This weeks projects... been a busy lady!

This week has been a SUPER busy week!
I have been working hard up up to my sisters birthday because as a crazy lady I decided to make this....

(image from here)

From the So You Think You're Crafty blog tutorials, here is the linky link to part 1, from there you can get to part 2 to make your own knotty delight:)  This was the winning entry from season 5 by KoJo designs:)  Pretty awesome huh??

This one is the one I made for my sister:) As you might notice the squares are smaller, also my bed is smaller... yes that's my queen sized wearing king sized clothes...  It would look different on my sisters bed:) Also although I enjoy this colour I think I would enjoy a gunmetal grey or latte colour... I was somewhat limited by the amount of fabric on the rolls at my favourite fabric store!  So limited that there wasn't enough to make 56 large squares as instructed in the tutorial... I ended up making smaller ones... 80 smaller ones to be exact! That made it the right size:)

Here's a close up:) It was a bit time consuming, lucky my friend Chelsea helped me handsew some squares on a beach day:)  The sewing together 80 squares took me nearly 2 days and attaching it to the backing and wadding by hand took a day too... I had to deviate a bit because my new sewing machine needed some service man love and my old one couldn't love a whole king size item!

I also received a custom order for a kindle cover for my sister - but not gifted by me! Hehe:) My sister requested any fabric I thought would be good, but she did enjoy birds! Hmmm well that's a big decision... I have a good stash of fabrics! So I chose my new favourite velveteen by Anna Maria Horner from her Innocent Crush collection. It's soooo soft and nice and lovely to sew with!

So I had to add some birds on the inside:) I can't remember who made this one... but I love it!

I have to include some super cute photos of my sisters lovely babies:) We had soooo many cuddles, a trip to the park and the boy didn't spew on me today! So that was a bonus!:) 



So today we got on with making the apothecary cabinet... more pics to come for that one! I must reccommend the jersey quilt tutorial! It was so well written and quite simple! It did seem a bit weird as I was making it, but afterwards I seriously considered making my own! Unfortunately my furbaby is obsessed with smoothing and so that quilt would do her poor bunny brain in! I hope you can give it a try!

Veggie patch idea for my sister:)

So it turns out that my big sister is a little disappointed that she talked me up on facebook and then I didn't do anything on my blog for like weeks. I imagine that was me being back at work?...
Anyway. I found these lovely pics of veggie patches.
My sister is starting one. It looks like it could be the beginnings of this first one... hehe but I don't think hers has any veggies yet!



I enjoy this next one... this could be cute... but also susceptible to bunnies (hop hops), sausage dogs and particularly bouncy staffies.


May be you can grow some lovely garlic flowers?

To grow garlic you need to plant them in April. That is coming up... may be you should get on it? And then....

• Separate the garlic heads into individual cloves. Each clove that you plant will grow
into a new garlic head.

• Plant the cloves on top of the surface (pointy end up), pressing down firmly until the
bottom is 5 – 10 mm into the soil. If you have lighter soils, plant the clove 30 – 40 mm
below the surface.

• Shallow planting ensures the whole garlic, and not just the snapped-off stem, gets
pulled from summer-dry ground!

• Plant garlic 15 cm apart within a row and 40 - 50 cm between the rows.

• Mulch with straw after planting to keep the weeds down. If you don’t mind weeding
there is no need to mulch.

• Harvest when about half the leaves have dried off and started to brown,which is usually in early to mid-December. Harvesting times vary depending on the season and different locations.

• Garlic is fairly susceptible to mould and fungus, which will shorten its keeping life
or rot them out all together. For this reason it is important not to water your
garlic for 2-3 weeks prior to harvest (and hope it does not rain too much).

• Garlic left in the ground too long tends to split, allowing soil, moisture and
potentially disease to get in.

• Pull the garlic out by the stem (or with a garden fork if your soil is hard, but be
careful not to damage the garlic).

• Bunch the garlic into groups of 10 – 15 and loosely tie together with twine. Hang
to cure in a dry and well ventilated shed or room.

• Do not harvest your garlic if it has recently rained, drizzled or there’s been a
heavy dew; it is best to wait a few days for the weather to dry it off naturally.
Curing/hanging damp garlic is a sure way to invite mould.

• If you wish to plait your garlic, leave it to hang for two weeks, plait while the
necks have not hardened off and then hang again for another 2 – 4 weeks.

• Once the garlic has cured, clip off the root and the tops about 30mm above the
garlic head and store in a dry, well-ventilated area, in the way you store onions..

• The garlic should stay firm for 8 – 10 months (if stored properly). The medium to
smaller sized garlic keeps much longer than the larger garlic heads, so eat your
larger garlic first.

Garlic growing information from here.
Photos from here.

How helpful am i??