The little birds...

If you watch little birds you will see they are busy and happy! Using whatever they can find they create the most gorgeous little nest.
I would be the little bird with some glittery thread in her nest!
We can be like this. Happily working away with the things that are available to us to create a beautiful and happy home.
All the while with a little song in our heart.

Banner by Free Pretty Things for You.

Thursday 9 May 2019

Feather your Nest Friday, 10th May, 2019.

I hope you had a good week.  We were blessed with wonderful rain. Good soaking rain!  This would be the best thing of all.  It was so desperately needed.  Now if we can have a few sunny days the grass will take off!

We had a really busy and good week.  It was hectic as we had to do a quick trip to Adelaide.  I fitted in as much as possible.  Trying to avoid going very often I even did a dental check up.  I figure living a long way away I would rather be preventive than have an emergency.  I wish I could have done more but we both had medical appointments, dentist, I did a huge stock up at Aldi,  went to the discount pharmacy, an op shop near by and then headed back.  I was just so keen to come home.  By then the rain had started and I was getting text messages from Chloe like "now there are puddles!'

Here are some ways I got ahead, feathered my nest, saved etc. this week:

I was working on Harper's birthday present.  She is crazy on Cinderella.  I made a little bag and pillowcase to match to go with a doll I ordered on line...


I also made another shopping bag from some fabric I just loved:


I started on the fabric I found in the "dog blankets" section of our op shop.  First I made three king sized kitchen towels. They are so thick and absorbent and look so coutnry style.  I love them!


(The quilted fabric underneath is the bed spread for $5)

Andy needed new jeans taken up so I took up two pairs for him.

Dad came by with a huge leg of venison.  It was so big I could never have fitted it in the oven or slow cooker so Andy sawed it up into manageable pieces.  It is many meals worth.  Plus we had cups of tea and cake at Dad's table...

(Which has a new tablecloth because I found this at the op shop for $3...)


When we returned home we were just looking at the driveway and paddocks and how much water there was.   Next I jumped out of the car and went to see Scooter.  He was so excited he leaped a mile in the air.  I gave him a bottle.  Chloe had been his baby sitter!   Next Scooter and I went to see the chickens.   I fed them a big bag of greens I had brought back from the city.  I had 15 eggs to collect and someone put in an extra effort look at this egg...


I am betting that is a double yolker!  This would be the first.   Now I have eggs to take to Lucy, eggs for Mum and eggs for a big bake up. Chloe and Luke have their own chooks.

It took me many hours to unpack all the groceries and put them away.  Some things like sausages needed dividing up and freezing in portions.  It all takes time but my pantry is so well stocked up and this saved a fortune.  I did have some great bargains and deals in the city.   One of them was a tray of 12 king sized croissants for $7.80.   I filled them with ham and cheese slices.  Luke and Andy both ate one then the rest I froze for Andy's lunches or when feeding people.  They were a bargain.


My friend was taking off around Australia and emptying out her place.  She sent me home with a Homeopathic medicine kit for my medical cabinet! It is fantastic!  Also essential oils,  a King sized white linen quilt cover, white pillowcases, a vase and much more.


The medical kit is something I have wanted and it a great addition to my collection.  

Yesterday I lit out fireplace for the first time in this house.  We have made wood piles, we have the wood box next to the back door full of nice dry wood and finally it was time.  It is amazing.  It creates so much atmosphere and warmth.  I have the kettle simmering.


Today I was getting ready as tomorrow I am going to see the girls.  I made up some chocolate cup cakes in lilac wrappers with lilac sprinkles.



I have lots of warm bedding to take down for Kelly and her nine puppies! 

Tonight I used up a big tray of ground beef from Aldi to make a huge pot of spaghetti sauce.  I simmered it for two hours.  It is delicious.  This will make many meals and I am portioning it out to freeze plus making a couple of ready to go pasta bakes.  

The week was full of opportunities to get ahead.  Lots of meat added to the freezer,  food added to the pantry, medical items added to the medical cabinet, gifts added to the present cupboard... and rain added to our paddocks.  

