Happy Scrappy Nine-Patch

Finally went searching for my scrappy ninepatch quilt.  Of course I looked in the most obscure stash spots in my sewing room first.  When they proved unfruitful I glanced through my baskets of projects all ready to be worked on and there it was, all in it's own basket.  Yay!

I just love the stripping that I have used with the purple and green.  I had the stripe in my stash and went hunting for the green and purple to go with it - and voila! perfect stripping.  The cream linen was another fabric I had collected somewhere along the way, not patchwork fabric but just seems to fit in perfectly here.  I got all despondent with it when I ran out of the swap blocks - I wanted it bigger.  But now I have got it out and played with it I think it is the perfect size.  I am now imagining a border of the cream linen and having a lovely scrappy floral applique as a border.  OH!  So I will have to look how much of the cream I have - if there isn't enough I guess it's a perfect opportunity to find another cream/beige fabric to take the scrappy another step.

So there is that quilt.... one of many on my to-do list.  I haven't played with fabric for so long but now I can feel the urge returning.

One Cog of my Knitting Obsession

Thought I would share one of my current knitting projects.

I am knitting this scarf with the devine Rowan Kidsilk Haze Stripe with the feather and fan pattern. 
I couldn't resist a ball of delightful wool when I went to the shop for something completely different - one stroke and I was a goner :)  Or at least my purse was.  Really loving how the colours are working with the feather and fan pattern.  Making this has made me realise that there is always stuff to learn no matter how long you have been doing a craft.  I figured out that I have been putting my yarn around the needle all wrong when doing a YO.  Crazy!  So once I sorted that out I was off and now I just have to keep knitting to get to the next colour in the ball.

I cast on 76st and used the following pattern. Row 1: k2, k2 tog x 3,[(yo, k1) x 6, k2 tog x 6] x 3, yo k1 x 6, k3 tog x 3, k2
Row 2: purl
Row 3: knit
Row 4: purl
Repeat these 4 rows until all the wool is used.

It's a lovely easy knit now that I have the pattern down pat. Very quick to grow and will be so lovely and warm for next winter.

So much more to show and tell - I'm going to really enjoy popping all this pictures on here and then putting up the finished pictures super soon.

The colours remind me of this picture I took in the weekend of our lavender.  Its kind of a reversy colour thing tho.... the green and the purple are doing the opposite dance in each photo.  I love the combination of these two colours.  It has reminded me of a lovely nine patch quilt I made from some swap blocks many moons ago.  It came to a grinding halt when I ran out of the nine patches - they are all scrappy and I tied them together with a combo of green and purple. I will have to find it and post a photo tomorrow... and then maybe I will have to start making some nine patches of my own.   Now off to bed to knit myself to sleep. :)

Alpacas in the Mist

Up here in the hills things can be so different to down in the city lights.  Came home on Monday to thick mist and very nosy alpacas.  There must have been a huge downpour just before I made it home as everything was just dripping with moisture.  Managed to grab these shots of the girls - loved the way the old dead poplars looked in the background too.  Next on my wish list is a decent camera.... in the meantime my phone is doing an ok job.

 I love these girls but I really need to get things moving with them this summer.  I would love to breed again but need to raise "boy" money by selling a couple of them.  So bring on summer and lots of pictures on Trade Me and hopefully lots of people that want to buy my girls.  In the meantime they get to hang out and eat and poop and sleep - they seem pretty happy doing just that.

My Sunday Post - that did a wee stint in NeverNeverland

Sunday was a very lazy relaxed day of in my world.  Bit of shopping with Tom for his birthday then home to play with knitting and crochet.  I have started my blanket for Lewis' and Zoe's baby (due in March) - may the powers that be let it be a girl because this is a VERY girly blanket.  Plan B in reserve so just have to get them both on the way.

I love Sundays for so many reasons - one of them being that I can cook up a storm at my leisure.  Tonight's inspiration for my dinner (yes I usually cook two meals) came from an insert in the Herald.  Hot Smoked Salmon Cakes - few adjustments to fit my amazing eating regime of the moment and I have created what looks like the most amazing dinner of the month!  I have a small rack of free range pork in the oven for himself, a few roasted potatoes and a few more peas and he'll be a happy man.  I love the fact he is so easily pleased but some days it makes me anxious that he is so easy to please.  But I'm not his mother and he just loves these simple meals.  On to my wonderful salmoncakes tho - they are smelling devine and I can't wait to try them in their cooked state.

I roasted some red kumera in my wonderful Cere's unrefined coconut oil and then smashed them up.  The kumera's were still wrapped in their skins - the best part I reckon.

Then I mixed together some seeded mustard (sugar free), chopped parsley, lemon zest and juice, beaten egg, salt & pepper, chopped red onion and added the salmon..... oh yum!

Then it went all together and wow - it really looks like my dinner is going to rock tonight.  I then rolled it in processed wholegrain oats and have left them to sit while the other dinner cooks.  Maybe some capers next time... I love freestyle cooking.... and that is partly for starting this blog, just so I can remember what I cook and then play with it some more.

So while that is all happening I have made the time to start my journey in the world of blogs.  I'm not brave enough yet to tell folk about what I'm up too.... I'll just take a few weeks to get the feel of all of this and then maybe I'll invite a few people to drop in and have a look at what I'm up too.  Great to have made a start and I really look forward to placing a few more words on this page as the day's go by.

Confusion in the blogger world!

I just love reading over this blog. It's so me and my muddled head with so many things happening - or not happening for that matter.

Anyway - the confusion is that I started a new blog and I thought it was under this email. But no! Hmmmm..... I can find the blog but have no idea how to access it so I shall transfer it to this one and them I have all my stop-start blogs all together! Funny how this seems to be a spring thing restarting my blog. But life has a good feel about it this year so lots to share.

See you there.

Just thought I would put up a few pictures of a block of the month quilt I have just started with a shop in Australia. I think the quilt is called The Pond House. It is very sweet and I have enjoyed the first block, it is easy and a good way to start enjoying patchwork again.

This is the quilt to the left, I saw it at the Hamilton Quilt Show and quite fell in love with it. I think that the finished one that was on show was tea dyed so I will look into doing that when I have finished it.

The first block was the heart one above the house, I have stuck it all to the background and now will just do some handstitching over the weekend to get it all attached.


I am just happy to be sewing again, just one hour a night and I should start to see some progress! Yay for me!

New Year... New Plans... New Enthusiasm...

I finally remembered my blog name, email and password! Quite an achievement. I have become totally bored with facebook so plan now to write on here as a diary... see how it goes. I have so much to say and remember it seems to be a great idea.

I totally love the feeling of a New Year. The incredible feeling of "I can do anything" and so I want to explore how I can do anything and fit so much more into my day and then my life. A lot of plans and desires - so here I go, one thing at a time but so many things squeezed into every day.

Very very exciting!
B xxxx