ONE UFO DONE

 

After much ado about my table topper's wonky borders I came up with a solution. Thankyou for your suggestions as I had thought of them myself but was a little unsure. However, I decided to trim back those pesky side borders by 1/ 4 " and then stitched the binding  3/ 8ths ". As usual, I stuffed up the binding join ( I think I will go back to my easier way...just stitching binding to the 4 sides separately), so the end result is not exactly straight. The topper just needs a bit of ironing and starching now to help ease the puckering.

       The 2nd botanical embroidery is almost finished. I         discovered that I am not that adept at stem stitch but improved as I went along.

                             My blanket is slowly growing.

Although I have some new books to read I had a desire to re read a book I had in High School. I read it in Form 4 about 50 years ago. ( I guess it would now be Secondary College and Year10??? ). The pages have browned with age and some of the print has faded but I am still enjoying it, although a bit dated. I only have a few pages left to read .

 Do you have any books you enjoyed at school?

Well, with Covid restrictions eased here in Vic it is more like Christmas time down here with streams of cars on the freeway heading here and people everwhere. Last night some idiot was letting off fireworks, music was blarring 

and people were standing outside laughing and yelling out before driving off. On a happier note I had a lovely day on Friday with my daughter and 2 grandsons. My happy hormones are now pumping again. I hope you are all enjoying some time with family and friends.

WONKY EPP

 

Once again,  I promised myself I would finish a UFO. I had hand quilted the centre of this EPP table topper and put it aside to contemplate how I wanted to quilt the borders. So, I happily revisited this project and decided to hand quilt simple straight lines along each border leaving about an inch from each mitred corner because each edge would not meet up properly. Done! Now to trim and bind. Nooo, not that easy! The quilt is wonky. As you can see, when trimmed correctly the batting is included as the border. I don't know what to do. Any ideas?? 

My botanical stitchery is ready to frame in the hoop.

                                 The blanket is growing.

And another book is finished. I learnt a bit of Aussie history I never knew about in this novel. I love reading authors' notes in the back of books.

We are entering ( I think) our 10th week of lockdown here in Victoria. I hear NSW is opening up so keep safe and well.

A PRODUCTIVE WEEK

 

I think I have found a balance of craft vs household chores this past week . My Christmas table topper gift for my family friend in the UK was a joy to stitch.

I decided to frame them all in red and make the centre green. I kept the centre plain so a candle, ornament or a dish of Christmas snacks can be placed on it.  Before I stitched them together I pondered which way to have each stitchery facing. I played with them each facing out from the centre but finally decided to have them all facing the same way. 

When I ordered my yarn from the UK I also added two stitchery kits to my order that I have been eyeing off for a while. Although I have been stitching forever, I thought kits would be fun and all I had to do was iron stabiliser to the back because that is what I like to do. This embroidery is done using 3 strands of thread which is unusual for me but I am pleased with the results so far. 

My crochet is growing. Hmmmm it looks a bit weird in the pic. No idea why.

I finished this book which is the sequal to Tidelands. I think this is the 20th Philippa Gregory book I have read. 

 

I was just notified by text that one of the books I ordered is arriving today. Yey! My 3rd Sunday delivery. The fabrics I bought to make pillowslips for my grandsons are washed and dry ready to iron. Hmmm, decisions...stitchery, crochet or pillowslips today? I hope you are all keeping safe and well. Thankyou for stopping by.

 

SUCH A LOVELY DAY

 

Yesterday was a lovely social day for me even though I never left the house. I joined in Chooky's Zoom sewing day and "met" a lot of you lovely ladies from blogland. I felt like I'd had a lovely day out with friends. Thank you all for such an enjoyable time and a huge thankyou to Chooky for arranging it all.

Well, after completing all the household chores today that I had neglected yesterday, I have finally sat down to blog. I want to add you all to my blog list on the right side of this page but I cannot work out how to do it now. I think things changed when blogger updated. Anyhoo, I digress.

While on Zoom I only did 2 rows of crochet.

4 of 6 stitcheries are now done ready to cut into hexie shapes for the table topper.

I washed the 2 fabrics for this project today. 

A parcel arrived about an hour ago with these fabrics I ordered to make more pillowcases for my grandsons. They both love Bluey and the youngest is besotted with Paw Patrol. Such consumers!! 

