How To Dry Bay Leaves, Recycling Glass, “The Crown” and Repairing Painted Walls

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HOW TO DRY BAY LEAVES

Aromatic bay leaves come from Laurus nobilis, or the bay tree. It is native to the Mediterranean region. The dried bay leaf is used as a seasoning in cooking.

Our bay tree needed pruning. I brought in one of the branches removed during pruning to dry the leaves.

I began by snipping the smaller branches from the main branch. Next I washed and left the leaves to dry off.

I picked through the collection of leaves and discarded any that were not perfect. I also removed the older, larger, darker leaves as these can be very tough. I don’t use any pesticides in the garden so some insect damage is always possible.

Place the leaves somewhere dry, cool and protected to dry out. It’s quite warm here and I left them to dry for ten days. Meanwhile, I washed the jars, printed the labels, used water colours to paint leaves on them and then cut the ribbons to tie on them. These I glued with a dot of clear glue to the jars. Finally, I carefully slid the dried leaves into the jars, screwed on the caps, labeled them and tied the bows. Done! I will give some as gifts at Christmas.

Used extremely handy laundry pegs to hold the ribbons in place while the glue dried.

NOTE The leaves should always be removed from a dish before it is served. You can eat the leaves but the edges are very sharp and can hurt your mouth.

Although fresh bay leaves can be used in cooking it is easy and convenient to dry and preserve them so they are always available. Store them in a sealed jar in a cupboard or in the freezer.

Bay leaves are considered a ‘supporting’ element, intended to bring out the other flavours of a recipe.

Fresh bay leaves can be put in containers of flour and grains to repels weevils. They also deter moths from woolen clothes and can discourage silverfish from books, too.

The Greeks and Romans used bay leaves to make crowns or laurels which appear throughout history in paintings and sculptures.

RECYCLING SKINCARE JARS

I buy skincare in glass jars as glass is easily recycled, unlike plastic containers. Now, some brands of skincare are producing sealed foil pots of their product to refill the used glass jar. Just peel off the foil seal and push the pot into the jar and all done! It is kinder to the planet and kinder to your wallet. Investigate to find out if your preferred brand of skincare has a refill option.

Foil is easily and effectively recycled.

THE CROWN

The Crown Season 3

Are you watching Series 3 of The Crown? The third series started 17/11/2019 and is now all about the 60’s, with political change (Wilson), the exposure of spies (Blunt) in the Palace and awkward marriages (particularly Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon) I thought Claire Foyle was great as a younger Queen Elizabeth but I’m not so sure about Olivia Colman as the older Queen Elizabeth, despite loving her performance in other programs.

Some of these events I remember, or heard about, which makes it very interesting. I don’t know how accurately historical events are portrayed. Anyway, early days and I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of the series. Are you watching it?

PATCHING THE PAINT

The newly done paint was barely dry when I saw a bit gouged out! Much grumping, then I filled the hole with Polyfilla. The next day, when it was dry, I sanded it, wiped away the dust and painted it with the tiny bit of leftover paint left by the painter. Problem solved!

These photos are the same area and some paint, but taken at different times of the day with natural and then artificial light! The repair is indistinguishable from the damaged piece. I hope I don’t have to do it again.

The 25th of November was INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN. The declaration of this day aimed to activate and motivate governments around the world to do something about violence towards women and children.

During many years as a primary school teacher I began to think the best way to deal with domestic violence in Australia was to remove the perpetrator, if it is a man, and leave the women and children in their house, attending the same school as always and within a community where they could receive support. This would prevent the break in the childrens’ schooling which often results in poor outcomes for the children. The man could be accommodated where he’d be able to continue working and supporting his family, but also receive counseling and assistance in modifying his behaviour. The children could, if safe, visit and maintain supervised contact. I think this would probably be less expensive than emergency accommodation, hospital visits, single parent benefits and the long term cost of poorly educated children.

