Patchwork project

I have an old sleeping bag, I do think it's from the 70's although the colours aren't too bad and I'm going to give it a new lease on life. I've decided to 'patchwork quilt' it and I've borrowed a friends book, "90 minutes quilts" by Meryl Ann Butler. She has this groovy technique that you quilt as you go. I'll add photos as I go.
Here's the old bag elegantly dropped on the floor so you can see both the colours, however the phone has fibbed, it's yellow and blue:

I'm looking forward to choosing the fabrics from my bits and pieces :o)

UPDATE: http://secrethippie.blogspot.com/2011/02/patchwork-progress.html

Cable stitch!

A thread about coffee cosies got me wondering if I could cable stitch! Here's my efforts.
Sorry the pic is on the phone as eldest kiddos took the camera to Tassie!

I found video jug to be very helpful: http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-knit-a-cable-stitch

Now guess what the children's teachers are getting for Christmas, a coffee cup cosie, how did you guess?! LOL

Big kids Tasmanian Trip

The big children have saved their pennies and having a ball in Tassie!
Here's the oldest bridge in Australia It's found in Richmond.

Here's their mode of transport

I'm proud that they saved their money from their junk mail run and are now having a lovely time, snow and all!

Wild winds on the South Coast

That was the chook house

One of the many up rooted trees

The garage

A bit of the drive way, trees all the way down. It took 4 hours to clear.

It's funny but it doesn't look too bad in the photos. It has been really full on, there is leaf and limb litter every where, it will take weeks to clear up and months to get all the piles burnt. All the fences need fixing, trees removed and wires redone.

However, we were all safe so what more could we want!

Home Schooling Resources

I'm trying to put together a curriculum and my friend Crystal shared her fav sites from her blog http://3stairs.com/ so I looked at each and added my own favs and here's the list that I liked.

adnilpress Australian Book seller

A to Z Teacher Stuff

abcteach — 5000+ free printable pages and worksheets

Homeschooling in different states of Australia

Australian Homeschooling- Beverly Paine

Basic Handwriting for Kids – Manuscript

Bible Activities

Bible Crafts

chariotpress Australian book seller

Charlotte Mason curriculum

Christian and Homeschool Resource Center

christian kids advent activities and stories for children

Christmas Unit Study

Christmas Unit Study by Cindy Downes – Oklahoma Homeschool

Commas

Craft waldorf style 

Crossword Generator

DLTK’s Printable Crafts for Kids

Donna Young’s Homeschool Printables and Resources

Edu-Track Home School – Homeschool Record Keeping Software

ENCHANTED LEARNING 

Field Guide to Homeschoolers

First-School Preschool Activities and Crafts

Fonts for Kids! (this is the cached version at Archive.org)

Free Homeschooling Resources TheHomeSchoolMom.com

Free Printable Stuff

Free Resources: Activity Sheets, Worksheets, Household & Chore Charts, Puzzle Makers, etc.

handwriting practice fonts – Google Search

Lap book sand units studies: free

Home Education Association -Australian

Homeschooling down under

Aussie Book Seller: Homeschool Favourites

Home Sweet Home School – Resources, Links & Information

Home Sweet Home-School’s Educational Resources Page — General Resources

Australian curriculum to buy

Homeschool Math – free math worksheets, ebooks, lessons, curriculum guide.

Homeschool the Moore Formula way. Leaders in homeschooling and Christian education worldwide.

823 Forms

KiddiesGames.com

LeapingFromTheBox.com Home Page

Lesson plans and worksheets from learningpage.com

Maps of Australia

mathusee Australia

Maze Generator

Menus 4 Moms

Movement pdf

My Father’s World – Homeschool and Christian School Curriculum

Preschool Lesson Plan Printable Activities

Preschool Lesson Plans and Preschool Themes – FunLessonPlans.com

Preschoolers and Peace

Rainbow curriculum reviews

Read and Print 

Rexanne’s Kid Links

Sites for Teachers

Sign Language: AUSLAN

Sonlight- Has great reading suggestions!