I love a week like this.  It takes a lot of energy to make the most of it all but so worth it!  Lots of little things really add up!

How was your week?  How did you build up your home?  I hope good things came your way also.  xxx


28 comments:

  1. Sounds like a great week for you. I am so happy you are getting rain. Harper's gift is too sweet. I love the fabric on the other bag! It is lovely.
    The wood stove looks so homey and comfy.
    I am just now getting back into a 'different normal' routine. Not a lot to report.
    Have a fantastic weekend.

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    1. Dear Cheryl, Thank you! You are doing wonderfully to even have a new normal different. That is very good. And that is enough to report as a massive achievement in itself. I hope you have a peaceful weekend and new week. With much love and many prayers, Annabel.xxx

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  2. Well, another very productive week for you Annabelle. So glad to hear about the rain! I have been tending my garden and watching the garlic and the peas come up, along with doing some sewing for our community quilting group.

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    1. Thank you! We had a bit more rain today and some sunshine too which should help the grass grow. I am following your quilts on instagram! Your sewing is stunning. I have some garlic just come up and hoping it goes well. I have never been very good with growing it. Hope our soil suits! Have a lovely weekend! xxx

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  3. Annabel, you did have a big week! Everything looks so lovely, I love your kitchen table! We've been doing lots of gardening in and around the daily stuff. I've added a few freezer meals this week to the freezer and want to add more. These are just so handy to have on hand for those days when you just don't have time to cook a meal from scratch.

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    1. My table is rustic for sure! I really like it though. I did add a freezer meal also... I agree... they are like an insurance policy! Your garden is just coming along in leaps and bounds. I know you are putting so much effort in. Enjoy your weekend and celebrate what you achieved. I am in awe of how things are gradually getting done... keeping at it works! xxx

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  4. Hi Annabel,
    Hope you have had a wonderful day with the little girls. I am positive that Miss Harper and Miss Scarlett will be in love with their chocolate cup cakes and lilac sprinkles. Very pretty. Love that the mug rug suits your place so much.
    I have hit the jackpot this week. Friends we met when we were caravanning popped by this week and dropped off a box of fabric for me. We are not talking small amounts either. One piece is 6m and it is quality linen! There is 10m of white broderie anglaise and 7m of yellow broderie. There were many more pieces. We are talking savings over $100 here.
    Katie and I went to the annual Lifeline Book Fair in Maryborough. Between the two of us we spent just under $100. Her little car was full. We have toys, clothes, more fabric, books, DVDs. I have so much fabric now, my poor sewing room is splitting at the seams. It is time to get in and make more. We costed what it would have been to purchase everything new. We stopped when we got to the $800 mark. Big, big savings with all small people, and their Mum and Dad, Christmas and Birthday presents purchased.
    I went through my cupboard and found a number of plain hand towels, face cloths and tea towels. These have all now been through the embroidery machine and have various designs on them. I have quick gifts ready to grab and put in a saved or made over gift bag.
    I made up one grey facecloth with a black rooster on it. This has been given to our darling neighbour who has added to his chook flock with black chooks. We hear about them everyday. He loves his face cloth.
    Bluey has just about finished the new TV cabinet. He has worked hard and it looks great.
    It was supposed to be a cool day today but the weather is continuously proving the weather presenters incorrect. It is closer to 30C than the 20C it was meant to get to. I have all the ceiling fans on as it is also quite humid. Hoping that we get some rain as well.
    Life is jackpot good.

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    1. Dear Jane, We both had such lucky weeks! I think the linen alone would have been worth a couple of hundred dollars... I think it is all just wonderful! So much you will put to good use!
      The the book fair.... that was also amazing. You are so far ahead and stocked up. This is what I mean by take every opportunity but I dont need to tell you that. Things far from Christmas have the best Christmas bargains! I love the sound of your neighbour with the chaos. Perfect gift for him!
      I look forward to seeing this TV cabinet!! We have some more rain! So very happy. I am so glad you had so many blessings this week. When I looked over my week I felt so happy. Like you say life is good and this was the jackpot! Have a lovely weekend! With love Annabel.xxx

