Time Marches On

It's been another hectic couple of months. Our trip to the South-East went very well. The weather was perfect and it was great to catch up with some family members; some of whom I haven't seen for a long time. We also had time to make a trip down to Mt Gambier to visit my Nanna-she can't travel any more so it was good to be able to see her. The rest of January was filled with preparations for the new school year. We also made it to the Adelaide Oval on Australia Day to see Australia and India play test cricket. Caitlin has settled into high school quite well. It's been a big challenge for her as it is very different to primary school, and only one other kid from her school started there this year, and he is in a different class. Luke has started year 11 well-he is doing IB and seems to have himself well organised.

Ron and I are coming up to our 20th wedding anniversary in March, and are going to have a 'second honeymoon' in Tasmania in a few weeks time. We have managed to book into a few of the colonial/cottage accommodation that we stayed in 20 years ago.  We will be away for a week, and the kids will be staying with Ron's parents. It will be lovely to go back, and spend time doing things that might be considered 'boring' by the younger members of our family ;)

Now, to craft. Even though there's been no Wipocalypse updates from me (oops, sorry), I have made a bit of progress, but today I'm going to post a few pictures I took late January so when I do an update (in about a week I think) we can see the progress (or lack of progress...).

The Bramble and the Rose-Ink Circles

2008 Wiehenburg Quaker Mystery Sampler

Fred & Albert (HAED)

I finished knitting the socks for Caitlin but don't have a picture, so I'll have to take one for the next post. I have more hexagon flowers made, and a new HAED start as well. I should be back in a few days with more pictures and my Wipocalypse progress report.

Happy New Year!

Well, December seems to have come and gone without a post, but as it tends to be for many of us a hectic time of the year, I'll let myself off the hook ;) 

Some of the highlights since I last posted include the end of the school year including the end of primary school for Caitlin and our official association with the school, and Christmas day which included all of Ron's family here in the evening (I think the count is currently 32!).  We had a quiet new year, and next weekend we are off to the South East (of South Australia) for a family get-together with my side of the family.  Luckily the weather looks like it will be kind to us-we had a nasty heat wave last week with temperatures peaking around 42C (108F). 

Looking at my craft goals in my last post-I did actually work on a few of the things on the list.  I restarted the cross stitch, worked a bit more on the sock, and I did piece the jelly roll quilt top.  I got as far as trying to quilt it, but my basting wasn't up to scratch, so that's on the to-do list.  The 'Favourite Things' quilt has been put on the back burner-I've pulled out of the quilt-a-long, but I did try needleturn applique and was quite happy with it.

I know that many people make resolutions at the beginning of the year, but I prefer to make goals and plans ;)  To help me with my crafting, I'm joining the 2012 Wipocalypse.  I'll be working on some older WIPs and I'm sure there'll be new starts as well.  I'm still working on balancing stitching, knitting and now quilting but some of that will happen naturally as I'm not going to be knitting on big garments in summer, even with airconditioning! 

For the moment (i.e. until I change my mind) the three stitching projects I'll be focussing on will be Fred & Albert (HAED), The Bramble and the Rose (Ink Circles), and 2008 Wiehenburg Quaker Mystery Sampler.  I have quite a few other WIPs and I'd like to get back to working on one (or more) of my Chatelaine WIPs and perhaps to add some Christmas ornaments along the way as well.

At the moment for quilting I want to work on my Tis The Season quilt, the hexagon quilt, and to finish the quilting and binding of the jellyroll quilt.  I don't plan to do a lot of knitting during the summer, but the socks I'm working on at the moment are my travel project, and when they are done I may start another pair.  When the weather cools down, I'll come up with a list I want to work on.

Just to liven up all this writing, and because I need to take some photos of my WIPs, here's a picture from a recent beach visit.

Stash Enhancement and November Goals

Well, the craft fair is over for another year!  I had a great time working there, as well as shopping there ;)  I also loved the quilt exhibition-no photos were allowed but I got lots of inspiration from seeing the quilts.  Here's a picture of some of my stash enhancement efforts:

I picked up a couple of other things (thimble, hexagon papers, small couple of kits) on some of the other days, but no cross stitch or knitting as I have more than enough stash in those crafts!  Some of these purchases I have plans for, and some are waiting for inspiration.

I mentioned in October that I wanted to set myself some goals for November, and even though it's over a week into the month, I'm still going to set some, just for some focus.  I have an exam on the 22nd, so that will be a priority, but I will still be making time for some craft.

