Just playing around...

I got my new-to-me camera on Saturday, so have been having a wee play with that too. I haven't used a manual camera before, so it's been quite a learning experience. Thought I'd capture a bit of the action and colour going on in my garden at the moment, while learning something new.

Yay! All 3 chickens are now laying.

Loving the aperture setting, just need to figure it all out now!

Books, books, books...

I'd love to say that I've been on a spending spree, but no, we just visited the library this afternoon.

~ I've been looking out for a 2nd hand version of this Ukulele book, but pleased to get to try-before-I-buy. I spent a bit of time yesterday studying up on music theory (a mix of internet and this book). I have never in my life learnt anything musical (although I'm sure I briefly learnt the recorder and ukulele when I was in primary school), so this is all new and quite interesting to me.

~ I grabbed the first book I found on SLR cameras - my mum is giving me her 8yr old camera, so I need to now learn how to use it!

~ I picked out a variety of drawing and painting books to carry on with once I'm done with my course.

~ I saw Dorothy Hall's herbal book on display, so added that to my pile even though I've had it out before.

~ I also saw on the returned shelf this cute book with some neat little crochet projects. The author uses a variety of materials including: jute twine, wool, and leather cord. I don't currently own a book on crochet (I have only self-taught myself off Youtube tutorials), but this one has made it onto my wants list. I've got my eye on these projects...

But first, I've had a job come in that will consume my weekend. I'd love to go on a book buying spree with the $$ from that, but I think getting a plumber in is a bit higher up the list of priorities!

Icy outside, but tucked up inside

That's all the snow that remains on the hills.
They were completely covered in white.

Well, the snow seems to have gone, but the icy weather continues.

The sum total of snow that settled at our house on Tuesday night!
And it was slushy due to all the rain.

Yesterday I was tucked up inside again and decided I needed to do a bit more practicing ... first the ukulele (I've been trying to master strumming along with changing chords) and then some drumming.

Drawing - I really need to make this a bit more regular, but I felt inspired by looking at an aloe vera plant I'd recently moved and realised that I was visualising the negative space within what I saw and that I was mentally drawing it - so out came the sketch book and pencil and off I went.

I've been rearranging! Although our lounge is quite large, we're quite restricted on how to place the furniture. So after a bit of mental planning, I decided at 11.30pm Tuesday night that it *had* to be done right there and then lol. I don't usually like to cover over the window with the couches, but I find that the lounge doesn't seem cosy, or warm enough for my liking because it's so spacious and so much window (there is the same amount of windows/doors right next to this lot). So this way, it creates another area that we can now use as a comfy floor spot.

Kid decluttering - yep, while rearranging furniture I managed to find another bag of games and puzzles that are no longer used.

Crafting - I have been wanting to make one of these recycled woollen blanket buntings for a while now, but didn't have a suitable blanket, and hadn't gone looking for one. I did recall I had a very thin piece of woollen fabric though (apparently it was a very old-skool nappy-wrap back in the day and came from my nana...). Same red pin-stripe down one side and same size as a flannel nappy. So I made this up yesterday afternoon. I'm quite pleased with the results!

Another week...

Garden: Yay, I got into the garden earlier on in the week! I dug in my blue lupens, sprinkled wood ash over them, added more chicken poop and lightly dug it all through. Not too happy about the HUGE blister I got of my hand though - didn't even notice it chaffing over a sticky-outie bit on the spade until it popped. Got me out of doing dishes for a night anyway ;)

Chickens: All three chickens now have bright red, plump combs, so I know that we'll shortly have 3 eggs a day - can't wait! As it is I've already stopped buying eggs with just one egg a day.

Drawing: Yesterday the weather turned cold and miserable. Perfect drawing weather! Just what I needed to get stuck back into my course. So with the fire roaring, and my cup of tea beside me, I started by brushing up of my skills. I continued on with another portrait before moving onto the next chapter on shading.

Tattoo: For a while now I've been wanting to get another tattoo (I got my 2nd back in January), so spent a bit of time online finding inspiration for designing my own. I've finalised what I want, and have it all booked for in 3wks time! It involves a lotus, a bird, spirals/korus, and the elements of nature - and it's pretty!

Ukulele: Went to my 2nd ukulele class today. I have been practicing my chords all week, as well as trying to get the strumming down pat. I tend to have a problem with getting my fingers stuck between the strings and pinging them. So, I've spent a lot of time researching the problem, and finding ways to overcome it. It just all seemed to click for me yesterday, and I found the perfect place for *my* fingers and thumb to be when strumming. Then I moved onto learning some different strum patterns. Number 10 of this tutorial is my favourite so far.

