Friday was for finishing

On Friday, after spending a few hours steeped in family history (it’s addictive, you know), I realised that if I were to reach my craft goals for June I needed to get off the computer!

First I had to tidy my sewing room and retrieve my sewing machine from its case (where it has spent the last five weeks).

I did a bit of machine sewing on my hexagon bag to finish it off. I could have just done some hand-stitching but the machine is so much neater! See the pin stitching around that half-hexagon shaped opening! LOL

Ah, the joy of sewing on a newly-serviced machine!

Then I changed thread and bobbin so that I could join seven widths of fabric to make binding. Of course, I had to press the fabric and cut it first!

I sewed the binding to the quilt and then crawled around on the lounge-room floor to block some knitting (subject of a future post) which had been soaking for several hours and had just been through the spin cycle on the machine. Mind you, with all the wet weather we are having, it may never dry!

In the evening, before dinner, I sewed in the ends of the thread on the hexagon bag. All that’s left to do now is insert a drawstring but my teacher has a neat idea for finishing so that has to wait for Monday. In the meantime, I’m calling it a finish!

Last night, I did about five hours of hand-stitching while WM watched the football (rugby league) and I listened to podcasts (the Genealogy Guys – yes, I’m hooked). The Earth and Sky quilt is finally finished! The fabric I used for the binding could only be used for that purpose or in small pieces the printing is not straight on the fabric! Look closely towards the right of the binding, that’s not me, it’s the printing!

After the football, WM went off to play Bejewelled for a while, so I finished the binding and picked up a pair of socks that have been on the needles for far too long (Ravelry shows me that they were started in early January). Five more rows of knitting and some toe-shaping saw the second sock done (and it isn’t even on my June project list!)

Today I listened to another podcast while grafting the toes of the socks and sewing the ends in. They are slightly too small for me so photos had to be taken without a foot inserted!

Photos were take and a post was written.

Finishes are so satisfying!

Linking up with Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday over at Blossom Heart Quilts.

Where, oh where, can she be?

Hello. I’m still here. Just quiet on the blogging front.

Well, except for the hours I have spent reading through the 500+ posts I had in my Feedly list when I came home. I have only left comments on a few posts when I had something I really had to say but, for the most part, I have just skim-read and moved on. Some people have suggested that I just skip those missed posts and start afresh but I would hate to miss the post I needed to read! I would feel awful if I missed the news of a joyous or tragic event in my blog-friend’s life! I am now down to 238 posts so I’m getting there! I also have dozens, if not hundreds, of emails that need answers – I will get to those in due course, I hope!

When we got home from our vacation, I had an email from a member of Lost Cousins, a family history site of which I am also a member. That sparked my curiosity about something in my own family history and there I was, off searching around my own ancestry. In those two weeks, I re-established connection with some “lost” cousins and have had some delightful and informative emails from my second cousin in England so have really been distracted from my crafting and other pursuits.

I’ve also found a site called Deceased Online, which doesn’t sound terribly exciting but is a good site to find the location and date of the burial of English ancestors (for free) and further information, like who else is buried in the same grave (for a fee). I have been lucky enough to find a few of my ancestors or blood relatives on the site – they are adding more and more information every month.

I am focussing my attention on one set of my great-grandparents and their descendants. I am working from their eldest child, through their descendants (and so on) and am finding some very interesting (to me) facts. I just love the hunt and the thrill of finding small scraps of information! Some of which leads to other areas of inquiry.

I have sent emails to other members of Genes Reunited who have people with the same names on their tree that I am researching in my own tree and have had quite a few answers – most not relevant but it’s still good to get a reply.

I have used another site called Curious Fox (a site for ancestors in Britain and Ireland but you need to know where they lived specifically) and had some answers with some new information which, as I’ve already said, is very exciting.

There has been some crafting. I have been working on some hand-stitching which I have now dubbed the “Dutch Cap” quilt because of the shape of the paper-piecing I have designed.

Since I started cutting out hexagons on the train trip home, I have achieved this much (22 “triads”)!

My sewing machine was serviced while I was away but I have not yet taken it out of its case! I need to do so soon if I am going to have the binding sewn on the Earth and Sky quilt before the end of the month! I also need to do a small amount of sewing on another project so I can call it finished too!
There has been some knitting but I’ll leave that for a separate post.

So, don’t write me off – I’m still here, and The Year of the Finished Project linky party is still alive and well.

I’ll be back soon with the promised knitting post!

two years ago today

Two years ago today I had talked myself out of going back to the Stitches and Craft Show to buy a new sewing machine.

