Canberra Trip

Back in during the summer holidays,

when the crowds are heading to the beach, 

we headed off on a road trip to Canberra,

it was a good 12 hours in the car, the boy's travelled really well.

I used to live in Canberra about 20 years ago and loved it.

We visited Parliment House

The Mint

Questacon, a great place, we could have spent all day there,

They made their own space ship to feature in a

3D movie, then watched the movie,

they even appear in the movie too

So much for the boys to do, all hands on

and a great learning experience.

We rode the beautiful old carosel in the city

Climbed on huge sculptures

Looked out over the city from Black Mountain,

(we were on the tower from the pic before)

Canberra is a great city, which does not feel like a city at all,

imagine how great these tree's look now that it's Autumn.

People give Canberra a bad wrap, but it's a great spot

for a holiday, lot's of free stuff to do, easy to get around

and great shopping.

(I did visit Handmade Canberra, more on that later :) 

We caught up witha few friends, my cousin and

stayed with the lovely Barker family,

it was great to catch up with all their crew.

They have 5 daughters, only the youngest, Annie is at home now,

The boys favourite part about their Canberra Trip was Annie,

(and the water fight at Sharons - later too)

They said she was so pretty and nice :)

With another lot of holidays creeping up very quickly,

I would highly recommend a trip to the nations capital.

Have a nice Thursday

and be good.

Jacqueline.

The Winner Of The Giveaway....

Thanks to everyone that played along.

The winner of my

Odd Sock Keeper

has been drawn, out of an odd sock keeper of course,

And Kim from

The Inadvertent Farmer

is the lucky person :)

Kim is all the way over in the US, in Washington State.

Kim also was the co-ordinator of

"Kinder Gardens - Let Them Get Dirty"

which our family participated in last year.

It's going to start again soon, it's easy to join in,

it would be great if some more aussie's got on board,

we will definately be playing along again.

Thats all for now

Be Good

Jacqueline.

Just What I Was Looking For

Firstly, a reminder that my

Odd Sock Keeper Giveaway

will be drawn Sunday night :)

Quit a while ago, I inherited this standard lamp

from my lovely Nanna, Venice,

but I am not so much a fan of the current shade on it.

It's a sort of oyster colour and a semi-shiny

(think of the 80's) tafeta fabric.

So, I have been thinking I would recover it,

but finding a nice big drum lampshade frame

was proving a bit tricky.

  Last weeknd at a garage sale I found one - perfect

as well as another matching set a bit smaller.

The set of 3 were $4!!!!

Even more perfect.

Now I will have to hunt for 2 bases for the others.

Anyway, I bought some of this lovely handprinted fabric from

Yardage Design 

for myself for Christmas - I think it will be ideal.

Now I just have to figure out how to cover the shade

like the pro's do.

Has anyone attempted this? Any Hint's?

Another Christmas gift for myself from Yardage Design too :)

The boy's thought it was very funny

to have pesents wrapped up by myself,

bought by myself and

given to myself,

I think it's very sensible.

Hope you are having a nice weekend

Jacqueline.

Tomato Sauce - Done - Recipe Included

This years to tomato crop has been huge.

The plants are over 8 feet high!

Lots of summer rain and a harvest session every morning

before school and work.

Each year, on the March long weekend Peter has a

huge sauce making session which last for days.

He is up at the crack of dawn, chopping and stirring

and putting in bottles late into the night.

This year I decided to take the task on

with a new recipe, rather than the easy sauce version.



I think my presentation is better too :)



It's a very easy recipe, you only need 7 kg for a batch

so we just just stored them in the shed fridge as we picked.

I doubt we will ever use another recipe again.

And because they are smaller batches, I could do a batch during the day

and have it bottles before the evening chaos.

I ended up doing 5 batches. For me, a batch made about 6 bottles.

Here are the seeds that have been saved from this years crop,

ready to plant in spring.

He saves them on paper towel,

once dried, stores them in a jar,

then come spring, cuts up the paper towel and plants.

Amazing, all that comes from these little seeds

The recipe was given to me by my friends mother-in-law

Bells Tomato Sauce

7kg Tomato's

730mls Brown Vinegar

Ground Cloves (I useed 2 teasp)

Garlic (I used 6 cloves)

4 tbsp Salt

2 teasp Cayene Pepper

1.5kg Sugar (I used raw)

I also added about 8 green apples

Boil all ingredients (not sugar) for 3 hours

Strain / Moulie

Add sugar slowly

Cook until you have the required consistency,

about 2-3 hours.

It will thicken a bit more once it has cooled.

Bottle Up into steralised bottles.

Good Luck

Jacqueline.

"Everyone needs one of these" GIVE AWAY

Do you think your odd socks deserve a better home ?

I might just have the answer

If you would like to make the worlds most mundane job,

sorting socks, a little more fun.....

I have just listed

The Odd Sock Keeper

in the shop

They are available with a red spot, pink spot or green spot trim.

To win your very own ZippyZippy

Odd Sock keeper

Just leave a comment on this post,

and of course be a follower of my little blog.

The winner will be drawn

Sunday, 20th March.

Have a great week

Jacqueline :)

Natimuk Farmers Market Plus

Back in October and December,

I decided to set up shop at the

Natimuk Farmers Market Plus.

It's about 20 mins from Horsham,

the market is set up in the middle of town,

in a lovely setting next to the creek.

I had a great time and even sold lot's of stuff.

no idea why this keeps coming out sideways :/

I had the first born come along with me,

(have to share this - at the Oct market,

he only came out for a short while to help,

he has the gift of the gab, explained what all my

creations were, how much and how to use them.

One lady asked if she could take a business card,

he turned to me and asked how much I was

selling them for - they did not have a price!)

he set up beside me and was selling his "Worm Wee"

that he has collected from our worm farm.

He was thrilled to bits to have his own shop,

he sold lot's, but could not believe some people

did not know what it was for and how he go it.

A couple of Natimuk Girls were our neighbours,

Mel and Danora

Danora creates this amazing jewellery

from Nth Qld seed pods.

Mel had these stars made from metal, wire and buttons

as well as native flowers.

Our other neighbours were 2 clever Horsham girls,

Adelle and Sam

They had cool tee's, candles

and funky handmade toys,

as well as lots of other goodies.

The next Natimuk Farmers Market Plus

will be this Sunday, the 13th.

I will not be set up this time,

plan to for the future dates though,

but will pop out for a look.

Have a great day

and be good.

Jacqueline.

Grampians Texture

On Saturday afternoon

Debbie from across the road 

and I took a drive up to

Halls Gap in the lovely Grampians

to visit the Grampians Texture Twilight Market.

One part of the market was full of wool, cottons, silks,

fabric, books, buttons and lots of other goodies.

There was beautiful, interesting yarns by

Dairing Knitwear by Teresa Dair

This denim cotton :)

There was treasures to hunt through.

Across the road in the gardens of the Mountain Grand was the

Twilight Market where tutors and students could sell there wares.

These little brooches and softies are from

Amanda Croatto from Melbourne.

It was a beautiful setting

but the late rain did cut the market short.

Next year, I think I will book in for a couple of classes.

The printing ones caught my attention this year.

One of my friends spends the whole week up there,

learning lots of new things,

she is even learning how to make her own shoes this year,

can't wait to see them!

And, here is my little stash of goodies I bought home.

Might see you at Grampians Texture next year.

Jacqueline