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  5. Dear Annabel, what a simple, beautiful productive week you had, very inspiring. I too managed to take up two of my husband's work pants, did a pile of ironing, harvested the first of our Pink Lady Apples (delicious - there is about 20 on the tree) and all my normal house keeping duties. Have a great weekend, I am waiting for four trays of Anzac biscuits to bake as I am visiting my sister in Melbourne tommorow. 🌻 Clare

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    1. Dear Clare,
      Have a lovely time visiting your sister! Anzac biscuits will be take with you! Just enjoy your time after a busy week! With much love Annabel.xxx

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  6. Annabel it sounds like our once a month grocery shops here too where it takes ages to portion the meat into meal sized portions and put away our bulk flours, sugars and the like :), but so worth it. We love it as it gets us better prepared having full pantries, freezers and fridges too. When you live further away from the shops it pays you to buy in bulk rather than run to the stores for little things all the time. Your teatowels look wonderful as does all the baking too.

    Our Vicky challenge added up to $679.27 in savings last week :).

    Blessings -
    - We were given a large table plus a 6 burner BBQ from a friend free.
    - Our lovely next door neighbour gave us lots of rockmelons and honey due melons as well as a watermelon from her garden.

    In the kitchen -
    - Made all our bread and meals from scratch.
    - Made a double batch of coconut choc chip biscuits saving $11.83 over purchasing in the shops.

    In the gardens -
    - Amended soil with manure and planted our canna, calla and spider plants in the gardens around the house.
    - Put together 6 x 2.1 x .9 m above ground garden beds we purchased earlier.
    - DH plowed down one side of the house yard ready for us to amend the soil to put some bee attracting shrubs or herbs in and to give us some privacy and shade for the garden beds when we get them going.

    Earnings -
    - I earned $40 from the sale of 3 x 5 layer cotton eye masks I made.

    Finances and eBay listings -
    - We paid our usual fortnightly mortgage payment.
    - I listed 24 handmade items on a free listing promotion on eBay saving $39.60 on usual listing fees.

    Purchases -
    - Purchased a 30 x 3.66 m roll of 50% shadecloth on eBay saving $501 over buying it by the metre in the hardware stores.
    - Purchased bulk drip irrigation pieces, tap fittings, timers and hose in the local agricultural store saving $119.06 over buying them in the local hardware stores.

    Hope everyone has had a wonderful week of getting ahead and saving.

    Sewingcreations15 (Lorna).


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    1. Dear Lorna, A big table is going to be useful. Straight away I think of your sewing, preserving, packaging etc so many uses for a big table.
      Your garden beds are going to be amazing. Having access to manure is a bonus... we are really appreciating that. When at the nursery I see the price of a bag of manure! What Luke brought me on the tractor would be a couple of hundred of these. Then I realise the value/savings!
      We are also going to be putting up shad cloth by end of Spring. It will be over almost the whole veggie patch. I had umbrellas last year that basically saved things on hot days so now we will go a bit further. Now you have mentioned eBay I will be looking! That is a huge saving!
      As usual Loran you both had such an industrious week and full of good things. Your garden is going to be amazing. Have a good weekend! With much love Annabel.xxx

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  7. Your home is beautiful. I love all the things you have made. Our wood pile needs sprucing up after the winter months. Hopefully it will dry up soon and give us time to tackle the job. Have a great weekend.

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    1. Dear Vickie, We will learn this year how much wood we actually go through per day/week and the season. We have a fair bit ready but will need to cut lots more plus stack anything not dried out enough. I would like to get to the point of a couple of seasons ahead. We will work on it! We have the wood around the farm it is just the work to cut up and stack. But to me a good wood pile is like a good pantry. Better than money in the bank!
      Thank you so much re my home... I am getting there with it and feeling like it is a proper old fashioned homestead! With love Annabel.xxx

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  8. Those oils and homeopathic remedies are the best kind of gift!

    We walked away from a contract on a house that would have become a money pit. Today we sold our campervan that we were not getting much use out of. It was better to let it go to someone else who will use it. Money back into savings with that and also a decrease in insurance and maintenance which puts money back in the budget. We are still only buying what is needed and no stockpile items as we just have too much right now.

