A New Leader and Ender Project

When there are lots of things that you should be doing, what do you do instead?

Why, start yet another quilt, of course.  However, this is a bit different to the last few.  

I have really missed having a leader and ender project on the go for the last couple of years, so decided to do something about it.  I’ve had a couple of ideas swimming around in my head, but this was going to take the least effort to bring to fruition.

The pattern is a “Bonnie Lass” from Jen Kingwell’s book Quilt Lovely.  

As you can see, there are lots of the same sized pieces that will be perfect as leaders and enders.

I got out a couple of tubs labeled “Small Scraps”, as well as the left overs from when I made my Trail Mix quilt and made a beautiful mess.

After a couple of hours of playing in my happy place, I had 80 sets of blocks ready to go.  Now, that isn’t even a quarter of what is required, but should keep me out of trouble at Scrub Stitchin’ and for a bit longer. When these get low, I will have another cutting session. There is no rush for this, so I will just have them sitting beside my machine and one day I will have a bonus quilt top.

Meanwhile, they are tucked away in their pretty little tin.  From memory, I used this tin when I started the hexies and they outgrew it rather quickly.

Preparing for Scrub Stitchin’

It is getting to be the time to prepare all my bits and bobs to take to Scrub Stitchin’.  I have a big long list that I follow each year, which includes “Clean Sewing Machine, Change Sewing Machine Needle and Put Fresh Blades in Rotary Cutters”.  Well my rotary cutters are running quite nicely at the moment, so I’ll leave them be and just take some spare blades in case.

As for my sewing machine, the bottom tension has been a bit strange on my last couple of projects.  I do clean my machine regularly, like each month, so why not have a go at giving it a full service and see if that helps.  What could go wrong?  Hopefully nothing, as I want to use my machine lots while away.

First, find a YouTube tutorial.  Surely there will be one.  There seems to be one on just about everything.  Tick.  Show it to Mick, so he can save me when everything goes pear shaped.  Tick.  Go and buy some high quality grease.  Tick.  Let’s get set up on the dining table.

My machine is a bit over twenty years old and has only had a few services, the most recent about three or four years ago.  

As we started to take the covers off, we propped her up on some books to protect the back.

Once the workings were exposed, I was surprised at how clean she was inside.  There was some old grease that had to be wiped off and lots of tiny bits of fluff that were hiding in various nooks and crannies.  Cotton buds worked well to get into those hard to access spots.

Mick did come and give me a hand, particularly in doing the greasing, as he is much more familiar with what is required, seeing as that was part of his trade.  He also did most of the oiling.  Secretly, I think he was happy to be playing along.

That looks  a lot better.

All went back together nicely and it was time to see how she sewed, using an old rag.  Eeek!  Why is the bottom liked this?  OK, the first thing is always to rethread.  Oh, the bobbin was upside down!  That would do it.  Doh!

OK, let’s have another go at this with the machine threaded correctly.  Ahh, that is so much better and the tension is beautiful.  She always runs quietly, but she is lovely and super quiet now.  

I’m glad we had a go at giving her a thorough once over and now feel confident to do this rather than have to send her to a technician…..unless there is a problem.

Now she is raring and ready to go to Baradine.

Oh, and have we had a look at Monique’s issues yet?  Nope.  That will happen one day, but not today.

Stitching Wishes for April

It is always fun to look ahead to a new month and think about what I would like to achieve.  Let’s have a look at April.

CHOOKSHED CHALLEGE

Deana has posted the project number for April and it is NUMBER 4.  

I’m not sure if this is really funny or sad, but to date I have swapped around every project number that has been selected.  Let’s see what Number 4 is:

Yep, you guessed it.  I’m swapping this one around as well.  At the start of the year I couldn’t find the fabric I had bought at Baradine last year to make this project and couldn’t find my pattern either.  

The fabric has been found, but the pattern is still playing hide and seek.  That is particularly annoying, as I have made this project twice before and have some hand written notes with the pattern to help me along the way.  I know it is here somewhere, as I did have a look at it after I bought the fabric.  Grrrr!

Anyway, in the mean time I am swapping it with my Number 5 which is the Granny Square Table Runner.  I do have the fabrics for this one and the photo I am using for inspiration. It even travelled to Scrub Stitchin’ with me last year, but wasn’t worked on.  The charm squares are left over from a Girls Day in the Country project from 2013, so I do think it is time to get this table runner made.  My goal said that it will be good to practise ruler work on Monique, so it may not be completed in April, but will at least be well on the way and should be finished by the end of the year.  As you can guess, this is now yet another project to pack to take to Baradine.

