NOT MUCH CRAFTING

 

It has been a couple of weeks since my last post as I really haven't done much at all after I injured myself playing with my grandsons. As well as bruising my clavicle and chin I also managed to hurt my wrist, and 2 fingers on my right hand. So, that is what grandma gets having fun lol. It won't stop me playing with them though. 

I have trimmed the 2 embroideries ready to hang somewhere but still haven't found that "somewhere" so they are sitting on my sewing table. My B.O.M  pandemic quilt that I finished months ago just needed the bottom row added so I finally got around to that but I need to look for some border fabric and then decide if I want to take it to my quilter or hand quilt it myself. Apparently my quilter had someone drop off 15 quilts and another lady dropped off 8! At least she is still in business with all the stored pandemic quilts out there.

I have added more rows to my blanket.

Last week we had a brush with Covid. My hubby was out with his professional carer the Friday before which involved being in his car travelling to and from medical appointments as usual. On that weekend his carer notified him that he and his wife were very ill and were going to have a Covid test on the Sunday. So, we isolated until the results came in. Tuesday night the carer notified us that he and his wife both tested positive despited being doubly vaccinated. He sounded terrible on the phone and his wife could be heard in the background coughing badly. So, off we went Wednesday to be tested which involved parking the furtherest point away which was where disabled parking was. Typical! Then we were told we should have registered despite the website listing it as not requiring booking. We were supposed to have codes on our phones but my phone won't do QR codes. We finally got in line and waited around 50 minutes in the queue which I found difficult standing for so long ( my FMS) and then after giving all our info and proof of identity we were taken to the testing room.  Guess what? They told us we would have to be come back and be tested the next day, day 6! Well, that was not going to happen and I stated that fact. Then one of the nurses told us they had people who would come to our home to test us!! Really??? Where was that info?  We were told to phone them and request a test at home the next day. Can they give us the phone numbet? No! They ended up testing us there and after ages on the phone we booked someone to come on Thursday morning. They were certainly prompt because I hadn't even had time to shower when they arrived. Both tests were negative for us both but there was conflicting info on websites about hubby needing to remain in isolation being a primary contact. Despite living in the same house apparently I could go out and about! Makes no sense to me. Then those regs changed on Thursday midnight. Funny how one day he would need to keep isolating and the next day he didn't ! So, we decided it was best that neither of us go to my dad's 90th birthday celebration yesterday. I did not want to risk passing Covid onto my parents. It was only a small afternoon tea with immediate family, 10 of us including my parents. I haven't seen my youngest daughter since February but at least she briefly dropped by afterwards. My eldest daughter arranged a video chat so we could see everyone and watch dad cut the cake.

So, I really want to remind people that you can become quite ill with Covid even if you have been doubly vaccinated. They are no longer reporting how many people with Covid are in hospital who have been doubly vaccinated . Just as Vic has opened up and people are getting out and about enjoying life as much as they can, there is a very real threat still out there especially if masks will no longer be required. I am in no hurry to eat out or go to large shopping centres.

Sorry for the long winded post, but this is the new normal they were talking about. One never knows when they may have to isolate or quarantine. We can make plans but need to accept our plans may change any time. 

Please stay safe.

( I have no idea why the font size keeps changing lol).

PUMPKINS

 

I have always loved pictures of pumpkins , ravens, acorns and oak leaves so I decided to attempt making a crocheted pumpkin. I used a cotton yarn but had to use acrylic yarn for the stem as I didn't have a suitable colour in cotton. I am not completely happy with the stem but shall walk away and see how I feel about it later.

My youngest daughter carves pumpkins every Halloween and this is the one she made this year.

 

I haven't done much again this past week apart from adding some rows to my crocheted blanket but it is not much bigger than my last pic.  At least I found time to finish another good book.

               I hope you have enjoyed a lovely weekend .

HIBERNATION

 

It is a long weekend again, ( they seem to come around a lot), so I am hibernating until the tourists go home. It is bedlam out there. Music, cars revving, illegal fireworks and crackers going off at all hours makes it a rather stressful time for us. I didn't post yesterday because I hadn't finished my 2nd embroidery or made much progress with my crochet but I just finished the embroidery moments ago. Here it is.

I have been crocheting a pumpkin which is not quite at the half way mark.

So that is all I have achieved this past week. At least it is something.

Stay safe.

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.