What I’ve Been Up To

It’s been a rather leisurely start to the New Year, but I still have achieved a little in the sewing room.  At least 15 minutes has been spent each day, although some days it was only just 15 minutes.

I am making slow progress on my sock, only doing a bit while watching the cricket and while joining in briefly with a  Chookshed Zoom get together.  I am now up to knitting the heel flap and have to have another look at the YouTube tutorial again before proceeding. I was attempting to have the stripes match, but ended up being one stripe out.  There are only two of the dark grey stripes in the cuff of the other one.  I could have started again fairly early on, but couldn’t be bothered.  They will not be seen all that much anyway.

My black and white RSC blocks have now been stitched into four patches.  The four patch blocks probably won’t be stitched together like this, rather they will have a mix of colours in the centre when joined into a large block.

Shock, horror…….I have my Swoon quilt top together.  I’m glad to have that ticked off the list.  However, I will now prepare the binding to keep with it, which will mean I can put the left over background fabric into stash to use elsewhere.  The top will be put in the “To be Quilted Queue” for when I am game to quilt it with Monique.  Being 80 inches square, that may be a while.  No matter, the pattern and fabrics have been sitting, waiting patiently, since early 2015, so a little longer won’t be an issue.

In the garden, we picked our first little tomato at the start of the month. Now that the plant is netted against the blackbirds we are getting a couple each day.

We have oodles of zucchini coming along, providing plenty for us and the neighbours.  The large one hid and ended up growing under the garden edging, hence the marks.  We have been having zucchini and corn fritters, zucchini on the barbie and zucchini slice.  More slice will be made tomorrow, which is stocking the freezer for when they have finished.

We are also now picking plenty of beans, once again stocking the freezer.  

It looks like we won’t be getting any raspberries this year, unlike the massive harvests we have had the last couple of years.  The plants were very matted after last year’s harvest, so Mick removed them all and replanted some.  They have come up, but not done anything much. We expect things will be back to normal next year.

I took this photo the other morning.  I thought the light made this part of the garden rather pretty.

On a more mundane side of things, I have been cleaning and decluttering our home office.  It had become a dumping ground and I therefore rarely even went in there.  After much sorting and chucking it looks much better. Not perfect, but manageable.  Now the challenge will be to keep things up to date and tidy. The recycle bin is rather heavy this week.

Finally, I have been getting up early most mornings and going for a walk.  Surprisingly, we have had a couple of foggy mornings.  I even joined in a Chookshed Zoom get together while walking one morning.  Something different.

The weather continues to be a little crazy.  It is storm season and we have had a couple of storms, yielding half an inch each time, which has been welcome for the garden.

We have had a few days into the low 30s C, but on Thursday the temperature only reached 19 degrees C.  That’s not summer weather.  The next couple of days are forecast to be back into the low 30s C, so a bit more summery.

I will be linking up to So Scrappy for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, Life in Stitches for 15 minutes a day and Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal (at the end of the month).

Now to see what I can get done next week.