Off The Grid on Kangaroo Island

As Ilea asked what Izzy's spirit animal was going to be for her bean bag chair, I pondered her personality. Keeping in mind the snuggle factor, it came to me.... A sugar glider, so she could wrap the wings around her.  Admittedly, we over stuffed it, but you get the idea. Everyone loves Boompie's (my Grandma name) bean bag chairs!

So Maisie and Cam could watch movies together in their own bean bag chairs, it was time for me to think up a themeAnimal" for Maisie.  I love that Ilea calls them the kid's "spirit animals".  I'd made Cam's penguin with pockets in the wings so he could slide his hands in, and snuggle into it.   Hmmm, suddenly the idea of a beaver tail blanket to snuggle under, whilst sitting in a cute beaver bean bag chair seemed perfect. Thankfully I still had the pattern for the body that I made Cam's with.  Mapped out a tail in newspaper until I had the shape and size I wanted, and put velcro on the tail so it could be removed for washing. Ta Dah!     THE INSPECTION WHEW!  THE APPROVAL And enough room for her friends.

UPDATING THE SOLAR SYSTEM It was important for us to update our solar system when we settled in.  We needed a ditch to run cables to the new solar panels on the shed roof, and also to run power to the shed. So, Graham got to work with the tools he had.   A crowbar, shovel and rake.   It was gruelling work. Once the prep work was one, Ken Greaves from Omni came to install our new Alpha ESS System We replaced and increased the old solar panels on the house with 10 new ones,  and installed 9 panels onto the shed roof.   Graham was very happy! Our new system NOTE:  We did upgrade our inverter to a totally off grid model,  and added 2 more batteries after a few years.  We are still very happy!!

 Our youngest granddaughter Isobel Isla (Izzy) arrived in March 2022 and so another family tree blanket project began.   It always surprises me where inspiration for projects comes from.   This time leafy kelp was what caught my attention so it became an underwater family tree. Under the Sea Family Tree for Izzy I started with the kelp, then tried my hand at making some fun underwater characters Embroidered family names on Laying it out Then fiddled with who and what went where... Completed I think Izzy Approved