A Crochet Finish!

At last!

I started this blanket waaaay back at the beginning of May. It wouldn't have taken so long, but I overdid something and an RSI settled into my left wrist. Well that slowed down everything.

But I did notice a couple of weeks ago, that my wrist is finally getting stronger again and thought I might try my crochet. At one point I couldn't even hold my work without pain. Finally I was back to being able to do just a little. So slowly, very slowly I was able to complete this wee blanket.

Two rows, or one colour per night.

I only had four colours left to do!

Then the borders, half a round a night.

Finally I finished it over the weekend.

That's it done. It is a good size for a single/twin bed. Tony wants to keep it. He thinks we should keep pretty much everything I make. I'm not so sure, I had intended to sell it at a craft market, but changes in our working schedules means that we three girls don't get to do those any more.  Maybe I'll pop it on a local facebook page and see what happens.

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So what now? Well I've already started knitting a sweater for Grandson Floki. Slowly, just a couple of rows here and there. Want to look after my wrist now that it is feeling a bit better.

I'm also continuing to cut 2.5 inch squares, they are coming along slowly too, though I have found that if I hold down my ruler in a certain way, it's good physio therapy for my weak wrist, so long as I don't do too much.

The garden of course is taking up quite a bit of our time at the moment, I'll take and share some pictures another day.

Shopping and prezzies and all of that! And some creativity too!

I'm going to make this the last Aussie post!

I've uploaded a bunch of photos, in no particular order, so I'll explain as they come. LOL

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It's no secret that I collect tea towels so on my day out shopping with Janice I treated myself to three new tea towels. 

 The tea towel theme continued throughout the trip. I found another one at The Dish.

I have since discovered that it is a great glass cloth, good for specs, windows, mirrors and even wine glasses. LOL

There was also the obligatory fridge magnet.

 Another towel from the Motor Museum and a notice for the garage door. 

 It was Tony who discovered these cute magnets at the Royal Flying Doctors visitor centre, right beside the ones with creepy crawlies on them. ((Shudder))

And another towel of course. LOL

 I took gifts with me, for our hosts.

I stitched this cute wee caravan for Janice and Mick.

I opted to leave it in the hoop and covered the back with a piece of felt.

I also found a tea towel with caravans on.

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 I stitched another piece for Chooky.

 It was also accompanied by a tea towel, this time native NZ birds.

Gifts from Janice were many and exciting. They came in a large gift bag, which seemed bottomless.

many of these pics are sideways on, sorry.

 Janice had been busy in her room and made me a lovely table runner with an Aussie themed fabric.

 There was a news paper special magazine all about the moon landings and the part that The Dish played in receiving and transmitting the pictures of the moon landing, and this cute wee wot not dish, which I believe Janice found in an op shop.

 A cross stitch kit, also from an op shop. 

 One of my Favourite designers, Joan Elliot, this lovely lady is called Winter Fairy.

I wish I could be lucky and find treasure like this in my local op shops. 

Chooky gifted me this great bag.

London. Been there, boring!

Paris. No appeal for me.

Rome. Been there.

Coonamble!!  Amazing place, you should go. The locals are lovely people. 

 New York... Yeah....Nah.

While visiting the Chook shed I was let loose in a box of cards and told to take my pick.

Chooky has a good camera eye and there were some beautiful cards in there.

 I had to squeeze in a quilty themed card.

 I told you about my visit to Anni Downs store and my purchases there, but thought I would show them again anyway.

A Boys Story I have been wanting this book for some time. Finally it is mine.

 I found and treated myself to a new pair of quilters gloves in Dubbo, I think!

And essential reading for the plane ride home.

 Look at the wee mandala that was in the box of tea bags I bought to drink while I was there.

I'll need to sharpen my pencils. Sadly that particular brand of tea is not available here in Timaru.

 And last but not least, Janice had a whole file full of cross stitch patterns.

She said I could take my pick. Most of them were samplers like this one. Not really my thing, but this one has an anchor and one or two nautical themed motifs. I can work with those.

So there you have it. Gifts to and from, purchases made and treasure to cherish.

That's it. My last post about Aussie.

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Since returning I have changed about in my room, and actually managed to spend some time in there. OK, so today it was only to iron the laundry, but I have started to cut some of the over 1200 2.5 inch squares I need for a scrappy project.

I managed to complete another advent calendar.

Of course I added a little bling.

Look at the cute ribbon I found in the ribbon jar.

I don't have to go far to visit this one, it is right next door. My neighbour bought it.

And finally for this post, I framed another cross stitch.

It's hanging in our bedroom.

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Phew, that turned into a much longer post than I thought it would be.

Thanks for sticking with me.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my trip to Aus and meeting some lovely people.

Thank you to both of our host families. 

We very much enjoyed your company and our time in your beautiful country.

We are so lucky to have you as friends.

I blame Janice

Remember in my last post, I had a few pictures from a quick show and tell that Janice did? 

This is a corner of one of those lovely quilts. Do you see the door knobs behind the quilt?

