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. 😄

Back to work....

 My seven whole days off have come to an end and today I must go back to work. So, what did I do with all of that time? Not as much as I would have liked.  You know I made great progress on the memory quilt and even got it loaded onto the frame. Then things went wrong and it came off again. I have spent many, many hours unpicking good, mediocre and very bad quilting. There is still a little more to go. That will have to wait.

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After I had gotten my machine quilting nicely again, I put a scrappy quilt onto the frame and quilted away, nervously to start with, then with growing confidence finished it. Too confident. I bashed a pin with my needle right in the very last corner!

So, another test piece will be required before I put the memory quilt back onto the frame.

Hmm, blogger is making my images weird again. If you click you will see a much better image of my Eye spy in the clouds quilt, still in need of binding. I really must have a word with the resident IT guy, maybe he can help with image quality?

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I couldn't find the border fabrics for my Down in the Garden quilt top. I hunted high and low, no sign. So, I shopped around and was able to find something that will work. This was a BOM many years ago and I count myself lucky to have found anything at all. Maybe I'll get that on soon and actually have a finish to show you.

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Saturday, I went to club and took along my strawberry cross stitch. I was very happy with the progress I made. Yesterday after lots of chores I sat down and finished it.

I have half an idea for this one, we'll see if it eventuates. LOL

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Thoroughly enjoying the stitchy way of life at the moment I got busy and kitted up two more smalls to take along, wherever I need an easy to take project.

This one I photocopied in a very old cross stitch magazine. I can't even recall which one or when. It will end up on the Christmas tree, though maybe not this year! LOL

And this one was a used chart, purchased at an Altrusa sale, or maybe an op shop?

There was a list of thread names, but no corresponding numbers, so I winged it and pulled out what looks right.

The plan is to finish it as a Needle book. 

We'll see if that happens. LOL

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And finally, more progress has been made on Winter Fairy.

It's such a huge piece that it will be a while before you really see anything exciting. But Gus now has a windowsill to sit on while he and his friend gaze at the night sky.  It must be cold; there are icicles hanging down from its edge. (((Shiverrr))!

I really do need to come up with a name for the fairy and the wee girl who will one day be peeping out of the window. 

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And that has been my creative efforts for seven days off. 

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go.

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Good Days and Bad Days...

 Today was patchwork and crafting club day. I was so looking forward to it, hoping I would have the memory quilt all quilted, with the binding on ready for hand stitching it closed, while at club. Alas it was not to be. I was at the quilting frame early on Friday morning, bright and eager I turned everything on before eight. Right from the get-go I had issues. 

Sigh.

I tried everything I could think of, change the needle, try again. Thread and rethread, try again. Pop out the bobbin, swap out the bobbin, try again. Tweak this and try, tweak that and try... 

I was at it all day, researching the problem, ripping out poor quilting and trying again. Nothing worked. By the time Tony got home at 4 o'clock I was ready to throw the whole lot through the big window, not out of the window. Through it!

With Tony's calming influence at my side, I showed him what was happening, tried again and again. Then we walked away. We went out for tea and came home to watch a movie.

It was a soul destroying and very disheartening day.

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So, no completed quilting, what to take to club?

I settled on my wee strawberry cross stitch. 

🪡🪡 Before. 🪡🪡

🪡🪡 And after.  🪡🪡

Not bad for four hours, interrupted by all the usual things, show and tell, inspecting other projects and progress, lunch break and of course having my work inspected too. LOL

 🪡🪡 It was a good day. 🪡🪡

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And, as I don't have much of my own to share, here is todays show and tell.

Nola used her friends favourite colours to make this one.

They are not her colours and she said it was quite challenging.

I seem to think there was no pattern, she just made blocks and fitted things together.

Lynda had fun using scraps to make this flotilla of yachts.

Paula has been making baby quilts. 

This one features some beautiful kiwi fabrics.

Sorry about the poor image, as you can see it was a beautiful sunny day.

The back of the kiwi quilt had kiwi fabrics too.

Paula's other baby quilt came out of the UFO pile, so she was happy about that.

President Ann quilted both of them for her. 

Sandy had put together some kits she found while having a sort out. We all agreed the needle book and scissor keeper are very cute.

President Ann had two of her own projects to share. 

This stunning hand embroidered fish, for her fisherman husband's birthday.

And this lovely cot size Sashiko quilt.

That sunshine again! This really is a stunning piece, and my photo does it no justice.

And last but not least Marike has been busy with potato chip pieces.

She was busy making binding for it today but brought it along for show and tell today as by next month's meeting it will be on its way to her sister in the Netherlands. 

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After getting home from club, it was back to the mystery problem with the quilting machine. Tony had been into town and came home with some different needles for me to try. No change....

Next, we decided to take the machine off the frame, of course the quilt had to come off too. While it is off the frame, I'll pick out what little I managed to get done, I'm not happy with it.

So, I set the machine back to normal sewing. That went fine, there were no problems, no shredded or snapped threads.

Next, I tried free motion quilting. That worked, no thread problems.

Next a proper quilt sandwich, made with spare blocks from the memory quilt and an off cut of the same weight of batting. No problems.

So tomorrow I will get Tony to lift the machine back onto the frame and I will load up a practice piece, I could use one of my scrappers or I could dig out my old practice piece and work on an empty corner. 

Fingers crossed all will go well.

All of the issues and frustrations yesterday brought about an oft visited conversation. I'd love an upgrade, to a proper quilting machine. The Janome 1600 is a great work horse, I've had it a long time, but also had issues with it almost every year since it became the quilting machine back at Christmas time 2014. 

In two weeks, we are off to Christchurch, for symposium and a couple of days looking around. I had already mentioned that I wanted to visit a certain store, in order to top up on quilting threads. I think I'll be looking at their quilting machines too. I'll have a list of questions to ask, and my fingers firmly crossed. 

Wish me a modest lottery win and luck.

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