Craft, stitchin' and sustainable living

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

1000 new friends

We've never really needed a compost bin, because most of our fruit and veggie scraps go to these little critters - Winston and Clementine the guinea pigs.



They do an excellent job of eating our carrot tops, parsely stalks and the seedy, squishy bit from the middle of pumpkins (definitely a guinea pig favourite).

But there are a few foods scraps that guinea pigs don't eat, like potato peels, that we still had to put in the bin.  Until now!

Now, if you head down the back of our garden, by the laundry, you'll find this little house.


You open the lid, lift the newspaper "blanket"...


and there you will find our new worms!  1000 of them (or thereabouts).


We bought the worm farm on the weekend and got it set up straight away.  We are letting the worms settle into their new home for a few days before giving them some food scraps to snack on.  As if that wasn't cool enough, worm poo is some of the best garden fertilizer there is, and I have big plans for a veggie garden come spring.

Welcome little guys, enjoy your new digs!


Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Buttony gift



A quick and cute gift for a friend’s birthday recently – the idea came from here.  A sweet use of buttons, some leftover fabric and a wooden frame from the op-shop.  Very easy.


And another glimpse of our new home too – this little stand is on the landing at the top of our stairwell.  The stand came from Salvation Army store, I can’t remember how much it cost but let’s just say not much.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

All moved in


So we are all moved in to our new home!  Yay!


 We’ve been spending the last few weeks doing the final bits and pieces of the unpacking and putting the finishing touches on the house.  I’ve also been cooking lots of lovely warm wintery dishes (I splurged and bought a cast iron cooking pot, which is being used every weekend at the moment), knitting my slow socks, and generally snuggling up on the couch.  That’s what winter is all about, right?


Of course, I was itching to use my sewing machine as soon as it was unpacked, so I whipped up a table runner and cushion covers, as our previous cushion covers were old, faded and didn’t match at all.  So here is the first glimpse of the new house – even if it is just the dining table.  It is tucked under the stairwell which leads upstairs.


We’ve been getting LOADS of mandarins in our veggie co-op delivery, being citrus season and all.  I’m not much of a mandarin eater.  Any suggestions for good mandarin recipes?  Has anyone successfully made mandarin jam/marmalade?

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Dog Dog

Just a quick check in as I resume regular stitchy status post-move.



Remember early last year when I made this sweater critter for a new born little friend?  Well, my new little friend's mama sent me this photo of the little guy with his sweater critter recently.  The critter, now known as 'Dog Dog', is apparently a favourite and must be around for bottle and sleepy times, otherwise bottle and sleepy times don't happen as they should. 

How cute is that?  Totally made my day.

Back soon with a new house and craft space update.