Time for an update!

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After a long break, I’m looking forward to getting back to my sewing and blogging again. Since my last post in January I ended up having quite a bad post-covid reaction which set off my arthritis badly. It took almost six months to resolve it and get a new medication regime working and a lot of that time was spent resting on the lounge and also not able to sew or walk much due to such painful joints. I was also diagnosed with Type II diabetes and hypertension, both are improving now that I can go for walks again. So while the covid itself was only like a having a cold, it certainly set off a chain of health issues for me. I’m glad to be coming out the other side of it.

We did get a few more things done around the house. We put down new carpet in the lounge room, got rid of a lot of clutter and an old sideboard that took up a lot of room. I replaced it with open shelves and baskets from Ikea where we keep hats, keys, handbags, wallets etc, all the stuff that used to get dumped on the kitchen counter now has a new home.  I now have a nice spot for some decorations near the front door & a space for a wallhanging above.

The other room that got a makeover was the laundry. It still had the original laundry from when we built the house over 35 years ago, just some shelves on one wall. I just love my new laundry which has timber bench tops, lots of cupboards and a pull out bin. The washer & drier are up on stand now which is so much easier. I smile every morning when I go in there! DH still has a few little jobs to finish it completely but as you can see its a big improvement. We used  Bunnings kitchen cupboards and saved a LOT of money installing it ourselves.

Once my health improved we were able to fulfil one of our retirement dreams and we have just returned from almost 2 months visiting the UK, Spain, France, Denmark and Norway, part cruise and part land based. It was just wonderful!. I loved visiting so many historic places, grand churches and also some of my family history sites.

I’ve had lots of time to reflect on retirement and how I want to spend it. I just want to read, potter about the house and get back to my sewing. Of course I have lots of UFO’s to work on and some new projects on the go. I’ve started making DS a tumbling blocks quilt  using  a tumbling blocks pattern without Y seams.

I’ve got a colourwash quilt growing on my design wall, lots of 2.5″ Kaffe squares. In the years I was blogging about my debt & mortgage payoff I used to buy a packet of these as a ‘reward’ when I reached a financial goal. Now I finally get to play around with them.

And of course Bonnies Mystery Quilt is coming up soon and I’m looking forward to that.`

“Enjoy the little things in life because one day you’ll look back and realise they were the big things.”

Kurt Vonnegut

1st – 7th January. Blue Ridge Beauty & RSC.

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It’s been a lovely week here, weather not too hot and I’m finally up and able to walk around again.  I’ve spent lots of time at the sewing machine and in my sewing room decluttering.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge. The colour for January is green. I had heaps of green 1.5″ strips so I have made little trees. I might make a Christmas wall hanging with these, not sure yet but having fun with this.

Kathryn Kerr 365 Challenge.  This challenge is making a block a day for a year. The final quilt is really beautiful, with lots of very small blocks. I’m using green and Autumn colours for this. It’s a free challenge and her patterns are well written. I have several on them waiting in my ‘make’ list.

American Patchwork & Quiltings UFO Challenge. I’ve listed 12 projects to work on and hopefully complete this year. Blue Ridge Beauty is my project for January and I’m finally up to putting the top together. It’s taking quite a bit of concentration to ensure its correct so it might take me a few days. But I’m excited to see it coming together.

Donations.  I posted these lap quilt tops off to Comfort Quilts Against Cancer. 

 

 

 

Home. The bookcase is progressing nicely, undercoat is done and now the final coat of paint should be done later this week. Can’t wait till it’s finished and I can move on to the next room! We also have a new front verandah being installed later this week which should cut down the heat in living room quite a bit.

 Reading. I want to get back to more reading this year, including the 1001 Books to Read before you Die List which I made no progress on last year at all. This week I’m reading:

Legends & Lattes – Travis Baldree. After decades of adventuring, Viv, the orc barbarian is ready to retire and open up a coffee shop. I’m enjoying this, its a short, easy, cozy read.

The Nightingale – Kristin Hannah. “The story of two sisters in France during World War II and their struggle to survive and resist the German occupation of France. The book was inspired by the story of a Belgian woman, Andrée de Jongh, who helped downed Allied pilots escape Nazi territory.”  I’m listening to this on Audible and its really good, great story and a good narrator.

Linking up with: SoScrappy,  Oh Scrap

All I want for Christmas… (liberty fabrics & walking again!)

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A belated Merry Christmas to everyone! We had a lovely relaxing day with family yesterday. DH’s mum had been in hospital for some urgent, unplanned surgery in the two weeks prior so it was nice to have her home and on the mend.

Well December did not go as planned. Unfortunately I have spent the last month dealing with a very bad flare up of arthritis, mostly in my ankles & wrists, and I am only just able to walk about a bit better the last two days. So needless to say I did no Christmas decorating, no sewing at all and a lot of watching TV – finally watched all five seasons of Poldark! But today I am finally up and walking and feeling able to sew and generally get moving again.

I was given some really beautiful fabrics for my birthday and for Christmas by DD.

These two for my birthday.

 

and this gorgeous Strawberry Thief bundle for Christmas!

“Strawberry Thief is one of William Morris’s most popular repeating designs for textiles. It takes as its subject the thrushes that Morris found stealing fruit in his kitchen garden of his countryside home, Kelmscott Manor, in Oxfordshire” (Wikipedia)

Sarah Fielke is doing a beautiful quilt -“Stop Thief’ inspired by Strawberry Thief fabrics so since I was given the fabrics I had no excuse not to buy the pattern so that will be one of my quilts for 2024.

On the home front we finally got on to a good tradesman who came and built two walls of bookcases in DDs room in just 4 days! Such a relief after so long and I’ll happily get him back in the future. Now it needs painting to DH is working on that this week.

This week ahead I’m packing up some donations, making my sewing lists for 2024 and setting up my planner. I’m hoping for big things around the house this year, lots of quilt finishes ( finally), more regular blogging  and a great holiday/cruise in August.

“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”

William Morris.