Off to Cohuna

I’m off to Cohuna this morning for the Spinners and Weavers meeting. Can’t wait.  Rang my friend Lyn last night to say I was going and she will meet me there.  We have been comparing our dyeing efforts via phone calls and even with using the same plant materials we have come up with different colours so it will be interesting to compare the wools in the “flesh” and our notes to see what the differences are.

I have been spinning and knitting up some of the most beautiful black Alapaca that Lyn gave me.  Truly it is the softest and warmest “wool” I have ever used.  Absolutely beautiful and it is a true black – not a semi black/brown that you often get.

Of course I just couldn’t wait to knit it so Mum dug out the tried and true mitten pattern that she always used and I have been busy knitting.  The coloured stripes are white Alpaca that is dyed using purple crepe paper.  I kid you not!!!  Sorry the photo isn’t better and no I haven’t forgotton to blog my dyeing efforts – just got to find the photos and some time.  Naturally I’m taking the mittens, I finished the second mitten last night,  for show and tell today – after all I have never knitted a pair of mittens before…vbg.

Just have to leave you with a photo of my beautiful red roses that are blooming with profusion in the garden.  These are long stemmed red roses that I grew from cuttings way back when I was working as a florist.  Not a lot of perfume but the bud shape and even the open flowers are simply magnificant.

Have a lovely day

The Giddy Spinner.

Manly Garden Help

For ages I have been wanting some Manly Garden Help.  You know the kind – a strong, kind, intelligent Man to lug things around the garden, put things where I want them, pick up and dispose of weeds and most importantly not question just why I want something just there.

Well I sort of got what I wanted.

I did get the strong, kind, intellegent kind of help that I wanted and needed.  He did lug things around the garden for me – namely a seat and some pavers.  He even got rid of some weeds for me……..annnnd he did remove the dozen or so star pickets that just happened to be stored in this little area.  Why they were there I’m not quite sure.

But I have to say I didn’t get the kind of help that didn’t question just why I wanted the seat there and just why I wanted to put the brushwood fencing on the gate to disguise the mess beyond it and did I really need those big heavy pavers moved.  Although in the end even James had to admit that it was a really nice area and as soon as I train the Climbing Black Boy roses to cover the top of this little area it will be very nice and shady.

He didn’t think that I should bring my spinning out here though as he thought I may forget to pick him up from school or get distracted by the garden and not get any spinning done.

We have now decided that at the sides of the little “path” to the seat that we will plant agapanthus in clumps and the rest of the area will be well mulched so that the “Snow in Summer” ground cover that is surviving under both rose bushes will spread and give us  pretty silvery grey foliage with delicate white flowers.

My Manly Garden Help also donned ear muffs and used his muscles to push the lawn mover today to clean up the edges while I mowed the rest with the tractor so at least the lawn/weeds look tidy for another week.

Just think how much I could get done in the garden if I had this kind of help every day.  Pity it only happens when he needs to pay of the new game he bought for his Nintendo DS….sigh.

Weedingly  Yours,

The Weary Gardeners

PS – I have been playing with more dyes and particularly plant based dyes and did dye some wool today with the same Black Boy Roses you see in the photo.  Photos and a blog post soon.  Just got to get over the holidays and the local show which is this weekend.  Schools back next week – crossing fingers that life will go back to normal – whatever normal is.

Another Pair of Socks

Hand dyed socks, originally uploaded by Calidores Gardener.

So today the sun is shining, a gentle breeze is blowing and there are rumors in this household that we may be going motor bike riding – again!!! Which could be interesting as yesterday it rained all day so there will be mud everywhere – which I think is half the attraction for James and Ashley….sigh. Never mind the fact that I will have to wash everything when we get home.

So in a moment of saving my sanity (and to ward off any thoughts of dirty laundry) I just had to post a photo of my latest sock.

Hand dyed wool which is an absolutely dream to knit with. I started the sock on 3 mm needles as the wool seemed a little thicker than wool I used in my first pair of socks which used 2.5 mm needles. Luckily I only knitted about 6 rows of the rib before trying them on. They were way to big. I started again on the 2.5mm needles and they are just right.

There is no way any breezes, accidently or otherwise, are going to get near my ankles as the wool is knitting up to be quite a dense knit.

Off to hang out the mountains of washing that didn’t get done yesterday due to the rain, and to prepare for what might possibly be more mountains of washing tonight. I hope your weekend has been a good one. Just think peace and quiet tomorrow as the new school term starts. Not that I’m doing the happy dance at all…….wicked grin.

