My Wishes for July

Now that we are back home it is time to have a look at what I can achieve this month.

MY MAIN WISH

This has been a hard choice to make.  There are lots of things I want to work on, but where does one start?  I had one idea, but for what should be the cold, quiet time of the year, my calendar seems to be rather full, so I don’t want anything too time consuming.  As I type this I’m still trying to decide……..

…… OK, I’ve written the rest of the post, so time to make that decision ……. 

It will be to finish the Simply Serene Quilt.  That way it will be finished for Show and Tell when we return to Baradine in August.  So far, I have made and trimmed the HST and cut the plaid squares.  Time to play on the design curtain and then cut out the setting triangles, before stitching the rows together.  I'm looking forward to seeing this one come together.

RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE

The colour selected this month is Aqua.  Well, as I used that colour last month I have to make another substitution.  I’ve decided to go with DARK BLUE.  That is sort of related and I don’t think it is a colour that will come up……I hope.

BETTY’S GROUP PROJECT

I haven’t made a start on piecing the rainbow strips together as yet.  I still have to come up with a plan.  Let’s keep the goal simple, by just coming up with a plan.  If I can get the quilt top together, that will be a bonus.

A new block pattern has been released by Betty, so that will be made and posted to her.

USING ELLY MAY

Poor Elly May has been under her cover since the middle of May.  There is no definite plan to for her at the moment, but I do hope to get her up and running this month . . . . . . . . . .Now that has changed, since I finally made my Main Wish decision.

CROCHET

The Corner to Corner rug should have been completed last month, but I got side tracked with my red scarf.  In theory, I just needed to do a couple more rounds of half trebles to have it done…….then I layed it out on the floor and could see that it was still too narrow for Wraps With Love, so a few more rounds are required.  It should be finished in the next couple of days, ready to donate at the Knit In in the middle of the month.

I will have to find something to work on at the Knit In, so will probably start another C2C rug.  This time I will make four 10 inch strips to the length of the rug, as it will be more portable, and then stitch the strips together.  That’s the plan anyway.

KNITTING

I NEED to get a wriggle on with my alpaca knitted jumper.  My wish is to have the body knitted up to the armholes by the end of the month.  Surely, I can knit a 100g ball of yarn a week?

STITCHING DAYS

Now that I have pretty much completed the C2C rug, I need to come up with a new project.  There is a fair chance that will be the alpaca jumper, but there may end up being something else.

SASHIKO

I am going to attend a Sashiko workshop on Sunday.  I have completed a few panels now, and have said I’m not going  to do more, but this little workshop is working from marking out the project on the fabric, rather than using preprinted panels, so should be interesting.  The plan in the back of my head is to make a little four sided bag with whatever I create.  Watch this space.

15 MINUTES A DAY

That’s the aim….

OTHER WISHES

1.    Try a new recipe

2.    Read (or listen to) a book.

3.    Have a fun day out - there are couple in the pipe line.

4.    Finish writing up our Queensland holiday.

It will be interesting to see what I manage.

Stitching Wrap up For June

Despite us having the first two weeks of the month away in our caravan, I still managed to get quite a bit of crafting done in June.

My main goal for June was to complete the red knitted scarf, which was a great travel project.  Tick.

My main goal for May was to complete the solid fat quarter quilt.  Well, I was a few weeks late, but it was completed in June.

I had hoped to finish the corner to corner crochet rug, but that hasn't quite crossed the finish line. The main body of the rug is completed and I am currently working on the edging.  It is just rows of half trebles.  As it is rather mindless to work on, I'm saving it for my stitching days.  I expect it to be completed by the end of this week.

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks have been completed, also partly done while travelling.

The little donation cot quilt was a quick and easy project to complete.

I have finally started knitting my Long Paddock jumper.  The alpaca is beautiful and soft to work with.

The last thing I worked on was a quick little running repair on a couple of Christmas ornaments that I made many years ago.  They used to hang on the bookcase door handles at our old house and our cat, Joey, decided that they would be nice to play with.  I don't have a "before" photo, but they had both lost their hangers and the star one had a missing bugle bead and the others were loose.  Fortunately, I still have the container of beads, so was able to replace it and secure the others.  Now, they can be added to our tree in future Christmases.

My First Finish for June

My main wish for June was to complete the red knitted scarf I started at the beginning of our holiday.  Happily, I can report that it was completed before we returned home last Wednesday.

Let's recap.

I bought this lovely red sock yarn at the Heritage Trades Trail back in early April.

I started knitting it while watching Mick play bowls at Cowra, as it was nice and portable.

I continued to do a few rows most days, but definitely not every day.  It was something I could work on while we were visiting friends and chatting.

I took just a couple of "in progress" shots while out and about.  Just a small taste of some of the places we visited.  There will be more as I get my posts written.

Rockhampton at the end of May.

This is at Moura.

And another at Carnarvon Gorge.

It was finished while having a lazy day near Warialda.  Probably all places you have never heard of.

Once back home it was time to style it on my lovely old dressmaker's dummy.

A bit of fun trying the different styles.  The first is how I will probably wear it most often.

Now it has been packed away with the other four I have made using this pattern.  You can tell that they work well for me.

My Wishes for June

I’m starting to sound like a cracked record when I announce that my goals this month will be minimal.  The excuse reason this time is that we are still on the road and we aren’t too sure when we will get back home.  We are making it all up as we go along.

MY MAIN GOAL

My main goal this month is to complete the red scarf that I am knitting.  That should be rather easy.  I’m enjoying knitting a few rows most days.  I will just keep going until I run out of wool and then weave in the ends.  It will be blocked when I get home.

RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE

In anticipation of this month’s colour announcement I packed the pre cut blocks I have prepared and brought them with me.  The crumb blocks will have to wait until I get home.  The colour for June is PASTEL.  Well, that has thrown me, as I don’t have any pastel colours pre cut and therefore none are planned for the finished quilts.  The closest I have is AQUA, so that is what I will make.  Hopefully, I will get the potato chip blocks and the solid cross blocks completed while we are on the road.  Time will tell.

CROCHET

It would be nice to do some more work on the Corner to Corner rug.  I do have a deadline of mid July for this project, which is a good incentive.  The red scarf will take precedence, so once again, time will tell how I go.

OTHER WISHES

Depending on when we get home, I would like to finish the Solid Fat Quarter quilt that I started at Scrub Stitchin’ and quilted last month.  All I need to do is trim it back and add the binding by machine.  It will take all of one day.

As you can see, I still haven’t made a start on the Alpaca jumper I want to knit.  It would be nice to make a start when we get home, if time allows.  We’ll see……I really NEED to get cracking on this one.

15 MINUTES A DAY

I’ll try, really I will.

NON STITCHING WISHES

There really aren’t any.  I’m guessing we will probably listen to an audio book as we drive along.  I have to download a new one.  That’s about it.

As always, it will be interesting to check in at the end of the month.

May Wrap Up

Here we are, with May all done and dusted.  Time to see how my little wishes/goals went.  You can read about them here. 

We have been travelling for the second half of the month, so that did slow things down  bit.

RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE

The colour was orange and I did manage to make all the blocks.

I was pretty happy with that.

I also added the shadows to the crumb blocks, so bonus points to me there.

MY MAIN GOAL

This was to complete the quilt that I started at Baradine.  Well, I didn’t do so well on this one.

I did get it quilted, using another new to me pantograph and was really happy with how it looked.

I didn’t get to trim the backing and wadding and bind it.  I could easily have, but I usually do the trimming on the dining table and it had things on it for packing in the van.  I couldn’t be bothered to move them.  A pretty poor excuse, but it is what it is.  At least I made some progress.

KNITTING AND CROCHET

I made some progress on the Corner to Corner rug, but it still needs one more ball of yarn (which I have with me) to finish that final corner before I add the border rounds. I have worked on it while travelling, but it is getting a bit big and cumbersome.

I did, however, bring a knitting project with me to start.  It isn’t the alpaca jumper, which is one I will work on at home.  I brought some red 4-ply wool with me that I had bought at the Heritage Trades Trail.

This is much more portable to work on and I have made good progress.  It is the same pattern I have made numerous times before, and is rather practical.  I’m enjoying working on it.  The photo of the skein of wool is a much truer version of the colour.

15 MINUTES A DAY

I certainly have not worked on something every day while travelling.  This is what I did manage.

May = 24/31

Year to Date = 121/151 = 80.13%

A NEW START

I have one finished project for the month.  It is an apple pincushion that I finished on 31 May, so snuck in by the skin of my teeth.  I will do a separate post on it shortly.

OTHER GOALS

The only other thing I managed was to listen to an audio book as we were travelling along.  This series is ideal for travelling, as it is not too serious.  Very entertaining.

So, all in all, not too bad.  Now to plan for June and to continue our travels for the next little while.

We’re Off Again

About a week and a half ago we headed off with the van again.  Our first day was a big one…..travelling 110kms to Cowra, where we stayed for three nights.

We stayed in a lovely caravan park, right in town and beside the river.  Very convenient to everything.  The autumn coloured leaves looked so nice in the afternoon light.

The reason we were there was that Mick was playing in a bowls tournament.  His club had won the local Pennants comp and were representing the area in the Zone competition.  

There were eight clubs competing, with each club fielding three teams.  They were divided into two groups. They each played two games on Saturday and one on Sunday morning.  The winner of each group would then go on to play a final to determine which club would represent the Zone at the State level.  The scores were calculated on the combined total points of each club, so two teams could win their games but the third lose by a lot and they may still not get through, if you get my drift.

Anyway, Bathurst managed to achieve the highest score in their group of four teams, so went on to play Binnaway in the final, which Binnaway won by two points.  Mick’s team did win every one of their games, which they were pleased with.  Binnaway has never reached State level before, so they were thrilled and Bathurst will be cheering them on.

In the meantime, what did I get up to?  Well, I didn’t watch bowls for the entire weekend.  I wandered the street for a good look and actually did some sewing.

I packed my baby Stella and finally added the shadows to the crumb blocks that I have made so far for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Before we left home I bought a wool pressing mat that worked beautifully with my $5 garage sale mini iron.

The blocks look good together.  Keep in mind, there will be a sashing in the light grey between them all, which will make the effect so much better, but a good bit of progress.

I also started knitting a new scarf, using my tried and trued pattern for a boomerang scarf.  This one is a festive red colour.  No photo of progress at that stage, as I forgot, but I will update later.

So, that was a nice way to start our latest adventure.  More to follow shortly.

Stitching Recap for April

I know I'm running very late with this, but it is a handy reference point.  

Firstly, I completed 40 butterflies.

Then the Blossie Basket.

My Batik Fish were appliqued, which was my Main Monthly Goal.

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks were made.

The book pouch was completed at Scrub Stitchin'.

The Solid Fat Quarters quilt top was completed.

I did make a start on the Simply Serene Quilt.

I made quite a bit of progress on the crochet Corner to Corner rug.

Finally, I did the tension swatch for my alcapca jumper.

And that about sums it up for April.