Number 5 has arrived!

Sorry, I didn't mean to be gone so long. I wish I could say it is because I have been super busy and have achieved loads. But I haven't. 

That said, I do have one or two things to report.

A quick trip through to Geraldine last week and a visit to The Pin Tin, who were having a birthday sale!

Some of these look rather neutral in this pic, but I assure you, they are all bright yellows. Teamed up with a piece of brown and some green from stash. I feel a sunflower coming on.

On Sunday, while Tony was at work I got busy, spreading things out on the floor.

You remember my Purple Turning Twenty?

Belle thought she might help.

I managed to persuade her to leave everything alone and got it all loaded onto the frame.

I got it about two thirds of the way quilted, then for some reason developed tension issues, so I stopped and walked away. It may have been me who had tension issues rather than the machine, there is/was a lot going on. Issues at work and a jury summons for Monday morning...

Hopefully when I do get back to it, things will go smoothly once more.

The supervisor was with me of course. She does love to lay there on her tower, where she can oversee all that I'm doing or watch the birds in the blossom tree and of course have a wee snooze in the sunshine.

I couldn't resist getting a shot out of the other window too.

Spring is trying to be sprung.

There is news on the family front too. A school friend took this pic of my boy recently and posted it on Facebook. He was good enough to send me a copy.

Jiffy Jonathan had been helping his grandfather to remove a sizeable log from the harbour.

That could have done quite a lot of damage if they hadn't removed it.

It will make good firewood once it has dried out for a few months.

And last but not least at 4.30 this morning a little bundle decided to wake his mummy and daddy by beginning his journey into the world.

Torstein didn't keep us waiting, like his cousin Una did during the Zoom Stitch along.

He was born just two hours later at 6.30 am. 

Mummy and baby are doing great, but daddy had a snooze, he was exhausted! LOL

Grand child number 5 has arrived and I will be able to get my hands on this one.......

😍

 

Blogger Issues!

So finally I'm joining everyone else and today have experienced frustrations with new blogger.  Things really are not going as I planned. Even though I have tried to align my images and my typing to the centre, as I would normally do, things are just everywhere! What a mess, there is extra spacing, some things centrally aligned and some over to the left. I'm really not happy with this post.

Grumble over, lets get on with the fun stuff. 

                                                           

And here it is. Not the tidiest, but a cute wee star hiding the little hole in another black sweater.

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been able to begin catching up on my hand work now that my new light has arrived. Here is Junes instalment of Gail Pans I Stitch (Wish you well) project. July is in progress and will hopefully be completed over the next couple of days.

                                       

                            Hmm, it looks a bit of an odd shape here, but I assure you, it is straight. 

This morning I spent some time in my wee room, and after a major tidy up, (mask making is so untidy!) I pulled out my box of red and pink scraps and made up these lovely butterflies for the RSC

I do enjoy making these each month and couldn't resist pulling the others out of hibernation for a few moments to get a picture.

                                         

There are three of each colour all piled up together here. I'm going to have a very pretty quilt once I'm done.

               One last thing before lunch was to make up the single alternate RSC block.

                                                  

And get it's photo with it's friends.

I came across this pattern in July and decided to add it in to the mix, I won't complete it until the middle of next year, or who knows, I may decide to keep building for another year. 

Oh Dear, I've just done a preview, what an awful mess.

Try as I might, I cannot get things to align neatly.

So I'm just going to hit publish and hope for the best. 

I wonder if it's a browser issue?

I'm using Chrome, I haven't used explorer for years.

A quick finish and I'm finally catching up!

As you know, there have been a few changes in the routine here at our place. Tony's two days, two nights, four days off roster has us all a little unsettled. Poor Belle is sitting staring at his empty seat as I type. She is really not sure what to make of it all. He tried to sleep today, as it was the day between his night shifts, but Belle hopped onto the bed and made such a fuss she work him. Then later on she was crying and meowing in the hall way as he had shut her out of the room to prevent her from jumping up again. I do hope she gets used to the new routine soon. 

It does have it's advantages though, the need to be quiet while Tony sleeps has finally pushed me back into my stitching chair and I'm happy to report that I have finished June and July's Christmas ornaments. Now to catch up a little on my I stitch blocks.

I have to say, the new light Tony found for my lamp is incredibly bright. The old one was a daylight style fluorescent tube and was pretty bright. This new one is LED and seems much brighter. 

Like many of you, I'm continuing to make masks. 

Are you over it yet?

I know I am.

When I got in from work on Friday I decided to have a little rebellion and not make masks, instead I pulled out some charm squares.

