Merry Christmas

It is Christmas Eve and we have just about done all the preparation that we can in readiness for tomorrow.

Our day will consist of Mum, my brother and his family here for a cooked lunch before Mick and I then visit some good friends in the evening.

I just realised I hadn’t taken any photos of our decorations this year.  They are much the same as usual with just a few changes in the entry hall.

My little collection of kitsch nativity scenes has found a new home on the china cabinet, together with my wise men and shepherd.

Our outdoor lights are up, but I haven’t taken a photo.  There seems to be quite a few less around this year, however, our street is still putting on a great show, with most houses joining in.

I have received a new decoration from Lou.

It is front and centre on my twiggy tree that features my collection of very special hand made decorations.

I can now share the one I sent to her.

I’m not sure if this one has been received as yet, so won’t mention the recipient.  They were both fun to make.

So, on that note, I will wish you all Merry Christmas.

Ticking Some Boxes

As we are now half way through the month it is time to show what I have been up to.

ONE MONTHLY GOAL

My goal was to complete the Sashiko table runner.  

I am happy to report that it is completed.

You may notice that the dragonfly and flower panels have not been included.  They didn’t fit very well.  I then thought to make them into coasters, but they still don’t fit as well as I’d like.  I’m still pondering on how I will use them, but for now, I consider this goal to be ticked off the list.

CHOOKSHED STITCHERS’ CHALLENGE

The next goal to tick off the list was to complete the Anni Downs Christmas redwork stitchery.

Ta da!

This was completed on Sunday.  I did quite a bit while watching the Bathurst 1000 car race on the tele.

It’s funny watching the big race on the tele when you can see Mount Panorama out the window, especially when the F35 fighter jet is doing its fly overs.

There was a short Chookshed Zoom session late that afternoon, so I finished the stitchery while chatting away to the girls.

The other stitching update I have to share is the progress on my hexy flowers.

These thirty blocks are completed.  I’m really happy with how they are looking and now see that I have to add more mid greys to the mix.

I’ve been making more flowers from the scraps that came to our patchwork group and today had a big effort as I collected all the flowers I had completed and the backgrounds that had been cut and removed papers and glue basted ready to appliqué them all down.   There is an uneven range of colours here, but that will all come out in the wash as I make the remaining blocks.  It also reinforces the need for more mid grey backgrounds.  Don’t worry, I have plenty in the stash to work with.  Once these are appliquéd, I will have 57 blocks completed.  That is just over half way.  Happy dance!…….But there is still a long way to go. I can cut quite a few more hexies from the scrap bag fabrics, which is a good thing.  I’m also starting to cut some of the big 2 inch hexies. Before I can progress, I need to stitch another block so that I can reuse the templates I have cut out.

Now, for progress on Monique.  The new tension unit turned up.  However, after installation things were still pretty much the same.  To get the tension right (the bottom tension is too tight),  the top tension was so tight it was unravelling the thread.  Oh well, it isn’t a bad thing to have the newer version installed.  We then started to play with the bobbin tension, although it was acting like it should.  We backed it way off and the bobbin thread was still reading as a bit too tight.  We were getting the tension pretty good, but still not quite right and are starting to wonder if the spring in the bobbin case may be the issue.  I then tried using a pre wound bobbin, that doesn’t require the spring, and it is pretty good.  I’m even game enough to have another go at quilting the quilt, rather than just on some scrap fabric. We will try a new bobbin spring soon to see if that makes a difference.  Wish me luck.

In other happenings, Mick participated in a “Rookies Pairs” bowls comp up at Orange. It was on an artificial surface, which they aren’t use to, so took a while to settle in.  They lost their first two games, while winning their last, or as one fellow said “they had one first and two seconds.”  He still had a great day and is enjoying getting more experience and meeting other bowlers.

Our garden is providing a few pops of colour.  Another lovely iris has bloomed.

The bees are loving our edging of ajuga.

We had our first thunder storm of the season last night, giving 10mm of rain.  There were some interesting clouds in the lead up.

Yesterday we spied three little baby blue wrens.  They were all bunched up together in the crepe myrtle, not far from their nest in our back yard.  By the time I fetched my phone, one had moved away.  They are so sweet.  In addition to these, we think there are two more nests in the front yard, in a couple of bottle brushes.  They are rather prolific breeders, often having two lots of babies during the warmer half of the year.  We always enjoy watching these busy little birds flitting around the garden.

And that about wraps up what we have been up to.  This coming week I do hope to have at least one quilt completed (fingers and toes crossed) and maybe even start on my fish blocks (fingers and toes crossed on that one too).

First Week of October

There has been a little bit of stitching and associated tasks each day so far this week.

Firstly, I have made a little start on the Christmas stitchery, mostly done this morning while sitting outside in the warm sunshine.  That is by far the best light for stitchery.

