The UFO Challenge update...

This year each of the Sunday Stitchers has a list of projects that we will work on each month. The UFOs are numbered 1-12 and each month a number is drawn and we each work on that numbered project on our list. And then we bring that item along to the monthly meeting for Show and Tell; it may be finished or there has been progress but still some to go.
February ( which was #12) was my Hexagon Liberty cot quilt which I made progress with. I even brought it along to the March meeting as I had continued to add rows...

And after the March meeting I worked for a week or so more and added 2 orangey/yellow rows, but they aren't fully Stitched in place yet.

March UFO number had been #10 which was to start using the long hexagons that I'd cut out of Christmas fabric quite a while ago. I had thoughts of a table runner, wall hanging or tape topper but no real plan. For Show and Tell in March, I had this much done...

During that stitching day I worked on another row...

The squares in the middle might end up being little Christmas embroideries or maybe just cut out of gold/silver/white fabrics...that decision can be made at a later stage. But in the month, my pile of cut out hexagons started to become 'something'!
April's UFO number was 9...experiment with making different styles of granny squares from a lovely book I received for Christmas one year...


But I had already started working on a knitted blanket for our newest granddaughter, Abigail. Realistically  I could have crocheted squares from the book and made Abi a blankie that way and put the knitting aside. But the knitted one had become such a challenge that I was determined to keep doggedly onward with it. But I didn't have time for both...so...

I tampered with the list! 😉( Aussie readers might get the nuances there!)
This blanket is taking me a lot longer to knit than I normally take on such a project. Making mistake after mistake...especially with the lace part...so much frogging!  I really had to 'take myself in hand' to make progress with this project. Each row in the lace pattern repeat was different.  All those old strategies and memory aids came into play; I made checklists of the 12 row pattern and marked off each row. This was after I inadvertently knitted the same lace row twice...duh!
I started counting the stitches after I completed every row...with some form of 'Knitters' Dementia', I was forgetting the occasional 'yarn over' stitches in rows...lethal!  And of course the missing y o would be near the beginning of the row, not at the end! I sat in a room by myself with no DH, iPad or TV. On the fiddly rows I said the instructions out loud as I knitted...bad eh? 🙄
The only strategy I didn't use was the 'life line for lace knitting' as I figured I had the 4 rows of white garter stitch in every pattern repeat that I could always frog back to, and where it was easy to pick up the stitches again...no wretched y o stitches to manage! So it wasn't one of those all over lace patterns...
Photo taken from the internet showing how the life line works where you can unpull the knitting to that row and the stitches will be 'live' on the piece of yarn.

So here is a front view of the progress on Abigail's blankie; the Bounce Blanket by Tin Can Knits. This is a Canadian company and I'm grateful to You Tube videos for explaining some terms/abbreviations that I wasn't familiar with...

This project will be put aside for a fortnight as DH and I are heading off on holidays from Thursday night and believe me, this isn't a holiday project. I will take some easy crocheting instead. 

Fundraising...

In my last post I mentioned the palm crosses that our parish makes and sells to raise monies. On Sunday I found out the 'figures' for 2018; total number of crosses made was 7120 and money raised was $3204!
And at our Sunday Stitchers meetup for March, there was also some impressive fundraising by our smallish group. The focus this year was the Melanoma Institute and the Tour de Cure. So instead of the ubiquitous 'pink themed food' morning tea, we chose Yellow or Blue coloured foods. Hmmm...blue is a challenge to get variety and not have an oversupply of cupcakes with blue icing!! 😄
I took along a small platter with 2 types of blue vein cheese with some rather yellow rice crackers. And my other offering was some dried mango, dried pears and some rather ' moreish ' slices of dried ginger. These I placed in rows alternating with blueberries.

The next photo shows our delicious spread in our meeting room...

Some yellow feather boas added to our themed decor...

