You can never have enough...

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I have a neighbour who gets to our shared laundry at 6.15am. I am still swearing at the cat at that time of the morning!

It was joining an international gardening group that started me off on forums back in 1999, and I have been rabbiting on among invisible friends ever since - still some from those early days too. My life has been immeasurably enriched by their company, the net is a marvellous tool, especially for those of us living quiet lives.

[Roma]

Good morning. 

Overcast with showers predicted today and over the week, until rain later in the week ... we'll see.

Plan to disperse the contents of my compost bin plus the worm castings in my garden today also add some sheep pellets in an effort to get it vege ready. Look forward to using my own lemons this season, the tree is laden and the first lot since the tree has become established after living in a pot.

I had a look on the Skeinz site yesterday, should have looked when I got an email advising of the sale .... it has been fairly well picked over by now. Will go back to my stash and have another think what to knit next.

The sun has actually come out so I shall go and make the decision whether the washing is in or out today!

Have a good day.

[Mica]

Morning all
Overcast at the moment but should clear

KM you reminded me that the cat flea treatment has been sitting on the bench waiting for someone to apply it.
Luckily the k9s do eat their Nexgard tabs with relish.

Finished quilting both mi e and DD quilts yesterday will attach binding today so will have some hand work stitching them done o er the next couple ot nights

Playing with thread is fun fun.

DIL is pregnant so I will order some cotton spandex to make her some preggy tights I think that she will need some new tops too. 

Off to slice and dice making some more apricot and caps um chutney this morning it will be ready to bottle later today gotta love the slow cooker.

Have agood day

[popeye333]

Morning everyone

A stunning day here so far.

Another crap one yesterday, but had a call from a school friend so it ended nicely

My sewing room is looking rather nice now. yeah it means there another room with heaps of stuff in it. But the sewing room looks nicer and not so heavy.

So today Im in the other spare room. Its been a bit of a dumping ground, wont take long to sort. There's just alot of stuff to be put away , and gather up all the stuff my friend has brought which is on the bed. I guess she will visit eventually lol.

Im loving hearing about your crafts gardening and preserving.

Ive never had to flea Missy. Ive never seen any on her. And she's only had worms once. I guess its cos she doesn't go outside to find these things. And cos she uses a little tray I can see if she does get worms.

Funny how animals like cheese.. Our Millie cat loved if from the block and wrapped slices, Bob only liked it from the Block. Missy is the block too but she Loves the Eta Cheeseballs. She licks one clean every night. Its her supper lol.

She was such a comfort yesterday when I was having a moment...

Have a fab day everyone

[Oh_hunnihunni]

The damned cat enjoyed a smidgeon of my vege pasta last night because it had cheese in it. Even the excessive tomato taste didn't put her off. And I should have thought of my slow cooker when I put the pot of tomatoes on this morning, to stew down for the freezer...

Stupid woman! Still, next time - still lots of big fruit coming along on the vines!

[Lilith7]

That Kantha embroidery is just gorgeous, so delicate. It must be quite hard on the eyes to do, though.

The dog has unbent slightly towards me - I'm sure its nothing to do with the small chicken skin perk I gave her earlier...

[kiwimade64]

morning ladies   Gosh it's still dark.  Was only a few days ago and the sun was beating down this time of the morning.

Dogs are very forgiving, aren't they, Lilith    Cats on the other hand, never forget a slight.

Today I'm going to cut back my iris', they are starting to die back already and are usually the first to be cut back for winter. The compost bin is going to love it.   Both wheelie bins are chokka with garden waste I can't compost and we still have fire restrictions so I can't burn it either.  Luckily the bin man comes tomorrow.  Every afternoon we spot a mouse running along the fence, as long as it is outside that's fine.  Although MrK thinks we should trap it now to prevent it even thinking of coming inside for the winter.  I'll have to buy some peanut butter for the trap first.

Yesterday I embroidered some of the tui's head and his feet.  As he is hanging upside down in the kowhai tree, some of the feathers on his chest are 'fluffed up' so I'm thinking how I can show this using thread.  I might see if any of my embroidery books can help with this one.  The other option is not to be quite so literal and just stitch it.  

The sun's up, I might toodle outside for a bit before we hit the predicted 27 degrees.  Bring on the rain!

