Sewing bee anyone?

I made some time for myself today to venture back into the blogging world and found what looks like a super cute and easy shorts pattern for my girls by Meg from Elsie Marley.  Take a peek, she has a free tutorial on the grosgrain blog.

Here is another blogger's take on her pattern.

This one is by Jessica at craftiness is not optional..another fantastic sewing site that I highly recommend if you have little girls.

The girls have both grown like weeds over the winter and are desperately in need of some summer clothing.

Now this is highly theoretical but..... is anyone out there wanting to get together and have a sewing bee, share fabrics and do a day of sewing? All that you would need is to bring your machine, your fabric scraps (obviously big enough for a pair of shorts) and a "can do " attitiude.

Once we have masteres the knot shorts then we can tackle some of this fantastic stuff over at Heidi and Finn.

Just incase you need an excuse to eat chocolate.

I had a long day of training today for my new summer job, so thought I might as well reward myself with a little lolly fix on the way home.

And lookie lookie at what I found.......

             ........it's the Cadbury Bike Factory!!!!

I supported this cause last year....( believe me, someone has to do it!!! I'll take one for the team).

All you have to do is buy cadbury products, go to the website and enter your barcodes. You can join my team if you like so that we can build a bike even faster....it's called babes on bikes!!!! Just enter "babes on bikes" when prompted to enter a team name.
It takes 100 bar codes to build a bike...c'mon ladies and gents...I know we can do it!!

The aim is up to 5,000 bikes this year for African families, I believe last year 2,000 bikes were delivered to African school children.
If you want to do your part and help out someone less fortunate in this world of ours with the added perk of a chocolate kick then check it out. It really is a win/win situation.

From snow to sunshine.

What a difference a day makes. Not 24 hours ago it was snowing and yet today I think I may have got a new shade of pink on my skin from all of the sunshine.
I ventured out this morning with a lively bunch of ladies who have created their own little hiking group. I've been putting off invitations for years but caved in today and decided to join the gals......the promise of lunch at Friesen's may have helped me a little.
I thought I'd share some pics of the hike so that all of my non local readers can see what a beautiful place I get to live in.

 

We hiked down to the shores of Kalamalka Lake to Cosen's Bay. I've ventured down here many times before with friends and family however on the hike back up we took a different route than I usually do.

I'm also usually carrying a child, a picnic basket and pushing a stroller. So today it was just me and my water bottle.

There's not a lot of green yet, but it's coming. There were a few varieteis of wild flowers out to make me happy. Along with some deer carcass and dog poo!!!

There were about 10 of us hiking today. Ladies of all ages and fitness levels. I think I was the youngest but I have no doubt in my mind that these ladies will be kicking my butt on more intense hikes.

I'm so glad I packed along my camera today, I would be kicking myself right now. It really was so nice out.

One last look back at the lake before the climb back up the hill.

Tootles.

Kj

SPRING????? Where did you go?

Things were looking so good, the grass turning green, the snow all melted and the sun shining like no-ones business. So I dug out the shorts from the back of the closet, dusted off the gum boots and got to it!

My peonies breaking through the surface like red hot pokers.

The sedum bursting to get out there and put a smile on my face. I can always count on the sedum to be one of the first to show up at my garden party.

My old friend Mr garlic....wakie wakie rise and shine!! Getting ready for the long growing season ahead.

Time to invite some veggies to join the party!!! Bush beans, zucchini, squash and pumpkin all in the ground, along with the dahlia tubers that have been hanging out in my house all winter long oh so patiently,

It was looking so promising..........and then......DUN DUN DUUUUUUN!

GGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Off to the store to buy more seeds!!!!!

A new home for pepper dog?

With all the flurry and excitement of spring it's easy to get caught up in planning new projects for the house and yard. I have to continually remind myself of all the unfinished projects that need to be completed, and reassure myself that we'll get to them eventually.

But in the meantime I thought I'd share these cute, space saving funky ideas for the four legged family members of your home. I would love to have one of these for our pepper dog, he is always hanging out on the deck, why not make his home also functional while we're at it.