( I acknowledge women can be the perpetrator of violence, too, but this is directed towards the special day highlighting violence against women by men )

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Cooking Shortbread, Making Gift Boxes, Eating and Reading

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COOKING and GIFT BOXES

Just read that Christmas is only 34 days away so I have begun making gift boxes of shortbread biscuits. Some of these I will take as out hostess gifts. These are tiny little shortbread biscuits to enjoy with coffee or as we did, champagne! They are rich and delicious.

I have a template I’ve used for years to make the gift boxes. I plan a box making session and make photocopies of the box template, glue gift wrap onto the template, let it dry, cut it out and glue the boxes together. To finish I use a leather punch to make two holes for threading ribbon through. I put the shortbread biscuits in little cellophane bags, seal them then put them in the gift boxes. Finally, I tie a bow in the ribbon threaded through the holes. All done!

If you’d like to make gift boxes yourself search online as there are many variations available.

The guidelines are printed darkly enough to see them when the template is glued printed side down to the decorative paper.

I used a plastic ruler to fold along the lines to create the box shape. I glued the side and waited until it was dry, then the base and finally shaped the pleat in the side before folding over the top and punching holes for the ribbon.

Filled with a sealed cellophane bag of shortbread biscuits.

EATING YUM CHA

Our favourite family brunch is yum cha. Luckily, friends introduced us to this restaurant. These delicious little bundles of flavour are light and easy to eat. This time, along with all our usual dumplings, we tried Steamed Salted Egg Buns as our son had just eaten them in Singapore and recommended them. We really enjoyed them. Don’t be put off by the squid ink colour! Sometimes these lava cakes are coloured with squid ink and other times, bamboo charcoal powder. I particularly like steamed dumplings and turnip cake. Not all turnip cakes are equal, but the ones where we go are very good. Add a pot or two of green tea and it’s a great brunch.

READING

I was given Victoria Finlay’s The Brilliant History of Colour In Art. It is an in depth history of mans’ use of colour to illustrate events from the Ice Age to the Digital Age. Finley’s book describes the evolution of paint from ground materials to storing stable colours in tubes. She explains the origins of many words associated with colour along with fascinating stories, all supported with illustrations, mainly from the J. Paul Getty Museum Collections. If you’re interested in the evolution of art and particularly colour, you’ll really enjoy this book. I loved dipping into it with its gorgeous photos and learning something new each time.

How The Dead Speak - By Val Mcdermid - Paperback

Also just read multi award winning Val McDermid’s “How The Dead Speak”, another murder mystery in her Carol Jordan and Tony Hill series. Slow to start, this story picks up pace with many twists and turns. It’s a great thriller with a satisfying ending. A good read from this author who has sold over 16 million books.

Image result for sharon santoni my stylish french girl friends

And finally, I’ve just begun Sharon Santoni’s “My Stylish French Girlfriends” a luscious book featuring the equally luscious houses of her French female friends. Santoni has been married to a Frenchman and lived in France for many years. Here she shares photos and stories about her friends and their homes, plus their philosophy on family life, decorating and gardening and their jobs. Gorgeous photos and creative, resourceful women. I’m about a third of the way through and loving it!

November 21st is World Hello Day, encouraging you to simply greet people when you’re out and about. Well, that’s easy, isn’t it?

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How To Repair Leather Handles, Bulk Cooking and Afternoon Tea

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REPAIRING LEATHER HANDLES

When we moved everything to have the interior of the house painted I found things needing upkeep and repair. I’ve mended a mirror frame, fixed a shutter, repaired a wooden chess set rack, re-attached the hessian on a Persian carpet to rehang it and now I have renovated this shopping basket.

This is my favourite shopping basket. It has a flat oval base which balances it securely at the checkout. Fabric bags flop and are difficult to pack but this bag sits firmly as we fill it. I can stuff some fabric bags in it to carry them to the shops. It is also a good size for me to carry as I can’t overload it.

Over time and with constant use the leather handles had become worn and were cracking. I needed to repair them before they tore completely.

This is a mans’ leather belt. You could re-use one from an op shop/charity shop but I was given this one and it looked unused.

Firstly, I used a craft knife to cut off the buckle. I measured the width of the existing handles and then used a Sharpie to rule a line long ways on the belt to make it the same width as the handles. Then I cut carefully along this marked line.

