Reducing Debts

Reducing debts is always welcome no matter who you talk to!  For us the past month has been very stressful as after 3 1/2 yrs we finally managed to sell the house in Townsville (far North Australia ) . We sold up don where & moved up there for a lifestyle change that after just 9 months was evident it was NOT working, so we put the house up for auction, came back here, purchased the little cottage we now live in and waited for the house to get sold at auction......which didn't happen as the market crashed, and kept crashing, and even with tenants that didn't cover the full mortgage, or rates, or repairs or repairing damage from tenants........but finally, and yes with a substantial loss, the house up there is sold!!! Settlement has gone through and I feel such a sense of relief!!!  We are back to one mortgage, a couple of credit cards that were used to keep our heads above water over the past couple of years ( thanks to the tenants from hell for that extra few thousand dollars with of expense).  So now we will be able to concentrate on getting this mortgage down, down and down!!!  So now, I can get back to doing things again, my apologies that I have been so quiet, but then perhaps nobody notices when I don't blog anyhow LOL.

Springtime around the Cottage

Incase you hadn't noticed, Spring is in the air around here.  I've been madly weeding garden beds which seem to have way more weeds than they should. 
The fruit trees are in bloom and looking fantastic.  I just pray we get some good crops to be able to make up lots of jam and preserves to last us the next year through!  This year I've also put in some raspberry canes, 2 of which do not seem to be doing quite as well as the others, but we shall just wait a tad longer and see.  This was the garden bed I started up last year by laying down the newspaper, compost and hay over the grass and then planting some potatoes to keep building up the soil and getting something in return while I was busy building this bed.................. so now we have lovely soil, instead of clay and I have raspberries that will, we hope end up producing rather well!

One of the little pekin girls (Grace), is busy sitting on some eggs.  Since I don't have any roosters here, I was lucky to get 6 lovely fertile eggs from a friend.  She should be hatching these out a week before our grandchildren are due to arrive from the northern part of Australia........ a 3 -4 day drive down here to us!

I'm sure it must be just as busy around your own cottages and homesteads no matter if you are in spring or Autumn, depending on where you are living!

We've just started picking our podded peas and it looks like we have a lovely crop...... though still not enough to be able to give a years supply with the amount we go through here.  Well time for me to go and pod some of these peas ready for dinner tonight and get a little bit of handiwork done.
Hugs Sharm

Making the Floor Mats

Some of you have asked if I would give a little "how to" for the floor mats I made up last weekend.  Well, first of all I have to give most of the credit to a good penfriend of mine.... Lyn Sheppard,
 who actually makes something similar and so this is how I got the idea.  Since I have lots of old bath towels I really would like to use them up rather than just throw them out..... hence the idea.

So first of all grab yourself an old bath towel and cut in half, this will be the back of your mat and you will sew your scraps directly onto it.
Grab some scrap fabrics that you want to use and line the first one up with any edge of the towel and sew it down.

Keep adding material scraps to each piece you sew down - I iron over a little hem before I sew it down so I don't have any raw edges on top, but you could choose to have the raw edges up and zig zag over them instead.  Just keep adding scraps until the whole towel is covered on one side.

Now cut some material for binding the edges - I used some black checked gingham and cut them 3 inches wide.  I ironed over a hem along one edge and sewed it to the back first, then folded it over to the front, making sure I folded it under so no raw edge showed and sewed it down!  Voila!  all done and ready to use!  Best of all they are quick to make up, easy to wash and dry and look rather nice!  If you need something else explained just ask away.  Hugs Sharm

Friday Night Sew In

 

Last night was the Friday Night Sew in hosted by Wendy from Sugarlane Quilts .   It's held every 3rd Friday of the month

 and this time since I needed to get things made for our home as opposed to gifts, I decided it would be good to post about it here on The 7 Pillars Home blog so that others following here might be able to make these simple mats as well. 




We have finally had to start throwing out our floor mats (which I inherited from my grandmother a number of years ago), that are just plain worn out and thanks to my friend Lyn who told me she sews together scraps to make her floor mats, well, that's what I have done.  Since I seem to have quite an abundance of old towels I cut one in half and made a nice good sized floor mat to put in front of the kitchen sink!

 
I was pleased with how it turned out so I got started on a mat for our dog Scruffy. For this one I cut up a flannelette pillow case I don't plan on using, to put in with the other bits.  Scruffy loves to sit on a mat right next to Pete's chair, I'm sure it's just so he can get a scratch on the head every so often LOL  Anyhow, I got it finished and called out to him to see what Mr Scruffy thought about it??  Well, I barely got it down on the ground in the designated spot next to the chair when he was straight onto it...............checked it out

 Approval received!  Guess its a winner!!

I'll be making more of these mats, so quick & easy and I just edged them with some black gingham. 
Also last night I wanted to get my ripple rug finished off.  Its one I've been making so I can use it on the cold evenings sitting watching TV or reading or such. 

Some of the wools that have been used have come from internet friends in parts of  Australia, US, Canada and Alaska which makes it kind of special to me :)  It got put on hold not so long ago as I needed to get a Beanie made up for my Son for his birthday

and then a I had my first attempt at a pair of fingerless gloves for my DIL birthday.

They will be coming down this way in a few weeks for a visit and I have no doubt they will feel the cold!!



So thanks to FNSI I managed to get a couple of much needed items for our home completed! 

August is Here Already!

Wow, how time flies by at times! Have you noticed that as well?  I've been kept just a tad busy the last couple of weeks as I decided I needed a bit if assistance to loose a few kilos and gain back a bit of health and fitness.  In the process of signing up for a 12 wk program through the Michelle Bridges on line 12WBT, I have come across a wonderful bunch of other ladies around my age who are also trying to improve their health & fitness.  I've been busy printing out some wonderful recipes and healthy tips all of which will of course be placed in the Homestead Binder which I've talked about setting up previously.... 