    Have a beautiful weekend!

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    1. Dear Lana, Oh I am sorry about the house however if this was the case you are better off out of it! Well done on selling the van too. With the lake house you have lovely holidays anyway.
      I was so pleased with the remedies. They are all quite new and potent also which I checked. Have a very good new week and beautiful Mothers Day! With love, Annabel.xxx

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  9. That lace tablecloth on your vintage table!! Bless that Mama chicken who laid the huge egg, yikes! Your fireplace and surround look wonderful! Aw, give Scooter a loving-on for me, please. I did do a 2-hr shop at Wally World yesterday. It was exhausting cuz I grabbed a cart/trolley that wanted to go east when I wanted to go west. But, I did get a lot of stocking up stuff. They had peas for 50c a can. I priced laundry soap and was appalled! I'm really loving my ZOTE flakes liquid mixture now ;-). We've been cleaning out closets and dresser drawers and the house feels so much lighter and cleaner, ha! We've been having lots of rain. I'm so thankful you guys got some! How wonderful you are taking warm blankets to Kelly and her babies!! Wish we could take one of her puppies, if Harper would let us :-). Harper's b-day goodies are just lovely, Annabel (as usual ;). Have a great weekend enjoying the moisture and the fireplace. xxMaryxx

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    1. Dear Mary, Thank you! I love my table and cloth too! It is wonderful getting eggs every day. I love going to feed the chooks and collect the eggs!
      You a good deal on the peas. I heard someone else got a similar deal on beans. Also good you stocked up. I love ZOTE. Vicky sent me some as we dont get it here. Anyway its wonderful. I made up my washing liquid. The price of many here is more than $10 a box. Some liquids are $20!!! Actually I havent even looked in a while but people evidently pay that.
      We are so grateful for the rain and have had more since plus some sunny breaks which will help the grass grow. Have a beautiful Mothers Day! With much love Annabel.xxx

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  10. Hi Annabel,

    That really is a busy fruitful week!

    I absolutely love the bag you made with the green fabric with roses on it...swoon!!

    Such a great idea to make hand towels out of that old blanket fabric, I must keep that in mind for my op-shop visits, you can never have too many hand towels, and they would be great to give away as well.

    It must feel lovely to have a fire, they bring something special to the feel of a home. We almost put a fire box in our place when we were deciding on heating, but there were several factors going against the decision to use a wood burner, and we settled on a gas heater, which is still lovely, but not quite the same.

    I didn't really get ahead on much this week, just kept the house running. I worked two days, and didn't feel well on one day. But I did deep clean both bathrooms, and scrub the floating timber floors in the kitchen/dining room. I don't scrub them near as often as I should, but I'm lucky their darker tones hide the dirt well LOL. I was thinking when I was cleaning them, how I would like to give them a coat of linseed oil to freshen them up, we've had them for years, and they came varnished, but it's lost it's luster, a good oil would bring them up beautifully I think, so I will put that on my 'perpetual list' and see if I can tackle it one day soon!

    Have a lovely weekend, and Happy Mother's Day for tomorrow, thank you for blessing all of us with your motherly wisdom.

    From Cheryl

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    1. Dear Cheryl, Happy Mothers Day to you too! Thank you re the bag it is part of Mums Mothers Day present!
      The fire does have great atmosphere. We have an endless supply of wood. Each year trees or branches fall and so it goes on.
      You did well with your week and your floor boards sound beautiful.
      The kitchen towels... as long as it is absorbent cotton the possibilities are endless! I am so pleased and have lots of sewing to get to. I cant wait to get back to that op shop and have another go through of the dog blankets! Who would have thought!
      Have a lovely Mothers Day, with love, Annabel.xxx

