I am still here!

It has been a couple of weeks since I posted.  I have been busy making things as well as the usual day to day busying.

I made a couple of hats on the looms I got from the Thrift shop.  The first one, which I used the dusty blue yarn that was with it and was just experimenting with, turned out big enough to make a hat and that is for me and the red one is a Christmas gift for my neighbour's grand daughter who helps me out with dog sitting and housework from time to time. It was actually made on a bigger loom but the yarn was different and although it looks narrower it actually stretches better than the blue one.

I also made some more appliance covers, one for the food mixer, one for the breadmaker and one for the coffee machine which just gets used when we have visitors as my husband has an espresso machine and I use instant coffee (old English habit).

Only putting up one photo because they are all made of same fabric and only differ in size and shape.  Yep! custom made appliance covers. Another reason is I made a mistake on the bread machine one and the fabric is upside down!  I didn't notice until I had cut the fabric to shape the corners and then it was too late to change.  You can just see q corner of it on the right of the photo.  Deer standing on their heads!

The rest of my making things time has been taken up with making Christmas cards.  I think I am sorry I ventured into this because it is really time consuming as I am making 50 cards.

I have recycled old cards and cut out images and words to glue onto the blank ones.  I am also embossing one side of every card and cutting out fabric shapes with Santa and Christmas trees on to glue on. Every card has to be embossed individually and every tree and Santa has to be cut out with pinking shears so it doesn't fray.  The hardest thing though has been the 'Merry Christmas' that I press out on my Sizzix machine.  It is very fiddly to take out the  logo and each one takes a fair bit of time to do.

Pictures in the next post when I have taken it all upstairs to my sewing room to work on them as I have been trying to do it downstairs on the dining table and what a mess I am making!

Just some ramblings.....

I know we live in the middle of nowhere and are pretty much hermits but we have TV with a million channels and high speed Internet so why hadn't I heard of air fryers until a couple of weeks ago?

Anyway, I did come across them and did my due diligence as to their usefulness and decided we would benefit from one.  We virtually gave up eating home made chips (french fries) because of the high usage of cooking oil and wastage of said oil. 

In my research I downloaded an air fryer cook book and in it was directions to make Scotch eggs.  That was the decider!  I love them and had never been successful in making them before.  Plus my husband loves chips so the thought of being able to serve them not dripping in oil or fat was another decider.

Next thing was to find one at a reasonable cost so I spent a lot of time looking on the Internet and checking reviews etc.  I found one for $69.99 from Avalon Bay on Amazon which had great reviews and was on sale.  So I ordered it and it arrived just over a week ago.

Yep, the first thing I made was Scotch eggs.  Totally delicious and perfect, no splitting of the sausage meat and cooked to perfection and again not dripping in oil.

I wanted to make a cover for it so I went through my fabric stash and found some fabric suitable for our home and surroundings and made one.  Now I plan to make more for some of my other appliances, first being the food mixer which is not used on a day to day basis and gets dusty.

Next ramble is about the weaved squares mentioned in my previous post , I have made 20 or so now.  I purchased some of the same yarn but with different colours.  I am enjoying making them a lot.

Next on the agenda is the mowers and the mowing.  I couldn't mow after my surgery for a couple of months as the discs they put in my neck need to fuse.  Finally the surgeon gave me the all clear to mow but my mower was playing up.  We both have riding mowers as we mow about 6 acres or so and my husband's mower fritzed also.  Fortunately, it was at the time the grass started slowing down because of the heat.  They went to the mower guy but he was going on vacation for two weeks, after one thing and another we eventually got them back.  My husband got his first but he ran over a wasps nest and was attacked by the swarm and suffered multiple wasp stings and ended up in the hospital.  It made him a bit leery to mow again while it was warm.  I got mine back just over a week ago. Then there was a week of hospital appointments and things to be done so we didn't get mowing again till Friday and today and I have to say it was a pleasure to mow after so long and the weather was perfect for it. He wouldn't let me mow the very long grass though so he did that I did the shorter stuff.

