Feather your Nest Friday, 21st July, 2023.

Hi to everyone!   I am sorry I didn't manage a Monday post this week.  I had the girls come to stay and we did a lot of good things but the blog post wasn't one of them!  

As usual I planned activities and got set up before the girls arrived.   We were blessed with mostly sunshine so there was plenty of time outside as well. 

Harper continued on wth her sewing.   This project was to make a pillow with two beautiful panels Jane sent especially.   I found a cushion to fit exactly.    Nana Pat came over and helped.

Harper was really proud of the result.   

Scarlett is still not keen, but she is two years younger.  Soon I will get her on straight lines then I think she will take off.

One of our activities was making farms from the lids of two big boxes.   I saved these lids as they are useful as food trays,  play trays...

I purchased squares of fake grass and a set (for each)  of farms with animals and tractors.   Farmy magazines and advertising material comes in our mail bag... I save all these so we had pictures of sheep, cows, yards, tanks, machinery,  silos and other good stuff.   I gave them the brief which was to create a complete farm for Sidney and Thomas.   We went outside and collected sticks, rocks, pebbles, twigs and leaves, gum nuts... and so on.  

I sat and did some cutting out with them but they worked on them for hours and were very serious about it.   I told them how Grandpa Tom (my Dad) did not have toys when he was little so he used sticks to make yards,  walnut shells for sheep and knuckle bones for cows.   This was he could move around his stock in the yards just as he was planning for when he grew up!

They turned out really beautifully.   They had ponds for ducks,  twigs for logs, gum trees...

Finally we were ready and the first one was delivered to Tom.  

Tom declared "I like it!" and was straight in arranging his tractors.

Sidney was straight into it too, I couldn't even get him to look up,  he was too busy.

So they were a great success.  Chloe said Tom had to have his farm sit next to him while he ate dinner.  😊

Because Nana Pat came I had the girls set the table for afternoon tea.  They picked "flowers" and had the table as they wanted.   I also taught them to package up the left over gluten free items we had for Nana into a container so she would take them home.   They really seemed to enjoy this.

After taking the girls home I made two stops and the way back.    One was to pick road side Proteas.

The other one was to pick road side Rosemary.  I got some to go with a lamb roast and some with root systems.  (Shown at top of page.)  This caused me to get home in the dark! 

I made a heat pack for our friend as he has a sore back and got a chill.  Now he has a hot pack which should help.  I made more cleaning cloths...  and the Rosemary was potted up.

I was thrilled to be given three pumpkins,  two Pelargoniums and two Daisy bushes.   I got the plants into the garden and tomorrow the pumpkins are being roasted for soup.  Well, two are... I think the third will be used with other meals.

I planted the bean seeds that Fiona sent me.   We had rain so they were rained in to get them started. 

The tomato plants Wendy and Ian gave me had grown so I got them into a much larger pot with really good compost. 

I repaired a hole in a beautiful blanket Mum made me.

My stock up item this week was pens and masking tape. 

I sewed two more pot holders and two more kitchen towels. 

So that was my week!  How did you build up your home,  garden or pantry?  I am thinking so much about "building up".   Building up the kids,  building up immunity,  fitness,  knowledge,  the pantry, garden, gift cupboard.   It truly is just amazing how keeping at things adds up.   We cannot build up all the time but we can make hay while the sun shines!   I hope the sun was shining on you.xxx