The funny thing is that when I chose my projects for the year I thought they would all be nice and easy to complete within a month.  This is mostly true, as long as you don’t get busy with other things.  Let’s hope I find more time later in the year, now that I have kept postponing those that need a little more thought.

RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE

The colour this month is?  I haven't been able to ascertain the colour as yet.  Once again, I will keep it simple with my split nine patch blocks.  Hopefully, that is something I can prepare in the next couple of days.

EDITED: The colour for April is RED.  Now to pull some fabrics.

Other than that, I hope to have lots to show for my time at Scrub Stithin’.  I can’t wait.

What I do need to do is get some hand stitching prepped, as other than my Sashiko panel, which is half done, I don’t have anything on the go at the moment.  Oh, the possibilities…. and the decisions to be made.  Watch this space.

A Day Out With Rosie

For the first time in I don’t know how long, on Sunday Mick and I both had nothing planned for the day.  It seems that life has turned rather busy for both of us this year.  So, what would we do?

First up, it was a leisurely breakfast, using some of our home grown raspberries, which have finally started to bear fruit again.

Mick was thinking of taking Rosie, the Suzuki Sierra for a short run.  I suggested we could go for a drive in her for a pub lunch in a little village.  Win, win.

We had received 16mm of much needed rain the previous day and the weather was still rather grey, but that wasn’t going to stop us.  This would be the longest drive that Rosie had been on since Mick has owned her.  Previously, he had just been taking her out to a mate’s place about 20kms away to drive around his steep paddocks and motocross track.

She is rather cosy in the cab compared to our modern vehicles and she is also rather slow, but we don’t mind that, as we are used to travelling around in the vintage side car at a slow pace.  We planned to travel on some quiet country roads rather than highways and of course found some lovely little dirt roads.

Although it was Sunday, this farmer was still busy with his stock.  That shed would have been an army hut at Cowra back in WW2.  You see them dotted around the place.  The shed in our back yard when I was a kid was one as well.

Out this way there are ruins of a few stone buildings.   This was a nice photo opportunity for Rosie.

Our lunch time destination was the Neville Pub.  Neville is a village out the back of Blayney, next to the village of Barry.  I always wonder how they got their names.  Anyway, the pub was always a good one, but shut down for a few years.  A couple of years ago it went on the market and two young builders from Sydney who were working in the area decided on a whim to buy it, with no previous experience of running a pub.  They made some improvements and it has been open for about eighteen months and is doing well.  We had a delicious burger and had a nice chat to a fellow who turned up on his motorcycle and also owns a little Suzuki 4WD, so the boys had lots in common.

Obviously, I forgot to take a photo of the pub or lunch. Doh!

The other half hearted plan for the day was to see if we could pick some wild apples, as there are quite a few apple trees growing along the sides of these minor roads.  Most trees had already been picked, but there were a couple that looked to have quite a few on them.  It became apparent why, as upon closer inspection, the fruit was very diseased.  However, one did have a blackberry growing next to it with lovely plump berries.  We didn’t have a container to collect any, so just enjoyed a few while there.

We took a different route on the way home, travelling along the “Old Lachlan Road”.  

We have travelled this very minor road some years ago and thought it was about time to drive it again and it would be a good one to take Rosie down.  It was rather rough in places, but thanks to the previous day’s rain, wasn’t dusty.

You know you are on a minor road when there is grass growing up the centre.

We didn’t meet one single vehicle along its entire length, but did encounter a traffic jam of a different type.  We are guessing it was an organised trail ride, as they were all kitted out in a similar fashion.

We do enjoy seeing the local countryside.

Overall, we travelled about 130kms.  Rosie seems to be happy sitting on around 70 kph on the road, so a rather leisurely way to travel.  We have learnt that she is running quite rich, as she used quite a bit more fuel than she should, and was a bit smelly, so Mick has now adjusted the carby.  Initially, she was a also a bit how’s your uncle on the road, so we pulled over and he put some more air in the tyres, which made for a better ride on the bitumen, but a bit rougher on the rough roads.  It’s all about reaching that happy balance.  On the whole, she went well and we hope to have more little day trips like this with her in the future.

Stitching Wrap Up For March

Blimey, March seems to have vanished in the blink of an eye.  Time to see what I managed to get up to.

I’ll start with  my one completed project for the month.  The knitted scarf, that I started so that I would have something to work on in the train coming home from Sydney at the start of the month, is now completed and ready to wear once the weather turns cold, which will happen before we know it.  That is now four I have knitted using this pattern.  I think I need to find some other simple project to knit in future, as I really don’t need any more of these.  However, they are lovely and snuggly and I wear my others frequently.

