Stitches and Splashes.

 Well, I'm back at work, but I just had a long weekend off. So, what did I get up to you ask? 

Well, you know Tony and I took a short road trip, and I was able to visit the exhibition at symposium, and I did a little shopping too. 

All very exciting, but what about my own sewing, how is that doing? 

It is still dominated by my cross stitch at the moment. I really am enjoying it and will keep going as long as that pleasure lasts.

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So here we are, The Emperor's Gift has grown considerably.

I'll be taking him along to stitchy club this evening, so hopefully he will grow some more. 

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I did commit to getting a scrappy quilt top loaded onto the frame. 

The Debbie Mumm piece climbed out of the pile and demanded attention. I'm cutting it fine on the backing, but hopefully I will manage. I'll need to wind some bobbins before I start quilting. 

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And finally for this evening a quick look at Winter Fairy and Gus the Pus.

Finally, that blue blob over on the left is beginning to look like snow laden rooftops and shadowy distant buildings. 

I have managed to complete over three quarters of this page at last. I aim to be done with this page by the end of the month and maybe even make a start on the next page. 

There are six pages in this size and then two much smaller parts to add at the bottom. So, a long way to go with this project. 

Hopefully I can get back to some quilting soon and not bore you with Winter Fairy updates.

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And now I'm off to embroidery club. I deserve it after the day I've had at work. 

A pipe burst yesterday so the water was turned off! That meant, no showers, no flushing toilets, not hot zips for teas and coffees and no dishwasher. All meals and drinks served on paper plates and cups today. The escaping water had poured through the kitchen ceiling blowing some of the lights and shorting out the bane marie!

 No laundry could be done last night so it was piled high beside the machines. The plumbers didn't arrive until 08.30; they got the offending pipe patched up (Not repaired) and ready for use just before lunch. 

The electrician didn't arrive until after 2pm the bane marie is back in action, but not the lights.

At some point we discovered that someone had left taps on downstairs in the laundry and a bucket in the sink. The water was ankle deep and running out of the door!  

💦 Mop, Mop, Mop. 💦

Then it was time to make a start on last night's laundry!

With just one exception all of the staff and residents took it well. We laughed and joked and ignored the grumpy one. 

Here is to a better day tomorrow. 

Threads of Our Time Quilt Exhibition.

 Quilt Symposium New Zealand is currently being held in Christchurch. Tony and I took the 2 hour drive North from Timaru on Friday. We had a look around, did some me stuff and some him stuff, it was fun. I had discovered a new stitchy shop, brand new only just opened and was determined to pay a visit. Angelic Needle Crafts is a cute wee store, as I said only just opened, so not yet bursting with stock, but still, plenty of eye candy. When we arrived, the owner was sat outside in the sunshine doing her stitching. She apologised for the mess!? Turns out there had been a burst pipe in the neighbouring property and water had also gotten into the shop. Oh no! Luckily all of the stock was ok, nothing had been in harm's way, but there was a huge dehumidifier sat in the store making a lot of noise. I felt so sorry for her, this is her opening week, symposium is on and the neighbours had burst a pipe!  

I did make a couple of purchases, some needles, the hoop and the Pears pattern in this photo. The rest you will learn about later. LOL

On Friday we also visited two shops for Tony, he was also quite restrained in his purchasing! And I walked out of spotlight with empty hands.

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After an overnight hotel stay, we headed to Symposium.

The merchants mall was all set up in the school gym and they were packed in. I visited the Sew it stand as I knew they would have superior threads.  You don't need a photo of those do you? There were three large spools. 

Next stop was the Handi-Quilter stand, I had a play with a Moxie and we had a good long chat with the representative. We need to reach a milestone on our mortgage before I can get my hopes up on that purchase.

By the time we had a good look around in the gym, the exhibition was open. I won't bore you with every single photo I took, but here are the highlights and their info.

That is just a few of the quilts on display. I thoroughly enjoyed having a look around. 

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After a visit to the Air force museum at Wigram, we headed in the direction of home, with a stop at Annie's of course. Where I purchased the other pattern, some more needles and another pot of thread conditioner, all in the previous photo. 

All in all, I had a lovely weekend. Even with Tony along! 😂 We both managed to enjoy ourselves, and I was actually rather pleased with how restrained I was on the spending front. There was definitely temptation, but apparently, I do possess some willpower after all!

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Now it's back to reality and back to work tomorrow. Although I'm sure I'll find something stitchy to keep me occupied in my lunch break and hopefully when I get home. 😉

Octobers Hopes and Dreams.

And suddenly it is October!
Time to spell out my aims and goals for the month. 

I'm glad that my Christmas ornaments are completed and that pressure has been lifted. So, what will claim the top of the list? 

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1) Try out and possibly share a new recipe.

Hopefully I can come up with something delicious.

2) Make progress on Down in the Garden.

I would like at least to get the borders on.

3) Progress Lest We Forget.

The poppies have been hanging around for long enough. Time to get the hand and machine quilting completed. 

4) Complete the Memory quilt.

I'll be working on that today, there is just a little of the poor-quality quilting left to rip out, then the top and back will need a good press before I even think about putting it back onto the frame.

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4b) I want to have one more practice on a scrapper before I commit to the Memory quilt again.

5) Continue to work on Winter Fairy and Gus. 

I really am enjoying cross stitching again, so best to keep up momentum on this huge piece.

(I've been working on getting better image quality, still not perfect, but it's an improvement).

6) Complete the Thistle cross stitch.

It's such a small piece that should be doable. I'd also like to get it made into a cute needlebook. Then as a part of the same goal, I'll start another small, stitched design, something I can work on in my lunchbreak. 

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6b) Continue to work slowly on the penguin cross stitch. Those 15 mins in the mornings are good and it's also a good one to take along to embroidery guild.