I measured and cut the strip into two pieces the length of the handles. Before I glued these strips to the existing handles I cut into the leather to create a slightly thinner piece at each end so I could slide this under the piece attaching the handles to the body of the bag.

To cut the piece out I ran the craft knife across the leather, scoring just in from the end and making sure I didn’t cut right through. Then holding the leather on edge, I cut out the black layer of leather.

Working on one handle at a time, I glued and pegged the new lining to the existing handle working on about 15 cm at a time. When all the leather was glued together I left it to dry thoroughly before doing the second one. ( I find laundry pegs so useful for small repairs)

I didn’t use a special leather glue for this repair as I didn’t have any and the all purpose glue I had said on the label that it was suitable for leather. It has glued the two pieces together smoothly and strongly.

The mended handles look a bit wonky because I’ve just unpegged them but a few hours hanging on the back of the chair and they were perfect again. The handles feel good and will last a long time.

BULK COOKING

My mother broke her wrist and will be in a splint for six weeks and then at least another six weeks to recover full use of her arm. She is in her late eighties and we are all relieved she didn’t break a hip or leg. Having a broken wrist is difficult enough for her to manage.

Cooking is very difficult as she can’t apply any pressure to her wrist to cut anything. We went and spent the day sweeping in the garden, dead heading roses, changing and washing bed linen, some cleaning, shopping but mostly, I cooked. All jobs she does all the time but can’t for now. She has soups, corned beef, chicken, cut up vegetables and three jars of her special muesli. We bought frozen vegetables so she can add those to her meals, she has yoghurt and sliced fruit loaf. She is also surrounded wonderful family and friends who will help, too, but for a very independent person this is a big change.

By the end of the first week the downside of this plan became evident: it becomes boring to eat much the same thing day in and day out. Luckily, other options have presented themselves and also she has became more adept at doing everyday things with her left hand.

She is right handed and this is the wrist she broke, so she’s trying to do crosswords with her left hand. She can’t drive, either, but I think the biggest challenge will be looking after her hair. It is very long (she can sit on it) and she plaits it every morning and wraps the plait around her head and secures it with pins. Very difficult with one hand!

COOKING FOR AFTERNOON TEA

Do you have a few “go to” recipes you make when visitors are coming but you don’t have time to shop? I have my regulars, including curried egg sandwiches, pinwheels, shortbread and a cake. I always have lemons, limes, oranges or even passion fruit on hand to make a cake. I add a bowl of crystallized ginger and maybe some cashews so people can pick at something small and easy, especially if we’re not at the table. Sometimes I serve casual afternoon teas on the coffee table.

ARMISTICE DAY 11th November

Armistice Day, known as Remembrance Day in the UK and Veterans Day in the US, commemorates the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice at 11am on the 11/11/1918, ending World War 1. After more than four years of fighting, the defeated Germans called for the Armistice, the suspension of fighting, to secure a peaceful settlement.

Many people wear a red poppy on this day each year and stand at 11am for a minutes silence to remember those who dies or suffered for their country in all wars and armed conflicts.

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Why Should We Use Less Plastic and Re-Covering a Pouffé/Foot Stool/Ottoman

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WHY SHOULD WE USE LESS PLASTIC?

Are you aware of the amount of plastic infiltrating our food?

I don’t usually buy fashion magazines. The clothes featured are not really suitable for my post-paid work lifestyle, the make-up is mostly directed at younger or working women, the issues of dating and relationships don’t apply to me and the features are so often about film stars or sports stars and that’s not part of my life.

This month’s Marie Claire magazine was a big surprise, packed with information about plastics in the environment and features about women working towards cleaner oceans and waterways. It made interesting reading.

Just consider:

* more than 8 million tonnes of plastic enter the world’s oceans every year

* a rubbish truck load of plastic is dumped into our seas every minute

* by 2050 plastic will outweigh fish in our oceans

Thanks to Marie Claire for drawing attention to these frightening statistics. The article about women trying to address this looming disaster and their passion and determination made interesting reading.

