Finishing Mum’s UFO

This is a bit of a strange one, as my Mum didn’t have UFOs, she was a finisher.  She would work away on a project, finish it and then move onto the next.  Her daughter did not inherit that trait, and it always surprises me that Mum didn’t encourage me more to finish things off.  

Anyway, I digress.  Back to the UFO.

A couple of years after Mum moved into residential aged care she was looking for a little something to make and we found a cute cross stitch bookmark kit in Big W.  This wasn’t long after she had had a mini stroke and I don’t think any of us realised at the time just how much it was affecting her cognitive functioning.

It never did get finished, and when I started going through her craft tubs I found how far she had got with it.  She had marked the centre line on the pattern and tacked those centre lines on the Aida, although not needed on a project this size.  Then she had threaded a needle with the six strands, rather than the two and progressed no further.  Dear Mum…..  So, is this actually an unfinished object, or an unstarted object?  Who knows.

Well, this serial starter, and often not finisher, of a daughter thought she had better finish off Mum’s bookmark. In the process I tried a few new things.  We recently bought a couple of stable tables at a garage sale and I finally had a brainwave to use it when stitching.  It works really well. Who’d have thought??  I then decided to actually use an embroidery hoop.  I know the centre ring is supposed to be wrapped, but this is just one that will be used for a Christmas decoration.  That worked well too.  Fancy that!!  Then finally, I used my new little magnetic needle minder.  I’m a sucker for green sewing machines.

I started it on Friday at my stitching morning, did a bit more on Saturday and finished it off yesterday.  The weather was even warm enough to sit outside in the sun, down to a t-shirt yesterday, which was rather lovely.

Now, being just a cheapy kit, the Aida band wasn’t as nice as most and the threads, although six stranded, the strands were really thin.  Not as nice as DMC or other well known brands, and there was not felt to back it.  However, I just worked with what there was and found a bit of felt that matched in my stash.  Having said that, the design was super cute.

It’s not the greatest of finish on the back, but I’m going with finished is better than perfect.  The crease in the felt will come out in time.

I’m really pleased to have finished this off for Mum.  Are there any other UFOs?  Yes, just a couple. The only reason these are in existence is that she forgot how to crochet and knit.

While in the nursing home, she crocheted the tops of kitchen towels, while she remembered how to crochet.  There are a couple that have had the row of blanket stitch worked, ready to do the crochet, and a few tea towels, that haven’t been started to be worked on.  There are several tubs of coloured crochet cotton to use on them, so I would like to work them up.  

The other is some knitted squares.  Mum used to knit knee rugs using two strands of wool, one a constant colour and the other all sorts of coloured scraps.  Her last knitted rug ended up rather messy on the second half.  She then tried to just knit ten inch squares using the same colour style.  There are a few squares completed.  I’d like to make some more to make a small knee rug, to honour her last ever knitting.

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.

My Plans for February

Remember, in January, how I said I was going to wind back my goals?   Well, I seem to have quite a few this month.  That’s a bit silly, as the Wedding and Baptism display that I am organising is this month as well.  But, I do need something as a distraction.

So, what do I hope to achieve.

The first simple goal is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks in blue.  

Two more Split Nine Patch blocks will be made and I’ve already pulled the fabrics.

Deana has announced the Chookshed Challenge number, which is NUMBER 10.  

Mmmmm. For me that is the QUEENSLAND HEXY TABLE RUNNER. Now, there is a bit of work in that one.  I have to do the stitchery on the middle hexies, then the EPP, then piece it, quilt and bind it.  OK, not really a great deal of work and very achievable in a month, but not this month.  I want something that I don’t have to think too much about.

Therefore, I am going to switch it out with NUMBER 7, which is the SEA GLASS MINI QUILT.   That works on a few levels.  Firstly, it is should be fairly simple.  Secondly, the colours are blues to greens, so kind of fits in with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge colour and thirdly, I intend to place the sea glass pieces in a heart shape.  That works for Valentine’s Day, and also will suit my summer display on my little shelf in the kitchen.  I’ll have to try to have it completed before the 14th.

Of course, I need hand work to take to my stitching days.  I hope to have my autumnal knitted scarf finished in the next week or so.

I’ll see if I can get started again on the pouch for Scrub Stitchin’.

My final wish, which is the lowest priority, but I would really like to do, is to remove the two offending borders off my Blue/Hope Quilt and make them fit properly and then add the final border, which is all ready to go.  The ones I need to remove are the postage stamp one and a narrow one that I added after it.  They are rather wavy.  Wouldn’t it be good if I was to get that done in the “Blue” month.

