Lockdown Knitting

Although there hasn’t been much slow stitching taking place during our Lockdown, I have been slowly knitting away.  I’m not a fast knitter by any means, more of the “slow and steady” type.    My first finish was – wait for it – my very first pair of socks!  They turned out a little large, but I’m not undoing them and starting over.  They will be fine keeping my toes warm at home worn with my slippers, after all, winter is just around the corner here in my part of the world.  Just so you don’t think I’m Wonder Woman, these socks were about half done so I just kept going till the end!  I’ve got some more of this wool, and will be knitting another pair, but I’ve gone down a needle size to see if that makes a difference. 

My first socks

I’ve also made two little children's hats, using some fancy yarn given to me ages ago.  I finished knitting the dark blue several weeks ago and remembered putting it away “somewhere safe”.  It took me ages and I had to look in all sorts of places until I finally found that hat!  The pink one is knitted in Eyelash wool, I think it was called, and remember knitting scarves for my grand daughters out of this type of yarn.   These will be going into my donation box for the children in Foster Care.

Two little wooly hats

And lastly, I've been working away on my jersey (sweater) – this is such pretty wool threaded with ribbon, blue -  my favourite colour,  since it is for me.  You really don't want to know how long I've had this wool tucked away.  Made in New Zealand, and called Blue Topaz,  it is 14 ply made up of 53% mohair, 35% rayon ribbon, 10% wool and 2% nylon. Just a simple pattern in stocking stitch on biggish needles, I’ve knitted both sleeves.  And look who came to see what it was all about!

Gemma inspecting my knitting

This wool came in hanks and I needed to wind some more balls.  Robin helped out, and we both remembered being called in to help our mothers back in the day when they wanted to wind their wool.  It was a hard job sitting there with your arms stretched out when you were a young child!

Robin called into service

We are out of Lockdown now, and New Zealand has now dropped restrictions to Level 2 meaning most shops can now open, as long as they adhere to the physical distancing, sanitising, and customer record requirements.  I’m not in too much of a rush to venture out into the big wide world, so will take things slowly.  Like most of the country, I need to get to the hairdressers sometime, and I’ve long finished my library books.  Guess what I’m really hankering for is a nice cup of coffee, but am I ready to go into a café just yet, not too sure.

Green Butterflies and Checkerboard Blocks

I’ve been stitching up dark green this week, and it’s that time again to share what we have made for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  This time I’ve made three more butterflies, and here they are, waiting to join their other colourful cousins in the butterfly collection.  This is a pretty little block, especially with their feelers added, and will make a nice girl’s donation quilt, I think.

Three dark green butterflies

Then it was on to the Checkerboard blocks, using dark green again. Can you see the little kiwi peeping out?  There is not a great deal of contrast between the dark green and the black and white sashing fabric, I feel.  But there are blocks of brighter colours already made, so I’m sure it will all be fine in the end.  This one will eventually become a boys donation quilt.

 

Four Checkerboard blocks

Our Lockdown restrictions have been eased here in New Zealand a little so Yellow Ted has stood down from his window duties, looking out at people walking by and giving them a cheery wave.  Well, he would if he could move his arms, I’m sure about that. Teddy Bears have been placed in windows all over the country over the last couple of months.  Yellow Ted was very proud to be part of the National Pandemic Home Guard Team, he told me!

Good on you, Yellow Ted

Friday Finish

My Sampler top is now finished, once I had decided what to do with the border.  Although I had some floral fabric left, used in each block, it wasn’t enough to go right around.  I know, I thought, I’ll make some four patches, using  shades of red which tone in with the colour of the focus fabric.

Four patches

Once again, I had help when I was measuring up the borders before pinning each one in place.

A helping hand from Gemma

 

Job done – borders attached

Today I’ve prepared the binding, always like to get that done and out of the way.  Then thought about a label.  I wanted to use the “signature blocks” I received from quilters who took part, as well as having an area where I can write the details myself about the block swap.  This will be quite a big label so I will incorporate it into the quilt backing fabric, when I go and buy some.  Our country has now dropped restrictions to Level 2 meaning most shops can now open, as long as they adhere to the physical distancing, santitising, and customer record requirements.  I’m not in too much of a rush to venture out into the big wide world, so my shopping for wide backing fabric can wait for a while longer.  After all, this quilt has been hanging about since the Year 2000, so what's another few weeks in the scheme of things?

