It’s May

 

Sunrise across the paddocks at Boorhaman

I did have something organised to put on here for the end of April but just never got to completing it.   So lets do a quick check in on where we are at here in May – my Birthday Month 

I managed to finish off the Bridal Shower Booklet for Stace which I will give to her in June when I am down in Melbourne next.

 

The wood Heater had the last bits finished off by Pete whilst I was at Scrub Stitchin

 

And is now busy chugging away keeping the house nice and cosy – although the weather is really quite mild for this time of year!

I’ve become quite involved in the HPKCHC Group in Ravelry and it’s been very busy with lots of projects getting worked on.  For the most part I have my plan of attach with what projects I want/need to get made and then tend to fit those into the various “classes” and things – its all for pretend points for the “Houses” but works as great motivation and comradery.

I’m currently working on several projects – no surprise there lol  

I’ve managed to get a little knitted coat made for Abbie for her first birthday (One of Stacey’s best friends - Carly’s little daughter – who is becoming our unofficially adopted granddaughter).  I’d love to be making things for little Mila, but alas, until our eldest son gets over whatever it is we don’t get to see her – It is what it is and best left in God’s hands!  Anyhow, I will get this to Abbie in June when I’m down in Melbourne!

 A start and Progress on This which will be for Stacey and John’s house warming when they get settlement on their
very first house at the start of June …….  

 

I’ve started working on the Fusion Quilt which will be made using Tilda fabrics – There will be 100 completed blocks to make up and join together.  It's been quite the process which began with collecting Tilda Fabrics from last year and this years Sewing Retreats and a couple of other "Girl" Weekends which included visits to Fabric shops lol.

I think I'll share a separate post for this project once I get a bit more completed but here is the very first finished block - I wanted to see if I would be happy with the pink crochet edging so decided to try it on a blue block - I'm very happy with the results and think it should work quite nicely!

And I've started working on a pair of fingerless gloves ....... This is yarn that came back from Ireland - the green came from one friend on a visit to her family and the white was brought back with another friend who travelled over to Ireland for her 60th a number of years ago - finally they are getting used!

 

Last week saw me getting tangled up with the next door neighbours cat that seems to spend more time at our place than where it should be – long story short it bit me which resulted in a trip to the emergency room in Wangaratta hospital the very next morning where I received IV Antibiotics and had an orthopaedic surgeon remove the infected tissue from the bite areas and give it a surgical wash out! Not impressed at all and yes, the neighbours were told and even though they are nice neighbours I have to say I'm Very disappointed in the overall  response – meantime I at least took my latest book with me and got quite a bit read ...... this sequel seems to be a bit slow getting going .....

 I get the sutures out this

coming Friday – my Birthday!

That was also Mothers Day weekend and my lovely Son, DIL and Grandchildren from Townsville sent me a delightful package which I’ve been enjoying. Stacey and John have

given me a gift voucher for the Annual Chrysanthemums which I will pick up when in Wang

during the week.

I'v'e been enjoying drinking the Breakfast and Afternoon teas so far ....... yet to sample the Earl Grey...........

Sunrise from our front garden

I’ll talk to you all again very soon

Hugs

Sharm

April Roundup

 

Time for the April round up before this month is over!!  Firstly a bit more from Scrub Stitchin ..... while there I made a start on the wonderful project that was in our gift bag - now I've finally unpacked I can show you!  More about it when I pull it out next month to work on.

Also need to show you this lovely gift that Christine left with me before she headed home ..... I sure hope we get to enjoy another road trip together next year .......Yep, I'm fully hooked and have put the dates aside for Scrub Stitchin next year lol 

Janice shared this quilt during show and tell ......... it got me thinking (always dangerous lol)

Yep, I have been wanting to make a "travel" quilt for a couple of years - having purchased some

appropriate material when Pete bought a camper off people when we were in Maryborough!  I was super excited at the time, thinking we would actually go do some travelling and camping ...... yeah right!!  The boat is the only thing worth towing apparently but since we will be doing some travelling in July/August (all be it in "pet friendly" cabins) - I've decided to use this pattern and the materials to make the travel quilt!!!  It will then become  "MY" Travel quilt for all girly weekends!!  I made a start with the help of Janice (via messages, phone calls and lots of pictures lol) ........ then I realised I wasn't going to have enough of the background dark red ........ I've had to wait to access some material shops to try getting something close enough to use so perhaps in the next week I'll get back to it!

