Not much to report.

Not much sewing that is, but life has been busy. I've baked mince pies for Christmas. Not for us, no mince pies on the Keto diet, I'll have to think of another treat for Tony and I. The pies I have made will be going to Joe and Lee and maybe a plate to work for my colleagues.

I did seek and find a keto Gingerbread recipe, so maybe some gingerbread men. I also found a keto Pavlova recipe, Tony loves a pav. I had a practice.

Not the prettiest, but it was huge and did taste good and it is Tony approved, so I'll have another go at that.

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We had a nasty Nor 'West wind storm that did a bit of damage to the garden. The poor beans I had just planted were cooked! I have had to replace them. My lettuce also gave up in the heat. My new greenhouse was damaged, but we were able to repair it, luckily the plants inside were ok. It's only a lightweight tube style frame with a poly cover, just a cheap thing. We have agreed that we will replace it with something sturdier next year.  We already have ripe tomatoes! This is the earliest we have ever had ripe fruit. Very excited for more of those. The courgette are about to go nuts I think, I looked yesterday and predict that I will be inundated with them very soon.  We go out every evening to water and set the sprinkler going for 40 mins.

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I'm on days off, today and tomorrow so hopefully I'll find time to have a play with needles and fabric. That would be nice but first I need to prune the roses before the rain starts. 

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And on a very happy note Deana has posted up the badge for next years Chookshed Challenge.

I'll need to review my list, I started it a while ago and posted it in a new tab at the top of the page but I'm sure I need to update it.

Thank you Deana I'm looking forward to another year of happy sewing. 

It's looking a lot like Christmas.

My baby boy has had his birthday. Twenty nine years old!

Where did those years go?

As I'm sure I have mentioned before, I never put up any decorations until after his birthday and yesterday was the day after his birthday. It also coincided with my day off work. I hurt my back at work earlier in the week so took things real slow, taking pretty much all day, with frequent breaks. Tony helped when he got home too.

You remember that I have more than one tree right?

This first one is in the corner of the dining room. There are lots of old favourites living on this tree, some that were on my very first tree in my very first apartment.

Next my white tree in the hallway. This one greets you as you walk in through my front door. Blue this year.

Hmm, I didn't get the best photo of it, sorry. There are quite a few handmade ornaments on it, some made by you and some made by me.

This mini tree also lives in the hallway this year. In the past I have had it in my sewing room, but opted for the hall way for a change.

Multi coloured balls and ribbon, the light jar next to it was a gift from a friend and has rainbow lights, though they look white in this image.

My favourite tree of all lives in our sitting room and has many, many hand made ornaments. The oldest of which is Mum's fairy. It was hand made for Mum when I was a very much younger person. I think she is about 45 years old.

Each year since we lost my lovely Mum her fairy has sat atop my tree. Now that I have amassed so many hand made ornaments it seems right that she rule over them all.

With the exception of the fairy and four golden bells, everything on this tree is hand made, by either one of you or by me. There are secret Santa swaps, surprise out of the blue pieces and regular swaps with dear friends all keeping company with items I have made myself.

This years secret ornament is already up there. Can you spot it?

LOL

Thank you to everyone who has contributed, I feel honoured and loved to be the recipient of so many beautiful pieces, and you have helped to make a very special tree. 

Another new start.

But first a look at some of the things that have been going on at work.

Jo, the activities lady and I showed the residents how to make these beautiful paper angels using books.

I forgot to get a picture of them all together, they are to be used as table dressing on Christmas day. Many of the residents joined in with the activity and we have a whole host of angels waiting for the big day.

They were quite easy to make, but I must confess it felt so very WRONG to be pulling books apart and folding the pages. LOL That said I've been to the op shop looking for some battered old books in order to make one or two of my own.

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The other day we had a Gingerbread Jingle party for the residents. A local choir came along to sing and we squeezed everybody in to the day room. Delwyn (Another activities lady) and I had made Gingerbread houses.

We had a lot of fun putting them together and Delwyn went to town sticking lollies and sweeties all over everywhere.

They were used as prizes at the Gingerbread party. Everyone who attended was given a ticket. Staff, family members and all of the residents.

I'm pretty sure all of the houses went to residents.

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And finally, my new start. My very first Celestial Star block.

I cut all of the fabric pieces and started to glue baste them while chatting with Chooky yesterday.

I have a lot more to cut and prepare.

I still didn't sort out or start another sewing machine project, but I have plenty to keep my hands busy.

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No grand children today, someone has an upset tummy.

I'm sure I will find something to keep me busy. 

Two finishes in one day...

 It's only the third day of December and I've already smashed two of my goals.
My list of goals for the month was very short and half of them have been wiped out already. That feels good.