Illness: Ick, poor Simon seems to have come down the flu. He's been in bed since yesterday morning and his symptoms so far seem so similar what I had a few months back (sleeping all day, fevering, sore throat, headache...). I'm really hoping that his one is the same variety as the one I had - I really don't want to get another flu!

The week

The kids have been making board games!

With the lighter evenings, they've been spending some time before dinner outside in the sandpit and working on constructing a "shop". Nathan intends on stocking his shop with swords and bows and arrows.

I went to my ukulele group this morning. Had a great time! I had self-taught myself three chords before going along (and then when booking, the teacher asked if I could learn another three so I was up to speed with the rest of the group) since they have all been going for a couple of months already.

Spring cleaning - I probably blog about it whenever I do more than the basics on housework lol! Well, with all this gorgeous spring-like weather I have been torn on where to spend my time. So yesterday I made my way through the kitchen, laundry, and bathrooms, as well as checking and sorting my stock in my herbal cupboard. Not a lot to toss out, a little rearranging, but mostly deep-cleaning.

The garden has also been calling me - with the herb garden all busy doing its thing, now is the time to start planning the Spring/Summer vegetable garden. I have most seeds I need (I do need to get some carrot seeds though), so it's just a case of planning my timing and placement. I do need to also get down into the lower garden again and clean out the chicken coop to fertilize the beds, dig in the lupen, and weed around my garlic and onions. I have a few buckets of wood ash to dig in too, to raise the pH and alkalinise the soil - I have an abundance of dock and creeping buttercup still down there, which are strong indicators for acid soil conditions. When using wood ash instead of lime, the recommended is to use about twice the amount - I don't really know how much I need, but am going to give a liberal dose to help things along. And strange for this time of the year, but the garden is looking like it might need some water!
I haven't done anymore on the drawing course. I really feel with this lovely weather, that I'd rather be physically doing other things and enjoying the sun - make hay while the sun shines and all that. I'll save the rest of it for a cold, rainy day (I'm sure there will be more of those to come).

Instrument bag #2

After making the bag for my djembe, I was keen to make one up for my ukulele too (it came in a plain little bag).

I found a piece of dark denim that was an off-cut from a long skirt that I refashioned last year, but it sat around while I spent a bit of time pondering how I could embellish it and figure out how I was going to close it.

Last night I found a wide strip of fabric with mushrooms on it that I adore. I used one strip when I made Danielle's foraging bag last year, but there were still two strips of mushrooms left. I think it looks great set against the dark blue of the denim.

For the closure, I kind of winged it. I don't think I could recreate it if I tried lol. I ended up putting a button on it, so will see how that works.

A spot of sewing...

It's been a wee while since I have had my sewing machine out. When my drum arrived, I just knew that it needed its own carry bag. In the workshop I went to all the drums had neat patterned, padded covers. So last night, I googled for ideas on how to approach it. I didn't really want to buy padded fabric, so decided for now to just make one using regular heavy-duty fabric. After going through my stash, I came across a large linen bedspread that I'd picked up for a few dollars at an op-shop for the fabric.

Nathan helped me mark out the base and work out the measurements for the main part of the case (it's just a trapezium shape).

Enjoying putting all my pins back into the cushion - they had
all made it into the red accessories case for some reason.

The top is closed with a draw-string, and inside the opening there is a circular flap that is secured on one side and then flips over the top of the drum to give protection.

Just Chillin'

It's the school holidays here at the moment. So far we've caught up with a few friends, but generally just hanging out at home chilling out.

The weather has continued to be gorgeous - we're getting just the most perfect winter days.

Today my djembe drum turned up, along with my ukelele. What I love about adding these instruments to our home is that the kids can just pick them up and have a go as well. The size of the instrument is not an issue, and both can be mastered at their own levels.

Danielle seems intent on holding it the leftie's way.

Both kids seem to be a bit of a natural with the drum, and have their own unique rhythms going on. I also taught Nathan the rhythms that I learnt at my workshop.

We headed down to the beach with a picnic lunch and a quick play.

I've been contining on with my drawing course, and heading towards the end now - currently working on portraits and facial proportions when drawing from different views/angles. I've now bought myself a little sketch pad to keep in my bag if we're out places (I took it with me to the beach today and had a go at drawing what was in front of me).

Pretty happy with these, although the 2nd one of Simon I can see I haven't given enough width to his face (gap between back of ear to inside eye should be the same distance as from the eye down to the chin) along with a few other issues (size of eyes, length of chin).