That is the entrance to a very lovely room.

Why the chain? 

Well those doors concertina if you push them in just the right place.

A certain furry member of the household discovered this, so steps were taken and preventative measures were put in place. LOL

Poor Joey.

He's such a handsome boy, how could you deny him a snooze in a cosy bed?

Sew, anyway.....

Once you unhook the chain and step through those doors you are in a wonderful space.

Janice has a fantastic setup, with lots of storage, work space and things on display.

Such a great room. It inspired me to have a shuftie about in my room. It's only half the size of Janice's. But I'm not jealous, much....

Tony had an idea and wanted to try it out for me. We had a move about and tried out a few things. We finally settled on a new layout,  after we acquired me a new desk and a new chest of drawers. Taking inspiration from the way Janice has her room, with a sort of island coming out from the wall. 

Mum/Grans kitchen cabinet has come back out of the wardrobe, I have much better light for cutting.

And there is still plenty of room for a bored/ lonely husband seat.

The last of the cardboard moving boxes that were stashed under the old folding table were finally unpacked.

It's all turned out rather well and I've enjoyed pottering about in there.

Of course, one thing that did create more than a little extra space was the removal of another of my Grans cupboards and all of my knitting and crochet supplies to another room! 

It's now tucked into my quilting studio.

 Tucked away into the corner.

Mum used to keep her knitting yarn in this cupboard too.

Gran kept it in her bathroom, filled with towels.

I'm so lucky to have these family treasures.

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And now Debbie has started! 

Her room is slowly getting a big reshuffle too. LOL

As I said right at the top of this post...

I blame Janice.

It's all your fault!

😉

P.S. Blogger has stopped forwarding your comments to my email...

Grrr, better go try to fix that.

Quilts Along the Way....

 During my recent trip to visit Janice and Chooky in Australia, I was lucky enough to see some very beautiful quilts, and I even slept under two of them.

First stop, this gorgeous blue number was on the bed we slept in at Janice and Mick's place. Janice knows me well and knows I love blue. 

All around Janice's home there were quilts, mostly small ones, lots and lots of table runners, many I recognised as I had gifted them to her. It was a delight to move around the house and see so many things I recognised.  😃

We also saw many quilts out on our travels. Every town we visited we would stop at the local craft store to investigate the 'baking table'. There were always home made cakes, slices and biscuits, and even jars of relish and jams. Some of the stores had quilts on display and even for sale. This red and blue one caught my eye.

 The same store had this quilt as an exhibit. 

 It tells the story of the Export Gold Robbery, which I mentioned in this post.

This very large wreath of knitted and crochet poppies was a lovely sight to greet us as we walked through the door.

 The Eugowra craft store had a good display of quilts and was one of the larger stores we visited.

 This next beauty was designed by the owner of the stitchy store in Canowindra.

I fell in love as soon as I saw it and asked permission to take a photo.

The store is called The Plague and I. They have a website here. Go look at the gallery.

Janice and I both purchased patterns before leaving the store.

Here's mine.

There was a shop quilt hanging behind the counter, it looked much bluer than this image.

it had me at BLUE. LOL

As Chooky was going to be busy at work when we arrived in town, she suggested that we might like to go look in the local art gallery and store. 

It was interesting and I discovered another piece done by the same chap who had painted the bus stop in my last post!

Apparently they had recently had an exhibition of quilts, what a shame we missed it. 

Some of the quilts were still there, tucked away in a tiny walk through room.

As you can see, Janice accepted the invitation to slip off her shoes a walk through.

  I declined that offer and marvelled first from this door.

Then I scooted around to the other end and looked back the other way.

 Even the floor was covered with quilts.

 So many beautiful quilts squeezed into such a tiny space.

 There were more quilts at Chookys place of course!

I got to sleep under this lovely green and blue one. 

 There was also another one in our room, it was tucked over a spare bed pushed away into the corner.

 There were little pieces tucked in here and there. I loved this one, and might have to stitch something similar for my home.

 There was a quick show and tell, just before we left.

This grey one was waiting for someone to close it's binding.

Back at Janice's place, there was another very quick show and tell.

 Trust me, there were more than just these three.

But I put the camera down and took the time to admire.

This one is special to me. Janice made it for Mick finishing it in April or May 2012.

While I was making this quilt. I was running short of B and W fabrics and Janice very kindly sent me some of her left over pieces. They are included in my quilt, which I gifted to my son Jiffy. I even managed to find the very post on Janice's blog! Thank you so much my friend.

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As you know, for some time before we went away, I had not been able to do much in the way of crafting, my wrist was and still is an issue, my crafty mojo was slipping away. But seeing so many lovely quilts and visiting stores such as Anni Downs and spending time in the chook shed and Janice's room has made me want to get busy again.  I won't be making all of my usual hand made Christmas gifts, which saddens me a little, but I have been into my room and after yet another tidy up and a bit of a shift around I spent some time in there! I've browsed patterns, I've plotted and planned and even created!

I'll tell you all about it in another post.