Out and About

 I've been out and about lately, going here, and going there.  I was at a craft group last week, and we meet in a beautiful old property called Thompson House, home of a former doctor who lived and worked here.   I believe it has been gifted to the community and groups can hire the rooms for meetings.

Thompson House

 One of the ladies there that afternoon teaches bobbin lace.  She had all sorts of exquisite samples on display.  It's such beautiful fine work, but not something I would have the patience for.

Lace samples and bobbins

Melanie had been working on signs of the zodiac and had one for Libra, the Scales of Justice.  That's my sign, I told her, so she very generously gifted it to me.  Here it is at home, pinned up on one of the spools on my thread spool wall hanging in my sewing room.  

Libra, the Scales of Justice

I'm a member of Age Concern, and go there weekly for my easy balance and exercise class.  They also hold meetings about various subjects of interest to older people, and last week held a movie afternoon, free for the members.  That was fun, there were decorations and balloons galore in the room, and we were treated to bags of popcorn or chippies, tea, coffee and juice was available, and we were presented with  small bags of liquorioce allsorts and jaffas.  The film was called "Thelma" and told the story of an elderly lady who was scammed into sending money, supposably to help her grandson, and the police couldn't help her.  So Thelma took matters into her own hands, and with the help of an elderly friend and his mobility scooter, tracked the scammers down, got into their computer, and with telephone help from her grandson, managed to transfer her money back into her account!

Don't mess with Thelma

And to help with me getting out and about, I'm pleased to say that I passed my 80th driving assessment, I was able to apply a couple of months early.  Here in New Zealand drivers have to get a medical clearance to keep driving at 75, 80, and every two years after that.  I went to have an eye test at the opticians, then had an appointment with the doctor, who asked me questions as he filled in several pre printed pages.  "I know you don't have diabetes, and your heart is good", he said as he worked his way through the form.  That was good to know.  Tick, tick, tick, he went through the questions, then, "all done", he told me.  At my 75th assessment, our previous doctor had asked me all sorts of questions, including counting back from 100 by 7, and other general  knowledge questions, so I was a bit worried about what my current doctor would ask me.  "I know you", he said, "and I know there is nothing wrong with your memory".  Whew.... all that worry about nothing!

I've had to do some car stuff this month, things that Robin used to take care of.  Such as apply for the annual car registration, get a Warrant of Fitness, and the car insurance is due as well.  And last time I filled the car up, I wanted to use up some of the petrol vouchers I have, so called into one of the local service stations.  When I went in to settle up, the attendant was rather worried.  "Did you know you've just filled your car with diesel?" he asked.  I assured him that everything is fine, my little car runs on diesel, which is quite unusual here for small cars.  Although Robin used to top my car up for me, he impressed on me not to put petrol in the tank, which would ruin the engine!  Just as well I took that lesson to heart.

Purple and Teal

 It was time to stitch up my purple block for Rainbow Scrap Challenge for my boy's donation quilt - that was easily done.  I laid them out on the bed and had a count and discovered I only needed one more block.  So I made an executive decision and made the final block, this time in teal.  Surely the colour teal will be selected in the next month or two, I reasoned.

Purple and teal blocks

With these two last blocks done, I decided I may as well  assemble the quilt top.  I don't have room for  a design board and often use my bed to lay blocks out and rearrange them.  A couple of afternoons at the sewing machine soon had the black sashing in place.  Then the black borders were added, and voila, the top was finished.

The top is finished

Part way through making these blocks I had run out of the original black and white fabric, so had to go to my LQS and buy some more.  I couldn't get exactly what I was using previously, but thought the black and white polka dots blended in quite well.  Hopefully I will get this layered and pinned up shortly.

Gemma has been curled up some days in her little hidey hole in her cat tower.  A good place to snooze on these winter days, especially when the rain is pouring down.  She is not too keen on going outside then, she hates getting her little paws wet and doesn't like the wind in her face!  She's such a diva.

She's all nice and cozy in here

The Keeper of the Quilt

 My niece Lisa called in for a visit the other day when she was passing by on a holiday trip.  I had asked her if she would like to become the "keeper of the quilt".  This is a family quilt, one I made for my mother for her 80th birthday back in 2002.  I had sent pieces of fabric out to everyone and asked them to write, embellish, or embroider something of themselves as a message to go on the 80th birthday quilt.   It was exciting to see all the individual blocks being returned. Lisa was delighted to take the quilt into her safe keeping.

Lisa and the family quilt

There were blocks from us four siblings, two son in laws, and all the grandchildren, and a very special nephew.  The youngest grandchild had his baby hand traced.  I added extra blocks in the names of my mother's sisters.  There were several photos printed on fabric, a special one of my grandmother who sadly died when my mother was about 8 years old or so.  The largest photo is of my mother and hung in the family home when I was growing up.  And underneath are three smaller photos of her over the years.

The 80th Birthday Quilt

I really enjoyed putting this together and making extra blocks to fill in spaces as required.  We had a family get together for this special birthday, and the quilt was presented.  All those very special family blocks were inspected, oohed and ahhed over, and admired.  

Sadly, as often happens, this quilt was deemed "too good to use" and was folded up and put away.  Many thanks to Lisa for taking care of the quilt now, and she told me she plans to use it and snuggle under it.  That's a nice thought, knowing that Lisa will be surrounded by all those family members, some have passed away and all the little ones are now well grown up.

And now, 23 years later, I will be turning 80 this year.  Goodness me, how did that happen?

A Knitting Finish

 Just to show that I do knit other things than socks, I have finally finished the little cream toddler toddler jumper.   This was started many years ago  by my friend Eileen for her grand daughter.  The girl is growing up fast so I suggested to Eileen that she pass the knitting over to me - I can finish it and donate it to somewhere worthwhile.  There was only about six inches done on the back, and because our tensions could well be different, I unraveled it to start over again.