One of the Signature blocks sent

Top (almost) finished

I’ve been working away this week assembling my rather old (from year 2000) swap blocks into a top.  These have been tucked away in a crate all this time and only now get the chance to come out and be liberated.  Row by row the blocks have been sewn together, adding pale lilac sashing.  And as I usually do, while stitching my main project, I do leader and ender sewing as well.  In this case, assembling blocks for a donation quilt, it’s amazing how quickly these get stitched up.

Sashing strips and leader and ender sewing

With the rows all together the next step was to add the sashing around the outside edges.  Folding the top in half, I laid in on the floor to measure.  And Gemma  immediately thought this was put down for her amusement.

I’m trying to measure the edges, Gemma

Finally, the last sashing strips were added to the edges, and it was time for a photo shoot.  Almost finished, but not quite.  I’m thinking of what to do for the border, and have a little of the floral fabric left, so will have to come up with a creative idea to finish this project off.

All the blocks assembled

As well as stitching away over the last few days I’ve also done some baking.   It’s feijoa season at the moment and Paul and Elaine’s trees were covered in fruit.  Would you like some, we were asked?  Yes please, and they were dropped off at the door for us.  Thanks so much, much appreciated.  I love them but Robin is not keen on them at all.

A big bag of feijoas

Such a lot of fruit in the bag, and I decided to use some in baking.  So I made feijoa muffins flavoured with cinnamon, these were yummy, and we had one after our evening meal last night.  Just pretend they are made with apple instead of feijoas, I told Robin, and you will enjoy them more.  I also baked a feijoa loaf, which I have packed away in the freezer.  This will be handy to take away once we are permitted to travel around the country again on a caravan trip following our lockdown period -  I’m sure a slice of buttered feijoa loaf will be very tasty for afternoon tea.

Baking with feijoas

So that's been my week safely staying at home during lockdown, what have you been getting up to?

Who is that Masked Woman?

It’s been a while since we ventured out of the house on a trip, that I felt I had to “dress for the occasion”.  Clad in my blue face mask and a pair of disposable gloves to keep my hands clean, I was dressed and ready for action!  I must admit that I felt like a nurse – but on reflection, I wouldn’t have the patience for that profession.

 

Ready to go

I was on a mission, not to buy food supplies, but something much more serious.  I had used up my supply of cream thread for the sewing machine.  Fox’s Cottage was now taking phone or email orders and was open for contactless collection.  I was given a time slot to collect my order and we drove up straight after lunch.

It was a case of one in at a time at the door, and Luchelle was set up with with a table holding hand sanitiser, a customer register, and pay wave payment option.  Many loyal customers are taking advantage of this Level 3 service during the Covid crisis.  Much appreciated, thanks so much.

 

Hello  Luchelle, nice to see you again

My parcel was placed on the table for me to uplift, and then we tootled back home.  The mask has been washed, the gloves discarded, hands washed, and I now have plenty of thread again.  Time to relax with a cuppa, after all that excitement, I think.

What happened in April

Looking back, it  seems that April has been a very productive month.  Mind you, we have all been in Level 4 Lockdown here in New Zealand, just moving to Level 3 with similar restrictions, so hardly any tripping around at all.  I remember that I often used to comment on my lack of stitching endeavours, saying something like “not much time for sewing as we will be away in the caravan this weekend etc”.  Well, during Lockdown that hasn’t happened for a while and all weekends lately have been spent at home, including Easter and Anzac weekends.  So….. a quick recap of the month.

First up was number 4 on my list.  I completed an apron and placemats, using caravan themed fabric I had received a birthday or two ago.  Wonder when we will get to go away for a caravan trip again, could well be some time, I think.

For the caravan

Then I assembled my “Under the Sea”  Block of the Month stitchery designed by Willowberry Designs in 2010.  These blocks had been hanging around much too long so I am  really pleased they have seen the light of day again.  The layers are all safety  pinned together now, so I’ll be ready to get on with the machine quilting soon when number 5 of the dice roll comes around again.

