One week in.

Well one week down, and what a week it's been.  Co-vid has made itself well and truly known and some new restrictions are in place in Victoria.  All we can do is to heed the rules, take care of ourselves and hope that things get better as 2022 progresses.

What to do to keep life interesting?  I've seen both crochet and knitted temperature blankets, but some summer days get too hot to knit or crochet so I decided to make a Patchwork Temperature Quilt. It's never too hot to sit at the machine and sew, right?  Originally I decided on increments of 5 degrees celsius but there wasn't enough variation of colours so I adjusted it to 3 degree increments which gives me 15 different fabrics to use. Each day will consist of a fabric for the low temp and another for the high.  Here are my colours: 

And this is how they look for the first 7 days of January 2022:

Even with 3 degree increments, some days will be the same.  For example the two gold days.  The lowest temperature for the two days was between 16-18 and the highs were between 28-30.  Melbourne is known for sometimes having three seasons in one day, like yesterday (7th January) it was a very humid 27 degrees but we also had four separate rain deluges.  One so bad that the roof of a shopping centre collapsed.  It will be interesting following the weather through the year. 

Housework and shopping need doing, so that's it for this post.  See you soon. 

Take care and stay safe.♥♥♥

 

Hello 2022

Here it is the 2nd of January 2022.  We've put 2021 behind us but not co-vid.  We now have a new strain, Omicron, which is more transmissible but not as bad.  As far as I'm concerned any form of co-vid is bad.  Hopefully this year will see things settling, and our new normal becoming more normal.

I've settled well into the new house well, it feels like I have always been here.  Images of the old house are harder to come by.  I love having my son and his family close by, especially getting to know more about my two gorgeous grand daughters.  I was pleased to have them all come and help to celebrate my first Christmas here, also to have a belated housewarming get together.  The day was filled with a lot of fun and laughter and of course too much food.

New sights, new sounds and lots of new friends have entered my life, but old friends are always very close, keeping in touch by phone and text.  I have a new quilting group full of lovely and talented friends who helped me through a couple of rough days late in 2021.  I can't forget Carmen & Charlie, a chance meeting which has turned into a friendship.

I haven't made any New Year resolutions, and I plan not to complain about last year.  I will take every day as it comes and accept whatever happens.  More time with family and new friends is all I need to be happy.

Hoping 2022 is a good year for everyone. 😊

Spring has sprung

😊    Today is the first day of spring 2021.  We are still in lockdown because of Covid 19 and here we will remain until the 23rd of September - possibly even longer.   Over the six lockdowns we will have been home for 235 days.  Life goes on, slow but sure. 

    I have now finished the hand quilting on my Gypsy wife quilt.  Next - putting the binding on it.  It's rather large so might take some time.  Finished: the second quilt for the daughters of my friend Steve, although heavens knows when I will be able to give the quilts to them with all these lockdowns.  I've also finished  a large cushion which has wool felt flowers appliqued on fabric, with lots of hand embroidery on the flowers.  It was a fun make.  What will I make next - I need to get into the sewing room and check what's in there, lol.   I'm thinking maybe some placemats and a table runner for the Christmas Table -  hopefully we will be allowed to have Christmas with our families this year.

    A short post again but when you are in lockdown and can only go to the supermarket or for a walk there's not much else to post about - maybe next time.   

    Stay safe everyone.

Lock down continues

 A week on and here we are again - lockdown to last until 2nd September 2021.  There is also a curfew of 9pm every evening.

After last year I really don't mind being in lockdown, it means I get to finish a few WIPs.  The hand quilting on the Gypsy Wife quilt is now finished, it just requires the binding.  Of an evening I'm working on finishing a knitted shawl which I started in May 2019, see how easily I get side tracked, lol.

On a different tack, the estate agent I chose to sell my house, promised he would help me to purchase a new one, and he did just that.  I found the house, he did the wheeling and dealing.  His help was greatly appreciated.  To repay him for his help, I'm making his 2 daughters a quilt each.  Today I finished the first one, the second one is not far behind.  Hopefully I will be able to give the quilts to them before Christmas.  I'll take photos when they are both finished.

Time for bed now 💤💤💤 

I didn't do so good!

