Friday Night with Friends...

It was the first FNwF for 2016 here in Australia last night. And all throughout the world as Friday night comes to the various time zones, bloggers will be working on various craft projects and then sharing these via blog posts. 

I was working on a project that I originally started in early 2011...no that wasn't a slip of the finger on the keypad...I started this project when I was on 6 months long service leave in 2011!!! In that year another blogger, Kaite Matilda from Bathhurst, invited myself and some other knitters/crocheters/textile artists etc to join her in her project, 'Knitted Minestrone', where the participants would devise projects to use up scraps of yarn. And there was a blog of the same name where we posted progress. There were some great projects but I can't direct you to the blog as when Kaite decided to change direction in her crafting journey she notified us that she was closing down the blog. 

I decided on just one project that I would work on for the Knitted Minestrone project...a throw. My 'scraps' were considered to be a bit long by the other participants but being mainly a 200 plus stitches on the needles 'project person', my 'ends' weren't enough for a full row so I went ahead with my throw. 

The smaller amounts of these went into my Knitted Minestrone throw.

So in 2011 I did bands of scrap colours stocking stitch interspersed with black garter stitch bands.

I loved doing it but I put it away when we went for a 7 week driving holiday in the US from early March that year. When we came back home I was doing other projects and forgot all about this one.

I think maybe I did some more work on this throw in 2014 as there was a third band of colour...but not much as I'd run out of scraps. And then last year, I somehow lost my mojo, but that was then! 

The other day I took out Knitted Minestrone. It had been carefully stored in a zippered jumper storage bag as there are woollen yarns in it and those moths/silverfish just love those yarns as we know. Also in the bag was a ball of scraps that I'd forgotten about...what a bonus!

Once again, I was enjoying the project and on and off for the last 2 days, I worked on it and late into the evening too of course!

So after dinner last night, I turned on the air con and continued on to finish the latest band of 'scraps'.

So I've now finished 4 bands of scrap multi colours and am working on a black garter stitch band.

Last night I also took out my scrap/oddments basket and ended up with a big ball wound from scraps...so I'll be able to work on when I finish this lot of black garter stitch. 

As well as my scraps, I have also been using some lovely hand dyed wool from Nanette. When she found that the moths had been in this ball of yarn, Nanette offered it to me to use as it would be just scraps when I cut out the 'motheaten' bits...which I did! 

Very pretty colours! ( this is only some of the scraps not what was salvageable from the whole ball!!!) 

And I figured that as the project was discontinued, there are no rules any more. So I also got out my 'Mystery ball' that I had bought from Knitch a little while ago...(sorry it doesn't seem to want to rotate!)

But some of the yarns in this ball are too thick, so I'm picking and choosing' what I include in my throw. 

Thank you Cheryll for hosting FNwF. Why not visit the other FNwFers using the links on Cheryll's blogpost?  http://stitchingcubbyhole.blogspot.com.au/2016/01/fnwf.html

Another job for Santa???

In 2014 my Secret Santa in the Chookyblue SSCS was Isabel from Portugal. And what a lovely lot of gifts I received; as they say I 'was really spoiled'! 

This lovely Christmas ornament was made from cork...

Isabel stitched a lavender sachet but after checking customs regulations turned it into the sweetest little pillow. There was also a ball of yarn, a gorgeous Zauberball in predominantly purple shades. And there was also a Portuguese chocolate flavoured with passion fruit...it was delicious btw!!  

The main gift was this magnificent circular needle holder which Isabel made for me...it has been such a wonderful gift...made with Kaffe fabrics too!!! 

Well, I noticed as 2015 went on that Isabel had 'become very quiet' with almost no activity on her blog or Facebook. So finally in October I sent her an email asking how she was and once more saying how much I had loved her gifts. I found out that 2015 had not been a good year for her and that she had not signed up for the SSCS as she felt she wouldn't be able to keep to the deadlines. Isabel commented that she loved the fun of being a Secret Santa with the stalking etc and might I add that she is a very effective stalker! My circular needles were kept in a ziplock bag for years before Isabel made the special holder for them! 

