What Else We Have Been Up To Lately

Things have been fairly quiet on the home front, but with a couple of fun things too.

Firstly, as our little potted lemon tree has a nice crop of lemons for the first time this year, it was about time to actually use a few.   I had found a new recipe recently, so we thought it would be a good one to try out.

To say it was a success is an understatement.  It is luscious.  The recipe is Lemon Impossible Bars from the Taste website.  The top gets a little crunchy and then the base is so gorgeous and lemony.  The only thing was that the base is a little sticky to hold.  Not an issue if you use a cake fork, but I think I will try them again with a biscuit base, as per the usual slice biscuit base recipe.  I’ll report back.  

That same day I tried a second new to me recipe.  Now, this is such a simple one, but something I have never got around to making previously.  Garlic Prawns.  They ended up very garlicky, as the jar of minced garlic was nearly empty, but were rather yummy.

No other exciting cooking has taken place, but I do hope to try a few more new recipes in the next little while.

While we are on the subject of food, a friend and I attended High Tea, put on by the church ladies.  

Oh, they do a splendid job of it.  The afternoon is very popular, with over 100 people attending and all the food is made by the parishioners.  Definitely a must attend event.

We had another impromptu day travelling east on Sunday.

Once again the weather started to rain at Yetholme, this time staying wet until we reached the lower Blue Mountains.

The reason for our trip was to pick up a metalworking tool for Mick.  Now that he is retired he doesn’t have access to professional workshops, so this folder/roller/guillotine will be handy in his shed. He was very happy with his bargain purchase.

It was not quite as wet travelling home, but still drizzly over the highest part of the mountains.  We wanted to stop for some brunch, but weren’t able to find anywhere to park the little truck with the trailer on behind until we reached Blackheath.  That was fine, as we had a lovely meal at the Victory Theatre Cafe.  

On the stitching front, I haven’t done a great deal.  I’ve been to my two stitching mornings and worked on the corner to corner crochet rug.  I have reached the full width and now will work the long straight section.

As for the Chookshed Challenge, all I have done is to restitch the wording.  It looks much better in the finer thread, doesn’t it.  I have to ask Mick to get some tubs of fabric down for me and then do the pressing before I can go any further.  It will happen.  

The other projects are waiting patiently for their time to shine.  I’m just enjoying the crochet rug at the moment.

I’ll just finish with the lovely sunset this evening.  It is nice to see that the days are starting to get a wee bit longer.

June Stitching Wishes

Time to think about what I would like to achieve during the month of June.  Much will be the same as usual.

RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE

The colour for June has been announced to be orange. I will make my usual two split nine patch blocks.

CHOOKSHED CHALLENGE

The number selected this time is Number 5.  For me that is the Sew Together Bag.  I had to have a think to see if I will make it this month, or once again swap things round.  I think I will, as it has been on my wish list for about ten years and I have had the fabric for two years.  I have made a couple previously, as gifts, but not one for me.

Since the beginning of the year, I have found the missing fabric and Lou kindly provided me with the pattern, as I have still not located mine, which is annoying, as it has my hand written notes with it.  But, in reality, I do have everything I need to make the thing……oh, I may need to buy a few zips.  The fabrics I have chosen are the same Tilda range as the dilly bag kit that we received at Scrub Stitchin’ in 2023 and the fabric basket I made at the beginning of this year.  Anyone would think that I like it.  Also, previous Sew Together Bags that I have made have featured several diffferent fabrics.  At this stage, I have only two.  I may add more.  I did buy more of the range when we went to Scrub Stitchin’ this year.  However, they are earmarked for a By Annie bag. All very matchy, matchy.

I really want to get a wriggle on with the crochet blanket.  

Now that I am ready to start the decrease rows it should really zoom along……I hope.  Then to do a few rounds of something as a border.  It would be nice if Mick could actually use it when watching the footy.

What else?  I really don’t know.  

Maybe try to progress the projects I took to Scrub Stitchin’.  There has been no progress since I came home.

Perhaps, I will get the rest of the appliqué completed on the bright fish quilts.  All that is needed is the grey of the fish skeletons (there are two) and all their eyes.  It would be nice to get them moving along.  

And maybe the Five and Dime quilt that I started at Baradine.  

And the hexies are waiting patiently to be stitched into a panel.

Who knows?  Time will tell.