Finally, on one of our trips out this past week we went looking for a wheelchair for my husband for in his hunting blind as the nice new leather office chair he got for it squeaks.  Oh darn!, I will have to use it for my computer desk. Ha ha!  Anyway, I digress, when in the Thrift Store, which didn't have any wheelchairs, I found these knitting rings and yarn in a bag for $2.  What can I say? I am still a kid at heart and love toys to play with.

So I am making a tube lol, have no idea what I will do with it but it is fun to do.

That was a lot of rambling wasn't it, bet you are glad I don't blog every day eh?

It took a lot of failures but finally I can use the loom successfully

Who would have thought that the pin loom would prove to be so difficult to use?  I know I struggled with it many years ago but back then I didn't have the time to persevere.  This time I was bound and determined to succeed.

Armed with yarn and instructions last week I sat down to give it a go.  I failed........

Next day I tried again, and the next and the next. This pattern of failure was repeated for two more days.

The edges were all out of wack and this was after I had tried to fix them

Three edges were OK but the 4th went awry

Oh no, incorrect weaving and ratty edges, total failure!

A bit better but some mis weaving

Then yesterday it all fell into place and I made a good square.

Finally, a success!

Then I made some more

Phew! Thank goodness.

I am working on a baby blanket for the next baby that that comes along.  My youngest son is in a serious relationship with his girlfriend, also one of my grand daughters is too with her boyfriend so with the Universe's blessing and not so long into the future, there might be a new baby. Hopefully a marriage or two first though!

I will get some blue variegated yarn too to make squares and some white to crochet them all together and put an edge all around.  Maybe even back it too with some nice soft baby fleece.  Got plenty of time!

Well wouldn't you blooming well know it

The loom has been on my mind.  When I did my last blog post, at the end I mentioned I thought that maybe I had taken the loom to her as I had found it too fiddly.  When thinking about finding the completed squares in her stuff from the nursing home it became apparent that is what I must have done. Vague memories of it were floating around in my head.

Prior to all this thinking and having spent days and days looking for it in our house I had assumed that it was lost never to be found again and ordered one off ebay, (see previous post).

It has been our first cool day for a few weeks today so I ventured into the workshop to look through some of my MIL's totes. As I said, it somehow feels invasive but the darn loom wouldn't get out of my head.

Wouldn't you know it, there it was sitting proud in the top of the first tote I opened.  I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Laugh because my thinking had been correct or cry because I had spent $14 to buy another one.

Oh well, such is life.  Now I have two, so no excuses for not trying again.

I did find the instructions online and printed them up, that way I can keep the original instructions which are in the one I purchased which is also in the original box and from the pictures on ebay looks to be in pristine condition.

Now here is a thought! I can put one of the needles I have purchased with the one from ebay and it will be a complete set in excellent condition.  Maybe I will put it on ebay myself and make a little money.

I do so enjoy my blogging, it gets the old brain cells working! Better leave it for a couple of weeks though, don't want the seller thinking I was trying to make money off him by knocking the price down because that wasn't the case at the time.

I hate it when I can't find something I think I know I have somewhere!

Recently, we were out in the workshop where we still have some of my MIL's stuff stored.  She died in 2010 and it still seems invasive to go through it.  I know that at some point it will have to be done. Somehow one of the totes got knocked over and the contents scattered on the floor.  So we set about picking them up and I came across some squares that she had weaved on a mini loom and started to sew together.

They were not big enough to be anything useful but clearly she had something Autumnal (Fall) in mind.  I remember having the mini loom that she used, I tried it, it must have been ten years or so ago (it was before she died even) and it was fiddly so I didn't do any more.

Well, I have searched the house high and low for it, to no avail.  I have literally spent hours and hours searching for it.  I went through all my craft stuff and all our cupboards but couldn't find it.

