The First Week of December

The first week of the month has flown by in the blink of an eye.

I haven’t done a great deal of crafting, but that is OK.

Firstly, I finished the secret stitching, which didn’t take long.

Next, I removed all the papers from the Wensleydale Quilt blocks.  It was a good, mindless task to work on at my Wednesday patchwork group.

However, while doing so, I discovered an “Oops”.  Can you see it?  Yes, I had accidentally trimmed one block on the stitching line instead of the cutting line.  Just as well I had made 61 blocks and that this one was not one of my favourites.

For my Friday stitching group I was at a bit of a loss as to what to take along.  My first choice was to start my oatmeal coloured knitted beanie.  I had attempted to make a start the previous week at my Wednesday group, but do you think I could count on the casting on row? Not on your Nellie.  I put it aside for another day.  Well, Friday was the day.  Before I headed off, I cast on, putting stitch counters along the way and then was very careful not to twist the work when I joined in the round.  Then, I knitted the first round of rib, only to discover that I had in fact twisted it.  I put it down in disgust, as I was running out of time before I had to head in to the group.  

In its place, I quickly grabbed a cross stitch bookmark kit that I had bought in Wales back in 2018.  Surely I could at least make a start on that, and it would match my pretty tin.

I stitched the first colour and then started the second, only to discover I had missed a row of the pattern.  Blast!  Don’t you hate that!  I really should learn not to take cross stitch to my stitching days.  I will undo what I have done and start again, but that is a job for another day.  However, now that I have got it out I would like to complete it fairly soon.

After I returned home I picked up my knitting and had another look at it.  Guess what?  I hadn’t twisted my join after all.  It was just the way it was sitting.  Believe me, I was one very happy cookie to see that.  I was ready for a win.

This afternoon, while watching the cricket I made a little bit of a start on the ribbing.  I won’t do much more, as that will be good to work on this coming Wednesday, which will be our last for the year.

Speaking of my stitching groups, my Friday U3A group had their final day on Friday, which was followed by a lovely lunch.  We will catch up for lunch at some stage during January, but don’t return to our usual Fridays until February.  The Wednesday group also had a lovely lunch on Wednesday.  All very social.  We will continue to get together except for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

One of my December wishes was to extend the length of my linen knitted top.  Well, today I finally bit the bullet to get things started.  Firstly, I stitched up the side splits, before trying it on to see how much more length I want to add.  Well, you know what?  It didn’t look too bad once the splits were stitched up. I can get away with it….just, so I have decided to leave it as it is.  It will be fine for wearing around home and for very casual outings.  I wouldn’t mind knitting another version of the pattern, but a tad longer with no side splits, as it didn’t turn out too bad otherwise. We’ll see.  Good intentions often don’t get to be realised.

In the background, the inside of the house now has the decorations up.  Mick has been really busy at the bowling club, as they had their annual tournament this weekend.  He has been helping prepare the greens and grounds over the last couple of weeks and they received lots of positive comments, which was nice.  The plan for tomorrow is to get the outdoor lights up.  We are running a bit late, but better late than never, as they say.

We have continued to have rather variable weather.  Fortunately, the frost failed to eventuate, but we are glad we covered the veges, just in case.  Since then, we have had a maximum of 36C yesterday, with wind gusts of 85 kph.  Today, was much better, being calmer and cooler.

In the garden, the flowers have moved on from spring with the hydrangeas now flowering.

The fiejoa is just starting to flower, which will attract lots of little birds and hopefully provide a nice crop of fruit in the autumn.

In the vege garden, I picked the first zucchini yesterday.  For tea tonight I made Garlic Zucchini Bites.  Another new to me recipe that sounded rather nice.  The recipe calls for, among other things, zucchini, garlic, parsley, oregano, basil and chives, all of which I have been able to pick from our garden.  The egg is from our mate’s chooks.

They were definitely a success.  The recipe called them an appertiser, but they were nice for an easy Sunday tea.  The dipping sauce was also our homemade tomato sauce.  It was nice to be able to use so much of our own produce in the recipe.

Now, to go back and watch the end of the cricket test in Brisbane.

September at Home

September seemed to be a busy month, being out and about, now that the weather is starting to warm up and the days get a little longer.  However, there has been some happenings at home as well.

Firstly, it was time to decorate the little shelf in the kitchen with a spring theme.

After the tidy up in one garden bed, I potted up some small plants for the church fete next month.  I have since potted up some more, so there will be quite a collection of small cottage plants to add to their stall. They have been settling in nicely in the potting shed.