It will be fun to see how many thread spools I can manage to empty in the process of all of these.

Although I’m not joining in officially, I still hope to achieve 15 minutes of crafting most days. I forgot to mention that I managed 27 days out of 31 in January, which is 87%.  Let’s hope I can get it up over 90% by the end of the year.

Time to get stitching.

The First Two Weeks of Stitching

Now that it is already halfway through the month it is time to see what I have managed on the stitiching front during the first two weeks.

My aim for January was to make some crumb blocks for the Chookshed Challenge and to finish appliquéing the remaining 40 hexy flowers.

In the first week I managed to appliqué a whole two hexy flowers.  Big effort…..not.

One day I decided to have a play with my crumbs.  The result was two red blocks.  Hopefully, I will manage to make some more, but if it doesn’t happen, at least I have something to show for the month.

I did get the twelve inch block completed for our patchwork group’s group quilt.  I’m pleased with how it turned out.  This was achieved during a Zoom sewing session.

In the second week I was somewhat more productive, partly due to the fact that my patchwork group met for the first time in the New Year.

I have made good progress with appliquéing my hexy flowers.  At the end of the second week I had a total of twenty completed.  I have my patchwork group again today, so should be able to get quit a few more stitched.  The goal to get them all done by the end of January is looking very promising.

So far, I have already missed three days of stitching for fifteen minutes.  I’m not worried.  It is what it is.

Despite only minimal machine stitching on the crumb blocks, there is already one empty spool to add to the jar at the end of the month.  That’s a good start.

Spring in the Scrub - Part 1

THURSDAY

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending another retreat at Camp Cypress at Baradine.  This one was organised by Chooky and Deb from The Crafters Cottage in Coonabarabran, with 21 ladies attending.  About half of them were ones who have attended “Scrub Stitchin”.

I wasn’t intending to go, but you can blame Mick, Chooky and tablecloths.  Yes, tablecloths.  You see, while on a Zoom sewing morning, Chooky asked if I could duck into town and get her some particular tablecloths, which I did.  The original plan was to give them to one of her family members who would be down here soon.  However, on the following morning Mick asked me if there were still places available at the retreat, and if so, why don’t I deliver them in person.  It didn’t take very much to twist my arm, so I started to get some projects prepared to take and made a swap gift.  Far too many projects, as is always the case, but you need choices, don’t you.

On Thursday morning I headed north.  Yep, just me.  Mick stayed home this time.  The early spring season is so lovely and the countryside is looking a picture.  I just couldn’t take many photos, seeing as I was driving.

Dunedoo is always a good spot to stop and stretch the legs and get coffee and cake.  That sign is so true.  LOL

I went for a quick walk up and down the street and was delighted to see a new mural on the side of one of the pubs.  Jamieson Leeson is the women’s silver medalist in Boccia BC3 at the Paralympics and hails from tiny little Dunedoo.  

It took me rather longer than expected to travel the rest of the way to Coonabarabran, as there was a car accident blocking the road in the middle of nowhere.  Initially, we thought we may be held up for an hour or so, but in the end were told it would be several hours before the road reopened and we had to take a detour, over a rather rough dirt road.  Not to worry, I ended up seeing some new to me countryside.

After a light lunch in Coonabarabran (let’s face it I didn’t need much after that cake) and a bit of retail therapy at The Crafter’s Cottage I reached Baradine in the early afternoon.

A few of us got the room all set up ready to go.  It did look good with all the wildflowers that Chooky had picked and dried and Brenda had arranged.  It never looked this tidy again.

It is surprising that Deb had anything left in her shop in town. There was a great variety to look at and shop from.  Yes, maybe I did shop again.

The day was completed by dinner at the Bowling Club.  Yummy cutlets.

FRIDAY

Friday was the official start of the retreat, so time to get my sewing station set up.  We each had loads of room to spread out.

There were lots of lovelies in our goodies bags.

At morning tea time we celebrated Brenda’s recent milestone birthday.

So, what did I manage to sew on Saturday?  I made 12 of these blocks for the three yard quilt that is my challenge project for the month and joined them into a flimsy, but no photo at that stage.

I also started piecing some large half square triangles for two baby quilts using left overs from fat quarters from a previous baby quilt.  These were to be my June Challenge project, which didn’t happen at the time.

