Challenge Planning - 2025

It's time to get ready for planning for Creativity for 2025!!  This time every year I get sooooo inspired, but for the past few years by the time it's gotten to May I'm trudging through the ditches ...SO This year it's time to get things back on track, how they used to be about a decade ago!  Lets Begin with joining in with Deana from Dreamworthy Quilts who will be once again running the ChookShed Challenge :)

Last year I had 3 lists - this year I'm doing 2 lists (I think) - one for Sewing related and one for Yarn related.  The decluttering list from last year is on a separate page and still being worked on, so it can just continue as is!

I'll also add my list to my sidebar to make it easier to find during the year .......

SEWING:

1.  Trifles Quilt

2. Fusion Quilt (sewing and crochet involved)

3. Blocks for Hen House Quilt/ or blocks for the Kiwi Birds Quilt

4. Dog Cushion for the Ute so Lucy can see out (this may have to be moved to the first on the list)

5. I Spy Quilt / Embroidery Item

6. Staceys long awaited Bridal Shower Wall Quilt

7. Xmas Stitchery

8. Giraffe or other stuffed toy/animal

9.  An item for the gift bag

10. Choose one of the above or a bright shiny newbie or another UFO hiding away

KNITTING/ CROCHET:

1. Crochet Top WIP (for which the name currently alludes me and I'm too lazy to go find it)

2. Kore (This will hopefully become the OWL  for advanced studies in term1 of HPKCHC)

3. Sandswirl Mitts / straightforward mitts

4. Artus - WIP barely started and with lots of graphs to try to follow

5. Goldenfern Sweater - WIP with its yarn currently hiding from me somewhere!!!

6. Some sort of Dragon inspired crochet blanket for LJ (eldest grandson) for his 21st birthday - possibly inspired by Threefold crochet blanket by the Crochet Swirl)

7. Elio the Dragon / or Emotional Support Chicken/ Tina Turtle Pincushion (see Ravelry for patterns)

8. Crochet Curtain for Sewing Room Window

9. Socks - (I'd like to get at least 3 pairs knitted over the year)

10. Dishcloths or working on any of the above.

NB:  Many of the knitted/Crochet items on the list will need to be worked on throughout the year so may feature alongside whatever number is going for the month.

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As for other Challenges:

I need both to loose weight and to try for 10,000 steps / day ...... and a photo each day might be fun - this will likely be another page added to this blog

Then there will be the Ravelry Group HPKCHC (Harry Potter Knit & Crochet House Cup) - this will involve a 2-3 month challenge (OWL ) for which I'm hoping my proposal for KORE will be accepted. I have the yarn and have swatched and need to wait until the "GO" date 

This is the pattern

There will also be other challenges during the first 3 months yet to be advised but based around crafting so hopefully most of my listed items will get a chance to feature here as well!

And that should do me for challenges for 2025!!!  Real Life may interrupt at times, but I'm hopeful to work a way around that moving forward!!

Big Thankyou to Deana for hosting the Chookshed Challenge once again!

December Round Up

Knitting and Crochet Finishes for 2024

Well, it's certainly been a year, but then for me (and Hubby), it's actually been a heck of a decade!! Rather than rehash all the stuff from the past 10 years, I'd rather just share what I've been doing these past couple of weeks as I begin to look for a new rhythm for the next year - the next decade!  There will always be troughs and valleys in the road,  wastelands to trudge and rivers to swim through which make the mountain tops all that much sweeter when you can stand there for a short time and enjoy the view.  For this next decade I'm hopeful to find Bridges to cross the valleys, boats to cross the rivers and a train for getting across the wastelands with some extremely long term accommodation on the mountain tops................   Yeah, dreaming again lol

Above are my Knitting/Crochet finishes for 2024 ..... unfortunately I seem to have more WIPs for Sewing than I do fiished with just this double sided  baby blanket completed - although I'm pretty sure I finished one for Mila as well ?? This one went to Abbie to snuggle under

I've been enjoying reading another book by Dilly Court . Christine introduced me to these books

when we were on sewing retreat last year at Scrub Stitchin and during the year I've been lucky enough to pick up  titles from various Opp Shops and Second Hand Bookstores in the local area! 

