WIPW

I am working on quilting pieces to make project baskets.  There will be 5 baskets and each will feature a different quilting pattern.

These are really labour intensive and I started the process at my stitchie weekend up at Toowoomba.  I thought that I would achieve a lot more on these than I have.

Unreal expectations!

Still working on the dolls.  Have 12 sewn and stuffed and now need to add the faces and ears etc.  These are great little stress busters as I can knit them without thinking and then think when I have to do the finishing.

I'm not sure how to knit these ears.

And the pin cushions continue.

The Eagles

I don't know if these are the same eagles that lost their eggs to the snake but another pair have been spotted high in the wetlands and they have chicks.

That is so exciting to see.

Kogin Bags

I am in the process of trialing the making of shoulder bags which incorporate Kogin stitching.  This still needs to be refined but I think the basic design idea is sound.

As I embroidered the front and back in one piece I think I need to leave more distance between the design from the bottom fold on the front.

The back looks fine.

The bag has two pockets and is lined with red fabric.

The other things that have to be refined is the straps and the leather used.

The colour of the straps just isn't right and although a good quality leather was used for the trims I think it is a bit heavy in weight.  (Not sure about this it might just be new and stiff.)

My daughter,  Laura, who works in leather is assembling these for me.  I love this bag she designed, along with her other pieces.

Off for a stitchy weekend.

I am heading up to Toowoomba for a stitchy weekend.  I haven't been away for ages and I am really looking forward to it.  I will bring my car over to the island to pack up my sewing machine and all the other things I need to take.  Then back to the mainland for Friday night ready to hit the road early in the morning.  In that link you can see there are great things to do in Toowomba and I have just realised that next month will be the Carnival of Flowers and I will need to travel up again.

I am going to get nearly 2 days of stitching with no one asking me anything other than stitchy things.  I have a bundle of fabrics all picked out to take with me.

I want to quilt 5 pieces to make Xmas presents for my teaching friends.  I have been practicing some new geometric patterns and I think that the 5 Projects I have in mind will take up all my time. 

The fabrics I am practicing on are all old manufacturers samples that I have hung onto for at least 30 years! Time to use them up and not just look at them.

And, I am going out to breakfast with friends on the Sunday morning, something I haven't done for at least 2 years.

What a great way to mark the beginning of Spring?

 

 

WIPW

Just the usual at the moment.

Pin cushions, I did stick to the original pattern and put my own designs away for another day.  These need stuffing.  I am considering using them as a "decor" item rather than as pin cushions.  It all depends if I can find an interesting basket or bowl to display them in.  I tea- dyed the fabric and used the off-cuts from my woollen skirt as my base materials.  I found 1 lone piece of green woollen fabric in my felt stash which I used.  The buttons are from a little bundle of antique buttons I bought in the USA.  Just the place to use those.

And I am still knitting the "Izzi Dolls".  I have a bundle now which need to be stuffed and features added.

There are so many variations on this basic pattern. How cute are these ones  I found on Instagram. 

The rest of the time is dealing with home schooling, and that takes some dealing with.

They are out early this year

The snakes don't usually come out for a couple of months yet but this one has woken early.

He had been hunting frogs in the creek outside the coffee shop, there are lots of frogs in there.  Every one looked on with big eyes and said they better check the chicken hutches and make sure that all the screen doors were shut so they couldn't get into the house.  Then some-one said that the snakes had got up to one of the eagles nests and taken their eggs.  Those eagles have moved house to another site.  It is almost time for all the young chicks to be born around the island.  Hope those parents are prepared.

I think I will watch my step coming up from the beach through the bush and I think that snake got something bigger than frogs.  He has some good sized lumps along his body.  He has a bit of food to digest there so that should keep him quiet for a while.

The wool has arrived

So the post man came with my parcel, and being a local, opened the door and put it on the hall stand.

Oh dear! was I ever that young as in that photo?  It was taken just before my daughter was born here on Coochie.

I am never quite sure what the colour of the wool will look like until I open the parcel.

I can live with that.  Now the parcel is stored in the cupboard for when I an ready to start it.  I still have to decide on a pattern as yet.

When I was a teenager

When I was a teenager I played in a Youth Orchestra.  I remember most the feeling of being part of a whole 'new thing'.  The music and the act of playing it, melded us into another being but never to the extent that this group has reached.  They don't need a conductor any more.  They have all become part of that 'other being'.   This is one of the special things about being young.  I have seen the same kind of group cohesion in choirs and dance groups that were exculsively composed of young people as well.  So wonderful to watch this video and experience it again.

 

 

And if you want to watch more click on some of the other offerings.

 

It has to come undone.

I knitted this cardigan a couple of years ago but it shrunk slightly when I washed it.  (I did not put on weight!!!)

It is just too uncomfortable to wear anymore.  I could give it away but pure wool is so expensive these days I think I need to unpick it, wash the wool again and then start again.

Bendigo Woollen Mills is the source of most of the wool I knit with.  It is good quality Australian wool produced locally and although not cheap is affordable.  I have an order in for some wool to knit up for next year.  It was on special but the wool for a sweater will still cost $70 and just a few days later I see it has all sold out.  (Looks like there are other knitters out there.)

It has taken me a life-time to realise that I really should plan my knitting a year in advance and not try and get a whole garment finished in the couple of months before winter hits.  It has to be said that in years past there was no air-conditioning and it was too hot to knit in summer but I now have air-con and I can knit summer or winter.

Now that I am retired I find that the pressure to complete things in a short time line is gone.  I think I must be slowing down?

WIPW

This week past was Ekka week (the Royal Agricultural Show) here in Brisbane.  I have kept away because I didn't want to go into those crowds.  There is still lots of Covid around and most of my family have been coming down with it.  So, except for one trip to meet with my patchwork group, where we all wear masks and everyone does a RAT test before they go,  my days are rather ordinary.  Top of the list is home-schooling, which along with preparing meals, doing household tasks and walking the dog seem to fill most of my days.  But, although I can't use my sewing machine I can knit, so, I have a little bundle of Issie Dolls to finish.

This isn't very challenging but it does keep the hands busy and the pain in my arms and legs isn't too good just at the moment, but this activity keeps the muscles working.

This little bundle are supposed to look like writting on a black board, (chalk board), they still have to be stuffed.

The next bundle use woollen fabric.  I don't use woollen fabric but I did make a skirt this year and I have some pieces left over so they will all have to be made from that.  I do have a small bundle of woollen felt in the stash as well that I can use for the applique but I think I will change these.  Then again, I might make them as is.  These ones have sparked some ideas to make some that reflect my environment.

I also have a destination for the pin cushions and the dolls.  My friend Kay is having a stall to raise money for research into Cystic Fibrosis so all of these pieces can go to that. 

 

The other thing I am thinking about is Xmas.