And That’s the End of July

July has been a rather strange month for me.

Firstly, arranging Mum’s funeral and then, two weeks ago, undergoing surgery. Nothing serious, but it will keep me quiet for a quite a few weeks. 

Surprisingly, I did get two projects finished, as well as my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks.

I was amazed to finally embroider the small eyes on the tiddly tropical fish for my fishy quilt.  There was no way they could be appliqued.  Just some satin stitch for the black, with white chain stitch around the middle sized fish and back stitch around the tiny ones. Such a big job, not. Now, the bright fish blocks are finally finished and the next task is to cut the joining blocks and borders and piece the tops.  That will have to wait for month or so.

My slow stitching pouch panel has advanced slightly.  Before we headed on our trip in June I pinned the rest of the fabrics to the batting, ready to stitch.  I’m slowly getting there.  No rush for this one, but it will be good to take to my stitching days for the next little while. It is rather relaxing to work on, the last time while on a Chookshed Stitchers Zoom morning.

In addition to those, I have made a start on yet another project.  This year I seem to be a serial starter.  About half have been finished, which is something I suppose.

Anyway, the local Wrap With Love group hold a knitting day each year and I was able to go along for the first time this year.  They had just over 100 rugs ready to send off to be donated.  This is just a small portion of them.

While there, I started another Corner to Corner crochet rug.  The one I made in shades of grey that Mick claimed was initially to be donated to this cause.  So, now I am making one that will be donated.  Yes, I know this isn’t knitting, but that didn’t matter.

This version is in the Wisteria colour way of the Jumbo Muffin self striping yarn.  It should be pretty.  The local discount store is now stocking them again at a very good price.  There is no rush to get it finished, but I would like to have it done before the end of the year.

And that is all I have achieved.  There has been plenty of opportunity to do more, but I just couldn’t be bothered.  Hopefully, that will change soon.  However, it will all be handwork for the next little while.  No using the rotary cutter.

15 MINUTES A DAY

My stats are getting worse by the month.

July = 18/31

Year to date = 157/212  which is 74.06%.

Not that it matters. This year has been rather chaotic on several fronts and it is all a bit of fun, not a chore. 

In other happenings, I have read a few books in the last couple of months.  I didn’t do an update in June, so will include both months here.

Firstly, we like to listen to an audio book as we travel the large distances on our trips.  This time it was “Murder Most Antique”.  It is the sequel to one we listened to last year.  The narration is excellent, but at times we wanted the book to progress a little quicker.  It was a nice light hearted mystery to enjoy.

While having lunch in Nyngan, we picked up “The Busy Body” from the street library.  It didn’t take long for me to read, as it was another light hearted mystery.  It was then left at another street library.

That’s all that was read or listened to while we were away.

In July I read two books.  The first was “A Death in Cornwall”.  We have read a few books by Daniel Silva and they are always fast paced and a good read.  There are more on the shelf here for me to read.

The second one was “A Single Thread”.  It is written by the same lady as The Girl With the Pearl Earring.  I’ve had this sitting beside my chair for a few months.  I can’t remember where I picked it up from, a street library or op shop, or somewhere similar.  Anyway, it is about a lady in her mid 30s during the early 1930s.  She is one of the many that are destined to stay single after so many men were lost during World War One.  It is set in Winchester and based around the true story of the making of several hundred embroidered kneelers and cushions for the cathedral.  It has mixed reviews, but I really loved it.  I suppose having an interest in hand work makes a bit of a difference.  Also, we have visited that cathedral while visiting England one time, so I can picture the area.

I then listened to Richard Osman’s latest release “We Solve Murders”.  He is the author of the Thursday Murder Club series.  This is the first in a new series.  It seemed a little slow to start with, as you tried to work out who the characters were and how everything was going to fit together, but ended up being a very enjoyable listen.  Yes, another light hearted mystery.  I opted for the audio book for this one, as I had really enjoyed listening to Thursday Murder Club series and thought this would be of a similar vein.  It was narrated by Nicola Walker and she did a great job.  Having a good narrator makes all the difference.

Now to decide what to work on in August and what to read.  

Other May Happenings

May was dominated by two things, firstly, Mick’s Mum’s passing and our short trip to Queensland.

So what else happened during the month?  I had to have a bit of a think.  I must say, I was fairly prolific on the blog post front during the month, but a few things slipped through the cracks.

Back at the start of the month the main service for the Bicentenary of the local church took place.  It was well attended and the weather was beautiful.  This altar cloth is brought out on special occasions.  It is over 100 years old.

We spotted a sweet little spiders web in the garden one morning.

I changed my little shelf over from Easter to Autumn.  Very simple again. Now it is time to change it to Winter.