We will be doing another road trip this year to attend Scrub Stitchin up at Baradine and are currently planning a catch up sometime in January to work on details lol We had such fun last year, we want to make the most of it again this next year.  In the meantime, I've pulled out the stitchery we received whilst there and I'm working on getting all the embroidery done before we head back - who knows, it might even get put together but we shall see!

  I was working on it during a recent Zoom meeting with some of the others from the Chook Shed,

and then I worked on it a bit more the following morning with a zoom that was being hosted by one of the Ravelry Groups....... And AGAIN this morning  when a number of girls from OS were on ...... During which I might add was mentioned the Chook Shed Challenge for 2025! So I need to get a list made up - last year I had 3 lists - I'm not sure yet what this years list or lists will look like lol

But here is my progress on my stitchery..............

I briefly mentioned the Harry Potter Cup Group in my last post and I'm excited to be part of it as I feel it's going to help get a few more projects sorted out this year.  I know it sure helped me get inspired again to get back to some sewing as well as knitting over November and December.  They have a number of challenges going on at any one time which you can choose to take part in or not .... but if you are "sorted by Sir Hat ...... into one of the groups ...... then the challenges provide points to the houses and each term, points are added up to see which house wins the House Cup! It's virtual points ect, but the story lines that go into it all are simply amazing, as are the number of moderators who assist! The houses are all made up of craft loving people from around the world so the Houses are not like the characteristics in the books so to speak.    I'm extremely happy to have been sorted into a house and made it into Slytherin where I have managed to fit right in with my wacky sense of humour..........  

Lucy and I continue to do our daily walks - I can't really get out of them since she is looking for them each morning - although some morning walks are longer than others depending on the weather and what I want to get done that morning! 

There was also chatter on the Chook Shed Zoom of challenging ourselves to at least a 10 min walk each day ...... while that's not a problem for me with Lucy and her built in watch ....... I might attempt to "step things up" this year and go back to aiming for 10,000 steps/ day ....... I'll try to keep track on that!  I also saw somewhere a "photo a day" which I'm thinking about ....... I have till tomorrow to decide lol

 How can you resist this face ....... lol

I'm currently making a list of all my WIP's and UFO's that are sitting in various stages of completion - they need to be sorted so I can see what I actually want to work on and ditch any that I am totally over!  Apart from that, I also have projects that I would very much like to make this year, and then there are items that will be made simply because they need to replace things or they are required for gifting and such.  Already I know I have way more on my list than is realistic, and that's before any "bright new shiny" items catch my attention!!!  So off I go to work on my 2025 ChookShed Challenge List  ....... Stay Tuned!

 

Getting back to things…..

 The past few weeks I have to admit to having felt like something one of the Harvesting machines had run over and spit out the other end!  

  The stormy sky captures it well  ( it’s actually one of our friends farms over in Boorhaman attempting to get the wheat in before the storms a couple weeks ago) …….

Dads service was here in Corowa and live streamed and then Stacey, Kathy & I took his ashes back to Brisbane to be buried.  I’ve made a start on the paperwork side of things and hope to get quite a bit sorted while I’m on Christmas leave from work.

Pete got the slate sealed on the hearth which looks great …… the flue still needs to go through the roof and be sealed but that needs to wait till about March now when the weather is cool enough to be able to sit on a tin roof cutting holes and sealing the flue in!! It’s looking good from in here at least ….

And I am able to finally report that the Down the Rabbit Hole Quilt has FINALLY been completed  and is now in use on the bed!  What a shame I hadn’t realised that the outer borders should not have followed the pattern placement - since on a bed the outer borders are upside down on the parts where you see them ….but oh well - I can live with it! 

