Black stitching for RSC

 It's black and neutral sewing month, or catching up with projects,  for Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and I'm delighted that I finally found the missing bag containing everything I need for my final selvedge double handed oven mitts.  I stitched a whole lot of these last year, using up all my selvedges in the recommended colours most months, except for the few last remaining black ones.  And I hunted high and low and just couldn't find them anywhere.  Does that happen to you, as well, put something away safely then have no idea where it is?  I eventually found them tucked away, so now is the time to make the last remaining oven mitt - and the last of the selvedges.  I made a start on the hand pockets first.

Pockets - done

Then I stitched the base, using two layers of hessian/sacking, good, that's the last of that gone.  Then a layer of Insulbrite, topped with a layer of plain black cotton.  The last short lengths of selvedges were stitched across the middle, then rows of stitching across to hold the layers together.  The pockets were added, a hanging loop, then the binding, using up a random length of left over binding in my basket.  Hand stitching the binding through the hessian was a bit of an effort, but I soon had it done.

Binding clipped and ready for stitching down

I'm really please that I've made the last of the oven mitts, and have emptied a bag.  There is a small packet of Insulbrite on the shelf in the wardrobe, just in case I get the urge to make another, sometime.  

The final one - for a while

Continuing with the black theme, I stitched up three little drawstring bags for foster kids.  Mary had given me a bag of Australian fabrics, including two blocks bordered in black, and I found extra fabric to complete the bags.  And the six patch with cheetahs, had been waiting a long time to be made into a bag too. 

Three drawstring bags made

I really enjoyed another novel  by Karin Slaughter, who writes about two of my favourite characters,  Will Trent and Sara Linton.  Girl Forgotten features a new character, newly minted Marshall Andrea Oliver.  With a  bit of help she solves a 40 year old murder case while experiencing plenty of danger along the way, as she is part of a team protecting a threatened judge.  Once again, the murderer was not whom I was expecting, guess those Marshalls are much cleverer than me!  You would think that with all the murder mystery books I read I would be pretty good at picking the baddy out by now.  It was interesting to read what the US Marshalls duties cover, including protecting the judiciary from threats.  I'll be checking the library for more books about this interesting new character.

Another enjoyable read

Movie Time, and Books

 I was really keen to go and see the movie "The Heart of the Beast" and my daughter Nicky said she was interested too.  She drove down to Levin, collected me from home, we had time for a quick lunch at the movie complex, with the film starting at 1.00pm.  This was the first time I had seen a Brad Pitt movie, but after seeing the shorts on TV, decided I really must go and see it.  The story is set in Alaska, but it was filmed in rugged parts of the South Island, New Zealand.  And the German Shepherd dogs in the film, Dad and sons, were New Zealand born and bred too, so there is quite a NZ connection. 

"After a harrowing plane crash, Special Forces Officer James Belmont and his combat dog Odin, find themselves stranded deep in the Alaskan wilderness.  Together, they are forced into a brutal fight for survival against the elements.  From acclaimed film maker David Ayer, Heart of the Beast is an intense adventure thriller that explores the unbreakable bond between a man and his best friend as they face their greatest battle yet".

I certainly did enjoy this film, as the pair face wild animals, the unforgiving and dangerous terrain, and their own demons.  

I always like to have several books waiting for me to read, in fact I get withdrawal symptons when I run out of books.  I found a Vera book I hadn't read, they are always interesting, and just like the TV series, always have a twist in the story.  I hadn't worked out who the murderer was!  And I love anything to do with Tudor times, and have a book here at home by Alison Weir about the Tudor Queens.  But is is non fiction, and a bit dry to read.  Alison Weir has now written this series of novels about the Tudor Queens, and this one is about Katherine Howard, a young girl who becomes wife number five, whose past comes back to haunt her and  sadly didn't last very long at all.  Really enjoyable, so now I will have to find the other books in the series at the library.

I love books!

Spring Forward, and a Knitting Finish

It was time to turn the clocks forward last weekend for daylight saving.  Luckily the lap top, tablet and cell phone are clever enough to do it all by themselves.  That left the bedside clock, my watch,  and the wall clock in the kitchen for me to deal with.  The clock in the car doesn't get done, much too hard for me, and I decided not to change the clock on the stove, I don't use that to check the time at all.   Down came "Welcome Winter" and up went "Hello Spring" it it's place.  The Spring season is very changeable here in New Zealand.  Yesterday was a horrible cold wet day, just right for soup for lunch, and sitting inside with the heat pump keeping me warm all day, doing some stitching and knitting.  But today was warm, calm and sunny, such a difference, nice enough to hang the washing outside in the sun shine.

