Stitching Goals for September

After quite a few months of our life being turned upside down, my sewing room is in utter chaos, with projects not put away, ironing to be done and quite a bit of Mum’s stuff to be sorted through.  Therefore, I will continue with the theme of this year by setting minimal goals and just going with the flow.  Having said that, a little bit of direction won’t go astray.

CHOOKSHED CHALLENGE and RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE

This year has not been a good one for working on the Chookshed Challenge.  There are just two projects remaining and the one that came up this month is the Sashiko bag and I’m not even going to start to think about that at the moment.  The other is to make the Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt.  That is more achievable.  I have to catch up with the aqua blocks from last month, which won’t take long and the prompt this month is to add whatever you need to add, maybe a light blue or green.  I will pull out all the blocks I have made over the last three years and see what else is required.  I think, from recollection, that I only need to make six more blocks, so the aqua two and four more of whatever looks like it is needed.  Then, it is time to pull out my design curtain and have a play with the layout.  That may be a fun thing to do this month, that is not too onerous.  It would be so nice to have the quilt top for this made this month.

RAINBOW QUILTERS BLOCK

I have joined with Betty and her friends in making some group quilts.  The prompt in July was to make a couple of shadow blocks.  Now that I can start pulling out tubs of fabric it is a priority to get the blocks made and sent to her, as I hate holding up the project.

CROCHET CORNER TO CORNER RUG

I would really like to finish the rug this month before it gets too hot.

This is where I am up to today.  I have just started the fifth ball of yarn.  I think it will probably take seven.  The finished dimension for Wrap with Love blankets is 70 inches by 40 inches.  It is currently 55 inches long, so a little way to go.  Each row takes about 15 minutes at the current length of the rows.  That will get better once I start to decrease for the other corner.  It will have a few rows of trebles added for a simple edging.  I am finding it to be a nice mindless project to work on, particularly at my stitching days.

And that is it.  Anything else will be a bonus……It would be nice to have a bonus something worked on.  We will see how we go.

Stitching for August

 I’m a bit late with this, but let’s have a look at what crafting I got up to during the month of August.

The Chookshed Challenge ended up being yet another failure.  All I managed to do was restitch the little wording panel for the pincushion in finer thread.

This year has been rather unsuccessful when it comes to this challenge.  It is what it is.

I didn’t make my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks, as I was not to be dragging out tubs to get fabric.  It won’t take much to catch up.

Enough of the failures, what did I manage to actually do?

Mum’s little dog bookmark was a bit of fun to make.  A quick, colourful project.  It was nice to actually finish something.

I continued to plug away at the slow stitching panel at my stitching mornings and finished the panel up at Baradine on the weekend.  (More on that in a separate post.) It was fun to have a little play with some stitches other than straight running stitch on some sections. 

I now have to have a think about how I will construct the pouch that it is destined to become.

My corner to corner crochet rug has been slowly growing.  I don’t have a photo at the end of the month, but this is where it was up to mid August.  That would have been the start of the third 200g ball of yarn.  I was working on the fourth ball at the end of the month.  I worked on this in the evenings at Baradine.

The final project I have worked on is the Anni Downs pouch that was the project we were given at Scrub Stitchin’ in 2024.  I don’t seem to be able to get too enthused with the process of making this, but I know I will love it once it is finished.  I had a false start with this back in January, and took it to Baradine to work on.  Once again, not a lot of progress, but at least it was a start and I hope to plug away at it over the next little while.

How did I go with working on something for at least 15 minutes a day?

Surprisingly, I worked on something on 24 days.  Often that may have only been a row or two of crochet, as it takes about 15 minutes to work each row.

August = 24/31

Year to Date = 181/243, which is 74.49%, being a slight improvement over last month.

So, there wasn’t a real lot to show for the month, but I’m OK with that.  The projects will all get done in their own good time.  Now to look forward to September.

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.

August Stitching Wishes

My plans for stitching have been somewhat curtailed, by me not being allowed to use a rotary cutter for the month.  However, as you can guess, I still have plenty of options to go on with.

RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE

The colour this month is AQUA.  The plan is to make two more split nine patch blocks, but they will have to wait until next month.  They won’t take long to catch up.

CHOOKSHED STITCHERS CHALLENGE 

The number selected by Deana this month is NUMBER 7.  Well, for me that was to stitch the Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks into a quilt top.  I always knew that it would be shuffled around until the end of the year, when I had all the blocks made.  Therefore, for the second time, that project is being swapped.

As there are only three month’s worth of projects remaining, I had to swap it out with the only one that was mainly hand work.  That is the Natalie Bird Pincushion.  This was another stitchery that I traced to take to the Isle of Man last year.  

I stitched the wording, but it looked rather too chunky.  Once I looked at the pattern, when we returned home, I realised why, as I had stitched it with two strands rather than just one.  Therefore, I have to restitch the wording.  

There are four panels on the pincushion.  One consists of half inch hexies, which I have already stitched.  One is just a feature piece of fabric, and the final one is a tiny needle turned applique house with some embroidery.  That will be the fiddly part to make, as needle turned applique is not something I tend to do.  Wish me luck.  Overall, it shouldn’t be too large a job to get it done.  

I’m not allowed to iron either, so I will have to have Mick press any fabric I need.  That will be interesting, as he hasn’t done any ironing since I met him 40 years ago. Don’t judge, he does plenty of other things around the house.  I will do any cutting using scissors, as he reckons he is terrified of a rotary cutter.  This coming from a man that is a welder and works with hot and sharp metal, angle grinders and all other manner of what I consider to be dangerous equipment. Too funny.