Dinner on Friday night was at the pub and was rather tasty.  We returned to our sewing after dinner.  And that about wraps up Friday.

I’ll do a separate post for Saturday.

One Monthly Goal Completed

My One Monthly Goal this month was to complete the “Betty Quilt” from Just Two Charm Pack Quilts by Meadow Mist Designs.  This has been part of a quilt along with the goal to have the quilt top completed by the end of February.  I wanted to go one step further and have it quilted and the binding done.  

I finished it this morning during a short Zoom session with the Chookshed Stitchers.

Ta da!

The pantograph is one I haven’t tried before. It is “Plumeria”, which is another of the freebies from Urban Elementz.  I really like it and the design flowed nicely as I went along.  I will definitely use it again.

Other than the half layer cake gifted to me, everything came from stash, which is always a bonus.

I’m really happy with how this quilt turned out and it came together so nice and quickly.  One of those maximum effect for minimum effort quilts, which are fun to make in between the more detailed ones.

I will be linking up with Stories from the Sewing Room for One Monthly Goal.  It is a great motivator.

Now, to decide which other project to work on next.

Other Bits and Bobs from June

I’ve posted about my stitching achievements for June, but not about anything much else.  I was very much mistaken when I predicted it would be a quiet month, as we didn’t seem to stop.

I’ll start with my non stitching goals:

READ A BOOK

It did look like this would be a fail, but at the very end of the month I picked up a young adult’s book that Mick had read.

It wasn’t too bad and was a quick read, finished in one session.  Flash Jack is about a kid’s adventure during the summer school holidays…. and they all lived happily ever after….

TRY A NEW RECIPE

I did try a new recipe, as I don’t really think making popcorn for the first time really counts.

I recently ate a rather tasty lemon slice, so went looking for something similar.  I found this one in a Women’s Weekly baking book and it was rather nice.  We shared it with some visitors and they declared it a success.

HAVE A FUN DAY OUT

We really surpassed expectations on this goal.  I’ve already shared some of our adventures here and here.  There were a few more as well, but we’ll get to them later.

GO FOR A MOTORCYCLE RIDE

I did not expect this to happen, but surprisingly it did.  That was one of our fun days out.

USE THE CARAVAN

This was not expected either, but it ended up happening.  Obviously, I have some more posts to load.

While I’m going here, I’ll share a few other bits and bobs.

On the home front, I changed out our little kitchen shelf for winter.  

The little print is new try us, from the white elephant stall.  It is rather subtle, but a nice cozy wintery scene.

While I’m sharing new pictures, here is another new to us one.  A beautiful cross stitch, now hanging in our laundry.  As you can see, our zygo cactus was flowering beautifully.  The cross stitch was found in an op shop at Lithgow.  We had to bring it home.  It is so sad to see such beautiful and well framed work not being loved.  At least it didn’t go to land fill.  

Mick has been working in the garden.  Here he is planting two asparagus plants.  We should be able to eat some in a couple of years time.  Not a quick result, but they should then provide nice fresh spears each spring for about twenty years.

We went to a garage sale one Saturday and came home with this rather large pot for next to nothing.  It has no hole in the bottom and is glazed, so Mick had the perfect spot for it.

Some years ago, he created a nice little corner on our verandah and made a water feature out of some flower pots we had sitting around the place.  It worked fine, but the corner needed refreshing.  At this stage he had removed some smaller pots, ready for his makeover.

It looks much tidier now and the new pot is ideal for a little water feature.  You can even see our vintage gnome, rather than him being hidden in the foliage.

We also bought a vintage bird bath, complete with little frog, from the same garage sale.  I think we may have enough now, as we have six scattered around the garden.  Mind you, the birds do like them, particularly in the hot summer weather.

We visited yet another garage sale, this time at the home of a friend that has moved to aged care.  I bought this cute blue wren runner for my Mum’s aged care room, as she loves blue wrens. She was rather pleased with it.

A friend and I had lunch at a cafe in town that I hadn’t visited before.  It was a cold day, so we sat inside and had a nice steaming bowl of soup, but we had to check out the outdoor dining area.

Such fun murals.  We need to return when the weather is warmer.  

The cafe is located at the rear of a delightful shop selling homewares ands a well as clothing and even has a florist on site.  

The funniest thing is that until recently, the building housed the Salvation Army store.  It looks so different and much better now.

That’s probably enough for one post.  I’ll share more of our June outings soon.