One Monthly Goal - Another Ta Da - Moda Love Completed

The thing with One Monthly Goal is that I can generally leave it till towards the end of the month to get it finished before the cut off……..as long as nothing untoward crops up.  Fortunately, nothing did this month and I have another completed quilt to report. That’s three for the month, which is a good feeling.

This is yet another UFO, but a relatively new one, being pieced at Scrub Stitchin’ last year.

Having kitted it up before the retreat, I had the centre section pieced on the Wednesday that we arrived.

The next round was pieced by lunch on the following day.

Then it was time to play on the design bed in the caravan to set out the final round.

I had that section pieced by the end of that day.  And that is as far as it got at the retreat, as I came down with the dreaded COVID.  Blast!

I added the final grey border once I returned home and that is how it has sat for the best part of twelve months, as I still wasn’t all that confident to quilt such a large quilt on Monique.

The wish to take the completed quilt for show and tell this year was the push I needed to finally quilt  and bind it.   I love it!   It is such a dramatic quilt and rather different to my usual style, whatever that is.

I used the “Scrollworks” pantograph with a dark grey thread, so that it just provided texture without detracting from the bright fabrics and am really happy with how it has turned out. It has finished at 76 inches square.

I’m linking up over at Stories From the Sewing Room.  Pop over and see what the other ladies have been working on.

February - My Other Goals and Bits and Bobs

Well, if that was summer, it is now officially over, with only a handful of days with temperatures over 30 degrees C. Quite unbelievable.  What is also unbelievable is the flooding in south east Queensland and north east New South Wales.  I feel so much for those affected.

Now, back to my goals.......

I only had a few other goals for this month.

As usual, I wanted to have at least one book read.

I picked this up at an op shop at Bingara on our recent holiday.  It sounded like a bit of light hearted fun.  

It was published in 2012, the year of Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee, but is set a little earlier.  The story goes that the Queen is feeling a little down. She is still feeling sad about the "annus horribilis" and Diana's death, as well as struggling with technology and hates feeling dependent on people for help with it.  

To cheer herself up, she sings the song "My Favourite Things" from The Sound of Music and wonders what her favourite things are.  The royal yacht "Britannia" comes to mind and on a whim, she decides to catch the train to Edinburgh to visit it.  However, she neglects to tell anyone.

The story follows the endeavours of those close to her within the household to find her, keep her safe, bring her home and avoid any publicity.

Obviously, all ends well, but it was an amusing, light hearted read, as expected.

My next goal was to try a new recipe.  Well, for someone who would never say that cooking is one of her favourite things, I seem to have spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen this month, although not really making new recipes, as such.

Firstly, we filleted the little fish.

Then I made the plum clafoutis.

Then it was time to make tomato relish - a rather large batch.

This resulted in a little disaster, thanks to our little friend, Joey the cat.  It was latish in the afternoon that we finished, so the jars were left on the kitchen bench overnight.  Carefully moved to the centre, just in case Joey decided to jump up there during the night.  To our horror, in the morning, half the jars were knocked over and one smashed on the floor.  What a mess!  He must have jumped up and landed squarely on top of them all.

It didn't clean up as well as we'd have liked, so we hired the big floor cleaner from Bunnings, moved all the furniture out, and cleaned all the tiled floor in the kitchen, dining and sitting areas.  The machine is good for a general clean, but still doesn't do a great job on the grout, so in the kitchen, we were both down on our hands and knees scrubbing.  I know it was a job needing doing anyway, and looks so much better now.

Back to the cooking.......

We don't have a lot of tomato plants, but we are getting a lot of tomatoes.  After making the large batch of relish, I then filled the boiler again to prepare some for freezing.  I had three big bowls of tomatoes, added a kilo of onion, heaps of garlic, basil, thyme, parsley and pepper.  Once cooked I blitzed some and left some chunky.  There are ten tubs in the freezer to use for pasta, as a base for a casserole or for soup.  

On Sunday, there was another three bowls of tomatoes sitting there, so I got chopping and cooking again, but didn't add anything to the tomatoes - I was too lazy.  That ended up with another seven tubs in the freezer.

Our latest adventure in the kitchen involved these.  A mate told us he had heaps of blackberries this year, if we would like to come out and pick some.  Of course we would. We rather like our berries, and don't normally have access to blackberries.

It didn't take all that long to pick half a bucket full - two and half kilos worth.

The next day, they were popped in the boiler and turned into jam.  The reason we had hoped to find some wild apples on our Friday outing, was to add them to the jam, but it ended up just being straight out blackberry jam.

Of course we had to do a taste test on toast.

I had also bought some plums at the supermarket that were on special, so two batches of jam were made on the one day.

The pantry is now well and truly stocked with preserves for the year.  We may make another batch of relish, but that would be a bonus.

We are getting plenty of veges every day now.  There are several meals of zucchini slice in the freezer, as well as eggplant curry and eggplant mince to use in moussaka and the likes.  Fortunately, the beans are just about finished, as we don't need any more.  Our poor freezer is just about as full as it can get and I still want to freeze more.  

At least there are plenty of easy meals ahead.

We were fortunate to have a few fun days during the month.  Thankfully, events are starting to happen again and things open up.  As of this week, it is no longer mandatory to check in to most places with a QR code and from Friday, we were no longer required to wear masks to most places.  Having said that, most people seem to still be wearing a mask around the shops.

As expected, we didn't get away in the caravan during the month.

So, in the end, February was rather a busy month.  The next couple promise to be somewhat the same, so I'd better start thinking of my next goals.

'Twas The Night Before Christmas.....

'Twas the night before Christmas and:-

the presents are wrapped,

food is prepped as much as possible,

the housework is done (enough, anyway), and

the caravan is packed (most important).

