Spring Forward

Spring has officially arrived in my part of paradise, and along with it came Daylight Saving, so we had to put the clocks forward one hour last week.  I’m always so impressed that the computers and cell phones know how to do this themselves, so it’s only a couple of household clocks and those in the cars  which need to be altered, plus watches too of course.

The last reasonably pleasant days of Winter have given way to the tumultuous Spring weather.  It’s always so much more windy in Spring, it’s been rather wet off and on, and the temperatures are jumping up and down all over the place.  The weather has been weird worldwide, and NSW in Australia is suffering from wild fires, brought on by hot temps and strong winds, that must be a terrible thing to live through.

It’s time to hang up my seasonal wall-hanging. Hello Spring was completed last summer so was this is it’s first season up on the wall.  This is hand embroidered and machine quilted.

Hello Spring

It may well be Spring but the weather is cold – so cold I decided to make some nice tasty soup for lunch.  That should last us a couple of days.

Two Little Wooly Hats

In between all the secret sock knitting, I've made two little wooly hats.  These were made using up bits of left over yarn, such a good way to get rid of small balls hanging around.

Two little hats for donation

The brown and white hat used up the last of Robin’s birthday socks home spun brown wool, and I even managed to make a pom pom.  It’s been many years since I’ve made a pom pom, and I think I’ve lost the knack over the years, do hope it all stays together.

The dark blue hat used up other bits and pieces, and I had just enough of the pale blue yarn to eke three stripes out of it!   I’m quite pleased with these and they will be going into the Foster Hope donation box soon.

Even though it’s Spring here in New Zealand, it’s been rather cold, wet and windy lately.  So for a nice warming treat I made a steamed pudding for dessert.  Must admit that I can’t really remember the last time I made one of these, and with some whipped cream, it was delicious.  And with just the two of us here, there is plenty left for the next couple of nights too, so yummy.

Jam steamed pudding tonight

Sew Wot Tuesday

It was Sew Wot Tuesday again, this time held at Jude’s home.  And it was her birthday too, so we sat and watched at she opened several gifts.  I think we were just as excited as Jude was, to see what was in these parcels.  Soap, hand crotched face cloths, binding clips, hand cream, fabric, and goodies like chocolate fish and marshmallows, such an exciting variety of small gifts.

Happy Birthday to Jude

Carol started off the Show and Tell with a knitted purple baby set, vest, hat and matching toy, which will be donated.  So cute.

Pretty purple knitting

Carol had also made a pretty little doll’s quilt to be gifted to a little girl, who is sure to have fun  wrapping this around her favourite dolly or teddy bear.

Carol with the doll quilt

I had brought along my just made polar bear quilt top to show the ladies.  The fabric used was donated to me from the stash of my elderly neighbour who moved into a rest home, I have been given such a lot of kiddies fabric which will keep me going for ages.

Polar bears, seals and penguins

Mary was working on such a pretty tablecloth, a wonderful Op Shop find.  After the embroidery is completed she will be adding a crotched edge, plus a fabric border.  Gorgeous colours in this project.

Mary’s OP Shop find

Heather had her lovely pale green hand knitted knee rug/blanket.   We told her that because she is doing so well, we expect to see it completed at our next Sew Wots get-together.

That’s a lot of knitting, Heather

Then the tea trolley was wheeled out and we stopped our knitting and stitching to enjoy our morning tea.  There was a lovely spread, including a cream sponge, and some locally made Liquorice Allsorts, yummy.  Then we all sang Happy Birthday to Jude on her special day.

Morning Tea

We had a very pleasant morning together, as always.  Most of us were knitting, Heather working on her blanket, Sandra was starting another cream baby’s blanket, and Carol was knitting something in pink.  Mary is an expert knitter and she helped me with a problem on my knitting project, thanks so much Mary.  And thanks again to Jude for a lovely morning.

Mary, Sandra and Carol

This and That

That’s what I've been up to with my hand work, a bit of this and that.  Remember those Noah’s Ark blocks?  Well, I’m another small step forward on this project.  So far I’ve cut the blocks apart, and have been sorting through different colours to border each small stitchery.  These blocks are tiny, although  I had already enlarged them from the original pattern.

Decisions, decisions

I need to find myself another stitchery pattern now.  Although it generally takes me a while to work on these type of things, I really do enjoy this easy stitching.