I was very pleased with the progress I made yesterday, even though there were people to meet and so many lovely projects to look at.   I thought about taking it to work, once the Thistle is done, but it has a lot of threads and a medium size hoop so it's a bit on the bulky side. 

7) Add and close the binding on the Eye Spy scrappy quilt.

And as it looks like there will be another scrappy quilt on the frame before the memory quilt goes back up there, I'll add it here too. So hopefully two scrappy quilts will get their bindings this month.

And I think that is enough! Seven goals is a lot for me, and let's not forget those little b) notes so technically nine goals. Phew, I'm going to be busy. I'll make a start today.

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Tomorrow Tony and I will be hopping into the big red car and driving up to Christchurch. We plan to stay overnight, have a look around, do a little shopping and also to visit The Threads of Our Time quilt symposium. Yes, Tony is coming along with me this year.  (If you remember that far back, he came to The Festival of Quilts in Birmingham a couple of times too. This one should be easier on him; it is much smaller). I have not booked any classes or seats at lectures; I'm just going to look at the quilts and visit the vendors. Yes, I have a shopping list. It is very short. I'm saving for a new quilting machine! Tony also has a list which is also pretty short.

Of course, a weekend off to do that, means I'll have to pay penance by working extra shifts next week.

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Septembers Offerings...

 Back at the start of the month, I posted my goals over there on the right side of my blog page.

I set off with a hiss and a roar, having great success early in the month, then I hit a snag and one or two squirrels. Let's have a look at how things went.

1) Progress the Christmas Ornaments.

I'm happy to report that this year's secret ornaments are all completed. They are ready to be gifted and swapped when the time comes.

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2) Try a new recipe and share if it's good.

We made Creamy peppercorn chicken. And it was very good. I've made it again twice since.

You can find the recipe here. 

3) Progress Down in the Garden.

Yes, progress was made. I completed the stitchery.

However, when I went in search of border fabrics, they are nowhere to be found, so some shopping took place.  Hopefully I'll get back to this one very soon. 

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4) Progress Lest we forget. The Poppy quilt.

No progress was made on this piece. 

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5) Complete the memory quilt.

Sadly, that didn't happen either. There were issues with my quilting machine, and I have spent a lot of time unquilting the few rows I did manage to complete.

So that's my goals dealt with. Not a great month so far.

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And now, those squirrels.

Early in the month I was asked if I could rescue a crochet blanket.

Some of the granny squares were coming unravelled and they were also coming apart at the joins. It took me a while to figure out the best way to repair the squares, then it was a simple matter to inspect and take care of the joining seams. I was also tasked with adding a border. I just did a simple shell edging. 

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Following my completion of the hand work on Down in the Garden, I pulled out a cross stitch piece I had started late in 2024 and for some reason laid aside early in 2025.

Winter Fairy or 'Gus the Puss' looked like this when I first pulled it out.

Grrr, blogger really doesn't like the aida, but you can see the puss.

I have made good progress with this one on days off and even in the evenings after work. It now looks like this.

A bit of research tells me that the image problem is because blogger makes a few changes so they will fit on the page. If I ask for my images to display at original size, they are perfect, but way too big. So, if you wish to see them without all the weird squiggles, a quick click will show you my original. 

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Looking for something to take to patchwork and needle craft club I pulled out a cross stitch that went to the Isle of Man with me.

This lovely bowl of strawberries is now complete and awaiting some finishing treatments. I think I know what I want to do, but we'll see if that actually happens. LOL

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So now I needed another easy to take hand work project. I found two! Well, I found a lot more than two, but two were kitted ready to go. LOL

The thistles have been going to work with me, and I've even managed to get in 10 minutes each lunch break. I'm very happy with their progress.

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 I also kitted up a penguin.

         

I've made a start on him in the mornings, before work, again just 10-15 minutes.

Not quite so much progress, but that's ok, I'm not in a hurry.

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And finally, in my efforts to work out what was wrong with my quilting machine I pulled out a scrappy quilt to work on.

(I'm none the wiser, but it appears to be behaving ok now...)

I quilted a scrappy top.

I spy in the clouds? I spy in the sky? You tell me what it's called...

It has no binding yet, maybe that should be a goal for next month.

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Today is the very last day of the month. I plan to do some more stitching. LOL 

I'm off to investigate the local embroiderers guild this morning. I know a few of the members and I have been encouraged to join. They meet on Monday evenings and Wednesday mornings. We'll see how it goes. I'll be taking the penguin along today, but I'm hoping to be inspired and encouraged to challenge myself. Watch this space.

This afternoon I might just get some quilting done!

I hope your September was better than mine. 

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Gus the Puss update.

 Technically this cross-stitch design is called Winter Fairy, but as there is little evidence of said fairy at the moment, for now I'm calling it Gus the Puss.

I've surprised myself this week, coming home from work and actually reaching for my needle. So progress has been made over the last three working days, and more progress was made this morning. 

Last time you saw Gus he looked like this...

🪡🪡 Things have changed a little. 🪡🪡

There really isn't a lot to see, just the addition of lots of blues. LOL I'm stitching an area which shows the corners of two buildings and the shadowy street beyond. So not very exciting, but I am headed towards a couple of windows and some more of those icicles hopefully they will be along soon and the image will make sense.

I have to say I am very much enjoying working on this piece, even if it is all boring blues at the moment.  I also made a start on the other two much smaller projects I showed you last time. The thistle design I have taken to work and get in about 15 mins of stitching during my lunch break. The penguin I work on in the mornings, before work. Both are progressing slowly, but nicely. 

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That's my news, hopefully I'll have more time to sew before going back to work on Monday, but as you know, weekends are busy with chores and Grandchildren. 😄