To raise money that day, we had all been invited to bring items from our craft stashes for a 'bring and buy' table...it was very popular and some of the ladies came with small suitcases of items. I suspect they planned to not take that much home again though! 😆

( at the end of the day the items left were bundled up and have since been donated to The Nest, a community based group who raise funds for their programs for women and children by selling haberdashery etc crafting items)
We also had a Raffle to raise funds...many thanks to Michelle for the main prize and thank you to Sandi for the Easter themed prizes.

Inca won the first prize!

As usual, we had lots of fun at our monthly stitching day, but let's get to the 'nitty gritty'; how much did we raise? We had agreed in a previous month that we would contribute some of our reserve funds which have built up quite nicely and add these to whatever we made from the raffles and 'bring and buy' items. So our grand total was $644 which was split between the 2 charities. Great achievement!
This is my 'loot' from the Bring and Buy table. We were all very lucky that Sandi was decluttering and brought along finished items that she had made just for the pleasure of the making, but with no real idea of what she would do with them. Her work is exquisite so I'm very happy with my haul which will be mainly gifts.

And also in March, Chookyblue is once again doing the March Charge ( a walking challenge) to raise funds for Cancer Research and Support for Sufferers. DH and I made the easy decision to sponsor Donna again this year.
So lots of busy busy people working hard to raise funds for others...but then, isn't that what life is all about?

Sunday Stitchers; UFO Challenge...

This year I'm joining the others in my stitching group as we each tackle our pile of unfinished projects. The idea was that we would each make a list 1- 12 of such projects and then each month a number would be drawn. Then we would work on that number project on our list; as long as some progress was made, there would not be pressure to finish a project within the month.
 For the last year or so, on and off, I've been sorting through the boxes, shelves and cupboards of my sewing room and as I came across UFOs, I would put them in a plastic crate. So this made it easy to make a list...

Before we drew up the list, we had been told that the number for January would be 2, so of course I chose a simple project. It was simply to bind a baby quilt made with flannel squares. It was always intended to be given to Knitting for Brisbane's Needy, but had languished without binding for quite a while. It didn't take long to finish...

The backing was some polar fleece...

And by the end of January it had been despatched to K4BN 'headquarters' 👍 Compared to the stunning work of my fellow Sunday Stitchers, it was a very humble effort but it was a finish and it would benefit someone...good feeling!
The number for February was 12. My #12 was to continue working on a cot quilt, made in EPP and using my Liberty Print stash. Continue??? Lol. That should read START stitching, as before February, it was a pile of hexies cut out and paper basted. At our February SS meet up, I showed my progress...just one corner!

That was the third Sunday of February, but by then the project had me hooked! So any spare moment for the rest of February I worked on this project and last weekend I took another photo of my progress.

After doing the pink stripe, I went back to cutting; this time orangey yellows.

By then though, it was time for March's number, which is #10. And it's another EPP project! 'Use the long hexies in Christmas fabrics to make something'. Very vague isn't it?  Usually at the SS monthly meet ups, I spend some time basting these shapes, but haven't actually turned the shapes into anything...

So hopefully I will have a completed item by the next meet up, but if not completed, it will have been some progress made.

Sunday Stitchers Christmas Party

Yesterday we gathered together to celebrate Christmas. Instead of meeting at the Orneau Community Centre, one of our members, Sandi, had invited us to her home. I had heard that Sandi loves Christmas and that her home is always beautifully decorated for the Season. And that is certainly true! 

Amazing isn't it? And that is only one small section! 

Where I was sitting, I faced some shelves that had a wonderful display of nutcrackers...I suffered a fair bit of 'nutcracker envy', I can tell you! 😆

We were sitting around the large table chatting when there was the sound of a hand bell being rung. A flurry of red and white and we realised we had a visitor. 😉

Yep! Sandi had organised for Santa to drop in to hand out the Secret Santa gifts! 

We all got our photos taken as Santa handed us our gift...until I saw this photo I didn't realise how close I snuggled up to Santa...I'd better watch out or I'll have Mrs Claus after me! Lol

My Secret Santa was Marilyn and these are my lovely gifts from her...