This is how much wool I had left at the end of the casting off row.  Phew!  That was close.

This time I decided to model the scarf on Victoria, rather than me.  The colour of this yarn is rather lovely.  It is a Patons Patonyle sock wool.  Maybe I should knit some socks to match?

My Rainbow Scrap Challenge was a couple of simple blocks, so took no time.  Now to wait for April’s colour.

The Chookshed Challenge was to work on the fish blocks and although I haven’t completed a quilt, the next batch of appliqué is all ready to stitch down at Scrub Stitchin’.

Speaking of Scrub Stitchin’, I have kitted up three other quilts to work on up there, if the mood takes me.

Oh, and Raewyn has requested we make a couple of blocks to contribute to a Scrub Stitchin’ charity quilt.  These are my two.

The project that was on my wish list, but not expected to be worked on, was to finish the Blue/Hope Quilt top.  I am so very happy to have managed to get it done.

I’m not sure if I’ve shared this Sashiko panel that I started working on a couple of months ago, as a fill in project for my stitching group days.  Well, I’ve continued to make a little progress this month.  There is no plan for it, but it will be good to have it completed and then work out what I will do with it.

In addition to these, there has been a little secret stitching going on.  

Also, just one solitary cotton reel was emptied, although there are some more that are oh, so close.  It’s going to take a while to fill my big jar at this rate.

As for my 15 minutes a day.  I am still keeping track, but not worrying about it too much.  I managed to meet the goal on 25 days, so not too bad. That works out at 69 days out of 90 with a success rate of 76.67%.  Considering everything else we have been up to, I am happy enough with that.

I must say, that on looking at the month as a whole, I am somewhat surprised about how much I have achieved.  Let’s hope next month is as fruitful.

Oh Dear, I’m At It Again

Yep, another donation quilt cut out.

I was recently gifted a lovely bundle of fabrics.  There are eight cuts 30cm x WOF.  I decided to do something with them straight away.  Strike while the iron is hot, so to speak.

My immediate thought was that they are the equivalent of 32 layer cake squares and then found this simple pattern that requires 30 squares.  When I look at it, it is just a larger version of the baby quilt I have made a few times.  Nice and simple and lets the fabrics shine.

Next, to see what was in the stash that would work for the joining squares, that wasn’t white or cream, and came up with a pale pink with white feathers that is left over wide back and just the right quantity.  Overall, it still looked like it needed something more, so I found this gorgeous greenish fabric that I came across in an op shop in Forbes.  It is an unusual colour, but works perfectly with these fabrics.  I will use it for a border.  Great!  Let’s get cutting.

All done.  Well, 10 inch x WOF strips are cut and 5 inch strips are cut.  That is all I need at this stage, as I will strip piece as much as I can.  Borders can wait until later.

Another one to take to Baradine, but I really doubt if I will get to it while there, so another one done for whenever I feel like making it up.

At Long Last - I Finally Have a Flimsy

Whenever I have started a more detailed quilt I have given myself a two year time frame to complete it.  This has worked fairly well in the past, as once the quilt top was completed I would send it off to my long arm quilter to work her magic and then bind it.

However, my most recent more detailed quilt has been in the works for nearly three years and today, finally, it is a quilt top, so still not completed.

I bought the book shortly after it was released.  There is no date on it, but it was definitely prior to 2019, as I made a wall hanging from the book that year.  I knew I wanted to make the featured quilt and started “quarantining” blue fabrics in my stash for future use.  Natalie Bird was selling the complete set of EPP papers at the Sydney Craft Show one year, so I bought them and added them to the “kit” as well.  I bought a final few fabrics in early 2022.

I made an actual start in June 2022, in readiness to take with me on our three month caravan trip.  While travelling, I worked on the EPP hexies and the next EPP section and did some stitcheries on the appliqué blocks, even though the appliqué had not been stitched down at that stage.

Gradually, I made progress over the next little while.  The hand stitching was great to take along to the two stitching groups I had joined.  The last of the Dresden appliqué on the final border was completed in March last year.  What!  I didn’t realise it had been sitting, waiting patiently, for that long.

It was then that I hit a road block and it has taken me until now to finally get going again.  The problem was that the checkerboard and appliqué round was too long.  I had thought I could ease it and the next border, but it didn’t work.  I wondered why it was out so much, but I now realise it is because I had pressed many of the seams open, rather than to one side.

Finally, last month I removed the offending rounds and this week reduced the length of the checkerboard round. The process wasn’t as bad as I had feared. 

