.  It’s in a good location, next to number 1 and dug in ready to go.

Composting is no different to cooking.  If you put it in the right ingredients, cook it carefully, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t have a good result.

The composter will start off with a layer of soil followed by newspaper (the freebie that comes through the door on a weekly basis) and then some of the shredded/cut up paper that has accumulated in our tin.

After that we can throw in any compostable items on a daily basis from the kitchen caddy.  With the peel from the fresh vegetables and fruit, egg shells, tea bags, etc. it isn’t hard to give the composter its daily feed.

If you do have a lawned garden and it may require a haircut, make sure that not too much grass goes in the composter.  Too much grass does not give the nutrients required to make good compost.

The post has been dealt with and the envelopes have had their stamps removed, cellophane windows removed and 7cm square patches removed. Excess paper has been cut up and put in the Composter.  

And whilst watching television I sat quite happily crocheting the pink blanket. It is very relaxing and in some respects therapeutic.

The blanket is growing and taking shape nicely.

Have had time to make a further 14 patches for my Retirement Quilt and are looking good.

Patchwork, Recycle and Rice Pudding

Another positive day.  I have already made 12 inserts for the Retirement Patchwork Quilt from the post, kept two stamps for charity and cut up what was left over from the envelopes to either make fire logs or go in the compost bin. 

Made four 1 pint rice pudding, which may seem excessive, however there is room in the freezer which really needs to be used to keep the freezer to maximum efficiency.

RICE PUDDING

2oz                         Pudding Rice

2oz                         Sugar

1 pint                      Milk

1 knob                     Butter

                              Nutmeg

Place pudding rice, sugar, milk and butter in a freezer and cooking friendly dish.  I use my “old faithful”, my pyrex dishes and stir.  Grate nutmeg on top and pop in the oven on gas mark 2 or electric 150 degrees for 2 hours.

As I said, I made 4, 2 on each shelf and used the bottom of the oven to dry out excess bread.  The bread is the ends of bread that have gone slightly stale but can still be used for other means.  If it is not too bad, it can be used for making puddings and tarts, such as adding extra bite to a crumble or treacle tart.  If it is slightly stale my husband appreciates me keeping it to be used as bait for his fishing.  And off course, during the winter months it can be used to help feed the birds.  As our winters are getting harsher for the local wildlife a little help doesn’t go amiss.  I will emphasise though, that with all summers natural goodies going begging, that I do not put food out for them during this time. 

I’ve done the daily visit to the composter to feed the worms to keep them happy.  As eccentric as it may sound, if I’ve got happy worms I know that in approximately 2 years time I will have some excellent compost to put on the garden.  Saves money buying from the DIY Stores or Garden Centres. 

And after the normal family household chores are done, I still have time to settle down and to crochet a bit more of the baby blanket for my friend. 

Continuation of Pink Baby Blanket

Fantastic start to the day.  The morning post has been and have been dealt with. Managed to get quite a few paper inner patches for my retirement patchwork quilt and a small amount of paper left over for the composter.



The baby blanket is coming along nicely and by taking my time, getting the tension even it shows, even with crocheting.  Only 2 balls of wool used so far and it is increasing nicely.  

This is such a relaxing item to crochet, it is such a pleasure.