So next progression was to go searching for one to buy.  I discovered they were called 'Weave It'.

I found many on ebay and they were not cheap considering they were all old and used.  They ranged from $20 to $40+.  There were a couple on auction but they had bids on them with days to go. The above pictured one is a buy it now for $30

Finally I found one for a buy it now price of $20 but even though it seemed in excellent condition it was missing the 6" needle. I put in an offer of $14 for it and it was accepted so I bought it and found some needles on Amazon for $5.75, so still a complete set for less than $20 with extra needles also.

I eagerly await their arrival.

In hindsight I may have taken the original one to her in the nursing home after I had tried it and wasn't too successful with it, so it may yet turn up in her stuff when I eventually get around to going through it but meanwhile I will be able to continue on with the replacement one and add to her original squares to make something useful.  It is something I can sit and do at night now the nights are drawing in.

On a separate note, in my searching I did find some 'cool towels' I had purchased the year before last and put away for safe keeping.  They are those towels you dampen and put around your neck to keep cool.  A bit late for this year though!!!

A Thank you, a health update and a made thing

First of all, I want to thank all my blogging friends for updating their blogs on a regular basis, (much more regular than me, that's for sure!).  If your blog is in the list on the right hand side of my blog under 'Blogs I follow' then you can know for sure that I have read your posts.  I check every day and read all the new postings.  I really enjoying following your activities. If you have a blog that is not listed, leave me a message and I will add you.

Secondly, I had an appointment with my surgeon this week and he is really pleased with my progress. I am feeling tons better than I was before and for the first five or six weeks after the surgery.  (It is nearly nine weeks now).  My arms no longer hurt and they do not go numb at night anymore.  The vertebrae are fusing to the new bone discs he put in and I can move my neck a lot more than I have for years.

He also cleared me for mowing and wouldn't you know it? Sods law, the mower broke this week!  We already have my husband's one at the repair shop, when we collect it next week we will take mine in. I have been driving too for a month or so now.  I had to get off the prescription pain killers for that privilege.

And thirdly, I made something this week.  A stand for some of my leather stamps.  I have some heavy duty stamps with thick stems that needed to put in a stand.

As we have lots of wood offcuts I took a couple of pieces of 2 x 4,  cut them to size, glued them together, then screwed them together for good measure.  I marked where I wanted the holes and I drilled them out on my drill press.

Finally I sanded it and gave it a couple coats of woodstain and voila!

As you can see the holes needed to be a lot larger than in the one I had purchased a couple of years ago so it is custom made for these particular stamps.  I doubt that I could have bought one like this plus they are really quite pricey.  If I remember correctly I paid about $40 for the original one.  I didn't have the drill press then though to make one.

I am hoping for some time later this month to get into my sewing and knitting room.  I have been helping my husband get prepared for hunting this year.  Last year we spent all summer gutting and converting an old camper into a hunting blind for him but it left him so weakened from doing all that work that he wasn't able to hunt much.  He has an auto immune disease that attacks his muscles and nerves and working too much does more harm than good. This year he is hoping to get up there much more and that frees me up to spend time in my hobbies room.

Maggie's collar is made and now just waiting for some leather conditioner to be delivered on Friday.

The collar for Maggie is finished.  My husband did the coloring on Tuesday and I gum tragged it and attached the billets then today I put a couple of rivets in it.

We couldn't find the leather conditioner which is a bummer because that stuff isn't cheap.  It either meant a trip to Springfield to pick some up (a whole days outing) or order online.  Well Tandy doesn't stock it which is too bad because we get a good discount with them and our other leather shop charges a lot for mailing.

So I checked out Amazon and low and behold they had it and with free two day shipping too so it will be here on Friday.

The conditioner softens and waterproofs the leather.  We don't want it to be uncomfortable for her so I am happy to buy it.

Maggie will have her new collar by the weekend.

I can tell you that not all Tandy letter stamps are created equal!