Do you recall the quick little quilt top I made during the last Zoom sew along?

You can see it here, right at the end.

Well, I decided that it was not right and I wanted something a little brighter.

So it met Jack the ripper!!

After I had finished sewing the newcharms together and layered and quilted them.

I had a quick consult via messenger with Janice and Debbie.

Between us we all voted for the fabric on the left for binding.

And Voila!

One cute wee bassinet sized quilt. As you can see all made with neutral coloured fabrics. I think the charm square pack was called cafe au lait.

I thought about moving those darker squares to the corners, then decided I wasn't going to be fussy and just started sewing things together.

Sorry it's not the best photo, it was dark and I gave it to Joe and Lee already.

Maybe next time you see it, it will be in action.

Baby is due this week.

*

Poor Belle.

She is missing Tony.

 

Maybe if I go and settle into my stitchy chair, she will come and join me.

Crochet finishes, grumpy cat and a happy man.

One of the projects I worked on during the last Zoom meting/retreat with Chooky and the ladies was my crochet blanket. The one you see here on the left.

The colours here are not very good, the carpet is a soft green!

The one on the right was finished a little while ago.

They both need blocking to get rid of the curly corners.

I set out to make a larger version of the pattern on the right, but didn't enjoy the joining method I had chosen, so ended with a smaller blanket then set about the second one. Looking at them together now, I much prefer the version on the left, the second one. 

They will both go to Grand son number 2 when he arrives next month. 

I need to find myself another TV project.....

*

While I'm sitting here this evening sorting through my hand sewing and planning on getting back into that I had a watcher.....

Perhaps I was making too much noise?

Whatever it was, she didn't seem to approve.

LOL

*

And some very happy news.

My lovely Tony has started a new job this week.

It is a 14 week fixed term contract, but we have been told countless times...

'Now he has a foot in the door.....'

'Good place to work that, they keep the good ones....'

So fingers crossed these 14 weeks lead to more work.

What ever, it's good to see him happy and working, he has a spring in his step and seems quite excited by this new role. Thank you to all of you who asked about him, sympathised with his position and wished him well.

Someone heard you.

😊

Another Incredible Day has Zoomed by.

Chooky had a birthday! So as a treat to herself and to all of us of course, she arranged another virtual retreat using zoom.

Just one day this time, not the whole weekend. LOL

It was lovely to see so many people turn up, from all over the world again. Nice to see some new faces too.  I enjoyed listening to the chat and even joined in from time to time.

I must offer here my sincerest and most humble apologies though. Life and work got in the way and I spent some time away from the sewing room dealing with things......

Before we started I had to find the laptop. It's on the table right there in this picture. 

As you can see I left a bunch of almost completed masks when I called time on Saturday night, but after I had found the laptop and connected to the party, I was summonsed to make breakfast before  I could get on with finishing those. I also did a couple of other chores in the kitchen, but more about that later.

One of my many interruptions was to make a sale. I have sold quite a few masks in the last week.

I've had some lovely comments about my fabrics, I think people are enjoying pretty masks rather than the plain paper ones.

Mask making done for the day I turned my attention to the purple fabrics I pulled for my RSC.

And three purple emperors were made.

Purple is not a colour that is high on my like list, but I seem to be using it a lot lately. LOL

I also made another of these blocks for the RSC.

The border looks a lot less pink in real life!

Another interruption was to deal with my bread.

I had set up the machine to make the dough while preparing breakfast, but then I lift it out and pop it into a loaf tin once it has risen.

That way we get a nice shaped loaf and best of all, there is no hole in the bottom where the paddle sits!

The angle at which I've taken this photo makes it look like a tiny loaf, but I assure you, it;s a normal size loaf of bread. LOL

After a lunch of home made chicken soup, (I made that yesterday, using the carcass from a hot chook from the supermarket.)  I got on a did some crochet, adding a final round to a baby blanket. That's two of those completed, so I'll have to find a new crochet project.

Then I was back sewing again. Just putting together charm squares.

A little bassinet sized top for the baby due in September. 

I now have 3-4 little tops that need quilting and binding. I'd better get on with that.

I was moving around quite a bit in my room, going from the table where the lap top sits, to the sewing machine off camera, and back on camera with my back to it while I was pressing. I feel like I got quite a lot done and also enjoyed seeing what everyone else was working on.

Very little effort will be required for dinner as another wee chore I did during the breakfast interruption was to put a piece of corned beef into the slow cooker. I just lifted it out 20 minutes ago. I'm off now to make cauliflower and cheese sauce to serve with it and creamed potatoes. 

Then it will be time to sit and hand sew for the evening.