Patio makeover the beginning

 We are so lucky in Perth, that we have a long hot summer and short cool winters. This means that we have about 8 months at least when we can enjoy being outside, particularly in a shady outdoor room or patio.

Recently we took a long hard look at our patio out the back, on the southern side of the house and decided it was in desperate need of a makeover. We aren't using it -why? Mainly because it is not very welcoming.

It has some good points -- the roof is gabled, with some Alsonite panels which let light in, so it is quite bright out there. We have some good furniture to sit on.

However, as you can see from these 'before' pictures, there is a lot which could be better.

The eaves have probably never been painted in the 30 years since it was built, and now are stained and yukky.  The outdoor sink we installed is very useful, but ugly without the cupboard surround we always meant to install around it.  The painted concrete floor is worn and tatty.  We have been pondering painting those dark brick walls too.

We have two wooden window frames in the house -both of them face this patio, and both need repainting as the paint is yellowing and flaking.

The yellow pine coffee table is useful but the wrong colour.

 The garden love seat bench is now grubby and the wood needs cleaning and resealing, and there needs to be new cushions made for it.

We have set ourselves a very small budget of $350 which will cover the basics -paint, potting mix, paving paint, and a piece of mini-orb to clad the sink cupboard. One day we would like to install a new surface to the floor -maybe it would be stamped concrete or wooden decking, but that is not a priority at the moment.

The tiny budget means that we need to be very creative and resourceful but we are enjoying the challenge. 

For example, the chairs around the table could do with cushions. I was lucky enough to score these cushion inserts and some fake suede fabric from a neighbour's 'hard rubbish' pile so I have the resources to get started on the furnishings.

 My DH has done a lovely job painting the eaves and they look so much better now.

 This is the entrance to the patio -the hydrangeas are looking nice but you can see how bad the floor is now.

 The wooden window and door frames are now painted and the flyscreen security door has a new wire panel. 

 I have been potting up some plants which I hope will one day make the patio less bare and more lush looking. I have only used plants I already have -lemon grass which is supposed to deter mosquitoes, and should become lush and verdant soon. I have some cannas in a pot which should provide lovely green leaves with purple under-sides.  There is an umbrella plant, a prayer plant and a pelargonium with patterned leaves.

The plants in the white buckets will go in two of these large ceramic pots which also came from neighbour during a previous council clean up.

It will take a while for these plants to grow to the size where they will make the kind of impact I would like on the patio, but I am sure they will get there if I care for them.

We have given ourselves a month to get this makeover done, so I hope to provide some encouraging 'after' photos in a couple of weeks,

Sewing year review 2012

 As 2012 comes to its end, I have been going through my pictures to see what I have achieved this year in my sewing room. These pics are not in any order. It is amazing to see what I have achieved this year, when it all is put together!

I have consistently used what I had, before buying things. Mostly what I bought has been batting and backing  and border fabric. Annabelles' baby quilt did entail some special fabric though.

The first pic  above is of some scrappy cushions which I made to revamp our outdoor bench -used up some nice 'leader/ender' scrappy squares and some op shop sheeting.

 This baby quilt for my  grand daughter (above)  was a very special finish, and it was lovely to take it to her and her lovely mum and dad when she was born in Melbourne.

 A pretty little frock - I hope the first of many I will make for her!

 A scrappy quilt -one which my cat Dora loved all winter.

 The "Give More" quilt banner.

 "Out of the box" came out of its half-finished state and was finished! 

 My darling DH made me some new shelves in the cupboard of my sewing room, and I have re-organised my stash, which is getting smaller as these projects were completed.

 "Pictures at an exhibition" a wedding quilt for my niece in New Zealand -nearly a year ago now! 

 Six Christmas stockings for the new mantle.

A Christmas burlap wreath.

Finally, 'remember this" -I hope you all have a wonderful new year!

Christmas wrap

 The light shines in the darkness...Christmas 2012. 