Of course hand quilting on the "Down the Rabbit Hole " continues ...... its almost like a saga now! (so I don't think a photo is required lol) But it is my number 9 on the Chookshed Challenge list so its certainly being attended to!   Unlike the Rainbow Scrap Challenge which is sitting in the corner .... waiting ...... don't worry - it has LOTS of company lol

While Pete has been off for the weekend fishing with mates, I had to get busy with the needles and hook ..........

Another little Beanie for Mila - such a quick and easy pattern .... Melange Baby Beanie

On the needles below is Artus  _ I'm loving the way the waffle pattern looks and I've just completed the first small section of colourwork .... charts are yet to come and I'm not sure how I'm going to find those ...........

On the hook is a cot sized blanket requested for Mila, so it's having to take a step forward in the production line as the temperatures here begin to drop ....... I'm trying to incorporate a range of colours into it - although Lucy from Attic 24 always uses 15 colours in her blankets (this may end up with a couple more ???) ..... and yes, it's one of her patterns  - The Dune Blanket  ....... I'm not sure yet about how the colours are progressing ........ What do you think??

Well that's it for the moment ...... off to do more hooking lol 

Take care, 

Sharm

Yarn Just Makes it Right ......

Winding Yarn ready for a new scarf

Yarn just seems to have this soothing sensation to it that just makes the world a better place .... don't you think??   Although you may think I've been sitting on my hands all month I can assure you that is far from the case! 
My little sewing cabin is now the home of all the household boxes that have been packed up and are awaiting the first shift scheduled for mid June when hubbie and I plan to head to our home in Maryborough for 2 weeks of Annual Leave.  We figured we may as well get a removalist in and get all the excess stuff moved up there and just be left with minimal stuff here till we sell.   Naturally minimal to

The sewing cabin is now the storage centre

me means that I need to ensure I have sufficient yarn of various weights and types for any knitting or crochet projects I'll need to do between now and whenever the house sells ....... and of course I must keep out my BOM projects and materials ........ and then there is the hexie blogging tablecloth (which is due for a post of its own in the near future) ....... and of course I best keep out the smaller hexie stuff just in case .........

Pete has been busy sorting and cutting bits of wood ...... Burls to be exact for a project or two he has in mind when the new journey begins .......   Seems we both enjoy a bit of creativity lol

Anyhow at the very least I've managed to get a couple of projects completed during April ....... The

Jeans cushion for daughter Stacey before her operation ( Thankyou to those who have asked after her, she seems to be doing well and we finally received the results back that the lump removed is not cancerous! 

And I've also managed to finish a pair of fingerless gloves - my first ever pair.  The pattern is Grey Islands by Laura Aylor using a worsted weight yarn (12 ply), so they will be perfect for the

cooler weather that is rolling in here at the moment!  Hubbie even lit the fire up this week, so it will be kept going now until we head off on holidays in June.

All the sorting and packing has been keeping me busy between that and work so it was lovely to go and visit the Ravely Site the other day ................. Naturally that meant pulling some yarn out of my

The 4 yarns planned for the scarf

stash pile and enjoying the therapeutic goodness of winding it  ready to begin the new project ....... Laura Aylors newest scarf pattern "So Happy Together".  I'm loving the texture that's being created with this easy knit.  Also loving using some of this yarn that I've had stashed for quite a bit ...... Merino with 15% silk in it  (the white and Blue yarn, Red is angora and the multi colour is from Little Plum Yarn).  Click on my ravelry link on the side bar and go to my projects page to see further details.

