December Goal Wrap Up

Despite December being a busy month, I seem to have achieved quite a bit.

Today, we spent the morning packing away all the Christmas decorations and lights.  It is quite a job, but one we like to have over and done as soon as we can.  The house always looks bare afterwards.  However, as Mick pointed out, our house never looks bare.

The Christmas shelf in the kitchen has now been replace with the summer shelf.

On the Stitching front......

ONE MONTHLY GOAL

My OMG was to make the Harry Potter Quilt Top, not even knowing what I was going to do.  It didn't take me long to decide on a simple design and have it made, and another six cot quilts cut out to stitch soon.

15 MINUTES A DAY

This is working well.  I did miss Christmas Day and one other day, but other than that, made the effort to do something each day.  It's amazing what I could find to work on, rather than what I should be working on, if you know what I mean.

Firstly, I finished a couple of little origami butterfly magnets I started earlier this year.  I still have some more to work on, so that is something I can pick up another day.

Having worked on a couple of cross stitch projects in the last couple of months, I decided to pull out a very, very old UFO.  This was started about 30 years ago.  We were doing a picture framing course through the Community College (in which we learnt that it is something to leave to the experts) and I saw a cute cross stitch picture at the framers.  I searched out the kit and didn't get a great deal done at the time.

This is where it was up to when I picked it up.

After a couple of days I had added the cream to the left of the face and the light green about the head and to the left above the cream.  It is rather hard on the eyes, with all the colours being so pale and the fabric is difficult to work on, as some threads are quite slubby and others are gossimer thin.  That is probably why it was abandoned.  However, having seen the progress made in such a short time, I intend to keep plugging away at it over the next little while and finish it off.  No dead line, though.

My knitting was one thing that took up most of my time with the scarf and one sock being completed.  No, I haven't started the second sock yet, but I will very soon.  Promise.

That means that I have three finishes for One Project a Month.  This is the final month that Kris will be running this.  I can't thank her enough for all the effort that has gone behind it for so many years.

One reason why I didn't start the other sock was that I read my 2022 goals post from the start of the year and realised that I still had two of my Swoon blocks to piece.  I may not have the quilt finished this year, but I wasn't going to still have blocks to make.

Here are the last two.  Finished in the nick of time.

I had to lay them out to see them all together.  Not the best photo, but you get the idea.

My original plan was to use quilt as you go, but now that I have Monique, I will add the sashings and quilt it as a whole.......next year.

So that little lot has kept me amused.

I did have a goal to practice with Monique, but that hasn't happened.  Next month......after the craziness of the festive season has calmed down.

On the non-stitching front, we tried a new recipe, being the mince pies.

I can also report that our Christmas Cake was a resounding success.  Phew!

We went for a motorcycle ride, to a fun event, being the Rockley Markets.

I did read a book, which I enjoyed.

As for blogging, not quite each week, but there were still plenty of posts.

I'm pleased with what was achieved, but there are still a couple of days left, so I may sneak something else in with my 15 minutes.  Who knows.

Now I have to start thinking about what to do next year.

Planning for December

It is amazing how much setting my little goals each month gives me the motivation to get some things done, rather than just going mindlessly through the days.  I like that they are not a “To Do” list of chores, but more fun things.

So what fun things will I try to do during December?

ONE MONTHLY GOAL

As I have not been using my sewing machine much in the last couple of months, rather favouring hand work, my goal for December will be to make quilt top.  

It will be a donation quilt using some Harry Potter fat quarters I bought some time ago, with that in mind.  I’ve been dithering far too much as to what design I will use, so by making it my goal I will have to finally make a decision and get it out of my head. Also, I need to get some simple, smallish tops stitched so that I can start to play with Monique, without working on a larger, more intricate quilt.

ONE PROJECT A MONTH

This will be the last month that Kris is hosting this little challenge, so I had better have something to show.  Actually, I already do, as there are the secret projects that I worked on last month but am yet to share.  I’d like to have something else as well - hopefully a knitted shawl, as it is coming along nicely.  Kris had done a mammoth job of hosting this for so very many years.  Even though it won’t be a thing any more, I will still try to finish something each month going forward, as one of my self imposed goals. 