I just need to find the You Tube tutorial that I watched to make the Thomas the Tank engine ones I made a couple of years ago.

For some reason a pic ended up at the top of this post and I can't get rid of it . Sorry. 

Thanks for visiting.

 

GOT IT!

 

I finally did it! On my 4th attempt to start the blanket I succeeded. I have no idea why I kept mucking it up as my final attempt was easy. I guess sleep deprivation had something to do with it. It is amazing how much more clear headed I am after 5 hours sleep. I am not as edgy either. So here is what I have done so far. Alas, I now have to wait for my yarn to arrive from the UK before I can continue. It usually takes 7 to 10 days but, I suspect it will be more like 7 to 10 weeks! I have no expectations and it will be a nice surprise when it comes.

I decided to start making a Christmas gift for my friend in the UK hoping it will get to her in time if I start it now. I am using 6 of Michelle's beautiful Australiana stitcheries to make into a table mat. As I rummaged through my left over Christmas fabrics I realised the scraps were not big enough and th en I discovered I had run out of the CG thread I use for Christmas projects. So, I ordered some lovely William Morris fabric and 3 CG threads from Patchworks Plus in Tassie. I have ordered from there several times over the years and my yummy parcel arrived within a week.

Preparation has begun. Three stitcheries are traced and  the pellon hexies are cut ready to go. 

The background fabric does not look as dominant in reality. The pattern on it is a lot paler so the tracing stands out much more than seen here.

Nothing much has changed here re Covid restrictions apart from being able to travel within a 10km radius instead of 5 kms. This means I can go to my usual supermarket instead of the closest one which I don't really like. Unfortunately, my last 2 vidoe chats with my daughter and grandsons were pixelated and freezing which was disappointing. I really miss them. Knowing they are only 20 minutes down the road is frustrating but a lot of people are in the same boat. It still angers me that my holiday neighbours keep coming and going weekly and chatting without masks to walkers passing by who are unaware they are from Melbourne. I really need to get over it! Ommmmm. Ommmmm.

Keep safe and keep well.

CROCHET HICCUP

While waiting for my yarn delivery from the UK I was eager to start my crocheted blanket with the yarns I already have. However, despite counting and recounting the foundation chain,  I always ended up with too many chain left in the second foundation row. This is my 4th attempt to reach row 1 and I think I have mucked it up again.

My reading rhythm has returned and I have finished another book. I heard the author's interview on the radio and ordered the book the next day. Unfortunately, although the theme drew me to the book I found it difficult to read. The chapters are devoted to individual characters written in past and present times which I found very confusing. I think I am a bit muddle headed .

 

I reluctantly had my first dose of AZ on Friday afternoon and I ended up with a humongous migraine from early yesterday morning until 2am this morning.  2 Panadeine Forte took over an hour to ease the headache but made it manageable for a couple of hours. Another 2 tablets were required around midnight and I just listened to a podcast sitting upright until the meds kicked in. Most of yesterday was spent laying on the couch listening to my binge TV shows trying to distract myself from the pain . Anyhoo, I have now joined the world wide vaccine trial. I am just annoyed that being over 60 I was not given a choice of vaccine unlike the younger people. I believe it is agesim, discrimination. 

I must get off this device now as I have a mild headache today and don't want it to get worse with screen time.

Keep safe and well.
 

MORE READING LESS STITCHING

 

Last post I had started reading another book and I finished it last night. I am amazed how many Australian authors I seem to gravitate to even when I don't know who they are until I read the blurb about them. I really enjoyed this book from the beginning and when I finished it I read the author's notes where I discovered her main character is based on a Joan Miller who worked with MI5 . Now I am seeking out her book of memoirs.

Not much stitching has been happening here and I have the urge to crochet another blanket for the couch potatoe, me. Lucy's ( Attic 24) Moreland blanket came to mind as I love the undulating wave effect. Then I saw this section of the blanket ...

I looove those colours and have used all of them from Lucy's previous CALs. I have some yarn left over but not enough so I ordered more from Wool Warehouse again. This is what I have left of the colours in my stash so I can probably start it while waiting for the delivery.

The colours don't look as good in this pic but they are exactly the same as those in the blanket segment I like.

Now all I need to do is work out how many foundation chain I need for the size I want the blanket to be.

Keep safe and well.