Confusion and more squares

The older girls have a cheerleading exhibition that we are going to watch. 

It’s being held in the city. So hubby and I decided to leave home early to get there in plenty of time. 

I looked at the tickets and realised that we were a week early. Thankfully we hadn’t left home yet. 

Being a Saturday I told my art teacher that I wouldn’t be able to come to class. No problem. Unfortunately it then meant that I was going to miss two weeks. 

I didn’t want that. Do I had a lesson this afternoon to work on the new painting we started 

This is what I’ve now completed 

Much better than Trixies portrait. 

I’m back in my comfort zone 

I’ve also made more squares. I’m going to make a smaller quilt 

Going through the fabric the nice lady gave me. I found a piece with these pictures amongst lots of garden. 

I fussy cut out the buildings and then used the same process as the stitcheries to turn them into a block 

Further digging produced another panel with different flowers 



They’re ready to be sown with the first triangles boarder. 

There’s 12 of those. 

All up 20 blocks. That will make a decent 

Sized quilt 

I’m a bit worried that the stitches blocks won’t mix well with the others. 

I’ll lay them out and see once they’re all finished 

If the don’t, well I’ll just put them to one side and figure out what to add to them 

Now I’m sitting and waiting on hubby to arrive home. 

Dinner is cooked and I’ll dish it up when he gets here. I got a text saying he wasn’t far away 

Squares

For the last week it’s been all about squares 

I have four shabby looking cushions. I gave them a nice new outfit 

Two down. Two to go 

These stitcheries are very very old 

I made them in class, when baby girl was still in high school  

They were made into cushions, but when they started to look well loved  I removed them. 

I didn’t want to throw out all that work so I cut them out 

I’m not sure if I’ll turn them into a wall hanging 

Or add different squares and make a quilt 

I think they look nice in they’re new squares 

Suggestions welcome 



Remember when we were young, we were told to not get too close to the television or we will get square eyes 

Ana is well away, relaxing. 





And I’m adding to my knitted squares 



Current one is a monkey 

Everyone loves  monkeys 

Winter colours

As we approach the winter solstice, gardening isn’t really in the list of things to do. 

It’s cold,wet and gloomy. 

But here in the land down under, we are fortunate. 

We can still grow food and our garden still has colour 

The camellia are flowering 

There is even the promise of what’s to come 



The citrus we “rescued “ has started to fruit. 

I’m still not sure what it is. I’m thinking it might be an orange. The blossoms were very fragrant. I don’t think lemon blossoms are quite as fragrant 

We shall see 



Bright red to make us feel happy 



The Christmas cactus are going strong. 

A variety of colours blooming, with more about to burst 



The first Hippeastrum of the year. 

My aunt gave me a pot with one in it. 

Now I’ve got about two dozen. 



Daisies are always resilient and come back year after year 



One of the many succulents I have been gifted. 

All grown from cuttings, and now they’re flowering 

A Very happy plant



I cannot for the life of me remember this plants name. 

It will come to me eventually 

It’s giant flower stalk has started to open 



I’ll definitely keep you posted on it’s progress 

There is nothing growing in the vegetable garden. 

It was too warm for too long. In other years I did try to plant but they bolted. 

The cold kinda arrived all of a sudden. Catching me by surprise. Pretty much overnight. 

It really doesn’t matter. The beds can do with a rest 

I hope you enjoyed seeing all the colour that is in my winter garden 

Domestic bliss

Today I’ve been busy baking scones and 

Sewing owls. These are ready to be stuffed and the bottoms hand stitched closed 



I’ve still got four more to sew together. I’ll do those tomorrow 




Its afternoon now and I’m sitting and knitting. 



It’s days like today that I really enjoy 

Just doing what I not only need, but also want to do 

Dinner will be leftovers. 

An easy evening ahead for me 

In the craft room

After my big day in the city yesterday. 

I’m still humming the songs. 

I wasn’t going to over do today 

It was raining hard. You can’t see it here 

But you can see it on the blinds 



As it’s the kings birthday long weekend. Hubby was home. 

I decided he could help me pull the work table away from the wall so I could pin my quilt together ready to sew 




The backing was made by sewing two large pieces of fabric together. They’re different colours but close enough as to not look awkward. 

The batting was from a big roll I was gifted when someone was moving and didn’t want to take it with them

So far this huge quilt hasn’t cost me. Single cent. 