FRIDAY NIGHT WITH FRIENDS

That is tonight.  I will definitely be working on my knitting, as we are watching the Test Cricket against the West Indies, which will be the perfect way to spend an evening.

15 MINUTES A DAY

I was rather surprised how well this went last month.  Therefore, I will try to keep this going through the month of December.  I’m not sure that it would be practical to make it a goal each month, but while I have the inclination, I will keep going.  Having something portable made a big difference last month, as I don’t know how I would go if all my projects were on the machine.  Therefore, from now on I will try to have some hand work at the ready to just pick up whenever I have a chance and also for Zoom days.

KNITTING

I will continue with my knitted shawl and hopefully have it finished by the end of  the month, to then put away until the weather cools down again (not that it has warmed up yet).

MONIQUE

I still haven’t had much of a play with Monique, my mid arm quilting machine.  I need to load another practice piece on her and play some more.  Now that I have a laser stylus I can also have a play with some pantographs.  By writing it here, I will have to unload the fabric that is currently on her and have another go.  Then I should be ready to tackle the donation quilt that I will be making for OMG.

I’m not setting any goals in relation to the Blue Quilt or Rainbow Scrap Challenge, as I already have plenty to go on with.  Next year I will have to have a look at what projects are already on the go and work on finishing them.  After a big push last year, I seem to have quite a few once again.  Not UFOs, just WIPs.

On the non stitching front I have a few goals too, mainly the same as usual.

READ A BOOK

I bought a book at an op shop while we were away and it is on the top of the pile, so I will try to read it this month.

TRY A NEW RECIPE

I read on a blog of a different Mince Pie recipe.  Mick enjoys his mince pies at Christmas and I have a couple of jars of fruit mince in the pantry, so am eager to give this a go.  It does entail making the pastry from scratch, but that will be good for me to try too.

GO FOR A MOTORCYCLE RIDE

The gods seem to be against us on this lately.  Fingers crossed, we will finally get to go for a ride this month.

USE THE CARAVAN

We do not expect to be going anywhere with the van this month.

FUN DAY OUT

Now changed from “Friday Fun Day”, hopefully we will have a fun day out somewhere.  Nothing planned, which means it will be a nice surprise when it happens.

BLOG EACH WEEK

I have a tendency to blog in fits and spurts, so will try to be a bit more regular with my posts, which makes it a lot easier than writing massive posts.

Phew!  I’m tire just reading all that, but now that I am not at work it is so much more achievable.  Let’s see how I go at the end of the month……which will be the end of the year!!!!  Oh my goodness!  Where did that go?

The End of the Month

I can’t believe how quickly this month has passed.  The fact that we had an unexpected trip to Queensland this last week probably has something to do with it.  More on that in a separate post.  This is all about how my goals for the month turned out.  

I’ll start with my “15 Minutes a Day” goal.  That went very well. I managed to work for at least, and generally much more, than 15 minutes each and every day.  Since my last update I worked on my crocheted shawl on the Monday and again on the Tuesday, while travelling along on our trip north.  I’ve never worked on anything in the car before, as I suffer from motion sickness, but it was fine.  Now I may do the same again on long trips.  I finished the edge of the shawl with a very simple shell pattern.

Here it is, just in time for the (hopefully) warm weather.  It will be ready to go next autumn.  The shape also works well as a knee rug, as I discovered while working on it. The colour change to the second ball of wool seemed to work out OK and doesn’t look too strange.

ONE MONTHLY GOAL

I worked a couple of days on the final few hexy flowers for the Blue Quilt to complete my One Monthly Goal.  I was cutting it fine, as I only finished them yesterday. I’m linking up at Elm Street Quilts.

Anyway, here are all the blocks.  That is all of those units completed.  I will probably put them aside for a little while and work on another section of the quilt.  This is a project I am happy to take my time over.  There is no rush.

Back to my 15 Minutes….

I have started a new knitting project.

Remember I bought this wool when a friend and I visited The Granny Square at Katoomba.  Well, for once, I was determined to use it straight away, rather than put it away for “one day”.  After much deliberation and looking at patterns I decided to make the “Be Simple Variations” shawl.