A Tiny Bit of Crochet

Now before I show you a couple of photos of what I have been working on can I just say for the record that I can’t crochet.  Well at least I didn’t think I could.

My Grandmother, who did the most beautiful crochet from delicate doileys to heavy woolen rugs, tried to teach me once or twice when I was very young. I think, from memory,  I managed the basics and that was about it.

Many years later my sister tried to teach me and ended up throwing my crocheted efforts, wool and hook across the room in disgust.  Which kind of gave me the impression that I was a  hopeless case when it came to the  fine art of crochet.

Not too long ago I found this hat pattern on Kraemer Yarns.  You will have to scroll down to the Betty and Bonnie hat to see it. It’s next to the Tam-topper which I am seriously tempted by.

Anyway back to the subject of discussion.  I was intrigued.  Tempted even.  Finally I decided I could do it.  After all the net is a wonderful place full of easy to follow videos and instructions on how to do the most complicated of crochet stitches – right.  Absolutely.

I made one hat but the wool was wrong, the hook was wrong and it ended up a rather tight affair which only fits on Nicola’s small head so needless to say it won’t be featured here as I’m too embarrassed by it.

Now can I just say that like drawing lines on bits of fabric – doing knitting or crocheting swatches to work out the guage is not my strong point. I would also like to say a huge thank you to Karen (waving at you…grin) for sending me a detailed email on how to work out the guage and all that kind of thing.  Did I follow your email I can hear you ask???  Well sort of.

I used a different wool/acrylic which feels a bit like cotton.  I used a huge crochet hook ( 6.00 mm) and just winged it.

It worked!!!

Well at least I think so. The hat fits very nicely and isn’t too tight which I loathe.  It is lovely and  light to wear although the only down side is that all three kids have said that if I wear it out in public they will all disown me instantly and Ashley (smart man that he is) is reserving judgment on the off chance that the wrong remark will see him going without clean clothes or food for a week or so……only kidding…I think.

The pattern called for two rows of scalloped edges but I figured that just doing one was enough plus I didn’t want to push my luck too far.  Sorry the photo isn’t clearer. Nicola was the camera person and I was trying to hold still and see what she was doing all at the same time.

I am very pleased with my efforts and have been trolling the world wide web to see what else I can make.

Ohh and for the record the hat uses half double crochet and double crochet which I might add I find easier than single crochet.

Come Fly With Me

I have made good progress with my Flying Geese Blocks.

They have gone from this……

To this……

To this……

To This…..

I had to be careful that all my geese were flying in the right direction.  Mind you by this time I wasn’t sure which direction was the right one.

I had lots of supervision….

Until  I got to this……

when I was abandoned in favour of sleeping on my sewing chair.

I added a yellow border and ended up with this….

Now I just have to quilt it. Ohh and the whole table runner is destined to end up on top of the TV cabinet (the dusty one in the back ground) in the hopes it will help to hide some of the dust and protect the cabinet a bit more.

PS  I forgot to add that the magazine where I got the idea from used this method for sewing the flying geese units together. I couldn’t work it out from the magazine (so did the old method of sewing triangles to triangles) but having seen this tutorial it now makes more sense.    Even so I don’t know that I would use this method as I am seriously not into drawing lines on fabric and then cutting them up.  Just one of my little quirks.

Four Patch Nine Progress

Well considering this quilt has just about everything but the kitchen sink in it with regards to fabric I’m really quite pleased with it.

There were lots and lots of little bits of fabric sewn into four patches……

….which then had to be cut apart.  (Sorry about the sideways photo. I can’t figure out how to turn it now it’s on wordpress…..just turn your head and you will get an idea…vbg.)

Those patches then had to be sewn to “light” squares so they could then be turned into 9 patches.

After lots of sewing of nine patches and four patch blocks they then become half of the 4 patch 9 blocks.  (Editorial note – it is easier to take a photo of myself sewing than it is to take a photo of myself cutting patches apart.  Note to self – next time I want to try such contortions get a photographer in ie a semi willing child).

Which in the end turned into 25 full 4 patch 9 blocks

They are now all sewn together and I just have to choose what I want to do for borders. It’s a pretty busy quilt and I think plainer borders might be the way to go.  Sorry no photo as I have temporarily misplaced the camera. I’m sure it’s not gone for good – but it’s defiantely in hiding….sigh.

Just a Quilt or Two

When I came home from all my traveling I walked into my sewing room and don’t mind admitting that I felt incredibly overwhelmed by all the stuff/crap/treasures that were in there.

While I have been working diligently to reduce the amount of stash that I have it doesn’t seem to be making any noticeable difference to the abundance of goodness that I have.