Goal #1 was to have my Windswept quilt top completed by hopefully Christmas, or maybe the end of the month. Ha! I set to yesterday and turned all of those A, B and C blocks in to D blocks.

First I played shuffle on the design floor .

I got the feeling that I was being watched.

There was a peeping Tom. That is our neighbours cat Noah, he visits us every singe day. Under his watchful gaze I spread out all of my pieces.

And discovered that I was missing one B block. It really didn't take long to make that. Then I set about sewing things together in to D blocks.

By lunchtime I had all of the smaller pieces sewn up.

After a quick bite to eat I carried on sewing one D block to another and by mid afternoon I had a completed top.

Not the best picture, but you get the idea.

It still has all of the foundation papers in place and it needs a good press.

But I'm very happy to have it finished. This picture doesn't do it justice, the colours are amazing and it has turned out just as I pictured it. Now to find the perfect backing fabric and quilting design.

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So that was one finish, I promised two.

With plenty of day left and still needing to keep busy I pulled out my Blue lanterns.

There really wasn't much left to do there, with only 6-7 blocks left to add.

It didn't take long and I was done well before bedtime.

This one is also in need of a good press and there are also some papers still to remove from the outer blocks.

Not quite what I wanted. In hindsight some of those paler blue fabrics shouldn't be in there, but they came in a bundle that my lovely Tony purchased for me, so I felt like they needed be included. I still love it and already have backing fabric, I just need to find a quilting design. 

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A November goal that was completed but didn't get a mention was my ornaments. I had completed the stitching but they needed to be finished in to ornaments. I'm happy to say they were completed on the last day of November.

While I was poking about looking for something else the other day I found two other stitched ornaments that needed completion, so they were also taken care of in the same session.

I had a message from my daughter Kaiy in UK this morning to say that hers has arrived safe and well. No mention from the other overseas recipients yet, so still no peek at this years design.

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I have chores to do today, as I did nothing but sew yesterday. LOL

Then later I'll find something to play with. 

I still didn't begin the prep work for the next big EPP.

Winter Fairy is waiting patiently.

I'll need to figure out a new sewing machine project, or pull out a ufo/wip.

And there is some secret stuff I could be doing.

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See Grace, I'm still not listed under bored in the dictionary.  😂

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Chores for the day.

 #1 Get a warrant of fitness certificate for my wee car.

#2 Pick up some supplies for the garden.

#3 Bake a cake. Chocolate brownie I think.

#4 Do some puttering around and have a tidy up.

#5 Make a chilli for tea.

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And once that little lot is done.

Playtime!

I hope your December is getting off to a great start too. 

December Goals.

I had a bit of a think about what I want to achieve for December. All of my ornament obligations are done, some have even been mailed and are winging their ways over the world.

My Chookshed challenges were all achieved. (Note to self, write a round up blog post for that).

So now what?

My Windswept project appeared twice on my Chookshed challenge list. At the start of the year it was a bundle of fabrics and a pattern.  I worked on it throughout the year making a point of focusing on it when it's Chookshed number was drawn. 

All of the blocks are now made, so it is time to start joining them together. Hopefully this month I can sew the A blocks,

Together with the B Blocks,

And the C Blocks 

And maybe have a completed quilt top by Christmas, or the new year at least.

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My Blue lanterns EPP project saw some love today as I joined Chooky and the girls after work.

I also stitched on a couple of blocks on Friday evening too.

I have only 5 edge blocks and one corner block left to add. 

EXCITING!

This was the last image I took of this project. Another row of blue and the beginnings of the final white row have since been added.

It would be nice to have this one as a completed top by New Year too.

I have a lovely piece of baby blue minky to use as backing. It is wonderfully soft with a cosy drape and a velvety feel. I'm looking forward to snuggling under that next Winter.

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I also want to make progress on my Winter Fairy cross stitch.

And make some preparations for my next EPP

Some of you know already what that will be, you helped me to decide on zoom one day a while ago, but just so we are all in the same page...

I have had this book and the paper bundle since 2021.

They should be nicely matured by now.

And as you know my batik collection is continually growing and evolving. Betty decided that I should use a few of them for this project, so here we go.

It's going to be 

BRIGHT

I'm looking forward to it.

Those off whites that I have labelled for use as the white parts and the diamond pieces have been maturing in my collection for at least 15 years. LOL

The brights at the top were purchased earlier this year, so a good range of maturity should make for a nicely balanced quilt. LOL

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Of course if that is not enough I also have my crochet, some knitting, plenty of tops that need quilting and few other side projects on the go.

And I'm sure a squirrel will hop by at some point.

LOL

I won't be bored.