Leaves have started to turn

Leaves have started to turn
Originally uploaded by redmag

Sickness has wipped us all out and so I didnt get all the autumn leaves up....but here's a taste of what's to come.

For me autumn is more than just the great reds and yellows the leaves turn....it's also about the leaves falling from the trees.......falling slowing in a light wind...it's magical.....I also love walking through huge piles of leaves, kicking my legs high in the air so as to make as much noise and mess as possible (last autumn our dog got scared of the leaves and the noise - hopefully wisdom comes with age and this year he'll learn to like it....or like sittting on the couch in the sun while the rest of us go for a walk)....I'm not sure how I'm going to replicate all that in the bedroom yet!
....I'll leave that for next weekend when we're all (fingers and everything else crossed) much better.

I'd welcome any ideas...so please leave a comment!

A small harvest

A small harvest
Originally uploaded by redmag

I've never been one for attention to detail - those who've read any of my entires will have noticed the typos and missing words....that translates into most things I do....I know i do it and try and mange where I need to - like at work - but when I'm on my time I dont bother....i figure if it bothers other people then there are loads of other blogs to read...or whatever the circumstance is...

But sometimes it does cause problems. I've always regarded the planting guide on seed packets and seedling trays as a guideline and then just kind-of ignored them. Everything I planted this year is far too close together because I hate throwing away seedlings - i always feel sorry for them - 'specially if I've grown them myself so i squeeze them all in - it doesnt look so bad or like such a terrible idea in the begining - they're small and there seems plenty of room.

But then they grow! This year the cooler damp weather has meant that some of our poor tomatoes have gotten a mould on them....and not very many have ripened yet....so far its been a meager tomato harvest...just enough for sandwiches but not much more than that.

I know I'll regret my next few words - its a shame really I was hoping for a large harvest.

You see - I got a passta maker for Xmas and so far its still in the box. Fingers crossed the hotter weather will actually happen this week and I in seven days I'll be complaining about having too many!

New pants

New pants
Originally uploaded by redmag

I made these over the weekend - I used the same general pattern I used for the brave new pants but allowed some extra room for juicy thighs. The brave new pants - made with the beautiful lara cameron fabric - couldnt be worn for a few weeks - somehow I hadnt allowed enough room to get the elastic over the thighs - fortunately he learnt to crawl quite soon after their construction and thighs slimmed down quite considerabley (Note to self - crawl more each day!)

These pants are made from a heavy canvas/denim I got it from an opshop so I'm not 100% sure what it is but i liked the colour and it looked nice after it had been washed - so hopefully they will stand the test of crawling. I used a simple red biasing binding to hem them.

Tomatillos

Tomatillos
Originally uploaded by redmag

Our first tomatillo harvest - it did take much longer than i thought it would, possible because its been much cooler this summer than is normal with lots of overcast grey rainy days. Hopefully it will have been worth the wait. We're making pork and green sauce tonight for dinner with mexican rice - I'll let you know how it goes!

Cutest Robot

Cutest Robot
Originally uploaded by redmag

This little guy was an impulse purchase from moonmum. He's georgeous and her stuff is fabulous - very cool cards and small gifts. Unfortunately the gloomy raining weather made it hard to take a good photo, but you get the idea.

Our fresh tomatillos

Our fresh tomatillos
Originally uploaded by redmag

We planted these for the first time this year - having never done it before this is proving to be a journey into the unknown.

I have to say - I love them!!!!!!!!!
......well I love watching them grow. They are much more beautiful than the tomatoes, zucchinis and cucumbers we planted. They're tall and elegent and the tomatillos grow inside these georgeous little lantern looking sacks. I cant wait to pick the first one!

We've been exploring mexican cooking lately, which is actually why we decided to grow these ourselves - we'd had trouble buying the canned tomotillos. My experience of Mexican food had been limited to tacos anf burritos and i had been underwhelmed.

But then we bought a great book, "1,000 Mexican recipes" by Marge Poore... and everything has proven to be a winner - so much so we've had to start growing our own produce!!

The Koala

Koala - A candid shot
Originally uploaded by redmag

I finally finished a design for an Australian animal. I'm not sure why it was important for me to do one - I think it has something to do with wanting to create things for my son which he might actually see one day.

Over Christmas went hired a holiday house and an Echidna made an appearance on Xmas eve. I was clearly more excited than him but it got me thinking that maybe I should leave the softie versions of reindeer and polar bears to those up North and concentrate on things I know. So I did.

For those of you who have looked through my flickr pages you might remember my legless first attempt at a Koala - with his garish recycled curtain body and ears.

This little guy was actually started out completely independent of that one. I'd made a lion based on my cat design and decided that it might look better with a proper body - with big paws. That attempt merged into this one - although this one has a larger bottom as a Koala is slightly more sedentary than a Lion. I think he's pretty cute - He's also a nice size and shape for hugging.

I'm also experimenting with faces - Its subtle but you'll notice his eyes have little white pupils which make him look cheeky rather than the robot-like blank eyes of my previous toys (which is ok coz most of them are robots) I've been perusing old children’s books for ideas.

His name is Casey and is in the shop. I think I might make him some friends...next time I'm going to use more than two different fabrics. Maybe a mother and baby Koala?

But that can wait because we've all been sick in quick succession for the past week and a half and I'm a bit over it....so while I had grand plans for making a load of toys over the long weekend this is all I managed.