My new cute ruffled apron!!

I'm so in love with my new ruffled apron! It was so worth the craziness of trying to make sure each strip was the right length and width. I almost don't want to get it dirty now!



Emily xoxo

A girl + inspiration + fabric = a cute ruffled apron!!

I bought this really cute material from a market stall run by my teacher aide and good friend, Colleen, with the idea of making an apron. Now I have never patchworked before in my life, but Colleen made it sound so simple.

A few months later, I found a cute pattern and was devastated to realise that I didn't have enough fabric to make it. So I started a long and harrowing search for an apron pattern that might work. Eventually I found this one and I decided with a little creativity it would work out.

Isn't it cute!! This great blog had a tutorial for how to make it, I just had to figure out how to piece together my material to make it work!

My Fabric!!

In order to create this gorgeous little apron out of my fabric I had to get creative. I cut up the smaller pictures and added patterned fabrics to create the right length strips.

Planning out what would go where...

All cut up and pinned up!

Then using my trusty Janome, I firstly zig zagged the edges, then stitched each piece into place.

 Zig zagging....

Straight stiching the pieces together....

A finished strip...then iron each seam open.

Next step:

Cut strips to correct length and add some extra fabric to the width of a couple of the strips so that all strips are an equal width and length.

Roll seams on all sides of the base piece of fabric and stitch down.

Roll seams on two short sides and one long side and stitch.

Gather the top of each strip and pull threads to gather to the length of the base fabric.

Start at the bottom, pin the top edge of the ruffle to the wrong side of the fabric about an inch from the bottom. Stitch gathers in place. 

Sew the next ruffle to the base about 4 1/2 inches above the top of the first ruffle, making sure the top ruffle overlaps the bottom ruffle by about an inch. Repeat with remaining ruffles.

Ace Drapers revisited!

Remember this post? I promised a photo of this amazing establishment and here is the only one I could manage...this is one of the inaccessable isles....

Incredible isn't it....

Emily xoxo



My new best friend!!

The last time we went to Charleville, we went shopping with Mum and Dad at the local Mitre 10 and I purchased a "Grandpa's Weeder" (pictured below).



It works like this! (Apologies for the blurry photo) You choose the plant you wish to remove from your lawn or garden. Carefully place the prongs around the base of the plant...



 Use your foot to push the weeder down into the ground,  

until your foot is on the ground and the weeder is as deep into the soil as you can get it. 

Use the piece of metal that is at a right angle to the handle, which you used to push it into the ground as a lever, this will cause the prongs at the end to close around the stem and roots of the plant and as you lean it back further on the lever the weed will be pulled out of the ground. All without bending over!

See my new best friend!!!

Emily xoxo

Catching up....

Wow what a crazy few weeks....has it been weeks or only a week since my last post...I don't know. Anyway it is that crazy time of year when I am struggling to get my reports done so that I can enjoy the last few weeks of term.

So lots has happened around home since I last blogged. The chooks have settled  in well and I have started collecting eggs!!!

First egg!!!

Becc and I had a sewing night and made kick ass gardening aprons with lots of useful pockets!! And we started a couple of other aprons at craft.

My new arpon!! So funky!!

First egg collected and put in the 'egg' pocket!

I found some wire to make a temporary run for the chooks for late in the arvo on the weekends. This way they can get into the dirt and scratch around - their normal cage has a cement floor but it is covered in a nice thick layer of hay. When they can find their way back to the roost, I will let them wander freely in our yard, but I'll lock Nugget (our staffy) in one of the other sheds. One step at a time... making sure they won't roost in a tree!

Former cat carrier, now nesting box! The preferred choice - over the mower catcher.

Having a dust bath!

Becc and I have also joined the Roma Community Garden and have already weeded our plot, helped weed three large raised garden beds, fixed leaking sprinkler system and harvested a bumper crop of cherry tomatoes!!!

Newly cleared raised garden beds! See all the weeds in the wheel barrow!!

Mmmm cherry tomatoes!

Salad made with cherry tomatoes from the Community Garden, lettuce from my garden...feels sooo good to be growing some of our own food!!!

I think one of the great things about my friendship with Becc is that we have a similar dream/plan for our families. We are both keen to grow as much of our own food as possible to lessen our food miles. We want to try to find organic foods, buy wholesale to save money and buy organic fed beef, lamb and chicken where possible. We have started gardens at home and joined the community garden to meet like minded people in our town. We love cooking for our family and providing them with healthy wholesome meals. How cool is that!! To find such a beautiful friend that I can share the excitement and disappointments that experimenting with gardening can bring! I consider myself extremely lucky to have such a friend in my life and in the same town!!! You can read about Becc's adventures in her garden here. She is a real inspiration!!

I have a few other cool things to blog about, but I will save them for another day!!

Emily xoxo