Summer harvest

Freebie potatoes that grew out of an old compost pile. Kipflers, and maybe sebagos? We had more, but did a big roast up a couple of nights ago.

The start of the nectarines- quite a few on the tree this year. I picked this lot a bit hard, but I was worried the birds might get them, or freak weather events destroy them.

A steady flow of tomatoes since (before!) Christmas. Might give tomato relish a go this year, and I've been making awesome guacamole with them.
The zucchinis are a bit slow this year, they've needed some help with pollination, not sure that we'll have many. Some have self sown behind the current compost bin, so I have my fingers crossed for them, though it may be a bit shady. We have plenty of bees on our lavender, they're just not noticing the zukes. Ah well, the free potatoes kinda make up for it. We've been eating produce from our garden every day, that sure is the good life!

Berry picking

Today we went berry picking at Pennyroyal raspberry farm. We picked mostly youngberries and American brambleberries, with a few raspberries thrown in (though we can pick a few of them in our backyard). The farm was in a really pretty setting, it's a shame we didn't get a photo of the resident donkeys. We have about 1kg of berries in our kitchen now, we may have to freeze some, but I prefer them fresh. I'd make jam, but we don't really eat it. I wonder if I could fit some youngberries into our garden?

A (belated) merry Christmas

mermaid outfits for their Bamboletta dolls

new bike baskets from Santa

Fairy wands (made by Lisa Leonard Designs), with their names stamped on

Liv with her new musical jewellery box at Nana's house

Evie, Liv & Lucy jumping on the trampoline, with water pistols at Lucy's (cousin) house

Just a few photos from Christmas day, not so many photos were taken on the day this year (unusual!). We're just taking it a bit quietly here at the moment, I find Christmas to be a rather tiring time, especially now that we have Livinia's birthday thrown into the mix. The plan is for some pottering around in the garden (harvesting some of the bounty already!), a bit of sewing for the upcoming Moriac Makers and Growers Market on the 8th of January, and some day trips while Andrew is off from work. And then it's my birthday...

Inspiring...

This lady won $5,000 in the Buy Nothing New in October campaign, run by charity and second hand stores, by organising a kids clothes and toys swap in her local town of Lismore. She also has a great blog, and Facebook group.

Now I am 3

Our rainbow banana cake

new Bamboletta doll and doll carrier

This bag looks like fun

Dis many!

Liv's 3rd birthday- the Melbourne edition

We had a family trip to Melbourne on the train yesterday for Liv's 3rd birthday. We saw the Myer Christmas windows from a distance (the queue was very, very long!), lucky we went to see them at the end of November, when we didn't have to wait long. And we just wandered around, soaking up the Christmas atmosphere, and tried to ignore the hype. We had lunch on the grass in the grounds of a church, and watched the horses and carriages go by. It was a good day, with very little whingeing from anyone!

La Belle Miette- a gorgeous little macaron shop in Hardware lane. A bit of a tradition for us when we visit the big smoke is to buy some macarons from this shop.

Me and my macarons

The royal arcade all Christmassy- my favourite Melbourne arcade

Will be back soon with photos from the rest of the day.

Snap sale 30% off

To make way for new creative ideas, I'm having a quick sale, from now until midnight Monday 12th of December, 30% off all Etsy orders with the coupon code CHRISTMAS30 at checkout. Merry Christmas!

Quick change trousers

I'm a bit slow off the mark with the quick change trousers pattern, I'd admired these cute little reversible pants for a good while. I finally bought a copy of Handmade Beginnings by Anna Maria Horner (I've been on the waiting list at the library for a while), and I whipped these up today. I didn't have many fabrics in my stash that were big enough, or co-ordinated, so I had to just use what I could find. I didn't want to use my absolute best fabrics, as I wasn't sure of the fit of the 18-24 month size on my nearly 3 year old. I think they fit pretty well, though they'd be a bit tight if there was a nappy (cloth) under there. A lot of fabric co-ordinating fun could be had with these babies!

New dacks in the shop

For the funky little men in your life, find them here

Random Decemberness

Brightening up my kitchen, and making it smell Christmassy

Jonty the cat, sitting next to some lavender

New vintage pants in the shop, made from an op shop pillowcase, and some fabric scraps

We are awaiting Andrew's return from his final business trip this year, Japan this time. He's on the highway back from the airport now. This is his 7th trip away in 6 months. I'd say he's been away from us for at least 8 weeks this year, probably longer. It's all of about 5 weeks until he's off again. I think it's about time we had a quiet little family holiday, just the 4 of us this time. Not too far away, maybe up to 2 hours away, as Andrew is just a tad sick of travelling. Daylesford? Castlemaine? Somewhere coastal? I'm looking forward to some quiet times, I'm not into busy Christmases. There'll be a lot of baking, more so with Livinia turning 3 at the end of next week!
Gotta go, he's back!