Gotta love that 

Meanwhile this chair, which was bought to use in the meantime while I purchased myself new sewing chair

I think that was closed to 15 years ago   

Can’t rush these things 

It’s not great for my back any more. 

Hubby asked me the other day if I needed anything from office works. I said yes. A new chair please 

I received this snazzy looking chair 

I didn’t want to start quilting. Just pinning it together took an hour and a half. 

But I really wanted to try this chair 



I found a small owl pattern I had. I’d made a few for the children who were affected by horrific fires. 

I’ve found a charity that accepts those Izzy dolls and the trauma teddys to be sent to the ukrain. 

As I’m currently working on two big knitting projects I thought these owls would be just as good. I can definitely make quite a few quickly 

I went through my scraps. But it wasn’t a big pile as I’ve used it all up. 

But I remembered the fabric I received from a lovely old lady that gets her hair done by my daughter’s mother in law. 

MIL thought of me when the lovely lady asked if she knew anyone who would like it. 





I’ve now ironed,and  sown pieces together to make them big enough to cut the pattern pieces from

I’ve already traced and cut out some owls  

And I’ve got lots more ready, in the correct size, to cut out more. 

The charity that collects them isn’t that far from me. So instead of sending them I’ll actually drop them off 

The Izzy dolls I had made are now in little plastic packets with a note telling the person who finds them, that they’re not lost.  Just left for someone to find so we can spread love and kindness. 

I have left a few around the city and on a couple of trains. 

I really hope the ones that find them, really need to feel like they’re not alone   

Theatre day

Today my art teacher, judie, and I headed into Melbourne to see Jesus Christ superstar. 

All I can say is WOW 

A powerful and emotional show 

The leads were all great vocalists

Some of the notes they held for FOREVER 

Mary Magdalene was played by Mahalia Barnes 

Let me tell you that girl can sing her dad under the table. 

And I love jimmy 

We took the train in. Had lunch at a pub before the show. After we got back on the train to come home 

It’s an hour train ride each way. But oh so worthwhile 

If you get a chance to see it. GO

One of the best interpretations I’ve seen

Reduce, reuse, and repair

They’re the three mottos I try to live by. 

After finishing the quilt top

I had a pile of scraps that were a good size for a practice scrappy quilt as you go

I didn’t have the backing on as I thought it might look way too messy   I quilted using a fancy stitch on the machine. 

It definitely hides a multitude of errors 

For the backing I looked through my fat quarters and found this cute pooh bear. 




I just placed the quilted square on it right side up and then folded over the edges,twice, as the binding 

I thought it would be easier than bagging out

It wasn’t 

But I do like the binding look better 

A placement for Ana to take home 

Meanwhile 
Ana is watching Gabbys Dollhouse. 

I told her if she needed me I’ll be in the sewing room 

I finished the binding on the machine 

She didn’t bat an eyelid. 

She’s growing up. 

In the past I had to be with her the whole day. 

But now she doesn’t care. 

I always tell her where I’ll be and what I’m doing and she’s fine. 

I did think she might of come in to see what I was doing while using the sewing machine, but no. 

I don’t know if I like this independent toddler. 

Even though it’s great she’s growing more confident. 

But for grandma it that first  step you take on the journey of separation. 

If I’m really lucky they will always want to spend time with grandma. 

Results

Just a quick post today to let you know about Wondersons 

Scan results. 

They cannot find any cancer in his body. 

Which is fantastic news. 

But. 

There is always a but 

Apparently it’s a slow growth cancer, so they will 

do more scans in October to keep a eye on him 

Which is still worrying for this mumma 

I choose  to be thankful for his clean bill of health today

That all this is free and we don’t have to worry about huge bills

And that even though there can be long waiting lists for tests and surgeries,

The health system really does attend to those that are time critical 

First. 

And especially thankfully that it was found early and that his 

Prognosis is good. 

Homebody

I’m a homebody. I do like going out occasionally, but mainly 

I prefer to stay home. 

Lots of people ask me if I get bored at home. 

That I need to find a job so I can be busy. 

They don’t understand 

I’ve got baking to do

quilting and other sewing 





The fixing of errors keeps me very busy. 

I can see them, and I don’t care. 

It’s my Amish bit making it an original 

In between there is vacuuming 

Bed making washing 

And animals to look after. 


