Ticking off the holiday list - part 1

The last few days have been about finishing off our holiday list. We all had special things we wanted to do and in the past fortnight we've been getting them done. It's been great. Some have been easy. Others have required a little more planning.

Cocoa pops for breakfast was an easy one. I think that was Ruby's request. Apparently, I once said it was okay to have them in the holidays and Ruby reminded me: 'I don't really think we've had them just yet'. Done.

Charlotte Cove and our little lunch spot

Sarah wanted a picnic at a little coastal spot south of us. We discovered Charlotte Cove, south of Cygnet, a few weeks ago, and decided a picnic would be nice there one day. So after church on Sunday we packed our lunch and headed off: picnic, exploring, shell collecting and a lovely circuit drive through Huonville, Cygnet, and up the Channel through Gordon, Woodbridge, Margate and home again. It was just the thing for the last Sunday before school.

 Alice has lots of teeth trying to break through in 2011

 Sarah of the Charlotte Cove Picnic Committee

Just the place for post-lunch exploring and fossicking

We're opting for a quieter, slower day tomorrow and then another outing on Tuesday - the last day of holidays. I think everyone will then be satisfied with the number of ticks on our list.

I hope your list for this week gets many ticks, too.

Lunch box baking

The holidays are finally over at our house. Daddy has been back at work for a few days, tomorrow the older girls start Grades 3 and 2, and then Hannah and Ruby start next Monday.

They're off to Kindergarten - which I can't quite believe - but I know they'll love it. Their big sisters have set up a daily schedule to go and check on them every chance they get! Here in Tasmania, kinder is the first year of formal school, around 2-3 full days, starting the year you turn 5. Their uniforms are ready and they've spent two days carrying oversized backpacks and school hats around the house!

And so we began baking. The freezer and biscuit tins are now stocked up nicely and there's been lots of fun in the kitchen. But there has been a shift. Baking has changed. Up until now I've made one dozen muffins or one slice or one batch of biscuits at any one time (yes, Mum, while the oven was already on for dinner!) For years this worked. It was plenty. For days! But no longer.

Honey Oat Squares

We've definitely moved into the 'double batch' or 'multiple products' stage of family baking. I now know I need a second muffin tin, I need to allow more eggs and time for each baking session, and I need to make freezer friendly biscuits. I think many of you are there already.

Nalda's Apple Muffins (and my new spotty plate from Coles in Melbourne! Love it)

So first off it was apple muffins. We love this recipe so thought I'd share it. I used to be put off having to use cooked apple but our apple peeler/slicer makes it much quicker. I find that stewing the diced apple while we get the rest of the ingredients ready gives it plenty of time. The recipe comes from the Longreach School of the Air recipe book: it has become one of my absolute favourites.

Nalda's Apple Muffins

Beat together 125g caster sugar, 250ml milk, 125g butter (melted and partly cooled) and 2 eggs

Add 1 cup (about 2 apples) cooked apple (or tinned apple)

Fold in 1 1/2 c SR flour, 2 tsp cinnamon

Spoon into greased muffin tin. Bake at 200 C for 20-25 min. The recipe states it makes 12 but they are very big so I make 12 regular (ie child friendly) sized plus about 6-8 mini ones.

Hope you enjoy them too. I'm off to organise the muffins above into their respective lunch boxes.

Parties and pretty dresses

We're in for a big weekend here. But, thankfully, a pleasurable one.

Unlike my in-laws in Ingham, in far North Queensland. They spent Thursday night huddled between mattresses in their bathroom.   They were among some of the more fortunate in that there's been no damage to their house or yard.

But with no sign of power being reconnected and now rising flood waters, they are far from comfortable. The 2009 Ingham floods isolated them and flooded under the house, reaching levels a long way up the back steps. The decision some 43 years ago to build a high house has certainly paid off. More than once.

We are praying that things improve, and soon. And for all those who've lost so much, we are also praying that they get the support and assistance they need. How can we not be moved by such devastation?

But on a lighter note I thought I'd share some photos and sewing with you.

It seems it's a season for milestone birthdays here. First, my father in law's 70th birthday which we celebrated here in Hobart. The girls all got a new 'Mummy' dress made in time for the party. We enjoyed a lovely meal at Mures Upper Deck on the wharf. If you know Hobart, you'll know it's quite the position for celebratory dining.

Hannah and Ruby got a little peasant style dress with Mummy's first shirring around the chest. Thanks to Julie at Narioka and her shirring tutorial, I was brave enough to have my first go.

This photo was not staged. They were taking in the scenes of boats in Sullivans Cove. Cute.