I have always wanted a water bottle cover but had never got around to making one, so I was thrilled with this lovely one that Marilyn had made me! I joked with her that the days of the hand towel wrapped around my water bottle and held in place with a rubber band were over! Lol

And that 'cathedral window' pincushion is just gorgeous too! 

Before Santa headed off (to golf), he took a group photo of all of us.

Then it was back to chatting...

There was an amazing cocktail on offer! 

And there were lots of little gifts being distributed...

These were the little decorations that I had made to hand out to everyone.

Before lunch we played some games outside which were a lot of fun...there was a LOT of laughter I can tell you!

Lunch was next...everyone had brought something to share...

After lunch, the 2 birthday girls unwrapped their gifts...

All too soon, it was time to head back to Brisbane after our day in the country 😉(Jimboomba). It had been a great day and Sandi really spoiled us with lots of extra little gifts handed out during the day...including gifts when we're leaving! 

A fun packed weekend!

Last weekend was spent with friends; most of them I have met over the years through blogging. On Saturday we had arranged to all meet up at Browns Plain for a lunch with a very special visitor from New South Wales...it was Donna, aka Chookyblue!

But there is a patchwork shop at Browns Plain so most of us left home early so we could visit the shop before lunch...😉

I was quite restrained in my shopping...

Then it was time to head off to the Browns Plains Tavern...

It was a lovely catch up with blogging friends and our lovely guest of honour...

My lunch was a pumpkin salad with grilled chicken...delicious!

We staying chatting for quite a few hours, enjoying catching up and also enjoying the air conditioning  in the Tavern.

Most of these friends are also Sunday Stitchers too! And of course the next day was our February Sunday Stitchers meet up at Orneau.
So on Sunday there were comments about 'how it was ages since we'd seen each other' wink wink! Lol

We had some delightful Show and Tell on Sunday...
From Michelle...

From Marilyn...

From Helen...

At Sunday Stitchers we all work on our own projects. I worked on some EPP using some of my Liberty stash...

It was a great weekend!

Wool on Sunday...

My Wool on Sunday post this week is about my new ( and very appropriate for me!) Christmas ornament  that my friend De made me. De was my Secret Santa at the Sunday Stitchers Christmas party last Sunday. 

It just so happens that I was taking random photos of Sandi, who had stepped up for the role of Santa's helper at present unwrapping time...and she was actually carrying my gift at the time.

And here it is and I love it!!

De has wound yarn over a styrofoam ball and made knitting needles from skewers cut to size, with beads glued on the end and then sprayed. Such a thoughtful gift. 

Our Secret Santa gifts this year at SS were an ornament ( which could either be handmade or purchased), and a bag. This is the gorgeous bag that De made for me...

So now a little bit more about our final gathering for 2016...

Setting up the room. As you can see in the photo a lot of the ladies brought along Christmassy themed projects to decorate the room. It gave the room such a lovely 'feel'.

Gifts too of course...this is my 'haul' from the other ladies...noting this doesn't include the Secret Santa gifts!! 

 The Birthday girls...each month those who have celebrated a birthday receive a fat quarter from everyone. Last Sunday we had both November and December birthdays. 

After the birthday parcels were unwrapped, the Secret Santa gifts were put on that small table ready for distribution after lunch.

Mentioning lunch...this year we used some of the money in 'the kitty' to have lunch catered by the local IGA. It was a lovely lunch but I only remembered to  take a photo after we'd filled our plates...

And what is Christmas party lunch without bonbons and paper hats! 😉

And these wonderful friends of mine also have been very generous to the less fortunate in the community. Last month they collected and donated sweets for K4BN's mini Christmas stockings project and again this month, I was given some more lollies. And 2 of the ladies had also made some mini stockings! These, plus some stockings knitted by a friend at Sisters of Stitch, meant that K4BN received 76 filled stockings on Monday. 

Linking with Janine over at the Rainbow Hare blog for Wool on Sunday. Janine has knitted a beautiful jumper but unfortunately one of her 'nearest and dearest' has made the following comment which I don't agree with by the way...“That is horrific! It’s the worst Christmas jumper I’ve ever seen!”