Last present finished

I have been knitting this beanie for my boyfriend as part of his Christmas present. I was going very well until I got to the decreasing. I had down loaded a pattern from the Internet, but it was very abridged and the decreasing was not written in a readable or workable way, so I ended up finding another pattern and adapted the pattern to it. I nearly threw it in the bin, but it is made from pure wool, so I persisted and thank goodness it worked out.

My Mum is modelling the beanie for me, but insisted not to show her face!
My boyfriend is a dairyman and this beanie hopefully will be worn in the winter at 3am when he gets up to milk the cows.

Until next post..

Cheers..Jewells

SSCS 2009 Has Arrived

The mailman arrived today with a long cylinder and I ripped it open and found these 2 parcels. My SSCS is Tracy of Thimelinas . The large one is actually wrapped in a panel of material, with cute snowmen, tied at the ends with ribbons, and the small parcel said "open immediately", which I did, and......

This is what was in it, a hand sewn star and a reindeer made out of corks...made me laugh, as I drink a glass of wine each night with my meal and think of all the reindeers I could have made from all those corks I have thrown away over the years!
I am so pleased I joined Chookyblue's Secret Santa Christmas Swap this year. (SSCS 2009). I can't wait till Christmas so I can open my other gift.

Until next post.

Cheers...Jewells

Garage Sales

Yesterday (Saturday) I went to a few Garage Sales and had a wonderful time. There was a lady selling children's books, hardcover and soft cover and most of them have never been read, let alone have pen marks or children's names in the front pages. I have a suspicion that the lady might have owned a bookshop! I went to her garage sale last weekend and bought some sets of books and saw she was having another sale this weekend, so I phoned a friend of mine who owns a second hand bookshop. She ended up telling me to offer the lady an amount for a "bulk lot", so I did (I took every book she had for sale EXCEPT the Little Golden Books), and look what I came home with for $110! You should have seen my poor little car, the boot was full to the brim and the whole back seat was covered with books, the back of the car was visibly lower over the wheels!... I was picturing my front wheels rearing up and my exhaust dragging on the ground.

So, tonight I got them all out and removed all the price stickers off them and sort of sorted them in piles. There is a pile of Dr Seuss books, the tall pile is Disney's story books (all hardcover and perfect condition), there is the 4 Enid Blyton books of the Faraway Tree Series, books from kid's TV shows and the list goes on. Even thou the photo doesn't show it, there must be at least 200 books there... I am like a pig in mud amongst the books!

There are books there I know I could sell on eBay, but I will give them all to my friend for her shop, but I have kept a couple for my grandchildren... just asked my daughter about "Clifford the dog" and is he on TV and I got the "oh Mum!" answer, so those books have been snavelled for them.

Must get the books in some boxes now.

Until next post.

Cheers...Jewells

Oh NO!! I could cry!! SOB!!!

On an earlier post, here, I mentioned how I knitted a doubled breasted cardigan for my then 7 month old grandson. It was knitted in size 1-2 years, but unfortuneately it was to small for him, so my daughter asked me to make another one for him.

So I did, this time making it size 6-7 years, knowing he will grow into it one winter. I have literally finished sewing it up tonight, buttons and all. Then it struck me, a MAJOR error...

Can you see the error????

There is NO WAY I am making a third one.

Until next post....

SOB!!!... Jewells

Secret Santa Ready to Go

I am in the Chooky Blue SSCS.
The above picture is a sneak preview of what I have made to send to my partner!

and the picture below is another sneak preview of what I also made to send the same person as the ornament.
This was so much fun! Thanks Chooky Blue!

Until next post...
Cheers...Jewells

First and Second Awards for Patchwork Quilts at Show

This weekend was the local Annual Show, so I entered 3 of my quilts and was very lucky to receive First Prize with this quilt under the section "Christmas Article Sewn".

Here is what the whole quilt looks like. This pattern was designed by a friend of mine, Toni, who designs and sells quilt patterns on her blog "The Red Boot Company". This quilt pattern was designed for a Mystery Block of the Month for an American group and I proof read the pattern for Toni before she sent each installment... I found the easiest way to proof read was to actually make it along the way. I was very happy with the end product!

(You can click on the image for a larger picture).

...and I received Second Prize with this quilt under the section "Patchwork Quilt-with Embroidery-Machine or Hand".

I embroidered the animals with 2 strands of thread in back stitch, but didn't realise when the quilt was quilted, I would loose the stand out feature of the animals... I now embroider with 3 strands of thread. The animals don't show up very well in the photographs, but to the naked eye, they are more noticeable.

I used a "Ella & Skysie Designs" pattern for the embroidery and the alternate squares, then added my own ideas to make this a larger quilt.

Again, I have no idea what to do with the quilts... I am thinking of holding a quilt selling day and sell off my quilts at cost price so I can have spending money to make more quilts that I have no idea what to do with...sounds familiar?? My biggest expense is getting them quilted, as I don't like doing that myself.

Until next blog.

Cheers...Jewells

Update on seeds from Dishcloth swap

Look! green shoots, that are the beginning of my carnations!
The terracotta pot has the other seeds I received (Love in the Mist), then the black pot is the carnations, and next to that is a climbing rose.

Now here is the "vegetables", from left to right is a choko, basil, dill/sage and lastly a cherry tomato.

and lastly, here is a pot full of "Impatience" at my front door.

I'm afraid I can't take credit for the survival of all these plants... thankfully my boyfriend always waters them when he comes to my place.

Until next post..

Cheers...Jewells