Dace and I were just discussing where to locate the dog house, with all of the deck renovations we've done recently poor pepper doesn't know where he's supposed to be anymore.
The garden keeps expanding as does the deck and all of his favourite spots keep getting dug up or built on top of.

Someone was using their noggin when they thought up this idea. The people over at Sustainable Pet have created these space saving designs, I thought it would be perfect for our deck and our dog! They also make cute bird houses too...very trendy!

They come with or without plants and are made of all non-toxic materials, including beeswax waterproofing.

The Heart Box is my favourite. I'm imagining it would have to be quite large to accommodate pepper dogs rear end and allow for a good turn around space inside....another project for hubby?????

Raise it up.

My husband has decided that due to the deer smorgasbord made of our veggie patch last year that he wants to build a greenhouse to keep our tomatoes, peppers and misc veggies protected.
I agree but while we're at it why not put in some raised beds for the stuff the deer don't take a fancy to. We love gardening but with the amount of exterior home reno we have taken on there just doesn't seem to be time.
I think the hubby and I are on the same page this year and we both realise we need to make time, there is something to be said for the work = reward when it comes to gardening. It really is very therapeutic, not to mention educational especially for the kids.
I have been drooling over some of the fantastic work out there online, proud gardeners who have taken time to share their ideas and knowledge with others. I don't know what I would have done without the Internet when it comes to gardening.

Just look at this layout by The Modern Gardener. It reminds me of wandering down the aisles of a supermarket, everything laid out so perfectly in a row.

Here are some more images from the net, drool! Patience my child, all in good time.
I must remember and constantly remind myself that every year I bite off more than I can chew and end up feeling deflated about my gardening abilities.

 Anyone out there have great success with raised beds and want to share their wisdom? I'm your student!!!

In the meantime, I will continue to browse through my seed catalogues and continue to plan what we are going to grow this year. Nothing frivolous, just the basics...I have plans to can my butt off this year, with the cost of basic food items raising at an alarming rate I really think it's time to consider what is a necessity and what is not.

Wow, it's been a whole week since I last posted any juicy stuff, time flies when you're on spring break.
I forgot how busy the kids can keep me when they are home, I'm hearing a lot of "I'm Bored" and "There's NOTHING to do". Anyone one else out there have children that are impossibly bored with nothing to do?

Here's my week in pictures, because thinking back I'm almost positive we didn't do NOTHING!!!

I saw this fantastic idea on MADE and decided it was a fabulous boredom fighter. After picking a space and giving the walls a quick wipe, I let the girls decorate the space with a little SPRING flower fever. Any time I heard..." But there's nothing to do" my response would be..." Go make some flower's".

They have a long way to go, but then again Spring break is only halfway over. There's not much color outside but there sure will be inside when the girls are done!!

Zoe is my little chef in the making so we have had a few stuffed ravioli dinners this week with the use of my new toy. I am yet to freeze any of it as so far it's all been so darn good and it ends up in our tummies.
Roasted butternut squash was our last filling of choice, a little rich, maybe next time we can mix it with some ricotta cheese.

I meant to take a picture before they were all gobbled up, please excuse the poor food styling!!!!

Zoe's speciality is crepes, that girl has the recipe memorised and can whip out a patch of yummies at the drop of a hat.
I made a pavlova on the weekend for a surprise birthday party and was left with lots of egg yolks. What do you do with 6 large farm fresh egg yolks?
LEMON CURD!!!! To go with the crepes of course.

 

 A little spring clean and organising. Look how organised my cutlery is.....(cough...freak...Cough).

And last but not least....spring is just itching to put on a show, but we're not quite there yet.

I think I can, I think I can...I think I can!!!

Go little tulips GROW dammit.

Can you see the excitement on Zoe's face!!! NOT!

Made more of these.........yum.

And this needs to be raked and snipped and pruned and weeded. Feels good to be outside in the fresh air and getting my hands very, very dirty again. Although my rule this year is to wear garndening gloves whenever I'm in that dirt, I'm starting to get old lady hands and that's just not cool.