Baby Hats and Christmas Stockings

 Baby hats are great for evening TV knitting, and I finished these a wee while ago. Then they sat  till they were finally sewed up.  At last they are completed and have been donated to the church where I attend a monthly knitting group, for the Nest Collective group.  There is a Columbium refugee family with a new baby the church supports, I was told, and would I mind if the hats get passed on to them instead?  Not at all, whoever needs them.  One of the other knitting ladies had several pairs of knitted booties which will also be gifted to this family.

These little hats were knitted in acrylic I found in the Op Shop, but I'm not very happy with the results.  I'll use wool or wool blend next time, I think they will turn out nicer.   But I rather like the pattern with the little top knot, so will be knitting that again sometime.

Three little hats

I received a bag of Christmas Stockings from Jo (ButterZ) recently, so that was rather exciting.  The stockings and bands  were all cut out,  and the motifs have been fused on.  One stocking was almost complete,  and three others had the motifs partly stitched, using stranded cotton.  So I've done a little work on these four.

I don't have stranded cotton to finish the stitching, so I improvised and used sewing cotton (machine thread) instead.  I just needed to finish stitching around the bottom of the band on this one, and added a button. Doesn't that Christmas Pudding look delicious! I'm so pleased this one came almost complete so I will know how to attach the band and finish all the others now.

Just needed a little stitching on the band to finish.

The Peppermint stick had been started to be stitched down in the next one, so I found some similar red thread and got stitching, then did running stitch around the leaves and berries.

 This is a nice seasonal motif too

And lastly, I found two Gingerbread men who had been partially stitched down.  They are now completed, and I added eyes and mouth to each with my Pigma pen.  Mmm, don't know about those expressions, they look a little manic to me.  Are Gingerbread Men usually naughty or nice?

Two Gingerbread Men

This stitching whiled away a winter  afternoon at home.  I think my alternate threads used blended in well enough.  As my Mother used to say "A blind man will be pleased to see it".

I'll be using Perle No.5 thread from now on to work on the stockings, I've got plenty of different colours in my bag.   Some of the other motifs have already been stitched down, while the others have just been fused.  Guess I'll work on one stocking at a time, wish me luck.  I'm not planning to have them all finished  by this coming Christmas though, they will be done when they are done!

Fleur and Quilt Club Meeting

 Fleur, the Co-ordinator of Grandparents Raising Grandchildren was the guest speaker at my Quilt Club meeting the other evening.  It was interesting to hear about her role in this group, which she took on after she started raising her own grandchildren.  Fleur does a wonderful job and spoke about the challenges grandparents face, as they navigate the changes in their households when they take on their own grandchildren to live with them.  And supporting them through the legal and benefit issues too, which can be daunting when you don't know what to do, or what government department to go to for help.  She also arranges monthly social get togethers, I'm sure that would be very helpful to know you are  not alone.   Sandra, President of our quilt club, Town and Country Quilters, presented Fleur with six children's quilts to be passed on to her families.

Fleur, from GRG, with Sandra

 I've often mentioned GRG and have met with Fleur from time to time over several years, to give her  quilts and draw string bags I had made for her to pass on to children.   As Fleur was leaving with her big bundle of quilts, I took along some more goodies I had out to her car for her, which were my own personal donations.  Two quilts, and a bunch of bags, all stitched during RSC this year. 

Quilts and bags

And do you remember the Snow People I was trying to make earlier this year?  I rather enjoyed stitching their felt clothing, and then the project came to a standstill.  My daughter Nicky made and stuffed the body parts for me, but then I had no idea how to attach the head and arms.  I was all set to dispose of them and a lovely lady from my craft group took them off my hands, finished them, and passed them back to me, I was so grateful.  Mother, Father, and Baby Snow Family went home with Fleur too, she will pass them out to children at Christmas time.

These happy faces will each have a new home with a child very soon

Several months ago I completed a quilt for each of Fleur's grandchildren, after she told me they didn't have one of their own.  I felt that they really deserved their own special quilt each.

Our quilt club members were so impressed with Fleur and GRG that we have decided to gather up some suggested items in need over the next few months,   such as colouring books and pencils,  toiletries, toothbrushes and toothpaste, hankies, that sort of thing.   Then Fleur can distribute items to the children at Christmas.  There are about 90 families that she helps, many more than I realised.

A lot of us quilters all over the world make charity quilts, so it is nice to know these things are going to children in need, and are appreciated.

Sew Wot Tuesday

 I welcomed the Sew Wot ladies at my home on Tuesday, with one apology.  The heat pump was going, to keep us nice and cozy.  Gemma was on the welcoming committee too, checking out all the interesting bags placed on the floor and beside the seats, and enjoying all the pats she received.  Quite often, she can be stand-offish with visitors, but this time she was really lapping up all the attention she was getting.  