Whilst on Ravelry in the harsh weeks of November whilst working on Eulogies and service brochures and dealing with the various family personalities ( and wishing I was a hermit) …..I was lucky enough to stumble upon a group that is based around Harry Potter - now while I’m probably one of the few people yet to see all the films & have never read the books - the group is set up with soooo many activities / crafting challenges and so on and so forth that it was just what I needed to take my mind elsewhere and do some small bits of crafting …..in fact it’s what got me inspired to actually finish the binding on the quilt! 

Currently working on a colourwork sock no1 of the pair

My nook of sanity

And I should include saying Thankyou to Wendy over at 

Sugarlane Designs for hosting Friday Sew Ins during the year ……my linking is not working on the iPads so I’ll try to fix it later on the laptop ……… I'm Currently working on a sock but I need to pull out the many WIPs and use the days over Christmas to think about any particular crafting projects I’d like to work on ……after all, it won’t be too long away before it’s time for Scrub Stichin again!!! OH, how I’m looking forward to that!!! I’m also excited for the road trip that Christine & I will make again on our way up there and back!! 

Pete and I will be spending Christmas Day by ourselves here with Lucy to keep us company.  Stace & John will be in Melbourne and the Townsville Crew will be up there.  As for the eldest son - unfortunately that’s a touchy subject best left in Gods hands. 

I had to take a trip to Narrandera last week for the Team Meeting for work and managed to arrive a little early so I could get to the sewing shop there just as it opened ...... I didn't think I was getting anything until I was about to walk out of the shop and my love of all things chook related stopped me in my tracks!!!   And then it came home with me ........ And will be on my list of projects for next year without a doubt lol

So with only a couple of days left till Christmas Day - I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas 

RIP Dad

 On Saturday 2nd November Dad passed away.  We had a few days with him palliating as he grew weaker which gave time to be able to contact various family and for my step sister Kathy to fly over from New Zealand.  Both Kathy and I were with him as he took his final breath.  He was 95 years and 9 months old!

I've been busy getting things together for a service for him.  He has gone for cremation and the service will be held on Monday 25th November at Corowa.   We will take his ashes up to Brisbane as per his request and they will be buried in the plot at Hemmant Cemetery on Thursday 28th November.

These were a couple of photos taken of him in the Nursing Home over the past couple of months - where he had more enjoyment than he would ever let on lol

Dad always used to get a thrill out of the blog books we were able to get printed from our blogs ...... what a shame that is no longer available to us.

A big thankyou to those who have been in contact.  Unfortunately I totally lost my voice 3 days after he passed away after a very stressful week prior.  It has gradually come  back, but still not quite there - although I seem to have developed a terrible cough!  Let's just say I will be glad to see December after quite a trying year!   It already seems strange not having to head over to see Dad or check on things for him ect.  I expect after the past 10 years of having to do so much for him, that's to be expected!

Anyhow Dad - You are now at peace and at rest - Home at Last in God's loving arms. xo

The Bar is Closed ......

Lol, yep it was time to take the Bar out from the Dining room area ready to get the big wood heater installed (the one Pete picked up on special in July) ....... As I said to Pete - we have Spring, Summer and Autumn to get it in.  It's our big project for the remainder of this year ....... it changes the dining area but it will also change the outside area ..... not to mention all the items had being stored behind the bar lol 

When we first moved in here there was no wood fire. (There is gas central heating plus a small gas fire heater in the lounge - given the price of gas, we chose to instal a small wood heater which has done a fabulous job and we have never had to use the central heating). Due to the bar being where it was we chose to put the small one in front of it to the corner.  It hasn't been an ideal spot, but at the time we had little choices.

With Pete seeing a big wood heater on special brought down from $3000 to just $900 (floor stock) it was a no brainer to get

it!  We had been discussing taking the bar out just to give us more room and open the room up since we have never used the bar for its intended purpose and for the past 3 years has proven to be nothing more than a dumping zone and storage area!!         