November Craft Goals

1. Finish stitcheries for my 'Tis The Season' quilt
2. (Re)start this cross stitch 
3. Finish knitting second sock of pair for Caitlin
4. Start my Favourite Things blocks (maybe 2?)
5. Dig out some finished cross stitch Christmas ornaments & make them up as ornaments
6. Sew/piece quilt top using jelly roll from craft fair
7. Sew up one of the small kits/patterns from craft fair   

Also a few family updates-Ron is participating in 'Movember'-I'll upload some pictures soon. I think he's going for something like this ;) (this is actually pretty close to what he's started-not sure it'll be quite as bushy....)
 

After enrolling Caitlin in the same high school as Luke for next year (it was her second choice), she was offered a place yesterday in her first choice.  We thought it might cause a bit of a dilemma as it is the school a lot of her friends will attend, but she has stuck with the same school as Luke as she feels it will be better for her academically.  We're proud of her mature decision making, and relieved it didn't cause too much anguish!

Craft Fair

Just popping in for a quick post.  It's craft fair time here in Adelaide, and I'm going to be there for all four days working at the Stitchabout stand.  I'll only be there until 2pm each day, so I'll get lots of time to wander the rest of the stalls.  I've got a list of a few things I'm looking for , and I'm sure there'll be things I 'need' that I haven't discovered yet. 

I participated in my first Fat Quarter Swap in October and my partner was Barb.  The theme was 'swapper's choice', and I let Barb surprise me-and she picked beautifully!  The fat quarters were from Riley Blake, and I also got two skeins of Cosmo Seasons floss-I will be keeping these in mind when I tour the craft fair to find a pattern to use them with.  Thanks Barb :)  I'll also be able to look for fat quarters for my swap partner for November's swap.

We apologise for the break in transmission.......

Nearly a month since my last post!  Oops.....  What's been happening? Frankly, it's a bit of a blur-there was school holidays, and then the assignment from hell.  Not sure what else really.  I only have one more week of uni, and then it's swot vac before by exam and it's over for the year-yay!  I have so many blogs to read-I didn't finish my assignment until Friday night, and then the weekend was filled with family catch-ups (my sister from Mt Gambier came up to stay also) and a school barbeque.  Thanks for all the comments also. 


I forgot to post any of the details relating to my stitchery last post-it's a design by Bronwyn Hayes from Australian Homespun magazine No. 62 (Vol. 9.7).  I stitched it using DMC 115 which is a great variegated thread-it's one of the 'normal' line, and so is the same price as usual DMC cotton.  I have no idea about the fabric-something from my stash that I picked up somewhere, sometime.....

I don't have any craft progress to show at the moment, and need to get my craft area and room sorted, because I feel disorganised.  I'll be making some goals for November so I can see some progress too.  In other craft related news, I'll be working at the craft fair here in Adelaide at the beginning of November-I'll be helping at the Stitchabout stand, which stocks, cross stitch kits, patterns, q-snaps, etc.  I helped out there last year for one day, but this year I'll be there for all four days!  I also attended a 'sit and stitch' afternoon earlier this month at the Patchwork Apple which was lovely.  The ladies were gearing up for an exhibition at Woodside, and I got to see some amazing quilts!  I plan to pop back there next week-the 'sit and sew' afternoons are held monthly.


To finish up, we welcomed some new additions to our backyard since the last post-two new chooks 'Rose' and 'Lily' (named by Caitlin).  They settled in extremely quickly, and our older chook 'Copper' had adapted to the new youngsters fairly well too.  I tried to take a photo, and it's not that clear, as they don't stay still-like most youngsters ;)

What a month!

It's been a busy time since my last post.  Everything we are involved in seemed to happen in late August/September.  I completed my 1/2 marathon-not in a fast time, but my main goal was to finish it, which I did!  We also had Tournament of Minds for Caitlin, Ron had training for work in Sydney, the 24 hour Pedal  Prix race in Murray Bridge (including all the co-ordination/preparation for this), and then last Friday we had the school's biennial Long Walk which replicates the walk pioneer women did each week to sell goods at market.  I also had an assignment to hand up somewhere along the line.  Last weekend we had our first free weekend for a long time, and were able to get into the jungle garden and tame the weeds and growth that have flourished while we were busy.  

I have managed to get some crafting done, and even finished a couple of things.  I finished up the frilly scarf, but am undecided whether I will keep this for myself-I think it might be a bit too frilly for me.  

I also finished up the Santa stitchery, and stitched it into a wall hanging.

 I have been working on a few other things, but I might save those details until another post.

I've joined the Australian Fat Quarter Swap, and since it only involves shopping (from the stash or the shop) it should be great fun, and no stress from having to get things stitched by a particular date.

I do have another assignment due in about a month(ish), and school holidays start next week, but I'm hoping to blog more regularly (really, I promise!) now that other things have settled down somewhat.