I’m all Yo-yo’d Out

The dice rolled number 6 this week, which is my “Yo Yo – just do it”  project.  It’s been a while since I looked in this bag.  With a couple of spare afternoons this week, I decided to “just do it” and hopefully finish with these yo-yos once and for all. 

A bag full of yo-yos

I’ve spent several sunny afternoons sitting outside under our shady arch-gola.  Gemma has loved being outside with me – there are bugs to check out in the lawn, nice warm concrete to roll on, but she had better be careful of those bees buzzing around the lavender bush.  I keep her on her harness and lead while she is outside – she is so active she would be up and over the fence in no time at all. 

Checking out new surroundings

Inside my bag were all these different sized yo-yos I had stitched which were to become a snowman.

It took me a couple of afternoons to put the snowman together, much longer than I thought.  And here it is, together with the reindeer I finished earlier in the year.  The patterns used were Yuletide Yo-Yos from Indigo Junction.

And then there were these brown ones, which were to become a gingerbread man.  I found this pattern in a Christmas magazine.

Overall, it took me hours and hours to stitch the hands and feet on, and to thread all the yo-yos together, and I have to say that I didn’t enjoy it one little bit.  And worse than that, I didn’t like what I ended up with.  Sadly, I feel rather like a young Mum who cannot bond with her new baby, and wants nothing to do with it.  That’s how I feel about these three of the yo-yo people I have created – take them away!

Waiting to be adopted

It’s obvious that yo-yos are just not my thing, and I declare that I will never stitch another one!  I’m glad I persevered through to the bitter end, as these could have ended up in the bin months ago.  The best thing to do, I've decided, is to  donate them to one of the local Op Shops and hopefully someone else will love them more than I do.  If anyone would like the pattern, I’ll be happy to post it to you.  Just ask for the pattern in a comment, and give me a nice pat on the back to get me over my feeling of inadequacy!

On a happier note, I’ve started on my Christmas Cake.  Maybe a little late for the purists who seem to  make them months in advance of Christmas.  I’m using a recipe by well known Kiwi cook Alison Holst, known as Saint Holst in our household.  The fruit and a tin of crushed pineapple are  soaking together for a day or two, before mixing all the other goodies together.  Have to admit that I came rather late to baking my own Christmas Cake, making my first one only a couple of years ago.  And there’s no doubt about it, home made tastes so much nicer than a bought one!

Farewell to Jody

This weekend we set of on the 200km journey up to Hastings.  Rather a sad trip this time, to support my sister Kathleen and Dennis as their younger daughter died of a brain hemorrhage in Australia last week, where she had lived for some years.  We joined family and friends at a  memorial get together on Saturday to remember Jody and celebrate her life.  Her older sister put together a photo board showing aspects of Jody’s life, and friends had sent or brought around some lovely floral tributes.

 

We are staying at an apple orchard in Hastings, and apple picking is still in full swing.  Some of the people staying here in their caravans and motor-homes have seasonal work at the nearby packing houses.  Boxes of apples are waiting to be collected and taken to the processing centre.   

Staying at the apple orchard

After recently completing my yo-yo Rudolph the Reindeer, I had packed my bag of yo-yos to make the next seasonal yo-yo toy, a snowman.  And got this little lot gathered together over the weekend, so I’m quite pleased about that.

Yo-yos for a snowman

Welcome to Randolph

Completed at last, my Rudolph the Reindeer with his red nose.  After being packed away so long, (out of sight, out of mind), this project finally re-surfaced this week and I’ve been working diligently to get him finished.  There wasn’t really that much to do, all the yo-yos were done, and I used a mixture of tan and cream fabrics, most with a Christmas theme.  But I was a bit worried about putting all the pieces together.  The head needed all the features hand stitched in place, button eye, Rudolph's red nose and ears stitched in place, and his mouth embroidered.  My goodness, those antlers caused me grief.  Then came the business of stringing  him all together.

Follow the instructions

Lots of baby yo-yos for arms and legs

I had a few false starts, and a little un-stringing and starting again, but eventually Rudolph was all done.  Probably not perfect, but at least he is finished. Then cheeky little Rudolph decided he wanted to check out the rhubarb patch.

I must admit that I didn’t really enjoy this project, guess I’m not really a yo-yo lover or a toy maker.  But I feel committed to making the snowman too from this pattern.  After all, I’ve got all this much done, so far.  And I rather like Santa too, but I may or may not make him, I'll see how I feel after I struggle putting the snow man together.

Snowman parts done so far

My stitching yesterday was done sitting outside on the patio area under our new “Archgola” canopy, read about it here.  We got it installed to give us much needed shade in the summer, and it seems that it may well be handy in the cooler seasons too.

Canopy over the patio

What’s happening with the Yo-Yos?

Remember this?  I purchased the pattern Yuletide Yo-Yos ages ago while on one of our caravan trips. I’d never made yo-yos before and rather liked these happy Christmas creations.

As I mentioned last blog, this project las been sitting in a bag for ages.  After all this time, I wondered what I would find inside.  I certainly remember working on making yo-yos for the reindeer some time ago.  And here are all the reindeer pieces, several bags of brown yo-yos in different sizes, looks like I’d finished making them.  Plus a stuffed head, four little black hooves, ears and a tail.  I stitched and stuffed the antlers from brown felt yesterday.

All the pieces

It’s all coming back to me now – I was rather concerned on how on earth to assemble this.  So I bundled it all up, and hid it away, but that doesn’t really make the problem go away, does it?  Just as well I finally listed this project on my List of Six UFOs and the dice called it's number this week.  Out came the instruction sheet and I’ve slowly been putting Rudolf’s head together.  Wish me luck that he will be in one piece tomorrow.

One of those Days

Do you ever have one of those days when nothing seems to go right?  I wanted to do a quick bit of machine quilting “secret sewing” with my walking foot but the stitching just wasn’t going well at all.  Something was wrong, but what?  Perhaps it was the reel of thread I was using, I admit it was an old reel I’d picked up somewhere along the way.  No change, so I took the walking foot off and reattached it.  No difference, but the foot didn’t seem to be working as it should as the layers were shifting.  The backing fabric I had chosen was puckering, so maybe it was a mixture and not quilting fabric quality, so that was changed as well.  Each of these changes entailed a whole lot of unpicking, some more careful pressing and pinning, and a whole lot of time.  I concluded that my machine was due for a service, and I’d get the walking foot checked out as well.  What a pain, I’d wasted hours with nothing to show in the end.

Interesting though, was the fact that there was no problem with ordinary stitching.  So I joined a few lengths to make some binding for my hand quilting project, and prepared a hanging sleeve.  Thank goodness that small job went well.

It was time to roll the dice again, and with two projects on my List of Six up to the machine quilting stage, I had previously been hoping, before my troubles started,  that one of these would see the light of day this week.  But it seems it will be mostly hand sewing this week, as the dice landed on number six.  Which is, after several years of neglect  “Yo Yos – just do it” with all sorts of bits and pieces tucked away in this bag. This might take a bit of sorting out before I actually start – wish me luck!

Yo-Yos hiding in this bag

Winter has officially started down here in New Zealand, and will continue during the months of June, July and August.  It’s one of those cold, damp days today, so I’ve got my crock-pot (slow cooker) looking after the evening meal for me.  I’ve prepared steak and kidney casserole with heaps of veggies added in.  There's something quite therapeutic chopping up the meat and browning it, chopping and slicing carrots, parsnips and onions to add to the meat.  And then you get that lovely smell of slow cooking wafting through the kitchen as meal gently cooks all day – I love winter food!