For all the time I have been doing leatherwork, about four + years now, I have struggled to get the letters lined up straight when doing a name or initials..

I put it down to me being not careful enough when doing it.

For Christmas, my husband got me a tool that Tandy had bought out which is a stamp guide.  This means you can set the letters/stamps up and fit the guide around it and tighten it to keep them all straight.  A perfect solution......or so I hoped.

Today, I got to spend some time in the workshop working on Maggie's new collar.  Everything went wonderfully well except the lettering.

I used the stamp guide but it seems that all of the letters are not placed centrally on their individual stamps so even if you have the stamps all lined up in the guide (as I did) the letters are still not straight.......Arrgghh!!!!!

The 'A' and the 'I' are out of alignment.  At least it wasn't all my fault this time.  Had I realised this I could have at least got the 'I' more in line by turning it around. You have to get the stamps placed correctly for the letters to be correct but the 'I' is the same either way.  They are individually marked on the back so you can tell which way to put them, I will have to remember about the 'I' in future. Also I pressed too hard on the 'I' and got the shape of the stamp imprinted.  That was entirely my fault.

I am happy with the rest of the stamping especially since it has been a while since I did any.  My husband will now work his magic and stain it, then I will attach the billet set and it will be done.

A few days late for her 2nd birthday but she did also get a new throwing toy on the day so she wasn't a deprived puppy.

Yeah, I think my mojo is coming back!

It is now four and a half weeks since I had the neck surgery.  I have been off the painkillers for 11 days now and was cleared to drive by the doctor.  Did my first drive yesterday, just a 70 mile all round trip to our shopping town. I am still getting a bit of pain and will be restricted from lifting anything heavy for months but I am feeling a lot better.

My husband has been working outside and he had to fell a pretty large oak tree that had died and was close to his hunting blind.  It had already dropped a large limb that came dangerously close to the blind so there was a serious risk that the tree would fall down too onto it.

He really isn't well enough to do these things but he is a stubborn cuss at times and went ahead.  I had to be nearby just in case anything went wrong and I could call for help.  Fortunately, it all went to plan and the tree was cut down, cut up and the wood brought up to the wood pile for winter.

I don't know if it was being outside a lot or what but the desire to make something came back.

I have got some leather ready to make Maggie a new collar. I am using a belt billet set I had purchased some time ago when our local hardware had a clear out sale of leather items.  I actually bought a half dozen of these as they were on 25c each! The two top pieces are the set and you attach them each end of the collar.  The holes are pre cut and snaps are already on them so it makes it a lot easier.  The piece of leather has to be cut to size yet and the stamping of her name and some patterning and colouring done.  I will add a rivet also just in case the snaps should come undone.  Not likely but best be safe than sorry.

Also, I got my old computer set up again up in my sewing room to make a pattern on the Knitware program for a sweater for myself.  I had had to move it when I put the treadle sewing machine up in my room. This I will start on when my husband starts going up to the blind in September to hunt with his bow.

Now considering it is only Thursday and we spent all yesterday afternoon shopping and the rest of the days dealing with the tree, I think I have made some giant steps to getting my making things mojo going again.

If it is cool tomorrow morning I will work in the workshop on the collar.

Yeah for the returning mojo!

15 days past surgery

It is the 15th day since I had the neck surgery.  It has been a rocky couple of weeks for sure.  The surgery went well and the surgeon was happy with how I was afterwards.  I would say that it was probably the relief of still being alive that got me through the first day lol. The pain has been quite bad and I hate taking pain meds but I did take them religiously the first week. This past week I have been trying to cycle down.

My husband has been an absolute gem.  He has taken wonderfully good care of me.

There is considerable improvement in my arm strength and agility and I do not get the numbness any more at night which is a great blessing.  The pain in my neck is bothersome though but I am sure in good time it will fade away.

Added to the above I had a uninary tract infection and tummy upset which sent me to the doctors for antibiotics yesterday.