The stockings I made were a bit skinny for getting presents in, but fortunately there was room under the tree! 

The Christmas table -op shopped table runner made the right length with the addition of some Christmas fabric panels and lining. Op shop table napkins. Op shop coffee cups for the cold gazpacho soup which started the meal. The menu included roast pork with a rhubarb and rosemary jam, potato salad; beetroot and  carrot and orange salad, and a green salad. Followed by some very cute cake pops made to look like reindeer by my daughter in law!

We have had days and days of feasting with family and friends this week. It all started with Christmas lunch at home, made extra special with the presence of our son and daughter in law and baby grand-daughter who had travelled over from Melbourne for the first Christmas with the baby. We have had further parties with extended family on both sides, and with friends who were celebrating the birthdays we have around this time of the year.

All of this under a blaze of heat, as the Perth summer has provided us with a heatwave of temperatures in excess of 35 degrees Celsius for over a week-often it has been over 40 degrees.

Fortunately our house is well protected from the worst excesses -we are able to have indoor temperatures much cooler than outdoors even though we have only passive cooling from shade sails, sun blinds and the like.

We have started our routine of walks at Mullaloo beach every day, early -this is something we love to do at the start of our summer holidays. Then I spend some time at the sewing machine, followed by reading novels and watching DVDs, until it is cool enough to emerge again and get active.

The weather should cool off next week -just a little, so we will be more actively enjoying the time off by going to visit places such as our museum and art gallery.

Hope you have also had a great Christmas!

Christmas Stocking time!

Each year I try to add to my collection of Christmas decorations.  Over the years that has added up to quite a collection, and it now takes many hours to put them all out, in several rooms of the house.

Sensible people may scoff at the effort involved.

I reckon if there is fun to be had, why should we miss out? There are lots of ordinary days in the year, but  I love Christmas!  

I like to make as many of the decorations as I can, and this year, inspired by this great tutorial I found on Pinterest, I made Christmas stockings. 

They were fun and quick to do.

I have one for each of us -my Dear Husband (DH) my Dear Daugher (DD) , my Dear Son (DS) my Dear DL (daughter in law) my dear grand-daughter (DGD) and me of course! 

 I used some music fabric I had and also some lovely naive Christmas images. 

When I was little, we were threatened that if we were naughty, Father Christmas would only put a lump of coal and a carrot in our Christmas stockings! If we were good though, we found a tangerine in the toe and some chocolate money wrapped in gold paper, and some coloured pencils and probably a comic book.

I wonder if Father Christmas will be bringing me something this year?

Garden Bench Makeover

 Saturday Morning...I haven't sewn for a few days.  I want a project to get me going again -something easy and quick to get the 'Mojo' back.

This bench sits near my front door. On a bright spring morning, it looks -well -shabby.  The cushions are dirty and that sort of 'crisp' feel which fabric gets just before it dies.

So, I thought -why not make one cushion?

I have some patches from a 'leader/ender' quilting project. Made them without much thought, from scraps, whilst doing another quilt. No real idea what to do with them.  That would be the start of the new cushion cover!

 So-off come all the cushions.  ErK! The bench itself is a bit grubby -spidery -and some mildew too!

In a break from sewing, I scrubbed the thing clean and left it to dry in the sun.

I commented to DH that I thought it would be better if it had a coat of stain/sealer.

Something waterproof and which would renew the bench and help it last a good few seasons yet.

No sooner had I said it than he had gone to the shed, found a half a tin of outdoor SIKKENS and started painting.

It made a huge difference!

The picture below shows how the bench looks now, and also reveals that I couldn't stop at one cushion.

I had a nice piece of sheeting rescued from an op shop, which covered the bench seat.

 I made two cushions. All using scraps from my sewing room. Double sided so that when one side gets a bit grubby, I can rotate them to get them to last longer.


Then I made one more!

That's better! 

Solar panels on our roof!

We finally installed solar panels on our roof this week!