First, I had to wind it into a usable yarn cake.  It was interesting seeing what the hand dyed yarn looked like when the hank was opened.

Fortunately, I have a yarn winder that was Dad’s when he did hand spinning.  Well, what a heap of @#$%& it is!  Somewhere along the line he had “improved” it.  Whatever he did, the ball will not wind in the centre of the winder and the yarn runs either over the top of bottom of the centre.  

Therefore, instead of one nice yarn cake I had to create three and subsequently join them in my project.  A new yarn winder is now on my shopping list.

On the day I finished my crocheted shawl I started my new project.  I was going fine for a while and then somehow stuffed it up.  I couldn’t figure out how to sort out my problem and there may have been a little tanty and some swearing, before I frogged it and started again.  I didn’t get very far before I stuffed it up again, so frogged it again and returned it to being just balls of wool. It was getting late and I was tired, which probably had a lot to do with it.

A couple days later, I pulled it out again and it has been going swimmingly ever since.  I’m really enjoying knitting away.  Now that we are back home I will switch to longer needles and probably eventually circulars, depending on how much wider it gets.  The above photo doesn’t show the colours too well.  It isn’t as grey as it looks.  The colours are more accurate in the balls of wool.  I have knitted up the small ball and am well on the way to finishing the largest, so it shouldn’t take too long to finish.

ONE PROJECT A MONTH

I have the two that I can share - the shawl and the beanie I finished a couple of weeks ago.  I will include my secret projects in December once they have been received.

FRIDAY NIGHT WITH FRIENDS

I did join in for a change, working on my secret stitching.

And that sums up my stitching for the month.

Now, for my other goals….

READ A BOOK

No, didn’t happen.  A little trip north kind of interrupted things.

However, we did listen to an audio book while travelling.  Another by Dervla McTiernan.  We are really enjoying her as an author.  This was quite different to the others, and we now await whatever she writes next.

TRY A NEW RECIPE

Sort of.  

This time it was an adaptation of my usual, with the rhubarb slice.

.

And revisiting my old Christmas Cake recipe I haven’t made in a very, very long time.

GO AWAY IN THE CARAVAN

Originally, this was going to be a fail, as our planned little trip was cancelled due to the continuing bad weather.  Then, we had an unexpected trip to Queensland, so did get a trip in the van after all.

GO FOR A MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Our original plan was to join the local motorcycle club on a day ride, but it was cancelled.  Yet another victim of the bad weather.  We had then hoped to go for another random ride, but our trip to Queensland put paid to that as well.  Not to worry.  There will be other opportunities.

FRIDAY FUN DAY

Yes, we checked out the race cars in town, went to the Swap Meet and Car Show and did have some fun while away.  I think that little lot will count, not that any of it was on a Friday.

So, all in all, not a bad month.

Now, I will get out my knitting to complete my 15 minutes for today.

My Goals for November

I can’t believe that we have been home for more than a month and it is time to set my goals again.

November is always a busy month of the year, so I am setting some very simple goals.   Here goes…

ONE MONTHLY GOAL

My goal is simply to complete the sections of EPP on the Blue Quilt.  That consists of four hexy flowers and two of the elongated hexy units.  It should be a quick task, and then, I may be able to get some more sections started, but we will just wait and see.  I’ll check in at Elm Street Quilts.

RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE

I have not set myself any goal for November.   Anything that happens will be a bonus.

ONE PROJECT A MONTH

Nothing planned, but I do hope to be able to tick something off the list.

FRIDAY NIGHT WITH FRIENDS

That will come around this Friday and I’m sure I will have something to work on.

15 MINUTES A DAY

The above goals are very simple, but as the fellow in the red suit will be coming down the chimney before too long, it is time to work on some secret projects.  My lofty aim is to work on something for at least 15 minutes a day.  Some I will be able to share, some not yet.  I’ll try my best to check in regularly wit my progress.  Having the time to complete this should be easy, it is having the motivation that is the hard bit.  Wish me luck.

Now on to the non-stitching goals, which are much the same as usual…..