Under the Sea

Tane Mahuta was number 6 on my list.  Inspired by the Tiny Tree stitch-along by Temecula Quilt Co  the idea for this project evolved and grew.  Using two New Zealand batik designs, kowhai tree and ferns, I decided to make the blocks a little bigger and stitched pinwheel blocks instead of the multiple block designs which were offered.  I like to imagine the two fabrics show sunlight filtering down through the branches of this magnificent tree.  My little wall hanging is a tribute  to Tane Mahuta, Lord of the Forest, which is New Zealand’s largest known living kauri tree.  Growing in the Waipoua Forest of Northland, New Zealand it is  estimated to be between 1,250 and 2,500 years old.

Tane Mahuta

Christmas Coins tablecloth was not on my list at all, but soon became my next finish.  All the Christmas coins were small scraps and strips hanging around, some longer than others, wider strips, and narrow ones too. Originally this started as a leader and ender project, just sewing strips together while I was working on something else.  Why not just keep working and finish it, I thought, so I did.

Christmas Coins

After reading about making covers to put on the handles of supermarket trollies, thanks to Cynthia Cynthia, on her blog “Quilting is more fun than housework”, read about it here,  I just had to have a go myself.  They didn't take too long to make, and I chopped up and used an existing small table topper.  Luckily I had some Velcro tucked away to use for the fastenings. It seems a great idea to use these, take them home to wash, and pack away till the next visit,  not only protecting us from Covid 19 but also from coughs, colds and other germs.

Two covers for supermarket trolley handles

And lastly, I’ve assembled blocks from my supply of neutral string blocks.  I had stitched quite a few of these for  when I started on “Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll”, a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt.  Then I decided that Bonnie's quilt have too many little pieces for me to deal with, and the blocks were tucked away.  This is the second child’s donation quilt using these blocks, and this time I’m using teal blue sashing.

Neutral strings quilt top

What else has happened this month?  I’ve kept up to date with making blocks for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects.  We celebrated both Easter and Anzac Day at home, and Gemma had a birthday, she is now two yeas old.  I’ve made a several different pots of soup, so comforting I always think,  tried some  new recipes for dinner, and done some baking.  Many thanks to the gift of a big bag of flour sent down from my daughter Nicky as none could be found on the supermarket shelves.   It’s certainly been a busy month!

Another Roll of the Dice

Here we go again, another week, and another dice roll.  Oops, don’t think it happened last week, but who’s counting these days?  This week I will be working on number one from my List of Six, my neutral strings blocks.  This was started quite some time ago, so I’m pleased to have it to the top of the list again.  I had stitched a whole pile of neutral string pieced blocks, made ages  ago when I started on “Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll”, a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt.  This was as far as I got with the quilt, and last year I made a child’s donation quilt using some of these blocks.  This is number two using these squares, and believe it or not, there will still be enough for a third small quilt!

Put any quilting on the floor, and the cat comes to check it out!

I’m using a teal blue fabric for the sashing, and the rows are now being pieced together.  Let’s see how far I get this week.

Assembling the rows

We had a busy day yesterday when we had a tradesman in the house.  Finally, our heat pump was getting some attention, after weeks of being in Lockdown.  Now that New Zealand has dropped down to Alert Level 3, some businesses can now operate as long as they adhere to the strict rules now in place.  In these Covid 19 days, having a tradesman in the house takes some planning.   While the tradesman was working, for social distancing reasons, we were asked not to be in the same room as him.  I decided to distance myself in the caravan, taking Gemma with me. 

I had packed my library book and knitting and with the kettle on the gas hob, a cup of coffee or two, I was quite happy.  It was a lovely morning, the sunshine was streaming in the windows, and Gemma soon settled down for a snooze.

Relaxing in the caravan

We had decided to get a new replacement heat pump, rather than repair our existing unit.  Jonathan was busy outside at the back of the house replacing the outside unit, while Robin stayed inside.  These units have gas inside (I didn’t know that) which had to be sucked out and safely contained.  The new unit was installed, and as the unit is complete with new refrigerant gas, when the system is sealed the  gas is released, and that part of the job was completed.  After a socially distant lunch break (Jonathan solitary outside on the patio and us inside) the second phase was done, installing the interior unit.    Finally the job was complete after a satisfactory test run, and we were good to go again – ready and waiting for the next cold spell.

