A spot of gardening

Jonty and I try to spend as much time as we can outside in the garden but with all the rain that we have been having it has been difficult. So when the sun comes out we are outside first thing and go in and out all day.

We picked some beautiful flowers and Jonty tried a bit of flower arranging. . . .

And we also planted some fresh herbs in our herb garden after having a big clean up and removing the nastursiums that had completely taken over.

And we mulched our newly planted native garden which Jonty especially likes helping out with!

Good mornings

Jonty and I are settling into a new sleeping routine after some upheaval from him getting sick and moving into a "big boy bed". He now sleeps in a little longer than he used to (the sun is at least up when he decides to surface these days!) and I have been getting out of bed sometimes hours before him. I am loving this time of the day as I potter around doing odd chores and generally enjoying the peace and quiet and having some time to get ready for the day.

This morning I went out to feed the chickens and collect the eggs,

and I discovered who has been eating my brussel sprouts. . .

. . . .and kale (it's the big fat green caterpillar hiding there on the leaf)

I cut the soap that I had made last night as I begin making Christmas presents,

and I stood on the balcony to drink my morning coffee watching the misty clouds hanging over the mountain.

Bliss.

The Little Red Caboose

My mother in law just gave Dave one of his books from when he was little boy that she had kept. It was his favourite and his bed time story every night for about a year; The Little Red Caboose.

It has now become Jonty's favourite and after a few days of reading it over and over he now knows sections off by heart.

It is so lovely to not only be able to share a book with Jonty that was his Dad's but also to read a book that has beautiful illustrations.

Rummage Style website

So I have finally gotten around to getting my website freshened up with the current range on and a few changes here and there. I'm happy with the way it looks, have a peep here and let me know what you think!

A little bit of Christmas

Dave and I are not generally that into Christmas. After years in the hospitality industry where Christmas meant lots of extra working hours, hugely busy days, and working when everyone else seemed to be celebrating, it has taken a while for the thought of summer not to bring dread.

But we are slowly starting to come round and now we are able to take time off to be with our families and sit back and enjoy the time with everyone else. We are also making an extra special effort as I know Christmas is really exciting for little ones and I want Jonty to enjoy it just as much as I did when I was young. So, this year we purchased our first Christmas tree!

We thought that Jonty would get over the fascination of a tree in our lounge room and leave it be but it turned out that the temptation was too much, and when he started to have plans about climbing it we decided to shift it to a safe zone. It nows sits on top of our wood stove (which thankfully is not needed this time of year in Australia) without the risk of little hands slowly striping it of its needles.

I did realise soon after putting up the tree that we had very few decorations, just a few baubles given to me my mother in law a few years back. So, over the last two evenings I have enjoyed doing a little hand stitching and making some simple hearts and I sewed up a paper bunting made from old sheet music. I like our tree now and I'm sure that every year we will develop our little family tradition of going down to the market to buy our tree! Next year Jonty should be old enough to help me make some more decorations which we will keep in a box to bring out each year.

Soule Mama books

One of my favourite blogs to read is Amanda's Soule Mama and I finally got around to ordering her two books. One, The Creative Family, is full of great ideas for activities to do with children and lots of ways to help encourage their creativity and imaginations. The second, Handmade Home, is basically a how to craft book and there are lots of projects that I want to try. But, the one that I really wanted to get stuck into first was the rag rug. I love these rugs and what's best is that they use all the scraps and bits and pieces of fabric that I always have around from my business.
I have already started and am really enjoying sitting down at the end of the day after my little one is sound asleep and relaxing into the rhythm of plaiting my rug. It's a big project as I have a particular place in mind for it which means that it needs to be really big, but I am happy to plod away at it and am liking the idea of a long term project instead of what I usually do which is quick result sewing projects. Plus Christmas holidays are coming up and I'll have something to take away with me, unless of course it is too big by then as I don't think taking a giant rag rug on a road trip is particularly practical!

I'll keep you updated on my progress and also on any other projects that I try from the book.