So what’s a girl to do?

First I have had a bit of clean up – well it was necessary if I was even to get in the door.  Secondly I had Ashley install two more shelves so I could have a bit of a resort and rearrange.  Only two shelves I hear you ask?  Well yes cause that’s all that James would let me take out of his bedroom which was my sewing room and were officially my shelves anyway. Have you ever tried to sneak shelves out of a 9 year olds room with him standing behind you and hubby hovering in the background?  It’s hard!!!

Thirdly – I cut out some more quilts.

What? That was a surprise?

I have been working slowly on a Four Patch Nine quilt in all scraps for a week or so.  Many of the three and a half inch four patch blocks were made, but the other fabrics still had to be cut – so that’s now done and I’m at the pleasant stage of sewing them all together. In the end I cut enough fabric to make twenty five 12 inch blocks which should  make a generous quilt.

Then because I was cutting up scraps and because  I found lots of pinks and purples and blues in the two inch strip box they  just called out to be sewn into something.  So now they are.

Little rain fence blocks.  Not sure how I will lay them out yet – but I do like the colour combinations.  There are 30 blocks in purples/pinks and thirty in blues/creams and all of them have that yummy green as the control colour.  Sorry the green turned out a bit murky in the photo but trust me it really is a lovely green.  The plan is they will all be combined in one quilt – but we shall see when I get that far.

Then, just because my rotary cutter was still sharp, I started cutting white homespun strips for this gorgeous quilt which I found in Quick Quilts #96 which I found for a bargain price of $1.00 at the local primary schools fete.   The plan is that instead of using super bright and bold fabrics I’m going to use 1930’s prints which I have plenty of and which need to be thinned out – considerably.

And just to finish off this hive of industry I cut some more 4 1/2 inch green squares for my “Minties” quilt which is very definately a work in progress as I’m using the blocks as leaders and enders while I’m sewing other things.

After all that industry (and the time spent typing it all up…vbg) I’m defiantely in need of a cuppa and a nice piece of Maderia cake. I can’t have any more Easter Eggs – they are all gone.  : – (

PS – Check out this lovely pattern for a 10 inch Pinwheel. I knew I shouldn’t click on the patterns at Quilters Cache. I have a stack of half square triangles that are left over from previous projects – surely there must be some there I could use…..ahhh another project.  Just what I need to get my mojo back into working order…..not that it had suffered too much of late with all the inspiration I have been seeing……..rather time has been the problem.

Sampler Quilt

The other week Tracey asked for donations of blocks to make up a quilt for a family who had lost everything in the fires.  What a wonderful idea – trouble was I didn’t know what kind of block I wanted to make – I knew the colours and the size – but it was the style. So I started  hunting Quilters Cache.  Honestly I could spend days there without even noticing time slipping by.

In the end I made up two and couldn’t decide if they were good enough, so I made two more.  Still couldn’t decide, so I made two more.  I thought I should stop there and send off the two best (Rail Fence and Box Kite)  to Tracey as she was waiting on them.

Then the bug hit and I just had to make more.  I stopped at 12 blocks (plus the two I had posted) as I was running out of the colours I was using.

It didn’t take long to get sashing strips sewn to each block. (Sorry about the bits of paper pinned to the middle of each block. I find if I name them as I go – then I know I’m sewing them all together in the right order.)

With a little “help” from Jess I manage to get the borders on.

I don’t normally do pieced borders but wanted to play with the left over triangles and it was so much fun – if you don’t count having a cat sit  on top of your hands as you are trying to pin the borders in place.

The blocks are from left to right……

Row One:  Twist, Hourglass ,Colour Wheel

Row Two:    Deweys Victory (should have been called Dewey’s pain as I sewed blocks together wrong and had heaps of unpicking to do) , Squares Upon Squares, Goose Creek

Row Three: Carrie Nation, Clay’s Choice, Calico Puzzle

Row Four:  Hayes Corner,   Four Patch Nine, Chain

Click on any of the block names and they will take you to the pattern on Quilters Cache.

I really like the block “Twist”.  Fast and easy but the centre square looked a little bare so I embroidered a bird in it.  I could see this quilt in blue tones with very simple blue embroidery in each square.  Sorry should have trimmed off those loose threads before I took photos.

“Four Patch Nine” is definately on my list of quilts to make.  If you click on the link and check out the second page of the pattern you can see a quilt made with just twenty blocks and simple borders.  It uses 3 1/2 inch  and 1 1/2 inch strips of fabric which seems to be two widths I have plenty of at the moment and it would be a fantastic way to use them up.