End of April Stitching Summary

April was a bit of a varied month when it comes to my stitching.  At Scrub Stitchin’ I was very productive, but for the rest of the month there wasn’t a great deal to show. Quite a bit of what I am going to share are duplicates of earlier posts.

Let’s start with the finishes.

Happiness is Stitching a Hexie Flower picture.

EPP Coathanger, which was actually completed in March, but not shared until gifted.

Knitted cardigan.

One Yard Wonder Quilt Top. I know this isn’t actually a finish, but I have finished my contribution to it.

Next,  the starts….. there were quite a few of those.

Bonnie Lass leader and ender project.

One inch hexies for something for the Chookshed Challenge.

And one I haven’t shared as yet.  I have started a crochet blanket.  This was due to the fact that I didn’t really have any hand work to play with, so it was something I could quickly start.  This is my first corner to corner blanket and it is proving to be a bit of a yarn guzzler, but I love the texture.  I’ve used one full large ball and half a small ball of yarn and it still isn’t to full width.  This was initially to be a donation project, but Mick likes it, so I guess it is his.

I have four balls of the yarn and will definitely need at least another four.  I can’t get any more in town, so will keep my eye out while travelling later this month, or if that fails, I can get some on line, but that’s no fun.  I also have some other random grey balls of yarn, so can mix them in with the large balls.

And finally, the ongoing progress on some projects.

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks were made.

At Scrub Stitchin’ I made the Secret Garden quilt top.

Also the blocks and worked out the layout of the Five and Dime Quilt.

The Appliqué Fish are progressing nicely. 

I have not progressed any of the above projects since we have returned home.

After Scrub Stitchin’, Lou and I both went along  to my Patchwork Group.  While there I completed the stitching of my Sashiko panel.  I’ve still no idea what I will make with it.

I joined in with a Zoom session while working on my crochet.  It was a lovely day, so I was able to sit outside.

When you look at all that, it seems a lot, but not a real lot happened on most of the projects.  I probably shouldn’t start any new projects for a little while, but get some of these finished.  Let’s see what May brings.

Oh, and I nearly forgot…,

I emptied three thread spools.  Not much, but better than nothing.

And, I managed to do 15 minutes on 23 days.  Some of those were for many hours, but it is the days that count.  Not bad, considering everything else that was going on.

April = 23/30

Year to date = 92/120

Statistics = 76.67%

Scrub Stitchin’ - Part 4 - What I Worked On

“Stitchin” is a key part of our time at Baradine, however, the amount completed varies considerably between participants.  This year I spent quite a bit of time before the event preparing projects with the intention of being a bit productive.  Of course, I did not expect to get everything done, but to have a variety of projects to work on.

The first thing I brought out on Wednesday was my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks.  A nice quick and easy way to ease into the retreat.

Next, I started work on the appliqué on the bright fish blocks.  Rather than complete each block, I chose a thread colour and used that on whatever blocks required it.  I did manage to complete one before being ready for a change of project.  After working consistently on an appliqué project last year, I knew that this year I would give myself lots of breaks in this project.  The plan went well, and I just did bits and pieces randomly throughout the retreat.

The next project I started was the Secret Garden Quilt.  I had this cut out and ready to stitch the centre strip into the blocks.  That didn’t take too long.  

I had to wait a while for the design wall, before I could play with the layout, so went back to my fish.

Once a part of the design wall was free, I started yet another project, the One Yard Wonder Quilt.  I worked out the placement of the patches for the panel.

It didn’t take too long to stitch them together and then add the remaining pieces to format the quilt top.  The alphabet fabric, found at a neighbour’s recent destash garage sale, really sets it off.  This was to be a donation quilt, but one of the girls asked if she could buy it, as she has a baby quilt that she needs to make soon.  Yes, she could have it, but no she couldn't buy it.  In the end, she gifted me a charm pack she had that she wouldn’t use.  I think that was more than fair, as she still needs to get the backing and batting, quilt it and bind it, so she will still have made a lot of input into the gift.

The design wall became free, so it was time to play with my Secret Garden blocks.  I was determined not to overthink it and they came together rather quickly.

Once again, it didn’t take too long to get the top together.  This will be another donation quilt.  The turquoise sashing fabric was a “free to a good home” item at last year’s Scrub Stitchin’, so it was great to use it this time.  There isn’t enough of the fabric to do an outer border, so this is as big as it will be.  I still have to decide on a backing and binding fabric.  Hopefully, it will be finished before too long.

Time to play with some more fish….