So other than a lot of feeling sorry for myself, which I am trying to overcome, not much else has been going on.

I certainly haven't felt like making things.  I hope that too will go away in time.

Update on things.....and only a little to do with making things!

The past few weeks have been hectic to say the least.  We got to spend three days with family last week then hospital appointments for us both and now a visit from our son from California to help do a few things we can no longer tackle ourselves.  He leaves tomorrow, sadly.

Then on Monday, I go in for the neck surgery.  The surgeon said it would be a 2-3 hour procedure as he has to take out 2 discs, replace with bone to open the vertebrae back up to relieve the compression on the nerves, take off the bone spurs that are digging into my spinal cord and put in a titanium plate. Yikes! It is essential though as my arms are pretty useless right now and this should help.  It will take a reasonable time for everything to get back to normal the surgeon said but the long term prognosis is good.

So other than a few repair jobs on my husband's shorts there has not been any making things.

Woops, I forgot, we did make a catapult (sling shot) for our grandson's birthday last month. Actually, it was mostly my husband's handiwork, I was just the assistant lol.

It hasn't been the best of times

I will be quite glad when this month is over.  I know I shouldn't be wishing time away at my age but it really has been a horrible month.

Boris, our loyal and great companion of nearly 12 years crossed over the rainbow bridge on Monday. He became really quite poorly very quickly.  A lump came up almost overnight on the back of his left back leg.  I thought it was another abscess and took him straight to the vets.  They told us it was a mast cell tumour.  We had arranged surgery for this week to have it removed but he developed some serious neurological problems over the weekend.  We took him back to the vet on Monday and he told us he was very ill and dying and to let him go would be the kindest thing to.  So we hugged and loved him and said our goodbyes and held him while he went to sleep and crossed over the rainbow Bridge.  It was one of the hardest things I have ever done.

Added to that, my dear brother Lyn who had been battling diabetes, cancer and heart problems died on Tuesday.  He fought long and hard but it was his time to go be with God. He lived 2000 miles away and so with his health issues and my husband's we hadn't seen him for a few years but always kept in touch by phone.  I spoke with him on Sunday and we had a lovely talk but I think we both knew it would be the last time we talked in this life.

As for health issues, it seems I have some severe problems in my neck causing nerve compression which is why I have been having such problems with arm weakness, pain and numbness.  I had an MRI which confirmed it and I go back to see the surgeon on Monday next.

My husband is hanging in there but is still having bad episodes at night and his BP and pulse rate keep dropping.  It does go back up though.  He sees his cardiologist again in a couple of weeks.  They did manage to get his heart out of atrial fib and back in normal rhythm by shocking it about a month ago but now his heart rate is very slow.

And if all that wasn't bad enough, on Tuesday when we were stopped for a bite to eat on the way back from his neurologist appointment at the VA, a woman reversed into our vehicle and crunched the back bumper.

So now you know why I am wishing this month away.

What a gloomy post but I am hoping my theory of getting things out of my head and into print will help.

Latest knitting project finished, some summer blooms and my next sewing project

It has been a busy couple of weeks.  It is mowing season and it seems never ending.  The rain keeps coming and the grass keeps growing......you know, like it is supposed to so I am not complaining.

some of today's mowing

more mowing

Also I have been having some health issues that finally took me to the doctors.  At night my arms and hands have been getting really weak and painful and going numb.  I ignored it as long as I could but common sense prevailed.  It seems that I have some issues in the spine in my neck which are causing it so I have an appointment next week to see an orthopedic surgeon to see if surgery is required.

I did finish the little top I was knitting and I am happy with how it turned out.  I used some more of the variegated yarn as I really think it is pretty and perfect for a two year old beautiful little girl.

And my next project will be a sewing one.  I found this pattern and so I am going to make a long sleeveless summer dress with some black gingham fabric I bought last year on sale.

I am going to do View A but make it full length.