Last night after dinner we sat in front of the TV and decided to watch Jurassic Park, the very first of the series.  My goodness, how young our Kiwi film star Sam Neil looked back then.  It had been a long time since we originally saw this film, and I could remember some bits and pieces as it evolved, but not everything.  Certainly an oldie, but well worth watching again. 

What to choose to knit during our film watching time?  I couldn't decide between which pair of secret socks to continue with, so I decided to start a new project.  Can you guess what it is?  And no, it is not another dish cloth.

More knitting

Aqua in the Artic

With my aqua RSC blocks all up to date, I started a new project, as you do.  I had squares cut out for a small cot quilt, featuring icy blue Artic snow and ice, polar bears, seals and penguins.  With some added blue alternate fabric squares to fill in the gaps, the small quilt top was soon underway.  I love the webbing way to sew blocks together, just wish I’d discovered this method years earlier.  It was soon finished with a narrow cream border and a wider blue one, turning the last two Artic squares into HSTs and there, quilt top finished.

Polar bears and penguins

I’ve found some backing which will work well, and made the binding.  All I need to do now is to go shopping and purchase some batting, the cupboard is bare with so spare batting at all. 

By the way, the Antarctic is much closer to New Zealand than the northern Artic, but did you know there are no polar bears down there?  Plenty of seals and penguins though.

Sew Wot Tuesday

Sadly it’s been a while since I’ve been able to catch with with the Sew Wot Ladies, what with Robin’s various hospital appointments and his knee surgery.  But I finally made it yesterday, and it was great to catch up with everyone again.  Heather was the hostess this time, and I had two rather belated gifts to hand over, one for Sandra and another for Heather, who celebrated birthdays during my absence.

Heather was having a sewing room clear out, and had a couple of boxes for us to look through.  Most of the items found new homes.  I took home a couple of large fabric pieces which will be useful for donation quilt backings, plus  a kit of bits and pieces to make a boy’s donation quilt. 

Of course there was show and tell.  Helen had Uncle Peter’s quilt to show us, this will be for his new bed as he has recently moved into a rest home.  By all accounts he has settled down very well and enjoys his new home and having people around him to chat to.

For Uncle Peter

Helen also had a nice selection of charity knitting  to show us.  She admitted she loves knitting, but is not too keen on sewing the items up, I can relate to that.

Helen’s charity knitting

Carol had stitched up a pretty black and white quilt top – this is for her grandson’s girl friend. And she also had a purple and yellow knitted set for donation – a singlet, hat and matching toy.

Made by Carol

Because I hadn't  been able to attend for such a while, I had several items finished some time ago, but not yet shown to the Sew Wots.  My boy’s transportation donation quilt and three draw string bags featuring nurses, these will be going to Foster Hope.

For Foster Hope

Plus I had some knitting to show.  A little three colour jumper, plus Robin’s birthday socks.

Knitting projects finished

There was plenty to chat about, and interesting enough, everyone was knitting away during the morning.  Heather was knitting a pale green knee rug, using some pretty yarn she had been donated, and Jude was busy with a sock.

Jude and Heather

Carol, Mary, Helen and Sandra were busy knitting too

It was a lovely morning, many thanks to Heather for being the hostess and serving us a delicious morning tea, and also for the craft goodies to look through and take home, much appreciated.

Birthday Socks

When I first started on my sock knitting adventure a few years ago, I declared  I would never knit socks for others as it took so long.  That changed when my granddaughters asked if I could please knit them a pair of socks, so of course I did, making an extra pair for my daughter as well.  Knitting  three pairs of 4ply socks for Christmas really kept me busy.  All through this, my hubby Robin kept reminding me that I’d never knitted him socks either!  Oh dear, guess he was next on the list – so some extra secret sock knitting started.  I finished them in time for his birthday, and kept them safely tucked away till his big day.

These were knitted using brown and cream hand spun wool which was gifted to me by my friend Merilyn, and I added some dark green sock yarn as well, making these triple knit (12 ply) socks.  As I only have two ladies sock patterns, 4 ply plus 12 ply, I had to guess how many extra stitches to add to fit him – I think I got it right.  So here at last is his very own pair of hand knit socks, plus a block of his favourite chocolate.

Happy Birthday, Robin

We had originally intended on having a birthday dinner out at a local restaurant, but as he is recovering from his recent knee replacement surgery, he really didn't feel he could cope with the effort of going out.  No problem, we ordered pizzas instead.  And I made a Key Lime  meringue topped  pie for dessert, so we celebrated with a nice meal at home instead.

Yummy home made dessert