A Refashion

Okay, so six months into not buying any clothes and I'm getting a bit tired of what's hanging in my wardrobe, so am reviewing the items that I don't wear much - or at all, and seeing if I can improve what I don't like.
I saw a blog by refashionista in which she does an awesome dye job to change an outfit, and gives instructions for the technique..

Isn't that great?!!

So I thought I would try it out on a top that was waaay too red to be frequently useful..

So here's the result, sorry it's not the best of photos...

I really like it, but am a little nervous of the dye not being fast, as the blogger didn't mention adding salt as a fixative - so I just added a couple of teaspoons. 

Aloe Vera
I have been planning to get an aloe vera plant for ages, so yesterday when I visited my friend Bushra she chopped off some bits of her huge plant for me.

aloe vera barbadensis miller - has orange flower spikes

I was a bit surprised as I though the medicinal aloe vera was a small plant, but it turns out that this is aloe vera barbadensis miller, which is the one most used commercially - yay! Now I just have to get it to grow.

Stevia update
A few posts back I processed some stevia from my garden, into a powder and also into a liquid, and was a bit wary of how they might taste. The powdered leaf had a real grassy smell and I was nervous of ruining food with it, but tested it out on a little stewed ballarat (cooking) apples and found it perfectly good, so then made up apple and rhubarb crumble, using it to sweeten the fruit - family did not notice anything different! My products are not as concentrated as the white stuff you buy.

Powdered stevia - I saw some exactly the same in Binn Inn

I have also got used to the liquid stevia in my coffee and am thoroughly happy with it.