fiveandtwo

Autumn Is For Spiders.

Always so many spiders around at this time of year. Lots of leaf curling spiders being resourceful, using not only leaves but snail shells and odd bits like a piece of cat food bag. A beautiful orb weaving spider builds a web from the nectarine tree to the house. Plenty of daddy-long-legs, window spiders and huntsman spiders inside as well.

Nothing to do with spiders. I have to decide between painting and sculpture for my second year major at TAFE. I am leaning towards painting. Painting is very important to me...and it is more "kitchen table" friendly. Sculpture is important to me too...not so "kitchen table" friendly. The kitchen table is where I am able to work (between meals!).

Either way, I have to write a proposal regarding the direction my work will take etc. I'm finding it quite difficult. I settle on The Direction and then ideas are pinging all over the place with no relation to The Direction, distracting me and changing my settled ideas.

Sigh. Big whinge.

Bits And Pieces

The apricot jam has somehow sweetened up enough on its own.

I've grown accustomed to the burners on the gas stove, I'm very happy with it now.

I was the one grade five parent who helped at the grade six dinner dance (many others had other family/kid cimmitments and couldn't come, I know). Traditionally grade five parents have helped set up/cater for/clean up after this function. I was just a helper, which is what I'm good at. Ever an Indian and not a chief.

Here's a photo:

Who's the odd one out? Hahaha. Do I fit in? No. But that didn't prevent me from having a good time with those splendid women.

In Progress And Other Stuff

Must be because it's Spring, sap rising and all that, but there's been a flurry of activity at chez fiveandtwo. Paintings languishing for over two years are being worked on.

 
The first two in a series based on the Old Laundry photos.

Two from last year are finished.

 
Scrap Yard 1, 28cm x 38cm, acrylic on canvas.

 
Scrap Yard 2, 28cm x 38cm, acrylic on canvas.

 
Scrap Yard 3, WIP. This series is based on the photos I took at the scarp yard last year.

Some more fruit paintings, I was on a roll after the two I did for the 10 x 10 exhibition. They're all 25cm x 20cm (quite small). I did an apple too, but I'm not happy with it, and I think the pear painting on the left is the most successful.

 

Three pears, three teatowels and a jar of lentils?

In other news: I've been planting out my seedlings. Too early, but we're going up north for 3 weeks and no-one will be here to water the punnets, so they've a "better" chance in the ground. A monstrous tree dahlia has been removed , the tank drained and cleaned and a new top for the stand put on. The tree dahlia was growing next too, and under, the tankstand and pushing it over. Would you believe it rained all that night and half the next day? Now the tank is full again!

I made a summer jacket!  Short sleeved, kind of 70's style, I think. Only needs buttons. Will blog about it when I return from Qld in late October. I'm jotting things down on my "lists for the holiday" as I think of them. Bags have been removed from the ceiling space. I tried the bathers on I bought only 2 years ago - they don't fit (sigh...), fortunately a pair, scarcely-worn, from the oppy recently will do the job. I do like to swim in the sea when it's not absolutely frigid (waters off Victoria  all year round, for me). 
 

Mr 5&2 had a birthday today. He is past his half century by two years now. Had all the kids for lunch - Linsey was in "the 'Dale" for the weekend, and Giles' girlfriend of 3 years came as well. No alcohol was consumed (this is for you Anna!). Splendid sitting out on the front deck eating that Pip Lincolne Teriyaki chicken - sooo easy, and very good.

Probably no posts now until the end of October.

Round Up

I cut back to ground level an enormous tree dahlia that was growing in a tiny space between the rainwater tank and the chook run. Why did I plant it there in the first place? I don't know, I didn't realise it'd turn into a monster. Weekend just gone saw Mr 5&2 and the twins dig out the monstrous tuber/root system the tree dahlia had developed and make a new platform on the tank stand...for the tank. Clare and Ally also bucketed around the garden the water from the tank as it was drained in readiness for the tank stand reconstruct. Those two are really good helpers generally, but this time we paid money due to the arduous nature of the work.

I've spread mulch and planted seedlings - too early really but we're going away for most of October and no-one will be around to nurture them in their punnets. More will survive in the ground, I reckon.

School holidays now and Clare has been sewing.

 
A skirt and a shirt. Only input from me was the "how to use the buttonhole foot and function" on my sewing machine.

 
She requested a photo without the skirt.

 Ally has been doing some very delicate weaving. Al showed me her method = sticky tape about 8 strands of wool to the shelf , then weave in and out with some other wool until you're finished.

 
Aww, look at that tiny, cute scarf.

I've been painting, making lists for going away and other house stuff.

 

 

Ally's Wurlie

Finally, I pruned the kiwifruit vines. It should have been done earlier in winter but I don't like gardening when everything is all wet. As happens every time something is pruned around here Ally or Clare, or both, make a cubby. Kiwifruit prunings are good for this, they're long and fairly flexible. An added bonus was jasmine that migrates over from next door and gets cut back as well.

