Feather your Nest Friday, 13th November, 2020.

 I am happy to have another nice week to report.    It was a week of this and that.   Some sunshine and some rain.  Some cooking and some crafts.

I used paper napkins to decoupage pots.  Firstly I painted them white and then used the napkins for the images and then finally then sealer.   I made eight different ones.   

A lot of the crafting is over on The Tuesday Afternoon Club.   With Christmas coming so soon we are working on a lot of gifts and baking!  

I got busy and made up a double batch of laundry liquid.   

Vicky sent me some scented soap beads.  These ones smell like rose and vanilla.  They made this soap smell beautiful!

Notice the cute little packet.  Vicky sent me a heap of different scents in little paper bags she sewed up.   The whole parcel smelled beautiful!

The laundry liquid recipe is here....   How to beat rising prices like Nana did, in the laundry.   This series seemed timely when I was writing it but it seems even more timely now! 

I made a lot of cards and gift tags.  

All week I kept at it.  I used a book from the thrift store and lots of delicate vintage trims that Rachel gave me.  It was a lovely project.   It kept me happy and content in every spare moment.

Then I packaged them up into parcels to make gifts...

These helped out my gift cupboard a little bit.

Now I am working on little stamped paper bags.  I am eventually making them up into parcels of ten. They are good for things like the gift of saved seeds.  Little packets of anything! 

This week I was able to go see my Daughter, Granddaughters and baby Sidney.   I made a tray of sausage rolls to take with me.     Also some little cakes for the girls...

While I was cooking I doubled the recipe and made a loaf cake which was sliced up for packed lunches. 

We went on a walk to pick roses.   Roses are everywhere just at the moment.   Lucy's garden is an old garden she is restoring.   We made up vases of flowers in the house and I had some to bring home.  When we do this we make a case of flowers for the girls rooms.  They are quite particular abut which flowers they are having in their own vases!    My Nana Brink always picked and arranged flowers.  It was a big part of her life.  She saw all kinds of things as potential containers for flower arrangement.   I hope I am passing this on.

The roses in Lucy's garden are the old fashioned roses that perfume the whole house.

On Buy, Swap and Sell I found a little tank.   Andy built a stand for it, now the chicken house has a water tank.  

Notice the front door is open.  (This is the black.)   The chickens are out roaming from 11am  to 4 :30 pm.  The other night at dinner time I saw a fox walking down the driveway!    This morning Andy saw Scout take off like a rocket and she had seen a fox off in the paddock and was trying to get him.   So I have resolved to always have Scout around when the chickens are out and I have to never forget to shut them in before dusk.  Even then I have to hope and pray I think.

Last weekend I went to Mum's and took her some GF scones.   

We had some for afternoon tea too.   With most things I have just changed my normal recipes to GF by using gluten free flour.  Mostly it works!  This resolved most of the aches and pains I always suffered. 

I have some good news.   I have been talking to Laine.   Many of you know Laine from her Laine's Letters many years ago.  These got me through the early years of bringing up my girls. She encouraged me so much!   I always felt I was reading a letter from a friend. 

For those that don't her letters are still available online.    If you need encouragement as a wife, mother, homemaker, budgeter... Christian... you would never spend time better than reading these letters.   Time has not faded them.  

You can find her old letters here Laine's Letters. 

The good news is she has decided to write new letters and share them with us.   Laine said she is building her pantry up like never before.  We are both seeing things we have never seen before in our lifetimes.   With this we decided that new words are needed for new times and that while there is an opportunity it is a good thing to do,  to encourage! 

I hope you had a good week.  How did you build up your home, pantry or garden?  I love to hear.  We have taught each other a lot and celebrated our progress week by week. This has helped me all year. xxx