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  11. lOve your table and that table covering is so gorgeous. I got ahead this week I went along with a friend to a long distance appointment she had to keep her from driving alone. We saw a thrift shop and went in to look around. I knew it was gonna be a hit as it was huge and so many customers coming and going constantly. This was her trip to a thrift store. She will be back she says.Shoe couldn't believe all the neat and cheap things she bought. And boy did I find some major bargains large spools of embroidery floss/ thread. I had never been able to buy it buy the spools before due to how high it cost. But I got 12 huge cones of cotton embroidery floss that you can seperate just like the small DMC I use to embroider with. I paid $1.00 US dollar per cone next I got 1 huge cone of a silk embroidery thread And I do mean huge cones it was $1.50 and had never been used as it was still wrapped up. 2 small green perle cotton reels for $1.00 for both a pack of tapestry needles for .50 cents , 9 huge cones of wool threads for $1.00 a spool, 4 pieces of patriotic fabrics 1 piece is 2 yards the others are a yard a piece. I have been thinking of making my husband a patriotic quilt....This will put me on my way with fabrics towards it.a huge tapestry pre printed canvas/ linen type fabric that no one has stitched on yet measures 30 x 31 inches cost $2.00, a 18 x 45 inch piece of beige flannel for .50 cents, 4 beige linen napkins for $1.00,a lovely linen table runner with reds and yellow florals for $1.00,1 yard of beige wool fabric for $2.50...Wool here usually starts at $30.00 per yard. a full size bed skirt that is battenburg lace all around it for $1.50, 2 large pillow covers that I bought for the fabric for $2.00 , 3 nice expensive designer shirts at 2 dollars a piece and a J Crew brand woven long swimsuit cover up dress for #3.00 and a lovely pair of Merrell brand black sandals that cost $2.00. Where I live these shoes start around $75.00 and a large glass canister jar for 2 dollars which I know would have cost at least $12.00 at full price.a
    And a vintage potato masher for 25 cents that I know for a fact sells upwards of $12 dollars in the antique stores here. It will match my vintage hand operated hand mixer and last of all I found a long handled large metal agate type spoon for 25 cents as well. I spent a lot but I got the best bargains on everything I bought

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    1. Dear Tammy, Wow! What bargains you got! How fantastic! I love supplies! I think a patriotic quilt would be an amazing gift. I have seen USA flag quilts that I have thought just gorgeous. Also I have seen crochet ones!
      You did so well.... it was both of our lucky weeks!
      I think now your friend would be a full thrift store convert. If she has to go to that appointment again you better go too!
      So pleased for you! With love Annabel.xxx

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  12. Your granddaughter will love her Cinderella goodies! And the shopping bag is so cute too. I love reading about your life and now that you are at the farm I feel you are even more relaxed and happy even with all the work. Very productive. Your baking is beautiful and encourages me to make "pretty" foods too. Take care.

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    1. Dear Crystal, Thank you so much! To me cooking is very homely and loving. It is also a gift of help when given. I was cooking half of yesterday for Mothers Day! Have a very good new week! With love Annabel.xxx

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  13. Harper is going to love all of her birthday presents. The cup cakes came out so cute. You had a great week. Have fun with the girls.

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    1. Dear Making Cents of It All, Thank you! We had a wonderful day! I was so blessed with the whole week! Have a great new week to you! With love Annabel.xxx

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  14. Beautiful stuff! Love the tablecloth.

    Last week was a big week. My 14 year old son got a job with a farmer. It was great for him, both in the things he is learning and having his own money.

    We had a party with 37 total people there. Our church let us borrow chairs for free. Also, we had everyone bring covered dishes. This saved us so much! And the guests all left their leftovers! They don't eat leftovers. What a blessing!

    We discovered a cheaper way to homeschool high school science. It will only cost lass than $10. Previous prices had hovered around $200 and weren't a better education. Yay.

    Then there was normal stuff like washing out zip lock bags and making muffins for breakfast. It all adds up!

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    1. Dear Cristy, That is wonderful about your son. Hopefully he will learn so much on the farm!
      I have to laugh but who doesnt eat left overs!? But good thing as now you have them! I LOVE leftovers and nights off cooking! And the budget effect.
      Very good on the homeschool science. That is a big saving.
      I hope your new week has gone well. The week has flown by! With love, Annabel.xxx

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