Alice's dress is a pattern from Corrie at retromummy, and Sarah's was made using Corrie's pattern for the body, and little capped sleeves from an idea I saw in my travels.

In the days after Christmas, Hobart is just a wonderful place to be. The Sydney to Hobart yachts were still coming in during the night, and the Taste of Tasmania was about to get underway. After dinner we went to inspect the yachts. Can't believe how small (and how huge) some of them were!

My cheeky monkeys.

And here's Mummy and Daddy. Now that Sarah and Alice are taking photos, we actually get photos of us together every now and then.

Well, now for this weekend. My Dad's turning 60 and there's quite the celebration, let me tell you. All my sisters, partners and family together. Everyone's excited but there's still lots to do so I must be off. 

Will fill you in soon.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend. And for all those who have been so affected of late in Queensland, let's take nothing for granted. Power, water, mobility, food. Just to think of the amount of food lost from people's freezers and fridges is bad enough, without even beginning to contemplate the destroyed homes. For us, it's a chance to renew our perspective on our every day life. And for those of us who believe, to pray. Bye for now. x

Our happy Australia day

A day planned to celebrate and relax with a packed picnic, a drive in the country and visitors invited for afternoon tea.

We headed down the D'Entrecasteaux Channel, just south of where we live, for coffees and a picnic lunch.

We were headed to Fleurty's cafe at Birchs Bay. Set amongst bushland and orchards, it offers stunning views, yummy food, acres of land for playing, running and walking tracks amongst fruit trees and the great Aussie bush. It was perfect.

We'll be back there some time very soon. Next time we will make time to enjoy some of Tassie's own Valhalla ice cream. We will also take the camera.

So, in lieu of photos of Birchs Bay, here are some other favourites from our recent Tassie tour. Enjoy.

Tahune Air Walk, Geeveston, S Tasmania

Bridestowe Lavender Farm, Nabowla, NE Tasmania

Forth Valley, from Braddons Lookout, NW Tasmania

Table Cape, onions and Lighthouse, Wynyard, NW Tasmania

We finished the day with lovely friends, lots of playing in the backyard, chocolate cake and choc chip bikkies. Perfect.

A day well spent.

The finished product(s)

 So here's a little selection of what I worked on in the lead up to Christmas. Deciding to make the majority of Christmas presents for those on my list was easy. Coming up with the right ideas and the right amount of time to get it all done was less so! But it was so much fun and kept me from falling asleep in front of the tv night after night.

These bags are for one of my sisters. She travels quite a bit for work so the idea was to use these for packing all those small essentials of clothing and toiletries to make things a bit easier to find. I just love making these bags - hopefully she'll be able to use them.

Are men difficult to buy for, or what? This document wallet is for one of my brother-in-laws, who in fact is an AFL (Aussie Rules football) Essendon supporter, hence the black and red. My Collingwood-mad children are unlikely to forgive me for this for some time. They could not believe I would encourage support of the Bombers in any way!

The two black pockets are for keeping anything special in one place. I thought maybe upcoming event tickets, vouchers, train passes and so we added a cinema voucher tucked away inside. The pattern is from the very clever Anna Maria Horner. I'm sure I'll be making another one, one day.

This little bag was lots of fun. A great way to use up scraps (and that's always good!). It's a little sewing kit for my sewing-keen sister, set up with everything she might need for a session with needle or machine. Again, I found the pattern online at Mackville Road, a great little sewing bag tutorial. I used a few different fabrics for a bit of interest and used wool felt to make little pin and needle books stitched inside the top flap.

New cottons, tape, pack of pins, needles and embroidery scissors and it's all set to get to work. I dare say, that even my non-sewing-keen sisters could do with one of these! This year's birthday present, I wonder?

This toiletry roll was for another sister, and was based on the pencil rolls I made for my girls and their school fair a couple of years ago. It's basically just a pencil roll with dividers for tubes and lipsticks rather than pencils and textas.

As she has lots of client lunches and dinners straight from work, I thought this would be a handy little bag for her to have at work. It's got nearly all the essentials a girl could need to freshen up.

Now this one was very easy.  Two pillowcases for my grandmother, in her favourite colour, to go with her gift (my sisters and I bought her a slow cooker, which it seems she is very happy with). She has just had a bedroom makeover done, so fresh pillowcases seemed just the thing.

And this is what took the most time, but as quilts go, it was rather quick! One pack of charm squares (with two squares added from my own stash) and fresh, white borders to set it all off. It was lots of fun putting it together, and although it's not perfect, I was pleased with it. Mum loves it, which is the main thing, and the colours and prints suit her house and garden rather well.