Hello Spring

I started knitting my summer cotton jumper late last year, after finding four balls of pretty slub cotton knitting yarn.  With just four balls to work with, I purchased a couple of balls of pale pink cotton to add as stripes.  After knitting part of the back four times in various widths of stripes to make sure I had enough of the slub cotton, I settled on two rows of each.  Finally, I was on the way.

Two rows of each yarn

I've been knitting steadily over the year, putting it in time out  to knit baby hats and socks.  Then it was a last push to knit the short sleeves, sew the shoulder sleeves up, and knit the neck band.  Then sew the other seams.  Not easy with some of those nobbles at the ends of the rows.

Pinning and stitching, matching the stripes

Finally my summer jumper was all finished, I'm really pleased with it.  Not an easy knit at all, there is no "give" in cotton yarn, unlike wool, so I don't plan on knitting a cotton garment again.

All done

This was knitted with quite a loose tension, so I'll have to be very careful washing and make sure I dry it flat so it doesn't stretch at all.  I'm looking forward to wearing my new summer top when the weather warms up a little bit more.

I have to take my own photo in the mirror these days

Chook, Chook, Chickens

Some time ago, when I had my wardrobe malfunction, I came across a bag containing two long forgotten projects, neutral strings and chickens, and decided that I would deal with these as soon as I could.  The string blocks have been stitched into a quilt and donated, and now it's time to work on  those chickens.

Chickens and strings

The chicken panel was given to me quite some time ago by my friend Eileen, and had been hiding in a bag in the wardrobe, until it all came crashing down last year.  It is really meant to be a stuffed toy, but I decided I didn't want to do that.  Oh, look, she's called Henny Penny, how sweet.  How about a cot quilt instead?

Henny Penny and her chickens

So I cut around them, adding some visoflix to the edges, and machine button hole appliqued them onto a white background. 

Hello chickens

 And made the binding, luckily I had a FQ that toned in with the chickens.

A donated piece of rather wild looking red, blue and yellow low stretch fabric was used for the backing.  I have used stretch fabric before on the back of quilts, and never had a problem.  How to quilt it?  Stitch around each of the birds, then lines of  serpentine stitch side to side.  Finally, I quilted through the birds feathers. 

Machine quilting

The binding was attached, clipped down, then folded up waiting for the final hand stitching.  Gemma decided I must have put it there just for her.  

So comfy, thanks Mum

After a pleasant couple of hours sitting and stitching on a nasty rainy wet afternoon,  it was finally done.  The rain showers had stopped, so I raced outside for a quick photo shoot.

Hello, chooky

This will probably be a donation quilt,  but I think I'd like to keep and admire it for a while.  Now it is Spring it will look nice hanging on the quilt ladder for a while, it's time to change the quilts with some other lighter seasonal quilts.  

The backing is a bit wild, using what I have

With this one finally finished, I'm aiming to work on  some Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects.  There are such a lot of block sets from previous years, all sitting in a crate and calling me.  But I'll probably start with one which is pinned up on a chair in the sewing room waiting to be quilted.  Wish me luck, I've got so much to choose from.

That's Different

 My Probus club had arranged a trip to Otaki to visit the Shelshok Gallery today.  I'd never heard of it, although it has been around for a while.  Owned by the very talented and creative Lynne O'Connor, it was full of decorated eggs.  All sorts of eggs, from emus to chickens, and many in between.  Our visiting group was split into two, so we could all move easily around the light and airy, but small gallery.  

There was certainly plenty to see - and I spotted a display of signs of the zodiac, and zeroed in to my birth sign, a beautiful golden Libra.  "That's me", I told the lady beside me, "the scales of justice".  That certainly is me, I like things balanced and even.

Libra, the scales of justice.

As well as decorated eggs, there were works of art like the display of zodiac signs, and many beautiful bird paintings.  Lynne is very talented indeed, and self taught, she mentioned.  Here are some of the many eggs on display which caught my eye.   Many had a humourus theme.