There are easy changes we can all make to reduce our use of plastics. Make or buy lightweight bags for putting your fruit and vegetables in at the shop, use your own non-plastic shopping bags, buy your skincare products in glass jars which are easily recycled, return all your contact lenses materials to your optometrist who sends them off to be recycled and only buy bread wrapped in tissue or paper. Look for other ideas online; there are so many you can slowly implement.

I’ve found one of the hardest plastics to replace in the home is cling wrap. I’ve actually given up on beeswax wrappers and rely on containers with their own lids or use silicone stretchy lids. These are very good but a bit of a fiddle to stretch taut over some cups, bowls and containers but I’ll persist.

Yesterday I was really pleased to receive this month’s issue of Country Living, an English magazine, sealed in a paper envelope. It arrived safely with no damage. One less piece of plastic. Well done Country Living!

RECOVERING MY MOTHER’S POUFFÉ

Do you call it a pouffe, an ottoman or a footstool? Whatever you call it, it’s for resting your feet on or an extra seat.

My mother has had this pouffé for many years and the cover was brittle and cracking. We went to several shops looking for a replacement but she’s not a very tall person and all the foot stools/foot rests/ottomans available were too high for her to use comfortably.

The lining had also worn off the base and it was starting to fall apart. I offered to recover it.

Cleaned up the base and glued the remaining lining down and left it two days to cure. Tested all around the glued edges and it was quite secure.

My mother chose a fabric with a slight stretch in it which made it easier to fit the rounded edges.

Glued some advertising brochures together to make a sheet big enough for a template. Traced around the pouffe and cut out the circle.

Folded the template in half and placed it along the fold of the fabric, pinned and cut out the top piece.

Cut a length of fabric to wrap around the pouffé, leaving a hem allowance at the top and enough to fold under at the bottom. Stitched up the short edge to make a circle. Pinned and sewed the top to the side piece, clipped and trimmed the join.

Added a casing on the bottom edge to thread with elastic for a drawstring.

This will allow the cover to be tightened if it stretches or removed and washed if necessary.

The finished pouffé!

Sunday 20th October was

World Osteoporosis Day is observed annually on October 20th, and launches a year-long campaign dedicated to raising global awareness of the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease. Wikipedia

October 26th is PUMPKIN DAY. Is it Pumpkin Day just because of Halloween? I wont be carving a pumpkin, but I’ve already cut some up with other vegetables to roast for dinner tonight.

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Cooking, Fixing Leaks and Preparing the Fruit for Christmas Cakes

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COOKING

Sorting things in the pantry and looked at the USE BY date on a tin of condensed milk. It had expired. Looked at the other tin of condensed milk and realised I needed to use it soon, so a few days later I made 100 BISCUIT DOUGH biscuits/cookies. I actually only made 94 as I must make them bigger than the originals, but it’s still a lot of biscuits and they’ll be great for a few events this week. This is such an easy recipe and requires only four ingredients plus decorations and flavours. It makes enough dough to store some in the freezer for when you could use almost instant biscuits.

This recipe was all over the internet some years ago and I can’t remember where I found it. I copied it into a diary and have added notes in the intervening years. If this is your recipe, thankyou, it’s a favourite. Please let me know and I will acknowledge the source.

100 BISCUIT DOUGH RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

* 500gm butter at room temperature

* 170gm caster sugar

* 395gm condensed milk

* 700gm self raising flour

Flavourings I have used at different times are choc chips, raisins, finely chopped crystallised ginger, cinnamon powder mixed in with brown sugar sprinkled on top, Smarties, 100s and 1000s, Milo and lemon zest.

Left to Right: Smarties, 100s and 1000s, crystallised ginger, cinnamon and brown sugar

1. Pre-heat fan forced oven to 180 degrees C fan-forced, place baking paper on as many baking trays as you have.

2. Using a stand mixer or hand held electric beaters, cream the butter and sugar until it is pale and frothy. Use a big bowl as this recipe makes a lot of dough.