Somehow though, in all the busy-ness that is Christmas, I've missed out on getting photos of at least 4 things I made: three different bags and pyjama bottoms for my brother in law. Never mind though, they are settled with their new owners now, hopefully earning their place!

Oh, and if you were wondering, no I didn't knit the white blankets laid out in these photos. They were made by my grandmother for Hannah and Ruby when they were born. I just love them and can't imagine not having them around and using them, no matter how old the girls are. When they're made by your great grandmother, I guess they're not your ordinary baby blanket, are they?

Northern day trip

A few days before Christmas, with gifts wrapped and loaded in the car, we headed north for a little day trip. The purpose was two fold: We were to visit one of our state's northern heritage attractions and enjoy driving along country roads, all the while showing Grandma and Grandad more hidden little pockets of Tassie. Then it was on to Launceston to have dinner with my sister and conduct the all important 'north/south gift handover'.

The Woolmers homestead

After lunch at the Old Ross Bakery we headed to the beautiful Woolmers Estate, just outside Longford, to take in heritage buildings, river frontage farmland and the National Rose Garden. You can read more about it here. It is actually where some of my early ancestors were sent to work on the farm when they first came to Tasmania from Scotland..

It's amazing how different clothes and hair styles make my gorgeous twins look so different: Hannah, left, and Ruby. I just love that Hannah is showing off her little nature treasures she'd been collecting!

Sarah and Alice loved exploring the gardens, taking the twins along winding paths into dark, secret hidey holes.

The original stables with open displays of machinery etc at the rear.

This is one of my favourite photos of the day. The way the garden bed, edging and overhanging tree frame the building is wonderful. It is a very impressive building.

Then it was through to the National Rose Garden, all part of the same site, making such a delightful outing for everyone. The girls loved getting lost amongst the roses and box hedges, zig zagging their way around beds and down pathways.

My other favourite snap of the day - my gorgeous girls taking a break from the rose-smelling and exploring - four happy, smiley, (and just a little) cheeky monkeys.

And this one, despite Sarah doing a great job of being photographer, is not a favourite of mine (!) but shows off some lovely roses and my lovely man.

Dinner in Launceston, cuddles with Aunty Katie, present opening and depositing (for the rest of the family in the NW), kids showers, pjs and a drive through the sunset back to Hobart. Lovely day. x

A little holiday reflection

NB This was written just after Christmas, but not finished. Thought I'd spend some time updating you all and filling you in on what we've been up to since. You can't beat long summer holidays! Bliss.


I think it's time for a little more sharing of our Christmas for 2010.

We didn't have the best of preparations with a sneaky bug making its impact for the best part of December. One little girl came home from school sick on December 2nd. Just as she was getting her strength back and eating again, another one tumbled and a week later recovered. In all, the bug affected four of us, one after another, covering 3 weeks. Ruby was even asleep for two hours on Christmas day, still recovering. There were more cancelled outings, invites and events than I care to remember. Somehow, Hannah and I were the only ones to avoid it. Thankfully, all are well again now.

Christmas morning we headed off to church then had a lovely late Christmas lunch at home. It was so nice to not be in a rush to be somewhere. Just us with Grandma and Grandad. In lieu of bon bons this year, the girls made everyone a little box and lid out of old Christmas cards, filled with lolly treats and sweets, then tied with ribbon. Sadly, I didn't get a photo of the table all laid out ready - only one part way through lunch! Very pleased with my new white damask tablecloth, made with fabric from spotlight on sale at 50% off just before Christmas. It's now been dubbed the Christmas/birthday/special occasion cloth by the girls. They love it as much as Mummy!

 The big girls got new scooters this year. Hannah and Ruby's scooters were actually pre-loved by another family but they each got their first big girl helmet to go with them.

Poor Ruby was asleep during this little photo session so she's missing from these shots. The scooters have been quite a hit with hours spent on them already.

Grandma and Grandad bought the twins a Sylvanian Families doll's house, which they just love,

and new ukeleles for the big girls. Sarah's been playing for a while, and now Alice has her own instrument and is loving the process of learning chord after chord. Sarah's ukelele even has a pick up for an amplifier. Lots of jamming with Daddy this year, I think!

I just love the focus of these two setting up the little house. Too cute. I also love Ali's choice of outfit for Christmas afternoon scootering! Red and apricot together may make a scooter go faster, I wonder???? We decided our fancy Christmas dresses weren't the best for driveway scootering, so gorgeous Alice chose suitable, older clothes. Who cares if clothes don't match when you're at home, anyway?

Ed: So that was Christmas - next will be a little of the adventures we've been up to since. x