Finally, this is what is blooming in the yard right now:

These Tiger lilies appeared a couple of years ago from who knows where

These I believe are Adam's Needle yuccas and Boris is checking that all is well on the homestead

And to get a sense of how tall they are 

I think all that is left to bloom are the gladioli.  last year I planted a lot around the front of the shop area in the photo above. The problem I have now is that there are also a load of weeds in that patch and I can't weedwack them without damaging the gladioli so the weeds remain for now!

And finally,
sweet Maggie out enjoying herself

I made a poncho!

I have made a crochet poncho for our little grand daughter, I have never made one before so thought I would give it a try.  I had started on a little knitted top after finishing the little cardigan but I could see it was going to come out too big so I unravelled it and started on the poncho.

The aim was to use yarn from my stash which I started off doing but I couldn't find any similar sport weight yarn to go with it.  I have plenty of double knit but the pink I started with was thinner so didn't want to go to thicker yarn.  Well, darn! I had to buy some more. Just one skein, but a mighty big one! pretty pastel colours.

It is difficult to know how big to make things when you don't see the children all the time so I edged it with loops rather than a fringe and that way I can add to it easily if necessary when we see them next month.

Last Sunday was Mother's day here in the US so we went out for lunch on Saturday for a treat and to avoid the Sunday crowds. We passed by a swap meet going so on the way back we stopped and I got out for a browse.

I only spent $3 and got quite a bargain.  A sewing box with some bits and pieces in all of which are useful.

Thread, bobbins, long tweezers (for picking out fluff and cotton around the bobbin area), some sewing feet and an attachment so that you can change the sewing feet easily.  These are great, I have them on my other machines so this one can go on the treadle.  There was also some embroidery transfers.  I have been hankering to do some embroidery, don't know why as there is nothing really I want to embroider but I just want to do some.  Putting it down to old age eccentricity!  I have lots of embroidery hoops and embroidery skeins so may as well put them to use. There is also a roll and a half of iron on hem bonding tape and one of those spiky wheel things.  I have one of those already and for the life of me I have no idea what it is for. Anyone know?????

The box and contents

Bobbins will fit my Singer Sewmate and the sewing feet will fit all my machines.  The blue thing has a spiky wheel and I have no idea what it is used for.

Plenty of embroidery transfers

The sewing feet and some sewing machine oil and a screw to attach sewing machine to table, (will keep as a spare)

A full roll and a half roll of hem tape

I was well pleased with my bargain.

I also had to work a little more on my treadle cabinet as the machine started getting stuck down in the cabinet again.  It was catching again on the metal slide.  Also I needed to adjust the mechanism that raises the machine as it wasn't going up completely so wasn't sitting flush.  When I eventually found the right spanner I was able to adjust the height it came up so it is now more or less flush.  For now I am leaving it up and covering the whole machine and cabinet with a sheet when not in use. I will have to find a way I can fix the metal slide in place better but that is a job for another day.

Last week we went to the VA hospital for my husband to have cardioversion which is where they shock the heart to try and get it back into normal rhythm.  It worked after the second shock but now they are monitoring him for congestive heart failure. They sent him a machine and a set of scales and a blood pressure cup that plug into it that he has to use once a day at the same time each day to take his blood pressure/heart rate and his weight.  Then it transmits that info to the hospital, it is called Telehealth.  Pretty nifty.  It can also have other attachments too to monitor more things but that is all he has for now thankfully.  It does it through the cell phone signal as we do not have a land line anymore as we went to satellite VOIP phones. I am impressed, just hope someone at the other end is reading it!

A little more productive this past week

It stopped raining and I have been able to get out and mow quite a bit.  We mow about 5 or more acres all together so I split it up into sections.  The rain had certainly been good for the grass as it is quite lush and was very long.

Yesterday was not such a good day though, I got the mower stuck in some mud.  This is the second time this year but it was in a different place where we could get the van close to tow it out.  Well, that backfired because we got that stuck too!