READ A BOOK

I just got a book at an op shop today, so I’ll try to read that one.  It will be a binge read, but not until I have completed my 15 minutes of stitching…

TRY A NEW RECIPE

It is years since I have cooked a Christmas cake.  Mum had her recipe and I used to make a different recipe from in my early teens.  However, in reality, mine makes a fairly dry cake.  I looked out Mum’s recipe, but it uses treacle and I’m not going to buy some just for one recipe.  The Coles Magazine this month has a recipe rather similar to Mum’s, so I am going to make that in the next few days.

GO AWAY IN THE CARAVAN

We have plans for a long weekend, but it is weather dependent, as are most things at the moment.

GO FOR A MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Hopefully, we can make this happen…..if the weather plays nice.

FRIDAY FUN DAY

I think I will have to think of another name for this, as we are not limited to Fridays any more.  I reckon we will have at least one fun day this month…if not more.

I’ll check in at the end of the month to see how things went.

October Goals Wrap Up

This was an interesting month for us, as it was the first month where we have been at home and neither of us has had to go to work.  We are slowly working out a bit of a daily routine and enjoying not having to rush to do things in the limited amount of time out of work hours.

It’s time to check in with my goals for October.  I didn’t do too badly, either.

ONE MONTHLY GOAL

My OMG was to complete the Churn Dash quilt top.  Tick.

RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE

All my blocks have been made.  I need to embroider antennae on the butterflies and then piece the Butterflies and Nine Patch quilt top and the Black and White HST quilt top.  I’v put them both away for the moment, along with the Drunkard Path Blocks from RSC 2020.  At this stage, I think that I will just aim to put these together next year, once the busy time of the year has passed.  The Black and White HST, could also class as my RSC blocks for next year, as the blocks still have to be pieced.  We’ll see.

ONE PROJECT A MONTH

I was happy to have a few finishes, all unplanned.  There are eight cushions for our outdoor table and chairs.

Also, the pouch for the little blender for the caravan.

Kris has announced that this will be the last year of OPAM.  I can fully understand her reasoning for winding it up.  It has been a fun ride, so I’d better make sure I have some finishes for the last couple of months.

FRIDAY NIGHT WITH FRIENDS

Yes, I worked on the cushions.

BLUE QUILT

I had no definite goal, other than to work on some more EPP units.  In the end I have completed sixteen.  I had hoped to complete a further two, but that didn’t happen.  Not that I’m worried, this is my slow stitching project with no deadline.

On the non stitching front this is how we went:

READ A BOOK

This only scraped in…….sort of…. I read a very quick little ebook one evening.  “Tilda” is designed for children.  When the spiel said “L.M.Montgomery meets Ruth Park” I had to give it a go.  It is about a girl who ended up in a convent orphanage in South Australia in the early 1900s.  OK, but nothing to rave over.

TRY A NEW RECIPE

I actually tried a few.

Firstly, just after Christmas, I bought some jars of fruit mince on clearance for next to nothing.  I had been on the lookout for a recipe and stumbled across one in a book written by Kerry Swain from Nundle, so lots of us bloggers will have a copy.

It was a nice and easy slice.  I’ll definitely be making it again.

I also made “Queen Elizabeth’ Cake”.  I’ll include it in a separate post.

I had bought a couple of cake mixes to take away with us, but in the end didn’t use them.  I have made one of them at home and it turned out beautifully.  I have another one to use up soon. I’m not generally a packet cake cook, but when they turn out so well, you can see why they are popular.

FRIDAY FUN DAY

Well, I’m not sure if any happened on a Friday, but we had loads of fun days in October.  October and November, along with March and April are that busy time of year when so many things are happening around the area, due to the weather generally being the best of the year.  They will also have a separate post.

GO FOR A MOTORCYCLE RIDE.

Yes, we actually went for a ride on “Snubby” the silver sidecar.  Once again, a separate post coming up.

So, all in all, not a bad effort for the month.

I have been rather lax in keeping up with my blogging of our doings, but I think I may have needed a little break after the mammoth effort of documenting our big trip.

I’m now looking forward to seeing what November brings.