Happy crafting 

[Mica]

Morning all
Looks like another nice day today

The cat got her flea treatment  she avoided me for a couple of hours then all was forgiven 

 Sttichec binding on DD quilt last night and will do mine tonight.
Need to sort out a knitting project.

Taking DH to art supply shop this morning which just happens to be near The Fabric Store so I will have a look at the merino sweatshirting 

Off to gym my trainer is back from maternity leave so will be nice to see her again

Have a good day

[popeye333]

Morning everyone

Loving the temp to sleep now... Although I still have the fan on for moving air.

You need some fluffy cotton for the Tui Kiwimade, oh wouldnt it be great if you could do the white feathers to look fluffy.

Yesterday I finished tidying the spare rooms and its all done now. well I have to vacc, especially to pick up the dead Part Bodies lol... Crickets come in at night and madam just leaves bit everywhere lol

So I got the fabric out that I wanted to make two new wraps from and utter disappointment.. The black lace piece which I obviously hadnt opened up fully has bits come out of it.. It basically looks like a pair on underpants not sewn at the side seams, wide , narrow and wide again... My sister in law sent it up and I figure she cant have opened it out either lol. or she wouldnt have sent it... Bound to be something I can use it for one day tho.

But I got the big black piece with the colours in it.. I will cut it out later. I have to decide if ill just overlock the edges or hem it.

Have to pop up the road for MrP first. He was diabolical on saturday. But normal again yesterday.

Have a fab day everyone

[Lilith7]

The Tui sounds lovely Kiwimade, & Popeye's idea is interesting - fluffy white feathers.

The forecast was for heavy rain all day today - to be fair, its done a fairly good job of threatening to rain all day, in a half hearted sort of way. But the most its managed is a bit of drizzle a while ago - & that seems to have stopped now.
Fingers crossed it isn't hanging on till I have to do the dreaded shopping tomorrow morning.
Still slogging away with another Photoshop painting.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Cleared the last of the carrots today, and layered in some lovely stinky sheep pellets. That'll upset the felines... I have got some Asian cabbage seed on the way to go in there, a cut and come again variety, which should vary the spinach and silverbeet offerings through Winter. Plus seeds for broad beans, seeing my plants were slaughtered before iI could get seed last year. They can go in where the tomatoes are now. And I found buds on my very late planted sunflowers, very small plants but with flowers I get seed to plant much earlier next season, fingers crossed!

And I have started on the mending pile I have been avoiding for months. Sensible sewing, if a little mad. I have caught the 'visible mending' bug, it being a mere hop and skip from actual fun stuff...

All'n all a productive Monday...

[kiwimade64]

morning ladies   Sun's up and the daily commuters between Tauranga and Hamilton are on the move.

Oh_hunnihunni, we're going to plant bok choy and other similar veg this winter too.  I bought a packet of Shanghai Choy the other day as I was not going to pay for a cabbage or silverbeet.  We had forgotten just how good it is.  So these prices and low stocks are reminding us there are other products out there we can try instead.  MrK is 'in charge' of the vegie garden and will be buying seed when in town next.  I haven't grown sunflowers for years, you have inspired me to try again next spring.  The last sunflowers I grew were the 'huggable' ones that grew about waist height.  Gorgeous bronze colours too.

I had a cruisey day yesterday as my knee was hurting like heck.  It's been weeks since I knocked it on the coffee table but it's still sore.  I very rarely take panadol but did so yesterday.  But I was able to work a bit more on the tui.  Finally got the colour's right this time (I hope lol) by mixing a charcoal grey and a dark denim blue for around the back of the tui's neck where white goes on top.  I knew there was a stitch I could use for the fluffy bits, ghiord (sp) stitch otherwise known as Turkey rug stitch.  I've used it before for hair when embroidering people.   I had to look it up in my go-to embroidery book as it's been a while since I've stitched it and needed a refresher.  It will be the last stitch to embroider as it's hard to work around.  

Today I will finish the lawn as the wheelie and compost bins were full and I had no where to empty the catcher.  Hopefully the binman will be here soon.  I also have some left over rose canes from cutting Albertine back to mend it's support to biff.  We still have a restricted fire ban so no burning garden rubbish for us just yet unless we apply for a permit.  Speak of the devil lol, the binman is here  

happy crafting

[Oh_hunnihunni]

One of the brooches I played with over the weekend used some of the silk and wool pieces I inherited from my Mum. There were some really small knitted squares in there and I discovered stitching one into a crumpled mass suggested moss rather well, and even more so with some tails of a stiffer yarn left proud to suggest the flower stems (do mosses have flower stems or are those seed heads?), either way it works for me. Some of her pale silks have frayed beautifully too and looking at the piece made me think of your fluffy tui.