 Now for me, all of this has to fit in with my life around our little 1/3 acre homestead....so part of the exercise program for me is going to have to incorporate gardening!  See how the peas have grown...not long now before we can start picking!  Somehow we have ended up with this little purple one.......I'm waiting to see if it turns out to be a purple podded  pea??  We had those a few years back..yum!

The girls have been enjoying today, which has turned out lovely and sunny, nice change after all the rain we've been having!  These are my 8 girls who work hard for their keep!  They are expected to turn over soil, provide fertiliser  and eggs, keep down bugs and provide comic relief!

In turn they seem to enjoy themselves and have taken a special liking to the old cane cat carrier that has been turned into a nesting box for them

They can thank Pete ( my wonderful Hubbie) for the great sawdust which he collected on a tarp while sawing up wood for the wood heater we have!

Since I last chatted with you, we have had our bedroom wall extended out to the edge of the eaves which has given us a wardrobe!!!   All the clothes have been moved into it and hopefully during the next week or two, it will get some sliding doors!  Pete picked up a couple of mirror doors for nothing, so hoping they fit.....if not, guess Ill be making a curtain LOL

Well, I best get to some crochet I need to get finished, and I can hear the kookaburras have arrived for their evening feed we put out....

... Have a blessed Sunday evening and a wonderful week ahead!

hugs, Sharm

Homestead Supplies: laundry liquid

Well the rain is pouring down here today, so no outside work is going to get done!  However my supply of laundry liquid is getting low, and I have to admit that working close to full time march to mid June, I ended up having to buy lots of washing powder.  I just didn't have the extra time, or energy, or maybe I was just in one of those ruts of " I don't care" mode.......until that is, the shopping docket made me sit up and gasp!   Turns out laziness can be an expensive habit!!!!  So, time to get out the pure soap and get it grated up.   I'm using some of own plain soap, otherwise use velvet soap or a pure soap.

You want to grate up 1/2 cup into small bits.... Bigger bits take forever to melt down.  If you grate up more you can store it in a jar so you have it already to use for next time, and it looks kinda nice in the glass jar!

So stick the grated soap into a large pot over heat..... Today mine was done on the wood heater, where i have my kettle sitting during the winter months, to save using any electricity.  Add 1 1/2 cups of boiling water and stir the soap flakes until they are dissolved.  If they are not properly dissolved then your liquid will separate later.  Once completely dissolved, add 1/2 cup each of washing soda and borax. (Now if you have a grey water system set up going out to the veggies, then omit the borax).  

Add another cup and a half of boiling water and keep on stirring until its all dissolved.  Now we are ready to pour this mixture into 1 large, or equally into 2 smaller buckets to which we add hot water (from the tap). To make up to 9litres in total.  

At this stage I like to put my buckets aside to cool down and begin the setting process ( today, that means out in the cold LOL ).  If use more soap, or less water, you will get a thicker gel.  Just remember that if you plan on being able to pour the liquid from the bottles, you don't want a really thick gel (but you do use a little more in each wash).  In other words, the thicker the gel, the lesser amount you use in the load of washing.

Before they cool down I like to add some essential oil to give a nice smell to my washing....today it happens to be lemon.  Usually I like to use apple, but apparently I'm all out of apple, so lemon it is! When you are happy with the consistency, you are ready to bottle it up.  Using a funnel helps with the bottling process and don't forget to label your bottles so everybody knows what it is AND how much to use.  For this recipe I find 1/4 cup works well, but add more for heavier loads.

I leave a bit of room at the top of each of my bottles so I can give it a good shake before using.  Now that  works out to less than $1 per bottle, and I know exactly what is in it!!!  Print this out and stick it in your binder.   Now im off to do a bit of crochet!     Hugs,  Sharm

Your Own Homestead Binder

Remember the homestead binder I mentioned yesterday?  It's a great tool in a road to simplicity and you don't have to have a house on a hundred acres for it to work!  You can also call it whatever you want to.  We live on a large quarter acre block in the country, and because of how we utilise our block, I like to think of our house as a little homestead.  After all, it's all just a matter of how you look at things.

So gather up your supplies........ A 2 ring binder (cover it to reflect something you enjoy), some divider sheets, paper and a pen.......oh, and if you have those plastic dividers like I do, a pair of long nose tweezers sure helps to get the paper tags into them......

Keep it simple........ 7 dividers each marked pillar 1 to 7.  I printed out a photo or picture onto a sheet as a header page for each pillar, and it also gives me a mini "chapter" reference guide for what I can expect to find in each pillar........   Like this.....

And this.......

You can find a basic list of what is under each pillar on the section of this blog that refers to them.  Now sometimes you already have a kind of a folder started that is a bit of this and a bit of that, and you might wonder how in the world you can get those into pillar headings.......... Soooooo, keep it simple, write out your headings one under the other on some scrap paper, then pop an arrow beside those headings with what they might refer to, and then you will suddenly discover they fit under one of the pillars......... Something like this.......

Now, I really like to have a section that is just devoted to the kitchen..... It covers menu planning, which tells me the types of foods I can grow, and of course that leads to preserving etc etc...... But in reality, that all comes down to organisation ......hmmmmmm, so, Pillar 3!   See how it works.

I do however keep the plastic pages that hold the various business cards right at the front of the binder for easy access.   So there you have it,  gradually add things into your binder under each of the headings and enjoy having it all together in one place that is easy to access and easy to store.

Hugs, Sharm