  

Graduation Day

Birds of a Feather

Fairyland perhaps

Cascade, very pretty

I loved the Panda eggs

Eggy art pieces

Inspired by Faberge.  I loved the little egg people holding the signs

Six Pack and Keg, topped with Tui Brewery bottle tops

There was such a lot to see, in cabinets, on the wall displayed on glass shelves.  The glass and the lighting made taking photos difficult, so as you can image, there was so much more to see.  It was a very interesting visit, and just for the cost of a gold coin donation.  We signed the Visitors Book, said our goodbyes, and went on to our next stop.  Lunch was at the nearby Riverstone Cafe. 

Time for lunch

Mmm, what to have, that's always the question.  My mind was made up when I spotted Cheese Rolls, and recalled my South Island Coach trip earlier in the year when I tried many a Southland Cheese Roll at the various lunch stops.  My lunch today was Otaki North Island rolls, nice and tasty, with a very welcome hot Flat White coffee as well.    Many thanks to the Probus Club for arranging a nice day out.

Sew Wot Tuesday

 Heather was the hostess this time, with just five of us in attendance.  It was a chilly, showery Spring morning, our Spring weather is always rather temperamental.  Two birthdays were celebrated, there was a belated gift for Heather, and a couple of gifts for Jude, the next birthday girl.  We all enjoy watching the gifts being opened, and I spotted some pretty soap, hand cream, hand towel and a crochet flannel.  Jude got an extra gift to take home for the family dog, a bag of dog treats.  He will be very happy with those, she commented.  Ooops, looks like I forgot to take photos of the birthday girls and gifts.

Only a little show and tell this time.  Heather brought out a couple of oldies to show us.  We all loved this special little play mat, with tiny dolls and animals tucked away.  Imagine what fun a little girl would have taking these dollies out of the pockets, talking to them while playing, then carefully placing them back again.

Peeping out 

Beautifully embroidered and folds up with a tie

The other item Heather showed us was a cot quilt with an appliqued doll and cat on the front and back.  The doll and cat were meant to be  stuffed toys, but Heather decided to use them as  appliques instead.  The pretty quilt was finished with a ruffle, so pretty, I would never have thought to do that.

So pretty

The only other show and tell was my recently finished yellow string cot quilt, and pair of pink socks.

My show and tell

I had taken along some old quilting mags,  a Quilt Diva panel, and two Father Christmas patterns looking for new homes.  The mags and the panels went, so that's good.

We sat there chatting, and knitting, we were a happy bunch indeed.  Always plenty to talk about, and put the world to rights.  And then it  was morning tea time, including an iced  lemon cake with a candle to celebrate Jude's birthday.  The Eat-a-Lots did very well again.  We always appreciate the morning teas provided  by the hostess of the day.

Morning tea is served

It was another lovely Sew Wot morning, it is always so nice to meet up, and many thanks to Heather for being the hostess with the mostest.

Pink makes the boys wink

 Pink makes the boys wink, that is what we used to say when we were young pre-teen girls at school.  Don't know if it is really true, but I've got a bit of pink knitting this week.   First is a pair of very pink socks.  They started like this, using some pink sock yarn produced by Breast Cancer NZ as a fund raiser, a Mother's Day gift from my daughter, and I teamed it with a paler pink double knitting yarn.  Knitted together this makes my nice cozy 12ply winter socks which I like to knit, and wear.

Mother's Day socks

Knitted two at a time, they are finally finished, and the side seam stitched up.  I think they are very pretty, certainly nice and warm for my always cold feet.

All finished

After quite a bit of time out, I got working again on my cotton summer top.  The back and the front have been finished for a while, so I've been  knitting away on the short sleeves, and got them finished.  Just like my socks, I always knit sleeves two at a time as well.  So now I just have to sit down and stitch the pieces together. 

Two short sleeves for my summer top

I've recently finished reading a James Patterson/J D Barker book, this was not in the usual James Patterson style.  It was quite an exciting read and tells the tale of an imminent danger to mankind, and the clock is ticking.  Scientists were working on a project, and had been ordered to weaponize the experiment, with the President issuing lies and cover ups as it all got out of control.  I'm quite a fan of James Patterson and particularly like his Alex Cross detective series.

I enjoyed this one