PIN CUSHION ANYONE??

 

I have decided to join a linky party - something a little different and a lot of fun!!

 

I am joining Ida at My Sister Made me Do It for

 

IDA'S 'PERFECTLY PLEASING PINCUSHION PAREDE LINK UP'!!

 

 

Interested?? Should be lots of fun with heaps of gorgeous pincushion to feast our eyes on. Pop on over to IDA'S BLOG and check it all out - bet you join in the fun!!



A QUIET MONTH

 

This past month has been very quiet on all fronts. I am still down with the flu - although I am feeling much better than I was 3 weeks ago - hopefully on the mend and full of energy again very shortly.

 

 

Vegie garden is still producing even without being attended to.

 

Karah and her friend Lily had a cooking day over the weekend. It is good to sit back and let them go now that they are at an age that they know what they are doing!

 

This little munchkin turned 2 on Saturday - where has that time gone.

 

Ollie loves spending time here at the farm - follows Pa-pa around helping feed the animals and gets up close and personal!

 

Not much sewing being done - this has been sitting on the dining room table like this for 3 weeks now - all plans of having the little rectangles sewn on and the final borders attached went out the window when I went down with this stupid virus thing. Hopefully I can get back into it this week.

 

I have managed to do one secret sewing project - all hand sewing whilst sitting beside the fire. That's is the sum total of my doing anything more than the usual day to day things for the month of august!! Hopefully have much to show over the next month!!



SOME COLOUR IN A DREARY FLU WORLD!!

 The flu has finally took hold of me yesterday after several weeks of off and on. Aching in every joint in my body, shivers and sweats. So nothing much has been going on here for a while, so I took myself outside for a walk in the beautiful, warm 16deg sun this afternoon and found a little bit of colour!!

 

Marguerite Daisy and African daisy - always a bit of cheery colour in the garden!

 

 

Cherry tree in flower - and bees busy at work - yes we do have some bees here!!

 

Emu bush that I was sure was dying earlier this year has had a lease of life!! And good old succulents - they can always be counted on for a bit of colour!!

 

One lonely rose flowering - I did save the bud when I was pruning all the roses a week ago!! And faithful geraniums - always flowering somewhere in the yard!

 

Spring fever hit this girl this afternoon - got herself up there and then couldn't get down!! A lesson in the world of hard knock café - 'you got yourself up there, now get yourself down!!' I believe pa-pa came to the rescue - although there were fear tears when she had to make the final leap!!

 

Mandarins and lemons and

oranges!!

 

fluffy wattle - only another week of these beautiful blooms and they will start to shrivel up - glorious while it is full glow though!

 

 

Bagging up buttons for a new little venture a couple of friends and I are starting at the end of the year - no concentration needed for this job and can sit down!!!

That's about it for me and my exciting life at the moment - time to go and take another lot of drugs - the aches and coughing are returning!!

Hope you all have a great week!!!

 



JULY IS GONE....

 

July is gone and August on it's way... this year is just slipping away!

The Nature's Journey SAL that I participating in is finally starting to come together. There was some umming and arhhhing over the colour I was going to use for the borders. In the end I followed my heart and used the orange (purple was a close contender).

 

 

Here is the centre block before I sewed all the extras on.

 

 

Here it is with the borders sewn on. The diamonds are just sat there to see what it looked like, and as I am happy with how it looks I now have to fold them under and sew on.

 

 

Yes indeed I am very happy with it now. I think I am going to like this quilt when it is finished!! And speaking of finished I have finished the cream crocheted blanket I showed the beginning of in the last post. I now have 3 items for OPAM JULY!!!

 

 

Very happy with how this came up - now to post it off to my newest great nephew who is just 1 month old and will get plenty of use with it as he lives in Canberra!!

And my other 2 OPAM JULY finishes are the Ripple blanket and the Rainbow Granny Squares blanket (yes I know I have shown you these in the last post also.... I am very happy with my crochet efforts this year so am doing a little bragging!!).

 

We had more rain during the night - that makes a total of 525mm in 6 weeks - plenty for now - a couple of weeks without rain would be nice - I think I have said that before also. This is the coldest and wettest winter we have had for many years - thus nothing is happening outside and why I have completed 3 blankets during July!!

 

XMAS IN JULY

 

It seems like just last week that I was posting about last years Xmas In July and here I am posting this years!!

 

 

Here it is in all it's wrapped glory!

 

And here they are in all their unwrapped glory! My partner to receive from was Sharm whose lovely blog is Country Fragrance

Look at all the Xmas loveliness!! A bright and happy xmas apron, beautiful crochet table topper, an acorn pin cushion, some lovely handmade soap and 3 packets of sweet handmade by Sharm melts (I am sure Karah will love the musk ones Sharm!!)

Thank you so much Sharm - love them all!!

 

 

My latest crochet project. The weather has been wet and cold so have been holed up inside next to the fire - plus this awful head cold and sore throat are hanging on!! I bought this yarn at Spotlight because I just cannot go past a really good bargain - it is a lovely soft acrylic and supposed to be an 8ply (well all of the other packets were so why not this one too!!) It is bigger than an 8ply (maybe a 10ply) sooo.... what to make out of it.

