Happy New Year - Here's to 2026

 

Happy New Year Everyone!  Seems my blogger has already had a glitch and has only just decided to upload the post from November - so apologies for that delay ...... Lets hope blogging in '26 proves to be regular and without issues. 

 With summer heat beating down upon us the magpies are turning up with the babies for a daily feed of rolled oats and whatever bugs they can find in the lawn.  I also keep a dish of water in the shade for them and all the other birds that come through our garden.  It also seems our pool pump is not working 100% and we now have to wait till they are back at work to be able to get someone out to fix it.

Chooky held a zoom both New Years Eve and New Years Day - I was able to join in NYE a couple of times during the day and it was decided the Chookshed Challenge would once again be held with Deana once again hosting for us.  With that, I needed to work out what projects I'd like to work on this year so here is my list .......

Gnomes - there will be at least 3 Gnomes knitted: Professor Fungi; Gnombelberry and Gnock. I'm actually wanting these completed by the end of March so these will be worked on regardless of the numbers lol  I have all the yarn ready and sitting in a basket.

Which leads me to the need for a couple of project bags to hold my knitting in.  This below is something along the lines of what I'm  planning ......

Talking of needs ......Miss Lucy has a specific cushion she prefers to sit on when Pete and I are sitting outside.  It's a very old chair cushion that has well and truly seen better days so I'll be making a new cover for it as it will be coming with us when we head off in the van later in the year.

Whilst I'm on the sewing there are these 2 patterns I've been wanting to do for some time now ..... perhaps if they get given a number it might just happen?

For some hand stitching and more knitting these patterns may come into play .....

I'll have more knitting projects to add during the year - especially over Winter which may or may not include some WIPs but it will include socks!    And I also need / want ..... to include another quilt for our bed....... I'm just not sure which one though.  I'm sure that's more than 10 but anyhow, I'll put some numbers beside them and add the list to my sidebar so it's easy for me to find each month.

See you all soon .........

November News

The start of November, we had the old neighbours from Townsville call in with their van and stay a couple of nights.  It was so lovely to get to catch up with them again.  We took them to the Chocolate and Whisky factory 

Here they are at in front of some of the Whisky section

And then took them on a road trip to the family winery - Booths - Taminick Cellars where Pete grew up.  Its now run by his cousin., but was started by their Grandfather in the early 1900s.

Ros in front of the old barrels 

This is Petes Grandfather - Eska Booth who started the vineyard.

It's been quite busy around here as we head into our Summer and have a number of outside projects we want to try getting completed ..... and some we need to get done - like the boat which will be going on top of the Ute when we go on our big camping trip next year. 

Pete has worked hard on getting the jigsaw pieces together to build the automatic boat lifter (which also has the nifty outboard motor trolley that wheels inside the boat and attaches to be hauled up on top with the boat whilst travelling = No Lifting!

He has also been giving it a paint job to reduce the glare and is working on getting the floor installed .

Meantime the garden is looking lovely with everything out in flower

Lucy and I continue our morning walks 

And of course Crafting continues with these finishes for November.......

My little top - a Fogbound pattern "Idalou" will get used quite a bit 

The gnome collection continues with Gnettle getting finished

And Gnatasha who will be getting sent as a decoration swap

..... Currently working on Gnoel who is getting close to being finished and had lots of colourwork - He is Very tall!

I'm also thrilled to report that the Travel Caddy is finished!!!  The grief it gave me indicates its very unlikely another of these will get made - but I am (as I knew I would be )- very pleased with the final result and knowing how much use it will get coming in the car with me.

Another November Home project is getting the pergola up out the back for the grapevines to climb up and to give us a bit of shelter from the western sun.  I'm hopeful one section gets a cover so that there is a little pathway for when its raining lol  Since Pete is in charge of this project, I'll just have to wait to see if the idea grew into fruition lol. ......... Oh, and we have a Pool Blanket at last which is helping to reduce the amount of dust, dirt and such going into the pool as well as helping to heat it a few degrees (yes, its a solar blanket).

Goodbye to another Year

 

And here we are at the end of another year!  How quickly it seems to have gone this time around - I can hardly believe it will be the start of 2026 tomorrow.   My blogging has been a little spasmodic this past year - perhaps I can hope to improve on that for the coming year ahead.

 

We had Christmas lunch at our daughters home with her and SIL, making the 3.5hr drive down to Melbourne on Christmas morning.  It was a lovely day and she had the table set up so nicely for us.  A little more special as they have had their table stored for the past couple of years since it wouldn't fit into the rental they had - but when they were buying their very first home they wanted to make sure the dining table Pete made for them by hand (wood is Mango which was a slab from our very large Mango tree we had in Maryborough that had to be cut down) - a labour of love and it was a blessing to see them enjoying having it out to use.

Lucy was spoilt with toys and a new bed and lots of attention lol - as were Buttercup and Benjamin bunny rabbits

We stayed down overnight and left the next morning to head home since we had Lucy with us and it can get a little stressful keeping a close eye on her and the 2 house bunnies to ensure they all stay well.

Our outside projects have continued with Pete finishing off the fernery area along the side of the pool which needed immediate attention once we chopped out the palm tree to stop it getting any bigger and damaging the pool.  He's now in the process of hooking up a watering system.  I'm hoping to be able to have this plugged into a timer before we head off in May for our big trip.

He's also managed to get a floor put into the boat (the new topper which will sit on top of the ute when travelling) - and I think it's pretty much ready at last.

Sharing this photo for the overseas girls ..... we caught up with friends just prior to xmas, who have alot of land and recently had an emu wander in to eat the feed being given to the sheep ..... the wife has "adopted " it and so it now comes to the house yard fence requesting food!

Crafting has continued with the majority of it being knitting the past couple of month.  I should also show you the other projects that didn't make it into the last couple of posts ........

I decided to turn this old tin that had been with Dad for many years holding all his "special" documents now that I have finally finished dealing with all of that and turn it into a special tin ......

So from this above to this below.  I padded the top and also used cardboard to help get the shape and glued it in - then adding the lace, needle holder, clip holder and magnet.  If you decide to do something similar, just keep in mind you need to be able to close the tin once you finish with the lace....... so maybe check before glueing.

 I joined in on a couple of mystery KALS - one I finished just today  during the Chookshed Zoom - Gnandad, whilst the other remains a WIP that will get finished off during January

And with that I'll wish you all a very Happy end to 2025 and look forward to a very joyful 2026

Hugs Sharm

Daylesford Girls Weekend

 

Here I am finally blogging about my Girls Weekend away in October to Daylesford!  Since I'm a month behind (where are the weeks disappearing to?) I'll keep this shorter........  The original accommodation meant to take 8 of us turned out to be "under construction due to damage" but we hadn't been notified which meant last minute finding a couple of places to spread ourselves accross and just meet up for various things.  

Such a pretty little town ....

Karen and I did lots  and lots of walking whilst there ...... around the lake before breakfast on the first morning finishing at a lovely little coffee van....... and yes, the weather was cold!

Then a meet up with everyone and Around the convent and grounds after a wonderful morning tea

They had a whole host of these great paintings on various walls and we all lined up next to one to grab a fun photo and try to look similar to one of them lol

 Then Karen and I were Up to the botanical gardens which had a wonderful view from this high tower which had lots of steps! ...... I felt like I was in a lighthouse ....

You can be sure I was hanging on going down all those concrete steps!! ...... slowly, slowly lol after the big climb up!

How cute were these Wombat Statues ...... there were a few others around the gardens as well.

The view from on top of the tower ...... only room for a couple of people to stand at a time

And there you have a very quick round up of the Girls weekend in October at Daylesford!