This is what I received from Eileen

I've been working slowly away on this project over the last 6 months or so, knitting a little here and a little there, in between other things.  The design has a pattern on the front and back shoulders and I wasn't too sure how complicated that would be.  It wasn't too bad at all, I just needed to concentrate and read the pattern carefully.  The sleeves were easy to knit, then the neckband and the button facings and I was all done.  This is a nice design, and I would like to knit it again, sometime in the future.

Finished at last

Gemma likes it too

There was a small amount of wool left so I cast on a hat and started knitting away.  No, that's not going to work, there's not enough left to knit a hat.  So I cast on a pair of booties instead, believe it or not, I can't remember ever knitting booties before, so this must be my first pair.  This is a nice pattern, knitted flat with a seam up the back, and a little folded over cuff.  So cute.

My first booties

These items will be donated.  I plan to knit a couple more pair of booties and pass them on to The Nest Collective, a charity which supports new mothers and their babies.  And the jumper will find a good home too.

Finished - A Touch of Orange

 It's great to have a finish, isn't it and just today I've just finished my donation quilt featuring string pieced neutral blocks with the feature fabric being strange creatures, half insects and half machines.  I'm sure this will appeal to a young boy.  A couple of weeks ago I had completed the top.

Top completed

Then it was layered and pinned and I started machine quilting.  This always takes me longer than I think it should.   I don't like to sit at the sewing machine for hours at a time as it hurts my back, so I spread my machine time out making sure I get up and move around every half hour or so.

Machine quilting

The binding was stitched on, folded over and clipped in place.  Stitching it down was a job to do when I went to my quilt club's sewing day today.  

Binding time

It was a lovely day out, I was busy with my binding, someone was making crazy patchwork, while others were busy working on donation quilts using gifted fabric.  There was plenty of friendly chatter going on, and with stops for morning tea and lunch, the time just flew by.  I had taken some home made pumpkin soup for lunch, and snap...... one of the other ladies had pumpkin soup as well.  

I keep my binding clips in a lovely little box, a gift from my daughter Nicky.  Several of the ladies came over to see what I was working on  and were most intruiged with my box.  I'm pleased that I put the last stitches in the  binding  just before I left to return home.  It's always so satisfying to get this job done.

My lovely little box from my daughter

So here it is, back at home, all rolled up and showing the cozy fleece backing.  So nice and cuddly and  will keep some child nice and warm.

All done, and ready for donation

Wardrobe Malfunction

I heard a funny noise the other morning, but didn't think too much about it, perhaps it was the traffic on the road out the back.  But later in the morning when I went to hang some freshly ironed clothes  away, I saw what it was.  The wardrobe shelf and clothes rail had parted company with the wall, and was hanging by a screw!  Oh dear, what to do now?

Ooops, it gave way

I had an electrician around the following day, Callum, a nice young man just starting out in business on his own,  to replace the light fitting in the front porch.  Perhaps he would be able to recommend someone who could help.  Yes he could, there was another tradesman who he knew and had worked with, so passed on his phone number to me.  I must admit that I find this recent spate of home maintenance  a bit of a trial to organise, it's not something I have had to do before.  Something else went wrong recently too, which completely overwhelmed me, but that's another story.

So the day that Brent was coming to look at both wardrobe fittings, the other one in the sewing room had collapsed earlier and looked in danger of doing it again, I spent hours removing everything.  Various items were taken off the top shelf, shoes were bundled into a big bag, and clothes were stacked on the bedroom chair and on top of the bed.

That wasn't so bad, but the wardrobe in the sewing room was much more of a challenge.  I had a basket full of project bags sitting on the floor at the wardrobe door, which had to be moved, and umpteen RSC projects in bags piled up beside the basket, waiting to be completed.

This is just part of it

Inside the wardrobe were our winter clothes, they all came out.  Who knew that Robin had so many jackets hanging up including two sets of bright yellow vinyl wet weather trousers and jackets?  The hangers were cleared, then I had to deal with what was on the wardrobe floor.  Four large plastic crates chock full, and  bags containing unfinished projects, or materials gathered for new ones. And quite a few fleecy backings too, I noticed, and batting.

How did it all fit in the wardrobe?

I couldn't resist peeking inside this one - string pieced blocks, sashing cut ready to go, chickens to stitch, and several lengths of fabric for backings.  I'd completely forgotten all about these.  There was even another bag of neutral strings hidden away.  Everything was piled up - so much stuff I had put away and forgotten about.

I'd forgotten all about this bag

Tradesman Brent called around, we discussed what needed doing, and he will also trim back a tree for me which has a branch growing over the top of the clothesline.  He will come back bright and early on Friday morning he told me.  Oh dear, that means I have to move that big pile of clothes on hangers for the following two nights so that I can get into bed.  

The wardrobe fittings are now fixed, Brent added an extra piece of timber behind them for added strength.  I was a bit mortified when he asked for a soft broom so he could brush a few spider webs away!  But as someone told  me, a few whispy spider webs means that the home is warm and dry, according to a real estate agent.  So that has to be good, just sloppy housekeeping I guess.

Arrived bright and early on a cold wet morning

So now things have to be put away.  The bedroom is almost back to normal, and it is a chance to sort through Robin's clothes as well.  But the sewing room is another story.  I really need to go through those crates and umpteen bags before they get placed back.  And sort out all those rain jackets which Robin had tucked away.

With so many RSC block sets discovered, don't let me start any new ones next year!  I knew I had a few, but there really are a lot more that I realised.  Plus several assembled RSC quilts piled up on the chair waiting to be layered, pinned and quilted.    Oh dear, wish me luck with all this!