Another work in progress is Jaxsons  cotton crochet blanket ....... I'm just working on the edging now so it will be a finish in May.

Up to date on the "Down the Rabbit Hole" BOM with the next month pattern due out in a couple of days.

And just to add to April,  I decided I needed to improve my health and fitness ........ so I've bitten

the bullet and signed up for a round of 12WBT which begins on May 8.  I'm currently working on the preseason stuff which is super important!  I know this from previous rounds over the past few years as it gets your mindset in the right place and sets you up ready for the 12 weeks which tend to fly by before you have time to take a breath!!

So, what have you been up to this month??  Can't wait to hear ......
Hugs, Sharm

FNWF and Stage 2 Kitchen Garden

FNWF (Friday Night With Friends) hosted by Cheryll  was on and as usual I seem to take the entire weekend with snippets of craft work happening throughout.  We actually had our daughter and her partner stop in for a quick visit.  I had pancakes cooking for dinner (Friday nights here are often very simple meals), which they were happy to enjoy while they caught up with "Grandpa" and us. ........ not to mention daughter was actually up for a kitchen tea and had asked for an assortment of my handmades.    She bought a fruit basket and we filled it with the stuff I had made ....... the dishcloths and handtowels from the last post (minus 2 dishcloths she kept for their kitchen), a bottle of the laundry liquid, some soaps, candlemelts, jam and relish.  I was surprised how well it ended up looking lol 

Mostly though, my weekend was spent trying to catch time to keep going with the knitting of Dh's Stonehaven Jumper ....... its getting mighty close as you can see.  Not tooooo much more of the sleeve to go and then I'll have the collar.  I'm really hoping I can get it finished before the MKAL starts.  


The organisers of the Outlander Mkal had to change the name to Dragonfly Mkal due to some trouble with copyright.  

   I'm looking forward to making this shawl.  My yarns arrived from Bendigo Mills for collection at the post office on Saturday morning!  After a bit of a debate and asking hubbie for input ....... I'll be using the Mink and Shadow colours.  We have a clue of "plaid" and I think these will work well together and give a bit of a hint of "Thompson" Clan, being my maiden name (or at the least, the name I was born with).

 

After taking that photo from the previous post with the tartan project bag, I've been thinking about how those windows on that end of "The Beehive" (aka the cabin), needed to be painted .  DH originally started painting them to match the guttering of the house since it sits right next to it ...... but this end is not visible to the road  since it ends at the washing line and has a high fence beside it.  As the wood pile from here gets used, my plan has been to turn this area into a little cottage garden which will be nice for the Beehive setting as well.  I pulled out some old paints we had here .... and also did a couple of touches elsewhere.  DH presented me with a planter box he made up for the area!  I also claimed the very old wheelbarrow (which I intend to paint also).  It's a work in progress - I'm ok with doing it bit by bit ...... it has all of Autumn and Winter to get ready!

A full view from the clothes line looking down.

 

Sandpiper Shawl

I'm absolutely thrilled to be able to say I've finished my first ever knitted shawl! I worked on it Friday night and over the weekend!  It's also my first venture into lace knitting, something I didn't think I would attempt for at least another year, but when Laura Aylor decided to host a KAL on her Ravelry group for her new shawl, it seemed the perfect opportunity........and Voila!

These yummy yarns from Berry Colourful Yarns that I had won in the KAL I took part in last year (remember my first jumper, which was the hooded one )........ They seemed to jump out as the perfect yarn to make this shawl, and wow, they were so soft and light and easy to knit with!  I loved using them and I still have a bit of the main colour (sea breeze) left and heaps of the other two (driftwood is the dark grey, and sea glass has a green blue colour that seems to change depending on what it's close to).

If you've ever wondered about washing a just finished project and blocking, it's a must ( as I discovered) for this type of knitting especially since it helps to give life to those lace stitches and gives them the definition they don't have prior to blocking!

It's been just over a year since I picked up the knitting needles and started this new journey with so many interesting bits to it....... Yep, loving it!!!