3. Add the tin of condensed milk and stir in well before adding the flour, a cup at a time. Mix until well amalgamated.

4. Scoop up generous teaspoons of dough, slightly round it in your hands and place on the baking tray. For the ginger biscuits, I put about a fifth of the dough in another bowl, mixed in four finely diced pieces of crystallised ginger, then continued as above. I also added the cinnamon to another fifth of the dough in a separate bowl. Later I added brown sugar on top.

5. Place in a pre-heated oven, cook for about 10 minutes, watching closely towards the end as all ovens are different. The biscuits will be soft when they come out, but will crisp up as they cool.

After I’d made four trays of biscuits I still had dough leftover. I rolled it into a sausage, wrapped it in baking paper, labeled it then put it in a recycled plastic bag in the freezer. I actually do this each time I make these biscuits, so I have a roll of dough I can lightly thaw, slice, decorate and then have ready to cook by the time the oven has pre-heated. Handy for unexpected visitors or hungry family.

FIXING LEAKS

CELADON VASE

Saw this vase on an online site and ordered it. Took ages to come and eventually arrived while we were away. Then it was about 10 days later before I put flowers (and water) in it.

Came out the next morning to find it sitting in a puddle. The vase leaked. The base seemed to be unglazed, so I emptied it and dried it out. Then I tried sealing the unglazed base with a clear glue.

Left it a few days and then filled it with water. Later that afternoon it was sitting in a much smaller puddle, but still not fit for use. By now at least six weeks had passed since I’d ordered it and tried sealing it so I felt I couldn’t return it. Besides, I really like the celadon colour and the design.

Next plan was to pour melted wax into the base.(It is hard to see the wax being poured in this photo) We poured about one centimetre of melted candle wax into the vase and left it two days to dry. Viola! Usable vase.

We chopped up and melted the candle in a glass jar in the microwave. We heated it in 60 second bursts until it was ready to use.

According to Wikipedia,

”Celadon is a term for pottery denoting both wares glazed in the jade green celadon color, also known as greenware (the term specialists now tend to use) and a type of transparent glaze, often with small cracks, that was first used on greenware, but later used on other porcelains.’

PREPARING THE FRUIT FOR CHRISTMAS CAKES

I make at least two Christmas Cakes every year, following a recipe I got from my aunt years ago. We put the mixed fruit with added cherries to soak in brandy around the beginning of October. My husband inverts the jars of fruit every morning. I try to make the cakes by the beginning of November. I also have extra peel soaking in brandy to add to some other Christmas cooking.

October is BRANDIED FRUIT DAY. Apparently you need to leave the dried fruit in brandy for three weeks but I’m sure longer is no problem, well, I hope so, anyway! Originally, dried fruit was steeped in brandy as a preservative, but continued as it tastes so good!

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Repairing, Reading, Eating and Growing

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REPAIRING

The downstairs rooms are being painted so everything had to be moved, covered and stored. Discovered the plasterwork and gilding on one of our mirrors was broken on a corner.

The break.

The repair, prior to sanding and shaping

The finished repair.

I repaired the missing piece using Polyfilla, moulding and shaping it as it dried. Wiped it free of dust. Left it four days to cure, smoothed and shaped it again then painted it with gold paint. Very pleased as it is impossible to see the repair.

READING

Enjoyed reading time as we couldn’t really go downstairs while the painter was working.

Kate Atkinson’s Big Sky has one of her favourite characters, Jackson Brodie, no longer working as a Detective but now working as a Private Investigator. Set in a small seaside town, there is nothing sleepy here! Atkinson’s thrillers are fast moving, complex and compelling reading. Really enjoyed it and I’d recommend any of her other books, too.

Doris Brett and Kerry Cue’s The Sunday Story Club, described as ” like a bookclub without books, real-life tales of love, loss, trauma and resilience” was fascinating. A group of women meet at their Sunday soiree to address topics introduced by the hosts and some of theie responses make up the text of this book. All heartfelt, many are experiences common to all women, all enthralling. The appendix has suggestions for starting and running similar groups as well as many provocative and thoughtful story “starters” for discussions. You’ll think about these stories long after you’ve finished the book.