On Wednesday I took my hexy squares along to our patchwork group and got quite a few appliquéd down, with a few more on Friday at my other stitching group.

At the Wednesday group, one of our members brought along a garbage bag full of scraps.  Another lady sorted and trimmed, creating a few piles of usable pieces.  I selected a few that I thought would work well for more hexies, as my obvious scraps have been used up.  At the end of the day, she announced that she was over it and the rest were going in the garbage…..Nooooo!…There may be more that I can use for hexies, as I only need small pieces.  Therefore, on Wednesday afternoon I spend a couple of hours sorting and trimming.  Quite a bit still went in the garbage as they were too small for anything and I ended up with this nice pile that will be very useful.  I have already cut a few of the smaller pieces into hexies.  The pieces that weren’t suitable, either being too small on not colours that will work have been kept as well.  If I don’t use them I know a certain lady that likes to piece with teeny tiny scraps and I will be able to pass them on to her later.

As a result, I now have a new pile of hexies, prepped ready to stitch.  I am now over half way with these, but once they are all stitched into flowers, they will still have to be appliquéd onto their squares.  A long way to go yet.

I have recently come up with a better way to take photos on my cutting mat.  You see, the ceiling lights are behind me and the little light under the shelf is in front of everything, creating shadows.  My solution is to use one of my little portable work lamps.  Too simple.  It should never work, but it does.

Did you happen to notice that I have a new cutting mat.  My old one would be nearly 20 years old and is getting a bit grooved.  The large Fiskars ones were on special at Spotlight, so I treated myself.  I have often looked for them but they never seemed to have them in stock.  This time I looked on line, where it said that yes, they were in stock.  Once I asked the sales assistant, she got one from behind the counter where they are keeping them lying flat.  No wonder I could never find them.  I have still kept my old one for those times I cut backing and batting on the dining table, which has much more room to move around.

A bonus project progression happened on Friday.  One of my lovely stitching friends has been reading my blog and read that I was feeling rather overwhelmed.   Well, she very kindly took pity on me and offered to deconstruct my little crochet rug at our Friday group.  She made a start……but let’s say…..this rug was not going to fall apart.  The joins were crochet, so would easily undo, but I had done a very good job of weaving in my ends.  In the end we both worked on it and got most of it done that morning.  In the afternoon I continued working on it and now I again have a nice pile of blocks ready to join once more, this time by sewing them rather than by crochet, so hopefully they will sit nice and flat.  They are now packed away, to be a job for another day.  I must say, it does feel rather good to have that job behind me and I can’t thank my friend enough.  It was so kind.

In the garden, our potatoes in the tyre have been growing, so today a second tyre was added and some extra soil to build up to nearly the top of the leaves.  They are growing so fast.

We got brave on Thursday and went and bought our vegetable seedlings - tomatoes, zucchini and eggplants, as well as some flower seedlings - dianthus and portulaca.  Of course, now that they are in the ground we are expecting morning temperatures of about 3 or 4 C, so each night they will all be covered, along with the potatoes.  Some look quite ghostly, with frames shrouded in white sheets, while others are just draped with old towels.

Speaking of ghostly apparitions…… it’s a bit freaky walking into our bedroom at the moment, as this is in the corner.  It kind of takes you aback at first, especially at night.  What? Why?  This is my wedding dress.  I have it out, hoping some of the creases in the dress and petticoat will drop over the next couple of weeks.  You see, next year, as part of the bicentenary events for our church, there will be a display of wedding dresses, photos of weddings at the church and christening robes.  I’m going to have mine on display at the church fete in a couple of weeks to promote it and request contributions for the display.

When I look at it, I realise how very tiny I was back then.  “Victoria” our antique dress form has a tiny waste and my dress only just goes around it.  My waste was 23 inches back then and I weighed 52kg.  The back zip is not done up at this stage, as Victoria’s bust is too large.  Fortunately, she is adjustable, so we have to have a play and see if we can get her to fit my dress. When I look at it I marvel at what a beautiful job my Mum did on making this dress, with fine pin tucks and lace.  It was designed to enable me to wear my Grandmother’s cameo brooch.  No, it will not be added for the display.  It has too much sentimental value.  

Now I just have to hunt out my christening dress.  It is packed away somewhere in Mum’s things in our garage.  Wish me luck.

Finally, as today was such a nice day, we decided to go for an outing and have lunch in a country village.  Firstly, to find somewhere that was open for lunch.  We were surprised how many country pubs were closed on the long weekend Monday.  Thank goodness we did a little ring around before heading off.  Plan A was to take “Olga the old girl” sidecar for a run.  Well, that didn’t happen, as she didn’t want to start, and once started, didn’t want to run.  Mick thinks she needs a new battery as well as a little TLC.  We still went for our drive, just in the car.  Lunch was at a nice little cafe at Tarana.  We then took a wobble tour on the way home via some minor gravel roads.  We even found a sweet old timber bridge, which is becoming hard and harder to find.