Since I’ve been very productive today 

I pulled out some frozen pasta sauce I had prepared earlier 

All I have to do is cook the noodles 

All this while listening to my audiobook 




Once all that is taken care of 

I get to sit, knit and watch a movie. 

Now I ask you. How can you get bored with all that?

Crafting and caring

This little poppet wasn’t her usual chatty self 

I bought some new items to play with 

She only played a lit while then climbed onto the couch to lay down and rest



She really wasn’t too interested in food either 

Which is so not her!

So I asked if she would like a hot chocolate to have with grandma in a real mug 

She liked that idea I figured at least she’s getting some milk into her 



Once again she climbed into the recliner and fell asleep 

She was very sick last week and I guess she was still tired from that 

Once she woke, after a two hour nap, she was much better. 

By then her daddy and grandpa were here so they had to play hide and seek with her 

On the crafting side of things. I got the sewing bug and went looking for a project 

Not hard. I’ve so much fabric and so many choices 

I found two jelly rolls that I had purchased from the shop I used to have lessons at. 

That was when my daughter was still in high school 

She’s 34 now! 

I decided a log cabin quilt would be easy, not needing an actual pattern 

One roll is all pink and green flowers. 

The second is darker with only black and whites. 

I hope the different colours with show as a light side and a dark side 

I remembered reading somewhere that the centre of each block should be red. 

Luckily I had some red. 



I say sewing for only a little while then can back to knitting. I can do that on the couch while watching telly with hubby 

I lashed out and bought a blocking board. 

I’ve never block before. I know. Very bad. 

These squares really need it. 



So far we have a puppy 



A kitty 



An owl 



And a penguin 



Currently working on a kangaroo. 

Well we are aussies after all 

It’s Saturday now and I’ve just come back home from art. 

I finished another painting. If your interested there is a link to my art blog 

I don’t want to scare you with my art. 

That’s your warning. Look but be prepared lol 

Now it’s time for coffee, an audiobook and some sewing. 

Enjoy your weekend 

Forgot

Lately my memory has been pretty bad. 

Not sure if it’s fibro fog, having too much on my mind or just getting older 

Yesterday morning I put a load of my clothes in the washing machine 

I then promptly forgot all about it until eight o clock last night. 

I’ve now restarted the machine and will , hopefully, remember to hang them on my clothes dryer in the craft room

A few weeks ago o found some leggings I had purchased on line. They were on sale for Seven dollars each! 

I guess they weren’t everybodies cup of tea and needed to just get rid of them. 

I love them. They’re perfect for wearing around the house and as tights when I’m wearing my skirts with boots. 

I am a child of the sixties after all!

I bought four pairs. I had totally forgotten I had them until I did a clean and reorganise of my wardrobe and chest of drawers 

Iv only had them a year. 

I did wear the one that looks like cranny square 
Blanket when I first got them But that was it 

My final, and worst, forgetting was when I decided to make a cover for my mixer. 

I don’t have a big fancy kitchen, with lots of storage. 

So the mixer has to stay on the bench. Not that I have a lot of space there either. 

While cleaning and organising the kitchen I once again noticed it was dusty and needed wiping down. 

I had been meaning to make it a cover. But. I kept forgetting 

So I decided to, before I forgot again, to just do it 




I used pieces from my scrap pile. The pretty flowers material I’ve had for over 15 years. I bought it for one of my earliest quilt 



I spent three or four hours working on it. 

I marked out the quilt lines and quilted each piece. 

I also made a lining to hide all the edges 

After working on it most of the day. I tried to get up from the sewing machine.  Once the  final binding had been completed, and found I couldn’t move. As I got up my back spasmed and I almost fell. 

You see sewing is one of the worst things to do with my back

It’s the standing for ages in one spot, the sitting over the machine pinning and sewing. Especially once the pieces had to be sewn together. It’s the twisting and fighting with the fabric that does it. 

As I’ve  had many months of low pain, thanks to the new meds, I had forgotten that although the pain is gone, the damage was still there. 

If I had remembered I’d of taken many rest periods. 

But I did not 

I was in lots of pain last night. I couldn’t sit, stand or lay near the heater at all. 

I eventually took extra pain medication and went to bed. 

Thankfully the meds too the edge off and I was able to sleep 

Today I’m very tender. My back and legs are very sore indeed.  Especially the sciatica pain. 

I’ll have to go slow and have lots of rest. I need to be better tomorrow for Anastasia day. 

Hopefully I’ll  remember to do that