So...even though life was a bit crazy here for me with DH's health issues, I decided then and there that I would make up a SS gift for Isabel. Time constraints meant that I didn't sew anything myself, but I 'gathered' some gifts together ready to post in the first few days of December. The parcel only arrived late last week in Isabel's town so just didn't make it before Christmas. 

A Christmas ornament complete with a little hanging bag; a stocking in Australiana fabric and a face washer with a cross stitched kookaburra. All these items were stitched by friends who sell at markets.  

And I bought some charm squares of Australian Aboriginal designs from Tuppy's....

And an iron on fabric label...

And a fabric patch from Nature's Face...the wallaby can be easily seen in my poor quality photo but there are lots of other fauna ( and Aussie flora) hidden in the fabric patch. 

My goal was simply to give Isabel a nice surprise and let her know that others are thinking of her. And I achieved that! 

Now it would be a wonderful surprise for Isabel if some fellow bloggers could visit her blog and wish her a Happy New Year...??? Here is the link http://kraftier.blogspot.com.au/.   

St Helena Island...

On New Year's Day, DH and I went on a cruise to St Helena Island in Moreton Bay. The day included a guided tour of the island. Our day out had been a gift to DH for Fathers' Day from DsD1. These days the 166 hectare island is a national park, but from 1867 until 1932, it was a high security prison with the last prisoner leaving the island in 1933. A brief history is here. 

 

About 15 years ago I went to St Helena Is on a school excursion; its a very popular excursion for schools because of the historical aspects of the island. That trip, we left from Brett's Wharf in Hamilton. For this tour, we left from Manly, so it was a much shorter cruise being only 30 minutes.

Manly Boat Harbour

Our tour guides were 2 'convicts'...and what an entertaining pair they were; wickedly funny actually! lol.

Arriving at the island...

 The group on the tour gathered together to  hear some of the history of the island before we started our tour/walk. We discovered that St Helena and its convicts made a lot of money for the government from the industries carried out on the island when it was a prison.

 

And then we started walking...

First stop was the old lime kiln where quicklime was made from shells and coral...

 

Just near the lime kiln were the cemeteries; these were the only things that I could remember from that school excursion in 2000.

Early in the jail's history, warders could have their family living with them on the island. Unfortunately children died from common childhood illnesses...this little cemetery was for those children...

 

 

 

And this larger cemetery was for prisoners who died...each grave is marked by a concrete cross which was made on the island.

Then it was another brisk walk to the site of the old sugar mill; in its heyday, this mill made lots of money...

 

 

Grazing cattle was also an industry in the prison...and it still continues today as cattle can be grazed in national parks according to our guide.

From when we landed on the island we couldn't help but notice all the wallabies...they were hopping madly all over the place. Our guides told us that these were not native to the island; they had been brought over from the mainland years ago by rangers...and then they just kept breeding.

 

Our tour continued with another brisk walk up to some more building ruins; cell blocks, meal areas, kitchens, bakeries etc.

Then once again we had a brisk walk to our lunch stop...

We sat under some lovely old trees in an area that originally contained cottages that warders etc. lived in...note the Poinciana and mango trees, not the usual flora in a national park...but kept for their historical significance.

After lunch we learned a bit about the punishments meted out to prisoners...pretty horrific in today's terms.

Then it was time to stop sitting and once more walk on...first stop was the old cannon. This cannon wasn't really for defence; it was for signalling the mainland. The cannon would not be loaded with cannon balls but would just be fired with a certain number of booms to indicate for example that a prisoner had escaped, or that a doctor was required etc .

We then headed to the Museum which would have been a warder's home during the time the island was a prison. The complex also included an external kitchen and various other outbuildings. I took photos of some of the old photos on display too.

I went out on to the back veranda of the Museum and took photos of the island that I could see from there...very pretty setting!

  The Museum was our last stop, so then it was another walk back to the boat...luckily it was all downhill as after walking the 5 km around the island on a hot summer's day, we were a bit weary. But it had been a very interesting and enjoyable day thanks to our 2 guides. 