Installation complete

While Jonathan was busy working, with the company van parked outside, two neighbours came knocking on the door wanting some work done on their own heat pumps.  With two extra jobs to be logged, the company will be pleased with that, I’m sure.

Thank You Cynthia - More Lockdown Sewing

While browsing my favoutite blogs the other day, as you do, I came across this great idea from Cynthia, on her blog “Quilting is more fun than housework”.  It was all about how she made a cover to put on the handle of supermarket trollies - read about it here.  So practical, I just had to have a go myself.

Mine started with a small table topper made with New Zealand designs which I previously used in the caravan.  That will do, I thought.  Gemma decided that of course I wanted her too in the shot, isn’t that why I laid it on the carpet?

Mmm, I can see some kiwis here.

It was quite an easy make, what's a little more Lockdown sewing to fill in an afternoon?  First I chopped the black borders off, then sliced it in half, giving me two rectangles.  Sew some binding on, add some Velcro for closure, and here we go, all finished.  I wasn't quite sure how to judge the diameter of the handles, so used a roll of baking paper to give me some guidance.  I can always resew one side of the Velcro later on if its not quite right.

Two supermarket handle covers

So here they are, two supermarket trolley handle covers.  It seems a great idea to use these, take them home to wash, and pack away till the next visit.  (Perhaps using a terry hand towel would also work).  Mind you, it’s not only supermarkets which provide trollies is it, our local veggie shop, big stores like The Warehouse, Bunnings and Mitre 10, and that old favourite, Spotlight.  Once these stores open up again the covers will come in handy, not only protecting us from Covid 19 but also from coughs, colds and other germs.

Thanks so much Cynthia for sharing such a great idea, much appreciated.

Blue Selvedge Sewing, and Anzac Day

The month is rolling on and I’ve completed my last lot of blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  This month the colour is light/bright blue and I've been working on my two selvedge projects.  Quite simple sewing, I’ve made a blue selvedge block which will join the other colours to eventually become a bag.  And another little selvedge spool block – I’m making this to hang in my sewing room (spare bedroom in reality).

Last blue blocks for the month

Wonder what colour will be chosen for May?  Guess we will just have to wait and see.

Here in New Zealand and over in Australia our countries have  just celebrated Anzac Day. ANZAC is an acronym for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, a grouping of several divisions created early in the Great War of 1914–18.  The Anzacs first saw action at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. The small cove where the Australian and New Zealand troops landed was quickly dubbed Anzac Cove. Soon the word was being used to describe all the Australian and New Zealand soldiers fighting on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Later it came to mean any Australian or New Zealand soldier.

This year, because of Covid 19 Lockdown, the first time in more than a century, there'll be no dawn services to commemorate ANZAC Day.  People are encouraged to mark it in their own way, perhaps placing poppies in their letter boxes, or in windows. We have our hand crafted ceramic poppy outside our kitchen window.  This was purchased three years ago when we visited the Great War Exhibition at the historic Dominion Museum in Wellington -   read about our visit here.  And the New Zealand flag is proudly flying from our flagpole.

Our poppy and flag

Giving thanks to all our Anzac heroes, past and present.

Christmas Coins

I blame Jocelyn who writes as Canadian Needle Nana for this, check out her version of Christmas Coins here.  Such a great idea, I thought, so why not make something similar for myself.  All the Christmas coins were small scraps and strips hanging around, some longer than others, wider strips, and narrow ones too, so nothing Christmassy was cut from stash at this stage.  I’ve never been what you would call a scrappy quilter, so with mixing up all sorts of colours and designs, and different widths too, this project was a real adventure for me.  Originally this started as a leader and ender project, just sewing strips together while I was working on something else.

Lots of various strips

With all the pieces stitched, and trimmed to a uniform size, I then worked out how to assemble it, deciding on four rows of coins separated by strips of a green and white festive print.  I’ve no idea where this print came from, not something I purchased, so I must have picked it up somewhere as a give-away.  I finished it with a Christmassy border.  This little project was always going to be a Christmas tablecloth, I decided, so it is quilted with just two layers.  Here it is on the caravan table to see how it fits, not too bad, really.

