Easter is around the corner.

Unbelievable almost April, time goes to fast. before we know we are preparing for Christmas again. But firstwe have Easter. For me it is still strange to celebrate Easter in Autumn. I think spring makes more sense , birds lay their eggs and all the bulbs show first life. But we have falling leaves, so absolute no Easter feeling.
I made an Easter wreath with egg shells. It so easy to make and as you know I like wreaths. I have them in all sorts of material.

Stuffed peppers.

So fresh and dont' you like the colour?

Stuffed with mince and then in the over for almost a hour.

I love cooking and baking and I realize that I never write about it on my blog. Most of the time I make my own recipes and make something with what we have in the garden or fridge.
I prefer organic and with your own veggie garden is that easy , cheap and healthy.
Last week I went with my daughter to a farmer to pick our own apples and much more. We picked peppers as well and I made that evening stuffed peppers. I made a mince filling and a tomato sauce and served it with basmati rice. It was a great dinner. Because we had a big bag of peppers I made two dishes at the same time. One for in the freezer for later on when we have a busy day!

Big day out number 2.

Today is was Lieke's turn for her big day out. Most of you know that I do that every year with all of the girls. They can choose what to do and where to go.
We had a great day, the weather was fabulous a nice and sunny Autumn day (still 20 degrees)and no school for her today.
After breakfast when the rest of the family was off to work and school we went to the beach (one place up north) and had a great morning tea with juice, coffee and of course cake. Hurry up mum drink your coffee we have a lot to do today was what she said to me. So off we went to the next stop, the local farmer where you can pick your own fruit.
We picked apples, pears, capsicums,chillies and tomatoes and just the last 4 strawberries from the season, but we eat them strait away (don't tell anybody).

We have to make a lot of apple sauce and dutch apple cake this weekend. And we will eat apples for the next coming weeks, but we love them.

Then it was time for lunch. Her plan was to go to an other beach and have french stick with brie. When she was a little girl (just 2 years old)she loves brie and it is still one of her favorites. So we went to the local supermarket and bought some fresh french stick and a big block of brie. And I can tell you we had great fun!!

But we had to hurry up again , there was more on the list......

We went to a funny little museum, lots to see and lots to do for kids . We always drive past this place and now we have been there . And you can even bring your husband!!

After all she decide to buy a little present for everyone in the family. So hurry up to the op-shop where we found something for everybody. When we came home she was a bit sad in the car, now her big day out was almost over. But she had still her presents to wrap. You can imagine there was a lot to tell at the dinner table and a lot of presents to unwrap.

She is fast asleep now, we had a great big day out !!

The End.

After weeks of work I'm at the end. My quilt is finished!!
I loved doing all the hand sewing ,I must say that I miss it a bit now so I started a new hand sewing project but I tell you all about that in a later post.

This quilt I made for one of my girls was great fun to make. The colours are bright and overall it is a very happy quilt with all the flowers and love hearts. Is was easy but a lot of work.
And look at her bright orange wall on her room don't you think it suits perfect. She loves it as well and made me a wonder full thank you card . How sweet is that!!!

Have a great weekend!!!

Scraps.

I don't have a lot of scraps because I always try to use every bit. But I had some scraps from the bunting that I made. I turned them into a bathmat for the girls bathroom. I used an old towel as backing so it is easy to wash. The quilting is done on the machine and as you can see I have to practise to make smooth rounding. It's not that easy.

But overall it is a nice bathmat.

Celebrating 4 years.

I told you that we had something to celebrate. This weekend we were 4 years in New Zealand .
We emigrated 4 years ago with a lot of expectations and non of us knows what is was to live in a other country far from home. Sometimes we had hard times but we can proudly say that we did it and we are all very happy here. We don't know what it is to be homesick but when people are sick at the other site of the wold you wish you were a bit closer.
We lived in 4 houses in New Zealand before we found HOME (where we live now) and the girls are better now in English than in Dutch . We had a lot of visitors over and saw a lot of this wonderful country. But most of all we are Happy!!!

To celebrate this all we went this weekend to Martha's pantry for a high tea. Is was a great afternoon in Wellington.
We had scones, sandwiches, cupcakes, chocolate slice and much more. We taught is this all for us, but I can tell you there was nothing left. It was great, so if you ever in Wellington, it is worth a visit!

Shell wreath

On our holiday I was collecting shells from the beach, that's what I always do. Even when we live on the beach I can't come home without a nice shell. But the one I took from our holiday are really special so I made a shell wreath from it, as a souvenir from a lovely holiday. It's hanging outside in the garden on the outside shower door.

Wish you all a good weekend , we have to celebrate something but I'll tell you all after the weekend.

Collection

Do you have a collection? I think we all have. I'm collecting bird houses (most are from garage sales) and put them all in the garden as a garden decoration, not that I have a lot but you have to start somewhere isn't it.
The best one is the bird caravan that I found in a great shop in Eastborne close to Wellington. If I was a bird I definitely should choose that one to live in.

And do you like to join me on a walk true my garden, here we go...