And that about wraps up the week.

Other Happenings in September

I’ve been rather remiss during September in relation to blog posts, so a big catch up here.  Firstly, I’ll share how I went with my goals.

READ A BOOK

Yes, I read “Cutters End” by Margaret Hickey.  It was one I found at an op shop or book fair or something and I really enjoyed it, as did Mick.  It is the first in a series featuring Detective Sergeant Mark Arita, with another three released since.  I will be on the lookout for them.

TRY A NEW RECIPE

Don’t laugh, but this was to make some chicken and bacon sausage rolls.  A very simple recipe that most people make with their kids, but something I’ve never done.  They received a tick of approval from Mick.  No photo, as they were either eaten straight away or put in the freezer for later.

I also made a small batch of strawberry jam.  

This came about as a result of our second fridge in the garage dying.  There were still some strawberries from last year in the freezer that hadn’t completely thawed so I made jam rather than throwing them out.  Fortunately, there wasn’t all that much in the freezer and the fridge is mainly used for drinks.  Now we have a nice, new, more efficient fridge out there that should last for many years.  The one we had was Mum’s old fridge, so would probably be about twenty years old.

HAVE A FUN DAY OUT

Fancy morning and afternoon teas seem to be the flavour of the month lately.  This time it was a morning tea to raise funds for the Radiation Bus.  Radiation treatment for cancer is not performed in Bathurst, with patients having to travel to Orange, about an hour away.  This bus runs each week day for minimal cost to the patients and creates an informal support group on the way.  It is run by the local Community Transport and receives no government funding.  The morning raised $5,000, which was an impressive effort.  The organiser is one of my neighbours, and many of us were requested to bring along a plate of food.  There was such an incredible spread and at the end of the event there were plates of slices and biscuits for sale, so Mick was able to have a few treats as well.  I even had my photo in the local paper.

Our other fun day out was to attend the NSW Quilters Show at Rosehill in Sydney.  That will have its own separate post.

Mick had a fun day out with my brother, who is a member of the local 4WD club.  The club went on an outing to check out a newly opened suspension bridge over the Cox’s River on the Six Foot Track, which is a walking track through the Blue Mountains.  They were blessed with a beautiful day weather wise.

The photos he shared showed an absolutely beautiful spot. Once he gets Rosie all sorted we may have to go for a drive and picnic so I can see it too.

WRITE UP BLOG POSTS ON OUR ISLE OF MAN TRIP

That still doesn’t seem to be happening.  I will get there.

What else have we been up to?

When we went to the Bathurst Swap Meet in late August Mick bought two signs.

The first one appears to be a very well home made, Suzuki sign.  It was just silver metal.  

He masked it up and painted the background the same colour as Rosie, his Suzuki Sierra.  It now hangs on the shed.

The second was a pair of signs off a vintage Franklin caravan.  They were even a nice chippy orange colour.

With a bit of chopping, masking and painting, he now has a name badge on Frank the Fuso truck.  It doesn’t take much to keep him happy.

Now that it is spring it was time to switch up my little shelf in the kitchen.  Sometimes the items remain pretty much the same each season, but it was fun to “shop” our display cabinets to find some different spring like items.

AND NOW FOR THE WEATHER……..

Early spring is notorious for being changeable and this year has been no different.  Firstly, our spring weather arrived about a month earlier than usual.

Warm mornings usually herald us having breakfast on the back verandah.

Plants budded up early and everything was looking lovely.

THEN…..

We had what they called a “Polar Blast” with the biggest frosts we have had all year.  I really felt for the orchardists, vignerons and wheat and canola farmers. There have been some big losses to some of their crops.

Our biggest casualty was the wisteria.  While other bloggers were sharing their wisteria in full bloom, ours was still budding up.  Then, frost hit and this is how our flowers look.  All over town it is the same. So sad, as it would have put on a good show this year. Compare it to this time last year.  The azalea and hydrangeas were also victims.  

Fortunately, the crab apple seems to have been unaffected.

Our iris and renunculas are adding a pop of colour at the moment.

Thankfully, we hadn’t got too far ahead of ourselves with vegetable planting.  We had some self sown tomatoes coming up in the garden, so covered them when the frost was forecast.  They are now in pots being taken in and out each day.  We have planted some cherry tomatoes in pots and they are in the little potting shed at the moment, also being taken in and out.

We are trying an experiment this year, growing some potatoes in a stack of tyres.  They are just starting to poke their heads out, so we will be gradually adding more soil and tyres as they grow.

Hopefully, the worst of the frosts are over and we will start to plant our veges in the next couple of weeks.

And that about sums up the month of September.