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.

A Long Time Coming……

I started taking photos for this blog post back in September 2023.

That is when there was activity on the wall beside the lane into the Coles car park in town.

Every time we drove past we eagerly watched to see how much progress had been made.

It evolved slowly.

Over a few months, finally being completed in January 2024.

Then it was finished, and I didn’t get a photo, as it is over a car park and there were always cars in the way.  I figured that I would have to go in on a Sunday afternoon…….but I never thought of it on a Sunday afternoon.

Well, on Friday, I had to duck into Coles just after 7 o’clock in the morning and lo and behold, there it was, with not a single car in front of it….until I parked there.

Finally I could take some photos.  Half of it was in the sun, while the other half was still shaded by the surrounding buildings.

The mural was commissioned by local businessman Peter Rogers and features members of his family.  The lady is his beautiful wife Shelley.  Peter and Shelley are Chezzi Denyers’ parents.

The artist is local man Callum Hotham, who only started painting murals during COVID.  

He has done quite a few now.   This one is on the side of a bakery in Blayney.  

His talent is amazing. You can see his work on his socials.