 
There's the apricot tree in the background coming into blossom. Actually, I was a bit worried about this in the cold and wet weather we've been having - no bees. And I'm down to my last jar of apricot jam! Disaster has been averted, so far, by plenty of bee activity yesterday and today.

I got around to planting the seeds for summer crops, different varieties of tomato, chilli, capsicum, eggplant, zucchini, cucumber and pumpkin, some lettuce (which is sown successively from now on), celery, silverbeet and basil. I'll sow direct in the garden some more lettuce, rocket, mibuna and mizuna, carrot, beetroot, parsnip and coriander, maybe also some more peas. I need to get seed for leeks and Lazy Housewife climbing bean. The seedlings should be ready to plant out towards the end of October, though the lettuce, silverbeet and celery can go out sooner.

 
Trays accompanied by rhubarb that I need to plant out, and my little fig tree sending out new leaves. It has graduated to a bigger pot this year.

The winter garden is working toward producing seed...the kale, parsley and silver beet are starting to bolt. I can keep the broccoli in check by continuously picking the little florets that follow the main head being picked. Cabbages...nearly ready. Lettuces planted in autumn (as seed just scattered around and raked in where the trees were removed) are going great guns, which is good because I've reached the time of year when I actually crave a green salad! Like towards the end of summer when cold weather, a warm jumper and hot soup is yearned for. I do like the different seasons down here in Victoria now. I didn't at first because I was used to "The Wet" and "The Dry" of the tropics.

Stuff

 
The Dress: it is finished! Hip hip hooray. I'm sure there was 135.6 kilometres of hem that required handsewing. The wanky ball lovely debutante ball is next Saturday night. Today week. I have it on good authority that it's boring. Linsey is the other guest, so at least I'll have someone to talk to. Leah issued invites to all her friends and apparently they've all got something else on...they're such supportive friends *cough*. Well, she will look gorgeous. And that's the main thing.

Have pin basted two quilts. I think, if I have my sewing machine on the kitchen table, that I'll be able to machine quilt them. I am sorely tempted to hand quilt, hand sewing is relaxing for me, however, I want them finished this year (next year at the latest). I have a stitch on my sewing machine that "looks" like handsewing so I'll experiment with that.

On this balmy day I washed the windows. True! Thinking back it was nearly two years ago they were done. I remember Linsey had not long come back from overseas and we exclaimed over the apricot blossom, and I commented on how lovely it is to enjoy such a sight through clean windows. That makes it September 2009. Ahem.

Then, I gardened. Heaved things out, snipped things back, and weeded. I don't like tackling a cold, wet garden so today = make hay while the sun shines. The choko curtain grows ever longer at this time of year. It is a very productive vine. I chop them into all sorts of things but I still think they are best sliced and briefly stir fried with garlic and ginger (other veg. as well) and sprinkled with soy sauce. I've been told they're good roasted, but haven't tried that yet. Just about everything is good roasted. I made choko relish and had it recently on a baked potato with shredded cabbage, grated carrot and sour cream. Yum. I am making some more relish just for this purpose!

 

 

Forgotten About Quilt Top

I entertained thoughts about using this as the backing for the wagga...but it would be too busy. Too much happening. I looked in my repository of cream blankets, a suitcase on top of Leah's cupboards (she hates that I have put my stuff in her room) and found not one, but two large blankets, so now I think I'll make it into a quilt after all.

 
I made it about five or six years ago and then didn't like it, put it away and forgot about it. In some ways I'm still not sure...It's made from all sorts of fabrics: placemats, pillowslips, curtains, aprons, sheets, table cloths and actual fabric that wasn't made into something beforehand (now there's a novelty). It's big too, queen sized. Interesting that I managed to line up the rectangles on this, unlike the wagga.

Here's the very last cherry tomato. I put the cherry tom in a pot on the deck this year. It liked that spot and was very productive, but not too productive. I guess I could have taken excess to Street Harvest but with limited space one cherry is good and then I can grow other veg.

 

I'm still not used to all this rain. Clare and Ally have never had a pair of gumboots (born at the start of the drought) but now they actually need them, I have resurrected my ancient pair. Especially for going into the chook pen. It badly needs mucking out but it's much easier to do after a long dry spell. It's weird to have mud in our small yard. Where we walk out the back and at the front gate.

 
The Autumn vine is hops (deciduous). To the left is the feijoa which has monster fruit this year. The rain, again. A bit of achillea (also known as Yarrow) and a convulvulus which I don't know the name of but is a splendid ground cover.

Easter Wrap-Up, Sort Of.

I like school holidays generally, throw in some public holidays = even better.

On Saturday and today I caught up with mates from Melbourne and St. Andrews that I haven't seen for ages. A couple of years I think. Very good. Clare and Ally re-aquainted themselves with the offspring these lovely women. The friend who came on Saturday originally came from Bairnsdale (hasn't lived here for about 30 years) and was visiting her elderly mother and even older Nan. I met her on the train to Melbourne! About three years ago. Clare and Al struck up a friendship with her daughter and she and I talked about stuff & etc, then kept in contact. My today visitors lived in Bairnsdale for a couple of years mid-2000's. We met at a Steiner Playgroup. Rachel introduced me to the making of little felt animals. We have kept in contact. Rachel was the "two" part of fiveandtwo. Her two children and my five children made up the name. We had a little craft business going for a while, before her return to St Andrews.