The Sunday Story Club By Doris Brett

This is debut novel by Suzanne Daniel. Allegra in Three Parts is a story set in the 70’s during the second wave of feminism in Australia. Allegra is a child living between a feminist grandmother, an extremely hard working, immigrant, no nonsense grandmother and a mainly absent father. Her mother is dead and she wants to unite the remaining members of her family. An interesting book and rather nostalgic with well researched brand names and products from the 70’s mentioned throughout.

( The book refers to cuisenaire rods for teaching mathematics. In use for over 50 years, this reference took me back to my first teaching job. I’d used these rods extensively during teacher training, but soon discovered they didn’t help some children. In fact, they seemed to confuse rather than help some children master basic operations. I realised I needed to employ a number of strategies to teach new concepts as learners could be visual, tactile, auditory or a mix of all these types. Lesson learnt!)

Allegra in Three Parts by Suzanne Daniel (9781760781712) - PaperBack - Modern & Contemporary Fiction General Fiction

EATING

Bowl with zest which packs a lot of flavour, the oranges and the syrup.

Blood Orange Sorbet

In Western Australia we are nearing the end of the citrus season so this is probably the last lot of blood orange sorbet for this year. The fruit is slightly tart and is mixed into a water and sugar syrup before it goes into the icecream making bowl to ‘paddle’ for 10 minutes. Result? Delicious, pretty, sorbet!

GROWING

The spring garden is full of hippiastra, roses, lilies and alstromerias. The “sticks” of hydrangeas I’ve planted are thriving as is the spearmint scented lavender. I’ve planted tomatoes and put in seeds for lettuce, chives, spinach and coriander, plus some multi-coloured petunias. I have never grown petunias from seed before, so, fingers crossed.

Alstromerias are a long lasting cut flower.

Optimistically large supports for the tomato plants.

Lush, healthy hydrangeas grown from “sticks” harvested from last year’s plants.

Spearmint lavender always covered in bees.

Cream clivias. I have grown some from seed but don’t think they’ll flower for several years. I have orange clivias, too.

October is the month many countries celebrate Octoberfest with drinking and feasting. Do this sound like you?

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Making A Mosaic Ball

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The third ball in this trio of spheres, the one at the front, is a new one. Once faded and grubby, it is now covered in mosaics and looks lovely with the others and balances the arrangement. I made the grey sphere on the left from concrete here. The one on the right is a trough float, one of several I collected over the years.

This is a retired lawn bowling ball. It was painted silver and looked lovely in the garden, but slowly the colour faded and washed off. Time for rejuvenation!

I am going to decorate it with mosaics. The colours will be stable and the texture created by the pieces of tile will add interest. It is a small piece and I will use small pieces of broken tiles and china to cover it.

It will be placed with these spheres when it is finished.

EQUIPMENT

ball
glue
broken tiles or china
safety glasses
a hammer
a plastic bag
grout
rubber/latex gloves
rags for cleaning

I started by washing the ball. When I’d chosen the pieces of china I wanted to use I put them into two containers. Some pieces were too big. I slid them in a plastic bag and hit them gently with a hammer and they cracked easily. I wore safety glasses.

Next I glued them onto the ball, leaving a small circle on the bottom so it sits securely on the ground. I chose two colours to mix well with the other two spheres already in position. One container has plain white tiles, broken into useful pieces and the other had a green and white broken plate.

I used a multipurpose household glue. There are specialist glues intended for use with ceramics but this was a small job so I used a glue I had and it worked well. Working on a sphere meant the pieces would slide down the sides if I put too many pieces on at a time. The glue needs time to cure.

When the glue was cured I mixed up the grout. Wearing rubber gloves, I pushed the grout into the gaps until they were all filled. I also sealed around the base. Using a rag, I wiped the excess grout off the tiles, then used a damp rag to finish cleaning them. I left the finished mosaic sphere for two days to dry properly before putting it outside.

So while we’re in the garden, lets think about honey. September is HONEY MONTH, which celebrates and promotes everything to do with honey. Beginning with honey bees, pollen and beekeepers an amazing, sticky sweet product emerges.