Starfall

Ten Things to Do with Your Child Before Age Ten

Timelines

Waldorf curriculum

Word searches

Word Search Generator

Money can't buy a portrait like this

A portrait of mum

Jam melon and ginger jam

Inspired by eldest efforts, I have 1kg of jam melon, 300g ginger and 1kg sugar sitting overnight waiting to be jam tomorrow :o) I hope it is as successful as Eldests!

The inside of a jam melon.

Here's it all chopped up with sugar.

I kept the seeds of course! Next years jam melons :o)

I've got this large so you can see the moisture that is formed from leaving it over night.

Bring to boil for 10 mins and wait for fruit to go clear-ish then add juice of 6 lemons and 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Boil 10 mins until it sets on a saucer in the fridge. I decided to put the bamix (stick blender) through it too puree it a bit, I thought it was a tad chunky, I thought it would break up more. Bottle. This made 4 250ml jars. and here they are.. TA DAAA!

Tangello & Lemon marmalade

Eldest chopped up 24 tangellos and 8 lemons and soaked them over nigh in 7 1/2 litres.
Next day 6 kg of sugar, 2 sachets jam setter and it turned into 31 jars of marmalade! Clever boy.

Post 5 from the challenge: Cleaning, all home made, cheap as!

I've posted about cleaning before but like all things your habits change over time. Currently I use hot water and tea tree for mopping the floor. I use Window/mirror cleaner and multipurpose cleaner from this thread:
http://secrethippie.blogspot.com/2009/01/cleaning-well-any-thing-almost.html


I use Planet Ark sensitive for our clothes washing which is bout $7 a box. I use 1TBS and that gives me 1000 washes.


For the dishwasher I use Aldi Tundra which is $2 or $3 I can't recall exactly. I use 1 tsp.


This thread has the idea of printing out the recipes so anyone in the family can make them :o)
http://secrethippie.blogspot.com/2009/01/defeating-laziness.html


I must confess piles of paper are my down fall. I think the problem is just not making the time to deal with the papers in the first place, instead I pile them up and nearly weep at the size of it! LOL I have developed a few systems, like folders for specific things. This works brilliantly when I use it!

Post 4 from the challenge: Clothing

Well, I said de-cluttered and barest minimums and I have to say this isn't anyways the case! We are very blessed to receive 'hand-me-acrosses' and I go to the awesome op shop ever. So our clothing does wax and wain, however I try to keep to minimums.


For me, wife, mother and secret hippie I think I need:


2 pairs Jeans                                                                few shirts 
2 pairs of snazzy pants                                               few dresses
2 pairs of trackie pants


6 tee shirts                                                                    4 jumpers 
6 singlet tops                                                                2 vests
4 shirts


1 runners                                                                       1 slip on shoes 

1 sandals                                                                       1 buckle up shoes

1 boots                                                                          1 thongs


7 undies, 3 bras, 7 socks  (all black and identical) Spencer and long johns, 3 pj's and 1 dressing gown                                                                various scarves


I find it a bit difficult to restrict clothing as it depends on how I feel! I can't look like I've crawled out of woodstock and go to church. I can't go sensible all the time because it's not creative enough :o-  One day balance will come... or not!


The little children
7 undies, 7 socks (always less because they disappear!) few singlets


4 pairs on long pants
4 shorts
7 tee shirts
4 long sleeve shirts
2 church shirts
4 jumpers -2 knitted and 2 fleece
1 vest
1 jacket
runners
boots
sandals
3 seasonal pj's +1 dressing gown


summer hat and beanie


That's about it. If you have too many clothes you have too much to look after and you don't wear it all, it is a pain. Keep clothes washed and repaired. It helps if you can, and sometimes you don't have a chose but try to stick to plain pants and patterned tops. Don't do checked pants and patterned tops for example. Everything plain makes it easier but most things, especially for boys have printed things on them.

Post 3 from the challenge: Telecommunications

This areas needs checking all the time. I'm finding it hard to keep up with all the changes and gadgets available!


We found Exetel to be ok. Much cheaper than Bigpond. We get free voip service with good rates. All in all our internet 12gig peak and unlimited off peak: $45 + phone calls- usually $10 and  homeline is $19.95. And no contracts.
Our mobiles are getting used more than they used to be so we have changed plans and they are prepaid. $30 every two months. This has heaps of freebies, SMS and chat time etc.