Ring, ring, "Er hello Cynthia, I know this probably isn't a good time as you are going in to the hospital for knee replacement surgery tomorrow but do you think you could ask your son if he could come with his pick up truck and tow us out the mud again please?"

"He will be right down" she replied laughing.

Have I ever mentioned we have the best neighbours ever?

Well he came on down and towed out the van and then the mower.  Needless to say I was done mowing for the day.  I did get out this morning and got some done, though giving wide berth to that particular area!

My favourite iris bloomed. It is obviously not in a good place soil wise as it doesn't produce many blooms a year but the colour is very delicate.

Our light purple ones also bloomed in abundance this year as did the yellow in a bed further up the lane.

But aside from the mowing and all the usual household chores I finished the little shrug cardigan I was making for our grand daughter.

I didn't follow the pattern exactly as when I did the front bands as per the pattern it seemed way too bulky so I undid them and improvised by crocheting the front bands instead. Also, I decided to put buttons all the way down the front rather than just one at the top.  I had found some lovely multi coloured glass buttons when sorting out some of my sewing stuff, they must have been from my MIL's things as they are quite old. The packaging was very dated and I don't recall buying them. They are delightful. It looks a bit squat but it is only meant to be a short bolero style cardigan for a 2-3 year old.

I have started on another little knitted summer top while I am in the knitting frame of mind.

On a different note, this coming Friday we have to go to the VA in Columbia for my husband to have cardioversion, where they knock him out and shock his heart in a bid to get it into normal rhythm, he has been in persistent atrial fib since February and it is taking it's toll on him.  I thought he was going to peg out on me yesterday when we were trying to get the mower out of the mud.  Hoping for a big improvement after this procedure.  Fingers crossed!

What a lotta rain!

We have had a lot of rain here this few days, more than usual for this time of year but needed to fill up the aquifers so no complaints.  It did put the kibosh on the mowing and it is really quite muddy outside. The dogs, no matter how many times I tell them, do NOT wipe their paws when they come in lol. So, an ongoing battle with dirty paw prints but what the heck, I love my dogs.

Maggie, doesn't much like the heavy rain, it is a job to get her off the front porch to go do her business.  She holds it in rather than get wet but eventually, when she can't wait any longer, she finds the driest way through the bushes to the grass then hi-tails it right back back in.  Boris doesn't care, he doesn't mind the rain at all.

We got a few hours of no rain yesterday so I took them for their walk. For a doggie who doesn't like the rain she doesn't care how wet she gets running through the wet grass and came back soaked through!

I had a chance last week to spend a few hours on the treadle machine, getting used to using the treadle and trying different sewing feet from an old machine.  Some worked and some didn't.  The walking foot actually does work on it so I really have no excuse not to start on the quilt.  The rolled hem foot worked great too but the gathering foot didn't. That may have been user error though.  I have to look up a youtube video to make sure I was doing it right.

I have also picked up the knitting needles again and am making a little bolero jacket for our youngest grand baby who turns 2 tomorrow.  We will see them at the end of June so will save it for then. The back and fronts are knitted in one and I have done up the the splitting for the sleeves and one side so far.

I am trying use up some of my stash of wool rather than buy more.  I also found a pattern for a crochet poncho so I might make that too from the stash.  I can do that at night when watching TV.

A couple of simple projects which suits me perfectly these days.

I found the patterns on this blog:-

https://mariannaslazydaisydays.blogspot.com/

This lady has a lot of patterns, mainly for babies but some toddler patterns too.

This is the poncho pattern:-

poncho pattern

and the bolero (she calls it a shrug) pattern:-

bolero (shrug) pattern

Addendum

Yep!, user error for sure on the gathering foot.  Watched the video, I was putting the fabric through the foot instead of under.  The slot in the foot is for when you want to attach another piece of fabric on top when gathering the bottom piece. Will give it another try.......