 

A nice thick baby blanket is on the go. These are the squares for the centre panel. I am doing 16 of these and joining them together. Then Around the outside I will make up something as I go along. It will be quite large but I hated baby blankets that were too small when I had little ones so any that I make are going to be big!!

No rain today but still overcast and cool - looks like another day of inside jobs and crochet!!

 



**PS: I forgot to say a BIG THANK YOU to our swap mumma Cheryl - pop over to the XMAS IN JULY blog and follow the links to the other participants to see what they have created and received!!

JUST POKING ALONG!!

 

Wow - 3 weeks since my last post - time just gets away doesn't it. I have been lying low the last 10 days thanks to a throat infection and heavy head cold - and it seems to be hanging on. We have had a family funeral before that - my 87 year old aunty - a life well lived and a lady well loved. And we have had rain, rain, rain and more rain. I feel like I am living in a swamp at the moment. Each lot of rain hasn't had the chance to soak and drain away before the next lot so we have had a boggy, sloppy wet farm.

 

No inducement to go outside I can assure you - animals get fed and the day is spent inside near the heater. BUT I have finished some sewing and two crochet rugs in between coughing and sleeping and the usual running around with mum and Karah and the couple of days babysitting!

 

 

I finished the large centre block of the Nature's Journey SAL that I am a part of. I have enough applique to last the rest of year I think. Decision time now - the orange or the purple for the peeper border; the light backgrounds or the brights for the next border - some fiddling about coming up I think!!

 

 

I finished the Ripple blanket and the Rainbow Granny Squares blanket.

 

This has come up a treat and I used up quite a bit of the double knit stash. I may do another rainbow blanket but make the squares bigger.

 

Finished for one day and then tested. Ollie loves crochet blankets and has one to sleep under whether it is summer or winter. He pulled this off the chair and settled down for his nap. Each time I would fold it up and put back on the chair he would march over and pull it off and put back on his pillow. At least I know someone likes it!!

 

I finished the Ripple blanket early in July (about a week after my planned finish date). I have never finished the edges of a blanket like this and am very happy with it has turned out. Ollie is not as interested in this one because he can't slip his fingers through it as easily!! - but it does the job when there is no other.

So that is my exciting lot for the last few weeks. The sun is shining on our swamp today - but there is more rain predicted tomorrow - hopefully after that we have a few weeks break so the water can drain away and we can access the sheds and paddocks a little easier. I never complain about rain as I am grateful we are not in drought (have certainly had enough of that over the last 15 years), but a break between the downpours would make the rain more beneficial - but beggars cannot be choosers and hopefully the garden will be a picture come spring time.

 



Creature Things

 

How is this for a stylish haircut - love the fringes!!

 

I went to the weekly sheep dale with the MOTH on Friday - these fine looking specimens were my faves of the day - BEATNIK sheep cuts!!! And attitude to go with the hair cut (or should I say 'wool cut'). This one and another one were quite comical with the looks they were giving me - I was half expecting them to tell me what to do with my camera!!

 

With the wet cold weather we have had there has been only one option and that is to stay inside ..... and crochet! Next to the fire of course.

 

This is my Rainbow CAL I started a few months ago. Currently there are 224 x 3" squares all joined together. 14 rows by 16 rows. I am thinking another 2 rows to bring it to 18 rows and that will be it for me. With a border added it will be the perfect size for the grandies to snuggle in while watching tv or napping on the lounge. It was going to be much bigger but I have had enough of 3" squares - I have used up quite a bit of double knit yarn though which is good.

 

And this is my ripple blanket that I started back in January - I was aiming to have it finished by the 30th June - but it still needs a border which I had to buy a couple of more balls to do - so that will see it being finished tonight as I now have one row to go around the border!!. I have always wanted to do a Ripple blanket and now I have - I won't be doing another one - Karah tells me I have done a really good job of it so that is a bonus!! It is big enough to sit on top of a double bed which is big enough for a grandie to snuggle under when they are sleeping over (or having an afternoon nap!) This one is made from pure wool yarn - 4 Seasons brand from Spotlight - not the softest wool but it is warm.

 

 

Last Sunday we had a Pedicure Morning!!! - and you have probably already guessed it didn't involve me and my podiatry needs!! This apology for a horse above who has the smallest feet of all wasn't too happy about it but when you are this tiny you get to do as you are told (despite how much testosterone you may possess!!)

 

When you are well behaved there is a reward - you get to start the mowing on the untouched too wet to mow lawns - both just stood in the one spot and ate and ate and ate!! Some even get a relaxing rubdown as a bonus - guess Bidgee deserved it as she was the most well behaved out of the 4 horse that were done!!

 

Now this one did not like it one bit - Bobby took as long to do as the other 3 together did - NO ONE is allowed to touch her back legs and that includes the hose water - only trying to make the farriers job easier Bobby!

 

And this is the lovely pot holder I received from Lyn in a recent swap I was a part of - organised by the lovely Sharm as part of a snail mail group I have recently joined.

 

And that is all from myself and creature things (seep, horses and snails) today - I have been having so much trouble with internet connection and my laptop the last few weeks - hopefully over it all now - so I am off to answer more emails and check out a LOT of blog posts from all of my favourite bloggers (and to make some lovely comments on said blogs!!)