I feel very humbled...

Every now again something happens and you go, 'Wow! You would do that for me?'. Well that happened to me yesterday, while I was enjoying the Newmarket Mums Christmas 2015 lunch. Yes I realise that Christmas was well and truly over, but this group of ladies celebrate in January because that's when everyone seems the least busy. 

So yesterday I set off from home with a plate of fruit and a Secret Santa gift.

Now this group of ladies 'go back a long way' to when our children were all at the same primary school in the 1980-1990s, and we all became friends as we worked on tuck shop, or manned fete stalls together, sewing bee groups or met up at P&C meetings etc. 

Chatting, sipping champers or fruit punch and sampling the nibblies....

Oops this bottle overflowed when the corked was eased out...

Later, the lunch buffet...photo taken when most of us had filled a plate...

After the food came the time for the Secret Santa gift time. I drew #1, which means I got to choose first from the pile of gifts...oooh it was a case of 'Which one shall I choose?' I chose one which looked interesting...largish and the parcel looked 'squishy' which meant it probably wasn't chocolates which I try to avoid! Lol.

Turns out, I made a great choice!! I was thrilled. It was a beautiful ombré colour large towel...all those colours that I love and there was also a cake of soap...

I love 'fancy soaps'! 

Now back to what I mentioned at the beginning of the post...

Yesterday the group started to discuss possible venues for our monthly coffee mornings on the last Sunday of the month. Then one of my friends said that she would like to suggest/propose that we change that Sunday to another one in the month so that I didn't miss out. You see, my belovedSunday  Stitchers group meetup dates have been clashing with the Newmarket Mums' days. Consequently I had been to only 2 NM coffee mornings in 2015. It's something that I've agonised over for the last 2 years. 

Well everyone agreed with Margo's suggestion so now the group will meet the first Sunday of the month! As I said, I feel very humble that the majority would change the date for just one person's convenience. Great friends indeed!!! 

Lotsa chairs....

As Christmas drew nearer, I still hadn't found a gift for DH. Even a 'trawl' through my old favourite, the Red Balloon website didn't come up with any new ideas that I thought DH would enjoy. Then, the day before Christmas Eve, I was tidying up the lounge room and putting out some decorations, when I noticed DH's recliner chair. 

He bought the chair 15 or so years ago and this year we noticed a hole developing in the leather of one of the arms. DH contacted a number of upholsterers with the view to having the chair recovered. None were interested in taking on the job....those who got back to DH said it would be cheaper to replace the chair. Typical attitude I suspect these days. 

Those holes just kept getting bigger and bigger....:-(

Any way after another few months, a hole developed in the other arm of the chair and DH decided that he would buy another chair. But with all that had been happening in our lives in the latter part of the year, we didn't do anything about looking for a chair to buy. So for Christmas, I gave DH a card with some cash and some pages of recliner chairs printed off from from local furniture dealers...not enough to buy a chair, just a deposit! 

So since Christmas, we have been checking out a stores in a few 'Homemaker Cities'...

This one is Aspley...

Usually a coffee before the checking out of the stores...

We went to lots and lots of stores. DH knew what he wanted; leather and a manual mechanism rather than electric. Some shops had little to choose from, some only had electric, one store wanted full payment despite a 17 week wait for delivery and some stores wanted $2000+ for one chair. 

After 2 unsuccessful shopping expeditions, we went online to see what was available. We found some websites of stores that we hadn't seen at Aspley Homebase...we must have walked past them! Lol.

So today we headed out again...

Well Laz-e-boy had a sale and it had lots of variety but still quite expensive. So it's just as well that we went into another store that we noticed as we drove into the centre. 

Plush only had a few recliners to look at, but the customer service was amazing. This was the first of the 3 that DH 'tested'. He liked it!

But we went away for a coffee and then went back to talk about colour, leather quality, price for manual rather than electric. The price was fair/good, we could get the colour we wanted, so DH paid a deposit and the new chair is ordered. It will be a little while coming but not as long as the 17 weeks quoted by another store. 

But it's still a shame that re-covering a chair is not so economical these days...