It's been a funny old lead up to Christmas.  It just hasn't really felt Christmassy until the last week or so.  I suppose it is all the COVID hoo haa, as well as the weather not feeling summery until just recently.  On the whole, I've been pretty lazy.

We are just having a small family gathering here for Christmas lunch.  We are relieved that Mum is still allowed to attend from the nursing home, as we are at a private home and all fully vaxed.  Visiting Mum is very regulated, with a Rapid Antigen test now required before entering the building.

Despite not feeling overly festive, we put up or Christmas lights at the start of the month, along with just about every other house in our street.  

Other parts of town have a good display in patches, but I think our street, as a whole, has put on the best display.  Not that I'm biased or anything.  

We have had a couple of neighbourhood get togethers, which has been nice.  We have some relatively new residents, (we are no longer the new kids on the block), so it was good to get to know them better and for some to meet each other for the first time.

Our veges finally got a wriggle on.  The snow peas and strawberries have finished and now we are getting beautiful zucchinis. 

As always, we aim to have tomatoes by Christmas.  We put them in nice and early, but it just wasn't warm enough for them to ripen.  The yellow tomato plant has had green tomatoes sitting there for well over a month, not doing anything........until now.

We've done it.  Tomatoes by Christmas.  Three yellow.

And one tiny weeny little red one, about three quarters of an inch in diameter.

Our beans have really shot up, after we finally won the battle against the snails that kept chewing them off as soon as they emerged from the ground.

The rhubarb is growing madly.  This is after we have already harvested three big lots over the last couple of months.

When we lived out of town we used to have boysenberries, raspberries and red currants ready just in time for Christmas.  Earlier this year we bought a couple of boysenberry plants (or so we thought).  It turns out one is an early fruiting raspberry.  Also, a work colleague gave me a red currant plant she struck.  We thought we would have boysenberries and raspberries this year, but sadly the birds beat us to them.  Hopefully, next year we will have better luck and will net them.

It is amazing what some natural rain does for the garden.

Earlier in the month there was a Christmas market and Swap Meet in town.  We didn't have a stall, but I did spend some money.  A lady was destashing her knitting wool.  I could have brought lots home, but I think I would have been shot....and I have no room for it...... and I don't do a great deal of crochet or knitting.  This is what I did bring home.  It was all sooooo cheap.

The whole lot cost less than this Bendigo variegated wool would retail for. Not sure what I will do with it, but it all blends nicely and I can always add to it.

Learning to knit socks is high on my wish list, so these would be pretty.

The rest of the yarn is 4-ply.  There is about a kilo in each pile.  I would like to make a rug with it.  I just need to make a decision.

I could either make a rug using two strands of yarn.  The tan all the way through and then the others as a scrappy  blender.  It would be quick and easy, with a slightly tweedish effect.  There would be no wastage and fewer joins.(Ignore the crochet and edges.  I was just playing with various stitches.)

Alternatively, I could make a light weight granny square rug with the tan as the outer ring.  It would be slower and fiddlier, but would still be nice.  Anyway, I've pulled both apart at this stage and will mull over it for now.  It is too hot to be crocheting a rug at the moment.

So that's about our December wrapped up.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas.

I will be back in the New Year, when I will have to think about what my plans will be for 2022.  Something to look forward to.

October's Stitching

Reading my most recent posts you would think that I have turned into a travel blogger and not been doing any stitching.  One thing about being able to be out and about is that my stitching time is reduced.  However, I have still been getting some done.

I was a bit frustrated by my Janome sewing machine needing a service.  Finally, once lockdown had been lifted I was able to take it and Mick's Mum's Elna in to the shop that arranges services.  I hadn't used this person before.  I was delighted to have them back in just a few days and my Janome is running like a dream again.  It was fine using my Mum's Elna, but I do appreciate needle up and needle down, as well as the knee lift.

Let's see how  my goals for the month went.

1.    ONE MONTHLY GOAL    

Firstly, I was lucky enough to be one of the winners in last month's draw, being the recipient of a $25 voucher to the Fat Quarter Shop.  Thanks Patty for drawing out my name.

My goal this month was to fill a post pack with Santa Sacks to send down to Jan Mac in Melbourne for children in need.

I managed to make fifteen, which I am happy about.

2.     WOOFA CHALLENGE

This month I planned to work on another donation quilt.  

I had hoped to have this totally completed, but all these days out have eaten into my time.  I did get the top together on Sunday, so I should at least get it finished next month.  Its a nice and cheerful quilt.

3.    CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE

I didn't make any progress on a project with my redwork stitcheries - still procrastinating.  I did start a secret project but no pic - it's secret.

4.    MAKE A DONATION PROJECT

The first two projects are for donations, which is nice.

5.    FRIDAY NIGHT WITH FRIENDS

It was fun to join in.

6.    ONE PROJECT A MONTH

I think fifteen Santa sacks will count.

7.    ZOOM SEWING    

This didn't end up happening, but there is always next time.

8.    MY LAUNDRY BASKET MYSTERY QUILT

 I wasn't sure how far I would get with this quilt.  I managed to add the borders and have it to my quilting fairy fairly early in the month.  I think the borders ended up suiting it really well.

She worked her magic and had it back to me last week.  Slack me has not prepared the binding as yet.  I need to get on to that and get it finished.  I'm looking forward to having it on our bed for a while.  I love swapping out the quilts, as a different quilt gives the room a whole new look.  Something else I would like to have finished next month.

I like to thank the girls who arrange the challenges I join in.  They make stitching such fun.

The month isn't over yet, so I may get to sneak in a little more, but there are other plans afoots, so we'll see how we go.