February Crafting around the Cottage

 

Happy Valentines Day! Can you believe its mid February - a sure sign now that if you blink for too long this year is going to be over!  Each year seems to go by so much quicker than it ever used to - but then I also wonder if it just seems that way because we are all so busy with endless emails, social media, mobile phones with instant messages and all the endless IT stuff we are now linked to!  I'm sure things moved slower when the bills arrived in the mailbox and you had to wait till you were heading into town to go to the various places to pay them.  Phone calls were on the land line so you didn't have to constantly have incoming calls and messages whilst out doing things ....... anyhow - I digress and I'm very thankful that I still have a couple of snail mail friends ....... oh how I enjoy it when they arrive in the mailbox! But apart from writing some letters, I have also been busy in the craftroom ......

Let's begin with the Chookshed Challenge - with Deana picking out Number 8 this month.  For me

that is  socks/ shawl or a hand embroidery item to work on.  I decided to pull out an old WIP shawl - started back in April 2024 and thrown into the corner when I realised there were several charts I would have to work from.  Charts back then were quite a frightening prospect, but since having to work from charts for the colourwork gnomes, I feel like I'm ready to give it another go.  When I picked it up I had done to the dark brown and white band.  I've had to frog back to there after doing 12 rows and finding my pattern was completely out (got the front and back rows mixed up and the results were not so pretty) So after frogging I've made a bit of progress.

We've had our little granddaughter (Miss M) out visiting the past few weeks - she just turned 2 at the start of February and is very much "Daddy's Girl".  I pulled out the Scotty Dog pattern I had bought last year and made it up for her - she seemed to like it when I gave it to her today which was good.

And after discovering a little moth like creature had eaten holes through some of my yarn I've had to
throw out about 10 balls!  I haven't had a chance to check the rest - in fact I started to knit up a poncho ready for Autumn weather for Miss M and after a few rows found the yarn had been chewed into some smaller sections .......... so that got ripped out and thrown out once I realised how bad it was.   I've started for the 3rd time and so far this yarn seems to be ok !  This time in a purple colour.   I'm a little concerned how much damage there might be - even though I have sprayed in there at various times!  I was browsing some patterns yesterday morning and came across this poncho and kept going back to it - I really love it's simplicity and practicality.

The temperature tree cross stitch is slowly making progress.  I find I need my stronger glasses to work on it and can only manage about 7 leaves at a time when the lighter colours are being used.  We had a 10 degree drop in temperature earlier this week so my tree is going to be showing a variety of colours.

Early morning walks have been quite nice with the cooler temps and dawn just breaking - 

The other morning we even had a hot air balloon going over the houses here and down to the river before heading back to whereever it had come from.  Whilst they are more common around other areas, we don't usually see them here, so it was quite a nice surprise to the morning walk.

I've finished knitting another Gnome - this time Professor Fungi and I love how the tweed yarn has worked so well with him.  So that makes 2 Gnomes so far this year - I have plans for at least 1 more which I hope to have completed by the end of March.  I'll likely give them a rest for a while then I think as I have larger projects planned for the cooler weather.

And with so many young kookaburras around it wasn't long before we had to pull out another one from the pool.  This young one was only released a week ago from a wildlife rescuer just close to us and it seemed very thin so we contacted her and it turned out it was the same one - so he has gone back there to be fed up and given another trial release in a week or two.  

I'm off to sort out the roast for dinner and get things sorted ready for work tomorrow.  I hope you all have a fabulous week.  Hugs,

                                                   Sharm 

January Round Up

 It's the very last day of January - thankfully with a cooler change - we are down to just 30 C today (86f) which is such a relief after the week of high temps ranging from the mid 40s to 48 c 2 days ago (118.4f ) - its been a burning heat.  

Dog walks have been very early and you could see the colour in the Sun as it rose that it was going to be a scorcher ..... and a very pink sun when we had some of the smoke from the fires blown in which made it very eery.   

The council kept the sport field watered and it has been a lovely green reprieve for the doggos in the morning with the rest of the park area brown!

The animals and birds have been struggling ...... we had a young kookaburra dive too deep into our
pool and got stuck - luckily I happened to see the ripples in the pool as it struggled and I was able to scoop it out - it was totally drenched and obviously very tired from thrashing around in the pool.  Pete was able to lift the scoop up to the roof of the shed so it could dry off - meantime, its mates were flying over to keep a check and sat up in the gum tree waiting for it to dry out and join them - which it did eventually!  Poor Guy ...... we have a few bird baths and dishes of water in both the front and back yard that most of the other birds visit.

Soooooo - Finished projects for January - the 2 cushion pad covers for Miss Lucy; the bag for the boat safety equip for the van ...... and Gnombelberry (still need to get his backpack completed).

WIPs which were started in January include a sock with self patterning yarn,

 the Temperature Tree Cross Stitch (first week completed) and the branch for January

And I've started the 2nd Gnome for this year ....... Gnock from the pattern Someone to write Gnome about - which works well with my love of snail mail (although that has certainly dwindled over the past 10 years) ........ It's a very long hat!

And on other January news ......... my Run Down Under medal arrived showing my annual amount of kms I walked (and recorded) - I no longer am able to run - I need to pick up the pace if I'm to ever make it around Australia lol

And we had an overnight visit from Stace and John (and bunnies and birdies) - it was lovely to have them come and spend some time up here with us.

It's hard to believe that January has come to an end already and tomorrow we head into February - a short month - no doubt it will be over before we can blink - until then, Hugs Sharm xo

January FNSI and crafting update

Gnandad completed in the last days of December

For FNSI  with Wendy  I began with setting up and starting work on the temperature Tree crossstitch that quite a few undertook last year.  It was March/April when I decided I'd like to do it and unfortunately the BOM doesn't keep daily records for Corowa and with all I had on last year, I decided it could wait till 2026 ........ My last cross stitch was back in the late 90s and it was about 2inch square and the only cross stitch I've ever done ...... so this should be quite the "adventure" lol.

Today I also had to sew up a bag to hold the boat safety equipment which will travel in the van and need to be pulled out when we stop and want to use the boat.  I decided it would be much easier to have it all together in a large bag rather than having to look in several cupboards or various places for all the bits needed ........ I used some plastic backed curtaining material I had here left over from curtains made for the house in Maryborough and fashioned it into a bag - then decided to add a plastic pocket to the front so I could make a list of what was in the bag (handy for when things need to go back)

Then  yesterday I changed over to working on the current gnome ……working on his hat.

And managed to make up some more of the muscle relief balm which has a mix of various essential oils and works to relief pain due to inflammation like you get with arthritis and those pesky sore knees and backs - 

Gnombelberry is finished apart from his backpack which I have yet to knit ....... I have the feeling it is going to be a very fiddly process and not one for these extra hot days we are having at present!  My little family of Gnomes is growing ...... the one right up top of the post was completed in the last couple of days of December ..... Gnandad - 3 are planned for the first part of this year and then I'll see what my thoughts are about future members...

 Number 3 is the current project for Chookshed Challenge .......... it seems my Number 3 project is working on a knitted Gnome (check ✅) and making a new cover for each of Lucy's cushion pads which I actually accomplished last weekend so that's a double check  ✅✅ You can see how worn and grotty looking the old covers were - I found some thicker cotton fabric in my stash and she seems quite content with the new ones.  She prefers to lay on these when Pete and I are sitting outside on chairs

I have the need for another couple of quilts for various beds so I've yet to work out just what they might be ...... or when that might be ........ but maybe one of them will link in with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and use up lots of old stash I want gone ....... so stay tuned

Until next time

Hugs

Sharm

 

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).