Now for those who have plenty of cotton shirts and need to use them up on some way – check out the mystery quilt on Life is a Stitch.  All -  you need is seven shirts, yes just seven.  Two light and five dark.  Of course I had seven shirts so I just had to join in the fun.

This is where I am at the moment.  The nine patch blocks are done and I am in the process of sewing on the last square to my snowball blocks before I start trimming them up.

Australia Day

Well you can’t say I didn’t warn you yesterday that the next few posts would be well and truly out of order when it comes to when they occurred.

We were invited out to cruise up the Murray River by our friends Steve and Judy on their “party boat” as it is called to celebrate Australia Day.  Basically it’s like a houseboat – that is it floats on the river, has an engine, an ice box/esky at one end, BBQ at the other, a roof and plenty of chairs and that’s about it.  Pretty basic but very nice to be on on a hot day.  It’s just a pity I didn’t get a photo of it.

I admit that I nearly didn’t go.  The idea of sitting on a boat for several hours (with people we didn’t know – they had invited other friends) didn’t really appeal nor did the weather forecast.  In the end I was persuaded by my hubby (on his hands and knees – only kidding)  to go and I was sooooo  glad I did.  The kids had a ball.  All the people on board were delightful, and the BBQ was divine.

I have driven over the bridge to New South Wales plenty of times but can’t ever recall going under it.  I must admit that with all the long running repairs that have been happening on the bridge (by long running I mean happening for years) it’s not that exciting up on top of it.  Underneath was pretty cool though.

Nicola and James were very excited by the whole “going on a boat thing”.

So was Elise but she wouldn’t admit it.

We saw other houseboats too.  These were moored but there were a few  others cruising the river celebrating the day as well.

Swimming was very popular due to the heat and the fact that Steve found a fabulous place to stop for lunch which not only had shade for the ladies but a nice deep spot for swimming and so the “old” men and  the “young” (17 year old) men could try and out do each other with the amount of water they could splash when they jumped in.  Needless to say – James and Nicola were not allowed to join in that competition….much to their disgust.

The River was absolutely magnificent despite the low water levels and the drought.

On the way home Ashley got a chance to drive the boat – Steve wandered up the front to make sure he didn’t “run over” any swimmers who happened to be in the water right near the bridge.  He didn’t run anyone over by the way.

It was a fabulous day but I’m so glad we had a week to recover before the kids went back to school as we were all exhausted.  Who knew that eating, drinking, swimming and socialising could be so tiring…..roflmol.

A Graduation Dinner

You know I would never, ever, ever celebrate the fact that my children have all returned to school don’t you???  Yeah Right!!!  They’re all at school!  Yipeee!!!!!!!!!  The house is sooooo peaceful and quiet.  I have spent most of the morning just pottering around and popping down the street with Mum not to mention  washing the mountain of clothes, sheets etc that are breeding in my laundry.  Ohh and mending the zip on Nicola’s school dress pocket – which was way more complicated than it should have been for a simple repair job.   It’s way to hot to be doing anything else – again…..sigh.

Hopefully normal programming will return to this blog and I am serious about not only blogging more often but also being a whole lot more organised in just general day to day stuff.  We shall see if it happens but a girl can hope.

You will forgive me if the next few posts are either entirely out of the order they occured in and if some of the events/quilts mentioned are possibly even a week or so past.  Time has been at a premium this past week and blogging took a back burner for a few days.

When Elise Graduated from Primary School we had a special “grown up” dinner for her to celebrate the beginning of a new chapter in her life.  To all intents and purposes we intended to do the same for Nicola unfortuantely due to work pressures and her mother just not being organised and really, really darned slack – we didn’t have that dinner until Saturday night.  It was a close run thing – would she start Secondary School or have her dinner first???  Yay – the Dinner won…..just.

Beautiful Gold Candles and Baubles to decorate the table.  (If you look closely you can see my taking the photo – darned reflective baubles….vbg)

The best china was used and the silver ware polished with care.

The wine Goblets reflected not only the decorations but the smiling faces and the wine they embraced.

I would show you the roast pork and salads we had but they were all eaten – like wise the chocolate muffins served with a dollop of whipped cream and a strawberry.  Yummm.

After all the running around, preparing food, getting organised and just generally trying to cope with the heat – I forgot to take a photo of Nicola in her dress.  She looked absolutely stunning -very grown up – right up to the stage when she decided that she was hot and asked to go for a swim to cool down.  Well the dinner was over by then and it was still in the 40 degree range at 9 pm…vbg.

It was a wonderful night which we all enjoyed.