 Well my aim in January 2015 was to post often - but life got in the way.

My mother went into care in April of 2015.  It was getting difficult to care for her at home.  She lived comfortably at her care residence for almost five years.  She reached the wonderful age of 100 years and two weeks, she went to a better place in February 2020.  I miss her terribly.

2020 began well but slowly got worse as the year progressed.  Of course the Corona Virus came to town, as it did in the rest of the world, I'm glad my mum missed this awful event.  We had a long lockdown in 2020 lasting 112 days.  Now in 2021 we are two weeks into our 6th lockdown.   Being a retired person liking all sort of crafting, it sure helps to pass the lock down time.  I feel bad for all the people who are out of work because of these lock downs.  Hopefully things will look up for 2022.

I've been doing a lot of patchwork and quilting.  I machine pieced a quilt called "Gypsy Wife" (Now called "Wanderer's wife".  I decided to hand quilt it - big mistake - but it's almost done.  This is the top before it was put together ready for quilting.

It's made from a lot of different fabric left over from previous sewing items.  

After 74 years of living in the family home (built in 1900 - now needing quite a lot of repair) it was time to sell up and move.  I've been in my new place for three weeks now - it's still a bit disorganised, especially my sewing room, but it will get there in time.  

Time to take a break and have a cuppa - see you soon.   

A new start in 2015

Happy New Year!
 It's been so long since I last posted anything on my blog but I am going to try and post something at least once a month from this month.
 
So much has happened since 2011 it's hard to remember everything. 
My friend Nan who introduced me to Swap-Bot, passed away on my birthday in 2013. 
My family put in a swimming pool at their house which has been getting a lot of use lately with the hot weather we have been having.   Peter, Lisa, Courtney and Brianna went on a wonderful trip to the US last year and had a great time.  I have a new addition to my household - a cockatiel called "Buddy".   The family gave him to me as a combined Christmas/Birthday present.  He was ten weeks old when I got him (he's now 18 weeks old).  He's learnt to say quite a few things and is very funny.  I love him heaps.   

 It will be eight years on 26th January (my birthday) since I retired.  I am my mother's carer now as her mobility is very bad so she needs help, but she is very healthy.  She will be 95 y/o in 11 days time, so doing well and I love her a lot.
Since I spend a lot more time at home I have gone back to an old hobby "knitting".  In 2014 I knitted 10,400 metres of yarn.  I made three cardigans, half a dozen or so shawls, scarves and mitts. 
I've started this year with a shawl called Picabea (on Ravelry). I'll add photos of things as I do them.  I found a LYS 2 kilometres away from home called Woolarium and they sell fantastic yarns - they also have a Sit and Knit on Sundays between 2 and 4 pm which I go to.  It's great to sit with like minded people once a week.

I think I'll call it quits for this post and "hopefully" I can keep to my word of posing often.  

So many new things

Where does the time go to?   I've worked it out, time goes into learning new things all the time.  My good friend Nan told me about Swap-bot because I wanted to swap cross stitch items. I checked it out and joined up.  Now I'm in a cross stitch bookmark swap and a cross stitch surprise swap.  BUT - in reading the profiles of different people I discovered words like "Inchies",  "Atc's" and "Zentangles".  What are these things?  They say curiosity killed the cat - well I'm not a cat but to be on the safe side I did a Google search to set my curious mind at rest.   Oh Deary me!!!  I shouldn't have done that.  Found:  three more things to add to keep me occupied.  I realise I have been Zentangling for many years but back then it was called abstract art or doodling.  I actually have some drawings done in January 1979 which were a form of zentangling.  Inchies, now there's something a bit different, or should I say a bit smaller, I could even do some zentangling on them.   ATC's - now I can do that!  
All I have to do is take a bit of time from "here" and put it "there" and then take some time from "there" and put it with the "other there" .... Hmmm - I think I'll just take it day by day whatever mood takes me on the day that's what I will do.  My favourites will always be cross stitch and art - but I can find the time for Inchies, ATC's and Zentangles too.   Variety is the spice of life so I guess I gotta lota living to do yet.
Happy stitchin (or hobbying) till next time.