Think about suitable bee habits this month and enjoy eating honey.

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Making Natural Dyes and Lavender Hearts

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Last year I was nearly exhausted by the time Christmas arrived because I was making so many gifts right up until the Big Day! This year I am experimenting with a few things I can make long before the silly season starts so the week before Christmas is still fun.

I’ve been collecting and drying lavender and planned to make some lavender bags. I am experimenting with natural dyes, using 100% cotton ticking as the base fabric.

The first dye I tried was boiled avocado seeds and skins to make pink tones.

After the dye had cooled I soaked the cotton ticking in it for an hour then hung it out to dry. It is a pretty dusty pink colour.

Next I boiled rosemary twigs to make a yellow dye.

This dye is quite pale and not what I expected

This dye is made from onion skins and is a great orange colour. I used the skins from two brown onions and boiled then for fifteen minutes. This is a strong colour. The next day I boiled red onion skins to see if they resulted in a different colour. No, just the same!

I haven’t used fixers or mordants with any of these pieces I’ve dyed. They are only intended to be decorative.

From left to right, the basic cotton ticking, then the avocado dye (pink), the onion skin dye (orange) and the one on the right is the rosemary dye (pale yellow)

I cut a template of a heart shape then used this to cut shapes from all three pieces of dyed fabric.

Machine stitched around the heart shapes leaving a small gap to poke in the wadding and shake in the dried lavender. Clipped the edges. Turned it to the right side, using a scissor blade to poke the heart point out and ironed the heart shape. Clipped the pointy end off the heart so it sat better when turned right side out.

Stuffed the point of the heart and the top with wadding, then poured in dried lavender. I made a little funnel out of scrap paper to direct the lavender in to the middle of the heart. Later I discovered a kitchen funnel worked well, too. I sat the heart in a cup to pour in the dried lavender.

Cut the ribbon and then stitched a button where they crossed. When my parents left the farm my Mother gave me her many jars of buttons. When clothing was finally exhausted, she’d cut off all the buttons and keep them. She kept buckles and other sewing notions, too. I played with the buttons as a child and now I’ve re-used some of them on these lavender sachets.

Sweet smelling, pretty gifts ready for storing until needed.

INVENTORS MONTH

Consider the printing press, antibiotics, the internal combustion engine, the internet, electricity, sliced bread, safety pins and contact lenses: they were all invented by great thinkers and tinkerers and we benefit from them everyday.

August is INVENTORS MONTH. Time to consider and feel gratitude for the amazing range of inventions making our lives easier every day. So, pop the CORK from a BOTTLE of CHAMPAGNE, sit out in the sun on your CHAIR and take a few PHOTOS on your PHONE to celebrate.

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Decluttering, Making Draught Excluders and Going Down South

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DECLUTTERING and MAKING DRAUGHT EXCLUDERS

How do you dispose of things when you declutter? When I recently did a big, well overdue wardrobe declutter, almost everything went into the Church Charity Bin. This was because the clothes, shoes and handbags I was removing were all in good condition. They were work clothes and I’ve finally accepted I wasn’t going to wear them again. My clothes are far more casual now.

When we came back from living overseas for a few years, an entire household of sheets, blankets, quits, towels, pillows and tablecloths came back with us. Unsure what we’d need, I kept most things thinking I would sort and discard when our container of household goods from our previous house arrived. When that happened there was no time for a proper sort so the linen press bulged with a jumble of stuff!

This week, my husband and I emptied, sorted, refolded and restacked the linen press. We ended up with two huge bags of blankets, single bed sheets, pillows and towels to throw out. They looked faded and unloved after not being used for years. These bags were taken to the Dogs Refuge. I couldn’t go because I’d want to bring all the dogs home with me.

They rejected the pillows. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise! My mother really feels the cold and was complaining about the draughts coming in under three external doors.

I made her draught excluders and stuffed them with recycled polyester wadding from two of the pillows! There’s one thin one to put in the gutter of a sliding door and two sausage ones for two normal doors.