Gemma with Sandra and Carol

There was quite a bit of knitting for show and tell.  Mary had been knitting up a storm and had made a pair of socks, and two sets of fingerless gloves.  Her hands were really feeling the cold this winter, she commented, so those gloves will certainly do the trick, keeping her warm.

Mary's socks and gloves

Carol had completed another baby set to be donated to the Neo Natal Ward, comprising of a vest, hat and booties knitted in teal coloured wool, with lemon details.  

Baby set by Carol

And there was more donation knitting by Sandra, a pretty blue jumper, and a cozy red cardigan.  Both very nice indeed, and will keep some youngsters nice and warm.

Sandra's knitting

And I had my recently completed donation quilt to show, string pieced blocks with burgundy batik sashing.  This will be passed on very soon.

My donation quilt

Heather had brought along a pile of quilting magazines, so we spent a little time checking them out, and taking a few which appealed to us.  I offered to take the left over mags down to the Op Shop the next time I go, to save Heather taking them back home again.  Mary was doing some blanket stitch, so I had a look at how she did it, for when I get started on the donated Christmas Stockings.  Will I remember though?  I will probably need to sit down with her again, thread and needle in hand, to make sure I know exactly how to go about it.  Maybe at the next Sew Wots morning.

Morning tea was served, tea and coffees made, thanks Sandra for your help.  As usual, we had plenty to chat about, as the morning progressed.

Morning tea time

It was so nice to welcome everyone, and be the hostess for the morning.  Then in two weeks time, we will meet up again.

Waving the Flag

 This little corgi is waving the flag for Great Britain.  I had stitched three of these, and made two into place mats for my corgi owning grand-daughter as a Christmas gift a couple of years ago.  Why I stitched the third one, I've got no idea.  But I found it hiding in a basket full of stuff recently and thought it was time  I did something with it.

So I decided to make myself a new apron and use the corgi stitchery as a pocket.  I've got lots of aprons, but some are getting rather tatty and should be replaced, so a new one is a good idea.  Full disclosure, I'm a messy cook, and always use an apron when I'm cooking.

Included in a recent parcel of donated fabric was a length of red and navy checked fabric.  I would have preferred to make the apron a little wider, but was working with what I had.  A simple sew, with the pocket stitched on the right hand side, and purchased red tape for the straps.

My new apron

Another recently finished project was a winter cowl neck top, made from cream stretch fabric with a little wool in the mix.  Many years ago I used to do "Knit Wit" stretch sewing, it was very big here in New Zealand and Australia in the 80s and early 90s.  I'm not sure if  this franchise made it's way to overseas countries as well.  There must be former Knit Wit ladies out there, I'm sure.  Luckily I had some stretch machine needles to use, and remembered to pull the fabric slightly while sewing.

New winter top

When my grand-daughter pulled down some crates from the loft for me a wee while ago, there were two full of stretch fabric that I had almost forgotten about.  Some I will use, there are a couple of pretty lengths to make new summer nighties, some I have already sent to the Op Shop, and goodness knows what I will do with the rest.  Years ago I got rid of most of my patterns, just have a couple left.

The Polar blast has moved away, the temperatures are slightly warmer, but it is still winter here, of course.  Rain is forecast now.  Winter weather is not so bad for retired people who don't have to brave the winter weather too much, and at much more civilised hours than workers.  But I can remember my working years, out of the house by 6.30am, travel by bus and train from Upper Hutt to Wellington, work all day then repeat the trip home.  Always traveling in the dark during the winter months, and coming home to a cold house, light the fire, cook a meal, and repeat.    Life is certainly so much simpler now.

Mellow Yellow, and the Fire Brigade

The last remaining dinosaurs have been chilling out with me in the sewing room.   There was just a limited amount of fabric left, enough for a toddler quilt I decided.   And I liked the idea of using yellow as accents, the RSC colour for August.

Here are those funky dinosaurs again

I couldn't match up the dinosaurs, so cut the fabric into four, and added sashing in the middle.  Then yellow and grey borders with nine patch corners.  That's the  top done, it doesn't look too bad, does it.

Dinosaurs roam again

And I always like to get the binding made at this stage so had a look through the stash for something suitable, choosing a white, black and grey print.  Luckily, there was sufficient to make the binding.

Binding prepared

Hopefully I will get this layered and pinned up this week.  There is a nice piece of grey fleece which should be big enough for the backing, otherwise I'll have to come up with Plan B, whatever that might be.

The local firemen came calling on Thursday, at the request of the Body Corporate of our village.  They were here to test the fire alarms in our homes.  One engine came in the morning, and had to rush away to answer a call.  Later on, another engine and crew arrived to complete the job.  Knock, knock, on my door, they poked a pole up into the ceiling alarms to set if off and make sure it  was working, then off to the next house to repeat the operation.   Such a nice bunch of fit young men, and a couple of them  were happy to pose for a photo.  They enjoy getting out in the community, they said, talking to the people.

