Quilting - A Great Winter Activity

In the summer I get all inspired by my garden, the outdoors and the pretty summer days, but now winter is on its way.  Offically.  In NZ winter is June, July, August.

A friend came for two nights with the intentions of finishing a quilt she has been planning for the past 10 years!  and so out came the machines.

Even my daughter, who is 7yr, got involved and worked away on her quilt at the end of the table.  She is just learning about seams and zig-zag, and it was a real shame when her machine (an oldy) broke down and she had to stop.

Lynda actually got to put on her binding and what an achievement!  (that is my Albie (5yr) there helping her take pins out).

I managed to finish my quilt this weekend, and here it is in all its glory finally.

First Snow for 2013

The first snow came yesterday.  We had 19C the day before, sunshine and pretty.  Then quickly the temperature dropped, and by the evening it was freezing.

I went out to put the new chooks to bed (they still aren't perching, but are all huddling together in a laying box), and when I stepped outside large fluffy flakes were falling from the sky.

I always find snow so exciting!

The poor garden though.  Plants that have been lingering on during our long, hot summer, will now be killed off.  The beans have all gone brown, and the potatoes have died.

I will have to do a big clean up and tidy the garden for winter.

Beans Galore

We aren't short of beans, but I bet we get mighty sick of eating them all winter!

I posted this a while ago on Facebook and somehow forgot to post it here!  The major part of our beans crop coming to fruition.  We sliced and froze the whole lot.

Planting for Plenty

Winter veges can be a bit hit and miss, with some bolting in the autumn, or as soon as you hit spring.  So I am never sure quite what to plant and when.  I have done my  best this year tho
This week I planted

Red Cabbage
Broad Bean seeds
Silver Beet
Curly Cale
Red Beetroot
Leeks

I am hoping that some will be edible during the winter, like the Kale.  Incidentally, Kale is supposedly the latest "in" thing in cooking.  It's one of those real oldies, but goodies.

We are still harvesting lots of  beans, about 6 more pumpkins (with lots yet to be ready), parsley, tomatoes, basil, and capsicums.

More Plenty from the garden

This extended warm weather has been fantastic.

First our paddocks looked like bony, stoney desert, but last weekend we had the first rain since 4th Feb, and new we are all green and new again.

The beans I put in late, which critics tut-tutted over and said they would never grow, have produced their first wee crop.  Within about another week I should have hundreds, there are plenty more tiny ones just waiting in the wings.

Today's haul

I heard someone on the TV saying that we need to expect "Mediterranean" summers due to global warming.
We should expect extended periods of warm, dry weather over our summer season.  This is based on one hot,  long, dry summer...?  I can't remember when we had a summer like it.  So, if it is true, YAY, bring it on.  Summers for swimming lots, and eating outside are a treasure.

What it has meant for our garden is this!  tomatoes, capsicums by the bucketload, and friends and family who have grown cucumbers unlimited.  These are not always things that grow easily here.  I wish I had planted aubergines, I love them, and they need a long, hot summer.  This year would have been perfect.

Here is what I picked this morning

I asked for a Chainsaw, and got way more

We have had a large pile of cut branches from when our macrocarpa hedging was trimmed, and I have been eyeing it up for firewood.  Hubby has been insistent that he wants to do a "big burn" which seems such a waste of good wood to me!  so...I went to the equipment shop (very daunting, male dominated environment there!) and enquired about the smallest chainsaw you can get.

Then I tentatively asked hubby if I could buy a chainsaw.  You have never seen such love and devotion, "of course, honey" was his immediate answer.  Here was I thinking that we already had a chainsaw (a huge monstrous thing you need arms like gorillas to wield), and I would be refused outright.  But, apparently a chainsaw is something you can ask your man for without any problem.  Now, a new sewing machine would be a different matter....

Herewith I started chopping up the small logs.  There is a heap of wood there, and I am a happy camper.

Meanwhile, since I am in his good books, he built me a herb garden.  YAY. It has been filled, and planted out with a few beginners...