Then it was time to bring out another project.  This time the “Five and Dime” quilt from the fabric I was recently gifted.  I had just brought strips of the fabrics that I had cut, so stitched them into their sets and cross cut them into their blocks.  Once again, time to play with the layout and not overthink it.  As there were only eight different fabrics there would have to be duplicates in the rows.  I can live with the layout.

This was on Saturday afternoon and I knew that there would not be time to get them all stitched into a quilt top, so packed them up in their rows to complete at home.  Once joined, there will be a narrow and wider border added.  Once again, hopefully soon.

Then it was back to my fish.  I had hoped to get them all done, but the two skeletal ones still have to have their bones stitched down and the eyes have to be done on all of them.  However, overall, I am really pleased to have made such good progress.

In addition to all these, I did start to use my leader and ender pieces I had cut towards my “Bonnie Lass” quilt.  I ended up getting forty pairs joined, which was a good start.  This will be a long term project.

So, all the prep I did before the retreat really paid off, as I did manage to get quite a bit of stitching completed and best of all, there was very little thinking or matching of fiddly seams involved.  The challenge will now be to get them all completed.

I also took along my Chookshed Challenge project, but didn’t make a start on it.  Fingers crossed I still get it done this month.  

Scrub Stitchin’ - Part 2

 

Saturday was the big day.  Firstly, the obligatory photo shoot.  I’ve borrowed this one from Chooky, as mine wasn’t that good.

Then the photo of the bloggers.

Poor Mick was trying to juggle camera and various phones.  

And one little extra.

Back inside, as the day progressed there was more impromptu show and tell, as projects progressed.  Here are just a few I snapped.

Let’s hope we see some of them completed next year.

We can’t forget the group quilts that are being made from the blocks we all made.  Raewyn has been doing the piecing.  This quilt top was completed and Sandy has taken it home to do the quilting.  There were enough blocks to make a second quilt and Raewyn has taken them home to piece.  The design is simple, but very effective.  Once completed it will go to Macquarie Home Stay in Dubbo. 

The formal Show and Tell will have its own separate blog post.

Now, I can’t forget to share a photo of our two intrepid caterers, Janine and Ronnie, who are just as much a part of this retreat.

Of course the big event on Saturday is the themed dinner.  This year the theme was “Winter Wonderland in the Warrumbungles”.  There were some very clever outfits, but I went rather low key.

Christine and Sharmayne were Penguins on Parade.  Check out the feet.  Too funny.

Kylie went to a lot of trouble and looked fantastic.

Kate also went to a lot of trouble.  We did wonder how that paint would come of her nose, but apparently it just peeled off. Phew.  She looked great.

Lou was looking rather snug and ready for a snowball fight.  Even one caught on camera mid flight.  Thank goodness they were soft.  Lianne was very sparkly.

Jo was stargazing in the Warrumbungles winter, while I was just in my scarf and beanie.  Thanks Maureen for lending us her starlit tree.

Sue and Raewyn were also stargazing.

Stargazing seemed to be a theme, with Harriet and Tina also going down that route.  Of course we had to have an Elsa and Miranda filled that role.  She also proved she has a beautiful singing voice as she sung along to the songs from the movie.

If you have Elsa, you need Olaf…or two.  What is the plural?  Anyway, here are Linda and Chris.

Like me, Annette was rugged up to go camping.

Mary was rugged up to go walking in the wintertime Warrumbungles, complete with gumnuts and wattle.

And we can’t miss Chooky, in her sparkling glory with Jo.

After dinner, it was time for the Make It, Bake It or Fake It Swap.  I won’t go through everything, as it will take too long.  Just suffice to say, there were more make it than fake it this year, which was lovely to see.  Some lovely gifts were given and received.

Meanwhile, back at the camp, the boys were enjoying sitting around the fire pit and having corned silverside cooked in the camp oven for tea.  Maybe, I had a little taste and it was good.  They didn’t exactly rough it.

And that finished off another wonderful day.

People started to leave fairly early on the Sunday morning, as several had quite a distance to travel.  

We left shortly after breakfast, travelling straight home, while Lou and Tony spend a bit of time playing the tourist on their way.  They still beat us home, as we are quite slow in the truck and van.

This year’s Scrub Stitchin’ was once again a wonderful, wonderful few days.  Thanks so much to Chooky for all the effort she puts in to make it the success that it is.  The event is something we look forward to very much each year.