I spent time clearing some stuff out and then the rest was dumped into the guest room to deal with ...... soon lol  First the back shelves came down.  I had an idea that  the Bar would look good if we could get it out in a way that we could move it up to the pool area and use it up there - but Pete still had to work out just how it was put together .......

Thankfully he is handy and was inspired to get to it so it was all systems go while the going was good!!

Oh noooo ........ Just what Pete was thinking might have been the case ...... The previous owners had installed the bar first and then had the floor tiled around it!!! ......... Always a glitch .....  And the tiles were from the 90s and of course no spares were left here - although a couple of left overs had been used to tile the top of the outside BBQ (glued down so hard they only came off in bits!)  Notice below how awkward the space is??  Yep, we got a tiler in to have a look - Nope no tiles similar and they make them a different thickness now as well ....... Talked about taking up a section and retiling with a "feature" - which quoted at $5000 and 5 days of work which would include sanding back the stuff left by the tiles.............  

But now, I think we have a solution!!  At least, its going to be OUR solution and that's that!  After measuring out where the heater would sit and such we have organised for a tiler to make up a hearth with some slate tiles (I had picked out a lovely stone tile but of course that's discontinued!)  

Anyhow the missing section will be filled with "floor levelling stuff" which looks a bit like concrete  (and has now been completed and drying off) - which I will then paint in a colour that fingers crossed will blend in with the tiles.  Hopefully there should only be a smaller section of it that will show once we get the hearth down.

It sure does open the room up now! And the small wood heater will go up to the shed once we have the big one fully installed!  No way will I suggest it gets dismantled until the other one is in working order!!

So then we had to move the bar out ..... great fun and a few bruises later we had it sitting in parts up at the pool undercover area.  I was able to use that base board piece to show Pete what I meant about the Bar being up there and we used it to check out various positions where it might fit

More work has been going on up at the pool area with Pete changing the brickwork on the BBQ to fit the bar in how he wants it, and the shelves will be going up on the wall as well.  And of course more to do inside ....... as I said, its a big project (or several projects connected into a large one)

Time in Melbourne

 Like most of you out there it's been rather busy around here ....... just day to day stuff I guess but I sure would love to get on top of it all at some point lol!  We had been planning to travel to Townsville for the Granddaughters 16th birthday but with them having to go to the Gold Coast for a wedding and deciding to spend time there having a holiday ect ect ect ....... it just had to be put to the side.  Instead I decided to head to Melbourne to celebrate the daughters birthday with her and we had the best time making some lovely memories!  

Since the train was all booked up, I chose to drive down which meant I could take down some of my homemade soaps for them and also a birthday gift for her friend who is like an adopted daughter to us since they have known each other since the start of high school.  I drove down Thursday for a late lunch with Stacey and Carly.  Carly has a little baby girl, Abbie and it was lovely getting to meet her in person - and of course I had some handmade knitting for her!

Abbie in the little knitted cardi

She is such a good baby

Friday we headed to do a bit of a quick shopping trip then into the city for a Persian Lamp Class which had been booked and was our gift to Stace for her birthday (her choice - although I'm not sure who had the most fun lol).  During the class we enjoyed some turkish delight and a hot apple tea which were both very yummy.

Saturday it was off to the Werribee Zoo which has some "open plains" for the animals to roam in........

The Giraffes decided to get up close to the open bus we were on 

Keep your hands in or they will bite we were warned lol

Meerkat babies 

Since they live not far from the Zoo we were back at her place in time to head to lunch with John and then to the pet shop which has some of it's birds out of the cages so they continue to interact with people ........ John had some fun with the Macaws lol

I headed back home Sunday morning as I needed to get some clearing out done of the bar area which is being removed  ............ I'll be posting about this shortly 

Until then .........

