December Already?

 OH MY how is it December already? It's obviously a sign of old age that the year has slipped by so fast.

What have I done this last month..... I read a few books, and I enjoyed the first two , Where the Truth Lies was a bit disappointing for me the main character was a feel sorry for me I drink too much character.

I finished a UFO from a few years ago My Ugly Fabric Tumbler quilt, it measures 84" x 72" which is the biggest quilt that I have done so far, I didn't get a photo of the pieced back it is in keeping with the ugly fabric theme. I do love it though.

Last weekend I went off to Coolah and joined the lovelies from Coolah Country PAtchwork for their Mystery Jelly Roll Quilt. The jelly roll that I picked was Sanctuary by 3 Sisters, it is very pretty. The first step was the cutting, then marking the 320 2 1/2 inch squares on the diagonal. I was cursing Catherine thinkiing all sorts of horrible things. I started sewing just before lunch. They always put on a beautiful spread for lunch and morning tea and that day was no exception. I have been pressing and trimming my blocks for what seams like hours but still don't have them all ready for the next step.

We had a friend come and stay a couple of weeks ago she was so surprised how nice the town and outlying area was all the media has been about floods and how ravaged the countryside is so it was nice to show her how nice the place is.

Pickles season is here I have pickled a few jars of beetroot and Cucumbers so far, we have fresh beans blanched and frozen it's all about to start. The tomatoes are looking great so far, if we can keep the birds away we will get a lot of sauce made.

The garden is looking great everything is thriving.

My good friend Anorina from @sameliasmum has started her monthly stocktake again so here goes. If you'd like to do your own monthly stocktake, here are the prompts which I used. Happy stocktaking!

Making: My mystery Jelly Roll Quilt, finishing a few bindings on quilts, sewing blocks for my Brontes Stars quilt

Cooking:A christmas cake, Pickles , pickles , pickles, 2 loaves of bread each week

Reading: Exiles by Jane Harper

Hearing: The Willy Wagtail that doesn't sleep in the trees outside our bedroom window

Wishing: Someone would put the Christmas lights up for me

Enjoying: The warmer weather, it's not too hot yet.

Eating: Nothing fancy

Buying: I bought a few things in the Black Friday sales my no fabric veto has gone I got 9 metres of fabric from Spotlight for $52.

Watching: The Jacaranda trees in full flower they are beautiful. I'm also watching The great British sewing bee.

Needing: To get off my butt and do something.

Wearing: my summer unisorm is denim shorts and a t shirt

Following: A few blogs, @jessicadayon on insta 

Sorting: my sewing room still I have a mountain of scrapbooking stuff to use and pack away or pass on

Saving: I don't know certainly not money

Feeling: Very grateful to be living where we are no rush no worries but I'm also looking forward to going to see everyone in Wollongong near Christmas

Mudgee Sewing Weekend

Well I had a great time at Mudgee with the Coolah Cottage Patchwork girls. The weekend started early Friday, I drove to Coolah and went to the Lovely Kate's house and parked my car, loaded hers and off we went. We stopped at Gulgong for lunch and a wander around a few shops. I didn't take any photos we were chatting too much. We went to the Gallery which is a craft co-op and then Stacks which I am sure is a neverending row upon row of aisles and the most amazing selection of stuff! I think we lost and hour and a half there, there were phone calls to see where we were. Then on the way back to the car we stopped in a little antique shop, another hour gone. So we got out of shopping mode and got into the car and off we went. In mudgee we had to go find a Sussan shop, it's not there anymore, Kate had forgot to pack her pyjamas, so Big W it was. Then we went to the River Cottages B and B I think thats their name, and unpacked the car with the help of two teenagers, they didn't come with the B and B they were waiting for their dad. The rooms were ready, the machines set up and I was sewing.

By Friday night I had finished the first quilt top, I stayed up till 11 pm way passed my bedtime. 

This is a raffle quilt for a local lady who has a yearly raffle for Beyond Blue.

Saturday arrived and back to the machine, I started on my solids quilt, a scrappy Irish chain. I have a lot of solids and I don't use them often.

Unfortunately I didn't take enough of the white to keep going I only got 4 rows sewn. After morning tea I showed some of the ladies how to make a Sew Together Bag by Sew Demented. It pushed a few out of the comfort zone, I made 2 of these bags I think about 8 years ago so I had to refresh the brain. In the end they were all happy with their bags.

Saturday evening Catherine showed us how to make these cute folded stars, mine turned out quite fat but I will make some more.Sunday Kate showed us this cute YoYo decoration, I think it would be better with a thicker thread but Kate had been given a box of Perle 20 so thats what we used for the example.

        

       

                               

The grounds were beautiful they have a selection of farm birds, turkeys, chickens and geese. A camel and an ostrich (it looks like an emu to me) and a donkey. The river was all over the animal enclosure last week so we didn't go down on the grass to keep it nice. Kate and I stopped at the cheese shop on the way home and got some beautiful cheeses. A great weekend.

 

Another Flood!!!

 I think this is the 5th time the Namoi River has broken it's banks since we moved here 17 months ago. There is so much water around, we have had over 80mms of rain since Friday the poor people down the end of our street and out beyond must be tired of the water. I heard one family have tresltles in the house to put the furniture onto.

We went up to the lookout yesterday to have a look, the last picture shows our house by the purple arrowso the flooding river is 2 blocks behind us.

I have finished my Churn Dash Quilt top, I'm very happy with it I used all Riley Blake fabrics and they are lovely to sew. Sewing the top up on point did my head in a bit but it's done. I thought I was alomost finished my Bronte's Star blocks until I looked at the original design (I lost my copy of the pattern when my computer died) and I saw that I had put the corner squares in the wrong plae. I was matching them with their star colour I could have left them but I would know it's wrong so I am unsewing them and fixing them up.

I joined Chooky Blue for a zoom on Saturday afternoon and continued my Smitten blocks and made the decision to go to Scrub Stitchin' next April. Yay now I just have to find a project or two, as I said to Chooky and we laughed and laughed, more like narrow it down to a project or two.

This pretty little Rose is going strong, the whole garden is thriving with the rain and then sun and then rain.

I'm hopefully off to Mudgee with Coolah Country Cottage for a sewing weekend so no more rain please. Have a wonderful week and stay safe

I Love My job!!!!!!

 Ok so over the last few months I have been doing Community Care work , the only clients I have want domestic help , so basically I'm a cleaner but the last two weeks and almost every Wednesday I'm assisting with a Men's group in Tamworth as a Diversional Therapist, this is what I was doing before we moved here and I love it. So far it's only a small group of gents that we pick up and take out for a few hours. Last week we went to a fire engine museum and yesterday it was a motorbike museum.

I took more photos than this but the men are in them so I can't publish them. The last bike is an old Harley Davidson postie bike the red box is the sidecar section where the postie kept the mail it was last in use in Walcha.

With all the rain and then sunshine the flowers have gone nuts the Irises are over 4 ft tall. The last pictures are of my new cutting table, I have a new sewing room the spare bedroom was a bit small so I have moved, I bought 2 pantry cupboards for my fabric and stuff and a bookcase for my books and stuff and this wonderful cutting table has my rulers and scraps at the moment but this could change.