happy new year

After a break from technology over Christmas I'm back.  My focus of late has been the veggie garden and harvesting produce with every visit, I can't keep up with the zucchini, cucumber, snow peas, beans and rhubarb.  All delicious.

I made a two more gingerbread houses a couple of days before Christmas (nothing like a last minute production) and some bunting to make the garden more festive.

Today I made something I've been wanting for ages, a tea cosie/cozy/cosy.  Another Nanna crafty item I love.  I followed a tutorial on The Purl Bee which was very simple, the bits in the tutorial I decided to skip are obvious in the final product.  Best to follow the instructions more closely next time.  I used some more of my Tokyo fabric and lined it with polka dot fabric (of course).

In the pipeline for the next week are two more Nicole Mallalieu bags and I have to seriously think about branching out sewing wise. 

a tiny bit of sewing and gardening

Another week has passed with lots of thinking about doing things but not actually getting anything done.  But I did have a couple of lovely days in Sydney visiting a friend and her new, very sweet baby. 

I made another Nicole Mallalieu bag, the pattern is 'Hobo' - love that name.   This bag is for a friend because I was sick of the one she was using (another bag I made).  I really do have a problem with polka dots, I love them.  I lined it with some red poplin, the photo didn't turn out too well of that. 

And there was a small harvest from my garden, a crop of turnips.  Not so sure what I'll be making with them, someone suggested Cornish pasties.  Yum.

my first snow peas

It has been a quiet week on the crafting front, hopefully this weekend will produce something.  However, I discovered this morning that I have grown my first snow peas!

As well as my allotment at the community garden I'm growing a few things on my balcony.  The snow pea success is especially exciting because I love them so much I could eat them every day.  Happy Saturday.

my allotment

In April this year I was lucky to get an allotment at a community garden, I'd been on the waiting list for 18 months and was told there were 17 people after me.  My allotment is for the 'beginner', it's the smallest in the garden at 25sq metres.  I was a bit disheartened when I was shown my garden as it was a big patch of weeds (that's my dad in the photo).

After much weeding it started to take shape and look like a veggie patch.

I've started to put a brick edging around the garden (it's still a bit wonky) and I've planted rhubarb, turnips, brussel sprouts, potatoes, zucchini, pumpkin, snow peas, spring onions, jostaberries and raspberries. 

I'm loving the allotment, everything is growing, touch wood.  I'm finding the weeding ridiculous, I have to spend at least two hours at it every time I'm there.  It'll all be worth it when I can eat what I've grown.