Garden update

This is our western fence.  Some months ago I planted tiny tubestock native myrtles down the fenceline.  I am hoping one day they will form a lovely aromatic hedge.  They have more than tripled in height, but it's slow going.  Apparently tubestock seem to be slow until about their 5th year, when they are more vigorous, and with a better root system than regular potted plants. 

Up one end are the lemon myrtles.  They are an Australian native myrtle with the highest levels of citrol in the leaves [even more than lemons].  I LOVE these plants, and intend to do lots of cooking with them... once they have enough leaves that I can safely harvest them without affecting their growth.

Up the far end of the hedge are aniseed myrtles.  They are another native that has an amazing aniseed aroma in the leaves.  Mr E wants to use it for cooking also.  I am not a big fan of aniseed so I may not sample those dishes!!

We wanted cinnamon myrtles for this hedge also, but were unable to source any tubestock.  I am hoping to source some plants for this middle section soon.  In the meantime I have planted some rosellas in their place [hibiscus sabdariffa].  They can be treated as an annual so I will pull them out after they 'fruit' and plant cinnamon myrtles in their place.  

It's going to be a lovely productive hedge.  I am really looking forward to my rosellas in a few months time, and eventually lemon & aniseed myrtle leaves for teas, icecreams and heaps of other dishes.

Practice with purpose

I have been teaching myself to play piano for a few years now.  I purchased a dvd course to learn at home, and if only I practiced, I would probably be where I want to be.  Recently I played piano at church [for the first time ever].  I was totally terrified, made quite a few mistakes [thankfully the band covered a lot of those up], and finished much more confident than I ever have been before.

I had forgotten how important it is to have a purpose for playing.  When I learnt musical instruments at school I was in the band or orchestra [depending on which instrument I was playing at that time] and that gave me a purpose for practice.  I find this with craft - if you don't have a purpose for the craft [eg. a gift, to use yourself] you really don't ever get around to doing it.  I imagine this is why I haven't scrapbooked in so long... I forgot the reason why I was doing it.

It is the same with reading my bible.  If I am reading because I think I 'have to' [like it's a rule] I will eventually stop because there's no purpose for reading.  When I read God's word with purpose, I get more out of it, and I won't stop because I see the value in it.  The question is then, how does one read the bible with purpose? 

I read the bible to learn more about God, which is the most important thing I can do in this life.  It is not a self-help book, I don't read it to improve myself.  The more I read, the more I realise it's not about me.  It's all about Jesus.  And getting to know Him better, by reading the bible, is fun, amazing, and life-changing.  Getting into the habit of reading the bible can take practice, but more than anything else in this life He is worth the effort.

2012 is here.

I don't make new year's resolutions, they always fail.  But I do like to think about the year gone, and what I can do or hope to achieve in the year ahead.  Sometimes it's a home organisation goal, sometimes a review of my craft 'to do' list, or other things.  I'm going to review my blog 'to do' lists, and get them up to date.

Happy New Year. 

TUTORIAL - Kid's travel activity organisers

I made these activity packs back in September.  They were a desperate attempt to keep the kids busy on the plane.  I had no idea just how useful they would be.  We use them all the time.  They are very simple to make, here's how:


Decide how big/small you want your organiser to be.  I found a notebook I wanted to put in it and added 2 inches to each side.  The first rectangle you need to cut from your main fabric needs to be twice as big as this [the organiser is folded in half].

Pick a main fabric, and one or two contrasting fabrics.

I cut my front piece and lining piece according to my notebook measurement [plus 2 inches each side, and double the width].  The cut pocket strips that were the same width but 1 1/2 inches shorter than the last one.  Hem one long edge of your smaller strips [this will form the top of the pocket].

Lay the pockets one on top of the other and stitch down the centre to hold them together.

Fuse a fairly stiff interfacing to your outside cover piece.

 

Make a closure tab out of lining/scrap fabric.  Add velcro to the tab...

and to the cover:

Put the pocket pieces and cover right sides together, making sure your closure tab is pinned in the correct place inside this.  Stitch around the outside edge leaving a gap for turning.  Turn, press, and topstitch around the edge.

You are finished.  I made four different ones for my kids, and filled them with notebooks, stickers, books, pencils etc.  They have worked brilliantly on planes, while away on holidays, and at church.  I am considering making a slightly larger one for myself to carry things for me to do while I wait at school and dancing etc.

STRAWBERRY SHOPPING BAGS

I have been wanting to make my own strawberry shopping bags since I bought one a couple of years ago.  I am so thankful to Lier for her tutorial as it meant I didn't have to work out how to make them myself.  I made a dozen for Christmas gifts this year.  They looked so cute sitting all together in a bowl, and were very easy to sew.  It has been difficult to part with them.  Perhaps I will have to make some more for myself!