Making a Start

I seem to have made a good start to June.  We’ll see how long that lasts, but make the most of it while it does.

Firstly, as it is now winter, it was time to update the little shelf in the kitchen to a more wintry theme.

We had our first really good frost this morning, down to -4 degrees C.  No, I didn’t go out and take a photo.  I stayed in where it was nice and snug.  Mick had cut back the dahlias and other plants that were going to get zapped during the week, which turned out to be a good thing.  There is one plant, next to the clothes line, that stinks after it has been frosted, and it was on the nose this morning.  It will get trimmed back a bit before too long, but it is wise to leave some of the old foliage there to protect the new growth when it comes through in early spring.  That’s when everything will get a good tidy up.

The first sewing job I did was to make the two Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks.  Other than some five inch squares I bought from the Sewing Basket at the Sydney Quilt Show last year, my orange scrap tub is nearly empty.  Hence, one same fabric being used in both blocks.  Never fear, I still have plenty of orange fabric, it just isn’t in small scraps.

Next it was time to tackle the fish (pardon the unintentional pun).  Everything is appliquéd down on the blocks.  I just need to embroider the eyes on the tiny tropical fish.  They are way too tiddly (oh dear, another pun) to attempt to appliqué.  We’ll see if I get around to getting the filler blocks cut and the flimsies made.  That is a job for another day, at this stage. The colours in this photo a way off, due to the poor lighting.  They don’t look pinky/orangy like they appear here.

I have made good progress on the crochet rug.  This has been taken along to my crafting groups, as well as being worked on while we watch the Isle of Man TT motorcycle races on Mick’s laptop.

The main body of the rug is now complete and I have completed the foundation round of the border.  The border will be fairly simple.  What exactly it will look like is still a mystery, as I am making it up as I go along.  The rug is nice and long, although I feel it could have been a tad wider, but it is what it is, and the border will help.  Mick is rather happy with how it is looking.  

In the end, I only used one and a bit of the extra balls of yarn that I bought when we were away, so two and a three quarters left over.  It sounds like the starting point for another rug, for donation.

I have sort of made a start on my Chookshed Challenge project.  I have watched a YouTube tutorial to refresh myself on the construction method.  I have hunted out some fabric for the pocket linings and binding and I have bought some zippers.  I still have to hunt out the interfacing and then I will be ready to start the actual construction.

Some time ago I bought an iron from a store and when I tried it out the steam setting spat water everywhere, so I returned it.  I wasn’t given a refund, rather a gift voucher to use in the store.  It has been sitting there for some time.  I have been thinking for a while that I would like an enamelled cast iron shallow lidded pan, so went shopping with the gift voucher.  In the end, with the current discount, I only had to add $10.  I was pretty happy with that.

It is a nice warming red in colour.  It is also rather large and I had to find somewhere to store it.

I thought that it would go well in our lovely old lead light dresser.

However, that wasn’t going to work…..but I thought a solution could be reached.

There is quite a bit of space above the electric frypan.  Time to sweet talk Mick…….

Pretty much straight away, that was yesterday, we went to Bunnings to buy the supplies for a new shelf on both sides.  That will work better for our plates and platters as well.  

Ta Da!  This afternoon the new shelves were installed and work a treat.  He did a great job.

Meanwhile, the pan got its first test run tonight.  It was also a new recipe, Normandy Chicken. Definitely a success.  Obviously, the meals on YouTube and Instagram dish up into a fresh pan before taking a photo, as they never have any burny marks up the side.  I’m keeping it real.  LOL

That about sums up what has been happening here in the last few days.