End of Month Stitching Update

Here it is at the end of the month and halfway through the year.  Where did that go?

I have just realised that my last update was back on the 12th of June.  I have a little more to show for my time.   I did meet every goal that I set for the month, which I’m pretty happy about.

Firstly, to my One Monthly Goal…..

My goal was to complete the butterfly quilt using the Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks that I made last year.  The blocks went together quickly, but then I couldn’t find the white border fabric I had cut and taken to Scrub Stitchin’, in case I got up to that.  Obviously, I didn’t.

I went to get some more white fabric and came across some left over white on white wide back from my doiley quilt and then remembered that the butterfly blocks were all made with that fabric.  The white homespun I had previously prepared would have been all wrong.  Fortunately, there was sufficient left to make the borders.

It didn’t take long to have the top put together.

At that point I decided to go down another rabbit hole….

While in my storage area, I came across a half metre of Paw Patrol fabric that I had found in an op shop on our recent Queensland trip.  I’d been playing around with patterns suitable for donation quilts and this fabric was just shouting out to me to play with it.  I found a suitable hot pink fabric, which was also an op shop find and in my stash I had a blue that matched perfectly.  There was enough of the white on white wide back for that quilt as well.

The design called for twelve blocks, but I worked with nine.  The pattern repeat was perfect for eight inch square block, but my half metre, was only enough to cut eight.  Therefore, a star block was made for the centre and it worked out just fine. 

I had the quilt top made in an afternoon.

The backing is made from a brand new cot quilt cover that I found in an op shop.  One side wasn’t quite long enough, so needed some creativity.  There were a few strips of the Paw Patrol fabric that would be no use for anything and they worked really well on the back.  Now there is none left, which is the perfect outcome.

On Monday, I finally excavated Monique my quilting machine and my sewing machine.  

Firstly, I quilted the Paw Patrol Quilt, just so that I could get back in the rhythm of things.  There were a few hiccoughs, with thread breaking and running out of bobbin and then having tension issues but we got there in the end.  I’m glad I did it first.  I used a pantograph of butterflies.  

On Tuesday, I quilted the butterfly quilt, just using the scroll pantograph.  It went well.  The backing is a pretty floral flannelette.

Then after I finished quilting the butterfly quilt, I completed the binding on both of them.  

Paw Patrol is fully machined.  I’m really happy with how this quilt has turned out. 

There was still enough of the white on white fabric to make the binding for the butterfly quilt, with about 2 inches of fabric left over.  Once again, a perfect result.  This one was finished by hand, as I machined the binding to the front of the quilt instead of the back, but it does give a lovely finish.

I’m so very happy with how this little quilt turned out.  The pattern is a freebie by Connie Kresin.

Both of these quilts will go to Ronald McDonald House.  I have a few accumulated now, so we will take a run up there in the not too distant future.  I hope some little people enjoy them.

My next task was to make the blocks for the Laundry Basket Mystery Quilt.  Week 3 consisted of twenty “daisy” blocks, using a variety of yellows and corals.  I am aiming to keep up to date with the blocks as they are revealed, but have fallen short.   I have not made Week 4’s blocks and I haven’t started this week’s either.  I need to get a bit of a wriggle on.

There was a little hiatus with machine sewing for a few days, during which I went down yet another rabbit hole…….

We went into an op shop in Anna Bay - more on that later - and I found this ball of yarn.  It is a Caron Skinny Cake. 250g of 8 ply.  I had planned on starting a new knitting project while away and just happened to have a 4.00mm crochet hook in my knitting bag………(The knitting project will wait till a later date.)

I decided to start a giant granny square rug.  Something totally mindless that I can pick up quickly.  Perfect for travelling.  This is where I’m up to.  I’ve used nearly half of the ball, so it won’t be all that big, but a nice little baby rug. It will need some serious blocking when finished.

I also managed to stitch the centres on my final Dresden fans for the Blue Quilt.  That means that all my EPP components have now been completed.  It is time to do some more prep so that I can start appliquéing them to the quilt borders.

Surprisingly, considering everything else we have been up to, I managed to complete at least 15 minutes of stitching each day for the entire month.

My stats to date are as follows:

15 minutes a day/week = 7/7

15 minutes a day/June = 30/30

15 minutes a day/2023 = 169/181

Success rate = 93.37%

I’m linking up at Elm Street Quilts, So Scrappy and Life in Pieces.

The Last Week of January

Our week has been rather quiet, which has been nice.  

We did have a short outing on Australia Day to visit the old gold mining village of Sofala for their markets.

We arrived fairly early, before the main crowds.  The weather was perfect for having a wander around.

There are some interesting old buildings and it was nice to see the little businesses open for trading, in addition to the markets themselves, which were only small, but had some nice stalls.

We caught up with some friends for a chat and had a nice morning tea.

The little second hand book store had all their books at $2 each, so of course we had a look.  I was very pleased with my haul of vintage titles.  It turned out that the Abbey Girl books are duplicates of ones I already have, but at that price it was worth the gamble, and to find two Mary Grant Bruce books at that price was quite rare.  Once again, they may be duplicates, but worth the gamble.  The Ethel Turner was a nice addition to my small collection of her titles.

I just liked the name of "Bruce of Boonderong Camp".  I sat down the other night and read it.  It is a Boy's Own type of story, published in 1920, set in Melbourne and outback Queensland.  It was a lighthearted, stereotypical naughty boy makes good story.  However, reading it over 100 years after it was written, there were quite a few parts that are now considered politically incorrect.  It makes you realise how much has changed in that time.

I finally found another new recipe to try out.  It is a very simple blueberry custard crumble.  You just make a thick custard, sprinkle it with blueberries and top with a crunchy crumble.  

Definitely a success, although not all that photogenic when plated up.  The recipe has been saved for future use.

On the stitching front, things have been rather social.  There has just this month been a new patchwork group start up in Bathurst, meeting each Wednesday at a lovely old building that was formerly a convent.  I popped along for a couple of hours last week.  There were ten of us present, some handstitching, some using their machines.  

I just took along some hand stitching and it was a good time to start embroidering the antennae on my applique butterflies from last year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.

No photos, but I joined in with the Chookshed Stitchers  for a Zoom get together or a little while on Saturday.  I was going to save embroidering the rest of my butterflies for next Wednesday, but ended up completing them all on Saturday.  It was lovely to catch up with the girls, quite a few of which will be together in just a couple of months.

I have continued to go into the sewing room for 15 minutes each day, except Australia Day, as after we went to Sofala we were at a neighbourhood barbecue. There isn’t a great deal to show for it at this stage, but every little bit helps. So I have missed just one day for January.  Not too bad.  

I'm going to link up with Kate at Life in Pieces.

In the garden, our elephant ears plant has decided to flower for us.

And, our little golden rain tree that we planted eighteen months ago, is growing nicely, now covered in yellow flowers and a few of the pretty seed pods that follow.

Mick went been out fishing at Oberon Dam with his brother and my brother on Sunday.  They had a lovely time, as the water was perfectly still.  They caught a few Redfin.  Hopefully they can get out again before long, if the weather is right.

To finish off, here are a couple more photos from my morning walks.

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.