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.

Last Week and On the Road Again

This is a short catch up on the last week’s stitching, as I shared my main projects in my last blog post.

Other than those projects, my crafting time has been spent on secret stitching and a bit of progress on my knitted scarf.  This last week has been incredibly busy, so just a little each day was all that I could achieve.

However, I still managed to keep up with my 15 minutes each day.

My tally is:

15 minutes day/week = 7/7

15 minutes day/March = 19/19

15 minutes day/2023 = 76/78

Success Rate = 97.44%

I’m linking up with Kate at Life in Pieces.

In non stitching happenings, we have been to lawn bowls twice.  

Sometimes we surprise ourselves with our brilliance fluke shots and at other times we are all over the shop.  At least we have a good laugh at ourselves on those occasions.

Thursday and Friday kept us busy, assisting with the set up of our local church fete.  Sadly, most of the parishioners are very elderly and not in good health, so a few of us get in and give a hand.  

The fete was on Saturday and was a resounding success.

I found one cute little item.  I would have loved this when I was a kid.

We did not help with the pack up of the fete, as we started on our latest trip with our caravan.  Getting ready to leave, also kept us busy this last week.

We weren’t sure how far we would get and ended up reaching Gunnedah.  We had initially intended to free camp, but our part of the state has been experiencing record high temperatures for March, reaching the high 30s C.  We amended our plans and stayed at a lovely little caravan park - with power for the air conditioner - and a pool.  Bliss.

We made a very early start yesterday morning to beat the heat.  The silly thing was that the further north we headed the cooler it got.  

What we also noticed was that from about Gunnedah, the landscape was so very much greener than at home.  Yes, there was lots of flooding in November in our area, but since then we have experienced very little rain, lots of strong winds and in the last couple of months. rather high temperatures, culminating in some pretty serious bushfires in the last couple of weeks.  The season is much milder in the northern half of the state.

We saw a few summer crops, mainly sorghum and cotton, as well as quite a few properties in the process of sowing this years wheat and other grain crops.  We wish them well.

Having left early, we aimed to reach Glen Innes for a late breakfast/early lunch.  There is a cafe that serves delicious fruit loaf and in recent years we have not been able to time things right to enjoy some.

I did enjoy my toast, while Mick enjoyed his smashed avo.

Further up the road, at Deepwater, we called into a little antique shop.  We found a couple of interesting things that I will share shortly, as they are in the ute and I am in the van.  One was really interesting.

I always love this falling down old railway bridge near Tenterfield and finally managed to get a decent shot of it as we drove past.

We crossed the Queensland Border in the early afternoon.

Before stretching our legs in a nice park at Warwick.

We called it quits for the day at a nice little caravan park in a rural area not too far south of Toowoomba. There are a few Model T Fords here, having participated in a rally over the weekend.  They are nice to see.

We will continue to head north today.

I won’t be doing the daily posts, like I did on our big trip last year, rather just the occasional update.