To find great discussions on Australian providers check out http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/
Very helpful stuff in there :o)

Making Calendula Oil

At tafe we had to prune the roses and remove the calendula plants. I was allowed to keep the flower heads so I could make calendula oil :o)

I washed them as they were a bit dirty.

Then they went into the dehydrator. 

Here they are after two days in the dehydrator. How's the colour change!

No need to worry about the dirt, it appears to fall to the bottom.

Here's how much that first pile made.

I'll have to buy more sunflower oil. This is 750ml but basically you leave it in a sunny spot until the colour of the oil goes yellower and it's then infused with those wonderful oils :o)

Post 2 from the challenge: Housing is being paid as quickly as possible

I guess this is sort of obvious, after living expenses, every sent goes into the house. We used to put all income into the loan and use the credit card, but we spent more than we should have. *blush* So we came up with the idea of a house keeping account. It really just an electronic envelope system. Pay goes in and automatically a set amount goes into a card account and that's housekeeping. It works very well for us. Sometimes we have money build up and then cam do some bulk buying and even fabric as the post below indicates ;o)


Have a play with home loan calculators and you'll be so shocked at what a difference a few extra dollars to each payment make. It's quite inspiring.


Something like this will get you going: http://www.commbank.com.au/personal/home-loans/tools-and-calculators/home-loan-calculators.aspx

Tunic pattern and fabric

I've finally got hold of the tunic pattern to end all tunic patterns!

Here's the pattern:

Here's the fabric I chose ( and paid for from my house keeping money.. sshhhh!)

It's all washed and ironed and waiting for a day to cut out and construct!

Post 1 from the challenge: Food at it's barest minimum

On http://www.simplesavings.com.au/forum/thread/50891/?replies=380 
I described our food habits.


These things are NOT set in stone, we change our habits and tastes but it is usually something like this below. Things change seasonally too.
I was going over our food budget. For the 7 of us (2 adults, 3 teens, 2 children) I try to stick to $100 a week. $150 is a budget blow out. 

So at $100 div 7 days = $14.28 a day 
$14.28 div 7 persons = $2.04 per person 
$2.04 div 3 meals = 68 cents!! per meal per person! 

It just seems so unbelievable when you break it down to this degree. It needs to be pointed out that we have a garden and chickens. some times there isn't much action in the garden but there is always parsley and mint. We like to embrace free food too, like picking apples on the side on the road.

Criteria to our eating: Nutritious, no chemicals/additives, we like it, it is filling and preferably not prepackaged.  (In an 'emergency' I do let the adults eat some suspect food but not the little ones if I can help it)
We are finding it harder and harder to stick to this amount as prices increase so we are trying to find ways of filling the above criteria and come in under budget. 

Breakfast in winter porridge. Currently stewed fruit on muesli, or waffles or muffins and yoghurt (ss style) 

Lunch potato wedges, simple salad. Pies with stew insides. Sandwiches. Homemade bread or that foul homebrand bread :o- Has happened more than I'd like :o(

Making up lunch boxes/snack boxes for the little ones so they stop asking to eat all day. Carrot sicks, yoghurt, cheese, strawberries (if I can beat the birds), celery with peanut butter. 

I've been using Sophie Gray's Destitute gourmet books, especially the recipes that use smaller amounts of meat. 
Using the food processor to chop veggies finely. Minced chicken or beef with cabbage and carrot etc, chow mien style on rice. 
We've been roasting chooks and making stock/soup from the carcass. 
We try to have 3 red meat, chicken, fish and 2 veggo nights. Subject to change if there's a brilliant special, or I'm being lazy. ;0) 

We love our desserts too, so fruit and yoghurt. Whipped jelly and yoghurt. 

It's probably less per meal per person when you includes cakes/slices, snacks and fruit to nibble comes out of this total. 

I though it was quite an eye opener of how cheap it is when it's broken down to a per person per meal! I don't think I could feed one person with 68 cents. It is the bulk buying and scratch making that makes it possible. Certainly I could not walk into Woolies and come out with a 68 cents meal, not even close. It having bulk things like lentils or pearl barley that helps fill and add nutrients but one packet goes a long way and used in many meals.