I worked on Leah's Deb. dress.

 

I made a little prototype owl, while I was waiting for Leah to finish work so I could do the dress-try-on thing.

 
Just a little fellow, about ten centimetres tall. Owly is lying on some wool patching I've been fiddling around with this weekend. Bags? Scarves? Probably both.

I set up the pots and did some dyeing. I scored two lengths of wool jersey at the oppy last week, in the off-white "spencer" colour. So, I dyed these,and the recycled fabrics waiting to be dyed.

 
All these fabrics were off-white/cream coloured originally.

L-R: dismantled silk blouse, felted wool jumper, wool jersey, wool scarf (probably a mix as it didn't take the dye fully) and wool jersey.

I gardened. Quite a bit of hauling out the kikuyu grass, and I dug out two more tree stumps.

 
One from that dirt area, top right of picture.

 
The other the remaining tree stump next to Sammy-cat's grave. Grave marker made by Clare, Al and Leah.

And I "did something" with the last cucumbers instead of having them rot in the fridge. One lonely jar of Garlicky Cucumber Pickle Relish from D.I.Y. Delicious by Vanessa Barrington.

 
 
(Photo happened when I was checking the battery status of the camera) I like it.

Children enjoyed their chocolate fix. This year they all got a big Lindt rabbit. The single rabbit choccie is a result of all the whinging last year. It used to be a little (op-shop) basket of choccie stuff, eggs and what have you. Last year the four at home moaned and complained that Linsey had a "nice rabbit" and they didn't have a "nice rabbit". Huh, discounting the basket of choccies that they did have.

So...this year all have a "nice rabbit". Complaints were heard and ignored.

Easter = all good. No camping, no traffic wrangling. The best: I caught up with Linsey (eldest daughter). Very good...so loved.

Hope you had a splendid Easter too.

It Was Going To Happen

The goosefoot trunk apple tree finally fell over. It'd been leaning for a while. I think it was only the dry weather of the last decade that kept it upright. A wet spring and summer...soft, moist soil...over she went.

 
See the goosefoot trunk = very unstable. I'm leaving the tree for the time being as it's not dead and may ripen the apples over the next month or so.

Even if the tree hadn't fallen over it was coming out anyway. I have Big Plans for the garden this winter. All apple trees - out. Double-graft pear tree - out. Plum tree in the vegie garden - out. To be replaced with two stand alone dwarfing apple trees and three (also dwarfing) espaliered, two pear trees espaliered on, yes, you guessed it, dwarfing rootstock. Apricot, peach, nectarine, blood plum, two european plums and nashi will stay. I'm getting the apple and pear trees from Woodbridge Fruit Trees in Tasmania. I'll pre-order next month when the 2011 catalogue opens and the trees will be sent bare-rooted in the mail in winter. This works very well, I've bought fruit trees and roses like this before. I haven't finalised my selections but at the moment it looks like Fuji, Stayman Winesap (won't be allowed to develop a goosefoot trunk this time), Lord Lambourne, Esopus Spitzenberg and Democrat. That's the five, but I'm also tempted by Gravenstein for early fruit. Buerre Bosc and Buerre Hardy  are the pear varieties. In spite of the name Buerre Hardy is more like a Williams than a Bosc. The Woodbridge website is quite good, lots of information.

As I said: Big Plans.Lots of digging and chainsawing too. I have to try and dig out all the godawful Jerusalem Artichoke as well. If ever there was a vegetable that tastes like dirt that one is it. I don't know what possessed me to plant it in the first place since I'd had experience of it at a house I rented years ago.

In the meantime I am sewing furiously for the Maker's Market - a matter of weeks away.

 

Cats And Dogs

Finished!

 
Eight dogs.

 
Three birds.

 
Two cats.

 
 
Two little dresses.

 
One little top.

 
One felt purse (decorated with old buttons from my vast collection).

The blue toddler dress is cut from one of those long, linen dresses that were popular in the 1990's. I was able to use the embroidery that was on the front of it.

I should mention that all these projects have been in the pipeline for some time. Cut out a few months ago and partially sewn over the intervening weeks. Only finished this last week. There's no way I could complete them from scratch in just a week.

Saturday afternoon saw fourteen jars of plums bottled.

 
The red plums are Satsuma, Japanese/blood plums. Even though the entire crown of the tree broke off before Christmas, pretty much half the tree gone, it's still laden with fruit. The yellow plums are Prune d'Agen, the European prune plum and my favourite fresh. I haven't bottled them before. I used Mason jars for the first time, which I got from The Redback Trading Company. I might buy some more next year. I used the Fowlers jars etc a while ago but I'm not really a fan. I also re-use supermarket jars until the lining in the lid gets worn. I've discovered I can get new lids from Green Living Australia, and keep the jars going. They also have cheesemaking supplies.

Cheers, people.