Helpful and  friendly young men

My Robin used to work for the Fire Service back in the day.  Not as a fireman, but he worked in the corporate office as a Contracts Manager.   One of his major jobs was purchasing new uniforms for the whole country when they changed from the previous ones, this involved a lot of fire testing of the various fabrics used in the articles of clothing.  I remember him commenting that the front line staff  were provided with head to toe clothing, including socks and shoes.

 

More Happy Mail

 I received a message last week telling me that my parcel was on the way.  What parcel, I thought, I'm not falling for that, next they will be sending me a message asking for payment for delivery.  So, thinking it was a scam, I ignored it.  Imagine my surprise when a parcel was delivered to my door.  Obviously it wasn't a scam at all, as I recognised the name of the sender.

The parcel was sent by Jo from Australia who blogs as ButterZ, she had seen the tiny stockings on my blog I had recently stitched.  Then remembered these ones in a box, they had been hanging around for 10 years or so, and she wanted to pass them on, to be completed and put to good use.

Sent all the way from Oz

The parcel contained  such a wonderful assortment, with fused decorations and a band to finish each stocking, with a few being started.  Wow, what a bounty.

This one is almost completed

Stockings of many colours

Thank you so much Jo, I will enjoy doing some slow stitching on these.  I may even learn how to do blanket stitch properly.  Such a lovely variety of colours and decorations, and I'll pass them to a suitable cause when done, although it will no doubt take me a while.  But that is what slow stitching is all about, isn't it.

We have had some lovely days lately, along with plenty of warnings about a polar blast traveling up from Antartica, and forecasting the coldest overnight temperatures the country has had in several years.  Roads over the mountain passes have been closed in the South Island, schools closed for snow days down there as well.  And snow fall in areas not really used to snow at all.  Keep off the icy roads unless your trip is really necessary, we have been warned.  Gemma has been tucking herself up nice and cozy in her cat tower, the heat pump has been going all day long, and I've been making soup.  Broccoli and blue cheese is my latest culinary adventure,  so delicious.

Gemma is nice and cozy in her cat tower

So I hope everyone is keeping themselves safe and warm in my part of the world, and it seems that the heat wave is still around in the Northern Hemisphere too, that must be so draining to cope with, together with the threat of wild fires in some areas.  Lets just keep stitching on!

Tiny Christmas Stockings, and Darning

 I've completed stitching three pair of tiny felt Christmas Stockings, which were handed out at last month's quilt club meeting.  Each set of stockings came with an extra strip of felt.  These will be hung on the display of Christmas Trees in December, our club's entry in the Avenue of Trees.

Red, white and green

After putting my thinking cap on, I had worked out how I wanted to decorate them.  They are tiny, so keep it simple, I decided.  Sadly, I failed miserably with blanket stitch, so just did running stitch instead.  I'm sure it's not that hard, but I just couldn't get my head around it.  Maybe I'll ask the Sew Wots to show me sometime.  With a bit of simple stitching, a couple of buttons, and ribbon hanging loops stitched on, they were done.

White, green and red, and I found one tiny Father Christmas looking for a new home

I can't remember when I last did some darning, but I had a hand knitted sock emergency.  Most of my cozy thick socks are knitted with 8 ply wool, ply 4 ply sock yarn, and these are hole free, so far.  But I did knit a couple of pairs using 12 ply wool in the early days,  and one of these pairs developed a hole under the heel.  There was only one thing to do, try to darn the hole up

That's no good, is it.

I had a very small ball of grey acrylic which toned in quite well, and  used that.  No darning mushroom though - I can remember these from my childhood when my Mother expertly darned socks.  I improvised and slipped a glass into the sock, and started working.  I don't think I'll win any prizes for my darning prowess, but it did the job, so I'm pleased with that.

Finished is better than perfect!

I've just finished another library book, Fallen, by Karin Slaughter.  I've read a lot of her books, but missed this older one somehow.  It features one of my favourite detectives, Will Trent, together with Dr Sara Linton, Will's partner Faith and boss Amanda Wagner.  This was such a gripping story, and I hadn't worked out the who and why as the tale progressed, as it hurtled to the climatic ending.

Just finished, I could hardly put it down

I have seen the Will Trent series on TV and was quite disappointed with the casting.  According to the books, Will is white, tall and lean, with a runner's body shape, and the TV show featured a darker, maybe Mexican character.  Rather like casting Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher, readers all know Jack is a big, powerful, strong  man, so I refused to go and watch the two movies featuring  the much smaller Tom Cruise.  Guess I like things to stay the same.