It seemed like the right time to do it:

• DH and I will be at home during the day more than in the past. As the solar panels will, of course, be making electricity during the day it is most cost effective if we are at home to use it. We can wash clothes and dishes and have our computers on during the day, and reduce our energy use at night when we are buying it from the electricity company.
• Solar panels and inverters are getting a lot cheaper than they were in the past. See the link below for the story on this.
• Our income will be less than it was, as we are both working less hours, so reducing our recurring expenses like power costs is a good idea. We have calculated that the cost of installing the system is like paying off part of our electricity bills in advance for the next 5 years, and then after that the system will be producing electricity for us for free. 
• We have done as much as we can to reduce our energy use before we got to this stage. Easily the cheapest way to cut power bills is simply to use less. We bought energy efficient appliances, we turn things off at the wall when they are not needed, we use passive cooling and heating as much as is possible in an old house like ours. 

http://newmatilda.com/2012/09/27/solar-revolution

Are you thinking about solar panels? Maybe you have them already? 

Eat less meat and help save the planet!

Meat eaters in developed countries will have to eat a lot less meat, cutting consumption by 50%, to avoid the worst consequences of futureclimate change, new research warns.

In this second post during Sustainable September, I want to think about the practicalities of changing now by cutting our consumption of meat by 50%.

I have started doing this at our place -for budget reasons as well as health and environmental reasons. We are not vegetarians -have no plans at this stage to go down that path, although I respect those who do.  All I am doing is reducing portions of meat when we do eat meat, and trying to develop a habit of one meat meal on one day, followed by a non-meat meal on the next. I am in the habit of making a weekly or fortnightly meal plan, so this can be a deliberate choice. I find that if I am prepared, it is much easier to make this work. 

When you think about it, there are some great classic recipes which are already likely to be part of everyone's experience, which are vegetarian -though we would not often think of them as such:

1. Pumpkin soup -a classic favourite among me and my friends -often made more spicy these days with the addition of ginger and chilli, and flavoured with coconut milk. Yummy with a crusty loaf of bread or hot-out-of-the-oven scones.

2. French onion soup -if you have read Kerry Greenwood's "Corrina" books, you will know that there are often recipes added at the end. Kerry's recipe for French Onion soup -with or without the cognac- is  real winner! 

3. The great Aussie mum stand-by of  'zucchini slice" - an oven baked dish made with zucchini, eggs, flour and cheese. Great for adding to lunch boxes. 

4. Fried rice -a quick way of using up left-over rice, but good enough to make for its own right. I make a simple egg omelette, cut it up and add to rice which has got some nice sauted vegetables through. Add a splash of soy sauce and some nuts if you like them, and you're done. 

So it shouldn't be too hard to think of enough vegetarian meals to mix with meat meals.  I am gradually building up a repertoire of these to add variety and spice to our meals. 

 The other obvious way to cut meat consumption by half is to reduce our portion sizes. Have you ever been to an antique shop or found a wonderful old piece of dinner ware at an op shop, and been astounded at the small size of serving dishes, cups and bowls? In the olden days people ate smaller portion sizes whilst being more active. Is it any wonder we are all struggling with increasing weight?

Of course it requires some finesse on the part of the cook, to have the rest of the family cooperate with such a reduction in portion sizes without revolt. Any teenage boy will be only too aware that their usual dinner of two sausages and associated accompaniments, is now reduced to one!

One way to reduce the complaints is to simply cut the meat up into bite sized bits, add lots of vegetables and such and serve it as a casserole or stir fry- the amount of food on the plate may look the same, even if the meat ration is smaller.

You can also invest in smaller plates to achieve a similar result.

There are some great recipes from other cultures, where they have developed the fine art of using meat as a condiment to the meal, rather than the main part of it. Chinese meals are good examples-lots of rice, lots of vegetables, lots of tasty sauces, and small amounts of meat.

What is for dinner at your place?