Yesterday, I reattached the checkerboard round with no flaring and today added the final two borders.  To say I am happy to finally get to this stage is an understatement.  It will now sit patiently again, until I work out how I am going to quilt it.

Oh, and it will suit our bed rather nicely, once it is finally completed.

Random Stuff

It is time for a post of rather random bits and bobs that we have been up to over the last little while.

I’ll start with the weather.  I mentioned recently that we were experiencing a little bit of autumnal weather and were waiting to see how much rain we would receive from Cyclone Alfred.  Well, that cooler weather only lasted for a couple of days, before getting back into summer mode with several day in the mid 30s C.  Oh, and the predicted rain…….we didn’t get a drop.  That was particularly disappointing for the farmers who had planted crops in anticipation of getting them off to a good start.  A system came through on Friday and gave us 12mm of nice gentle rain, which was very much appreciated.  It’s amazing how quickly things dry out. Now that we have passed the autumn equinox, hopefully we have seen the last of the intense heat for this season.

I decided that I would make a Steak and Guinness pie for St Patrick’s Day on Monday. A nice and easy recipe, but one I haven’t made before.  The plan was to make them in the little individual pie pots that I have had for years, like the ones you get in English pubs.  Well, the pots are larger than I realised, which made me also realise how large the meals are that you receive in the pubs.  Anyway, the amount of the meat mix that I wanted to serve up to us only half filled the pie pots, so rather than a pastry top, we had a rather rustic mashed potato top.  Either way, they were delicious.

Last weekend was church fete.  Mick and I have been helping with this for many years and this was another successful event.  Mick worked on “Bargains for Blokes” and me on the “White Elephant” stall.

Mick bought me a surprise from the stall he was on.  A retractable projector screen.  He figured I could use it to hold a quilt for a photo.  Good thinking.  I reckon we could also have a slide night with the family slides that are stashed in the garage. In the meantime, it fits nicely behind the sewing room door for storage.

At our Wednesday patchwork group we have been making a group quilt.  It has now been made into a top and quilted.  One of the ladies is going to hand stitch the binding down. My three blocks are the hexy flower, the one in the second top row on the extreme left (green, aqua and coral) and second bottom row on the extreme right (white squares on pinwheel). The quilt turned out so very well.

It’s also been a rather social time, with me having lunch with Susan last week and Mick and I having lunch with Jennifer on Friday, as they have been passing through town.

Yesterday saw another event for the bicentenary celebrations of Holy Trinity.  This time it was an open day at the old church hall, which was built in 1842 and sold in the mid 1990s to help fund the current parish community centre.  The parish had outgrown it, much maintenance was required and it was flood prone prior to the levee banks being built.  It is now a private home and we are very appreciative of the opportunity for the public to revisit the building.

There are lots of memories for many of us from that buildings. This is how I remember the building up until it was sold.

Initially, this was the local church school, before the Department of Education was established and the new Kelso Public School was opened in 1871.  After then, it was solely the church hall, used for so many events over the years, from fetes, Sunday School, JAs (Junior Anglicans), meetings, and so many more.  

I went through our photo albums and will share just a couple I have found.  The AWA (Anglican Women of Australia) was the main women’s group and each year they held a couple of events.  In 1984 my Mum arranged an exhibition “Aprons Through the Ages”, giving a talk about them, complete with modelled items, as well as a display of so many different versions around the hall walls.  Yes, that is Mum and me.  I am wearing the apron my Grandma wore at Dairy School in the Lakes District of England in 1912.

They had some rather creative events.  In this one from 1987, they are apparently dancing the can can.  Notice that the stage has been carpeted with some beeeeautiful carpet.

One of their more humorous was the “Miss World Pageant”.  They did have fun with this one.

This end of the hall looks quite different now, with the stage remove and having been turned into a comfy lounge area.  The way the hall has been furnished really suits it.

The kitchen was originally very basic, so funds were raised to purchase and install the one that is there now.  One of the main fund raisers were my parents and another couple going to the local racecourse and collecting all the cans and bottles after each race meet.  The cans were then crushed and the glass sorted by colour and smashed into 44 gallon drums to be taken to the recyclers.  They used to absolutely stink when they got home.  The things you do.

I can’t put my finger on the photo at the moment, but Mum and Dad and the same other couple relaid this section of  flooring, as the old one was rotting.

There was a nice steady stream of people visiting throughout the afternoon, rekindling so many memories.

Meanwhile, Mick has been busy down at the bowling club, helping with the greens and grounds as well as playing twice a week at club level and this year now taking part in the Pennants competition between surrounding clubs.  He is really enjoying it.

And that about has me caught up.  As you can see, it has been rather a busy time, but lots of fun.