Christmas tablecloth in the caravan

And talking of caravans, we are not sure when we will finally get away for our next trip.  With being in the Covid 19 Lockdown, non essential travel is not permitted, which means holidays of course.  Here in New Zealand, at this stage, we are only to travel locally for food or medical supplies.

Here’s an outdoor shot, to show it a bit better.  I used up most of my Christmassy scraps, but there are lots of other strips hanging about.   Maybe I’ll make something similar for a donation quilt one day.

Outdoors photo shoot

How about a “Blast from the Past”?  I remember using that Christmas print on an apron some years ago, so I’ve had that fabric for a long time.  I rummaged around looking for the apron, and also looking back through the blog to get the date.  This was made for the  Christmas Apron Challenge for my club, Pinestream Quilters of Upper Hutt at the time,  way back in November 2009. The challenge was to make a Christmas themed apron, of our own design. I am definitely a wearer of aprons, so this challenge certainly took my fancy. I used a commercial apron pattern (tissue paper) that I knew I had from years gone by, (Butterick 4066). I decided to stitch the selvage from the Christmas fabric across the apron bib. The print was used for the straps, pockets and the apron hem, teamed with cream homespun. It didn’t turn out too bad, if I do say so myself.  Although I didn't win a prize for my apron that night, I was thrilled when it was shown on the Selvedge blog, read about it here.   https://romanyquilting.blogspot.com/2009/12/im-so-excited.html

Robin took a photo of me wearing the apron, and his comment was “You look like you are in the Sound of Music”.  Goodness me, I think I do – such a shame I’m not much of a singer!

I’ve been wondering why the design Chinese Coins is so named?  Did they really stack lots of colourful coins one on top of each other in a big pile?  Someone is sure to know.

Happy Birthday Gemma

It’s our beautiful Birman Gemma’s birthday and she has turned two.  I had originally planned a little afternoon tea with a few friends here at home to celebrate, but that of course can’t happen during these Lockdown times.

She’s grown from this little cutie…..

To this grown up cat

We had a bit of extra excitement when we took delivery of our first foray into Lockdown shopping.  This took us a while to organise,  lots of time on the lap top,  and we finally found a spare delivery spot, a week later than when we placed the order.

Home delivery

It was all very well done, we thought.  The delivery man dropped a carton at the door, then went back for the perishables, milk, cheese, fresh meat and frozen items.  These were transported in chilly bags and packed with ice bags, we were assured.  That’s good, I did wonder how these items would be dealt with.  Everything was soon unpacked and put away, and Gemma decided to check to make sure that we hadn't forgotten anything.

Anything left behind?

Happy Birthday Gemma - it’s been a fun two years. 

The Tiny Tree is Growing

Its now Week Four of Lockdown and I'm still keeping myself busy, pottering around.  Lately I’ve been working on assembling my blocks from the Temecula Tiny Tree stitch-along from late last year.  As already mentioned, I’m doing my version a little differently, mainly because I really didn’t want to stitch tiny blocks of 2 3/4in unfinished!  So my tiny tree is already growing.

Of course Gemma wanted to help, jumping up on the bed as soon as I laid the quilt top out to see how it was looking.  I don’t have a design wall so have to use the top of the bed or the floor.  Mind you, in our small home there’s not a great deal  of spare floor space either.

Am I a big help, Mum?

It’s not been a nice day here at all today, heavy rain and then the thunder was booming overhead.  Gemma didn’t like the loud noises at all, and buried herself under the batting which I had laid over the quilt top to see if it was big enough.  Here she is with her tail hanging out, hoping that big noisy monster doesn’t get her!

Hiding from the thunder

With such nasty weather it was lucky that I had some tasty French Onion soup bubbling away for lunch.  I had also made some keto cheesy bread rolls, not terribly successful as they ended up more like cheese scones, but still tasty with a warming bowl of soup.   I love making home made soup, such a great comfort food in the cold weather, and there is plenty left over for tomorrow’s lunch too.

French Onion soup for lunch