.. so delicious with my homemade Apricot  Lavender & Plum Orange jams.

I made them in our mini oven. Actually, I use it for just about everything these days. Its so convenient,  it heats up really quickly & it must be more economical to run than the large oven.  Being thrifty, I bought it second hand from Trade Me.

Sunbeam Pizza Bake & Grill

Speaking of thrifty shopping, I had a great day garage saleing on Saturday.  Usually the dealers are out really early & beat us to the good bits but maybe they had a week off because I found some treasures at crazy prices.  A large damask tablecloth & napkins, a vintage colander (to grow a succulent in), some never used cut work & embroidered pillow slips, some vintage embroidery to make myself a needle book like this and

Garage Sale Finds

.. the china. I couldn’t believe finding these gorgeous tea sets late in the morning on our way home.

I have a real china addiction, with two cabinets full.

I just love to look at it & dream about the friends I could make afternoon tea for. Some we use everyday because I think that’s what it’s really for.. to be enjoyed. And behind the door in the middle? That is some of my vintage linen collection.. another addiction!

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas.  It was a gorgeous day here in Nelson & we had a picnic lunch with family… as it seems many Nelsonians do these days. Certainly was busy at Rabbit Island. Although, I have to confess I missed setting the table with my traditional gold cloth, napkins, pretty candles & the good china plates. They were traded for vintage Duraware instead. I chose the red & green ones

I’ve been taking lots of photos of our activities leading up to Christmas but haven’t had a chance to post them.  So, here we go…..

Some of our Christmas decorations…..

Our new artificial Christmas tree .. love it!

Salt & Pepper shakers my mum gave me earlier this year.. just fit the Christmas colour theme as does the vintage jug cover behind

Rag Wreath I made many years ago.. hangs on our front door.. it has a lavender sachet for a welcoming scent + I think it deters the flies a little

This ornament was given to us for our wedding.. I added the santa hat.. too cute

Candle made by my 5 year old

Our table centre.. usually I have a china chook sitting in this wreath 'nest' but it didnt survive last Christmas so this year I replaced with nesting Santas I found at the school gala white elephant. I love this vintage table cloth which I save just for Christmas use

Christmas Tea for One set hubby gave me a few years ago

Cards on the fireplace

Musical reindeer with Mrs Clauses' washing hanging behind

These are the Gingerbread biscuits & Fruit Mince Pies the boys & I made for hubbies clients…

These are the plaster of paris decorations I made with my sons school class…. they were well received by my family. I do hope the school parents enjoyed them too.  Gifts made by little people are lovely aren’t they? Something to treasure for years to come.  I found the origami box pattern here & if that’s a bit mind blowing there is an instructional video on Utube.  Quite easy once you have done the first one. We used christmas wrapping paper.

On Christmas Eve ( just when you need it!)  I noticed the sour cherries were ripe. From past experience I know you have to be quick to beat the birds so the boys & I picked 3 kg & I made it into yummy Sour Cherry Jam.  

This is the recipe I found but I made it in small batches, boiling 500g fruit to a pulp & then scooping the seeds off the top (instead of painfully pitting each cherry), adding 3/4 cup sugar to each cup of fruit & the juice of half a lemon, boiling until it looked thick on the spoon (I’m not good at testing jam for setting.. this visual works for me) & I added 1 tablespoon of vodka to each batch.. partly to make it more special but also because I find my jams often don’t keep well.

I also made Whiskey Orange Marmalade as gifts for family.  I used Jo Seagars recipe from a magazine but there is one similar here.  I used a mix of oranges, mandarins & lemonades..  yummy!

And these are some of the chocolate gifts we received.. many from hubbies clients.  I think they will last us all year!

Last year I had quite a battle trying to get my dahlias growing, due to my darling chooks taking a liking to the young foliage emerging.  This is our answer:

Mini Cloche in natural timber

Hubby says it could be cheaper in the long run to sell the troublesome chooks.. but he didn’t really expect I’d go for that idea

I got the cloche idea from a NZ Gardener magazine.. they called it a Strawberry house but I instantly thought of many other uses for it.  You can find the plan on Jane Wrigglesworth Flaming Petals blog. ( Her blog is well worth a look by the way if you love flowers.  Lots of eye candy & great ideas).  Hubby has modified their plan to make a stronger version.  I’m sure I could encourage him to make a few to sell if you are local and cant find the time or manage the task yourself.

Mini Cloche with Tulip Peach Melba

I have managed to chop the cloche top off in this picture but it does have a fancy finial as per the original plan.  I won the Peach Melba Tulip bulbs from Jane’s Flaming Petal blog… they were sent to me courtesy of Garden Post.  Such a pretty colour.  In the foreground is a plain green tulip (whose correct name has escaped me for now) .. not quite as delightful as I was hoping.  Looked better on the packet picture!

As I was cooking the other night, I considered the pretty & vintage items I was using & how much more enjoyable they make the baking experience.

My father made the rimu recipe box for my birthday as my old recipe book had given way at the seams (due to overloading!)   I crocheted the dishcloth.. actually I’ve made a lot of dishcloths and other crochet items this year but they will be the subject of a new blog soon.  If you’d like to see some I’m selling do have a look at my listings on Trade Me 

I love the pretty rainbow colours of our chookie eggs….

The hens are producing well now the days are getting longer and generally warmer.  We’ve had some wonderful spring like days this week.  I have several broody banties already and set some eggs under one of them today.  Hopefully we’ll have our first chickens of the season in 3 weeks  

And, even though its rather late in the season, we have decided to let Lulu goat visit a man .. she has been quite insistent this weekend  We checked her udder today as I noticed it was looking fuller. There is some milk there so, if the one night stand doesn’t work out, hopefully we’ll get milk anyway.

Whew.. made it through another Christmas &, for once, I managed not to eat so much that I felt sick  

The day was not without a little disappointment…  the strong winds made it too unpleasant to take the boys & their new blow up boat to the river but we’ll save that adventure for another day.

Hope all you readers had a great day.

Just wanted to share a picture of the home made cards & gifts I made this year.. the steamed puddings were Raisin & Ginger, a recipe I found in the 2005 Christmas edition of Better Homes & Gardens magazine &, while I didnt try one myself  (I’m a trifle girl), I had reports that they were very good.  I also have to recommend another recipe we used today from the latest Taste magazine.. the Cranberry Pastry Stars.. so easy, attractive & delish

After hours of internet scouring I settled on the pattern at http://larissmix.typepad.com/stitch_marker/2005/09/a_little_hat.html as it combined my urge to knit with my new passion of making crochet flowers (which I taught myself watching utube).

The first hat, knitted in mohair, & then felted didnt look like it would actually stay on a babies head so this is Mk2. Im pleased with it.. hope my niece is too.