The garden is waking up nicely, with our wattle starting to flower.  It is now well past its prime and due for a hair cut.

The flowering cherry looked lovely.  However, our daffodils have not performed well at all this year.

I’m in awe of how large our street trees are.  I forget that we have been here for nearly ten years, so they are expected to grow somewhat during that time.  

Anyway, they are getting their first tinge of green and will be in full leaf before we know it.

The crab apple is putting on its usual show.

It is currently being visited by lots of bees.

Our cow in the vege garden is looking nice and colourful.

The ranunculus are just starting to put on their colourful show. 

This was our wisteria a few days ago.  Look at all those buds.  They are just starting to lengthen and colour up now, so in a week or so it should be looking spectacular.

Meanwhile, over the road in the horse paddock, the kangaroo population continues to grow.  Mick counted 45 the other day and yesterday we counted five joeys that we could see.  I’m sure there are more.  It is all well and good while the season is good, but once things dry out it will be interesting to see what happens.  Currently, they very rarely venture onto the road, but they may then start looking for green pick on people’s lawns.  I hope they don’t become a problem.  As it is, it is the equivalent of running a small mob of sheep, so not the best for the landholder once things dry out.

Back inside, I managed to read one book.  I really enjoyed it.

There were a couple of other things that happened out and about.

Firstly, I assisted with the set up of the fund raiser morning tea for the Radiation Bus.  This a service run by our local community transport group that takes cancer patients to Orange for their treatment.  They receive no government funding, and thanks to fund raisers like this they are able to offer the service free of charge.  They capped the numbers at 100 this year and tickets sold out very quickly.  There was also a giant raffle, with one of the prizes being a quilt made by our patchwork group.  It was a very successful event.

Secondly, I enjoyed a delicious lunch in the relatively new cafe located by the river.  It has just reopened after their winter break, as most of it is outdoors.  The weather was glorious, the food good and our table had a nice outlook over the river.

So, a good month, and one that went by very quickly.  

What Else We Have Been Up To Lately

Things have been fairly quiet on the home front, but with a couple of fun things too.

Firstly, as our little potted lemon tree has a nice crop of lemons for the first time this year, it was about time to actually use a few.   I had found a new recipe recently, so we thought it would be a good one to try out.

To say it was a success is an understatement.  It is luscious.  The recipe is Lemon Impossible Bars from the Taste website.  The top gets a little crunchy and then the base is so gorgeous and lemony.  The only thing was that the base is a little sticky to hold.  Not an issue if you use a cake fork, but I think I will try them again with a biscuit base, as per the usual slice biscuit base recipe.  I’ll report back.  

That same day I tried a second new to me recipe.  Now, this is such a simple one, but something I have never got around to making previously.  Garlic Prawns.  They ended up very garlicky, as the jar of minced garlic was nearly empty, but were rather yummy.

No other exciting cooking has taken place, but I do hope to try a few more new recipes in the next little while.

While we are on the subject of food, a friend and I attended High Tea, put on by the church ladies.  

Oh, they do a splendid job of it.  The afternoon is very popular, with over 100 people attending and all the food is made by the parishioners.  Definitely a must attend event.

We had another impromptu day travelling east on Sunday.

Once again the weather started to rain at Yetholme, this time staying wet until we reached the lower Blue Mountains.

The reason for our trip was to pick up a metalworking tool for Mick.  Now that he is retired he doesn’t have access to professional workshops, so this folder/roller/guillotine will be handy in his shed. He was very happy with his bargain purchase.

It was not quite as wet travelling home, but still drizzly over the highest part of the mountains.  We wanted to stop for some brunch, but weren’t able to find anywhere to park the little truck with the trailer on behind until we reached Blackheath.  That was fine, as we had a lovely meal at the Victory Theatre Cafe.  

On the stitching front, I haven’t done a great deal.  I’ve been to my two stitching mornings and worked on the corner to corner crochet rug.  I have reached the full width and now will work the long straight section.

As for the Chookshed Challenge, all I have done is to restitch the wording.  It looks much better in the finer thread, doesn’t it.  I have to ask Mick to get some tubs of fabric down for me and then do the pressing before I can go any further.  It will happen.  

The other projects are waiting patiently for their time to shine.  I’m just enjoying the crochet rug at the moment.

I’ll just finish with the lovely sunset this evening.  It is nice to see that the days are starting to get a wee bit longer.

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.