Sewing Room Turnover

Before

I've never really enjoyed being in the sewing room here at this house.  Probably because I had the "office/paperwork stuff" in here as well - unlike Bundalong where I had a little cabin dedicated to the sewing and Maryborough which had a lovely large room ..... here its a smaller bedroom.  Some stuff has not been sorted since our move and just dumped into the "sewing room" and more stuff gets dumped when you don't enjoy the room......... I guess it's when my sewing mojo started leaving.  It got soooo bad that I was ready to throw out sewing stuff but then I got a visit from Christine and we talked about another girls trip to Scrub Stichin next year and just like that my mojo returned BUT a I had to come up with some idea that could turn the current disaster spot into something I actually enjoyed spending time in!  

Before Photos from various angles

As per usual ….all good ideas come as you are drifting off to sleep and it coincided with Pete heading off Friday for a 2 day fishing trip!  Bingo!!! We have a winning situation!!  Off to Wangaratta to visit Bunnings with my list ……. 2 cubed 2 x 2 modular unit flat packs with 8 fabric drawer inserts and some paints ( chalk pink, green and cream) ……

 Friday night was putting together the flat packs while watching some TV renovation shows to keep the momentum going

Saturday- up early and after taking Lucy for her walk it was time to clear out the piles ( to the guest room to deal with afterwards) - the plan today was to clear half the room to allow for furniture to be moved and painted …..first up the little white washed desk was changed to a pink wash 

The cupboard used to keep my yarn needed to be unloaded, painted and then moved to its new position beside the window.  How I hate the curtains in this room (see top photos - they were here when we moved in ) - so the one where the cupboard was going was taken to the bin and with that a whole flood of light came into this dark dingy room 🤩 WOW! Light just makes such a difference to a room!  The other curtain is yet to come off - at the time it was unreachable during the process lol 

While the paint dried I started a bit of the sorting process.  I’d already moved the big desk into its new position and I began the touch up painting on the white bookshelf.  

Once the cupboard, pink table and white bookshelf were in position the modular cupboards were moved into the room to create my vision of making them into a “table top” with 8 large drawers underneath to hold materials and such! 

I think it worked well!  What do you think?? Still a bit to complete the room but getting there .....

The black filing cabinet was moved into that position - initially to get it out the way as I had planned for it to go into the wardrobe in the guest room ...... 

 And by Sunday morning I was able to briefly have room to sit and zoom with a few of the girls before I had to start my prep for a colonoscopy today.  Yesterday.  I had to move a couple of things to get to the desk and set up the laptop lol

One of the main reasons for the 2 modular units being placed back to back was to make a small cutting table for myself in the room whilst also providing lots of storage!

During Zoom, I mentioned the material pile stuffed in the guest room wardrobe ……. Karen suggested I should make note of it as others might be in the same way lol  As it turns out, it wasn't quite as bad once I got started on it.......

So while I waited for the prep to begin its effects I decided I’d start pulling out the little scrap bits of fabric …….which ended up in me sorting all of it ……… and stacking it in the drawers of the cubed modular units .......   I decided to sort the larger pieces into colours - Pinks, Purples and Reds

Cream, White, Yellow, Apricot and Beige

Blues and Greens in the green drawer and jelly rolls/ Fat Quarters ect not yet unwrapped into the pink drawer

On the other side in the bottom green I have non Cotton fabrics and in pink bottom are the christmas fabrics and a pile of new tea towels and face washers (which get crocheted into hand towels).  The top drawers are relatively empty at this point ........ and now that I'm placing things around I've decided to keep the black filing cabinet and a smaller 2 drawer filing cabinet in this room.  I plan to paint them both to tie in with the room and 4 of the drawers will be used for patterns/magazines ect and  WIP's for both knitting and sewing projects  During the sorting into drawers process I was finally able to unpack the bag of goodies from Scrub Stitchin and put them into the drawers!

So over the next while I will continue to work on the finishing touches and remaining piles ...... I've even managed to use the small TV and DVD player that Dad had and have it sitting on top of the currently black filing cabinet while I checked out if it would work....... it does!!!  And I already L O V E being in this room!!!!   So until next time ........... Hugs Sharm xo