The first excluder is small and thin to push into the gutter of a sliding door.

I discovered the easiest way to poke the wadding into the excluders was using a old copper stick, or dolly, from the laundry. I don’t have a copper for washing but find this smooth, old stick so useful for so many jobs.

( A copper is a deep copper bowl built over a fire box. It is filled with water and a fire is lit under it to heat the water. When it is hot the clothes to be washed are immersed and agitated by the stick, before being rinsed, put through a mangle to remove water and hung out to dry. Coppers were used before we had washing machines.)

To make the two bigger ones, I traced around a mug to create four end pieces, then measured and cut two strips for the bodies.

Used the template lines to guide the stitches joining the ends to the body of the sausage, the clipped the edges before turning them right side out.

The linen press is tidy and logically stacked, the excess things have gone to the Dog Refuge and I’ve made my Mother three draught excluders. Now I just need to find out what to do with thousands of books. Text books, travel books, poetry, histories, biographies, fiction and non-fiction, collected over four generations.

GOING DOWN SOUTH

Last week we went to Australind to stay with my mother. The second day we were there, we all went to Busselton to visit her friend. After morning tea we left them to have a good chat and we went further south to Dunsborough, a well known holiday destination. It was a beautiful clear, sunny day and after a lovely wander around the shops we bought lunch and went down to the beach. Gorgeous.

This is Afternoon Tea Week. Afternoon Tea is a British tradition dating from the 1840s. Traditionally, fine china accompanies delicate sandwiches, scones with jam and cream and little cakes and pastries. Sounds wonderful. Start boiling the kettle now!

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Making a Quick Cutlery Roll

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Just as Northern Hemisphere blog writers are pleased with the signs of Spring, I am pleased with the indications of Autumn! We had some rain yesterday and it is cool outside. The frog chorus is rowdy tonight. So my thoughts are directed at making, cooking and growing. I am enjoying doing things around the house.

MAKING a CUTLERY ROLL Often when we are travelling we eat breakfast and lunch and then something light in the room for dinner. These hotel room picnics can consist of bought ready-made salads, cheese, bread, fruit or cold meats. I saved these bamboo knives, forks and spoons and carry them for our picnics.

There is a plethora of instructions online for making cutlery rolls, but I wanted something light, quick and easy. This one took half an hour if you don’t include the washing and drying of the fabric. This actually is a hemmed rectangle with one end folded up and stitched into three slots and finally rolled and held in place with ribbon. Too easy!

I washed and ironed a remnant piece of fabric and then cut a rectangle to make the cutlery roll. My piece of fabric measured 50cm x 25cm (about 20″ x 9″) including seam allowances.

After I’d sewn down one side and across the bottom, I snipped the corner, turned the rectangle back to the right side and ironed it, making sure the raw edge at the top was folded over into the middle so I could sew it closed.

After I’d stitched the raw edge, I placed the cutlery on the rectangle so I could fold the end up to create the pouches to the right height to hold it (your chosen cutlery will determine the size of the folded piece) then stitched it to make three slots or pouches. I just guessed the measurements.

I hand stitched a length of grosgrain ribbon in the middle on the back, to tie the roll, after folding each third to make the roll.

Fold, tie and all done!

Light, quick and very useful, my super easy cutlery roll.

GROWING Went to an Open Garden afternoon with Sophie Thompson, a columnist, national public speaker,TEDx presenter, author, broadcaster, horticulturalist and weekly presenter on Gardening Australia on ABCtv. She focuses on sustainable gardening and promotes water wise and climate compatible gardening. Sophie spoke about the natural ways to control pests. Extremely well informed and funny, it was a great afternoon held in a wonderful garden. Very motivational

There are still some flowers in the garden. My Amaryllis Belladonna Lily (Naked Lady Bulb) thrives in our hot climate, grows in full sun and blooms late in summer when other flowers are finished.

This Abraham Darby is a lovely fragrant rose which sprawls out of its pot.

I collected seeds from this hippiastrum late last year and have five small plants. It has beautiful flowers several times during the year.

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