Amazing what we can get away with, sometimes all we need to do is just suggest with a bit of texture and let the viewer jump to the right conclusion!

[Mica]

Morning all
Looking to have another nice day

KM sorry yourcknee is giving you gip.

Oh_Hunnihunni sounds like you have having a great creative time with your threads.

Taking my machine back to SM hospital today tech didn't stitch out in free motion and I am still experiencing intermittent problem with bobbin thread not picking up while freemotion stitching The machine still sews normal stitches  beautifully. I have been looking at new machines just in case

Volunteering today subbing for a person who is unwell .

One more side to stitch binding down on my eyespy quilt  will add to my donation pile.

Have a good day

[popeye333]

Morning everyone

On a slow go.. My knee is in sympathy with yours Kiwimade.. Its had been feeling quite good but driving yesterday aggravated it. Im going to save a wee trip and ring and get the details off the form sitting at the Drs reception, ring up and book the x-ray, and pick the form up on the way to it.

Another hellish day with MrP yesterday , but I let rip... I did talk to his Dr in the afternoon. He's a good man, he always asks how I am and wanted to tell me something that he thought might upset me. He doesn't think he has a mental problem as such but he has a Narcissistic personality... I said ohh yes Ive known that for years and sadly I played into it all the time too.. he does not like being second in anything and what he wants has to be there right away and he doesn't care how I got it. but the Dr agreed rewarding bad behavior is not a good thing.

After I've made a couple of phone calls Im going to hopefully get this wrap cut out..

I noticed on Saturday Cabbage and caulis were $10 each now... Glad Im not a big fan of them that's for sure

Have a fab day everyoen

[Oh_hunnihunni]

If it was the growers getting these great prices it wouldn't be so bad, but we all know who is profiting...

[popeye333]

If it was the growers getting these great prices it wouldn't be so bad, but we all know who is profiting...

So very true Hunnihunni

[Lilith7]

Yes, none of us would mind so much if growers were getting a decent whack.
I gave up on Cauli - the Scots blood won't allow me to pay $5 for half one without going 'HOW fecking much??!' so I gave up & got some frozen - not so good but they'll do.

Still sore from a small mishap the other day; taking the dog for a walk past the old disused school I didn't notice two blokes in the grounds who had a dog with them. It wasn't on a lead & rushed at us, whereupon my dog took off at a great rate of knots till I managed to stop her & at the same time somehow whacked into the fence - vertical metal poles met ribs & arm, & while there's a big bruise on the arm its the rib which hurts dammit.
She's a former rescue dog so a bit unpredictable with strange dogs, although she's very nice to the large puppy down the street whenever we see him.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Ouchies!! I hope the blokes apologised...

[kiwimade64]

morning ladies   We have rain clouds around us but they will be gone soon.  I wish it would rain!

Yesterday I embroidered a bit more of the tui and it's finally taking shape.  It won't take much longer to finish it, thank goodness.  The journey for this piece has been long suffering.

Oh_hunnihunni, it sounds like you have found your mojo using fabric scraps.  What a lovely idea to use some of your mum's fabric.  It is funny how a random comment can connect thoughts, join the dots, if you like.

MrK was at the doctors yesterday and it turns out he may have a Vitamin B deficiency.  The doc also wants a blood test to test for lead poisoning  as he was a typesetter for a newspaper back in the days when they used lead letters.  But first it's two weeks of extra vitamin B then he can do the blood test.

Covid has hit our family (not us).  It was inevitable I suppose.  All is well though, just a tad frustrating for them isolating.  Thank goodness we have plenty to do if we were in isolation.  I can't imagine what it would be like with not much to do.

Time to get cranked up, the hollyhocks are calling me to cut them back.  And the jasmine has killed part of a box hedge (oh dear, how sad, never mind!) so I'll cut all that back and maybe dig the dead plants out.  I might 'encourage' the  jasmine do that again next summer    I think you can tell I want it gone and MrK want's it to stay lol.  I suspect though, that the tree it is planted near has just sucked all the goodness out of the soil and the hedge is paying for it.  The jasmine is climbing that tree too 

Happy crafting