Monday, March 7, 2011

Autumns' Bounty

Hello and welcome to a new week.
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

We had beautiful Autumn weather over the weekend.
Cool mornings and lovely days, although at this time of year the DES (Dept. of Environment and Sustainability) start their controlled fuel reduction burns.
These burn offs are carried out to get rid of undergrowth and reduce the intensity of bushfires.
After all the rain we've had and the growth that's taken place, whilst we may not like the smoke etc. it needs to be done.
I had plans to plug the machine in and spend Saturday sewing as my boys were away for the day, so no distractions.............
I had several ideas for various projects but when push came to shove, I couldn't find my creative mojo despite turning the house upside down looking for it..........

Perhaps it was the thought that I really should be outside on such a beautiful day and working in the garden or cleaning out the chook house.......

Anyway, I decided to whip up a few egg cosies.
Quick, easy, colourful and cute.

I was hoping the creative vibe might return if I just started on something, but no it wasn't to be .
Not to worry, I finished these three and headed outside to do the jobs I had been putting off.....

.
My collection of 'spotty dotty' chooks........

I wonder what colour their egg shells are?

Should've guessed.

Wouldn't you be surprised to find one of these eggs in a laying box?..........


I've noticed quite a few crocheted flower scarves in blogland recently.
I've seen some beautiful examples and was reminded of one I made some years ago.

Obviously, I had found a pattern for a crocheted flower and gone berserk whipping up dozens of them............ as I do!

Somewhere along the way I decided to sew them together and make a scarf.
I thought it was a good idea at the time......
Took me ages to sew them together, but loved the end result.
Anyway, for some reason I never wore it and put it back in the draw and there it remains.
That was 4 years ago, does that make me a trendsetter but I didn't know it at the time?


Love pink and green, throw in a bit of red too, mmm.....



The garden, is still yielding plenty of fruit and veg.
Homegrown tomatoes are just the best.
I love green beans too..............
I remember Summer dinners when I was a child.
We would be sitting around the table in a hot, little kitchen.
Mum would have the wood stove going to cook our meal and we would be having meat and 3 veg. as you did in those days.
There would be homegrown beans on the plate and as a 5 y.o. I couldn't find anything appealing about them.
Fast forward ahem!........years and I love homegrown green beans with my dinner.
You can't beat them.
I could eat just a bowl full for a meal, delicious....
The late peaches are now ripening and beautifully sweet and tasty as are the last of the blood plums.............

Beautiful Dahlias putting on a few blooms before Winter.

I love the randomness of the white in amongst them.
Each bud is like a surprise waiting to bloom.

Will it be a single or bicoloured flower?


As Saturday was such a lovely day, I thought it right that I should have a picnic in the back orchard.
I think I was really putting off the job of cleaning out the chook house......

The 'girls' were having their own little picnic there, but obviously thought I had brought out some treats for them too...........


No nothing left, it's all gone.
I did get the chook house cleaned out, fresh straw in the nesting boxes.......
It looked a treat afterwards and got the tick of approval from the girls.

Well,that's a little of what I got up to on the weekend.

Thanks for stopping by to read my ramblings.
Thanks to those who leave a comment, it's always lovely reading them, discovering new blogs and finding out which part of the globe you hale from.

The week ahead is full of adventure yet to be had. Hopefully I will find my creative mojo somewhere.
I am still working away at my first crocheted rug, which is growing little by little.
I am taking it a little easier as I have developed a sore wrist.
Anyone else find this happens and what do you do for it?

We are on the countdown to the Yackandandah Folk Festival, which takes place in 3 weeks time
A weekend of music and fun and something we all look forward to, here in the Sweet Birdy Love household.

I hope whatever your week brings you enjoy it and have something to look forward to.

Till next time, take care.

Claire X

14 comments:

  1. Claire, I love those little egg cosies. A very cute idea and would make lovely Easter or craft stall pressies. I hope your creativity comes back soon. It's horrible going through those phases.
    I'm sure your chooks are very happy with a cleaned out house. We've had to board up the laying boxes as our two chooks have gone broody and they won't stop sitting. Silly girls and it means no eggs too. :(
    Your dahlias are pretty. I'm really missing having summer flowers in the garden because of the wet miserable summer we've had. I normally have some petunias and snapdragons but they've mostly turned up their toes. On the bright side, there is lots of green around and sunshine today which is lovely.
    Have a great week,
    Anne xx

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  2. Hi Claire , love your egg cozies and all your post.
    I made a flower scarf from a online pattern ( maybe the Lion Brand website ) a couple of years ago , but it's not as pretty as yours and I've never worn it :0)
    I'm also crocheting a rug from t.shirt yarn...sarted that over a year ago ...it is tricky stuff and I've found working with it on a table to hold the weight helps . Also feeding the "yarn" through your left hand often as it doesn't really slide like proper yarn . I would love to see your version . I just got round to taking some pics of mine and will probably blog it this week.
    Enjoy the autumn days , speak soon .
    Jacquie x

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  3. I think they would look great as oven mitt designs too. I'm still loving that polka dot fabric of yours. So versatile.

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  4. Love the polka dot chickens and eggs! So cute!

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  5. Just going to join in the *loving the egg cosies* chorus! And envying you your tomatoes. I can see the most beautiful little sickle moon as I type this and thinking of how she'll be travelling round to shine on you in 12 hours.

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  6. It's turned quite frosty here tonight. It seems strange to me - you stepping into Autumn and us into Spring. The world gets smaller with all this technology. Love your egg cosies Claire.

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  7. everything is beautiful claire!
    Those egg cozies, and the scarf, and I love the picture of the hen staring in the basket.
    xx
    julie
    oh and the dahlias. more evidence of your green thumbs!

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  8. Lovely, lovely egg cosies - can't believe you whipped those up and you couldn't even find your creative mojo!
    Am slightly envious of your lovely, sunny orchard and happy hens - looks like heaven - enjoy
    Emily x

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  9. Lovely post. The dotty hens and eggs look great on the egg cosies and I love the dappled shade in the orchard.

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  10. Hey thankyou one and all for your lovely comments. It's great to hear from you all.
    Yes, it is a bit topsy turvy, we're heading into Autumn and the northern hemisphere, is heading into Spring. Hard to get your head around at times.
    I have received some lovely tartan swatches all the way from Scotland so there will be tartan chooks on egg cosies, hehe a McChook.........

    I hope all those bloggers looking forward to Spring, start to receive some lovely blue sky sunshiney weather ASAP.

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  11. See where henny girl is standing? Well that's where i'm hoping the tunnel will come up!..Gawd look at those tomatoes!!!...That's it...grow bags it is! LOVE eggy cosies and do not put that scarf back in a draw...it's divine!! ;0)
    xxxxxxyou have email!!xxxxx

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  12. Just found your lovely blog! I am in love with it and your little egg cozie covers...so so sweet. xoxoxo

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  13. The egg cozies are gorgeous! I love the spotty fabric you used! The tomatoes look fantastic, just thinking about planting some for summer here, indoors obviously as it's still cold and we had snow again this morning! The flower scarf is really pretty too, you should definitely wear it! Hope you've had a great week so far! :) x

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  14. Nothing like chickens at a picnic. And the egg cozies are fabulous.

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