Just as well, because WM was at DD’s house, working on the yards with SIL when DD went into labour. I got a phone call to come and get Older Grandson (I had the car with the baby seat) because they were on their way to hospital.

A couple of hours later, I got another phone call to say that Older Grandson had a baby brother.
So happy second birthday, Younger Grandson.

We can’t wait to see you next week!

Happy Birthday WM

I'm sorry you had to be back at work for your birthday -- it would have been more fun to share the day during our fantastic holiday.

Have a great day.

I love you very much -- you are not only a wonderful husband, you are my best friend.

Home again!

We arrived to a cold, wet, miserable day in Sydney. Our train was 45 minutes late getting into the terminal but we didn't have too long to wait for a suburban train to take us home. MIL was waiting for us at the station which was lovely. We had lunch together then she left, WM went to get the cat from the boarding kennel and I unpacked! Isn't that the worst part of arriving home?

Last night WM and I worked on our travel blog (you can find it over here if you'd like to see some of our photos). We are one day away from having it completely finished!

I did work on my hexie project on the train but didn't do anywhere near as much as I expected. This was partly because the lighting wasn't strong enough for me to see my stitching, and partly because there were views to watch, meals to eat and excursions to be taken as well as a blog to keep updating! However, it was always meant to be a long term project so I'm not at all concerned -- it is ready to go any time I have  the urge for some hand-piecing.

The hexie project bag I was working on before I went away is almost finished. In my last class before I went away, I lined the bag and joined the two pieces together with the casing. All it needed was the casing to be hand-stitched down. I took the project away with me but I didn't touch it. It was too difficult to sew in a moving motor-home and I was too tired in the evenings to sew (or do any other form of craft)!

I took three knitting projects with me: yarn and needles for the bed socks mum had asked me to knit, Emily's unfinished baby blanket and an almost-finished pair of socks. The last two projects never saw the light of day! The bed socks are finished but I didn't get them done in time for Beulah's birthday so they are still with me (mum gave Beulah something else). What's that? You want to see them...

Here is one.

They are both finished but I only put one on to take the photo with my iPad. They are knitted cuff down in Moda Vera Marvel (DK) on 3.75mm double-pointed needles to a pattern I modified from Wendy Johnson's Lacy Ribs Socks (Ravelry link). This is the link to my Ravelry page. My modification was to add a rib of mock cabling between the lace; I think the mock cabling should have been done every fourth row instead of every eighth; what do you think?

Anyway, I have four loads of washing to do -- one is on the line (it's a cloudless, mild winter day today), one is in the machine and two are still on the laundry room floor! Then I'd better go and help WM in the garden -- it is overgrown with weeds due to three months of concentrating on the Renovation Project (no, it hasn't rented yet!) followed by our three week absence!

And I still have over 500 blog posts to catch up on! :-(

On our way home

Today begins Phase 3 of our vacation -- we board the Indian Pacific (a trans-continental train) for the 3 day, 4000+ kilometre trip home. At last I'll have time for some hand-stitching when I can actually keep my eyes open! This is the little kit I packed for myself, 150 (or more) 4" squares to make hexies, some white background fabric for half hexies and all the tools I need (plus some)!

As for blogs, I'm behind by more than 500 posts so I'm reading but generally not commenting which feels a little weird; I don't know how long it will take me to catch up -- I'm currently reading posts from 25 May!

I doubt I'll have access to the Internet for the next three days -- isn't that what train travel is about (no phone, no TV, no computer)?  ;-)

See you on the other side (of Australia, that is!)

2013: The Year of the Finished Project -- June edition

Just a short post from me this month as I'm still away on vacation.

May went by for me in a blur of renovations and travelling!

There certainly doesn't seem to have been much crafting.

I didn't finish anything from my goal list so there's no point in me publishing it here.

I started a pair of bed socks I had no intention of knitting but my mum asked me to knit a pair for her neighbour's birthday present so start them I did.

I cut out about 200 x 4" squares to do some hand-piecing while on our travels -- in the twelve days we've been away, I've either knitted those bed socks or been too busy/tired to craft! But I have a three day train trip looming so there should be some hand-sewing time then!

My June list looks like this:

1. Bed Socks for Beulah -- finish
2. Blanket for Emily -- finish
3. cardigan for me -- knit sleeves
4. bind the Earth and Sky quilt
5. add border to Scrappy Log Cabin quilt
6. finish Hexagon Project Bag

What about you? What did you achieve in May? What goals do you have in June?

Don't forget to enter the URL of your blog post -- not just your blog URL, thanks.

Good luck with your goals, see you here soon after I return from my vacation!