I did read two books.  The first was picked up in a book exchange at a caravan park and brought back childhood memories.  I had one of these books when I was a kid.  It was rather amusing reading this book as an adult in 2025.  It depicted a sweet innocent time, where everyone is nice and the world in which she lived was rather idyllic.  In reality, I don’t think the world in the 1920s was quite as depicted either.  I do hope it was so, at least for some.

The second was an audio book to listen to as we travelled along.  Mick found the story telling to be too detailed, but I felt that it was often quite relevant to the context.  Yes, if you were reading an actual book, you could skim over some of it.  Overall, I really enjoyed it, as I have any of hers.  I see in today’s paper that she has just released another book.  I’ll have to keep an eye out for it on the library website.

I actually tried two new recipes.  The first was the feijoa muffins, which were definitely a success.  The second was a Massaman curry, which was also a success, but no photo.

There were  couple of Chookshed Zoom sewing days, which were very enjoyable, and helped me progress my crafting projects.

This time last year we were on the Isle of Man watching the TT motorcycle races.  This year we are not, but are watching from the lounge room.  Sadly, there has not been a lot of action, due to poor weather, which is rather ironic, as the previous five weeks were fine and sunny.  Fingers crossed the weather improves for the racing this week.

And that about sums up the month. Quite a lot going on.  Let’s hope June is a little calmer.

A Bit of Stitching and This and That

Now that things have settled down a bit I have actually been spending some time in the sewing room.

Firstly, my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks have been made.

Then, the block I had to finish for Betty’s group quilt, that I started at her house last weekend.  It will get popped in the post tomorrow.

I have also been working on the Chookshed Challenge project, but that can have its own post tomorrow.

What else have we been up to?

The vege garden has been pulled out for the season.  It looks rather bare, but also much tidier.

Most of our tomatoes this year were self sown and ended up being small ones.  The last were mainly stewed up with onion, garlic and basil and frozen to use during the year.  Some are in the fridge to be used in the next week or so.

Our asparagus is only a couple of years old, so wasn’t eaten as yet.  However, it has just had a second flush of growth, so we picked a few spears and enjoyed them with our breakfast the other day.  They were so crisp.  Rather different to store bought.  I can’t wait to start picking some more next season.

I read a book yesterday.  My usual binge reading style.  Half way through I realised I had read it before.  Oh well, I couldn’t remember the outcome, so finished it off.  It is now being donated, so I won’t read it a third time.

The weather has been rather nice here and is starting to have a little bit of an autumnal feel to it.  I feel so much for all those affected by Tropical Cyclone Alfred.  You don’t expect that sort of weather system to be located so far south. We were preidicted to get about 30mm of rain today, but that has now been reduced to 0-20mm tomorrow.  We’ll see what eventuates.  A little rain would be very welcome at the moment.  What a land of contrast we live in.

That about sums up what I have been up to.  Hopefully, I will continue to spend more time in the sewing room in the next week or so.

A Busy But Fun Sunday

Our Sunday got off to an early start as we headed out to have a look around the Newbridge Swap Meet.  Our intention was to have a wander around, chat with people we know who are also wandering around and buy an egg and bacon roll and coffee for breakfast, and nothing else.  You can imagine how that went……

Of course we did buy and egg and bacon roll and coffee and chat to lots of people we knew, but there was a bit of other shopping as well.  

This is my little haul.  I know my sewing room walls are full, but I can always do a juggle to fit in another lovely old poker work doiley press.  I have Mum’s Dorcas pin tin, but it is scratched from use, so it was nice to find this one in great condition for next to nothing and how could I resist that safety pin.  No, it isn’t a nappy pin, although it looks like one.  It would have to be for a baby giant.  It was also suggested it is for a kilt, but would leave a huge hole in it, and I’m also sure it wouldn’t be a knitting stitch holder, as it isn’t long enough and it takes quite a bit of strength to open it.  

Mick bought an old oil can and a thingummy for a tow bar, which he was very happy about.

A few books also came home with us and this one was bought solely for the title.  I started to read it, then skimmed part of it and then read about the last third.  It was OK, but not really the sort of story I normally read, although it does get good reviews.  I have to stop buying books solely because they have a textile related title.  However, I will count this as having read a book this month.

That was the first part of the day.  After lunch we hopped in Rosie the Suzuki Sierra and went out to our mate’s place again to get more blackberries.  They were much more plentiful this time around.  Most of these have been frozen.

However, we did have some for breakfast this morning. Yummo!

Then, in the late afternoon and evening I went up to the church to assist with the Twilight Pioneer Cemetery Wander, as part of the Bicentenary celebrations.  This was to take place on both Saturday and Sunday evenings, but Saturday got washed out.  

We had a little rain at the start, but all went ahead last night. I think everyone found the stories of some of the area’s first settlers who are buried here to be really interesting.

The sunset we ended up experiencing, looking over town, was beautiful.

As we enjoyed supper in front of the church.

A lovely way to end the day.