So what else will I endeavour to work on?

I have my Corner to Corner crochet rug.  I will keep playing with it until it gets too large and unwieldy.

My slow stitching pouch is also something that will work well.

These will both be good to take along to my stitching days.

Waiting in the wings is my jumper with the lace yoke that I started last winter.  I still have ten rows of lace to knit before it starts to get a bit easier.  Now is a good time to sit quietly and get that section done.

Also waiting in the wings is the little granny square baby rug I started at the end of 2023.  I had the blocks crocheted together, but they weren’t sitting flat.  I unpicked the joins and they are currently sitting as a pile of squares.  Maybe, I can get them out and sew them together, rather than crochet them.  It sounds like slow work, which is why I haven’t done it.  Let’s see if this is the month.  It would be rather good to tick it off the list.

At the end of the month I will be once again travelling to Baradine for a mini retreat.  I have no idea what I will take to work on, but it will be hand stitching of some description.  I’m looking forward to it very much.

That little lot should keep me busy, but I will add my usual disclaimer that if I achieve half of what I want I will be doing well.

Of course, I may also go down another rabbit hole, remembering I seem to be a serial starter this year.

And That’s the End of July

July has been a rather strange month for me.

Firstly, arranging Mum’s funeral and then, two weeks ago, undergoing surgery. Nothing serious, but it will keep me quiet for a quite a few weeks. 

Surprisingly, I did get two projects finished, as well as my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks.

I was amazed to finally embroider the small eyes on the tiddly tropical fish for my fishy quilt.  There was no way they could be appliqued.  Just some satin stitch for the black, with white chain stitch around the middle sized fish and back stitch around the tiny ones. Such a big job, not. Now, the bright fish blocks are finally finished and the next task is to cut the joining blocks and borders and piece the tops.  That will have to wait for month or so.

My slow stitching pouch panel has advanced slightly.  Before we headed on our trip in June I pinned the rest of the fabrics to the batting, ready to stitch.  I’m slowly getting there.  No rush for this one, but it will be good to take to my stitching days for the next little while. It is rather relaxing to work on, the last time while on a Chookshed Stitchers Zoom morning.

In addition to those, I have made a start on yet another project.  This year I seem to be a serial starter.  About half have been finished, which is something I suppose.

Anyway, the local Wrap With Love group hold a knitting day each year and I was able to go along for the first time this year.  They had just over 100 rugs ready to send off to be donated.  This is just a small portion of them.

While there, I started another Corner to Corner crochet rug.  The one I made in shades of grey that Mick claimed was initially to be donated to this cause.  So, now I am making one that will be donated.  Yes, I know this isn’t knitting, but that didn’t matter.

This version is in the Wisteria colour way of the Jumbo Muffin self striping yarn.  It should be pretty.  The local discount store is now stocking them again at a very good price.  There is no rush to get it finished, but I would like to have it done before the end of the year.

And that is all I have achieved.  There has been plenty of opportunity to do more, but I just couldn’t be bothered.  Hopefully, that will change soon.  However, it will all be handwork for the next little while.  No using the rotary cutter.

15 MINUTES A DAY

My stats are getting worse by the month.

July = 18/31

Year to date = 157/212  which is 74.06%.

Not that it matters. This year has been rather chaotic on several fronts and it is all a bit of fun, not a chore. 

In other happenings, I have read a few books in the last couple of months.  I didn’t do an update in June, so will include both months here.

Firstly, we like to listen to an audio book as we travel the large distances on our trips.  This time it was “Murder Most Antique”.  It is the sequel to one we listened to last year.  The narration is excellent, but at times we wanted the book to progress a little quicker.  It was a nice light hearted mystery to enjoy.

While having lunch in Nyngan, we picked up “The Busy Body” from the street library.  It didn’t take long for me to read, as it was another light hearted mystery.  It was then left at another street library.

That’s all that was read or listened to while we were away.

In July I read two books.  The first was “A Death in Cornwall”.  We have read a few books by Daniel Silva and they are always fast paced and a good read.  There are more on the shelf here for me to read.

The second one was “A Single Thread”.  It is written by the same lady as The Girl With the Pearl Earring.  I’ve had this sitting beside my chair for a few months.  I can’t remember where I picked it up from, a street library or op shop, or somewhere similar.  Anyway, it is about a lady in her mid 30s during the early 1930s.  She is one of the many that are destined to stay single after so many men were lost during World War One.  It is set in Winchester and based around the true story of the making of several hundred embroidered kneelers and cushions for the cathedral.  It has mixed reviews, but I really loved it.  I suppose having an interest in hand work makes a bit of a difference.  Also, we have visited that cathedral while visiting England one time, so I can picture the area.

I then listened to Richard Osman’s latest release “We Solve Murders”.  He is the author of the Thursday Murder Club series.  This is the first in a new series.  It seemed a little slow to start with, as you tried to work out who the characters were and how everything was going to fit together, but ended up being a very enjoyable listen.  Yes, another light hearted mystery.  I opted for the audio book for this one, as I had really enjoyed listening to Thursday Murder Club series and thought this would be of a similar vein.  It was narrated by Nicola Walker and she did a great job.  Having a good narrator makes all the difference.

Now to decide what to work on in August and what to read.