Monday 30 November 2015

Storms, mowing & productivity

well we had quite a week here with storms on Tuesday & the weekend before that we had some rain but weather was mild compared to the last week. 
Thursday a friend came over with his ride-on & mowed my place as i was getting a little flustered with the weather being against me trying to mow it with a push mower. i would get a good portion of it mowed, like all the front, around the house & down to the chook shed when the rains would come & then it would be on & off & before i knew it i was re-mowing the same areas again, so the back part of my blocks was getting neglected & it was getting long!
then Friday came & it hit us here with almost 45`c! the storms that came here that afternoon were savage! hail, lightning we had the works, power outages, it was scary, most of the weekend was like that, though saturday was a cool 36`c but still had high humidity & storms & sunday was a tad milder with storms.
so, i have had the computer off for a good 3 days, wow, i got quite a bit done too, well, more than i usually do in a day, there was raking to do, (was out on Friday trying to beat the storm) got a fair bit of the mowed grass put around the trees, plants potted up, got quite a few done there, grass chipped out around the fig tree, knitted some dish cloths, finished the tea pot cozies & started re-making some old bath mats.   

up-cycling some old bathmats
finished tea cozies














today the computer went on early & i got almost absolutely nothing done ...

boy, does it make you feel lethargic! 
i did manage to drag myself away late this arvo to let the chooks out for a green pick & i got some lemongrass potted up, not a total wasted day at least. 
computers do have their good points, research is easier, ordering online, reading wonderful blogs, etc. i just need to use my time on it more wisely. 
i think i will keep up some days where the computer doesn't come on & sit & do knitting or my bath mats, am folding them in half & putting a blanket stitch around as well. they were once one towel re-purposed, they didn't sell at our markets so i grabbed them to make myself a bath mat, as i only have one, i was going to just sew them together to make one but it seemed too big. am totally enjoying making them too. 
plus there's also plenty of weeding to do & more raking...

sounds like another storm coming in, got to love living in Queensland.


hope everyone is keeping cool or warm in your part of the world

thanx for visiting


Tuesday 24 November 2015

a few things in progress & made

it's been awhile since i posted anything, sorry but i prefer to post when i have something to show you which unfortunately isn't very often of late

i finished some flip flop topped mittens for London Girls beau & some legwarmers for her but in my rush to get them done & posted i forgot to take pictures! don't worry, will get her to send me some to post when she gets them.
this is the pattern i used for the mittens: flip-flop-top mittens 
& this is the legwarmers: Barbarellies


i've also finished two knitted coat hanger covers, made with lace as these are my favourite to make, they are now at our market stall for sale.
                            




last Friday i finally got round to making some soap, had a bit of a panic with it as i didn't have enough lye to make the recipe from Rhonda but found another recipe that only needed 90gr of lye, whew! still used olive oil & copha, which my olive oil has had calendula soaking in it for several months. i was very pleased with how it turned out this time, looks like i'll be able to gift this lot, hopefully, will know more in a month when it's cured. 
                                        
                             
might've added a little too much Calendula
 


i still haven't tried any recipes from my olive oil book, am a stickler for sticking to what i have already made & am a bit scared of trying new things with something i'm not very familiar with but hope to make a batch next time from it. 

undid my cotton top several times then decided to go up a size in needles, instead of 4mm for the body it's now 4.5mm & i must say it does bring out the pattern better, what do you think?

                               
broken rib, this is commonly called 'rice' stitch
i still have the tea pot cozies to finish, just need to sew them up, also have not done much more on my fisherman's rib jumper. the hot weather we're having is causing me to sweat badly so knitting is in spurts

will post cozies when i finish them soon

hope everyone is keeping cool or warm in your part of the world

thanx for visiting

Wednesday 4 November 2015

apron is finished!


S  for 'Shop' & P for 'Plants'


two Sundays ago (same day as the bees) i took this apron with me to the markets, to finish sewing the final bit of waist band & then it was finished! as you can see, being worn by our lovely member & shop assistant Dallas.  

that will be my little bit of sewing for this year. 


i think summer has definitely started here with the temperatures soaring & high humidity, lots of smoke around here too.

hope you all are keeping cool or warm in your part of the world


thanx for visiting